Neil Lawton

* Original
* Remake

The deuteragonist of *Midnight Train*, Luna’s companion during the game, a gentle and kind hearted guy who wants to be a detective. He's naive and has low self-esteem, but he's good at making deductions.

## Appearance

Neil is a tall young man with short brown hair, asymmetrical sidelocks, and gold eyes. He has darker skin tones compared to other characters but no defined ethnicity. His outfit includes a white collared shirt, brown vest, belt pouch, white pants, magenta necktie and fingerless gloves, and brown shoes.

When he was young, he wore a white shirt, red sweater, stitched yellow jacket, brown pants with moon- and star-shaped patches, white socks and brown loafers. He also had a medical patch on his left cheek. His hair was messy and his overall appearance was much more ragged and dirtier.

## Personality

From the start, Neil presents himself as someone who is self-conscious, panics easily and freaks out at the sign of something scary. At the same time, he’s incredibly gentle and kindhearted, almost too good for his own sake which makes him quite easy to manipulate. He remains polite and understanding with anyone unless he finds them utterly despicable, though he’s capable of snarking as demonstrated with Apollo. While self-proclaimed a spineless coward, he will not step aside when danger could happen to Luna and his newfound friends, up to the point of risking his own life. At first he was naive, frightful and needed protection, but throughout the story he starts to grow as a person and becomes much more assertive and courageous. In fact, he can be scary if Luna's safety is threatened; for example, in Chapter 3 he personally picks up a pickaxe and beats three eye monsters to death because they approached the cave Luna was in.

Neil’s self-esteem problems stemmed largely from his uncle who constantly made him say that he was useless. Due to a life of prolonged abuse, he’s prone to blame himself for anything going wrong and believing he could have prevented someone's death, and also feels he’s at fault for the demise of both his parents and the two girl his uncle killed. During the journey, he learns how he’s more reliable and needed than he thought, and declares that he’s disgusted by his young self’s cowardice in Chapter 4. Once he gets over his issues, Neil is revealed to have an incredibly strong will that helped him withstand a whole year of daily torture in the fourth building and come back to himself in just a short time.

## History

Neil’s parents died when he was young while protecting him from a collapsing foundation, leading to him being adopted by his uncle, who extorted people for money. Although the household conditions were totally not lacking, he was given just pieces of bread to eat, only allowed to take baths once a week, and suffered from relentless emotional abuse that included victim blaming and forced self-degradation every time he tried to talk with his uncle. At school, he was also bullied for his dirty appearance and sorrowful mood, which only worsened his existing depression.
One night, while trying to find something to eat in the kitchen after only given bread crumbs again, he accidentally witnessed his uncle murdering a man. Instead of testifying against him, Neil remained silent in the court out of fear of what his uncle would do to him and allowed the man to be found not guilty, which became his crime: perjury. After the trial, he was abandoned as his uncle ran away and then adopted by his neighbors who took good care of him, allowing him to slowly recover from his traumatic former life until he learned about the death of two sisters with his uncle as the main suspect. Feeling himself was the one to blame for his cowardice years ago, Neil set out to find his uncle, only to find out the man was already killed by Black Gear, which makes him angry because he would never be able to got his revenge. Since then, he decided to become a detective and has been secretly investigating Black Gear, staying in inns and doing low-paying jobs as he traveled.

## Abilities

Neil is trademarked by his intelligence. Though his trusting nature commonly affects his deduction, he proves himself to be quite observant and quick-witted.

## Relationships

### Luna Wyndell

Neil first meets Luna when they both trapped together by the Midnight Express, and though they only spend a few day together, they soon to share an inseparable bond. He greatly admires Luna’s physical capabilities and bravery, both of which he initially lacks, but he is sometimes troubled by how she will rush into danger. Since she was the first person around his own age to be kind and patient to him, he quickly becomes very devoted to her and determined to help her escape, even at the cost of himself.

### Apollo Carson

At first, Neil is very annoyed by Apollo’s attempts to separate him and Luna as well as his snarky tendency, and becomes even more wary after he realizes Apollo may be a murderer. However, after getting to know each other better, they realized how they ability can compensate for the other's weaknesses and decided to fight the Midnight Express together. Apollo still loves teasing Neil, though.

## Trivia

* His first name is taken from Neil Armstrong, the first person who landed on the moon.
* Neil’s surname, Lawton, was chosen because it contains the word "Law".
* Neil’s birthday is the Spanish release date of Chapter 4, and also Halloween.
* His favorite treat is chocolate-covered strawberry.
* Among the five main characters, Neil is the best cook.
* Neil and Diana are the only two of the main five who finished their studies. He has only basic education.

## Reference List

1. ↑ https://midnighttrain-project.tumblr.com/post/188405096913/neil-lawtens-second-name-contain-the-word-law
2. ↑ https://midnighttrain-project.tumblr.com/post/636146402578300928/which-of-all-the-characters-is-the-best-cook
3. ↑ https://midnighttrain-project.tumblr.com/post/613196649478635520/apollo-entonces-nunca-termino-sus-estudios