Character Analysis
The Boy Genius
Arvin has what is possibly the most unfortunate name in the history of unfortunate names—but luckily he's more than talented enough to compensate for it. He's a science whiz, a medical mad scientist, and he knows his research backwards and forwards.
Although Alvin's genius is front and center Fuse, we actually get a glimpse of him in Pure. Quick Pure recap: at first Alvin just seems like the nerdy kid in the academy that The Herd picks on, but he starts to emerge as a key component of Partridge's survival. At the end of Pure, we learn that Arvin's parents are informants for outside of the Dome—so he's a good guy.
But when Partridge goes back inside the Dome in Fuse, Glassings has bad news for him:
But Willux has great pull. I'm sure he's made [Arvin] promises. Who knows if Arvin will be strong enough? (42.72)
Yikes. Partridge's life is pretty much in the hands of a genius who can almost discover the cure for anything… but who might not be on his side anymore. This makes Arvin an extremely powerful character towards the end of Fuse. Arvin has the power to do almost anything when it comes to medicine—the question is, will he stay faithful to Cygnus?