Talk:Lars Barriga/@comment-914394-20180303052916

Lars suffers from clinical depression. I don't know how this article's gone over 450 comments and NOBODY even offered the possibility. It's pretty obvious when you know what to look for... but nobody even thinks to look, apparently. Not even me (I also suffer from depression), until one line caught my ear, from Island Adventure: "Do you ever get lonely... even when you're around people...?" This is a known symptom of clinical depression, and generally people without it don't feel this way. Once I managed to grok... everything fell into place about Lars. It's why he has so little self-confidence. It's why he so desperately wants to hang out with the Cool Kids, yet feels like there's zero chance of being accepted by them, even though he already is. It's why he's always down on Sadie and Steven and just about everybody. It's even why he didn't even try to save Sadie on Aquamarine's ship.

But things will be different going forward. Steven didn't just heal Lars' physical wounds when bringing him back to life. Lars' emotional injuries were too. His personality actually changed upon being revived: unlike before, he's actually willing to TRUST Steven, not simply going along with things because there is literally no other option or because Sadie trusts him. He doesn't keep panicking like he normally would; he actually calms down quickly. When he does freak out big, when Steven shows him that Sadie's gone forward with her life instead of wallowing like he would have, Steven and Connie are easily able to bring him out of it. If the Off-Colors had to rely on regular Lars, like if Steven really did only heal physical wounds, they'd never have made it off Homeworld. It could be said that it's because of the situation... how it's hit rock bottom and there's nowhere to go but up. Problem with that argument is that he's hit rock bottom before, multiple times. He just stayed there until someone else rescued him. Also... going up takes time, and he didn't need it. Lars quickly became the Off-Colors' leader.

So... yeah. Four seasons of clinically depressed Lars, followed by Lars without the depression.