Adopted into the Holgwin family when a toddler, Luke lives in Linden Heights, a suburb within the bustling metropolitan area of Valoren (Ashland’s capital city). Currently, Luke’s life hasn’t quite gone the way he’s wanted it to: his plans to enter college on a sports scholarship shuttered by an injury and poor grades, with the past few years marred by dead-end jobs and a shattered sense of confidence. Some days, it seems the only thing Luke has going for him is his supernatural ability to levitate—a gift he’s been prohibited from using outside the house, out of his family’s fear “someone” could be watching him. (That, of course, doesn’t stop him from practicing from jump tricks and parkour moves in his spare time.)

About seven months younger than his adoptive brother Aaron, Luke willfully lives within Aaron’s shadow. Aaron is “cool”, after all, and Luke’s only friend to boot—in a word, he makes it easy for Luke to paper over his own awkwardness and insecurities. A lingering bitterness towards the birth family that abandoned him has further driven Luke to define himself through the lens of what’s considered “cool” and “manly”. While Aaron’s impending departure for military training leaves Luke dreading the future, his chance discovery of long-lost twin Carey unknowingly opens a door—the opportunity to learn to embrace himself for who he is, and not what he thinks others want him to be. 

Luke has always been the twin brother to Carey—I can trace both of them back to 2010, when they were respectively named “Luther” and “Charles”. Originally cast as German (as part of a World War II drama I was writing at the time), Luther was Charles’ “crazy” twin brother who always teased him, and followed wherever Charles went. I often drew Luther wearing the color red and with shorter hair to distinguish him from Charles, both elements which have followed him to the present day.

Luther’s (and later Luke’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, Luther became Charles’ antagonist: an “everyman” who was quite crass and pessimistic, with no money, job, nor significant other, and supportive of the Central Powers. He was cast as a soldier who deserted the Central Powers for a spell, before the World War I story-world crumbled away under its own weight in 2018. 

Divorced from a time and place, Luther gained his levitation abilities in late 2018, after a series of dreams I had where he and Charles had levitation powers (which then spawned a lot of research into the ability!). He then went dormant for two years before returning as “Luke” in 2020, during his story-world’s rebuild into what is now Haunted. While not nearly as brusque and nihilistic as in the past, Luke’s moodiness, want of attention, and lack of a sense of purpose remain central to his arc. Most recently, Luke’s dream of one day being famous for his abilities has led me down a rabbit hole of celebrity culture and the effects of fame.

Luke may not want to hear it, but Ariel (his “girly” middle name, as he likes to lament) is very intentional on my part. Long before a certain mermaid popularized the name for females, “Ariel” was a masculine name: it translates to “Lion of God” from the original Hebrew.

Luke’s doll was made by my aunt for Christmas 2021, replacing his 2015 doll. His current outfit was sewn between 2022 and 2023.

Songs whose lyrics and/or melody call to mind scenes involving Luke; character development and beliefs; or general moods and themes from over the years.

Aaron

Carroll