I’ve been thinking a lot about the clockwork troy and I have my official contribution of theory.
What if Troy was never human?
Both the real Troy and his mom die because of complications from childbirth, and Extraordinary Lougferd feels like he can’t replace his wife, because nothing could ever replace her. But Troy? That can be arranged. Troy becomes the first clockwork soldier, and the standard ones come later. They’re presented first as friends for children, with a young mechanical Troy and his human older brother being used as example. They eventually evolve into servants, then soldiers. All the while, Troy is none the wiser that he isn’t organic, all updates and modifications being done while he’s asleep.
Troy being called the baby of the family? That’s cause he was a baby when he died. Him saying concussions cancel each other out? That’s because sometimes when you whack a device, you can get it working again. Him knocking someone out for stuttering? That’s his subconscious keeping him from being knocked out to fix malfunctions. Terrorist Troy? That’s the clockwork soldier programming activating. He has no idea everything he does is because he’s not human, simply because he was never human.