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| “ | I understand that you're unhappy with the life you've been given. But you know what? Eventually, we all have to accept reality. So, here it is. I am a person. You are not. I make the decisions. You do not. And if you ever do anything to my fingers, know that I will keep you alive long enough to horribly regret that. | „ |
| ~ Helena to her innie |
Helena Eagen is the overarching antagonist of the 2022 Apple TV dystopian psychological thriller series The Severance. She is Helly Riggs' "outie" and the daughter of the CEO of Lumon.
She goes through with the severance procedure, where her memories are divided between her work life and personal life as a PR stunt to prove that severance is a "safe" procedure. Unlike her "innie" counterpart, Helena is a callous woman with complete disregard for the innies working on the severed floor, including her own.
The severance procedure separates the memories of an individual's work and personal lives. Whenever severed workers are at work, they know nothing about their personal lives or the outside world and when they're in the real world, they retain no memories of their work life, essentially creating two separate consciousness within the same individual, where one only experiences work, while the other has to never go to work. Employees at work are titled "innies," while their consciousness in the outside world is titled "outies." Helena goes through with the procedure, which effectively traps her innie counterpart in the office.
Personality[]
Helena Eagen is shown to be a callous and cold-hearted woman who shows no regards for the innies on the severed floor. When her innie counterpart requests a resignation from her, she not only refuses it, but she also uses the opportunity to demean her innie by telling her how she isn't a real person, even going as far as to threatening to torture her if she doesn't obey, which eventually leads to her attempting suicide. Despite her limited screen time throughout the series, it becomes clear that she has complete disregard for her own innie's well-being and happiness, treating her as nothing more than a disposable part of herself.
She is also shown to be a highly driven and determined person. She's loyal to Lumon and her father and because of this, she is willing to go as far as fabricating lies about the nature of the severance procedure and the wellbeing of the innie counterparts on the severed floor. She knows about the pain and misery the severance procedure causes the innies, yet she's willing to masquerade the truth by telling the public that the innies are happy working on the severed floor.
Her innie counterpart mirrors many traits of her outie, most notably her unrelenting determination. Despite her innie’s suicide attempt in the elevator, her outie continues to subject her innie to the relentless torment for the sake of furthering the goals of Lumon. Since her innie and outie are essentially two consciousness sharing the same body, she is willing to risk getting killed by her own self just to further her father's company's goals.
Biography[]
Helena Eagan is the daughter of the CEO of Lumon. She is first shown willingly consenting to the severance procedure where the memories of her work like are separated from the memories of her home life, effectively enslaving a part of her consciousness who will only experience work. However, her innie counterpart is not happy with the divide and tries to rebel against the system. Despite her efforts, Helena is shown to be stubborn, cold and calculating, not backing down even after her life is almost ended by her innie.
Not much is known about her personal life, but from what we see in the first season, Helena runs a PR campaign that advocates for the severance procedure, and by extension, Lumon Industries' ideals. She is indoctrinated by her father and the company to believe the innies are subhuman, which is why she is willing to turn a blind eye to the torture all the innies endure during their time at work. She is also shown to fabricate lies about the wellbeing of the innies for her PR stunt, despite knowing the pain the company causes them.