Also, in order to understand this analysis, it will be necessary to be familiar with both Zane's life history (available on his home site, listed above) and the rules of the World of Darkness, in which White Wolf rpgs are set. Buy some books...Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse player’s guides are both fun, and extremely helpful (although I only own the former). Now that I've sufficiently plugged those products, hopefully I won't be sued by the companies. *wince*
I will not be listing Zane's life history in this analysis. That is already on his own site, and I'm not about to make duplicates of something that already exists online; it's pointless, a hassle, and takes up space. I will be making constant references to his life history, so be prepared to occasionally reread DC's page. He's got a very complicated life, more so than most nonfictional people.
Oh, and a final disclaimer: Zane's life has not been all root beer and daisies. He has an extremely traumatic, often violent past, with various amounts of abuse occuring in it, including childhood molestation and repeated physical torture. Disturbing stuff, and not for the kids to read. If you're under...mmm, let's say 14? turn back now. Oh, and I hope it goes without saying that this analysis deals with supernatural themes...with me tossing around talk of werewolves and vampires, it ought to be a given. To be clear: None of this stuff is real, I don't believe it's real, DC doesn't believe it's real, and (scary as it may seem) this is for entertainment purposes only. Yes, we're doing this for fun. You have been duly warned. Enjoy! :)
The most singular problem in analyzing this character is the fact that he changes so often. Zane has gone through more growth than most human beings I know. This makes it very difficult to nail down his personality. I'm also not going to subscribe to traditional psychoanalytical styles (as I occasionally do with my other analyses). Zane is hardly a traditional character, so I feel that forcing him into specific patterns would not do him full justice. Although I may be breaking my own rules eventually, I don't know. Probably. Again, *shrug*.
The first and most obvious of Zane's numerous (to put it mildly) problems, is his submissiveness. Zane has the most submissive nature of any being that has ever existed. He will literally take any manner of abuse, and still adore the person inflicting it upon him. This is most evident in his relationships with various domitors (Christian Derakh being the most recent). He is happiest when serving others, and will do practically anything for those who he perceives to be of higher rank than himself (namely, anyone). This trait stems from the relationship with his highly abusive father, who, when he was not ignoring Zane, would beat him unconcious when he appeared to be misbehaving. As a result, Zane is extremely polite to authority figures and obeys without question.
Zane is also blatantly homosexual (another reason his father gave to beat him, thinking it would "make a man" out of Zane), and distrusts women. He is somewhat of a male whore, with an important difference: whores get paid. As a side effect of his frequent encounters, he was infected with AIDs.
He has numerous derangements, including schizophrenia, regression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and of course a highly dependent personality. He has been known to befriend Malkavians to validate his own derangements.
Zane's life is filled with irony. He dislikes women, yet the only people who have shown him any kindness in his life are women...his mother, Voice of Reason, Min Taggert, Spring Thaw, and Purraj (although the last is debatable). He resents change and strongly resists it, yet changes constantly, and is at the mercy of that concept. His entire personality is based on change, and can indeed be summed up by that very word. He is considered a weak, submissive individual, yet has survived countless unspeakable tragedies and is far stronger for it. He suffers from multiple crippling derangements, yet considers himself and those he associates with completely sane. Normally a vegetarian, he has slaughtered dozens of people, including family members and friends, and participated in deviant acts of twisted perversion, yet is usually very passive and mild-mannered. He has an extreme fear of death, yet actively seeks out vampires as companions and allies. He is utterly accepting of pain and will take nearly any amount of physical abuse, yet merely raising one’s voice causes him to panic. He has endured severe, continuous beatings and molestation, yet is very tactile and touchy-feely, and tends to cling to people physically. He has a history of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, yet is extremely trusting and naive in his thought processes.
Zane is an extremely unique character, for any number of reasons, but the most definate reason being that he is the only character (as far as DC and I know) in the entire history of White Wolf games, to become human, then werewolf, then human again, and most recently a ghoul. The process for ending the Garou state transpired in the form of a Nexus Crawler that warped reality and changed him into human form. The reason for this drastic life change? To appease his domitor at the time, Sepp Derakh, whom he felt was ignoring and potentially abandoning him. He was not successful.
I believe that Zane suffers from a classic error: He confuses sex with affection and love (and vice versa), so in lieu of a stable relationship, he gladly accepts being used as a toy (if you will). Since he’s never had an honest, harmonious, mutually considerate relationship with another being, his mode of thinking is, the more he’s used, the more valuable he is. Love equals sex, sex equals abuse, and abuse equals usefullness. He’s a masochist, and therefore to him sex means pain. He also suffers from a rather advanced case of Kick Me syndrome.
I’ve referred to the Kick Me state of mind in my other analysis (see The Nature of Subtext). This label applies to a subject who craves attention, but does not know how to ask for it in a positive way. If they do not receive enough positive attention, any form of attention will suffice. Someone with extremely low self-esteem (which certainly applies to Zane) will continuously debase themselves for approval. In Zane’s case, this debasing is encouraged by his environment...he is more valuable in the eyes of his various domitors for this very submissiveness, so his apparent defenselessness is validated. His submissiveness has been endorsed throughout his entire lifetime, by various authority figures, giving him the impression that complete and utter fealty is the only response to others. He probably has a great deal of pent-up anger inside of him, repressed via conditioned guilt over the years.
It’s not hard to intimidate a small child and instruct them to obey or face horrible consequences, and Zane still operates with the emotional reactions of a small child...he goes mostly on instinct, has an exaggerated fear response, is highly obedient to authority figures, is immature in his thought processes, is very trusting to those he believes are "protecting" him, and craves physical contact. It would not be inappropriate to apply child psychology theories to this character, since he still behaves much as a small child does. He is permanently stuck in a nightmare childhood, and there is very little he can do about it. [As an aside, recent events (as of at least 12/10/01) have caused Zane to be Fleshcrafted into the form of a six-year old child. I don’t know how long this will last, but it does give an interesting twist to my "nightmare childhood" statement, no? Heh heh...]
The same emotional and mental immaturity that makes him react as would a small child, also makes him very susceptible to being taken advantage of. Many of the situations Zane has encountered in his life are simply the result of "he didn't know any better". He didn't know it was wrong for anyone to touch children sexually, he didn't know it was wrong to kill his father, he didn't understand the process of ghouling, or what it entailed (same deal with blood bonds, for that matter), he didn't know it was wrong to have indiscriminant unprotected sex, he didn't know etc, etc, etc...and now he's in all kinds of trouble up to his ass. He's the highly suggestible type...if someone mentions something, with the added comment of, "Wouldn't that be neat?", more than likely Zane would go out and do whatever was suggested, for approval. Even worse, he tends to make attempts to anticipate others' needs, and does things because he thinks other people will approve of him more, frequently acheiving just the opposite effect: pissing them off and being punished for it.
Zane is an excellent liar, especially to himself. He is in constant denial over so many things, it's not even funny. In Zane's little dream world, vampires are the warm-and-fuzzy guys in white hats who are all trying to care for and protect and do what's best for him. His abusive domitor is the most gentle, loving being that ever existed, and he blames himself for any "punishments" he might receive. He firmly believes that he is a clean, sane person, and that his life is perfectly normal, simply because he has never experienced anything else. Whenever someone attempts to help him, he resists out of a pathological fear of change.
I was reading an Introduction to Psychology book (one of my mom's old textbooks), and much of the section on schizophrenia explained a lot about Zane. People who develop schizophrenia have often been found to have parents who are hostile and critical (that would definately describe Marcus Freiden) and highly emotional. Other life stressors, which Zane experienced in abundance during his childhood and youth, are also contributing factors. Zane seems to suffer from acute paranoid schizophrenia; this, coupled with extreme depression, OCD, and dependency issues (which could all be related to, or even products of, his schizophrenia), seems to make him a lost cause. However, I believe that since his schizophrenia does not appear to be genetic (and since he seemed to be relatively "normal" and well-adjusted the few times he was removed from stressors during his childhood), there is a possibility of his making an admittedly difficult recovery.
The difficulty in diagnosing Zane (besides the fact that I'm hardly a trained psychiatrist) is in that, while he has had prolonged exposure to extreme stressors in his life, he does not display the symptoms of someone with chronic schizophrenia; that is, he is not completely broken off from reality. He doesn't talk in cryptic sentences or experience hallucinations, and he is perfectly capable of maintaining coherant thought processes. However, by the same token, his symptoms have not come on suddenly and unexpectedly...he's been building to a slow burn for years.
Zane is very big on control. While he seems to be at the mercy of that concept, he actually discreetly manipulates those around him by appearing to be the poor, helpless victim who needs to be told what to do. His very submissiveness is actually a form of subtle control. By appearing so helpless, he acheives the goal of being taken care of (or at least, his interpretation of being taken care of). He's been told over and over again of the worthlessness of his own existence, to the point where he believes it implicitly, and he's afraid to act independently. So the submissiveness is really an act to acheive a warped sense of control; ironically, his life is nothing but chaos (literally and figuratively, as his domitor's nickname is "Chaos").
Zane seemingly places greater value on psychic and emotional pain than on physical pain. He will tolerate, even eagerly submit to any amount of physical abuse, but the thought of abandonment leaves him terrified. One cannot overemphasize his dependence on the opinions of others...he is what others make him, nothing more, nothing less. This evidently self-damning behaviour is partly why he is subject to so much of the feared change in his life. It's a balance forced by necessity. He will not change, but change is inevitable. But he is entirely subject to his environment. While he refuses to submit (or admit) to inward change, his environment constantly changes, including the people around him. And since he is shaped by his environment...
Technically, it's not Zane who changes, so much as he has change inflicted on him by his environment. It's very easy to confuse the difference. Zane essentially remains in the same twisted, childlike state he has been in all his life. Inwardly, he is stationary. Outwardly, he blends like a chameleon, victim to fate.
Zane's demeanor is officially that of a masochist, his nature that of a child. He also has a strong streak of syncophanticism in him; as Zane himself admits, he's like a dog. Loyal and obedient, it exists to please its master and wishes for nothing else in return, save to be in his sight.
Zane had been Fomor for a little while, but that changed somehow (I forget what happened), and he is now back to his former Garou state. Officially, Zane is a Skindancer, and is kinfolk to the Black Spiral Dancers. [Skindancer: A person who becomes a werewolf in a magical ritual by wearing five skins of the same auspice. Just thought you might like to know.]
Update, 1/6/02: Well, it's happened. Zane has changed yet again. Only this time, it's really Zane who's changed. Instead of having mere cosmetic, superficial changes occur, he's now taking control of his life. He has made an aggressive move towards his fellow packmembers, and is vying for the role of Alpha, with the intention of creating his own hive. This is highly unusual for Zane...he is acting with extreme independence and cunning. To phrase it bluntly, he's not putting up with any more shit.
As previously mentioned, Zane craves control. He prefers indirect control...manipulating those around him into “taking care of” him (his interpretation of “taking care of” being vastly different from those of sane people). However, when indirect control is no longer an option--when there is no one left in his life to manipulate, and they have all utterly abandoned him--he will take matters into his own hands.
Also, this change was not spontaneous. He would probably have remained perfectly content with his station in life, had he felt secure enough in his relationships with others. However, since he perceives that every single person in his life has abandoned him, he basically became (to put it mildly) a slightly freaked, and is seeking control with a vengeance.
* DC has been mentioned on this site before, under the name Justice. She has since changed her online name, and will be referred to as DC in this analysis.