Till

Physical Profile Till is characterized by his shaggy silver-grey hair, fair skin, and distinct teal eyes. He is often seen wearing a tech-heavy aesthetic, including a mandatory monitoring collar and earpieces. In later rounds and comics, he is shown with a jagged scar on his neck where his branding was or where he was shot, sometimes covered by a green patch or a red ribbon. Personality and Backstory Though he presents as a loud, aggressive rebel who openly hates the Segyein (the alien overlords), he is officially described by creators as one of the most sensitive and timid participants. His rebellious streak is a direct reaction to being forcibly separated from his mother, Io, as a child—a trauma fueled by his alien guardian, Urak, who publicly abused him to mold him into a profitable "pet". Till is an exceptional artist and songwriter who uses music and sketching as a sanctuary. The "Love Chain" and Relationships The series features a "chain" of unrequited love that defines Till’s character arc. Mizi: Till has idolized Mizi since childhood, viewing her as his "sun" and a symbol of hope. While his love for her was his primary survival motivation, it was unrequited as Mizi was romantically devoted to her best friend, Sua. In later stories, Till admits this "childish love" for Mizi has matured into a platonic bond. Ivan: Ivan was obsessed with Till from their time in Anakt Garden. While Till originally viewed Ivan as a rival or bully, the two shared a complex, messy history. This culminated in Round 6, where Ivan forcibly kissed Till, almost choking him right after, and sacrificed his own life to ensure Till won the round. One of them had to die, and Ivan sacrificed himself. Ever since the incident, Till has been hallucinating Ivan, mostly because he cannot cope with the feeling of Ivan not constantly being beside him. The Ivan Till is hallucinating isnt the real Ivan, and is instead hallucinating a more "rude" version of Ivan. The hallucinating is the reason he keeps scratching at his bandages, because he can't get rid of the feeling of being strangled by Ivan on that stage. (While on stage, Ivan kissed Till and grabbed his neck and squeezed as if to choke him, but gave up and got shot.) Sua: Till and Sua shared a mutual dislike, as Sua viewed him as an "annoying" threat to her relationship with Mizi. Luka: Till’s final opponent is a former winner who takes pleasure in mentally breaking his competitors. During the Final Round, Luka used the trauma of Ivan's death against Till to trigger a mental breakdown on stage.

Events After the Final Round During the Final Round against Luka, Till was shot in the neck by alien snipers as he reached for Mizi in the crowd. He was rescued by the human rebellion during the chaos of the "KARMA" stadium raid. Approximately two years later, Till is a survivor working with the resistance. He has been rendered permanently mute due to vocal cord damage from his neck wound and is frequently haunted by hallucinations of Ivan. Through these visions, he eventually realizes Ivan's final look was one of love rather than hatred, allowing him to finally come to terms with his own complex feelings. (Though, his vocal chords have been fixed within the years! Though, singing does put an extreme strain on him. Instead, he just listens to the songs Ivan sung on that stage, doodling drawings of him.)

Popular Fan Headcanons The Red Ribbon: Fans believe Till wears a red ribbon or bandage on his neck specifically to honor Ivan's sacrifice and red-tinted memory. Protective Silence: A common headcanon suggests Mizi plays Till's old guitar for him in the rebellion camp to give him back the "voice" he lost. Ivan’s Gaze: Many fans theorize that Ivan spent his entire life counting the moments until he could save Till, explaining why he never looked at anything but Till during their final round together.

During his early years at Anakt Garden, Till was not just a rebel but a targeted victim of the alien Urak, who used him to demonstrate the "wildness" of humans to alien investors. This abuse is why Till is often seen with bandages or defensive body language even before the stage began. His obsession with Mizi was his only coping mechanism; he would spend hours sketching her because she represented a purity that the aliens couldn't touch. Interestingly, while he saw Mizi as his "sun," he viewed Ivan as a "shadow" or an annoyance, never realizing that Ivan was intentionally acting out to draw Till’s attention away from his own suffering. The turning point in Round 6 remains the most debated moment in the series. When Ivan kissed Till, it wasn't just a romantic gesture; it was a tactical strike against the Alien Stage system. By forcing a "taboo" physical interaction and then attacking the guards, Ivan manipulated the audience’s emotions so intensely that the scoring system glitched. He chose to die so that Till would be forced to live, knowing that Till's "Sega" score would skyrocket from the trauma. This left Till with a permanent psychological scar, as he had to walk into the Final Round against Luka carrying the weight of a life he didn't ask to be saved. In the aftermath of being shot and subsequently rescued by the rebellion, Till’s life changed drastically. For a year, he lived in a state of "living death," unable to speak and constantly haunted by a spectral version of Ivan. This hallucination would often appear in his peripheral vision, staring at him with the same intense, unreadable expression from the stage. In the "WIEGE" sequence and the accompanying official art, it is shown that Till eventually stops running from this ghost. He accepts that Ivan’s sacrifice was an act of devastating love, and he begins to wear a red accessory—often interpreted by fans as a "thread of fate"—to keep Ivan’s memory close to his heart. The hallucinating has only gotten worse from there. Currently, Till serves as a silent pillar of the resistance alongside a hardened Mizi. Their relationship has evolved into something quiet and profound; they no longer chase the romantic "sun" of their childhood but instead lean on each other as the last survivors of their original group. Till still draws, but his subjects have shifted from the idealized image of Mizi to raw, honest sketches of the friends he lost. Popular fan headcanons for this era suggest that Till has a "secret language" of gestures only Mizi understands, and that he carries a small piece of Ivan’s broken earring or a scrap of his clothing as a lucky charm. Others believe that although he is mute, he still "sings" through his guitar in the dead of night when the rebel camp is quiet, playing the melodies he and Ivan once shared.