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Having recently watched the second season, I've observed Cain to be officious, cold, and distant versus others. This is particularly visible in her conflict with Commander Adama, and her determination to hit and hurt the Cylons.

Yet, the Razor miniseries shows her differently. There are moments of smiles and levity - she chews out Shaw for late arrival, then comments on having had a "little mid-afternoon snack". Then, of course, the Cylons attacked, and Cain had to protect her ship and crew.

Given two differing view of Cain, I have to wonder if she was always a hardass, but not visibly so during Razor, or did the Cylon attack and aftermath have a lasting effect on her personality?

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    PTSD with a side order of extreme battle fatigue and survivor guilt. She basically does a heel-turn on all her most valued principles and orders the torture of a prisoner.
    – Valorum
    Feb 4, 2014 at 19:15

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I can't remember if it was the main series or Razor that showed this.

Not always, Admiral Cain fell for one of the computer technicians upgrading the Pegasus' computers, I'm sure a physical relationship was indicated.

The technician turned out to be a model Six, hence the surprise attack had a very personal component for the Admiral and the Six was chained up in the Pegasus' brig as seen later when they meet the Galactica.

After the blind jump during the attack, Admiral Cain, suffering from a combination of stress, personal betrayal and battle fatigue become increasingly cold, distant and unstable.

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  • The personal component of her lover having been a Cylon agent is definitely part of it, but I think @DSaad's answer is definitely part of it too. Having basically left her sister to be captured by the Cylons would undoubtedly have left some serious psychological trauma as well.
    – eidylon
    Jun 4, 2014 at 21:51
  • @eidylon - Agreed. The stress of the re-newed fight against the Cylons alone could have un-hinged someone, DSaad's point is certainly a good one (such trauma would be long-lasting & aggravate subsequent issues), I'm counting the most recent trauma as being the biggest contributor, though not necessarily the root cause.
    – SteB
    Jun 5, 2014 at 7:11
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In the Razor Movie, it shows that :

Helena Cain was born during the first Cylon War. On the last day of the war, Tauron was under attack by Cylon basestars and Centurion ground forces. Her sister Lucy Cain and her father were pinned down in a building under heavy fire. When her father was injured trying to escape, he told Helena to get Lucy to a shelter, before dying. The two made it out of the building, as a result of panic and likely injury Lucy had sustained when she tripped over some broken concrete, Helena left her in a field of rubble and ran away to hide in a container. When Cain came out again after the Cylons retreated, she found only her sister's doll on the ground. These traumatic events were formative for her future.

http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Helena_Cain

I also think Cylons used her sister to make new generation of Humanoid Cylons.

By the way, I guess one of the reason she liked Gina was that she saw some of her sister's features in Gina.

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