30 Days of FE, Day 5: Favorite Lord
Apr. 10th, 2011 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
professor_tammiSo at this rate It'll probably take me around three months to finish this meme, but, uh. I just write really slowly so I end up only answering questions every few days.
My favorite lord is Ike. Not surprising, given that he's the other half of my OTP. To tell the truth, I've always thought that a lot of "main" FE lords have rather subtle personalities (such as Eliwood, Micaiah or Eirika) or, well, not much of a personality at all (Roy and Sigurd imo, no offense to their fans); so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw how Ike subverted that.
Ike most definitely doesn't lack a personality. I'd say his core traits are his bluntness and honesty, both of which I love (I'm noticing that I tend to like brutally honest characters a lot - it's just something I admire). Of course, this is probably his biggest weakness as well. Some of the things he says could easily be perceived as rude or occasionally naive, and most of the characters point this out. Case in point - his first encounter with Kurthnaga, where he not only addresses him very curtly but also ignores what his status as the prince of Goldoa means. Other scenes where his rudeness is very apparent are when Elincia meets Sanaki for the first time or Ike's talk conversation with Bastian. Speaking of which... I can't help but find the latter hilarious. I'm pretty sure Ike is the only FE lord to actually tell a new recruit to shut up, because the time which elapses during the recruitment speech is being wasted and could probably have been better spent killing stuff. (It's almost as if the series is poking fun at itself!)
As mentioned above, his bluntness is most definitely a flaw, but one I can appreciate. I don't think it's at all possible for someone to be both completely honest and always nice - everyone has thoughts which will, eventually, offend somebody. Which pretty obviously is the entire reason the concept of politeness even exists; trying not to hurt people. Of course, a blunt person probably can't help doing this sometimes, which is why I think Ike's portrayal is really quite realistic. It's hard to find any tangible flaws in most other main FE lords, too, so this is yet another reason I feel he stands out.
Of course, he has several other personality traits as well. He's generally serious but still has a sense of humor (which I feel is mostly apparent around people he knows well or is comfortable with), and his defiance of nobility and ignorance of social status is certainly interesting. I'd also like to note that I quite like how IS handled the "racism is bad!!1"-subplot when it comes to Ike. Rather than having him make long speeches about it, he just doesn't understand why people are, or could possibly want to be, racist against others. Definitely a lot better than the stuff I've seen in other JRPGs, and not entirely impossible to believe, given that he feels he has a certain obligation to the laguz since he was born in Gallia.
Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of Ike's character is his rather subtle subversion of many tropes and clichés I've come to expect from JRPG heroes. Main character's father dies? Expected response: wangsting for the rest of the game. Actual response: Ike is visibly and understandably sad about Greil's death, but knows that he needs to move on as quickly as possible for the good of the mercenaries and therefore does so fairly quickly. Pretty girls hitting on the main character? Expected response: either flirting back, or being embarrassed about it in a typical harem-lead kind of fashion (yeah, it's not just limited to anime - it's fairly common in JRPG leads, too). Actual response: the ending cinematic to FE9 excepted, Ike completely ignores most girls who attempt to flirt or, in the case of Aimee, is just creeped out by it.
He's surprisingly stoic for a teenager, but without feeling too cold. I'd say he has an easier time really opening up around his friends/family (eg Soren, Mist, Ranulf), as most people do, and prefers being with them to other people. In spite of this, he regularly seeks out the company of his new recruits - not necessarily because it's something he'd do himself under normal circumstances, but because it's something Greil taught him he should do. So I'd actually say Ike is more of an introvert than an extrovert, really; his dislike of fame is further proof of this. He can't stand to be in the center of attention for too long. Speaking of which... my theory is that this is the reason he left at the end of RD, too. I can't really think of anything else that would make sense.
Lastly, a quick note on RD!Ike - I do think that his personality is different. Unlike many of the haters, though, I don't think RD!Ike doesn't have a personality, because he quite obviously does. The reason he's different has to do with character development. He's actually learned to be more polite, the most obvious example of this being his base conversation with Kurthnaga (where he apologizes for what happened when they met in PoR). Additionally, I'd say he's a little more arrogant than in PoR (pretty noticeable in most of his boss conversations), which is fitting since he's no longer just an inexperienced novice mercenary but the renowned hero of Crimea. So - please stop claiming he's personality-less, fandom. I mean, it's mostly the GameFAQs people who say this, but still. It makes me a sad panda. :(
While Ike is definitely my favorite lord (as evidenced by the wall of text above), I'd like to give Hector and Ephraim some honorable mentions, too. Hector is refreshingly colorful for a lord and has plenty of similarities to Ike, and Ephraim, while having a much more subtle character, also has an interesting personality (I'm fond of his arrogance and occasional obliviousness in particular).
Huh. I think I'm actually more lenient with most lords than I would be with side characters. Probably because interesting leads in JRPGs are so rare.
My favorite lord is Ike. Not surprising, given that he's the other half of my OTP. To tell the truth, I've always thought that a lot of "main" FE lords have rather subtle personalities (such as Eliwood, Micaiah or Eirika) or, well, not much of a personality at all (Roy and Sigurd imo, no offense to their fans); so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw how Ike subverted that.
Ike most definitely doesn't lack a personality. I'd say his core traits are his bluntness and honesty, both of which I love (I'm noticing that I tend to like brutally honest characters a lot - it's just something I admire). Of course, this is probably his biggest weakness as well. Some of the things he says could easily be perceived as rude or occasionally naive, and most of the characters point this out. Case in point - his first encounter with Kurthnaga, where he not only addresses him very curtly but also ignores what his status as the prince of Goldoa means. Other scenes where his rudeness is very apparent are when Elincia meets Sanaki for the first time or Ike's talk conversation with Bastian. Speaking of which... I can't help but find the latter hilarious. I'm pretty sure Ike is the only FE lord to actually tell a new recruit to shut up, because the time which elapses during the recruitment speech is being wasted and could probably have been better spent killing stuff. (It's almost as if the series is poking fun at itself!)
As mentioned above, his bluntness is most definitely a flaw, but one I can appreciate. I don't think it's at all possible for someone to be both completely honest and always nice - everyone has thoughts which will, eventually, offend somebody. Which pretty obviously is the entire reason the concept of politeness even exists; trying not to hurt people. Of course, a blunt person probably can't help doing this sometimes, which is why I think Ike's portrayal is really quite realistic. It's hard to find any tangible flaws in most other main FE lords, too, so this is yet another reason I feel he stands out.
Of course, he has several other personality traits as well. He's generally serious but still has a sense of humor (which I feel is mostly apparent around people he knows well or is comfortable with), and his defiance of nobility and ignorance of social status is certainly interesting. I'd also like to note that I quite like how IS handled the "racism is bad!!1"-subplot when it comes to Ike. Rather than having him make long speeches about it, he just doesn't understand why people are, or could possibly want to be, racist against others. Definitely a lot better than the stuff I've seen in other JRPGs, and not entirely impossible to believe, given that he feels he has a certain obligation to the laguz since he was born in Gallia.
Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of Ike's character is his rather subtle subversion of many tropes and clichés I've come to expect from JRPG heroes. Main character's father dies? Expected response: wangsting for the rest of the game. Actual response: Ike is visibly and understandably sad about Greil's death, but knows that he needs to move on as quickly as possible for the good of the mercenaries and therefore does so fairly quickly. Pretty girls hitting on the main character? Expected response: either flirting back, or being embarrassed about it in a typical harem-lead kind of fashion (yeah, it's not just limited to anime - it's fairly common in JRPG leads, too). Actual response: the ending cinematic to FE9 excepted, Ike completely ignores most girls who attempt to flirt or, in the case of Aimee, is just creeped out by it.
He's surprisingly stoic for a teenager, but without feeling too cold. I'd say he has an easier time really opening up around his friends/family (eg Soren, Mist, Ranulf), as most people do, and prefers being with them to other people. In spite of this, he regularly seeks out the company of his new recruits - not necessarily because it's something he'd do himself under normal circumstances, but because it's something Greil taught him he should do. So I'd actually say Ike is more of an introvert than an extrovert, really; his dislike of fame is further proof of this. He can't stand to be in the center of attention for too long. Speaking of which... my theory is that this is the reason he left at the end of RD, too. I can't really think of anything else that would make sense.
Lastly, a quick note on RD!Ike - I do think that his personality is different. Unlike many of the haters, though, I don't think RD!Ike doesn't have a personality, because he quite obviously does. The reason he's different has to do with character development. He's actually learned to be more polite, the most obvious example of this being his base conversation with Kurthnaga (where he apologizes for what happened when they met in PoR). Additionally, I'd say he's a little more arrogant than in PoR (pretty noticeable in most of his boss conversations), which is fitting since he's no longer just an inexperienced novice mercenary but the renowned hero of Crimea. So - please stop claiming he's personality-less, fandom. I mean, it's mostly the GameFAQs people who say this, but still. It makes me a sad panda. :(
While Ike is definitely my favorite lord (as evidenced by the wall of text above), I'd like to give Hector and Ephraim some honorable mentions, too. Hector is refreshingly colorful for a lord and has plenty of similarities to Ike, and Ephraim, while having a much more subtle character, also has an interesting personality (I'm fond of his arrogance and occasional obliviousness in particular).
Huh. I think I'm actually more lenient with most lords than I would be with side characters. Probably because interesting leads in JRPGs are so rare.
