Mark Reed

Markus Samuel Reed, normally just referred to as Mark, is the main character. The series showcases his massive failure in his never ending attempt to impress others, which his efforts are always in vain. His prime role in the series is to ensue chaos on the other characters' lives, while he in return gets major karma for it. Many believe he acts this way towards others due to his abusive father, which he also seems to be in dire need to impress.
==Background==
===Physical Appearance===
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Mark is 182.88 centimeters tall, or roughly 6 feet. He's overweight, weighing at 226 pounds (102.512 kg,) and it is most prominent in his thighs, waist, and stomach regions. He has medium length, wavy, reddish brown hair that appears to be slightly messy, as there is always a piece in the back that sticks up in a crescent like shape. His eyes are teal, and like the other characters in the series, his race is not apparent.
Though he has many outfits, he typically wears an oversized, bright purple colored hoodie and has hands hidden by the sleeves; Accompanying the hoodie, he usually wears a long sleeved red shirt underneath with blue jeans that are rolled up at the cuffs and brown shoes. He also always seems to wear a black wristband on his right hand, though it is not always visible because of his sleeves. When he is seen wearing other outfits that involve an over coat or hoodie, the sleeves almost always are long and cover his hands.
===Model sheet===
=== Personality===
Mark is rude, childish, whiny, greedy, vulgar, disregards other's feelings, and will do almost anything for attention. He seems to have an inability to understand other's emotions fully. He's also portrayed as quite naïve, and has a hard time taking a hint. He always hopes that he gets his way whether or not anyone else likes it or not. He gets scared easily, and he cries very often when he doesn't get his way. Mark does not seem to understand basic social queues very well, and acts very childish in nature, often times being unnecessarily loud or saying inappropriate things that hurt or offend others. He does his own thing regardless of what anyone else wants him to do, and usually gets judged profusely because of that. His main personality seems to be playful and childish, which he often plays off of and really exaggerates in order to get attention from others. He is also considered weird and socially inept as shown by his interactions with other characters. Most people who meet Mark find him annoying or too much to handle, which is the main reason why Mark has so many negative relationships with people. Mark also does not seem to get along with authority figures or people who appear to be more in power than him, as he always wants to be the center of attention or the one in control. When confronted with authority, he will usually still act as his normal self, but if pushed far enough he will act submissive, though he would never admit such a thing. He does not often cry in front of others unless it is just for attention, but he does not seem to like crying in front of others when he is genuinely upset. Mark does not talk about his true feelings with others, though this may simply just be because no one ever asks him about them. Despite all of this, if given a reason that he himself deems well enough to pursue, Mark will honestly attempt to better himself.
== Miscellaneous Traits==
===Sexuality ===
Mark has been in a romantic relationship with a female before, but he was confirmed to be gay on multiple occasions as he is sometimes drawn with a gay pride flag on some pride month promotional drawings.https://x.com/TheMarkSideSHOW/status/1532849589149114370?s=20https://x.com/TheMarkSideSHOW/status/1669736948213194755?s=20 He is thought to be panromantic however, since his longing for attention would suggest him being open to the thought of being in a relationship with a girl. Mark has shown romantic interest in mostly males, with only Ashley Moore seeming to be the only exception. His only sexual interest, which has been brought up on multiple occasions, are males. Mark once had a huge romantic as well as sexual fixation on Benjamin Washington, the former of which only ending when he lost his friends for the last time after being told of Luke Tucker's suicide. It is widely known that Mark, at that point of time, does not like Benjamin anymore,https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/678501777453268992/so-im-kind-of-confused-is-mark-romanticly so this could just be an example of Mark's unhealthy sexual tendencies. During the events of the Luke arc, Mark engaged in sexual activity with Luke, but it is not known whether or not this meant anything considering he thought of it as revenge. His current relationship with Steven Mandel does not mention anything sexual, and considering Steven has been confirmed to be asexual, there is no telling if there will be in the future. Mark's only sexual preference is men however, since the one encounter with Ashley is the only time he showed interest in women. Mark in the series doesn't go by any labels due to lack of knowledge on the topic, but sometimes refers to himself as gay.
===Mental Health===
Though not formally being diagnosed with it in the series, Mark is portrayed/written as having Histrionic Personality Disorderhttps://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/685911296414253056/would-you-consider-mark-a-sociopath, specifically the 'infantile' subtype, which is known to have some similarities to BPD. Though, it is important to mention that it has not been stated that he has BPD, just that he has HPD. It could still be entirely possible that he has BPD, but he was not written specifically with it in mind. His HPD symptoms are incredibly obvious, as he acts in quite a dramatic matter when not getting his way, can end up hurting others in an attempt to get attention, seems highly dependent on his friends (and mostly Benjamin specifically) to give him both reassurance and approval, and sees his relationship with the three as way closer than it actually is. Aside from HPD, Mark shows signs of possibly having other mental illnesses, most notably Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and he suffers from some form of depression. After the events of "Arc 3," it was quite obvious that he was extremely emotionally scarred by it. He was shown to have been so affected by it that he was driven to the point of suicide. Luckily, his plans did not go through, and after being caught before his attempt became a reality, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital for a small period of time. It appeared as if this had cleared his mind momentarily, until a couple years later when his dad did not show up to his graduation, after he made an effort to make sure would happen specifically for him. Since then, his mental state once again reverted back similarly to how it formerly was, although this time it seemed even worse than before as he then started pushing people out of his life and began to quickly progress into an alcoholic, so as an adult he suffers from alcoholism. Examples of PTSD seem to be mostly stemming both this experience and from his childhood and home life; He always seems to counter aggression with more aggression, dislike authority figures, submits after any physical encounter, and shows signs of stress when seeing belts.
===Neurodivergence===
Mark canonically has ADHDhttps://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/718633954137309184/is-mark-neurodivergent and Autism,https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/724605644623200256/is-mark-autistic but in-universe has not been diagnosed with either for unknown reasons. Mark has a severe lack of focus and shows incredibly impulsive actions. Mark also has very poor grades in school due to having zero interest in it, and when he attempts to study he can't retain any of the information if he has no interest in it.https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/724345768517992448/how-are-the-main-boys-school-grades He also is incredibly impatient, needing something to occupy his boredom or else he will become irritable.https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/722805914210549760/does-mark-have-a-hard-time-sitting-still He also appears to be highly sensitive to changes to his routine, which can be seen from his prior extreme dislike of Leon Reed when he was younger, and his current dislike of Ash Powyrs becoming a part of his friend group. He doesn't understand sarcasm well as seen by his naivety in Friend Fiction when Ben said that (him, Jon, and Kenny) are his friends because "that's what shuts (him) up" and didn't see anything wrong with that statement. In addition to this, Mark's interactions with others imply that his social skills aren't the best, and others often don't understand him or misinterpret his actions as malicious. (As Ben often does.)
==Family==
===Alex Husher===
Mark does not know who Alex is, and does not even know of Alex's existence or his role as his biological father. Alex on the other hand, is aware of Mark's existence.
===Samuel Reed===
Samuel Reed, or normally just referred to as Boss by the majority of the fandom, absolutely despises Mark. He has always mentally abused him, such as telling him he will not succeed in life, and there are many, many other cases. He often harshly disciplines him, which then turns into physical abuse. Something more notable about him is the fact that he still spanks Mark, despite him being a teenager. It's also been mentioned that he doesn't hesitate at all to beat Mark with a belt.https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/167890104902/what-is-mark-like-when-he-sees-his-dad-start-to Samuel wanted nothing to do with Mark from the start, and he had barely helped take care of Mark as a baby. Mark both fears and despises Samuel with a burning passion. Whenever Mark does something that will get him into any sort of trouble, (which is very often,) he knows that Samuel will hurt him. While he does fear for his own safety and wants to tell his mother how intense the abuse has gotten, he refuses to, as he believes that by telling he will lose any chances he might have with gaining his everyone's trust back by moving away since they live in such a small town. (Even though he is unaware that he's already lost all of his chances)
===Darcy Reed===
Darcy is the mother of Mark who is often caring and protective towards him. She would do anything for him, and often spoils him. Darcy was the victim of a rape by Alex Husher, but she had decided to keep Mark, as she had wanted a family. However, Darcy has decided that she is never going to bring this up to Mark, both because she does not think he is mentally stable enough to process it maturely, and because she does not want Mark to have any interest in meeting Alex. Mark shares mutual love with his mother, and he often doesn't like leaving her side.
===Leon Reed===
Leon is Mark's six year-old half-brother, who he used to have a downright hatred for. This was all out of sheer jealousy and spite. After his friends attempted to leave him, he mended his relationship with his brother in hopes that they would notice the change. Now, Leon tries his best to keep their steady relationship by feeding into his attention seeking behavior. He cares a lot about Mark, and wants him to succeed, despite Mark making absolutely no effort to do so.
==Relationships==
===Benjamin Washington===
Mark had been friends with Benjamin ever since he was five years old. The two are said to have been best friends, doing nearly everything together. Up until they were about ten, they had always been the closest out of the group. This was around the time Mark was told he would be getting a little brother, and his jealousy lead to him taking his anger out on others and being clingy to those he was close to for validation that he was still wanted. This sudden change in Mark's behavior paired with the fact that he did not seem to mature mentally from that point on lead to Benjamin becoming more detached from their friendship, even though Mark was growing ever closer to him each day. Mark came to terms with his sexuality at around age fifteen, and realized that he had been developing very strong feelings for Ben. When the two were in ninth grade, Mark revealed to Ben that he had feelings for him. Benjamin was taken aback by this news, as at this point, he had grew apart from the friendship completely. After Benjamin harshly rejected him, telling him that he did not reciprocate and that they were barely even friends anymore, Mark promised Ben that he would stay committed in his pursuit for his love. Mark then preceded to make Benjamin's life a living hell from that point on. After Mark pushed Leon in the street, Ben tried to use that as his chance to get Mark out of his life, seeing as Mark didn't seem to feel bad about it. However, this only worked for a couple months, as Mark came back, now very often manipulating his way into getting Ben to let him hang out with him and the others. During one time that the two were alone, Mark had confessed to Ben about his father's abuse towards him. Ben at first, believed Mark. He tried to comfort him, which then lead to the two kissing. Mark took this as a sign that Ben had feelings for him too, and Ben started to feel guilty about it due to being in a relationship with Ash. Ben told Ash, who soon broke up with him over it. This then lead Ben to believe Mark was lying about his father abusing him, and that he had yet again, just manipulated him in order to get attention. After inadvertently ruining Ben's relationship with Ash, Mark then made it his goal to purposely ruin his relationship with Luke. After these events, and after learning of Luke's suicide, Benjamin told Mark that if he did not leave their friend group for good, he would tell everyone about what happened with Luke. This finally made Mark leave Ben alone for good, as he would not be able to cope if the very few people who still cared about him in his life knew of what he was capable of, regardless of if he intended for Luke to kill himself or not. After not being on speaking terms for a couple years, at their graduation, Ben seems to still show dislike towards Mark, but still tolerates him and doesn't act as rude as he did before towards him. More information about their relationship going forward has not yet been revealed, but it has been said that their relationship from that point on will be prominent and important.
===Jonathon Washington===
Jonathon seems to have liked Mark the most out of the others, as he was the only one who constantly wanted to give him more chances. He was very kind to Mark, despite Mark's harshness towards everyone. He really wanted to get to know why Mark was acting the way he was, but due to Benjamin and Kenny's obvious distaste in him wanting to help Mark, he never did. Mark would make fun of Jon a lot when they were younger, which was one of the many things that contributed to Jonathon developing major self esteem issues. Jon, however, seems persistent in keeping his friendship with Mark, despite everything he has done; This is until what he heard Mark did to Luke. After learning of such, he made the decision to also distance himself from Mark. During their graduation, Jonathon seemed to show concern for Mark when he was upset about his dad not showing up.
===Kenny Peterson===
While Kenny is noticeably hesitant as to why he ever considered himself Mark's friend, he often ignores him and sees him as a annoying. Mark likes making fun of Kenny's height, but Kenny doesn't get that bothered by it and is very passive towards him. Kenny does not seem to care one way or another whether Mark is in the group or not, and could be considered indifferent towards him, even though he leans towards the opinion of Benjamin. He is not nearly as rude to Mark as Ben is however, and the two have shown that they can get along with eachother. Mark and Kenny are the least close out of everyone in the friend group, due to Mark not knowing Kenny as long as Ben and Jon have, as well as the fact that he met Mark close to around the time he started acting clingy towards everyone; Mark and Kenny had only been friends for around a year when Mark heard the news, in comparison to Ben and Jon, who he had known for five years before having a change in behavior. When Mark almost accidentally killed Leon, this seemed to strike a nerve in Kenny since death is a sensitive topic for him. This paired with the fact that Mark did not show any remorse made him more cautious about him than he once was, but still seemed to believe he could turn his behavior around. We he heard about what Mark did to Luke, he was angered at the news and finally, along with Ben and Jon, cut him off.
===Ash Powyrs===
Mark hates Ash and feels a bit intimidated by him. Mark feels as if Ash 'replaced him' since his old friends hang out with him instead. When Ash and Benjamin split up for the first time, Suspecting that his life wasn't that great, Ash began to think that he had feelings for Mark. However, Mark laughed at him and caused Ash backed away for awhile. Though Ash had faith in Mark and believed he wasn't truly as bad as Benjamin has said he was, months later, when Ash heard what Mark had done to Luke, he finally gave Mark a piece of his mind and began to dislike him just like everyone else. However, after graduating, he seems to tolerate him and even still feel pity for him.
===Luke Tucker===
Before Luke's suicide, Mark hated Luke. When he found that he was in a relationship with Benjamin, it enraged him, so he attempted to hatch a plan to manipulate Luke to fall out of love with Ben. He falsely built up a platonic relationship with him, which usually consisted of playing video games together and chatting online. On occasion, the two would even talk to each other sexually; This all happened whilst Luke was in a relationship with Benjamin. So Mark's plan worked, and he ended up making Luke fall in love with him instead. Luke broke up with Benjamin, and much like what happened with Ash, Mark laughed at him and confessed to him that it was all an act. This caused Luke to distance himself from people as he felt a severe break of trust.
===Steven Mandel===
Steven ends up being Mark's boyfriend; Though, the two at one point of time had no way to contact each other and it was implied that they split up for the time being. Mark met Steven at one of the lowest points in his life. He had just lost all of his friends and on top of that, his dad had just seemed to be getting worse. He had nothing at that point, and was thinking about killing himself. However, he connected with Steven and the two began to form a very strong bond. The two would meet up every night they could at Phase Park and would grow closer as they sympathized with each other about their abusive parent. Eventually, they both developed romantic feelings for one another and began dating secretly. They had arguments every now and then, but in the end they always made up. Sadly, this part of Mark's life came to an abrupt end when the police finally caught them for breaking their curfew. In an illogical and desperate attempt to stay together and not have their parents know, they ran from the police. Since they ran away, this just ended up with them getting arrested, and their last minute plan majorly backfired. Steven knew that this was the time he had to come clean to someone besides Mark about his mom's abuse, otherwise his life would become even more hellish than it already was, so he said his goodbyes to Mark, promising that one day he'd see him again and take him out of his own situation. This is what lead to Mark being caught by Leon before attempting suicide and getting him sent to a psychiatric hospital.
===Ashley Moore===
Ashley is Mark's ex-girlfriend. They began dating after Benjamin asked her to do it as a favor so he'd leave him alone. Ashley wasn't very interested in him then, but with time she began to feel sorry for him. Eventually she developed a small crush on him. This ended when Mark began to get demanding in their relationship, always wanting attention. One of the things that pushed her to the edge was when she and Mark had sex. A short while after that encounter, she noticed that Mark was beginning to act less romantically interested in her, so she distanced herself a lot before finally decided to end it with him. Nowadays, she's rude and avoidant towards him.
==Super Gay==
==History & Development ==
Mark, as well as The Queer Quartet, Leon, and a few other aspects of The Mark Side were (to an extent) inspired by the video game Five Nights at Freddy's 4. Though much of the original inspiration is no longer present in the current iteration of the character, Mark himself was originally developed from an AU version of the older brother from the aforementioned game. Mark's older design, used throughout the 2016 series, more closely resembled this. However, Mark has gone through countless redesigns throughout his conception in an attempt to make his design more original and fitting to his newly developed personality.
When originally conceived in 2015, his design depicted him as much thinner, sporting a grey t-shirt along with jeans with rolled cuffs, brown shoes, and a black wristband on his right hand. His hair was more of a browner color, and was shorter and less curly. This version of the character originally, according to an old entry made on an AU wikihttps://five-nights-at-freddys-aus.fandom.com/wiki/Discontinued_FNAF_4_AU?oldid=4128#Brother.2FBoy_With_Foxy_Mask, hated Benjamin and the two were depicted to have more of a rivalry. However, this was later changed in preference of making Benjamin Mark's love interest. His personality also differed quite a bit, as this version of the character did not appear childish and instead was just presented as a mean guy with anger problems who hated his brother for unknown reasons. Later on though, he was given an updated personality in addition to what he already had, and was also depicted as creepy, intimidating, and dumb.
Mark's current design is based roughly on his older one, with wavy hair of a more reddish shade, teal colored irises, a light purple hoodie with long sleeves, jeans that are rolled at the cuffs, and brown shoes. Apparently, Mark's oversized hoodie with hand hiding sleeves was inspired by Jyushimatsu from the Osomatsu-San anime. Mark's design currently also depicts him as overweight. It is unknown if this design choice was inspired by anything in particular. His personality was changed to be much more childish, even dumber, more manipulative, and more selfish.
==Trivia==
*He does not like being called "Markus," because he's used to people using his full name when they're mad at him. He prefers being called "Mark."
**This is mostly because Boss calls him Markus.
*When he expresses emotions, the 'croissant' shape in his hair seems to point up or down to indicate joy or sadness, much like the ears of a cat.
**This is an animation/design quirk and not meant to be taken seriously.
*Mark has a bat plush he calls 'Lucky.'
**Lucky was given to him by Boss, which is likely why he named him that, as it was the only time his step-dad did something nice for him, even if it was just to shut him up.https://ask-tms-archive.tumblr.com/post/185401740231/mark-when-did-you-get-the-bat-plushy-luckyit
*It's been said that he is allergic to strawberries, bees, and daffodils.https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/682008580275273728/does-marks-bee-and-those-flowersforgot-the-name
*He has an alternate persona whom of which he calls "Super Gay" and cosplays as a superhero.
*Whenever he is shown without long sleeves, he always has a black wristband on his right arm.
*He has a very unhealthy obsession with mustard, often consuming it out of the bottle.
*He is the character that swears the most out of everyone in the entire series.
*Mark seems to like drawing as seen by the multiple doodles that are scattered throughout his room, most of which are of his friends or himself.
*He tends to stress eat, which contributes to his weight.
*His address is 7697 Noway Street - Ohwell, Texas 76553.
*He does not like wearing formal clothes like suits and tuxes for some reason.
*Apparently he does not shower often,https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/722161206276784128/how-often-does-mark-shower so he probably has poor hygiene.
*He cannot cook.
**It has been stated that he cannot even make toast.https://saveraedae.tumblr.com/post/681750299210366976/can-mark-cook-or-bake
*Mark appears to have some type of connection to stars as shown by the TMS branding, multiple of Mark's outfits, and the many star items throughout his room.https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6NZLxV
== Quotes==
"You don't own the sidewalk! I can walk on it if I want to!" — Friend Fiction
"See it's not that small!" — This image
"FUCK OFF, I'M BUYING NOODLES!!" — At the Grocery Store!
==Gallery==
==Appearances==
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:The Queer Quartet
Category:Male Characters
Category:The Reed Family
Category:LGBT Characters