[Cheritz Theory] The Wizard’s Game (spoiler-free)
EDIT: I did this before seeing @cherrychipheart‘s Chessboard Theory whoops~~ hopefully this is a good contribution though!
ANS SO FAR THERE ARE 15 “PIECES”
I know nothing about chess so I’m gonna sort them according to these people ‘coz I assume they‘re more knowledgeable than I am about chess since they’re on a chess forum xD
I’m mainly following corpsporc, AlCzervik, and honinbo_shusaku’s detailed explanation but I’m also taking into account the others’ descriptions. My sister also helped me with deciding on this~
My sister and I agreed that the five bachelors from Dandelion are pawns because unlike the routes in Nameless and MysMe, there’s no suggested play order for them. You can go for basically anyone and you’ll still know about the game they kept talking about. The only actual “mystery” was that of the secret (not-so-secret xD) character. Sure you can go for anyone in MysMe as well but Jumin and Seven are locked for a reason and it is suggested to play them after the casual story route. I don’t have a solid explanation for them but Lance, Yeonho, and Yoosung are there because they’re the “casual story” routes and they are often the first characters most people go for and as we all know the first pieces to move are the pawns. Dandelion was Cheritz’s first game too so the five bachelors’ routes are the very first ones you can play with.
The general idea about knights is that they’re better than pawns but not better than rooks or bishops. Yuri and Zen are both in the “casual story” mode but there are some things about them that makes them better than pawns. Zen’s prophetic dreams for example which was featured prominently across all routes. And for Yuri it’s because his whole vibe was different from the other four, perhaps it’s because he was from the adult line of dolls and that he was a teacher. Zen and Yuri are also the ones who flirt a lot with the MC and act all knightly and stuff plus I like how corpsporc mentioned how knights would likely be at odds with the bishop because Zen and Yuri do frequently call these certain characters on their bullshit and those characters are...
The general idea about bishops is that they are sly, cunning, and highly intelligent and they were also described as assassins or attacks at long-range. They were the characters most people probably felt the safest because Tei was quite motherly and Jumin was pretty much pragmatic when it came to dealing with the MC but boy... these sly motherfuckers (it’s a joke pls i do understand them). They really did attack at long range; did not see their routes would end up like that. Rooks are on par with knights but either piece can have an advantage on the other depending on the game but the bishop’s value is just a bit higher than them (knight = 3.05/ 9¼ , bishop = 3.50/ 9¾ ) depending on which chess handbook you’re looking at. Bishops are below rooks and Jumin and Tei are the penultimate routes.
The general idea about rooks is that they are the tanks; the “warrior” type. They’re always ready for action which the Hero of Justice and the Defender of Justice totally are. Red is an action hero type of doll and Seven is a spy/hacker. Rooks also move everywhere and covers a lot of area in the board and Red and Seven are the suggested last route (well in Nameless you have no choice but to choose him last) because they tell the player a whole lot more about the game. Red’s route is where you actually get to see “Nameless” and Seven’s route is the true route and finishing his route with a good ending is the only thing needed to get to the secret endings.
All hail Queen Baehee! lol
Yes she’s a casual story route but one thing that sets her apart from the others is that she’s the first, and so far, the only female option. I’m not sure if Cheritz ever mentioned why they made a female option but it is an interesting choice considering the queen is the only specifically “female” piece in chess. The general idea about queens is that she’s strong-willed, a multi-tasker, and the “busy type who is always working.” Sound familiar? The queen is better than the other warrior-type pieces but not better than the king. In the RFA Orientation Guide Book everyone would basically trust Jaehee if they were lost on the road somewhere because they assume she can do anything.
The king is known to do nothing and we, the players, are basically doing nothing though we are playing a very important role in the game. The king is the player’s avatar. Lose the king and the player loses the game.
If we, the players, are playing on one side of the chessboard and the king is our avatar. Then who are we playing against? The Wizard? Someone else we have yet to see? The plot thickens!!
The secret characters in Dandelion and Nameless are characters that are not a part of the player’s set because they’re not available routes in the main game and are only accessible through extras, however they could be the pieces of whoever the player is up against in this game of chess.
