A Few Thoughts on DID Representation in Moon Knight

*Spoilers.*

Before I get into it, I want to disclaim that I have no lived experience and pretty little knowledge of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Most of what I know came out of my interest in learning more about it before Moon Knight premiered, so I’ve been watching videos from the YouTube channel The Rings System and listening to the podcast System Speak. What I’m saying is purely my opinion of how the show handled this topic, based on my own scant knowledge.

Before Moon Knight came out, I learned just enough to feel apprehensive about how the show would address the main character’s DID, but by the end of the season, I could say I came away with an overall positive opinion of it. First and foremost, the show absolutely treats Marc and Steven as two separate characters. Over the course of the series, we get invested in both of them and their growing relationship with other. Each has a connected but individual relationship with Layla.

When it looks like Steven has been consumed by the sands of the Duat, it’s heartbreaking, for Marc as well as the viewers. Steven isn’t just “a part” of Marc that Marc “no longer needs” after finding “healing.” Steven is his own character, his own person, and Marc risks death himself to go back and save Steven. The season resolves, not by Steven being integrated into/subsumed by Marc, but by the two of them learning to collaborate and work together, switching as needed while the other remains co-conscious.

I appreciate that. Even though there’s some noise in episode 5 about Marc being the “original,” the show never treats Steven like “just the alter.” In fact, the narrative often centers Steven’s perspective and journey, emphasizing that he’s just as valid as Marc is. And while the “original vs. alter” thing is frustrating, it seems rooted in some clear internalized ableism on Marc’s part. While Steven has only just learned that he’s part of a DID system, this is something that Marc has known and been dealing with for years, but while that gives him practical knowledge, it hasn’t really helped him accept himself, or Steven as a part of his life, prior of the events of the series.

When Marc becomes Khonshu’s avatar, he assures the Egyptian god that Steven won’t be “a problem.” He never tells Layla about Steven, and when she asks how she could’ve gone through their whole marriage without knowing, Marc explains that he used to have “a better handle” on things, i.e. on Steven. This suggests that he was “dealing” with his DID by forcing Steven into dormancy, essentially trying to manage his headmate away so he could live as a neurotypical person. Once Layla learns about Steven, however, and it becomes clear that they need his help to stop Harrow, Marc is initially very reluctant to switch in front of Layla. When he needs to let Steven front, he walks away from her or waits for her to step back before switching. He doesn’t dispute Harrow’s statement that he’s “a deeply troubled man,” and when he and Steven perceive the afterlife as an asylum, Marc is quick to take that as evidence that he’s “crazy.”

The fact that they see the afterlife as an asylum, which perplexes Steven, suggests that Marc has had experience in mental health facilities, and probably not good experiences. We’re not really shown anything of what Marc’s mental health journey has been like, but given that his previous M.O. was to push Steven down and try to keep him from presenting, I’d bet that any therapy he’s had wasn’t focused on communicating with his alter and using their connection to start processing his trauma. As such, he has a fairly unhealthy view of himself, Steven, and their disorder. He thinks less of himself for having DID, and he at times tries to control Steven, wanting to limit Steven to his “function” of being the part of their psyche that’s shielded from the trauma and abuse they’ve survived.

None of that is helpful, but it is understandable, especially if Marc has had harmful experiences with therapy in the past. Part of his journey on the show, with Steven’s help, is to start processing some of the shame and guilt he feels over his past, and if we see more of Moon Knight in the future, I feel confident that we’ll see Marc in a better place in that regard.

Now, before I go, what about Jake? The third alter that neither Steven nor Marc know about, we see infrequent evidence of Jake throughout the series and only one clear-cut glimpse, during a post-credits scene. Every clue we’re given of Jake is squarely associated with serious violence: Marc or Steven black out, and when they come to, they’re surrounded by bodies. Any survivors are terrified, either running away or pleading for mercy. The only time we see Jake onscreen is when, at Khonshu’s behest, he shoots Harrow in cold blood, after Steven and Marc decided to let him live.

All of that seems to fit in with reductive “evil alter” tropes, which is definitely troubling. Because Jake only appears in a post-credits teaser, he feels like less of a person than Marc or Steven do. I have no context for anything he’s about, other than killing people. At the same time, though, Jake only seems to push himself to the front when Marc and Steven are in serious danger, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s just doing whatever it takes to protect them. I really hope that, if we get more Moon Knight, Jake proves to be a troubled, complicated guy who’s experienced and done brutal things but who would be capable of channeling his protective instincts differently with the help of his headmates and/or therapy.