Lunar Threads

Heh, you're going deeper into character analysis than I do, and that takes some doing. I didn't really see Leo as really expecting to deceive Ronfar, or anyone else; as someone explains to Ruby at some point, he could get into a lot of trouble as Leo so he needed to "officially" be someone else. My feeling is that the heroic rescuer is what he always had seen himself to be, had always dreamed of being, and that this romanticized vision of Defender of Truth and Justice is what got him into the guard to begin with. He was White Knight Leo, with all the noble implications of knighthood. He started having serious doubts about whether the service of Althena was as righteous as he'd always dreamed and believed when he was assigned to find and execute Lucia (or, specifically, when he found that she looked like an innocent girl AND that his old friend defended her -- finding and killing an actual monstrous "destroyer" would have been right in line with his expectations), and so he was trying to do the right thing while in disguise, because he had to admit to himself that he could no longer be sure he was doing the right thing in his normal role.

I read the silliness and playfulness as being part of his personality that he'd always had, but had ruthlessly suppressed in order to set a good example for his men and because he was half-ashamed of it. It didn't seem to fit the image of knighthood and leadership that he'd had. Once he was free of the guard and trying to find himself post-Zophar, he tried the silly mask thing and flamboyantly swashbuckling style near Takkar (breaking all the windows in the process, as I recall), probably in part from reasoning that playing it straight hadn't done much good previously and in fact had closed his mind so much that he nearly blew it with blind obedience. He went from the romanticized role as White Knight of Right to a Zorro-type, equally romanticized but unofficial.

It's actually somewhat similar to what Ronfar did earlier, I think: Ronfar probably had big idealistic dreams of being a great priest-healer in Althena's service, but his disillusionment and traumatic separation occurred earlier. So his healing became more clandestine and unofficial (everyone in Larpa knew that he was a healer; remember EB's itching grandpa?) and he went for the romanticized image of the gambler with a heart of gold. Once he had his baggage straightened out he settled down with Mauri and presumably no longer needed the image. Likewise, I'd expect Leo to become more like Laike eventually after he worked out what he really wanted to do; he was still in that process at the end of EB.

With Mauri, of course, we see what happens when that step of disillusionment doesn't occur. Of course, she didn't have much choice, being drugged. But I would hazard that the three of them, growing up together, had dreams of changing the world and all, and reinforced each other's childhood dreams. In another era, Leo would have been a Dragonmaster, and Ronfar and Mauri much-beloved high priests. Which thought makes me wonder if it bothered Leo that Ghaleon was already in the Dragonmaster role, officially. Ghaleon tells Leo that he doesn't care for the title, but this probably utterly bewildered Leo.

ilovemyguitar wrote:The clownery as Mystere is great and fun (and not to mention a breath of fresh air when the game was veering into fairly dark territory), but if you psychoanalyze it you get a genuinely heartbreaking snapshot of Leo's mental state at the time. He was attempting to disguise himself, and the persona that he felt would be the most removed from his actual identity was that of a brave and selfless hero fighting for truth and justice. To want to create such an overtly heroic persona to act as an idealized version of himself, and to believe that flaunting these qualities would make him unrecognizable to his own best friend, underscores just how scared he was and how far removed from these principles he felt he had become.

Mystere at the Shrine to Ghaleon boards has a good signature for this:

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
~Oscar Wilde

Mystere was really completely consistent with Leo's character. Of course, Leo is an outstanding character in the fact that he goes through so much change and development throughout the game. Mystere, in effect, was the real turning point of all of that, the edge of his U-turn. KF

I notices no one voted for Hiro what is wrong with him to me he kind of looks and acts like Alex
And what do you guys think about the Dragons do you think they got better or worse I personally think the ones in LEB were more thought out and looked better I really likes what they did to the Black dragon

Alunissage wrote:
You should totally read Darrell's (DezoPenguin's) short fics about Leo posted up at the Shrine. At least, I assume they're posted there. I should go find out; it's been some years now since I read them.

At last check, they're hiding in under the general header of "Message Board Madness" in the Library of Vane. The titles got omitted for some reason, though. Go fig (and thanks for the plug!)

My favorite character is actually Ghaleon, but I didn't want to choose "other" because that's too generic of an option. Lol. I chose Alex instead.

for character depth and development, it's a toss-up between Ghaleon and Nall. Quite close.

i vote for ruby. i really like her.
so cute. heheheh

I voted other because my # 1 favorite is: NALL!


although, I do like a few others as well... :: nods ::

I voted for Lucia because I liked her emotional transition, but only because I didn't want to vote Other for some reason.

Normally I would of picked Ghaleon.

I voted Alex. The hero is almost always my favorite, and he unlike that wannabe, Hiro, he actually made as far as being able to call himself Dragonmaster Alex.

Yea I voted for Alex as well. I like Luna and Lucia too though.

I voted Alex. The hero is almost always my favorite, and he unlike that wannabe, Hiro, he actually made as far as being able to call himself Dragonmaster Alex.

Hiro wasn't trying to be a Dragonmaster. Not to mention that Hiro has far more personality than Alex, and does something far more impressive. Hiro and his friends were able to defeat a god that was on par with Althena herself, without the power of a Dragonmaster. While Alex and his friends could barely beat Ghaleon even with Alex becoming a Dragonmaster. So yeah, overall I'd say Hiro >>> Alex(in power and personality). Although, neither of them are my favorite character; so I went with other. My favorite is Ghaleon. Followed by Lucia, Ronfar, Kyle, and Nall.

I love all the characters, of course, but my favorite goes out to Nall. I love that he has a role in both SSSC and EBC...it adds so much nostalgia and helps tie the two very different games together.

Kyle and Mystere both provided some much needed comic relief. And Leo had flash blade, so he is up there to.

Nall and Ghaleon are easily the two best characters. The transitions both of them made in understanding and maturity were amazing. I feel sorta sad for Nall in EB, though. Maybe Lunar 3 will have Nall and Ruby living together in the same cave.

Ronfar ftw or kyle they basically are the same drunk gambling women loving characters

Gegi wrote:Ronfar ftw or kyle they basically are the same drunk gambling women loving characters

Methinks Kyle would make a much better pirate, yarr. Shoulda done as the novels did, I say. KF

I'm so confused, how can you guys like a character who rarely has any voice roles, even in SSSC over Lucia?

For some odd reason, I never voted or posted in this topic. O_o

Anyway, voted for Hiro. I've always just liked him better than Alex for some reason. Then again, I've always preferred EB's cast over SSS.

Voted Alex because I didn't want to go with other. Probably Kyle or Jean would be next.