Luke Van Galder Character Analysis

Luke is Varya’s son whom she gave up for adoption when he was an infant. As an adult, he tracks Varya down, hoping to learn about his past. Initially, Luke poses as a journalist with the San Francisco Chronicle to write a story about Varya’s primate research. After he spends a week at the Drake Institute, Luke reveals his true identity, which rattles Varya. While Luke has never met Varya before, he’s quite perceptive and frank—he’s the first person to explicitly tell her that her life choices aren’t making her happy, and that by obsessing over her own longevity, she’s sacrificing the things that make life fulfilling and meaningful. Luke also shares some of Varya’s OCD. He is afraid of accidentally killing people, which stems from the fact that when Luke was a toddler, he was supposed to stand guard as his older brother Asher checked a grain bin on their farm. Instead, Luke ran and hid, and Asher sank into the grain and suffocated. Luke and Varya connect over their fear of loss, and the two keep in touch after he tells Varya who he really is. His appearance in her life helps her to re-evaluate her priorities and change her future.