Adopted into the Thomas family when a toddler, Carroll (usually called “Carey”) lives with his mother and adopted sister Lena in Melody Lake, a small town nestled in the rural woodlands of Agania Province. When we meet him at the beginning of Haunted, Carey is a college senior studying sociology; to complement his degree, he spends his summers as a tour guide and researcher at the historic Pilengis House. Alongside his talents as a singer and pianist, Carey has been gifted with the supernatural ability to levitate—though, the childhood memories of being called a “freak” by others (paired with life getting in the way) have led him to neglect the ability altogether. The most he can do is sit cross-legged in the air.

A notorious introvert even amongst his friends, Carey prefers to reside in peaceful obscurity with the few people he trusts—a trait which often puts him at odds with his desire to one day find his birth family (and thus requires the most terrifying act of all: talking to strangers). While content to live his life as it currently stands, Carey’s surprise discovery of long-lost twin Luke will blow a giant hole into his understanding of himself and his purpose—he unknowingly embarking on a journey to embrace the terrifying potential of his abilities, and to uncover the truth of who he and Luke really are. 

Carey has always been the twin brother to Luke—I can trace both of them back to 2010, when they were respectively named “Charles” and “Luther”. Originally cast as German (as part of a World War II drama I was writing at the time), Charles was the very stern and serious love interest to Roselle, then the story-world’s main narrator. I often drew Charles wearing the color blue and with a mop-top to distinguish him from Luther, both elements which have followed him to the present day.

Charles’ (and later Carey’s) development over the years is overwhelmingly tied to his fraught relationship with his twin brother. Especially in 2015, when I switched their story’s setting from World War II to World War I, Charles became Luther’s antagonist: a college-educated, piano-playing city dweller who was optimistic to a fault, dating Rose, and supportive of the Allied Powers. He became a pilot for the Allies for a spell, before the World War I story-world crumbled away under its own weight in 2018.

Divorced from a time and place, Charles gained his levitation abilities in late 2018, after a series of dreams I had where he and Luther had levitation powers (which then spawned a lot of research into the ability!). He then went dormant for two years before returning as “Carey” in 2020, during his story-world’s rebuild into what is now Haunted. While still the more optimistic (and serious) of the two, Carey has really embraced his role as an introvert, which has become central to his arc. Carey’s most recent development as a museum attendant is drawn from life—providing me with plenty of fodder as Carey uncovers Ashland’s lost imperial history throughout Haunted’s plot.

Carey’s Beatle-esque mop top wasn’t always gray—in fact, he and Luke had the same hair color (a sort of dirty blond/light brown color) from 2010 until the latter half of 2020. Starting in July or so of that year, I began experimenting with the twins’ outfits and color palettes, as a subtle way to showcase their differences in life and personality. Since the color blue has always followed Carey, I started shading his then-brown hair with streaks of blue, before his hair went blue altogether (albeit briefly). This development spawned a research rabbit hole into natural hair colors that were closest to the color blue, without being blue outright. Thus, Carey’s hair became light gray, which it’s remained ever since. 

As for the in-story reason why Carey’s hair is “naturally gray” (as he calls it), Carey and Luke have their own theories as to how their hair and eye colors are different and yet they’re identical twins—the most common theory centering on their levitation abilities having something to do with it.

Carey’s doll was made by my aunt for Christmas 2021, replacing his 2015 doll. His current outfit was mostly sewn between 2022 and 2023 (though, he and the Sviats doll currently share a coat).

Songs whose lyrics and/or melody call to mind scenes involving Carey; character development and beliefs; or general moods and themes from over the years. Specific to Carey are songs whose vocalists sound most like how I hear him in my head–though, many also bleed over into his character development.

EJ

Jordy

Lena

Luke