Honestly, I agree with a lot of this sentiment. Borgan's character arc (and how people responded) was the most difficult to really fit with the rest of the story.burn321 wrote:Yeah Eternal Blue Continued, PSX was the only platform I knew it came on I got the game from my madre aha. Even if he was a difficult boss in the Sega version, the character still had no motivation for being evil. Mauri was tainted by Zophar's blood, Lunn was a jackass to begin with, the Fake Althena was vein and weak, Ghaleon (I love him but he was evil) was the Magic Emperor so duh there, Borgon was just... nothing. He had no motivation aside from a lust for power which he had achieved even before Zophar. He was just an unexplained character, I don't know I just couldn't find a scrape of respect for him, he was rape-y, and unsympathetic, and cowardly and I hated him
Everyone in the upper echelon's of Althena's Guard had some clear motivation (Borgan included), but Borgan is the only one whose arc didn't actually resolve in any way. Consider:
- Zophar: Evil expressed through the manipulation of humanity's greed and base desires. No redemption, only defeat.
- False Althena: Vanity and fear of death (elaborated upon in the EB novels), which led to her manipulation by Zophar. Also no redemption; this vanity was her undoing when Zophar continued to use her.
- Ghaleon: Not actually evil -- all his "evil" actions were to put into place the means of Zophar's eventual defeat. His redemption was Hiro's recognition of this effort.
- Leo: Not actually evil, but rather tricked into doing Zophar's bidding. His redemption was breaking out and turning against those who manipulated him into evil. Impeccable fashion sense.
- Mauri: Not actually evil, but rather being controlled by the blood of Zophar. Her redemption was being free from this control.
- Lunn: Mad with power and overly ambitious, which led to him accepting Zophar's help for even greater power. He kidnapped and enslaved others, and after being defeated and accepting he was in the wrong, he accepts also that what he did was beyond redemption (at least in the US version -- the Japanese version has Jean actually forgiving him, which I don't like). So, his "redemption" wasn't something that forgave his past, but at least left him trying to contribute something to the ultimate defeat of Zophar.
- Borgan: Jealous at others' power versus his own weakness (elaborated upon in the Lemina novel), and a desire for revenge, which led to his acceptance of Zophar's help for power that he could finally wield over others. Like Lunn, he enslaved others, but with his defeat it's as if he never really accepted or admitted how horrible the things he did was. He even was "forgiven" by Miria! He doesn't get any redemption, but (unlike Lunn) they gloss right over that and act like he didn't do anything at all by the end.
Ugh, I forgot how much I hated him as a character... I actually rated Lunn as worse than Borgan when I initially answered this poll, but now I'm not so sure. KF