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brothergoblinBASICS
Name: Tyler Ronan
Canon: Tell Me Why
Age: 22 (game epilogue)
Birthday: March 7 1994
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5'7
Gender: Male (Transgender)
CONTENT WARNINGS
HISTORY
Tyler's history starts in rural Alaska, in a town called Delos Crossing, where he lived with his mother, Mary-Ann, and twin sister, Alyson, until the age of 10. Their family dynamic was close-knit, and the relationship that Tyler had with Alyson was his most treasured.
As Tyler's understanding of his gender identity evolved, he felt increasingly misunderstood at home. He'd feel angry and frustrated being misgendered by those closest to him. He knew to the very fiber of his being that he was a boy no matter the gender he'd been assigned at birth. This anger comes to a head when he realizes his mom has taken his diary, a place where he's poured his heart out about all these realizations about his gender.
Tyler's mom, a single-parent of 2 who struggled to hold down a job, we later learn was affected by what seems to be construed as poor mental health coupled with living on the poverty line. While Tyler's recollection of her is a mixed bag of fun, creativity, and adventure held against a backdrop of deep sadness, he learns throughout the course of the game all the obstacles his mother needed to overcome just in order to survive.
At the age of 10, less than 2 weeks before their 11th birthday, Tyler asks Alyson to cut his hair short. The resulting gender euphoria takes him to new highs and, in his excitement, he goes to share his new hair cut with his mom. In his memories, his mom is fiddling with a shotgun when he finds her and the look in her eyes is bordering on deranged when she sees him. He runs away, chased down onto the pier that juts out into the lake that butts up against their property. Mary-Ann has the shotgun and is pointing it at him.
What ensues results in Mary-Ann falling into the lake, having been stabbed in the side with a pair of scissors, and drowning. Tyler and Alyson are taken into police custody as they try to get to the bottom of the tragedy and Tyler confesses to stabbing Mary-Ann to defend himself against her.
Owing to the police chief's (a family friend) connections, at aged 11 only a few weeks later, Tyler is sent to a residential center called Fireweed. There he's forced to live and grow up until the age of 18. During that time he receives gender affirming care and transitions medically by taking testosterone, masculinizing his body until he feels more in-line with who he is.
He finally leaves Fireweed at the age of 21, staying an additional 3 years voluntarily and becoming a mentor to some of the kids at the facility. With plans to train to become a park ranger, he first needs to return to Delos Crossing as it's the only place he has to go in the intervening months. He's met by Alyson who picks him up despite not having seen each other for years. Their reunion after a decade is positive but fragile as they skim over the surface of the trauma they both suffered 10 years prior.
As Tyler returns to Delos Crossing, it becomes clear he's intent on getting to the bottom of what really happened. He's determined to try and dig into and find out what happened with his mom, why she did what she did and condemned all of them to this memory. He and Alyson realize they're still able to hear each other's voices in their heads, and visualize shared memories when they're together.
Despite Tyler's dogged pursuit of the truth, Alyson is less keen to stir up old and painful memories. Eventually we learn that it wasn't Tyler who had stabbed Mary-Ann but Alyson, keen to protect her brother from their mother and save his life. Tyler had convinced Alyson to say it was him that stabbed Mary-Ann to the cops.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Tyler and Alyson together investigate the case, talking to people who knew their mom when she was alive to try and understand who she really was. The twins also find a hidden compartment in the barn on their property where Mary-Ann had set up a bunch of puzzles that tell her story. Mary-Ann's imagination was vivid and she wrote a book (the Book of Goblins) for the twins. It becomes clear that the stories she's written are an effort to work through her own trauma including the difficult relationship she had with her mom, losing a baby (the twins' older brother, Leo) and battling with what seems to be implied are mental health issues she seemingly refused to take medication for.
They learned that their mom relied on handouts to feed them some months but could be flaky and not show up for the shifts she was supposed to work.
They learned that she was deeply supportive and loving of them even though her relationship with her own parents hadn't ended on the best terms. Tyler finds a book called "Raising Your Transgender Child" in Mary-Ann's room and is upset and confused by this new revelation, having always believed that his mother had never accepted who he was and that's why she had pulled a gun on him.
They learned that she had turned down the suggestion of conversion therapy from a religious family friend, Tessa, for Tyler when his mom had realized she had a trans kid and didn't know how best to support him.
They also learned that their father was in fact Tom, the husband of Tessa, who had an affair with their mom and she got pregnant with the two of them. Tom had offered Mary-Ann the money for an abortion but she refused.
They learned the night Mary-Ann pulled a gun on Tyler, the night before their father had told her if she ever told anyone about their affair (and as such ruining his hopes of becoming town mayor), then she would lose the children. It seems to be this final straw that's implied to have pushed Mary-Ann over the edge. Tyler's thoughts are that it was a step too far and that his mother couldn't contemplate life without him and Alyson, and so had planned to end it all.
Eventually both Tyler and Alyson confront their father to tell him they already know he's their father and he tells them that their mom was unhinged and constantly taking handouts. He admits to having been hiding in the trees the night Mary-Ann had followed Tyler with the gun and says that if the twins ever tell anybody he's their father, he'll tell the police department it was really Alyson who had stabbed Mary-Ann.
The twins tell their father that Tessa already knows the truth about them, that she had figured it out herself, and that's why she'd been so keen on giving their mom handouts. She couldn't bear the thought of the twins starving and living in poverty because their father didn't want his own reputation ruined.
The twins both reject their father and tell him to get out of their sight because he's part of the reason their mom's dead. With a conclusion found, they make plans to move on with their lives. Alyson and a mutual friend Michael move to Juneau and Tyler stays with them while he waits to submit his application to become a park ranger at Denali for the following summer.
PERSONALITY
Headstrong
Having always been the more wild and outspoken of the twins, Tyler is incredibly independent and headstrong to the point of being stubborn at times if he really digs his heels in. Despite being raised as a twin in quite in insular little family unit, his time at Fireweed has forced him to learn how to think independently of outside influence, no matter how close or dear he regards them.
On the one hand, his insistence to keep digging towards the truth upsets Alyson and he's unable to put her feelings above his need to know the truth. We see this after a particularly intense shared memory visualization where Alyson feels the need to physically walk away. Tyler is disappointed that she didn't stay to see it through. What results is a couple of weeks where the twins don't talk to each other.
On the other hand, Tyler's steadfast motivation to keep digging until arrives at the truth is the likely reason the twins finally uncovered who their father is and what part he had to play in their mother's demise.
We also see Tyler being headstrong when it comes to taking the blame for Mary-Ann being stabbed and ultimately contributing to her death by drowning. He convinces Alyson to say it was him who did it and won't let her change her mind.
Loyal
Loyalty is a big part of what makes Tyler him at his core. He knows unequivocally that Alyson saved his life by stabbing their mother, and his loyalty to Alyson never waivers even as he's sent away to Fireweed to live as an "at risk" child. Never does he give up the truth, continuing to take the punishment for his sister's actions without a single moment of doubt or regret. To him, there's no other way to show his loyalty to his sister.
We also see this loyalty come into play again when he voluntarily chooses to stay on at Fireweed to help mentor the younger kids brought to the residential center. Part of staying is to pay back people like Aaron, the counsellor who worked with him when he first arrived at Fireweed, for their commitment and belief in him.
Blunt
Without being overtly rude, Tyler can be incredibly forthright about his opinions and doesn't shy away from bluntness. He has the ability to be empathetic towards others but it seems he's oftentimes quicker to say what he thinks than to wonder how the other party will receive his words. He's not malicious in his intentions but assumes that people won't crumble at the first sign of an opposing opinion.
He's also used to the harmful rhetoric that surrounds transgender people and has no patience for those whose opinions are incorrect, misinformed, uneducated and ignorant. He's more than willing to put people in their place without a second thought for their feelings if needed.
Reserved
Throughout his childhood, the person he trusted the most was his sister Alyson and it took him sometime before he was able to put into words how he felt about who he really was. When his mom found out, he learned quickly that not everybody can trusted.
This is a worldview that has been continually stoked throughout his formative years. It doesn't take a lot of digging to understand that he's partly reserved about himself because of very real threats to the transgender community. But further than that, there's too many points from his past that have taught him not to give all of himself or give away who he is all too easily. Too many people that he trusted in the past have done things that, in Tyler's eyes, have hurt him. Eddy sent him away to Fireweed and wouldn't let Alyson visit him. Tessa tried to give his mom a leaflet about conversion therapy on finding out that he's transgender. His own father never admitted to either of them of the true nature of their relationship despite them being in his general store at least once a week.
And so he tends to keep people at arm's length, even if he can appear warm and open about some things.
Passionate
Despite his reserved nature about the deepest parts of himself, when Tyler is passionate about something he won't keep it to himself. Nature speaks to his soul and so his dream job is to become a park ranger to allow him to both look after nature and educate others about why they should look after it too.
He's passionate about being a good mentor to the "at risk" kids that arrive at Fireweed, who need people like him to not give up on them and patiently keep showing up for them. He believes in them as passionately as anything else and it's clear that he's fully committed to them and their wellbeing, taking his role as mentor very seriously. He's helped kids with college applications, reached out to therapists to get sessions started, sought out venues that can be used as an art space for a talented artist mentee. When Tyler commits it's with his entire self.
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS
Alyson
Mary-Ann
Aaron
Michael
Tessa & Tom
Eddy
Name: Tyler Ronan
Canon: Tell Me Why
Age: 22 (game epilogue)
Birthday: March 7 1994
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5'7
Gender: Male (Transgender)
CONTENT WARNINGS
Transphobia - Tyler is a trans man who has experienced transphobia in his recent past. He doesn't talk about it all that openly with people he doesn't know but be aware it's something he thinks about every day and could come up with introspective thoughts.
Child neglect, child abuse & familial violence - Tyler experienced all of these things growing up alongside his twin sister. He won't open up about it easily but be aware this is something that continues to affect him and how he interacts with people.
Brief mention of conversion therapy in his history section.
Brief mention of conversion therapy in his history section.
HISTORY
Tyler's history starts in rural Alaska, in a town called Delos Crossing, where he lived with his mother, Mary-Ann, and twin sister, Alyson, until the age of 10. Their family dynamic was close-knit, and the relationship that Tyler had with Alyson was his most treasured.
As Tyler's understanding of his gender identity evolved, he felt increasingly misunderstood at home. He'd feel angry and frustrated being misgendered by those closest to him. He knew to the very fiber of his being that he was a boy no matter the gender he'd been assigned at birth. This anger comes to a head when he realizes his mom has taken his diary, a place where he's poured his heart out about all these realizations about his gender.
Tyler's mom, a single-parent of 2 who struggled to hold down a job, we later learn was affected by what seems to be construed as poor mental health coupled with living on the poverty line. While Tyler's recollection of her is a mixed bag of fun, creativity, and adventure held against a backdrop of deep sadness, he learns throughout the course of the game all the obstacles his mother needed to overcome just in order to survive.
At the age of 10, less than 2 weeks before their 11th birthday, Tyler asks Alyson to cut his hair short. The resulting gender euphoria takes him to new highs and, in his excitement, he goes to share his new hair cut with his mom. In his memories, his mom is fiddling with a shotgun when he finds her and the look in her eyes is bordering on deranged when she sees him. He runs away, chased down onto the pier that juts out into the lake that butts up against their property. Mary-Ann has the shotgun and is pointing it at him.
What ensues results in Mary-Ann falling into the lake, having been stabbed in the side with a pair of scissors, and drowning. Tyler and Alyson are taken into police custody as they try to get to the bottom of the tragedy and Tyler confesses to stabbing Mary-Ann to defend himself against her.
Owing to the police chief's (a family friend) connections, at aged 11 only a few weeks later, Tyler is sent to a residential center called Fireweed. There he's forced to live and grow up until the age of 18. During that time he receives gender affirming care and transitions medically by taking testosterone, masculinizing his body until he feels more in-line with who he is.
He finally leaves Fireweed at the age of 21, staying an additional 3 years voluntarily and becoming a mentor to some of the kids at the facility. With plans to train to become a park ranger, he first needs to return to Delos Crossing as it's the only place he has to go in the intervening months. He's met by Alyson who picks him up despite not having seen each other for years. Their reunion after a decade is positive but fragile as they skim over the surface of the trauma they both suffered 10 years prior.
As Tyler returns to Delos Crossing, it becomes clear he's intent on getting to the bottom of what really happened. He's determined to try and dig into and find out what happened with his mom, why she did what she did and condemned all of them to this memory. He and Alyson realize they're still able to hear each other's voices in their heads, and visualize shared memories when they're together.
Despite Tyler's dogged pursuit of the truth, Alyson is less keen to stir up old and painful memories. Eventually we learn that it wasn't Tyler who had stabbed Mary-Ann but Alyson, keen to protect her brother from their mother and save his life. Tyler had convinced Alyson to say it was him that stabbed Mary-Ann to the cops.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Tyler and Alyson together investigate the case, talking to people who knew their mom when she was alive to try and understand who she really was. The twins also find a hidden compartment in the barn on their property where Mary-Ann had set up a bunch of puzzles that tell her story. Mary-Ann's imagination was vivid and she wrote a book (the Book of Goblins) for the twins. It becomes clear that the stories she's written are an effort to work through her own trauma including the difficult relationship she had with her mom, losing a baby (the twins' older brother, Leo) and battling with what seems to be implied are mental health issues she seemingly refused to take medication for.
They learned that their mom relied on handouts to feed them some months but could be flaky and not show up for the shifts she was supposed to work.
They learned that she was deeply supportive and loving of them even though her relationship with her own parents hadn't ended on the best terms. Tyler finds a book called "Raising Your Transgender Child" in Mary-Ann's room and is upset and confused by this new revelation, having always believed that his mother had never accepted who he was and that's why she had pulled a gun on him.
They learned that she had turned down the suggestion of conversion therapy from a religious family friend, Tessa, for Tyler when his mom had realized she had a trans kid and didn't know how best to support him.
They also learned that their father was in fact Tom, the husband of Tessa, who had an affair with their mom and she got pregnant with the two of them. Tom had offered Mary-Ann the money for an abortion but she refused.
They learned the night Mary-Ann pulled a gun on Tyler, the night before their father had told her if she ever told anyone about their affair (and as such ruining his hopes of becoming town mayor), then she would lose the children. It seems to be this final straw that's implied to have pushed Mary-Ann over the edge. Tyler's thoughts are that it was a step too far and that his mother couldn't contemplate life without him and Alyson, and so had planned to end it all.
Eventually both Tyler and Alyson confront their father to tell him they already know he's their father and he tells them that their mom was unhinged and constantly taking handouts. He admits to having been hiding in the trees the night Mary-Ann had followed Tyler with the gun and says that if the twins ever tell anybody he's their father, he'll tell the police department it was really Alyson who had stabbed Mary-Ann.
The twins tell their father that Tessa already knows the truth about them, that she had figured it out herself, and that's why she'd been so keen on giving their mom handouts. She couldn't bear the thought of the twins starving and living in poverty because their father didn't want his own reputation ruined.
The twins both reject their father and tell him to get out of their sight because he's part of the reason their mom's dead. With a conclusion found, they make plans to move on with their lives. Alyson and a mutual friend Michael move to Juneau and Tyler stays with them while he waits to submit his application to become a park ranger at Denali for the following summer.
PERSONALITY
Headstrong
Having always been the more wild and outspoken of the twins, Tyler is incredibly independent and headstrong to the point of being stubborn at times if he really digs his heels in. Despite being raised as a twin in quite in insular little family unit, his time at Fireweed has forced him to learn how to think independently of outside influence, no matter how close or dear he regards them.
On the one hand, his insistence to keep digging towards the truth upsets Alyson and he's unable to put her feelings above his need to know the truth. We see this after a particularly intense shared memory visualization where Alyson feels the need to physically walk away. Tyler is disappointed that she didn't stay to see it through. What results is a couple of weeks where the twins don't talk to each other.
On the other hand, Tyler's steadfast motivation to keep digging until arrives at the truth is the likely reason the twins finally uncovered who their father is and what part he had to play in their mother's demise.
We also see Tyler being headstrong when it comes to taking the blame for Mary-Ann being stabbed and ultimately contributing to her death by drowning. He convinces Alyson to say it was him who did it and won't let her change her mind.
Loyal
Loyalty is a big part of what makes Tyler him at his core. He knows unequivocally that Alyson saved his life by stabbing their mother, and his loyalty to Alyson never waivers even as he's sent away to Fireweed to live as an "at risk" child. Never does he give up the truth, continuing to take the punishment for his sister's actions without a single moment of doubt or regret. To him, there's no other way to show his loyalty to his sister.
We also see this loyalty come into play again when he voluntarily chooses to stay on at Fireweed to help mentor the younger kids brought to the residential center. Part of staying is to pay back people like Aaron, the counsellor who worked with him when he first arrived at Fireweed, for their commitment and belief in him.
Blunt
Without being overtly rude, Tyler can be incredibly forthright about his opinions and doesn't shy away from bluntness. He has the ability to be empathetic towards others but it seems he's oftentimes quicker to say what he thinks than to wonder how the other party will receive his words. He's not malicious in his intentions but assumes that people won't crumble at the first sign of an opposing opinion.
He's also used to the harmful rhetoric that surrounds transgender people and has no patience for those whose opinions are incorrect, misinformed, uneducated and ignorant. He's more than willing to put people in their place without a second thought for their feelings if needed.
Reserved
Throughout his childhood, the person he trusted the most was his sister Alyson and it took him sometime before he was able to put into words how he felt about who he really was. When his mom found out, he learned quickly that not everybody can trusted.
This is a worldview that has been continually stoked throughout his formative years. It doesn't take a lot of digging to understand that he's partly reserved about himself because of very real threats to the transgender community. But further than that, there's too many points from his past that have taught him not to give all of himself or give away who he is all too easily. Too many people that he trusted in the past have done things that, in Tyler's eyes, have hurt him. Eddy sent him away to Fireweed and wouldn't let Alyson visit him. Tessa tried to give his mom a leaflet about conversion therapy on finding out that he's transgender. His own father never admitted to either of them of the true nature of their relationship despite them being in his general store at least once a week.
And so he tends to keep people at arm's length, even if he can appear warm and open about some things.
Passionate
Despite his reserved nature about the deepest parts of himself, when Tyler is passionate about something he won't keep it to himself. Nature speaks to his soul and so his dream job is to become a park ranger to allow him to both look after nature and educate others about why they should look after it too.
He's passionate about being a good mentor to the "at risk" kids that arrive at Fireweed, who need people like him to not give up on them and patiently keep showing up for them. He believes in them as passionately as anything else and it's clear that he's fully committed to them and their wellbeing, taking his role as mentor very seriously. He's helped kids with college applications, reached out to therapists to get sessions started, sought out venues that can be used as an art space for a talented artist mentee. When Tyler commits it's with his entire self.
SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS
Alyson
Mary-Ann
Aaron
Michael
Tessa & Tom
Eddy
