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On the surface Lain appears to be your ordinary middle school girl, only a little bit more withdrawn. She has a stereotypical Japanese family with a stay-at-home mother and a work-obsessed father. Her older sister seems to move to a completely different beat; the total opposite of Lain.

Early on, however, we know there is something amiss with Lain, because she is being sited in places where one would hardly find a shy, reserved schoolgirl. As Lain starts to become interested in the Wired and more proficient at exploring it, she starts to take on a more confident and assertive tone as many do behind the anonymity of the keyboard.  We call this persona "Digital Lain". 

Clearly, there are three personas of Lain. Lain in the "Real World", "Digital Lain", and the mysterious, totally mad (using Taro's words), "Lain in the Wired". 

These pictures from Visual Experiments Lain (page 043) clearly shows the differences between the three Lains. (Click here for graphics) Notice the following:

"Real World" Lain 
Her eyes are soft and naive. Her posture is slumped, yet somewhat formal. She spells her name in Kanji characters.

"Digital Lain"
This Lain is all wide-eyed and alert. She has an erect posture and a sassy attitude.  She exudes self-confidence and thrives on facts over emotion. Her name is spelled in Katakana characters.

"Lain in the Wired"
This Lain looks like she's been at too may raves! Her half-lidded eyes and casual posture make you think she's "not all there". Her name is spelled using standard Roman/English characters.

Warning! Spoilers Follow

Blame it on the Knights (Shades: "Umi, Fuu, Hikaru -- they're the fly in our ointment!"  Balto: "No Shades, not those Knights!")  -- The Knights of the Easter Calculus. "Lain in the Wired" is their creation.  Her purpose appears to be to undermine the power of the true Lain.  By using "Lain in the Wired", they can influence and control those who might seek the true Lain as the God of the Wired. They use her mainly to create chaos, for example: when the accela-using-boy kills others and himself in the name of Lain.

In the end (Shades: "There can be only one!" Balto: "No, Shades, this isn't The Highlander either!") Lain's physical body appears as a projection of her will to exist in the "Real World", while in actuality, she is the ultimate encapsulation of the collective unconsciousness of mankind. Through Lain we are all connected.

images (c) pioneer ldc, trangle staff, yoshitoshi abe