Before I begin, this is my ramble of SentiAdrien and my thoughts on it
Do not dump your salt on this post ✌️
I remember my first reaction to the sentiAdrien theory when it was first going around in season 3. I thought “huh that’s a pretty interesting concept”. But I moved on from that for awhile before I really reflected on it anymore. When I saw the backlash towards those who were vocal about considering the theory to be true I thought it was odd. To me, Adrien being a Sentimonster changed nothing about him.
What I mean by that is we have been apart of Adrien’s journey from the moment he decided he wanted to go to school and was given the ability to change into one of Paris’ greatest superheroes. His family’s past was a mystery I already accepted and I knew there had to be a reason for Adrien’s odd upbringing. The only thing Adrien being a Sentibeing changes for me is that I now have a better understanding of the Agreste family’s past. But in terms of Adrien himself? He is still the same character I met in season 1 in the episode The Bubbler.
Obviously he has develop more as a character since his first appearance and he continues to grow. Adrien has went through a lot since we first met him and throughout his character’s journey there was always obstacles he had to overcome or are still preventing him from further developing. The biggest obstacles being his own father, Gabriel Agreste. Gabriel was always controlling of Adrien’s life and kept a tight grip on his son. Adrien is prevented from hanging out with his friend more, forced to stay home most of the time or when he isn’t stuck at home he is working for his father on a new campaign. Gabriel’s controlling behavior was something that was always accepted in the fandom since the show started. In Bubbler we learn that Adrien was not even allowed to throw a party to celebrate his own birthday.
Gabriel Agreste controls his son. He does not need an amok to do so either. Adrien being a Sentibeing does not lessen the hardship of this control in my opinion. Adrien is full of love and life. His experiences reflect that. There is no question about it to me that Adrien is a very real person. He has love for his friend, for his partner, and for the world. He also loves his father and with that love comes an overwhelming feeling of not wanting to disappoint him. Gabriel’s control on Adrien never leaves him and it is not because of a feather. It’s because Gabriel raised his son to fear disappointing him. This fear burden’s Adrien but in moments of bravery, he was able to rebel. That’s because Adrien has always freely thought for himself, shared his own opinions, and form his own relations.
The reason why Adrien is not more vocal about his true emotions when it comes to his home life and modeling is not because there is an amok preventing him from being his own person. He is his own person, always has been since we’ve met him. In moments of intense control from Gabriel (aka his father actively chooses give a command with influence from the amok) Adrien’s true feelings and opinions are the only things not influenced. Adrien is not suddenly happy about going to this boring work event instead of getting to be with his friends. He is not suddenly filled with immense happiness from being a model and listening to his father. He feels sadden and disappointed that his father is forcing him to do/not to do something. And the reason Adrien is not vocal about his true feelings is because we learn it’s a deep risk for him to do so. He does not want to seem ungrateful or whiney. To me that’s a reflection of Gabriel lack parenting skills and raising him to feel ashamed of expressing himself.
Which leads me to my point that Adrien was created to be a son to Gabriel and Emilie. Every Sentimonster is created with different purposes and as we learned from the episode Ladybug, some are more advanced than others. So we shouldn’t be comparing a lolipop Sentimonster to Adrien because they are both different levels of advancement and created with different intents. The lolipop was not created to a human. The first result I get when I google “What does it mean to be human” is this list of 12 points from humansandnature.org
The only things we can argue is that point 11 since Adrien was conceived through a method that does not involve genetics, he did inherit genes from past relatives. However, he clearly has inherited his mother’s behaviors and probably can now pass down his own genes since he was made to be human. He was literally created to be human and Adrien is human. Adrien is a human that was conceived differently. That does make him different but it does not take away his human experiences. Adrien has a controlling father, a father that is such a big coward he would resort to drastic means of getting his way. So yes Gabriel can use an amok (for now) but I think of that as another way someone can control another. Humans can be controlled by fear. They can be blackmailed into submission. They can be guilted into doing something. There is many ways a person can be abused or controlled. I see the amok as just another tool for control. But it cannot change Adrien for who he really is and what he goes through.
With every problem identified in a show you expect a resolve. We expected Adrien to stand up to his father and break away from his control since the very beginning of the show. Now that we can be certain he is a Sentimonster (a far more advance one mind you) that narrative is still the same. Adrien needs to gain control over his life. That resolve will still come. Nothing has changed. Adrien is still Adrien. And eventually he will be able to overcome this control Gabriel has both emotionally and physically with the amok. Nothing will lessen Adrien’s human experience to me nor take it away from him.