A Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children theory: was Enoch a traitor?

The Theory

So you might be thinking: there is no stinkin way Enoch would ever betray his fellow peculiars.

Well, let me tell you my theory and then you can decide whether you believe it, kay?

Okay, so before we delve into the hard evidence, let's look at his character for a moment, and see if he would, in fact, become a spy for the corrupted. The first thing we must ask ourselves is this: if Enoch had been living in fear of the wights for practically his whole life, then what would they have to offer him in order to get him to switch sides? Well, what are they after? Endless power; to be the god-kings of Peculiardom.

But why would Enoch want that? Well, let's look at some evidence from way back in the first book. When Jacob first meets him, he is playing alone with his little clay homunculi. And not only was he the last peculiar Jacob met, but he also asked if he was "him". This could very well mean that he is an outcast even among his friends, and the fact that he was just being introduced to Jacob- and had to do it himself- could mean that he isn't part of the other children's social circle. And another thing about that scene where he and Jacob first meet, he explains "raid the village", and had describes it as just a "good laugh"; as in, he flat out ENJOYS torturing people; this alone very much points to him possibly being a flat out psychopath. And let's not forget that he wants to make a huge army of humunculi; the book doesn't say what for, but seeing as wights and hollows were not yet a threat on Cairholm when he mentions it, it's possible he wants to use them to get his way. You might think that part is just wild speculation, but really, it makes sense; Enoch is an outcast even among other outcasts who is not included by his friends when someone new comes along, and who also enjoys torturing human beings who have never done anything to him; a person like this probably doesn't usually get his way and would definitely be unstable enough to create an army to scare people into doing his bidding. Although there is another very plausible possibility: he wants to have control over normals; throughout the series, he shows constant apathy and disregard for normal lives. However, we never get to see this army he dreams of creating, so we don't really know 100% for sure what he'd use it for. And now let's also look at his peculiar ability; although on its own it's pretty awesome, it pales in comparison to those of Miss Peregrine's other wards. And on top of that, his power is pretty much "batteries sold seperatly"; in order for his ability to even work, he has to carry around some sort of dead animal heart,- he prefers fresh hearts, which just adds to his creepy vibe- something that isn't exactly easy for a young boy to get his hands on, and even then, sometimes it doesn't work. Before the battle at the wights' fortress, he uses his power only twice, and both times, the wights/hollows find the children almost immediately. But we'll circle back to that later. So basically, his power isn't nearly as useful as anyone else's. So let's review what we have so far: Enoch is likely a psychopath who would rather see normals die off, and the only people he's been around for decades most likely make him feel like a useless outcast, whether they meant to or not. Therefore, it might not take a wight nearly as much effort to get Enoch on their side than any of the others.

So now we have established that it is possible for a wight to sway Enoch to be their spy. Now let's talk how. You might be thinking: "okay, so maybe Enoch could theoretically have been in league with the wights, but nowhere in the book does it say that he was ever against Peculiardom. Besides, he was sure on the peculiars' side at the end." Well, I'd just like to say, THE WIGHTS TRICKED HIM! Obvious answer; they were just using him so that they could catch him and the others and steal their souls, duh. So when it became clear that they weren't going to give him what they promised, he wanted revenge, so he switched sides again and fought them. And also, a spy wouldn't tell the people he's spying on that he's spying on them. Plus, if he switched sides without the peculiars knowing, then it would be much easier to just switch back to their side and never let them know they were ever in league with the enemy than to say "hey guys, I betrayed you; I was part of the reason that you suffered so much and lost your home. But it's okay; I'm on your side now." If he did that, then sure life might go back to as normal as it could, but it would take the others years- if ever- to forgive him and trust him again. And even when they did, if anything bad ever happened after that, they would automatically, whether consciously or not, wonder if he had slipped back into old habits. So it would be better for everyone if he kept that a secret- especially if he was ashamed of it. Besides; he'd probably get thrown into a punishment loop.

Now here's some more evidence. First thing; Enoch probably knows that Jacob has his grandfather's peculiarity well before Jacob does. And notice, for the first book and the beginning of the second one- when it becomes clear Jacob isn't leaving any time soon- Enoch is just continuously trying to get rid of him or at least make him stop leading the group. Think about it; Jacob is the only known living individual who can see/feel/control hollow, the very monster the wights use to try and rise to power. So, in other words, if Enoch is working for the wights, he wouldn't want anyone to know if and when hollowgast are nearby; but Jacob could and would and did warn them of hollowgast, so it would make sense that someone in league with the wights wouldn't want Jacob around, much less leading everyone else. Now it's time to circle back to the thing I said I'd circle back to earlier; both Enoch used his power before being locked up, the enemy found them almost immediately. In the first book, he was the one who suggested they go out of the loop to talk to the guy who got killed by the hollow- after they had pretty much accepted it to be fact that there was a wight and a hollow. So, in other words, he lured Emma, Jacob, and Bronwyn outside into blinding rain,- where none of them could see what was coming- and they would be in a very vulnerable position. Luckily, they got away; but barely. So maybe he knew that there were monsters out there, and wanted to get the strongest peculiars- or at least the ones most likely to be able to physically overpower a wight- out of the way so Golan could raid the loop. If Emma, Jacob, Enoch, and Bronwyn hadn't survived the hollow attack, the other peculiars would've been trapped while their ymbryne got her soul drained- well, if Millard hadn't outsmarted him (you go, Mill!) anyway. So you might be wondering, "well, if Enoch was a traitor, why didn't Golan say so?" Well, to be fair, he probably didn't know; he didn't even know what Caul was actually planning on doing; besides, the wights imprisoned Enoch too, remember? Now that one was kind of a shaky bridge, but you can't completely disregard it; especially after the next time he used his power; at Sam and Esme's house. Just to refresh your memory, at that scene, they were being chased by two hollows, and Jacob had just told everyone not to use their powers because that would allow the hollows to find them faster. And then Enoch almost immediately used his power, and in that very instant, the hollows found them and broke in through the front of the house. Now you might be saying "oh but he was trying to make Esme less scared.", but remember; Esme is a Normal, and Enoch doesn't care about whether a Normal lives or dies. So why would he attempt to soothe a Normal, if he doesn't care about her? Because they had momentarily lost the hollows, and if Miss Peregrine's wards had all- or even most- died, then it would be almost impossible for anyone to have taken down the wights. Now you might be saying, "but only Jacob could see and touch the jars, so the wights still couldn't have won." This is true, but at the time, none of the children knew that, and it's probable that the wights wouldn't tell their spy something like that; if they eradicated all peculiars, they still could've risen to power.

Ok so that is all I have, and remember that this is just my personal theory, so go ahead and challenge it if you'd like; poke holes in it, tear it apart.

But regardless of what side Enoch was on, he fought alongside his friends for all of Peculiardom; he may have made some really bad mistakes, but he still came through.

Love ya!

CC