Understanding Miranda
Miranda’s conversation with Leif at the end of Thracia is one of the oddest in the game. It feels unnecessarily cruel when followed by Leif’s proposal to Nanna and the only explanation I’ve seen for why the scene exists is theorizing Kaga having a grudge against a brown haired tomboy. But an argument I’ve been hearing recently in defense of love triangles made me think of another, one that, at least to me, feels more narratively satisfying and explains a lot about Miranda as a character.
August warns Leif early in the game that he must learn from the past how not to rule. Multiple times in the game the north and south’s rulers and actions are criticized and it’s very clear if the peninsula is ever going to have peace, it needs a ruler who will take a different approach rather than follow in the footsteps of the past. But the game also gives you multiple characters who glorify and lament the loss of that past and see a return of what they had before as a good outcome, including one of Leif’s advisors. Leif is in a position where he could become a ruler like those before him if he just does as the northern nobles and knights want or he could become a new type of ruler if he approaches ruling the way he feels is right. His choice of what type of ruler he’ll become and how he handles those supporting either side has a lot of parallels with his choice between Nanna and Miranda and the girls themselves.
Miranda represents following the knights and nobles and choosing to attempt to recreate the past. She displays many of the traits associated with the previous rulers of Thracia and the Manster District; she’s proud, assertive, self-centered, quick to anger and let that blind her, and struggles to be understanding and open with others. She’s presented as a potential love interests similarly to how this path is presented to Leif, pushed forward by northern nobles. With this in mind, Leif’s nonanswer now fits into a pattern of noncommittal responses he gives to the other northern knights and nobles in game when they push for him to take their path. When Dorias tells him to never forsake his knightly pride, Leif admits he didn’t think about the battle in those terms, only concerned with trying to prevent a needless slaughter. He doesn’t disagree or take issue with Dorias’s perspective but doesn’t seem interested in switching to it either. Similarly, he doesn’t outright reject Finn’s request to unify all of Thracia, just promises to take care of the north and says what happens with the south will depend on Travant. He cares for and respects the other nobles and knights of the north too much to dismiss their perspective and wants even when they don’t align with his own, but acknowledgment and a smaller reassurance is all he’s willing to give them.
Nanna represents choosing his own approach and ruling as he feels is right. She displays more of what we see from Leif’s approach to leading; being compassionate and empathetic, gentle but able to be strong and stubborn especially when other people’s lives are concerned, a healer beloved for her sweetness and generosity. Leif and Nanna’s feelings are hinted at by the game’s mechanics with her being the only person who supports him, and that of course being a mutual support, and made blatant when he proposes to her. His proposal to her is completely honest and open, the opposite of how he and Miranda are with hers, reflecting who Leif would be if he chose either. Choosing Miranda and the nobles’ path would be him compromising and being disingenuous with himself, which is why he doesn’t. He chooses Nanna for the same reason he chooses to stand by his approach to leadership and ruling, because it feels most right and natural to him, because it’s something he genuinely wants rather than what others are trying to push upon him. He has the people’s support of it too Mareeta’s nudging for Nanna’s confession can be seen as in contrast to the noble’s advocating for Miranda.
Another place the sides each girl stands for can be seen is in their death quotes. Miranda wishes for things could go back to the way they were, referring to before Alster’s fall. But just like the Leonster Dorias and the knights long to restore was flawed, the time Miranda reminisces about wasn’t as good as she remembers. The rest of the country was in ruin from Travant’s invasion followed by Bloom’s and was still occupied by the Empire as it is now. Her life was good but Leif he’d just lost him home and the last of his family and now lived in Alster in hiding because he was wanted dead by the Empire. The carefree, simple days Miranda wants only existed for her. Meanwhile Nanna in her death quote calls out to Leif to tell him not to lose. Her last thought is wanting Leif and the rebellion to keep going, to keep fighting and liberate Northern Thracia. She wants Leif to succeed because she believes in him, both that he can win and that his liberation of the north will be best for it. Both girls dislike the state of their country but deal with it in opposite ways, Miranda turning to nostalgia while Nanna focuses on the future, just as the paths each girl represents do.
I started this out by saying I was inspired by the argument I’ve heard in favor of love triangle, that argument being that love triangles can be good when each of the choices represent a larger narrative choice the choosing character has to make. But that doesn’t quite fit this situation as Miranda v. Nanna is never really presented as a choice for Leif. But that also fits with the larger choice Leif has to make as despite everyone around him who wants him to pick up right where his father left off and be the next Quan, he never feels like he’s going to become that. He never considers changing to fit what the knights and nobles want just as he never considers being with Miranda. He knows what he wants to do and be and while he’ll try to placate those who want something else, he’s not going to compromise either.
Partially related, I also think looking at Miranda from a narrative perspective can explains the complaints I’ve heard about Miranda as a unit. Her low level and poor bases fit with her backstory of being a political prisoner since she was five. I doubt someone in her position would be allowed to train or be trained in combat so anything she learned was likely in secret and quite possibly on her own. Promoting to a Mage Knight also makes senses both with her narrative role as the representation of the knights and nobles and for her as a princess of a kingdom of Northern Thracia, a country known for its knights. It would be odder if she didn’t choose to become a knight of some kind. The promotion is a poor choice from a gameplay perspective given how many maps in the endgame are indoors but this is Thracia we’re talking about, gameplay and story are rarely not intertwined, even if that means making the game more frustrating or difficult (hello Xavier).