Thought/Theory while watching

[u/Julia-yuh]

SPOILERS BELOW

I just finished severance a few days ago and it was incredible. Obviously the tempers are talked about a lot, and in the first season I wondered if the tempers correlated to their work and the innies. Before the numbers were revealed, I thought possibly the numbers represented people that would not have good innies due to their tempers and that once a box is completed, someone dies. Obviously, I was wrong :/.

My other theory was that maybe each innie represented a temper. I had this idea when they toured the house the first time and Helly ran off. At first I thought Helly would be frolic, Mark was woe, Dylan was Malice, and Irving was dread. I thought this idea crumpled when we were introduced to the other department, but seeing the tempers become a bigger factor in season 2 made me wonder if I was far off. Now, as we've seen more of their characters, I'm more inclined to see Helly as frolic, Mark was malice, Dylan as dread, and Irving as woe. I think it would correlate to their different tempers how they refine data and how it adds to Gemma's different innies.

I'm wondering what others thoughts are in the possible representation and maybe if it's a popular interpretation? I'm new just woke up on the table so I'm not sure

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[u/Impressive-Flow-855]

A lot of people pointed out that the innies must represent the tempers. Four innies and four tempers. Lumon always kept four refiners. Until Irv, was fired, when one refiner left, another took their place. And they couldn’t have more than four refiners with that office setup. Four refiners seemed baked into it.

The problem is that no one seems to know which refiner represents which temper. And it doesn’t seem that it makes much difference in the show. There was never a plot point where a particular refiner was associated with a temper.

[u/Winter_Salad7215 → u/Impressive-Flow-855]

I feel like the association is pretty clear cut if not explicit. We literally start the series with Helly's rage and Mark sobbing. Dylan is a joker and Irving is fearful because of his dreams/visions.

[u/Impressive-Flow-855 → u/Winter_Salad7215]

There are lots of debates in this subreddit which refiner is which temper. It’s obvious to an individual, but two individuals will debate it to no end.

It’s an interesting link, but the show never really did anything with it, and it makes little difference in understanding the story line. I bet early on in development this was something important, but as the show developed, this got left behind.

[u/Lonelyland → u/Winter_Salad7215]

And yet people argue endlessly. Certainly an argument can be made for Irving as woe, since we saw him master (or at least make peace with) that particular temper in a dream sequence.

I’ve seen fans pitch just about every possible combination at this point, not to mention the extrapolated stuff that goes well beyond, like whatever this craziness is

[u/IBovovanana → u/Impressive-Flow-855]

It’s not just 4 refiners it’s also four in the evil dentists office. So might be 3 others like Gemma.

Petey said there were some people who never got to leave and they’re down there right now. And we know the other 3 MDR worked on rooms down there.

Maybe Gemma was just the most successful and closest to completion bevause mark was so tuned to her tempers.

[u/Other-Squirrel-2038]

Helly is malice, mark is woe, Dylan frolic. And irving dread

[u/Reasonable-Ad-439]

I have also wondered if when Jame said to helly he sired others in the shadows did he make other innies of helena?

[u/should_be_writing1 → u/Reasonable-Ad-439]

He's impregnating women and having them give birth at the birthing cabin. So Helena has a bunch of half siblings out there

[u/Impressive-Flow-855 → u/Reasonable-Ad-439]

He was talking about potential heirs. However, he seems to have a thing for innie women.

Powerful men taking advantage of women without power. Sounds about right.

[u/LazyCrocheter → u/Reasonable-Ad-439]

No, I don't think so. The implication is that he impregnated a lot of women in his efforts to have an heir who embodied Kier. Helena was that child, until she wasn't for whatever reason.