*walks up to you as you’re swinging at the wasps nest*
Oh now I’m curious. What *are* your thoughts on Angeal if you’re willing to share?
Angeal is a very well written character. And that's the problem— he's too well written, and the point of his character flies over people's heads.
He's self-centered and righteous, more than happy to let others view him as a pillar of morality and as someone to look up to. He is the very definition of SOLDIER honor, or at least that's what he is depicted as through Zack's eyes (and heavens knows that Zack's perspective is extremely skewed).
The truth is that Angeal is a hypocrite. His character symbolically represents every lie that Shinra upholds to preserve its self image. Angeal betrays the people who trusted him most, hides his motivations, refuses to cooperate with anyone, and then enlists Zack to kill him because he's too much of a prideful coward to face consequences for his own actions. Honor means nothing here.
But because he is portrayed as the good guy out of the big three, the literal angel with white wings, the original wielder of the hero's sword, embodiment of morality— much of the fandom seems to accept that portrayal as fact. He's certainly not evil; none of these characters are save for Hojo obviously cough cough but fandom interpretation of Angeal often fails to peel back the thick layer of infallible honor to reveal the messy, very human core underneath, rife with juicy character flaws and opportunities for exploration. Instead we almost always get a one-dimensional Dad Mentor. And I think that's a major injustice to such a compelling character.
janainaart
turnnoffyourmind
titsay
andulkaphoto
vaporwave
2087
