This May Not Be Lumon-Approved, but Here’s the History of Kier in ‘Severance’
This May Not Be Lumon-Approved, but Here’s the History of Kier in ‘Severance’
After simmering at Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Production for nearly a decade, AppleTV+’s series Severance proved to be a massive success. Naturally, Apple did what any company with a successful television project does and renewed the series for a second season (concluded a few weeks back) followed by an order for Season 3. The whole show toys with the ideas of constructed identities, free will, and late-stage capitalism — the latter of which dictates that we shouldn’t let our personal lives affect our work performance.
We won’t really dive into the specifics of the show; if you’re already reading these lines, there’s more than a good chance that you know what Severance is and what it’s about. But we will point out that the series really leans into what that late-stage corporate culture looks like, especially in regard to its most mysterious figure — Lumon’s founder, Kier Eagan, who is basically deified by the employees and the company.
This isn’t by accident; massive companies tend to develop cult-like environments, especially when they’re led by individuals with intense, almost messianic personas. Take Apple as an example. When the founder becomes the brand, devotion to them becomes part of the job. Add a carefully curated language, like “We’re not just building software, we’re changing the world,” and you’ve got a message that would further inspire loyalty and devotion. It sure sounds better than “We’re optimizing ad delivery.” Anyway, back to the topic at hand: who exactly is Kier Eagan in Severance?
Kier Eagan is the founder of Lumon Industries and the central yet mysterious figure in Severance. Though worshiped with cult-like devotion within the company, he’s represented through art in the series — mostly through the series of paintings, sculptures, and audio recordings. He’s so revered by the employees that he’s treated as their leader, savior, mentor, and friend, despite being none of those things for a very long time. Yet, despite his death, his influence still looms large and shapes the company’s operations, as well as the lives of its employees.
There aren’t many things known about Kier Eagan’s childhood, but there are plenty of stories and portraits throughout the series that allude to his early life. Sadly, there aren’t any resources that would provide Lumon employees with the means to verify any of those stories. The only resources that are available are those carefully selected and provided by Lumon and its management, which further seek to deify the company’s founder for the purposes of manipulation and control of its employees.
Kier was born in 1841 to parents who shared a “close biological relationship,” which made him prone to afflictions like easy bruising and illnesses like tuberculosis. This was all commemorated in various art throughout the show. Despite his illnesses, Kier also exhibited a strong work ethic; he got his first job at 12 years old, stuffing chairs for a furniture tycoon, Edgar Willit, a mean and sadistic employer who often beat his employees with the leg of a dresser. Kier walked seven miles to and from his first job each day.
He also had a twin brother, Dieter, who suddenly began to decay and turn into sap, moss, and other woodland detritus after he “spilled his lineage” during their escape into the wilderness beyond their father’s ether mill, as described in the Fourth Appendix of the Compliance Handbook. Kier walked away from his brother’s suffering until he reached Woe’s Hollow, where he claimed he encountered the Temper known as Woe. He later entered Scissor Cave and tamed the Four Tempers, though Kier himself referred to the cave as “of his own mind.”
Later, while working as a stew-man at an ether company, he met his wife, Imogene — an event portrayed by The Courtship of Kier and Imogene, displayed in the Optics and Design department of Lumon Industries. He then spent some time in the military as a doctor, which gave him the idea of creating and selling his own medical salves, eventually leading to the foundation of Lumon Industries in 1865. Though the company’s beginnings were humble, Kier’s wealth of experience and strong work ethic soon brought enormous success and growth to Lumon.
During his tenure as the company’s CEO, from 1865 to 1939, Kier believed that the person’s work was a reflection of their deeper values and character. His speeches and lines were recorded and appear to form the base of Lumon’s employee code of conduct, which aims to educate employees on how to live, be more industrious, and be more diligent in their efforts. In addition to the Four Tempers that he claimed he tamed, Kier also laid out core principles that he expected Lumon employees to live by.
And while those principles formed the core of his belief system, the series doesn’t explain whether or not he followed his own principles to a T. Still, the current rhetoric at Lumon clearly portrays Kier as an infinitely wise, prophetic messiah who deserves endless worship and reverence. In the end, Kier remained the CEO of Lumon until the day he died. Even his death remains a mystery, as the series doesn’t even specify the circumstances of his death, apart from the fact that he was 98 years old at the time of passing.
In the end, the history of Kier Eagan remains shrouded in mystery, and for every fact we know, there appear to be two facts we don’t. Not only that, but it’s really difficult to know what is and isn’t true about Lumon’s founder. Still, one thing is certain: as long as Lumon exists, so too will the legend of Kier Eagan, half-man, half-myth, all corporate. And if the past is any clue, Kier’s not just rolling in his grave — he’s probably workshopping new corporate policies from it.
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