I noticed you really like Meliadoul from FFT. ^^ I'd like to hear your thoughts on her (rambling totally welcome!)
Meliadoul, my girl Meliadoul. To be fair, my interesting in the Tengille family drama started with her brother Isilud, bc despite him kidnapping Alma, which I was not happy about, he had "bratty ignorant kid, but earnest and possibly good at heart" energy so I wanted to see what would happen if he learned the truth of the Lucavi and like, I technically got to see that, but then he was, y'know, dead (I still really like him as a character but, y'know, my track record for picking faves based on having tons of death flags is almost laughably predictable).
Cue his sister, Meliadoul, showing up and I was like FUCK YEAH bc she had the same "seems like she has an earnest heart but like, currently she does not have all the information on Ramza and the Lucavi", plus the added angst of having a dead sibling to avenge, and I remember thinking "I really hope I can recruit her somehow" (despite the game story not having a good track record for recruiting like, any characters at this point). So, after speed-running her map with a well-timed Flare and Holy, I didn't technically have my hopes too high but then I get to Elmdore, and lo! Meliadoul shows up on the map right after the demonic transformation and is like, "Ah shit Ramza you weren't lying. Welp, guess I'm defecting to your side." AND I WANTED TO CHEER.
And she ended up being such an interesting character. Like, despite learning that everything she had been taught was basically a lie, that her dad was now a demon and had murdered her brother, that her dad wanted to turn them both into demons as well, and that her demon-dad was also maneuvering to cause a world-altering disaster, she still holds true to her own beliefs, her sense of justice, and her genuine hope for the future like. Her entire world had fallen apart, but instead she chooses to keep fighting for what she believes is right and like, damn that just takes a lot of conviction and resolve. Especially considering that she's still grieving the loss of her brother, and in a weird way grieving the loss of her father as well.
And it's so interesting that Folmarv truly believed his kids would turn into Lucavi, and that all the Lucavi basically talk about how anyone in their position, on death's doorstep, would wish for power, like that is one of Elmdore's main talking points during his battle. But Meliadoul especially knows this isn't true, bc both she and Isilud had stones, and she knows Isilud died with a stone and never once turned to its power, otherwise he wouldn't be dead. There are several characters who exemplify how the Lucavi's logic of "everyone craves power, everyone would wish for power rather than die" is just, not correct (Rapha's wish bringing her brother back to life), but I feel like Meliadoul and Isilud really embody the counter-logic to the Lucavi in an interesting way, bc both are given the chance to become Lucavi and refuse.
There's a unique convo that can trigger during the fight against Lucavi-Folmarv with Meliadoul where Folmarv reveals that he gave her the stone bc he believed she carried a deep rage within her, but Meliadoul herself doesn't come across as rageful in any of the battle conversations, even when she's Ramza's enemy. She is grief-stricken, and driven by a sense of justice, but what Folamrv seemed to think of as rage, I suspect was actually a righteous anger with the injustices of the world, and I get the sense that Meliadoul was useing that anger like a tool to draw up and forge her own strength of spirit to try and do something to right things. Her anger and outrage at the injustices of the world, and later the corruption of the Lucavi, is not core of who she is, because it is born from a deeper desire and hope that things can be better, and that desire is born often of caring and love, something the Lucavi don't seem to possess.
And she tries again, and again, to talk sense into her former co-workers during the final dungeon maps, only for them to ridicule her for turning her back on her own father, or write it off as the ramblings of "just a woman", but she never once falters in her belief or lashes out (in rage) at any of these people. She would like nothing more than for them to realize the truth and become better people, and I mean, they can't, therein is a tragedy, but damn if Meliadoul didn't try.
She's rather alike to Ramza in some regards I suppose, except she knows he at least has the chance to save his sibling. That she doesn't hesitate to immediately reveal Alma's location to Ramza, and warn him about Dycedarg, I think reflects that possibly she sees something of her own family tragedy in Ramza. Dycedarg after all does turn to the power of the Lucavi (not unlike Folmarv), Zalbaag ends up not only dead but turned into an undead thrall (at least Isilud wasn't abused after his gruesome death), but Alma might yet be saved, and therein is some sort of hope for something good.
There are certain limits to the narrative, a lot of which I'm sure stem from the game's age, but like, what we do get of Meliadoul is tragic, but deeply resilient and hopeful, and her story arc hits so close to the endgame story arc of the struggle against the Lucavi that even though she shows up after the story's midpoint, she feels deeply intertwined with the narrative. So yeah, I just think she's Neat.
