{ my sweet old etcetera }
&;etcetera.one
ON GIOVANNI: PART ONE: TOPIC - CERBERUS, IN PARTICULAR, GIOVANNI'S AND THE THEORY OF ITS EXISTENCE THEREOF.
I felt as if this needed some clarification as some people expressed their confusion and disapproval thereof of the idea of Giovanni having an alternative personality as is shown in the canon series by the individual named Haine Rammsteiner. This has also prompted me to write this pseudo-guide to the said topic, both for myself and also for the general public such as yourselves who, for some freakish reason, decided to bother to read this useless drivel/justification to my insane ideas.
Now, as the introduction is over and done with, let us get to the point:
Giovanni and Haine have one central thing in common; that they were both subjected to the Cerberus Project experiments headed by Professor Angelica Einstellsehn, and also the certain mark of "graduation" proof - the metal collar bolted to their necks that supposedly controls the Cerberus spinal modification done to them.
As Haine Rammsteiner seems to display violent fits often prompted by the presence of an entity named 'the Black Dog', who also constantly tries to take over Haine's control of his body and his mind, it would seem likely that Giovanni would have experienced similar symptoms of 'fits' and what could only be described as 'struggle for dominance', really.
My theory that the Black Dog is actually a separate entity to the rest of the individual holds throughout this discussion, in some parts more so than the others, and of course the methods that it employ and the forms that it may take outwardly with each of the individual may differ with each experiments.
In Haine, the Black Dog had developed into a perfect killing machine as Einstellsehn had desired it to be. It was only a wrench thrown in the machinery that Haine ended up killing his pseudo-adoptive "sister", Lilly, and caused him to run away from the institution. Ever since then, he had been rejecting that part of him, that part of his mind, and in the process, reverted back inwards into himself to avoid any kind of 'triggers' that may bring the Dog to the surface again; this could perhaps explain his often zombie like callous mannerism that we see in the canon series.
Giovanni, however, had never shown any signs of the Black Dog / Cerberus entity during the first part of his childhood. He had probably repressed and rejected the idea and the very presence of the Black Dog from his mind, thus showing himself as being 'useless' by Einstellsehn and, following the harsh and uncaring treatment by her, reverting even further into himself in the process.
In the series during the flashback scenes we can see that he, as a child, rejected the entire institution and his presence in it as 'not his place' and clearly did not feel as if he belonged there. This was probably heightened by the fact that everyone else (mainly meaning Haine and Lilly) seemed to display the 'fits' that turned them into quite different persons who were radically different to how Giovanni had known them as when they were their 'normal' selves. This would probably be enough to scare a kid shitless, much less compel him to stop withdrawing himself even further from being subjected to the same thing himself. Thus, Giovanni's Black Dog entity was suppressed under the trauma and the terror. This also explains Haine's remark, "so, it has finally started for you also", when Giovanni displays the standard healing ability at the aftermath of their battle in the manga, characteristics of all Cerberus Project subjects, and it backs up the idea that the growth of the Black Dog in Giovanni was slower than normal.
Now, I would like to think that Giovanni's 'Trigger' for the rise of his very own 'Black Dog' is partly due to Haine's break-off from the Cerberus Project. Haine had, most certainly, killed Lilly in order to get out of the Institution. It was either a choice between freedom and killing someone he cared for, and he chose freedom. He, afterwards, chose to shift most of the blame from himself to Einstellsehn and the entire Institution that had planted such entity into his mind and body. I believe that Giovanni never stopped blaming Haine and Haine alone.
So, why and how had Giovanni's perception on the Institution change? It is clear that he had detested the place, more frightened than detested, and was terrified, or, at least intimidated by Professor Einstellsehn; in any case, the feelings were negative. So how had he become "Einstellsehn's lapdog"? These are just a few of many questions that may perhaps never be answered, and my theories are nothing more than a set of feeble and half-arsed thoughts and speculations backed up by nothing more than unreliable source of logic and too much free time.
But we are forgetting the point, so let us get back to the right track.
Giovanni's Dog, so to speak, had thus retracted so far back in his psyche that it was probably impossible for him to be able to call on its "powers" until late in his life, possibly not until after Haine had escaped. This, to me, has a very big implication in the makeup of the Cerberus nature in Giovanni. The impressions made upon his mind at the sight of such violence inflicted by Haine and (to some extent, by Lilly) would have had enough effect on Giovanni's mind to make him be sufficiently wary of the Cerberus inside himself, possibly enough for him to still be cautious about letting the Cerberus "take over", so to speak.
But on the other hand, the feeling of inferiority inherent in Giovanni in the matters of anything(everything) relating to Haine and Einstellsehn would also be quite enough to make Giovanni push and strive to be better than Haine in everything. All in all, this is rather a confusing situation and reflects the struggling of nature vs nurture within Giovanni (as it is, ironically enough, with Haine as well). But unlike Haine, Giovanni has had at his disposal(?) the constant presence of Einstellsehn to shape the direction of his mind. I believe that, at least by the canon timeline, that the terror Giovanni had felt when he was a child had all but dissipated (or, at least, not shown externally), leaving him somewhat free to begin the path that Haine had walked down previously.
Concluding this too long; didn't read tirade:
Haine's Cerberus side is violent, experienced, and dominant, having been given such a free rein for all those years in the Institution. He has hard time controlling it and pushing it back down under the surface, as his mind would still be rather used to letting it take over.
Giovanni's Cerberus, if it exists, is more subtle, degree by degree coaxed out into the surface by Einstellsehn and his own childish thoughts on the wake of Haine's absence, and it is linked inexplicably with Haine himself, the memory and the hero-worship of Giovanni's childhood being so very predominant. In a way, Giovanni's Cerberus is Giovanni himself, Giovanni as he is now in the present timeline.
And this, in a way, makes him a far better case of the Project than Haine.