Also It Somewhat Seems Like His Parents (mainly His Dad ) Are Keeping Him As Oblivious As Possible So He Can Continue The System - Blog Posts

Something that I don't get? Why do some people in the fandom genuinely believe that Kalim's parents are good hearted balls of sunshine exactly like him? I'm not talking about ENG Only people. That could be explained by simple ignorance thanks to the ENG version censoring so much about Jamil and Kalim's backstory. I'm talking about people who are familiar with the JP version and STILL honestly believe that. In my eyes, the canon clearly points at the exact opposite being true, at least in regards to Kalim's father, and Kalim is simply just an unreliable narrator, who is dissociating and living in denial to stay sane. To be more brief, I think Kalim's father is an off screen villain.

There are vignettes where Jamil and Riddle say that one of Kalim's family members poisoned him for him to immediately go into complete denial. Kalim's voice actor even said that part of the reason why Kalim is so generous is because he believes that every day could be his last. (I also suspect it could also be him subconsciously giving people their heart desires to make others stay in his good graces to ward off any similar attempts on his life.) That's a sign that he comes from a super toxic household, and his parents are just giving him expensive gifts to make him happy.

His father also: uses child labour, forces a fucking child to be a poison tester, possibly beats the Vipers when they displease him according to the JP version (the line could be taken a few different ways) and it's VERY heavily implied that he has a harem in the JP version. No one who is genuinely a good person would do any of those things!

Let's face it. There is no such thing as an ethical billionaire. People who become that wealthy always so by crushing a few heads to get to the top. The Asims are no exception.

The fact that his father is involved in politics makes him even worse. If he rubs elbows with the royals there, he could very well be like Jafar and manipulating the sultan of his country in the worst way possible.

That's pretty much my read of it, I didn't know people thought differently.

I understand the idea that Kalim's sunshiny personality has to come from somewhere, but his home life is fraught with trouble. Kalim seems to be the exception to the generally accepted rule that his family is all out to serve themselves. He might have someone in his life that could influence him to be so positive, but it seems just as likely that his disposition is a coping mechanism. He tries to be the person he wants others to be: helpful to a fault, willing to use his wealth and power to make life easier for others, and able to be trusted at face value. The game hasn't made any indicators that Kalim bears a resemblance to anyone at home in regards to his personality. So when considering what we know about his home life, we can say that he's been sheltered and spoiled by his parents but that definitely doesn't mean that they are automatically good people.

Thank you for your take.