Some of y'all will literally gaslight Black People into thinking they're the one's losing their minds for calling out the most blatant antiblackness and honestly, to be real with y'all, there is a special place in hell for you if you do this shit.
Oh boy, this was...a lot. Grab your snack and drinks because this became a ramble...
I haven’t done one of these character analysis posts in forever. This was supposed to be a series dedicated to characters with little lore to go on but enough to discuss but so far I’ve only done one on Fire Investigator and that one admittedly is VERY outdated now that I’ve written so much on Florian.
Regardless, this time it’s Richard’s turn and hopefully he won’t be the last of this “series” of mine. But where should we begin? Well, the obvious answer is his sister, of course, BUT before that, I wanted to take a moment to look at his room music.
Disclaimer Time (Cause I'm still scarred from previous experience)
I wanted to preface this post by saying that this is all just my speculation and thoughts. After some previous incidences involving Richard where I was sort of dragged for not knowing some obvious things about him, I want to say that I did my best to read through his lore amongst other things.
Still, there will be guesswork involved here and there as he is a fairly new character. If I get something wrong or you disagree, please just be nice. No need to be rude. Anyways, let’s actually get started.
Pt. 1 Richard's Sanctuary
"Richard's Sanctuary" - Oh yeah, the imagery is obvious with this one. Interestingly, I believe the statues of the ladies are his sister...which seem obvious (totally knew that the first time *ahem*)
I don’t think people talk enough about the room music aka EPs that come with a character upon their release. As I understand it, it’s a really new phenomenon that only started with Evelyn. I myself only listened to Richard’s EP just the other week and I must say that it adds a layer to his character that is overlooked.
It states rather obvious facts such as “Nursery rhymes in childhood memory // Defining the kind of person we should be // Hold my sword tight and guard the oath // Repeatedly twisted me // Who’s telling lies?”
Clearly showing us again how the nursery rhyme of his childhood influenced him since the start to be the knight who guards the princess while quelling any conflict that arises.
For those that don’t know the nursery rhyme, it’s actually part of his first deduction note (and not the song you hear sung in his trailer apparently): “The knight forever follows the princess forever fearless. Together, they journey far, shadows forever clinging close.”
A rather sweet nursery rhyme but one that Richard unfortunately took too seriously as we see in his behavior towards his sister. But wait! I’m still not ready to talk about her.
We'll get to you soon, my dear.
Instead, let’s take a look at another stanza from the EP: “Walking through the end of the curtain // Playing chess to map out a way to run // Under the impression of the missing son // See the world falling down in my cunning eyes.”
Another obvious one, we know Richard is the instigator of conflict within his family when it came to causing discord against his parents while also bullying the staff and sowing seeds of conflict amongst the other children. This was not done out of just cruel maliciousness but to also rise as the bringer of light and be the knight he was meant to be.
And again, when you look at his debut essence which is actually a continuation of Frederick’s “Dragon Hunter” essence just 100 years later. In Richard’s time, the last dragon has been slayed and thus a period of peace time flows over the land bringing with it peace and prosperity. And yet, to our knight, he knows this peace will not or cannot last as he witnesses at the fringes of peace that humanity will once again fall into practices of greed, jealousy, and desire.
Thus, when he sees the perfect moment to reignite the flames of war in order to take the stage once again as a knight of legend, Richard takes it whole-heartedly.
“Declarations of eternal peace often lead to desolation and decay. The sword-bearer’s conviction intensifies, understanding that a hero’s worth is often forged in the fires of war and strife.” -From Red Knight's cosmetic description.
He needs to keep the conflict, this glorious war going and disregard what peace will give them—nothing but superficial serenity that threatens to crumble under even the smallest weight of conflict along with the threat of being forgotten by history.
Richard whole-heartedly believes that his worth and identity is tied directly to emerging as a hero only in times of war and strife. If no such thing exists, he is nothing and will be quickly forgotten. Because his whole worldview seems to center around the notion: it is only when one is pitched in the deepest darkness can the light shine the brightest.
I’m not joking. This man is that immersed in his roleplay as a knight that at this point, fiction has merged into reality. Actually no, it is his reality. Simply because it’s the only life he has ever known.
This is not just in the essence but in the OG canon lore as well, naturally. And Richard doesn’t just see himself confined to his role, but his sister as well. Let’s take a look at his EP again: “I don’t know who I am // I don’t know who she is // But I know we can’t escape from the obstruction of predetermined fate.”
This man seems as if he’s suffered an identity crisis his whole life and frankly, he has. Because who is he? While there is plenty of evidence to show he isn’t the real Richard (which I’ll discuss a little bit later), we don’t know who this imposter is and perhaps he himself doesn’t know either.
Apparently being a knight is his heart's calling.
Richard’s life has been rewritten by whoever dropped him off with the Sterlings since he was only 7. Actually, scratch that. The Sterling twins were kidnapped at the age of 4 years old. While the sister was returned soon after (God knows how soon—could’ve been 3 days or 3 months later), Richard stayed missing for 3 years. Now, this could mean his imposter was given the chance to practice his role as this missing son for a whole 3 years…or less.
Regardless, even if we just want to stick with this imposter learning how to be Richard Sterling and the knight from the children’s nursery rhymes, he was still a petite 7 years old. Some of us don’t even know ourselves that well as teens, young adults…I mean, Christ, the term “mid-life crisis” exists for a reason (and that’s when you’re usually in your 40-50s).
People are so focused on pushing their hate and vitriol onto this imposter Richard for being an awful person who is easy to dislike and while I understand why they do it, it blinds them to the more subtle and quieter aspects of his character that gives him more layers than the pure black image he conveys.
I noticed they used the word "gloomy" to describe Richard here. In addition, a little note of Richard being seemingly lost in thought often while troubled is interesting. To be honest, I'm a little stumped on exactly why he would be troubled/lost in thought but still notable.
Brief COA IX Intermission
I've seen a few people talk about this already but the way Richard feels quite different in COA is also of note. I remember being like, why does he feel off to me? Only to realize that COA Richard hardly smiles (in the trailer at least). OG Richard always has a soft smile on his face but he really only does so as it's part of being a proper "knight."
I also thought of this moment in his trailer when it shows Richard watching the kids fighting (instigated by him no doubt) yet he looks so disinterested at first (lol) until he notices his sister watching from her hiding place. Then, and only then does he break into a smile.
Perfect segue to go back to the EP as I will finally drag his “sister” into this. In his EP, she is mentioned in his lyrics quite a bit and it seems as if he is projecting a bit. He mentions that they are both basically chained to act out their roles from the nursery rhyme and even if he is not sure who he is or who she is, their roles are something they can’t escape from.
Now, most people will look at that and show disgust over how obsessed he is with his roleplay and letting a childhood nursery rhyme dictate who he is along with his “sister” but I’m just sitting here perplexed and intrigued as to why he feels so strongly about it.
Another Intermission: About "The Snow Queen"
As I was ruminating over this the night before, I thought about how Richard vaguely reminds me of the Hans Christian Anderson story, “The Snow Queen” which came into popularity thanks to Disney’s “Frozen.”
First published in December of 1844. The story is REALLY different than "Frozen." I quite like the story and always wanted to write a story inspired from this story.
In the original story, however, it follows two young children named Kai and Gerda who are very close friends, almost like siblings, and spend all their time together along with Gerda's grandmother who looks after them. Until one day shards from a magic mirror made by the devil (yes, that Christian devil) pierces the heart and eyes of Kai. See, these mirror shards causes whoever is pierced by them to see only the bad and ugly aspects of people and things.
Due to this, Kai becomes rather cruel and aggressive. "He destroys their window-box garden (which had roses that reminded Gerda of her love for Kai), he makes fun of Gerda's grandmother, and no long cares about Gerda...the only things he finds no fault in are snowflakes..."
Here, enters the Snow Queen who had actually tried to beckon Kai to follow her before (he had refused in fright). However, this time she manages to take him with a kiss "to numb him from the cold, and again to make him forget about Gerda and his family." Then, she takes him away.
Despite his change of personality and others believing him dead, Gerda still wanted to get her friend back and thus set off on a long journey to find him once again.
This still has me reeling btw. Like, you guys have no idea how badly this took me out when I first read it LOL
Now, I know the parallels are not all there but I wonder considering how Richard is now confirmed to dislike everyone, what exactly pierced his heart to cause him to be the way he is? And while he doesn’t seem to care for anyone, he certainly seems to care a little too much for his sister, but again, it’s more deep than just the nursery rhyme.
Pt. 2 The Young Knight and the Sterlings
Richard with his parents after being "found." Presumably this is from the perspective of his sister?
I already mentioned before how young Richard was when he was placed in this family. We don’t know the full background of why and who it was that really groomed him for the role of “Richard Sterling” but we do know that Mr. And Mrs. Sterling and Sisterling accepted him back. Yet, soon his dear “sister” realized that her brother wasn’t her brother at all.
Unfortunately, she was the only one who seemed to realize this until it came to a climax when she was pushed down the stairs by Richard because he didn’t approved of her marriage.
For me, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that something is off. Particularly with the parents. They know, or at least one of them knows that this boy who was returned to them isn’t actually their son, but an imposter. And for whatever reason, they agreed to take in for one reason or another.
This is possibly alluded to in Richard's accessory, "Nesting," which is a nest with three eggs, one is noticeably different than the other two. This is important to note because while the accessory is possibly a reference to the metaphor of the Cuckoo's Egg. The metaphor refers to the behavior of a cuckoo bird who will deposit its own egg into a different nest, resulting in the chick being raised by its host parents, often at the expense of their own offspring.
However, due to the blatant different appearance of the imposter egg in the accessory, another phenomenon called "the Mafia hypothesis" may be at play here. This hypothesis states "that even when recognized as an intruder, parasitic eggs and chicks are accepted by the host in feat of retaliation such as destruction of the nest and its inhabitants."
Notice that he does actually look a lil gloomy in Alice's drawing of him. Though I suppose being a sinner in the "Holy City" will do that to a person.
If you need further proof, the fact that Richard is literally dubbed "Cuckoo" by Alice in COA IX and the fact that in his room music, the mail description refers to the metaphor is all you need to realize, yeah...he's definitely in imposter BUT someone in the family besides his sister is possibly in the know.
Cause listen, the Sterling family is only rich because of some shady businesses they were doing. From their background on IDV wiki: "The Sterlings are described to be a hollow and an expansive lineage that seem to own many properties and look prominent to the public. But in reality, their fortune is only laundered through an underground economy with both legal and illegal unreported activities to protect their status and maintain wealth."
Coincidentally, they had a pretty bad falling out with a business partner soon before Mrs. Sterling became pregnant with the twins. Said business partner may or may not have had something to do with the kidnapping of the twins.
I see the resemblance. The colors are a bit off but I see where people are coming from.
On the other hand, many in the community theorize that the kidnapping was orchestrated by Valentina (Peddler). This is supported by the fact that a similar ball held by Richard in his character trailer is seen in Valentina's. In addition, she has an accessory called Dmitri I which resembles Richard somewhat. And again, in Peddler's gameplay trailer, Richard is used as the survivor to demonstrate her gameplay.
I can sorta see the resemblance too with the accessory. It's mainly the eyelashes (Richard has pretty prominent eyelashes on his right eye) and the cape for me.
What is further interesting is the fact that their connection may be tied to the acts of Valentina's father. After losing his job, Valentina's father who was already living in poverty, fell into heavy debt and tried gambling to try and gain enough money to repay it while trying to care for his family of many children. This didn't work and so some bailiffs came and took away all of his children barring Valentina who was the eldest.
Valentina's father taking away the youngest before they could be snatched away too.
However, before they did, Valentina's father had already ran off with their youngest child, who was just a baby. Some theorize this baby could've been Richard himself. Some even call fake Richard "Dmitri" after Valentina's accessory as they believe it's his real name (so if you see people who refer to Richard as Dmitri, now you know).
But regardless on who kidnapped them, what I’m unsure of is what exactly did the Sterlings have to gain by bringing this imposter into the fold?
Perhaps, as a noble family it was to keep up appearances? As we know with other families of nobility like the Kreiburgs and the Barrieres, these families are awful towards each other and discrimination is usually based on appearances and eccentricities that are not tolerated by the families as it is a disgrace to their name, honor, and image.
The Sterlings having a kidnapped son may be damaging to their appearance…
On the other hand, it may have been part of a deal to keep the Sterlings afloat for a while as Mr. Sterling, Charlie, was known for running illicit businesses and having a vast underground criminal network full of con artists, chiselers, and gamblers who visit their secret establishments.
Speaking of gamblers, it is also theorized that Valentina's father may have been a gambler of one of Charlie's establisments, namely his casino. If this is true, there is indeed a motive for Valentina to use "Dmitri" to infiltrate the Sterlings. Either to give him an identity that would suit him and to destroy the Sterlings from the inside or both honestly.
Anyways, in a rather timely manner, soon after Richard’s return, Charlie signed a contract to regain control of a casino (!!) that had been his previously. He kept the contract and related documents from his wife and staff to avoid scrutiny. This is important as we now know that his wife didn't know about his continued dealings in illicit business as supposedly it may have been agreed upon to end it after they broke off with their former business partner.
I hate to say this but this man only looks truly happy when he's with his sister. Poor bean, girl is not feeling it though (lol).
However, years later, Richard found these documents and anonymously exposed them to the rest of the household and his mother who, of course, was pissed. This caused constant arguments between the two before it came to a head when the wife tried to commit suicide (to censor or not to censor...this time I'm more mentally stable. I do want to know if it's okay not to censor this time for those reading it however...everyone's different).
I want to pause here to say that while Charlie's illicit business dealings was not something his wife knew about after they had the twins and for years after, she did know what she was getting into when they married I believe. It mentions in the Sterlings backstory that Charlie was well into the thick of his illegal businesses when they were married. Granted, he could have hid it very well from his wife-to-be, but in those days...don't people do some REALLY thorough digging on families they want to marry into?
Thus, if she was fine with it before, then why is she not now? I was thinking perhaps she found out more than just the illegalities Charlie was immersed in. If my previous speculation about Richard being a known imposter amongst not just his sister but at least one of the parents, then perhaps his mother was also not in the know. Don't ask me why she'd accept a random boy as her son because many would ask: how does a mother not know her own child?
Third Intermission: The Case of Bobby Dunbar
Bobby is on the far left, holding onto the driver's door. But is that actually Bobby?
Well, that reminds me of a real life case, Bobby Dunbar. In short, Bobby Dunbar was the son of a Lessie and Percy Dunbar born on May 23, 1908. He went missing at the age of 4 (!!) and was supposedly found 8 months later with a man named William Walters who claimed that the boy was actually Charles Anderson. While the boy's own mother confirmed that that was her son, Walters was still arrested and the Dunbars were sent to identify their son.
Well, while news reports at the time differed on the initial reaction to this foundling boy and Lessie, his supposed mother, they did take the boy back with them. And evidentially, "The next day, after bathing the boy, Lessie Dunbar said she positively identified his moles and scars and was certain that he was her son" (Wikipedia). Thus, the boy was given to the Dunbars.
Lessie with her supposed son, Bobby Dunbar.
But what about Ms. Anderson and William Walters? Well, Ms. Anderson was given the chance to identify her son out of five boys but when the "Bobby" was presented to her, he gave no indication that he recognized her.
Similarly, Ms. Anderson also expressed uncertainty. In the end, despite walking back on her uncertainty later on, her case was dismissed and she didn't have the money to go to court and had to return home. On the other hand, Walters was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping but only served two years and was released.
In the end, we got a more definitive answer on whether Bobby Dunbar was the real one. In 2004, thanks to DNA testing of living relatives, it was concluded that the returned Bobby Dunbar was NOT the real one. So unfortunately, the real Bobby has never been found.
Apologies if that was suuuupper long, but the point I was trying to make is that unfortunately it is not too far-fetched that a parent may not properly recognize their own child. If it happened in real life, then in fiction the disbelief can be suspended a bit, no?
Pt 3. The Knight and His Princess
Without context, this scene would be seen as sweet. With context, it's...unfortunate.
So returning to the Sterling family (and also cause I need to wrap this up), I have talked more about the parents than the sister which is kind of weird because she is so central to Richard's character. Well, I sorta wanted to shake things up and also I realized that people NEVER seem to talk about his parents in-depth like they do his sister, if they're mentioned at all.
Granted, it's not like I went that in-depth either but y'know I tried...
But what I want to say about sisterling here is that I feel like we gotta move on past the stairs discourse. Richard may have not cared a lick for his parents and dislikes everyone but, dare I say with some controversary, that he probably does hold some genuine affection for his sister?
Now, hear me out. I'm not trying to disregard the whole "knight must protect his princess and follow her to the ends of the Earth" type of view he has on her because...that's not wrong either. What I mean is that his roleplay of playing the knight to her princess along with playing pretend as Richard Sterling, her twin brother, became so deeply ingrained in him that he really does see himself as her brother.
Despite her disappearing as adults, they chose to show them as children at the end of his trailer. Maybe it's supposed to represent his inner child who appears more outwardly perturbed by her disappearance.
I noticed as a child, his feelings towards her seemed more on display and easier to read. This is kinda a given because while he was given a purpose in identity (and possibly a mission to undermine the Sterlings), he was still just a child.
I mean, doesn't that face scream: "Please, don't leave me"?
And while he had to pretend to be her knight and brother, probably after some time, he grew to be unable to separate fact and fiction. Or perhaps he simply just wanted a companion who did indeed probably played with him every day, almost 24/7 just like how the real Richard used to play with his sister.
I think people forget that Richard was just a boy himself who barely had autonomy and was thrusted into this role to play out. While yes, he grows up to be a rather heinous individual, I do blame the adults here for failing the kids in more ways than one (especially his sister who ends up becoming the biggest victim here).
Speaking of, another reason he holds so steadfastly onto her is that she discerned his true identity very quickly. While this may of compromised whatever mission he was supposed to do to the Sterlings, Richard seemed quite pleased that his sister could see his true self even if she suspected him to be an imposter (probably because no one believed her).
You really do have to pay attention and really listen to what a character says in IDV. Because what does he mean she's found him when he was already technically found and brought back "home"? No, it's more like he has found the only person who he sees can understand him and his world. For her to try to leave is a sin, not just because it doesn't suit her role as a princess (but a villain and villains must be punished = stairs) but also because he probably can't bare being alone in his own world (or really, a world he believes they both should share.
Heck, even this scene again where he is forcing her to look. It's not because he is being sadistic here to watch her squirm (he's not even looking at her) but it's because he probably believes showing her how ugly the world can be can make her understand better...why he does what he does and why she needs to stay in her role.
It almost feels like if they don't adhere to the roles given to them, there's some form of punishment or something. Because remember his EP? It talks about not being able to escape fate. His accessory also mentions the intruder is bound by "shackles" which sort of reminds me of COA Richard.
Speaking of, OG Richard seems kinda similar to COA Florian. In the way that both seemingly see a different world than the others and probably feeling lonely for it. Thus, them seeing the potential of the others in possibly seeing how they see the world excites them
Similarly, considering the fact that Richard sees both him and his sister confined to their roles, he probably, in his twisted head, is delighted that he can share how he sees the world (their world) once his sister becomes aware of his true self.
Juxtapose this scene with the header GIF for this section when they were kids is...certainly something...
I'm not going to lie, I think Richard genuinely didn't understand why his sister would want to leave him and their world that destiny apparently has confined them to thus resulting in him pushing her down the stairs. But despite her apparent betrayal, he is quick to forgive and once she disappears, Richard journeys to the manor to find her again.
From his deduction notes. See how she is labelled a villain in one, but the very next one she is back to being a princess. Notably, in the 8th deduction he presses the fact that he could only be Richard. It basically reads as him wanting...maybe even needing her to accepting him as Richard, twisted personality, crooked worldview and all.
Either that, or someone lied to him and he actually believes he is Richard then while that would negate some of my theories, that would also be an interesting line of approach.
But golly, I could say more but I think I'm going to end it here because good grief, I could go on and on because I have many more thoughts but I'm also looking at this post and wondering who in their right mind would read ALL THIS???
Anyways, thank you for coming and stay tuned for more posts (this won't be my last Richard post probably...but who knows what's next?)
Something light-hearted from one of the merch lineups featuring Richard and some others. In the first one, you can see the word "Nee-san" behind him as he mumbles to himself. "Nee-san" literally means "older sister" in Japanese so he's talking about his sister, naturally.
And yes, both in Chinese and Japanese, Richard refers to her as such so Sisterling is the older of the twins, if you didn't know.
Note: Despite all of what I said about the two, considering how Richard's original Fireworks wish was changed due to upset Chinese players apparently being a bit too parasocial and hating him mention his sister, I am weary that NetEase will change Richard and his sister's lore up a bit. I hope not but if they changed a simple wish...who knows what else they'll change?
The way he came across as rather demanding as well. Like if we served him mediocrity, he'd slice our heads off. We get it, anything for your sister...or not if Chinese players and NetEase have to say anything about it.
