| abstract
| - Lucy's Parents are referenced little and seen almost not at all. Despite being the parents of the series' protagonist and main character, the facts that are known of them reveal more about the series' shortcomings than about the characters themselves. According to Lucy/Kaede, her parents abandoned her in a forest somewhere in Kamakura, naked and exposed to die, when she was only an infant. Found by authorities, she was turned over to the local orphanage. From an early age, both the staff and the other children treated the young horned girl with contempt, dismissal, isolation and outright abuse. It is never revealed how it is Lucy came to know of this account. It is equally possible that she simply asked when she was old enough to understand, or that someone at the orphanage learned of this and wished to taunt her with such harsh knowledge. In the anime, Tomoo specifically tells her he heard she was found all alone in a field, meaning her origins were made known to the children by presumably the staff. Though Lucy states she "no longer wishes to kill them," she otherwise doesn't express an interest in finding her parents for either answers, an apology, or revenge. It could be taken as indicative that she does not leave the Kamakura area for the five years after she murdered Kouta's family, perhaps in the distant hope, for whatever reason, she might encounter her parents or someone that knew them. In any event, this is never addressed. Another question is who named her "Kaede," as she was abandoned in the forest as an infant, and unless she happened to be abandoned with her birth certificate on her person and it bears the name, "Kaede" is most likely to be a name assigned to her by the staff of the orphanage. Absolutely nothing is known of the economic status of Lucy's parents, though the choice to leave her to die in such a state might indicate relative poverty and a lack of education. There is also the notion that Lucy was born out of wedlock to very young or otherwise unmarried parents, making disposing of her already an option in their minds, even absent her horns. Another implication can be taken from the fact that Lucy's birth did not draw any attention, as birth oddities often do, meaning perhaps she was not born in a hospital. But this is empirical speculation, as the fact is very lately revealed in the series and only adds slightly more information to her hazy beginnings. All that's known is regardless of their economic situation, Lucy's mother wanted to keep the child, but her significant other did not. The storyline of Chief Kakuzawa and his plans came to an end after his forces recaptured Lucy, and brought her to the underground grotto beneath the Diclonius Research Institute, there to convince her to join with him as Humanity was finally displaced by the Diclonius, of which the Chief believed he and his family were a part. To this end, he presented to her a young boy, a rare (and the only one in the series, either version) male Diclonius. He revealed to Lucy that this boy was her own half-brother, born when Chief Kakuzawa captured, imprisoned and raped Lucy's long-lost mother, whose reproductive system was the only one besides her own capable of birthing Diclonius who were not sterile. For a variety of reasons, Lucy rejects this talk of alliance, killing both Kakuzawa and her half-brother before departing the sinking island to find Kouta. It is in the details of Chief Kakuzawa's account that we learn some things and gain more questions as well. He tells Lucy that only her father wished to dispose of her. Her mother loved her and once she learned what the father had done, began a years-long search that only ended when she was found and captured by the Chief. Notably, Lucy only has the briefest of reactions to this news. While she does make positive choices at the very end of the series, it can be speculated that either she felt the news about her mother's love came too late to change things, or that it strengthened her desire to see those she cared about once more, leading to her complete rejection of Kakuzawa's schemes. While it is possible the father traveled a far distance to rid himself of the infant Lucy, it seems more likely he lived somewhere in the same area as the orphanage. In any event, an orphanage would be a prime place to begin a search for an abandoned child. As stated before, of course, Lucy's birth name and the name she had at the orphanage would most likely not be the same, hindering the search. However, she had at least two distinguishing and utterly unique features: her horns and her hair coloring (though hair is not always present on an infant). Adding to this, Lucy was a resident of the orphanage from her infancy to the time she was around 8-10 years old, had distinguishable features, and the staff was markedly indifferent to her and perhaps even eager to be rid of her. It can be inferred that while Lucy's mother's search for her was heartfelt and sincere, it was not a well-conducted search. A timeline problem or puzzle arises next, with the story of the mother's capture by Chief Kakuzawa. While ultimately not an insurmountable obstacle, it does have difficulties. Chief Kakuzawa tells Lucy that his forces captured her mother not long after they realized her own existence. The existence of an original infecting Diclonius, or 'Queen' was surmised in different ways in the manga and anime, with Kurama and Professor Kakuzawa arriving at this conclusion from various pieces of evidence in the manga, and the Chief deducing it in the anime. Yet in both versions, while any amount of time could have passed from surmisal to capture, it is depicted as following fairly rapidly. The start of the series states that Kouta left Kamakura eight years prior; it is later said that Lucy wandered the area for five years after killing Kouta's family, and was a prisoner at the island facility for three. If the Chief's account is correct, Lucy's mother entered his clutches near to the same time as Lucy herself did, but no real indication of how quickly this happened is given. First, the Chief would have to know something of the girl he regarded as the Messiah, things like her name and where she came from. With the sanction and resources of the Japanese government, this would have happened quickly but not instantaneously, and even when the mother's name was found, her continuing search for her child would have made contact or capture at least a little slower, with her not in one set place for any length of time. The time frame of Lucy's half-brother's conception and birth is another problem. To use the Chief's account, he should be no more than five to six, and if like his sister, not subject to doubled aging. At the side of the Chief, a very tall man, he already comes up to his father's waist. If the capture of Lucy's mother was not near to immediate after Lucy's, and if not pregnant very soon after she was taken captive, then a year or more must be subtracted from the boy's previously calculated age. In addition, his ability to procreate with Lucy, which was Kakuzawa's intent to keep the Diclonius line 'pure' would be in question for five to seven years more at minimum. Other problems arise from this scenario, but the rape, forced birthing, and subsequent end of Lucy's mother's life are at least questions to be considered. Before his death, the Chief also informed Lucy that, while he intended to have more children with her mother, the woman found a way to end her life, which left his scientists scrambling for efforts to harvest her genetic materials and reproductive organs. Ultimately, their attempts were unsuccessful. Aside from the question of why the Chief thought telling Lucy about not only her loving parent but that parent's brutal imprisonment and death would purchase her allegiance, another issue comes with his lack of interest in Lucy's father. Perhaps, like many of the details of his ambitious plans, Kakuzawa failed to consider how the father would provide a complete genetic picture of the one so important to his schemes. Another option is that while Lucy's father did indeed offer half of her genetic makeup, her mother was far more useful since she could give birth to Diclonius children in lieu of any information as to whether or not her father's genes could produce Diclonius children. Due to the lack of any other fertile Diclonii like Lucy, her father might not have possessed the mutation if he ever had children again. Canon certainly never provides such information, and instead puts forth her mother as the one with mutated genes. One final impact Lucy's mother had upon her could be her final decision to save Kouta and not destroy the world. Perhaps learning that her mother had loved her all along helped soften her heart just enough to turn back from the edge. No images of any kind exist for Lucy's father. The ultimate fate of Lucy's father is not known, nor is it known how long into the series' time frame Lucy's mother might still have been alive.
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