Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Moon Knight episode five.
Moon Knight has played the long game with viewers, as the first episode dropped us in the deep end by putting us in Steven Grant’s shoes as he discovered that he had a super-powered alternate personality, mercenary Marc Spector. Subsequent weeks have peeled back the layers of Marc and Steven’s psyche, with most of our burning questions now being answered.
Spoilers ahead.
But there’s something that’s been bugging fans since the beginning. How did Marc’s wife, Layla El Faouly, not know about Steven before the events of the show? Sure, they had been estranged for months, but Layla knew her husband well enough to be familiar with the whole Khonshu’s Fist of Vengeance thing. So why had she never found out about Marc’s Dissociative Identity Disorder?
This fan theory may have just solved the mystery as it offers a deeply touching explanation for why Steven never took over from Marc in Layla’s presence. As Twitter user @d0nvey pitched in a viral tweet:
“[Moon Knight] theory: The reason Layla never knew about Steven was because she was the only thing that made Marc happy. There was no need for Steven to come out and absorb any pain.”
This explanation fits with what we have learned about Marc’s past and the origins of his DiD in this week’s episode five. It turns out that Marc lost his brother at a young age, something for which his abusive mother blamed him and would beat him for. This trauma caused Marc to create his Steven persona, who would come out during times of extreme anguish.
So it adds up that, during his happy marriage to Layla, Steven would never have cause to appear and unknowingly protect Marc from emotional pain. At this point, of course, Layla and Steven have become well-acquainted and, in an interesting twist, have developed feelings for each other. So, assuming Steven survives being turned into a sand statue, there might be some more pain to come for Marc in the romance department.
Moon Knight concludes next Wednesday on Disney Plus.