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tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-06-11 01:23 am
tenshinoakuma) wrote2011-06-11 01:23 am
ONION KNIGHT TL;DR PART 2
OKAY. SO. Now that I've got my head on straight and am not having kneejerk reactions to everything, gonna use this as a chance to consolidate the information between 012 and the original Dissidia.
The way Onion Knight's storyline goes (typing Destiny Odyssey was getting too hard when I keep spelling Odyssey wrong) is that Onion Knight was too cock-sure and overconfident in his own abilities, which lead to Terra being kidnapped and him having his self-assuredness shattered before he went all shounen on Cloud of Darkness' ass.
I think the main difference between 012 and Original is the way in which Onion Knight neglected his duty. (For some reason the Original script that's on GameFAQs doesn't seem to contain the treasure hunting stuff). In the Original, he seemed much more flippant about protecting Terra. Confident in his ability, while distracted by the shinies. In 012, he seems... focused on the task (he's tempted by a detour, but doesn't take it), but overconfident to the point he pays little attention to Terra's misgivings, thinking he can come out on top no matter what they face.
And while these two things have the same core issue, overconfidence, the actions he took because of his overconfidence are different.
Now, what I'm not sure of is how to consolidate these two ideas. In 012, Onion Knight does seem to take the war between Cosmos and Chaos more seriously (he berates Vaan for spacing out, and spars with WoL, though the latter could be more about learning than specifically getting better for the war). Hmm. No, I don't think that's quite right. I think what I said before about him not being very impressed with being sucked into a war he knows nothing about is still correct. Before meeting Terra, he seems to be motivated to get stronger like the older and more experienced knights of Cosmos, hence his respect for them and the sparring with WoL.
Like, okay, it's clear Onion Knight is already strong since that's why he was called, but I think in his heart, he wanted to be stronger so there wouldn't be anyone he couldn't beat, i.e. so he'd always be strong enough to protect anyone. Hmm. No, I don't think this is quite ringing true, either.
OKAY let's temporarily skip to Terra first. So, seeing her completely out of it, not wanting to fight, basically set off his PROTECTIVE URGES. Like... he feels he has to be there to protect someone if they can't or don't want to protect themselves. He'll fight to save someone else from fighting. Yeah. Because not everyone wants to fight, and he can understand that.
And later on he says he wants to have the strength to protect everyone! And I think that's how it is for him. He felt close to the other Warriors of Cosmos. They're essentially his family and friends in Dissidia, and he doesn't want to see harm come to them. If it wasn't for Cosmos' sacrifice into the crystals, I don't think he'd be fighting for Cosmos (I mean, the goddess herself here, not the 'side') at the end; I don't think he really believed in her until then. So... I guess I'm saying is that he fights for the people around him, not so much the bigger picture. He needs to have some kind of... reminder of why he's fighting, I guess. It's easier to fight for the people you care for around you, than it is to fight for hundreds of faceless people.
So... backing up to 012, where he doesn't seem to be particularly close to anyone, what then? What drove him to strike out alone? And he struck out alone in 13th cycle as well, much like Squall, I'm guessing, until he found Terra. Maybe to prove he can take care of himself? That he isn't some kid to be coddled. Cloud of Darkness mocks him as follows:
Her defeat leads to this:
Okay this might seem a little weird given how much focus is put on his confidence, but I'm thinking... that maybe he actually wasn't all that confident in his abilities.
In the original FF3, from what I've read, it seems that all four orphans fell down the hole instead of just Luneth being a derpface. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that those four orphans were really close friends. Practically family even. They're all supposedly the same age, so I imagine that all of them would have supported each other and picked each other up when the other was down and stuff. They were all equals.
Now, you pull Onion Knight into almost the same situation (GO FORTH AND SAVE THE WORLD), except instead of having people his age that were close to him as comrades, he has... total strangers. All of them older than him, more experienced (or so it seems to him) than him. He wouldn't treat the other Warriors of Cosmos with the same easy companionship as he would have the other orphans, because not only are they strangers, they're older and if he comes running to them for help, he'll be a total wuss >8(
So... I think he felt afraid of screwing up in front of these strangers, so he kind of tried to avoid them by striking out alone. But then Vaan came along and gosh this guy has his head in the clouds and kind of annoys him but he's not going to leave this guy to get shanked because he's not paying attention. But I think hanging around Vaan meant he got to hang around the other warriors, which meant he got to know them more, which lead to him being less stand-offish about it. The fact that the other warriors that aren't Vaan seemed to treat him as an equal must have gone a long way into making him feel more at ease with them. I mean, yeah, Vaan frustrated the hell out of Onion Knight, but Vaan had also been the one to extend a "I GOT YOUR BACK, BRO," and I think, buried under that ball of frustration, Onion Knight appreciates it.
13th cycle, I believe all of Cosmos' side got memory wip'd because Cosmos saving WoL undid Kain's work? Or something? So Onion Knight is back at square one. Fighting a war he's wary of with a bunch of older strangers. Striking out alone again because he doesn't want anyone to see him mess up (but has enough confidence in his ability to survive) before he finds Terra, who he's determined to protect. I think that maybe some of his 'overconfidence' when he joins up with her is a bit of bravado. Like, he wants her to have faith in him, to have confidence in him (he doesn't want the one he's protecting to feel fear), so he projects this cocksure attitude (contrast the form his confidence takes in his story vs Terra's story) in order to make Terra feel that she's in good hands. Or something along those lines anyway.
In 012, he freaks the fuck out after Terra gets taken. So much that even the Moogle tells him to calm down.
So yeah. I mean, there's no denying that Onion Knight genuinely believes in his ability to think things through. But I think that maybe his head works against him sometimes. That when you think too much, you doubt when you shouldn't, or you convince yourself of things that aren't always true. And that's where the 'heart' part comes in. To steel himself against the fear that would otherwise paralyse. To remember what's most important, and that's his overwhelming desire to protect.
ASDF;LJ this pre-character development characterisation of Onion Knight is hard. I FEEL LIKE I'M CONTRADICTING MYSELF EVERYWHERE HERE.
OKAY. I AM SO DONE TALKING ABOUT HIS STORYLINE.
Something I never really got around to in the previous essay was that Onion Knight seems to be very... hmm, I'm not actually sure what the word for it is. But his smartness doesn't seem to be very people emotions smart. I mean, I'm pretty sure even then, he's still a bit sharper than most people his age on picking up peoples' emotions, but he's given me the impression that he's not very good at picking at feelings beyond surface appearances.
Even regarding himself, Onion Knight doesn't seem to be very good with dealing with emotion and feeling. He gets all kinds of irritated at Vaan, but never once does he tell Vaan off. He was very... passive about it. I mean, to me, some of the words he exchanged with Vaan was clearly telling Vaan to back off, but it's not outright telling Vaan to stop babying him. I'm kind of curious as to why he takes this passive stance to Vaan; it seems that Onion Knight considers Zidane more like an older brother figure than he does Vaan. Is it because Vaan's older (even if he does point out the Vaan's like, still totally a kid) and he's been taught not to speak up against his elders? Why?
Anyway that wasn't what I meant to say. I think Onion Knight's too focused on... thinking about everything else that he seems utterly lost when it comes to self-reflection or trying to figure out what makes the other Cosmos warriors tick. I mean, he still tries hard, and does his best to cheer up Terra when she was feeling lost, but I guess he hasn't really matured enough to think too deeply about himself and the people around him.
He doesn't really get it, on his own, which is why he looks for advice from those people he trusts and feels close to. I mentioned in the earlier essay that he seems to be the sort to bottle things up inside for fear of seeming dumb and stuff. I think the fact that all these older warriors also shared some of their fears and insecurities helped him to feel less stupid about it and more willing to open up a bit.
I mean, as much as he likes to make himself out as not being a kid, Onion Knight really is one, at the core.
Actually now that I think about it, maybe he drifted to Zidane because Zidane grew up as an orphan like he did, and knows what it's like. Wait, and so are Squall and Terra. And Cecil. Incidentally these are the characters Onion Knight seems to be closest to. COINCIDENCE?
WHY AM I STILL AWAKE
The way Onion Knight's storyline goes (typing Destiny Odyssey was getting too hard when I keep spelling Odyssey wrong) is that Onion Knight was too cock-sure and overconfident in his own abilities, which lead to Terra being kidnapped and him having his self-assuredness shattered before he went all shounen on Cloud of Darkness' ass.
I think the main difference between 012 and Original is the way in which Onion Knight neglected his duty. (For some reason the Original script that's on GameFAQs doesn't seem to contain the treasure hunting stuff). In the Original, he seemed much more flippant about protecting Terra. Confident in his ability, while distracted by the shinies. In 012, he seems... focused on the task (he's tempted by a detour, but doesn't take it), but overconfident to the point he pays little attention to Terra's misgivings, thinking he can come out on top no matter what they face.
And while these two things have the same core issue, overconfidence, the actions he took because of his overconfidence are different.
Now, what I'm not sure of is how to consolidate these two ideas. In 012, Onion Knight does seem to take the war between Cosmos and Chaos more seriously (he berates Vaan for spacing out, and spars with WoL, though the latter could be more about learning than specifically getting better for the war). Hmm. No, I don't think that's quite right. I think what I said before about him not being very impressed with being sucked into a war he knows nothing about is still correct. Before meeting Terra, he seems to be motivated to get stronger like the older and more experienced knights of Cosmos, hence his respect for them and the sparring with WoL.
Like, okay, it's clear Onion Knight is already strong since that's why he was called, but I think in his heart, he wanted to be stronger so there wouldn't be anyone he couldn't beat, i.e. so he'd always be strong enough to protect anyone. Hmm. No, I don't think this is quite ringing true, either.
OKAY let's temporarily skip to Terra first. So, seeing her completely out of it, not wanting to fight, basically set off his PROTECTIVE URGES. Like... he feels he has to be there to protect someone if they can't or don't want to protect themselves. He'll fight to save someone else from fighting. Yeah. Because not everyone wants to fight, and he can understand that.
And later on he says he wants to have the strength to protect everyone! And I think that's how it is for him. He felt close to the other Warriors of Cosmos. They're essentially his family and friends in Dissidia, and he doesn't want to see harm come to them. If it wasn't for Cosmos' sacrifice into the crystals, I don't think he'd be fighting for Cosmos (I mean, the goddess herself here, not the 'side') at the end; I don't think he really believed in her until then. So... I guess I'm saying is that he fights for the people around him, not so much the bigger picture. He needs to have some kind of... reminder of why he's fighting, I guess. It's easier to fight for the people you care for around you, than it is to fight for hundreds of faceless people.
So... backing up to 012, where he doesn't seem to be particularly close to anyone, what then? What drove him to strike out alone? And he struck out alone in 13th cycle as well, much like Squall, I'm guessing, until he found Terra. Maybe to prove he can take care of himself? That he isn't some kid to be coddled. Cloud of Darkness mocks him as follows:
CoD: [laughs] "You cannot even stand on your feet without something to protect. What will you do without your goddess to defend?"
Her defeat leads to this:
CoD: "With the gates to the Void wide open, you are already dissolving into darkness. There is nothing more you can do."
Onion Knight: "You're right. If I listened to my head, I'd probably just run."
CoD: "Then why fight?"
Onion Knight: "My friends give me the strength. I just need to follow 'this,' and the path will open up."
Okay this might seem a little weird given how much focus is put on his confidence, but I'm thinking... that maybe he actually wasn't all that confident in his abilities.
In the original FF3, from what I've read, it seems that all four orphans fell down the hole instead of just Luneth being a derpface. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that those four orphans were really close friends. Practically family even. They're all supposedly the same age, so I imagine that all of them would have supported each other and picked each other up when the other was down and stuff. They were all equals.
Now, you pull Onion Knight into almost the same situation (GO FORTH AND SAVE THE WORLD), except instead of having people his age that were close to him as comrades, he has... total strangers. All of them older than him, more experienced (or so it seems to him) than him. He wouldn't treat the other Warriors of Cosmos with the same easy companionship as he would have the other orphans, because not only are they strangers, they're older and if he comes running to them for help, he'll be a total wuss >8(
So... I think he felt afraid of screwing up in front of these strangers, so he kind of tried to avoid them by striking out alone. But then Vaan came along and gosh this guy has his head in the clouds and kind of annoys him but he's not going to leave this guy to get shanked because he's not paying attention. But I think hanging around Vaan meant he got to hang around the other warriors, which meant he got to know them more, which lead to him being less stand-offish about it. The fact that the other warriors that aren't Vaan seemed to treat him as an equal must have gone a long way into making him feel more at ease with them. I mean, yeah, Vaan frustrated the hell out of Onion Knight, but Vaan had also been the one to extend a "I GOT YOUR BACK, BRO," and I think, buried under that ball of frustration, Onion Knight appreciates it.
13th cycle, I believe all of Cosmos' side got memory wip'd because Cosmos saving WoL undid Kain's work? Or something? So Onion Knight is back at square one. Fighting a war he's wary of with a bunch of older strangers. Striking out alone again because he doesn't want anyone to see him mess up (but has enough confidence in his ability to survive) before he finds Terra, who he's determined to protect. I think that maybe some of his 'overconfidence' when he joins up with her is a bit of bravado. Like, he wants her to have faith in him, to have confidence in him (he doesn't want the one he's protecting to feel fear), so he projects this cocksure attitude (contrast the form his confidence takes in his story vs Terra's story) in order to make Terra feel that she's in good hands. Or something along those lines anyway.
In 012, he freaks the fuck out after Terra gets taken. So much that even the Moogle tells him to calm down.
OK is now back on the world map, alone this time]
OK: "I can defeat the Cloud of Darkness with someone's help. If only I weren't alone... But Terra would continue to suffer while I go looking for someone... --Standing still isn't going to solve anything. I've been saying so myself..."
[OK continues forward and comes across a moogle]
Moogle: "What is with all the commotion, kupo? Everyone, take a deep breath, kupo..."
[Heading on further, OK locates and enters another gateway]
-Omen of Destruction-
OK: "I know I have to save Terra. But to have to fight her... I don't know if I can win-- What should I do? What's the answer? The right answer?"
So yeah. I mean, there's no denying that Onion Knight genuinely believes in his ability to think things through. But I think that maybe his head works against him sometimes. That when you think too much, you doubt when you shouldn't, or you convince yourself of things that aren't always true. And that's where the 'heart' part comes in. To steel himself against the fear that would otherwise paralyse. To remember what's most important, and that's his overwhelming desire to protect.
ASDF;LJ this pre-character development characterisation of Onion Knight is hard. I FEEL LIKE I'M CONTRADICTING MYSELF EVERYWHERE HERE.
OKAY. I AM SO DONE TALKING ABOUT HIS STORYLINE.
Something I never really got around to in the previous essay was that Onion Knight seems to be very... hmm, I'm not actually sure what the word for it is. But his smartness doesn't seem to be very people emotions smart. I mean, I'm pretty sure even then, he's still a bit sharper than most people his age on picking up peoples' emotions, but he's given me the impression that he's not very good at picking at feelings beyond surface appearances.
Even regarding himself, Onion Knight doesn't seem to be very good with dealing with emotion and feeling. He gets all kinds of irritated at Vaan, but never once does he tell Vaan off. He was very... passive about it. I mean, to me, some of the words he exchanged with Vaan was clearly telling Vaan to back off, but it's not outright telling Vaan to stop babying him. I'm kind of curious as to why he takes this passive stance to Vaan; it seems that Onion Knight considers Zidane more like an older brother figure than he does Vaan. Is it because Vaan's older (even if he does point out the Vaan's like, still totally a kid) and he's been taught not to speak up against his elders? Why?
Anyway that wasn't what I meant to say. I think Onion Knight's too focused on... thinking about everything else that he seems utterly lost when it comes to self-reflection or trying to figure out what makes the other Cosmos warriors tick. I mean, he still tries hard, and does his best to cheer up Terra when she was feeling lost, but I guess he hasn't really matured enough to think too deeply about himself and the people around him.
OK: "People are able to accomplish things if they believe, even if it's illogical. The heart's so strange. It's so unstable, you can't measure it or predict what it'll do."
Squall: "Indecision can be a strength as well. Only idiots don't act on their desires to protect others."
OK: "Yeah... I know what you mean."
He doesn't really get it, on his own, which is why he looks for advice from those people he trusts and feels close to. I mentioned in the earlier essay that he seems to be the sort to bottle things up inside for fear of seeming dumb and stuff. I think the fact that all these older warriors also shared some of their fears and insecurities helped him to feel less stupid about it and more willing to open up a bit.
I mean, as much as he likes to make himself out as not being a kid, Onion Knight really is one, at the core.
Actually now that I think about it, maybe he drifted to Zidane because Zidane grew up as an orphan like he did, and knows what it's like. Wait, and so are Squall and Terra. And Cecil. Incidentally these are the characters Onion Knight seems to be closest to. COINCIDENCE?
WHY AM I STILL AWAKE