The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper is a controversial character – while some people love him despite all his faults, others are constantly infuriated with him despite all his positive traits.

When viewers first get to know Sheldon, he is already a grown-up (physiologically, at least) theoretical physicist who acts extremely childishly and disregards other people’s feelings. Years later, fans get a glimpse at younger Sheldon on and surprisingly enough, he is a lot more mature than his adult version.

The audience continues to be perplexed by Sheldon’s weird Benjamin Button-esque tendencies. How come he’s had all this growth within six seasons of the prequel, and yet he still turns out to be a horrible brat by the time

Well, Reddit users have come up with a theory to explain all of it, and it actually makes a lot of sense. What if Sheldon is simply not as special as everyone thought? Many gifted kids are pretty mature and basically act like mini-adults in their childhood. Then they grow up and realize that they have missed out on their young years, which causes them to turn into more childlike versions of themselves and become sort of outcasts in their social circles.

This could be exactly what happened to Sheldon. Fans first meet him on Young Sheldon when he is nine years old, and he is definitely different from the rest of the kids, although most of his negative traits from The Big Bang Theory are already present.

Sheldon is entitled and rude, feels like he deserves special treatment, and acts as if everyone else is dumb. That’s both him at the age of nine on Young Sheldon and at the age of 27 on The Big Bang Theory.

As the prequel progresses, Sheldon has a lot of opportunities to develop and grow as a person, which he does, and he also becomes much less uptight. By season 6, he is mostly tolerable, can interact with peers and adults in a much more polite way, recognize sarcasm (most of the time), and so on.

However, he is also slowly turning into his adult nerdy version. Sheldon has already started wearing his signature shirts on the top layer, and he is a lot more carefree in general when it comes to other people’s habits – except for those situations when he still can’t keep a secret.

Viewers are aware that certain traumatic events are imminent in Sheldon’s life, and they might cause him to become even more childish. George, his father, will soon pass away, and Sheldon will end up completely on his own in another state, meaning that the support system that has held him accountable will no longer be by his side, and that can take a toll on anyone.

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