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Brother Luke initially seems to be the only Brother at the monastery who treats Jude with some semblance of care and respect, but his affectionate behavior is in fact a grooming technique that allows him to ingratiate himself with Jude and gain his complete trust. Most of the Brothers at the monastery physically or sexually abuse Jude, but Luke is consistently pleasant and nonviolent. He takes Jude under his wing, eventually convincing Jude that they will escape the monastery together and live as father and son. Luke knows how to play to all of Jude’s most desperate hopes and wants. He offers Jude protection, a happy family dynamic, intellectual and musical stimulation, and, above all, affection. His manipulation and grooming of Jude is adept and practiced, suggesting that he may have predated on other children in the past. In fact, one of the other Brothers at the monastery warns Jude to avoid Luke long before the abduction occurs, implying that the Brothers knew something of Luke’s life prior to joining the monastery and were aware of his pedophilic tendencies.
Luke’s abuse of Jude is severe. He not only sexually molests Jude himself but also forces him into prostitution. He continues to groom Jude, eventually abandoning his promise that they will live as father and son, and instead fantasizing that they will one day be married and adopt a son of their own. Jude instinctually understands that this son will be Luke’s new victim and is horrified at the thought of being involved in subjecting another human to the same abuse he has endured.
Despite Jude’s misery and the horror of his situation, he has complicated feelings toward Luke, which endure even after Luke commits suicide upon being discovered by law enforcement. Because Jude has never experienced true parental care or fatherly love, he finds and clings to faint vestiges of these things wherever he can—including in Brother Luke. When Jude encounters particularly violent clients, Luke ends the session and throws the man out, which Jude sees as a protective action. Additionally, some of Jude’s only happy moments in childhood revolve around his musical education, which Luke oversees, and which develops Jude into a talented pianist and vocalist. Even in adulthood, Jude still has moments where he calls on Brother Luke to protect him from violent men, or remembers the happiness he felt when Luke complimented him on his intellectual and musical prowess. That Jude still has these feelings decades later shows just how difficult it is to escape from and deconstruct the emotional traumas of childhood.
