Mattias Schneien

## Mattias Abel Schneien

> *"Whatever these voices are telling you, Tobi, it's not true."*
> - Mattias to Tobias, reassuring him about Mr. Edburt.
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## Bio

Mattias is one of the many Schneien children and among the eldest. He is part of the set of octuplets that includes Tobias, being the 5th born of them. He has what is said to be narcolepsy but could potentially be something more than that, which has a constant impact on him. He always appears sleepy and will often pass out at inopportune moments. Despite his own troubles, he looks out for Tobi, and supports him as much as he can, compelled to "save" him as Mattias appears to be much more aware of the family's more supernatural goings-on than the other children are.

## Appearance

Mattias has chin-length olive-blonde/ ash-blonde hair, with bangs that fall into his grey-blue eyes. He has grey smudges under his eyes from exhaustion, and often has a light pink flush. He usually has a sleepy smile, or a far-away look on his face. He wears an untucked white button-up shirt and a red tie, under a beige sweater that is too large for him and constantly falling off his shoulder. He also wears black pants and shoes. In a flashback to when he was about eight, he is shown wearing a white medical mask likely due to a compromised immune system.

## Personality

Sweet and even-tempered, Mattias is gentle though firm boy who looks after others. He and Tobias seem to be closer to each other than some of their other siblings particularly in their childhood, though Tobias has grown distant and even resentful towards him with age and family treatment. Mattias cares about Tobias's overall well-being and goes out of his way to try and help his brother when he can, even when Tobi literally pushes him away, and is willing to risk his very life for him. He is prone to hallucinating/ shifting in and out of dreamlike states, in part due to his alleged narcolepsy. Despite his calmer nature, Mattias is fully capable of being sharp-tongued, decisive, and commanding, refusing to allow himself to be mentally weak while his body remains sickly.

## History

### Before the start of Ghost Eyes

Mattias seems to have been a sickly baby who failed to thrive from the day he was born and eventually succumbed to his health as a toddler and perished. In exchange for Mattias’s life as well as two other stillborn Schneien children (Kaitlyn and Gunther), Lucas made a deal with some sort of evil supernatural force named Lady Kiraba who initially expressed interest in utilizing Mattias upon his return but changed her mind and chose Tobias instead for a reason not yet divulged. Tobias was willingly given to this evil force in exchange for Mattias’ life, leading to Tobi’s possession by Mr. Edburt and Mattias’s indebtedness to Tobias.

Like his siblings, Mattias has been homeschooled his whole life. He joined his siblings in their games in the woods when they were younger, although he is not shown doing so currently as his focus lies more in discovering the truths of their family and fate. There are hints that whatever incident happened when Tobias was 8 involved Mattias, the event appearing to be Tobias's attempted or perhaps even successful cold-blooded murder of Mattias of which Tobias is currently unaware.

As a child, Mattias would travel into the forest to track down Tobias in Tobias's lone wanderings and bring him back to the church. In return, Tobias would protect Mattias and carry him home if he fell asleep.

At one point as children, the octuplets found a tree trunk that had fallen across a ravine. Wolfe decided that they would all cross it in a game in which they pretend to be a pack of wolf pups. Mattias was scared, but Tobias reminded him that he would protect him, echoing Mattias's statement regarding Tobias's family position as being the strongest link.

### Ghost Eyes

#### Part One

Mattias is the second character introduced to the series, after Tobias. He takes care of Tobi following one of Lucas’s “punishments”.

Mattias doesn’t feature extensively throughout the rest of the section.

#### Part Two

Mattias doesn’t appear much in part two either, but he appears at the end bringing tea to King, whom he calls “uncle”.

## Relationships

### Tobias Schneien

Tobias is Mattias’s octuplet brother, born directly before Mattias as the 4th born.

Tobi and Mattias both try to protect each other as best they can: Tobias protects Mattias when the latter falls asleep and Mattias attempts to protect Tobi from the demons and Lucas's wrath, fearlessly talking back to his father on Tobias's behalf. Tobias was the sibling Mattias has the closest relationship with in childhood and remains important to Mattias in adolescence. Mattias it aware that something has happened to Tobias involving an evil entity and has spoken with that entity as well as others that he alone seems to be aware of, though it's implied that there is the chance they could merely be in Mattias's head through Lucas's writings that Wolfe discovers.

### Lucas Schneien

Lucas, Mattias’s father, is very overprotective of Mattias due to both Mattias's health problems and his death as a baby (and following resurrection).

Mattias is highly aware of Lucas’s abuse and he seems to know the root cause of it as well. In chapter 3.5 he challenges this double standard, protecting Tobias and demanding to know why Lucas constantly abuses Tobi but never hits him nor punishes the rest of the children as brutally and unfairly. Mattias snidely interrogates Lucas despite knowing the answers to his own questions because he knows Lucas will be unable to answer, fearless against his father and valuing Tobias's treatment over any semblance of respect for the man.

## Trivia

- Mattias is fascinated by rock and metal music.

- Mattias’s favorite foods are vegetable soup, especially cabbage, and salted tomato slices on bread with mayo.

- Mattias’s favorite color is very light blue.

- Mattias will sometimes force himself to stay awake by touching incredibly cold or hot surfaces (like sticking his bare hands in the snow during the winter) or slapping himself.