He Heals the Sick

I fear I might’ve shielded y’all from Eleanor’s more unpleasant qualities, and that’s because I really like Eleanor and I want y’all to like her too. But in truth, well…..Ellie is kinda shitty sometimes. :/

As might be expected to someone who was married to Merry Meadowsweet for 2 decades- while Maple just sorta tolerates her relationship with Merry, Eleanor thrived within her life with her former husband, and that’s because she’s a lot like him. Eleanor is ambitious, ruthless, and entirely self-assured, using her religion as a means to justify her every action, good and bad. She loved being the church’s First Lady because of the luxury and authority it afforded her. While she is kind and compassionate, it is often couched in her religious beliefs, with Eleanor believing that one simply can NOT be a good person without god. Worse yet, during her time with Merry, her kindness was largely conditional, with the end goal of recruiting people to the church and helping them see the way, the light, and the truth ✨

Eleanor was aggressively homophobic and contributed heavily to her children’s feelings of alienation and loneliness. No argument they could muster was enough to sway her convinction. Post-divorce, still reeling with her disgust and fury at Merry’s sexual immorality, she told Toffee point-blank that she would never accept a queer as a son, leading him to suppress himself and seek comfort in places he shouldn’t have. The only reason Eleanor changed was because her dogmatic religious fervor ultimately blew up in her face. When Toffee’s secret affair with Don inevitably collapses, he spins out of control, landing comatose in the hospital from a near-fatal case of alcohol poisoning. This would be the worst night of Eleanor’s life, made worse by the ambiguity on whether or not it was an accident. Toffee will not elaborate- won’t even look her in the eye- and Eleanor realizes that something has to give.

So Eleanor changes. She becomes kinder, more compassionate, more tolerant- letting go of her anger at Merry, at the church, and at herself. She spares Topher of the queerphobia she aimed at Toffee, and is instead gingerly supportive when he comes out as trans. She apologizes to Toffee, and they spend a long time rebuilding their lost bond. In the end, she and her sons come out of the divorce as a restored, unbreakable family of three.

All this said….we all know the saying about teaching an old dog new tricks. Eleanor is old-school, and she is still devout, and that means that her response to most problems is “pray”. In psychological terms, this is called “spiritual bypassing”, and it is a defense mechanism that allows Eleanor to gloss over issues while believing she’s promoting harmony and faith. For a long time she views Topher’s atheism as a personal insult and didn’t speak to him for months upon discovering it. Even now, she subtly (or in this case, unsubtly) tries to push him toward faith as a solution, which Topher of course resents, as so many of his problems (anxiety, depression, mood swings) are the direct result of religious trauma. Eleanor struggles to be tolerant of other religions, perceives most struggles as trials from god, and insists on unflinching positivity and blind faith. Topher finds it unhelpful, as does Toffee, to an extent (Ellie gets along well with his husband Bob, buuuuut she sometimes tries to evangelize to Bob and it makes everyone uncomfortable). Eleanor’s faith even harms herself, as she frequently denies her less pleasant emotions, insisting that everything is fine when things are clearly not. Eleanor isn’t about to take pills or see a therapist, she’s gonna raw-dog her trauma and mental issues the way the good lord intended! 😤