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juruna-yudja · 2 years

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Morgiana’s Meta

Slight edit. This started as one post about Morgiana and the Fanalis.

Which I’ve now realized was too long and not digest enough, so I separated the halves, even though both analyses are intrinsically linked. For the second part about the Fanalis, go here. There’s also new content in this post, so if anyone who’s familiar with the old version wants a re-read, it’s worth your while!

I’m not anything close to concise, consider this your only forewarning, it’s going to be long. For those not intimidated by a deep dive, onward we go!

Morgiana is one of my favorite characters, which is why the deep injustice of what happened to her development in Magi still haunts me to this day. To examine why and how, let’s dissect the manga.

Morgiana’s introduced as what I’d call a case study for the horrors of the setting; she’s a slave.

A slave which cannot be freed solely through the efforts of our kindhearted deuteragonist because the problem is too complicated to simply be resolved by an act of goodwill.

Then she’s revealed to be an antagonist because she is a slave of Jamil and the man is a sadistic entitled man child. However, we’re clearly shown that Morgiana is the best of a bad lot in the way she laughs at Aladdin impersonation of Jamil, being humanized, or the way she decides to tell him the truth of Alibaba’s fate.

During her fight against Alibaba in the treasury, we’re on tenterhooks because she can so easily hurt him and Alibaba doesn’t want to defend himself by hurting her because he understands her position.

That’s why he is trying to talk her to his side. In his mind, the dungeon is a place outside of the world (true) and so the rules are different. They’re no masters and no slaves.

Except that, again it’s more complicated than that. Morgiana’s chains aren’t only the shackles at her feet but mental chains as well. It’s why Goltas breaking them physically and metaphorically by talking to her is so important.

Goltas may have killed under Jamil’s orders and consider himself too broken and too guilty to ever enjoy freedom, but that’s not the case with Morgiana. Making sure she understands that is capital.

It’s also why Magi is one of my favorite manga.

The attention given here is priceless. It’s a herald of things to come and set the expectations quality wise for what will follow in terms of character development.

In a series like Magi was shaping up to be, it was essential that Morgiana’s experience as a slave be addressed and given the starting point of recovery.

The bar is placed very high right from the start, let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint...

After that episode, we’re informed of what Morgiana got up to in the six months timeskip. She starts to recover from her time as a slave by working for and being welcome in, Leila and Sahsa’s caravan.

Morgiana’s still plagued by nightmares, but Goltas’ ghosts and his dying wish for her bring comfort. This arc is then appropriately titled Morgiana’s arc because it focuses on her still very much present trauma and the start of healing from it.

When she hears of slavers on the caravan’s route, she goes to hunt them down. It’s good because even if her decision is a mistake (she goes after a band of thieves alone without warning anyone) it’s significant in that she acts without asking, thus demonstrating initiative and agency.

There, in an isolated cell, there’s a little girl too. One who’s an echo of herself at the same age whom she inadvertantly terrify with her recollection of what life as a slave will be like, when the girl asks her about it. Of course, once Morgiana realizes that, she hurries to swear that she’ll save them both.

By saving this girl, Morgiana will save herself.

But it doesn’t go according to plan. Morgiana calls for a doctor and medicine when she realizes the girl is burning up, only to be told an useless slave will be fed to the wolves hyenas.

She’s once again chained, helpless, stuck by doubt and hopeless, about to witness the girl being devoured by desert hyenas. Until Goltas’ ghost appears in her mind and urge her to action.

Underlining that what keeps her from acting is, once again, more of a mental block than a physical one. After that little pep talk though, Morgiana fight through the dangers and manages a magnificent rescue.

All is well that end well.

It’s a damn solid base upon which to establish a character and a promise of glorious things to come, what’s not to like?

Except... not really. What follow will slowly undermines everything that has been established in the breadth of a five chapters/one episode. So let’s tackle that.

The Balbadd’s arc unfolds and we discover Morgiana’s role in the trio’s dynamic. Intensely practical, she’s here to pull their heads out of their asses when they both get lost in the clouds and shoulds; ensuring they talk to each other first before coming to conclusions. She’s the support, steady and unwavering.

Combat-wise, she provides the brawn to Alibaba’s brains and Aladdin’s magic. Her enhanced strength has come into play once or twice and we’re shown what her future prowess will look like in the form of Masrur, a fellow Fanalis!

Now it’s getting interesting because it seems that Masrur, among his own trio, fulfills the same position as Morgiana herself. A no-nonsense practical person who can drag the other two by the scruff of their necks if it’s needed, unphased by their antics and theatrics.

All in all, Morgiana and Masrur are shaping up to be pretty similar. Both Fanalis and former slaves and the powerhouses of their respective trio. Temperament-wise, it’s too early to tell if their resemblance is a shared trait in all Fanalis.

Overall, the effect creates parallels and means that Masrur can make a great mentor because he understands her. He even tells her that in his youth he too wished to find other Fanalis in Carthago and that it was a disappointing affair.

That’s our first warning sign.

Another thing of note in Sindria’s arc is Morgiana’s reforging of her shackles into ankle bracelets along with a promise to Aladdin and Alibaba to be their wings. Along with the information that Fanalis have almost no magoi capacity.

Then comes the night of the Mahrajan’s festival, where Morgiana tells the rest of the trio that she’ll go to the Dark Continent but still wants to stay at their side and asks them for permission to do so.

It goes to show that she isn’t used to freedom yet.

But while Morgiana goes on to enjoy the festival, Alibaba and Aladdin have a discussion afterward about their fight against Al-Thamen. Alibaba expresses he doesn’t want to repeat Balbadd’s tragedy while Aladdin offers support, reaffirms their roles as Magi and King.

On its own, it’s not worrying. These two can have things to say without Morgiana having to be here. But with what is to come and how in the previous arc that she was included in all discussions, and the fact they strengthen a dynamic of duo rather than of trio one, let’s consider that our second warning sign.

The aforementioned low magoi capacity comes into play no long after, when they’re in Zagan’s dungeon as she gets them out of the spiked trap, exhausting herself to the point of crying tears of blood.

It is, for now, a trump card and to use only as a last resort.

It’s telling in its own way. Morgiana’s new ability, which should broaden her skills is in fact, limited because of her nature as a Fanalis. Constrained by it. Uh oh. Is anyone else hearing warning bells?

It is now time for the World Exploration arc, otherwise known as the one where Ohtaka begins to hammer in the nails in the coffin.

To start with, just in numerical terms, she already loses out. Having but one chapter for her entire character arc. Let’s that sink in. The World Exploration arc gives us plenty of new info about Alibaba and Aladdin... but not Morgiana.

Moreover, because she has only chapter to make an impression, a lot of info is crammed into a narrow timeframe. To sum up...

Morgiana arrives in Carthago only to find ruins but spurred on by the locals’ talks of Fanalis beyond the Rift, heads there. She tries to make her way across, stumbling on Yunan’s cottage on the way. He confirms Fanalis are alive on the other side and tell her it’s impossible to come back once she has crossed over, while also cautioning her that even were it possible, he wouldn’t help her.

So the Rift is a literal void and a one way ticket too? Let’s make that our third warning.

And then we don’t see Morginana again until 50 chapters later, in an arc that has only 64 in total! On top of leaving us hanging on an emotional moment. We have no clue as to how she took this info or whether she grappled with the decision at all. When it should’ve been the focal point of her character arc!

She has wanted to go home ever since we were introduced to her! Visions of her homeland in Carthago were all that kept her going under Jamil’s torture. All that ensured that Morgiana was still a person at the end of her time in slavery rather than a wreck!

It has the fundations of a classic need vs want realization, one which should’ve been the crux of her character arc. But not only wasn’t it shown, it’s not even considered as something that could have happened! Morgiana is now so far from Ohtaka’s focus that her arc literally wither away.

That’s the fourth and final warning sign.

As for her reappearance at the end of the Magnostadt arc... Let’s compare one last time to Alibaba. Though he too, is absent half of that (24 chapters in all) and only enters the fray of the war in Magnostadt toward the end, once Reim’s troops have been deployed, we know he is on the way because it’s shown.

There’s no such indication for Morgiana. It’s not shown or even hinted at. We’re just hanging in limbo. Was it worth for the sake of a dramatic entrance? No.

Entirely because whatever dramatic entrance she could’ve had is smashed apart by the fact she arrives alongside the rest of the Seven Seas Alliance, and as a result is completely overshadowed.

As if that wasn’t enough, her new mastery of her household vessel is an established fact. (Training montages? Don’t know them. Except Ohtaka does, she showed us Alibaba and Aladdin’s, if only partially for the former).

Though we have now explored more than enough material to prove my point. There are a handful of noteworthy events later on which reinforces it.

The confrontation of Hakuryuu where they don’t bring her along because it’s clearly a two vs two fight. Or how Morgiana is once again sidelined when Sinbad finally loses his marbles as foretold and enacts his global suicide scheme.

Yeah, she didn’t have the special rukh or whatever, but Sharrkan and Kougyoku don’t either and they still show up to try and convince Alibaba to stop.

As for the confrontation and fight against Hakuryuu, if I wanted to be charitable to Ohtaka, I’d say that Morgiana was sidelined because of a discrepancy in power levels or because she envisioned that as a fight between Magi and their respective King Candidate.

However, Ohtaka drained away all of my goodwill for aforementioned reasons and other still to come.

If it was a question of power disparity Morgiana could’ve still been brought along, then occupied with the problem of Hakuryuu’s brainwashed goons. Which could have been great because it’d have forced her to rethink and strategy, reconsider the effects of the strength she prides herself on and which is part of her identity.

Because her present enemies are not in control of their actions, like slaves but worse, because there’s no awareness. In this hypothetical turn of action it could have served as a reminder of her time in slavery while also serving to highlight the shortcomings and limitations of a brute strength approach.

But alas this is not what happened. She is just sidelined again, and then we’re told by the narrative we should continue to care because of the goodwill brought by the narrative earlier and the interest we cultivated in the beginning.

Which, to be fair, works to some extend.

It’s just not what I would have expected for one third of our protagonist trio.

Otherwise, there’s another handful of signs obvious in hindsight. Considering the downfall and diminished importance of Morgiana in the narrative.

The place where Morgiana goes in search of relatives, community, and culture? It’s empty, ruined, and ransacked. But when she pursues one more lead out of desperation because she’s dissatisfied since there were no answers there, what does she find?

Literally nothing.

The Rift is a void that extends as far as the eye can see, to beyond the horizon. It seems like someone scooped out existence itself and left nothing in its place.

Let me put that in more words.

The place Morgiana has been searching for, her home and the hope allowing her to hold on while she was devoid of agency and freedom and rights, it doesn’t exist anymore. And the road to the rest of her kin is a blank space.

That’s when the problems get really obvious and unavoidable.

If Ohtaka consciously wanted to make a more transparently clear statement about what she thinks of Morgiana's character, she couldn’t have topped that.

Adding in the disregard for Morgiana’s training that we weren’t privy to, or the fact that both Alibaba and Aladdin could make connections but she was deprived of them just drives the point home.

Alibaba has the Yambala gladiators, with Shambal Ramal and Toto, Aladdin has Titus and Sphintus, forming another trio with fellow magicians.

Who does Morgiana have?

The one Magi who’s lived so long he tried to cut all of his ties to humanity and couldn’t be bothered to look like he cared for his last King Candidate.

That’s a bounty!

But I lied earlier, you know what the very first warning sign was, in hindsight?

The Morgiana’s arc itself.

First pertinent observation, neither Alibaba nor Aladdin have an arc of the manga named after or solely dedicated to them and it’s telling of the fact that they’ll continue to grow along with the rest of the cast and plot. But not Morgiana.

Because Ohtaka couldn’t leave it well enough alone considering the plans for Magi, the issues of her time in slavery had to be addressed, preferably sooner than later. But instead of looking at this arc as a starting point for her character where Morgiana begins to heal from her time in slavery, it is considered an over-and-done-with affair.

The Morgiana’s arc in the manga is five chapters long and in Ohtaka’s mind, enough for the third member of the trio.

It also explains why poor Morgiana seems rather static and sidelined compared to the boys. Her character was driven in a corner narratively and then left here. It didn’t matter that there was still plenty to be done with Morgiana if only Ohtaka cared, because she didn’t and that’s the entire problem.

But I also think this is tied to who or rather what she is. Morgiana is a Fanalis, a race, a people, that was targeted and thus decimated by the slave trade for their physical capacities. That matter a lot given how the Fanalis are treated in canon.

#magi #magi the labyrinth of magic #magi the kingdom of magic #morgiana #character analysis #character arc #charater meta #this post has been updated

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desi-ambivert-nerd · 2 years

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This quote is from my favourite book: "Crazy Times with Uncle Ken" written by Ruskin Bond.

This quote suits the best for Mr. Bean.

The character of Uncle Ken from the book and Mr. Bean have some similarities.

They try a lot to have a stable job but they couldn't.

They always have wierd and funny misadventures. Both have caused accidents in chemistry Lab. 😂😂😂

They don't have lady luck.

They have caused problems for their kins in a laughable way.

Such comical, misadventurous character are often tagged as loser. But such characters need analysis before being tagged as loser. You will lose to your destiny many times but this doesn't mean you're a loser.

These not only make us laugh but they inspire us to never give up. They teach us to survive somehow. Surviving is indeed an achievement

#mr. bean #comedy #comedian #comedies #comedic #ruskin bond #Charater analysis #book addict #book lover #book quotes #booknerd #books and libraries #books and reading #bookworm #books and literature #creative writing #book talk #book criticism

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brainthots · 1 month

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was thinking recently: hmm thinking bout my brobos alot... should read some fanfiction to let the worms out

me again remebering to think alittle bit more: ohH NO FUCK THEY my BLRUBOS THEY RNT FREED 😭😭 they r locked up with me i havnt let them out yet 😭😭 im sorryyyyyy (they r ocs)

#no canon yet and thinking of reading fanfiction????#shame #one thousand years shame #STOP CONSUMPTION GO CREACTION #bonk #really😭#no cannon and thinking of fandom #me #me is the clown #brainthots #thot speaks #silly #HOW DO I KEEP LOOKING MY LILL GUYS #i want meta charater analysis of my lill dudes so bad #locking up my lill guys* sorry typo

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swallowtail-ageha · 4 months

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To be honest i think jaehaerys is a misogynistic piece of shit who was a creep towards his kids but i don't think he raped all his daughters i think that there are characters who benefit from being rapists and characters who are brought down by being rapists and big j belongs to the second category

#he is def emotionally incestuous and creepy towards them #and complicit in the typical targgirl grooming that was so present in the targ golden age #but him being a rapist sounds more like bashing than legit charater analysis #sometimes it's better if they only do the groomi g without the assaulting!!!!#<post of a totally normal person

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i-love-hot-men-in-video-games · 4 months

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I did a charater analysis on John Seed Pt. 2

John is the only Herald that doesn't kill anyone, severely maime, yes, but he doesn't kill, out of all the Heralds, he actually gives people the choice to confess to him right away without harm. Jacob, it's either do as you're told and kill, or die, and with Faith, it's either join or become a braindead Angel. John has destroyed people's houses, but not before warning them to get out, for example; Grace Armstrong's home was destroyed by John, but she's still alive. John is also the only one to not kill the Deputy's allies. Jacob; Eli. Faith; Virgil & Marshall. Joseph; Dutch. He may have severely hurt Nick, but at least John gave him the choice. While the Deputy is tied up, waiting for John to come back to the confession room, he doesn't come back, even if you sit and wait for him, he just doesn't come back. Which implies that maybe he wants the Deputy to actually escape... he even makes comments like "The doors are closing Deputy, last chance to leave!" and "...if you stay here, I will bleed your little princess like a stuck pig." There is a note in the clinic you can read about Mary May, basically she had gotten a tattoo from John, but no other scars. So John never hurt Mary, even says it in the book of Absolution; a FarCry Novel. So John does give people chances, even multiple as John wrote multiple letters to Nick, pleading with him to join. So to say the least, John is a somewhat fair person, he also seems to go easier on the Females rather than the Males. During the cutscene of John's death, he becomes very genuine with us, questioning us to stop and think "What if Joseph is right?" he also says that the world is on the brink of destruction, you can feel it. When John laughs, "Look at the headlines, look who's in charge", he smiles... and out of all the times John has smiled at us, this one seems the most genuine. When John says "You don't understand, you don't believe, you don't care!" John pleads to us with genuine worry in his voice and it's written on his face. Just before John dies, he says this... "May God have mercy on your soul." John shows us that even though we've done so much wrong to him and the people of Eden's Gate, he still wishes for God to go easy on us... John hasn't done that with anyone, not even Mary May which he likes so much. I believe John also says this because he knows he may go to hell, and he doesn't wish that upon the Deputy...

Now that We've looked at everything, let's see a comparison to what people think John is, VS what he really is.

Personified John

A Monster

A Creep

A Charismatic Liar

Sadistic/Narcissistic

Heartless

Soulless

Psychopath

Control Freak

Scary

Joseph's Puppet

Has an Inferiority Complex

Selfish

Mean

Terrible taste in interior decorating

Terrible cook (because him and his brothers made watery mac n cheese)

lustful

Stupid Rich

Successful

Real John

Broken

Deeply Scarred

Lies to hide who he is

Slight PTSD

Deeply Caring\Deeply Loving

Doesn't know what reciprocated love feels like.

Feels like a Failure.

Is afraid of Joseph and disappointing him.

Feels like a disappointment.

Actually has unique taste in interior decorating (he's a real estate lawyer, what do you expect?)

Gives people many chances for redemption/atonement.

Tries to 'earn' Joseph's love.

Doesn't know how to cook (grew up in a home that mainly ordered fancy foods or probably had a personal chef.)

Uses sex to forget the pain of his childhood.

Feels like he needs to hurt people for failing him in getting a good home.

Feels like he's nothing without his sins (which is why he continues to try and drown people and severely hurt them.)

Is left-handed

Severely abused physologically.

Loves the color blue.

Loves Planes, specifically the P-51 Mustang 9 (possibly got the idea from the movie Dr. Strangelove. It has the P-51 Mustang plane in it. John also whistles the song "We'll Meet Again" which plays at the end of the movie. Possibly John's favorite movie and song.)

Would love to stare at the stars with someone because he loves the sky.

Would be forever in your debt if you made him dinner (food his how you show love in the south, and since he was possibly never made a homecooked meal, he would be very greatful.)

100% would read Dark Romance & Smut...

Personality type is EsTJ-T.

Gets lost in the country side because of the very little road markers. (He's too far used to the city.)

Likes Gourmet dishes but would rather have a homecooked meal.

Would be terrified of kids and only tolerate them. (secretely loves them from a distance.)

Wouldn't know true love if it slapped him in the face.

Would actually make a great lover.

Severe trust issues

Appears like a stuck-up Narc. but actually loaths himself.

If he did see that the Person truly loves him, he would hug them tightly and start crying because he never thought he could ever be truly loved/loved unconditionally.

Is literally the representation of Famine because he was starved of love his whole life.

Just wants someone to love him for him.

In conclusion to all of this, John is just a man who needs proper guidance, therapy, and love.

#John Seed #farcry5

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generalluxun · 5 months

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I honestly stopped watching the show when they dropped the ball on Chloe’s redemption arc. Too me it never made sense that she *was* getting better only to get even worse randomly with no explanation for *why*

Than I found out it was because some writer came back and decided he had a vendetta against a literal fictional character, and everything made sense. Honestly I think Amity from the owl house took a charater very much like Chloe and actually did something good with the character.

This is the show of missed potential.

don’t even get me started on how literally anyone who defends the writers almost always ends up basically saying that victims that lash out because of their abuse deserve to never get better.

There's a lot of circumstantial evidence to piece together theories on why what happened. I'm hoping the movies do well, and I'm still curious-ish for S6.

The fandom discussions are... a thing. Everyone is so bitter that they form camps, and the 'If you're not with us you're against us' is extremely high.

I'm met salters who can't admit any part of the show is good.

I've met cultists who can't admit any part of the show is bad.

Very few people want to just, talk about the show.

I love breaking down what works and what doesn't. I love analyzing missteps not just to gloat or hate, but to see why something didn't work, and how it *could* have worked. That's fun. Media analysis is fun.

Scoring points in some weird game of team loyalty isn't fun for me.

#ask #ml salt?#fandom... whatever #I've been dealing with a sick wife and child today I don't have the energy to jump through hoops

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esteemed-excellency · 7 months

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Oc characterisation: I wrote a bit of character analysis to save for reference, here it is if anyone's curious.

Hiram's backstory is based on three main traits:

He was and still is a curious and inquisitive person. I chose 1837 as his birth year not only to fit the Fall timeline but also to drop him right in the middle of the century, a time full of societal and industrial changes (I'm a history nerd so I wanted to rotate a blorbo in my main area of interest). He loves to experience life to the fullest and to learn about new things.

He's always been extremely focused on his goals. He completed his studies and he got the social status he wanted, starting a promising career towards a favourable future with a lot of connections here and there.

He always wanted more. I needed him to be entitled enough to be dandyish and kind of impertinent, but still stuck in the middle class. The previously mentioned qualities turn into a degree of vanity and conceit as he strives for more. He manages to fulfill enough of his goals just as 1862 approaches.

His behaviour in the Neath developes from these three traits. He loses everything during the Fall: family, home, status. He needs to get back into the swing of things, as he's always preoccupied with obtaining more, so his focus shifts from planning to scheming. Societal rules seem to be changing and he doesn't concern himself with law abiding conduct anymore. He knows very well how to circumvent it. The problem is that now his world is a brand new place and, being still fueled by curiosity, he needs to know what's going on with the city, and for some things focus starts bordering dangerously on obsession.

Hence, the violant incident. He remembers everything extremely clearly, and his capacity to focus is even better than before, but he knows there's still more to find out, and curiosity turns into Ambition.

His final charater trait is soullessness, which I headcanon as not always being able to feel actual emotions, and knowing their intensity without being able to define what they are exactly. He knows he's feeling something but he can't always accurately identify the particular feeling, so he navigates emotions in terms of intense/mild, interesting/uninteresting, engaging/boring, instead of a more complex moral or emotional spectrum.

Despite this, he's still fueled by curiosity and he actively seeks out secrets and novelties. He plans his schemes accordingly to what goes on around town (and on the surface too via his agents), even though a good dose of control and secrecy is now needed to mantain his affairs. There are a lot of things to meddle into and he doesn't waste any opportunity.

#I have some more followers so I'm trying to expand on the backstory #I might edit this sooner or later because I'm not happy with some of the syntax but this has been sitting in my drafts for long enough #woe oc lore be upon ye #fallen london #fallen london oc #hiram hargrave #hiram lore #backstory

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dayeongi · 11 hours

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fic asks: 11, 15, 20

11. Are there any tropes that you particularly enjoy writing?

Ahahaha I think it's super obvious but I find that for my straight ships I have this thing about a strong girl falling for the one guy she can respect. Also funnily enough both of the example ships for this have light haired girl with dark haired guy??? For any ships in general I love "they're smart but dumb about each other." Love truly does make you stupid!

15. Do you plan your fics or prefer to let the story unfold as you write?

I try to plan 100%! but I make executive decisions sometimes that have me rework everything after lmao, then I curse past me for leaving me with this problem.

20. How do you approach action sequences or intense moments?

I try to put myself in the charater's shoes! Who am I? What kind of situation is this? How aware and knowledgeable am I? And from then I use a lot of senses. I don't write action sequences a lot so I'm always insecure about them but haven't heard any complaints about them! Regardless, I think it's a lot to do about managing tension and pacing. I have my thoughts about Tarantino, but the glass of milk scene in Inglorious Basterds is a good analysis on it. (I know he's not the first to do something like this, in fact there's this talk about the bomb under the table thing, a quote from Alfred Hitchcock, but I haven't seen anything from him and I have seen inglorious basterds so i don't want to come off as if i'm some sort of cultured person.)

[Yet Another] 'Questions for Fic Writers'

#thank you so much for asking!#ask game #hi friend!!

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kookies2000 · 2 years

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Am I about to do a charater analysis of every Owl House character? Yes, yes I am.

Just saw a Tik Tok edit about The Owl House Villians and it got me thinking, some of the characters are much more complex than villains. In fact, the show has types of characters that aren't always shown in children cartoons. The most common characters we do see are heroes, villains, and/or twist villains. If we're lucky we get tragic antiheroes. But the show has other character types that I don't always see in Disney cartoons. And I'm gonna talk about every single charater and what type of charater they are!!! Look, the hiatus as me going insane, ok?

The twist hero. A character that appears to be the villain but turns out to be the hero. The opposite of a twist villain. The edit had Darius as the villain and yes, he did start off in a very villainous light. His behavior was snooty, cold hearted, cruel, sinister and he was mean to our heroes. His design looks threatening as well. Has anyone noticed how Darius transformation is a parallel to Belos transformation? Piles of goop and can turn their limbs into weapons. Heck, they had him in that famous Disney Villain Green.

But then, it turns out all his villainous deeds were actually heroic ones. He didn't kidnap Raine and their team, he saved them from being locked away forever. He wasn't being a jerk to Eberwolf, that's their sibling like relationship. He wasn't gonna force Willow and her friends into the coven, he was just returning them without attracting attention!! He wasn't trying to be a jerk to Hunter, he was trying to push him onto the right track.

And back to that Belos and Darius parallel!!! It just hit me!!! Darius was shown in a green light and the green light means villain. While Belos was shown in a golden light, and in Disney gold means hero. Then when we have their transformations. Piles of goop that can turn their limbs into weapons. They both have the same powers but there's a main difference. Darius has better control over his powers and he embraces it. Belos has zero control and is continually trying to suppress it with palisman magic. And then we have their personalities!!! Darius is open about his opinions and wears his emotions on his sleeve. If he doesn't like you, he'll say it. He comes off as a jerk but at least you know where you stand with him. As for Belos, this guy uses pretty words. He's always so calm and well put together. A man of the law and justice. But it's not real, he's suppressing his anger and thoughts. He's hiding what the public would note as uncivilized.

What I'm saying is, all these details and characteristics are what made the twist hero so much better. We're used to that Disney image of a hero and that Disney image of a villain that we didn't see it coming. And I adore that. I don't think we ever had a twist hero in a Disney cartoon before. If we have, please tell me. And no, a villain who had redemption doesn't count as a twist hero. They have to have been the good guy the whole time for them to be a twist hero. Honestly, the closest I can think of is Ducktales. Lena and Penny aren't twist heros, they were more antagonist who saw what was right and wrong. So the next one I can think of is Gandra. She was never evil and was working with Fenton.

I'll be posting about the other characters on a separate post. I'm looking forward to writing about Kiki and Terra.

#the owl house #owl house #darius toh #the owl house belos #the owl house darius #i was ginna bring up race and homosexualilty as well #how disney villainous a lot of gay coded characters #and people of color as well #BUT #thats sensitive territory right there #so yeah #I don't want to mess up there

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slugdragoon · 10 days

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RPG Role Analysis Series #5 - Dragon Quest III vs. Final Fantasy I vol.I

It's time to do a bit of compare and contrast! I want to talk about Dragon Quest III, but I think we need to compare it to Final Fantasy I, because they have such a similar structure, and together are so foundational in the JRPG world.

Dragon Quest III was released just two months after Final Fantasy I, so I don't think they influenced each other much. The Wizardy series was already on IV around the same time, and Ultima IV had come out years earlier, and many of the classes in Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest III are analogous to those games, which in turn are taken from D&D.

Despite this, the chosen classes for each game have so much overlap! FFI has six, which each have a promoted class, but each class promotes only to that advanced class and can't change mid-game. There is also no main charater, your four party members are equal and your party composition can be anything. DQIII on the other hand allows you to choose your three party other members at will mid-game, but you always have to have Erdrick, the protagonist.

Warrior (FF) / Warrior (DQIII) - The damage-dealing knight in both games. Both Warriors are tanks that wear the best armour and swing the strongest weapons, their job is to hit things and stay alive long enough to push through damage. In DQIII however, the Warrior cannot learn Magic, whereas the FF Warriors' promotion, the Knight, can learn low-level White Magic, making it a bit more of a paladin sort, actually. There is no further distinction in FFI of access to spells than the level of spells a job can access, so all low-level White Magic is available to the Knight, meaning they can heal (single or multi-target), deal holy damage to a group of undead, increase allies defence and evasion, or reduce incoming fire and lightning damage, making them have a role in supporting the party as well as dealing damage.

Monk (FF) / Fighter (DQIII) - FFI monks and DQIII fighters are more similar than the Warriors in that in both games, neither can learn spells, including The Monk's Master promotion. Both wear no armour, and no weapons (except claws can be used in DQIII without penalty), and hit hard weaponless, but are left as glass cannons due to their lack of armour. FFI monks emphasize being faster than other classes, and DQIII fighters have a higher critical hit chance, but the main draw of both is that they save the party money by having one fewer member to buy expensive items for. In addition, they can reach their maximum potential better than two Warriors who would compete for the same rare/unique swords. This is especially useful in DQIII, as a Hero-classed Erdrick will always need this gear. These early games don't have monks do especially monk-like things, like have any special fighting abilities, their job is to be low maintenance, above all.

White Mage (FF) / Cleric (DQIII) - Both classes have low physical stats, but aren't as helpless at using weapons as the Black Mage/Mage. They won't deal your main damage, and have to be carefully guarded, but it won't be completely worthless to attack normally when no one needs healing (which is great, as their magic does not focus on damage either), and won't necessarily crumple instantly, but should be carefully guarded. Both types can heal, revive, do multi-target damage for a large MP cost, reduce incoming magic damage, buff (evasion and defence for White Mages, agility for Clerics), and heal status effects. The DQIII Cleric can cause sleep status and debuff enemy defence, wheras the White Mage can only dispel defences (not truly a debuff, which is the realm of the Black Mage). The Cleric also has instant death spells, where the White Mage can protect against the same from enemies.

Black Mage (FF) / Mage (DQIII) - Both the DQIII Mage and the Final Fantasy Black Mage have pitiful weapon attack power, as they are meant to only attack using spells. In DQIII, items exist to cast spells for free, which gives the Mage something to do without blowing all their MP. The Mage can buff party defense, the Black Mage can caste Haste, and both can buff party attack, both cast elemental damaging spells, and slow enemies. The DQIII mage get a lot of the dungeon traversal utility spells that carry over from the protagonist of DQI and the Prince of Cannock in DQII (and some new ones), as was as a magic reflecting spell and some polymorphing. The FFI Black Mage has instant death spells and status effects like blind and stone.

The DQIII mages have more of a mix of spells probably influenced by the roles of the Prince of Cannock and Princess of Moonebrook. The result is that the Cleric feels more like a D&D Cleric, with about the same level of offensive options, and the Mage feels more like a D&D Wizard who learns a variety of spells with different functions, including niche utility cases. The Final Fantasy ones really focused down on having the White Mage do purely beneficial effects to the party and the Black Mage do purely detrimental effects to the enemy (exception:making other people hit them harder), and fully exclusively own those roles.

Damn my posts are so long, I'll do some of the more divergent/interesting classes in another post (Red Mages/Sages, Thieves, the Merchant, Hero and the Jester).

#rpg classes #rpg design #final fantasy #dragon quest #dragon quest iii #final fantasy i #game design #rpg #jrpg #video games

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