| “ | Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other. (steps on Tuba's hand) But you? You're no person. | „ |
| ~ Simon betraying and murdering Tuba - his most infamous quote. |
| “ | Your numbers speak louder than words, void! | „ |
| ~ Simon rising to power. |
Simon Laurent is the secondary antagonist of Infinity Train, appearing as a background character of Book One - The Perennial Child, one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Grace Monroe) of Book Two - Cracked Reflection and the deuteragonist/main antagonist of Book Three - Cult of the Conductor. He is a founding member and later the de-facto leader of the Apex.
He was voiced by Kyle McCarley.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- He has killed numerous denizens for many years, invading their cart trains before ransacking it for resources with the Apex.
- As a psychotic devotee to the Apex ideology, he believes the Denizens of the train are non-sentient machines that don't have any humanity to them, which is clearly intended to be a metaphor for actual discrimination and prejudice. While he developed this as a result of Grace's guidance and being abandoned by the cat, his hatred extrapolating onto every single Denizen as a result of her actions is repeatedly show to be obscenely petty.
- Encouraged the Apex to kill denizens for numerous years with Grace, ensuring their numbers would increase and they would be stranded on the train for an indefinite amount of time.
- He tried to murder Lake and Alan Dracula in cold blood after the former calls out Simon for his cruel treatment of Alan Dracula right in front of her.
- He cruelly insulted Jesse for being "weak" because he did not follow the doctrine of murdering denizens.
- He and the Apex destroyed the Musical Car and killed most of the denizens and kidnapped a member of the Stage Light people so he can have him tortured for amusement.
- He betrayed and killed Tuba by throwing her off the car into the wheels right after Tuba saved him. To make it worse, he pretends he was going to save her beforehand, and audibly breaks the bones in her knuckles. The story also demonstrates that Simon had managed to empathize with her previously but dismisses these emotions.
- Disclosed proudly to Hazel that he had killed Tuba and that the Null would never bother her again, uncaring when she runs off crying because he believes that she simply needs to get over it.
- While never clarified, it is strongly implied that he would be perfectly willing to kill Hazel despite her being a 6-year old child if he was in a position to do so after discovering she was a Null, with Hazel and Grace outright stating such even if Simon never explicitly says so.
- He is very cruel to Hazel and doesn't care about her feelings, willing to get rid of her so she'll never join the Apex.
- He tries to manipulate Grace into ditching Hazel after her true form is revealed.
- Pressures Grace into making a cruel comment towards Hazel in an attempt to assert that she hasn't deviated from her belief structure.
- Snidely comments on every attempt at Amelia to point out the obscene idiocy of the Apex belief structure and eventually attempts to drop-kick her from rage before being blocked by her force-field.
- Gets enraged that Grace isn't "acting as she should", with the Cat pointing out how emotionally controlling and abusive he is being.
- Breaks several of the Cat's knick-knacks in a fit of rage.
- Reads Grace's memories without her knowledge or consent, violating her basic rights of privacy.
- He psychologically tormented Grace by trapping her in her own memories and later leaves her for dead.
- He killed many innocent Origami Birds on his way back to the Apex.
- In the unknown interim between taking over the Apex, he turned himself into their dictator, and implicitly abused them as he forces them to carry him down the steps on his throne and snaps at them when they show hesitance at wheeling Grace.
- Additionally, because he attempted to kill Grace for rejecting the ideology she founded, it's likely he would have been willing to do the same to the Apex members if it came down to it.
- He attempted to have Grace killed by having her thrown off the car into the wheels, despite the Apex children's apprehension.
- As he is fighting Grace, he states that she owes him "everything" in response to her pointing out that she isn't responsible for fixing all of his emotional problems.
- He kicked Grace off the car moments after she heroically saved his life, with the implication that he did so because she responded "I don't know" instead of a response that would have emotionally satisfied his ego. Notably, the children within the Apex are visibly and audibly horrified by this.
- Psychotically laughs after he believes that he kills Grace, showing some satisfaction in his deed, even if it's overwhelmed by Grief a few seconds later.
- He achieved the highest known number on the train, surpassing Amelia, who turned Atticus into a Ghom and tried to kill Tulip, a 13 year old girl.
- He repeatedly refuses every attempt at emotional outreach, redemption, or any opportunity to change his viewpoints whatsoever, because he believes that he is always correct.
- His interactions with both Tuba and Samantha suggest that he recognizes that Denizens are capable of individual thought, emotions and sentience but refuses to accept it, making him more heinous than if he was genuinely just deluded.
- It is repeatedly implied throughout the story that he is on some level aware that his beliefs are wrong, but he ultimately simply doesn't want to begin the emotional process to properly deal with it or to change himself.
- While Grace empathizes with him for his past and current emotional pain, she points out in front of him that regardless of the wrongdoings he faced at the hands of her or the Cat, he is ultimately still responsible for his actions.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- While the story explicitly points out that he had many opportunities to change and that his backstory doesn't justify his current actions, it and the resultant emotional issues caused by it is still depicted sympathetically and explains parts of who he is today:
- He was stranded on the train as a 10-year old boy and was demonstrated to be sweet and timid beforehand. Afterwards, he was put in the ward of The Cat, who would force him to collect junk for her and would ultimately abandon him as he was being chased by a Ghom and never come back for him. He would then be inducted into the first member of Grace's Apex cult, who gave him the ideas of higher numbers being superior and wheeling passengers, and resulted in him becoming emotionally co-dependent on her.
- This left him with a crippling fear of abandonment, lying and betrayal that motivates many of his actions, from attempting to kill Grace and killing Tuba, and a life-long PTSD response towards Ghoms, with him undergoing a panic attack when forced to stay in the Cat's cabin and breaking down when seeing a statue of one. He is ultimately shown to be too pathetic and broken to want to change his ways to begin with.
- While it is never enough to convince him to stray from his beliefs, he does have a few moments that indicate hesitance and emotional conflict:
- After learning more about Tuba's deceased daughter Bugel, he empathizes with her, with it being implied that he can relate due to him likely having lost a loved one. This is a minor mitigating factor however, as he still decides to wheel her and it makes him more heinous since it implies some part of him recognizes Denizens have emotions.
- After trapping Grace in her memories, he looks at her before sighing and looking downwards as if contemplating, implying he feels some uncertainty for it before flicking her away.
- He seemed to have a moment of remorse since he cried for a few moments after he thought he killed Grace and afterwards went completely insane and started crying laughing.
- His death was horrifying even by the standards of his actions, being painfully melted by his PTSD trigger of Ghoms while crying the entire time, and Grace and the Apex mourn him.
- While he despises The Cat for abandoning him, he's unable to bring himself to actually harm her and implicitly still loves her on some level, avoiding harming her even as he smashes chairs in her car in a rage when they were alone and he could have easily killed her, and ultimately treats her with a despairing acceptance.
Trivia[]
- Simon is one of two Infinity Train villain to be Near Pure Evil, the other being Boscha, and is the only canon one.[1]
- Simon is the first, and so far, only, Near Pure Evil protagonist in a children's show, having been the deuteragonist for most of Book 3.
- In fact, Simon's horrific crimes and psychological abuse, along with his graphic and grisly death, are speculated by many to be a factor in the cancellation of the series, with Time-Warner dropping the show due to not wanting such dark themes aimed at an 8-12 audience.
- Additionally, Kyle McCarley has stated that playing Simon was the only time he felt uncomfortable playing a character while in group voice-acting recording and wanted to record the lines by himself.
- Many fans have speculated that Simon's backstory, which is never disclosed, was a close parental figure dying leaving him with no hope to live in the human world, due to his fear of abandonment and extremely specific descriptions of funerals. If this was the case, it might have pushed into being too tragic to be Near Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Simon Laurent on the Villains Wiki.
- Simon Laurent on the Ultimate Evil Wiki.
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 Near Pure Evils
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