Vaan, Kytes, and Penelo are fellow orphans who lost their families in the war two years ago. With no relatives to rely on, they’re looked after by Migelo, a Bangaa shopkeeper who finds them odd jobs.
Migelo had once been a business partner of Penelo’s parents, and through that connection he began taking care of Penelo—and Vaan, who was living with her family at the time. Over time, Migelo came into contact with more of the orphans, and nowadays he fusses over them: giving them chores, keeping them out of trouble, and generally watching over their well-being.
Source: Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Ω (Omega), 2006, Page 26.
Look I might be joking around about Basch and Balthier having to be the Adults™ of the group most of the time, aka the Dads with the rambunctious son they kind of adopted in the span of two minutes, but you know who the REAL parent here is?
Migelo, through and through, undisputable.
I mean the very first thing we learn about this guy is that he gives basically ALL the street kinds and orphans in Rabanastre who lost their parents to war and illness not only work, but also a home, food, and a parental figure in himself. He does not just see them as workers, because the very second thing we learn is that at least Vaan and Kyste tend to slack of on their jobs for him, or skip them altogether, but they still get all of the accommodations Migelo can offer without a single bad word from him. More than that: He’s hastening from one place to the other to make sure the kids are alright; he grovels in front of empire soldiers to get them to leave his boys alone and not even offers any reprimand afterwards –
And we’re also told that that is why he works with the Empire at all: To ensure he has a standing and the money which puts him in a position where he can make sure his kids are safe and sound. Not because he wants money, or fame – it’s even hinted if he was alone, he would not go out of his way like this.
Then he goes on to ORDER a notorious sky pirate with a bounty on his head to go save Penelo, OR ELSE –
(And at this point I would like to note that he does not beg, he does not threaten, he does not offer money. He talks to Balthier like he probably would to one of his more stubborn charges – which, given Balthier’s age and personality, makes me think that it’s not really far off; Migelo probably views him as just another lost boy who a good wake-up shake now and then. But this just as a side note)
And what probably touches me the most is not even in a cutscene (sadly) but the fact that when you return to Rabanastre and Migelo after getting Penelo back, he’s not even trying to stop you, or trying to kick you out because a wanted criminal is not welcome or something like that. He very literally tells you that he’s proud of Vaan and Penelo for doing what they think they have to do, and that once they come back from adventuring, they still have a home here.
Listen, Migelo is just – the very best parent in this game. Maybe a lot of games.
(Also he probably views the entire party as his responsibility afterwards, let’s be honest here. XD)
Summary: Migelo does both his duties at the fete, one to the Empire, and the other to his kids.
Rating: T
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Well! Been a while since I wrote something substantial, but @sevi007 has been doing a live blog of this game, thus reminding me how much I love it, and so here’s a fic depicting the one missing scene in this game I really wanted to see, also to give Lizard dad the content he deserves. Enjoy!
Seeing Arcadian troops stomp in the halls of the Royal Palace made Migelo want to crawl right out of his hide. It’s been two years since those bastards in their tin plates stomped into his home and his city and still he could only barely keep his anger in check at how disrespectful the whole lot of them were.
Leaning on pillars built centuries past, wiping their feet on rugs that took months to weave, pointing and laughing like children at art that they would never understand the importance of. If he heard another one of these piss-drunk bureaucrats call one more thing in this palace “quaint” he’s going to use that same thing to break it over their heads.
Still, years of experience in burying his feelings and opinions about his costumers helped him plaster a smile on his snout. This was simply business, he was providing sundries and food for an event, like he’s done dozens and dozens of times over his long career.
“Watch that crate!” He yelled out to one of the servants, “it’s got wine in it, worth more than ten of your lifetimes! Handle it with a bit of care why don’t you?” The servant sheepishly apologized and asked for help from another servant as Migelo turned his gaze elsewhere, “dear girl, you’ll break your back like that!” He went to a maid and corrected her posture and how she held her tray of food, “there we go now, better?”
“Thanks Migelo.” The maid smiled gratefully, before her face turned sour, “these imperials get nasty when they’re drunk, they keep asking me to run back and forth for all sorts of nonsense.” She sighed harshly, “probably just want a peek up my skirt.”
“You let ol’ Migelo handle them, Meina.” He soothes, turning her to a different direction, “empty that tray and take a break for ten minutes, I’ll have someone else make sure they don’t notice you gone, yes?”
She went off with a smile and Migelo continued like that, his time cleaved cleanly between ordering servants this way and that soothing fraying nerves. This fete needed to go flawlessly, with the consul himself attending every hand on deck needed to give it their all and then some. If the pompous royal left this evening with a good opinion of his food, he might transfer said opinion to the rest of the city. If he did that, maybe his boys and girls could have more room to breathe.
He looked ruefully over the staff, some of the younger ones he’s known since they were children, helped them train for applying for work in the palace. Rabanastre was a small city, everyone knew everyone, and that only became stronger as the plague and the war ravaged the place. Seeing these kids, his kids, running around like cockatrices with their heads cut off for the sake of their invaders made a lick of fire burn in his gut, no matter how hard he tried to douse it.
Worse of all was that he knew he was delaying the inevitable, he had an invitation to answer soon, and the longer he ignored the worse things would get not only for himself, but everyone else living in Rabanastre.
He took a few long breathes, practiced his best servile smile in a nearby plate, pictured the smiling face of every single child under his care in his mind, and went off to sit at the right of the eldest living son of Emperor Gramis, Vayne Carudas Solidor.
The consul was deep in debate with the others sitting at his table, something about tax rates and territory dispute that went right over Migelo’s head, but as soon as the old bangaa drew close enough, as if he could hear his footsteps over the rancor of the room, Vayne stopped talking and turned his head to meet his gaze.
“Ah, Sir Migelo, so nice of you to finally join me.” He motioned for one of the nearby soldiers to pull back the chair at his right side, “please, sit.”
With practice ease, and complaining stomach, Migelo bowed in apology, “I hope you would forgive me, Lord Consul, I had so many things to fix and move, my responsibilities nearly made me forget your most gracious offer.”
“Think nothing of it good Sir,” Vayne waved off easily, “We should all wish to have your work ethic Migelo, so we could accomplish our own work half as well.” Vayne complimented him smoothly as Migelo finally sat, the others at the table nodding sycophantically, before beginning to pour the store owner a glass of red wine. “But, let me remind you that I asked of you to refer to me by my first name.”
Taking the glass with all the grace he could manage, Migelo bowed his head again with an outwardly warm smile, “ah, forgive this old lizard sir consul, I still feel ill at ease referring to one of your station so informally.” The other reason was the only people he called by name were his friends and his kids, and Vayne is not, would never be, either. “Perhaps I’ll manage that better,” he made a show of laughing from his belly, “with a bit of fine Arcadian wine in my system, eh?”
“Of course.” Vayne’s sharp eyes and sharper smile made Migelo feel as if he were strapped to a table, “please, indulge as you please, we have all night after all.”
Nodding, Migelo started to drain his glass, and had to fight his gag reflex with every gulp. Arcadian wine made you feel like someone was trying to prove something to you, too rich, too fruity, too damn much. Seeing the people around him gulp this stuff down was aggravating as it was confusing, you could stuff as many flowers into a bottle of Slaven piss as you wanted, it was still a drink of cold piss.
Decades of honing his poker face in the interest of more returning costumers made sure none of that disgust was visible on his face of course, to any casual observer Migelo savored every drop of the expensive Slaven piss, finishing his glass with a pleasured sigh. “Ahh, what an excellent, uh, flavor profile! So full of life and character!” He turned to the consul with a toothy grin, “How’s about you give me another to loosen my tongue?”
“You are a man of great taste, Sir Migelo.” Vayne complimented, smiling thinly as he filled the offered cup before filling his own. “I’ve heard Dalmascans do not have a high opinion of my home’s signature brew.”
“Bah.” Migelo scoffed easily, “children with no experience on their tongues Lord Consul, nothing to be offended by.” He internally grits his teeth, he heard some of the younger men voice some of their very loud opinions about Arcadian wine in a place where a couple of soldiers could hear them. It ended well for absolutely no one, and he was only glad to make sure his kids didn’t see or hear it. “We Dalmascans are very proud of our own drinks, I think you would see it would make sense to be a bit defensive.” He took another gulp, “pardon m’candor, of course.”
“Indeed.” Vayne nodded, finishing his own glass, “and you have a great many things to be proud of, I’ve heard a fair share of good things about Dalmascan cactus wine.” He looked at Migelo with a gaze that made his scales itch, “have you tried it before?”
He was almost insulted the man had to ask, “o’course I did lord consul!” He tried to be casual about it, but a bit of hometown pride seemed to seep in every other word, “Cactus Wine is easy to brew in large amounts, made from Cactoid fruit and the sands are absolutely littered with the little buggers, it’s what you order when you have something to celebrate or as a victory drink.” Migelo could go for an entire barrel of it right now. “It’s a…simple drink. Simple but hearty.”
Vayne nodded politely as the bangaa went on, before he took the bottle of his expensive wine and looked at it quietly, “…I suppose there hasn’t been much call for it, lately.”
Migelo nearly swallowed his tongue, for all his talk of taking in all of Dalmasca’s hatred onto himself, the consul seemed adept at choosing words to inspire said hatred. “Y-No, Lord Consul, not a lot to celebrate.” He quickly recovered, smiling again as he waved his glass about, “b-but fret not! Us Dalmascans find reason to celebrate no matter the weather! You’ll have your taste of cactus wine before long don’t you worry!”
“Why wait my friend?” Vayne said smoothly, Migelo barely exerting the restraint he needed to stop himself from cursing the consul out on considering himself something he is not, “I have found myself a few bottles for this grand occasion.”
Migelo was stopped short, he had double checked every scrap of food and drink meant for this fete, triple checking the alcohol in particular, and he was sure there wasn’t a drop of cactus wine in the whole palace, he figured the imperials wouldn’t want to touch the stuff. “Y-you did? F-from where lord consul?”
“From the palace cellars of course.” He replied, motioning with his hand to another maid, Kayta if Migelo remembers right, who held a very familiar clay jug in her hands. “If one kind of wine isn’t enough to call me friend, perhaps two would suffice.”
Migelo held Kayta’s conflicted gaze for a moment, before he turned to Vayne with a doubtful expression, “the cellars my lord? Those haven’t been disturbed since the war ended! Who knows what kind of vermin have found their way to the stores?”
“I had my men carefully inspect each bottle.” Vayne assured, which only made Migelo more ill thinking about what Imperial soldiers considered inspecting. “Please, do not be reticent, I find myself curious what a man of your expertise has to say about the difference between one wine and the other.”
Kayta poured Migelo a glass with a sorrowful expression, Migelo soothing the girl as best he could with a smile only she could see, and the bangaa took a long whiff of the drink, before slowly draining his glass.
Cactus wine was sweet, almost sweet enough you could give it to a child without them puffing their little face. Its taste was subtle, airy, doing nothing more than what a wine ought to do and made your face and belly warm. It was cheap drink, cheap enough that working folk could indulge in it without endangering their pay over-much.
It was Dalmasca to the last drop, warm and honest.
“So, sir Migelo?” Vayne inquired when the bangaa finished and had not said a word, “how is your home’s brew compared to mine?”
He was quiet for a few more moments before he turned to the consul, “I must admit to having a bias sir.” He put the glass back down on the table gently, reaching over to grab a grape nearby to soak some of the alcohol in his system, “I’ve been drinking cactus wine since I was a whelp, y’see, it’s a drink for the heart as much for the stomach nowadays.”
Vayne chuckled good naturedly, “well, now you have me curious.” He picked up his own glass and motioned for Kayta to fill it, the girl nearly tripping over herself to bow as she poured without spilling it on him. He took a careful sip…and stopped, an emotion Migelo could not name fliting across his face. “…it tastes…” The consul was quiet for a moment, the rest of the table perfectly silent to await his judgment, “…honest.”
Migelo released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, allowing himself the tiniest amount of pride as he looked at Vayne, “Dalmasca knows no other way, Lord Consul.”
“Pritas.” Vayne looked at one of the people sitting at the table, some peacock in a stuffy red shirt with a pencil moustache, “you should try it, I am certain people in Archades would flock to try this, exotic yet gentle on the tongue.”
Pritas hurriedly motioned for Kayta to pour him a glass, and no sooner than he had a drop of it he was nodding enthusiastically, “y-yes Lord Vayne! You are absolutely correct; everyone will want a bottle of this for any price!”
Migelo, despite his mood and the alcohol in his system, found himself smiling at the sound of it, feeling someone patting his shoulder. “Migelo, after the fete be sure to grant Pritas here the information for whoever you get your cactus wine from, they’ll find more business than ever.”
Migelo could picture the family of brewers in his head, nearly jumping for joy at the chance that fell into their laps, a contract to sell cactus wine halfway across Ivalice. He then imagined their faces when he told them to which half of Ivalice the wine would go. He imagines the shock, the outrage, the sorrow.
He imagines the table with one more chair then they needed, the extra gathering dust for two years now.
“Yes, Lord Consul.” He said as calmly as he could manage, looking into the face of a man whose night has gone exactly as he had planned, down to the last detail, painting a smiling on his snout. “Thank you for this opportunity, I’m sure they’ll see this as a chance to build their life back up to how it was…” He could feel his lips curling over his teeth. “…before the war, that is.”
Vayne’s face drew downwards slightly, an almost robotic motion, “yes, the war has devastated both sides long enough,” He squeezed the shoulder he was holding, in a move meant to be reassuring, “it is past time we helped each other back onto our feet.”
Vaan crying into his shoulder, cursing and yelling and screaming every curse he knew. Penelo holding him tightly as she sobbed. Fire in the sky, visible from his window.
His home, under siege and under iron boots.
Migelo bit his tongue, brought to mind every orphan he and Old Dalan have struggled to keep fed and working and warm, and managed an impossible smile, “yes…way past time…Lord Consul.”
Vayne shook his head with a fond smile, and poured Migelo another cup of Arcadian wine. Migelo drained it without tasting a drop.
(Not long after, barely an hour after, he sees his boy in chains and his girl crying for his freedom, and all the wine in his veins is cold and freezing.
As they dragged his boy away, as his girl fell into the arms of Kayta as she sobbed, Vayne Carudas Solidor came to him, smiled, and clapped his shoulder.)
Vaan's sexily voiced adoptive Bangaa father. Vaan is so unappreciative and yet Migelo so very patient. #FF12 #Migelo #Bangaa
I’ve been playing Final Fantasy 12 and I fell in love with Migelo and his sexy voice. I wish there was more of him in the game. Here is a video appreciating Migelo.
i have so many feelings about like... migelo and the way that he has obviously taken so many of the orphans of rabanastre under his wing, and like... sure, he’s a businessman, but the thing is, all his shit about making profit is the perfect way to ensure he’s kept in good standing with the imperials, and therefore can protect the kids?
like. there’s no reason for him to employ so many of them, especially the ones that are little shits about it, like kytes and vaan, but you can see he honestly cares so much, and like
no, he can’t take them home, he can’t call them his children - if he did that, any number of them would spit in his face - but he can give them work, he can try to teach them some form of discipline, he can keep them from being backhanded or worse by the next imperial that catches them offguard
and you can see how fuckin destroyed he is with all the false modesty from vayne, but you know, he’s not actually doing it for himself, is he? it’s not just survival - it’s the kids’ survival that matters
and especially when i think of penelo and how like... vaan is one of the eldest of the orphans, and penelo looks to him and she says, you know, it’s your responsibility, you need to be a father figure to everyone, you need to show a good example, you need to...
and i think that she’s misguided in that, don’t get me wrong, like... i think she’s young and naive and she thinks, you know, if you just do what you should do, then it’ll all be alright, and we can both be like a mother and father to everyone, and i think she still struggles to like, accept that maybe vaan really does want to go off elsewhere and be a sky pirate, that he really will go off one day and that she won’t see him as much - she and vaan are both still just kids, you know?
but i have to wonder what she and migelo talk about, how much migelo lets slip when he forgets that she’s older than most of the rest, that she’s a little more eagle-eyed about catching when his stone gets stiff or when his shoulders slump, like...
how much she realizes how much pain he’s in, and wishes she could fix it, and knows that she can’t?
Whose Story Is This?: A Defense of Final Fantasy XII
[Note: Cross-Posted at my mostly-crit blog Arbitrary Numbers sometime within twenty-four hours-ish, probably easier to find a permalink there.]
I'd originally intended to write something like this closer to the release of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, but I actually had someone reply to this tumblr with a request for it (thanks, @beeperdoop-hiatus ) so I’m going to do this now and reblog it later.
It can be really tiring hearing people repeat the same tired criticisms of FFXII’s story. As a particular fan of that game, I wanted to clarify some details on that score. Let’s get into it.
--Caveat
This article is not intended to be a comprehensive look at the game’s flaws, nor is it meant to suggest the game is above reproach. FFXII is extremely flawed. I think most fans of the game are willing to admit as much, though their reasons may differ. How the game handles race is “problematic” at best and the pacing is very chunky, particularly following Mt. Bur-Omisace, which is almost certainly when Matsuno was officially no longer in the driver’s seat. Some characters (such as Penelo) are significantly underserved and only half the cast truly have arcs. I’d argue the game still says and does more in terms of storytelling than any of the other numbered entries in the franchise, and if your argument is that this speaks less of XII and more of the flaws the others have, that is your prerogative. I’m still inordinately fond of it, however.
This is also not an article about gameplay, as it is solely focused on the game’s overlying narrative and its character journeys. Finally, this article has spoilers for all of FFXII. This game is ten, eleven years old now, but the HD re-release is only months away, so I’m putting the courtesy notice here.
--Facts
The following are indisputable facts:
1.) At some point in development, Yasumi Matsuno stepped down from his lead position on this game. Ivalice’s creator, his focus is frequently relating his games to real world politics (Tactics Ogre, for instance, was inspired by viewing scenes of genocide in Yugoslavia). How much was “left” and how much was “forced” is a matter of some debate.
2.) Over the years, the extent to which Ivalice games, and the satellite games in their orbit such as Vagrant Story, are literally connected has been diminished and then reinstated, both by Matsuno himself and by other representatives at Square-Enix.
3.) At some point in development, Basch was to be the playable character. It is also believed that at some point in development, the same was said of Balthier, who appears to have been “finished” first. What is not ever discussed is how long these ideas were on the table. A year? A week? Thirty minutes? A few throwaway lines in an interview or Ultimania do not clarify this issue.
4.) At some point in development, Vaan and Penelo were added to provide a more traditional youth-oriented viewpoint character. It’s believed that this was because there was concern that a bunch of adults in a thorny political situation would not become a big draw for the usual FF crowd. What is not discussed is when this decision was made - Vaan’s actions drive the plot for roughly one-third of the actual story (roughly until Ashe becomes a permanent member) and Penelo was in the game long enough to have scenes deleted before the game shipped, as evidenced by scenes of her dancing in the early trailers. It’s also rarely pointed-out that young characters in FF are neither a guarantee, nor a sign of how that character will be perceived: Canonically, Cecil of FFIV is 20 (37 in the sequel!), and Cloud of FFVII is 21, but these ages are not necessarily how they’re perceived in the wider fandom of those games, generally speaking. Even in XII itself, Ashe and Vaan are only separated by two years (19 and 17 respectively) but players generally view Ashe as an adult and Vaan as a youth, based solely on demeanor.
--TL;DR
The game’s protagonist is Ashe
The game’s viewpoint character is Vaan
The parallel to Ramza Beoulve is Larsa
The parallel to Delita Heiral is Vayne
The thesis statement is Basch (& Gabranth)
The biggest connection to other Ivalice games is shared by Fran and Al-Cid
The narrator is Penelo
The Leading Man is Balthier
The character we begin with is Reks
The characters who actually move the plot are Cid, Reddas, and Ondore
The most important character is Migelo
If you’d consider this breakdown simplistic, that’s fine - that’s sort of the point.
--What is FFXII about?
Because of the shifts in game development, FFXII is actually about a few things. It’s not clear how many of them were Matsuno’s doing, past the first one. However, despite the unevenness of how these ideas are distributed and layered, they do tend to intersect in ways that make the story work. XII is about, in some respect:
Life under Imperialism, and ways to resist, the perils and necessities of radicalism
What we do (or do not) owe to those who have fallen / the cycle of revenge
Self-loathing, specifically regarding the choices we make when we are young - usually choices we feel are not choices at the time
How did the world of Final Fantasy Tactics happen?
Grappling with the influence of Star Wars on the Final Fantasy franchise
A traditional “JRPG” theme regarding the value of free will in a world of gods
Some of these concepts are more high-falutin’ than others. Some of them are very genre or medium specific. What’s important is that essentially, all themes converge in the moment when Ashe chooses to destroy the Sun-Cryst at the Pharos Lighthouse.
--”Migelo’s not the most important character!”
Says you.
We spend a lot of time with Migelo at the beginning of FFXII, as Vaan is taking us through tutorial stuff and we’re getting a handle on Rabanastre and the layout of Dalmasca. Once the journey begins, however, we don’t see a lot of him. What is Migelo’s role in the story? Other RPG protagonists or viewpoint characters have had parents or parental figures that are left behind, but that is their only job - to be the guardian you leave behind to prove that you’re meant to grow up. But Migelo has scenes with Vayne, the primary antagonist - the final boss - that Vaan does not interrupt. When speaking to NPC’s in town, many are talking about Migelo, more than talk about Vaan himself. Why?
Migelo’s role is also, essentially, a tutorial. As you’re learning how combat, rare game hunts, and the bazaar shop work, Migelo is teaching you how to interpret the story. His role is to introduce the theme and tone, because it’s not like other FF games. I’m not sure if “subtle” is necessarily the right word, but many elements of the game rely upon you understanding the implications of the world that you are in, rather than have the characters constantly reiterating those details to you (this begins to break down towards the end, evidence that Matsuno’s hand had left the wheel a bit).
Everyone in town has an opinion specifically of how exactly Migelo acts with the Archadean Empire. Vaan and Penelo have a two-line exchange to draw attention to this, but many NPCs change dialogue after seeing Migelo kowtow to Vayne (as he’d previously done with the guards to save Vaan at the gate earlier). There is a conflict in Rabanastre between resistance and survival. Migelo places his pride below the safety of the orphans that he looks after. The game does not offer definitive judgement on his actions, but asks that you consider that the question exists. It’s suggested he might “lose” the occasional crate and that it finds its way to Vossler & co., but unlike Vaan, who is consumed with directionless anger after the death of his brother - who uses that anger to place himself and others in danger - Migelo is willing to suffer scorn for the sake of his family in the shadow of the occupying force.
I think it’s pretty pointed that Migelo is wearing, essentially, a yarmulke in his role of shopkeeper who’ll suffer scorn for survival under oppression.
The imperialist nightmare that accounts for Dalmasca’s daily life is reinforced with the only other real town you can visit before the game gets going - Nalbina Fortress, where civilians rebuild their own town so that they can be paid by the people who destroyed it in the first place, even as that town is used as a prisoner for political dissidents. It’s a very potent metaphor for imperialism as a whole. Are these civilians wrong for doing so? The game does not decide. People must feed their families, and the insurgence - pardon, resistance - still exists.
These sequences set the tone for the varied decisions the characters must make or have already made, as the narrative focuses on age seventeen as a person’s fulcrum point.
--I was seventeen, it was a very bad year
The cast of Final Fantasy XII, especially the men, each make important decisions at seventeen:
Basch chooses to leave his homeland of Landis, and Noah chooses to stay behind. Landis is conquered; Noah resents his brother for years. Basch holds firm to his choice, as one would expect of the resolute knight/samurai character, but in rare moments his mask slips and his doubt is laid bare.
Ffamran flees home and his role as a low-ranking judge of the Empire, taking a new name for himself as the pirate Balthier. He claims to have chosen freedom, but his every moment in the game is consumed with thoughts of the father he believed lost to madness. We cannot know for sure, but it is likely that Fran was seventeen, or perhaps the Viera equivalent, when she also chose to leave the Wood.
Reks chooses to fight for his homeland, and specifically for his brother Vaan. He dies after torture and perceived betrayal, broken.
Vayne murders his older brothers at his father’s orders, securing his position as heir to the throne while also losing the confidence of the Imperial Senate. He believes himself damned for his position and is subsequently willing to perform monstrous acts so that his younger brother Larsa can rule free of influence and pain (upon getting magicite infusion and letting the Occurian “heretic” Venat take a ride, this veneer of motivation is stripped away and nothing is left but the monster - it’s not clear how much of this act is motivated by his losing his only friend but he was long past redemption in any case).
As the game opens, the two heroes - Ashe, our protagonist, and Vaan, our viewpoint character, are set to face their journeys. Ashe had her decision taken from her at seventeen - her father and husband were killed and she was spirited away, and so she did not have the agency to make a choice. Vaan is now seventeen and a knot of directionless resentment and anger who has not made a choice.
In the Garif village, Ashe and Vaan have a heart-to-heart in which Vaan explains that he understands his motivations were misguided, but he does not know his place. He tells Ashe that he’ll find his direction with her - through her - and thus when Ashe’s decision comes, it is explicitly designed to determine Vaan’s fate specifically - if he will make a choice that will torture his days the way many others struggle to live with theirs.
--We made a feminist Star Wars by accident
Square-Enix is not... amazing with women. They’ve had many female characters whom women enjoy quite a bit, and I’ve no intention of challenging anyone’s beloved characters. All I mean to say is that when I say “feminist Star Wars by accident,” my tongue is firmly in cheek here, fully self-aware, but that is certainly a way to read what happened.
Final Fantasy has been wrestling with the influence of Star Wars for their whole lifespan. There’s always a Biggs and Wedge, lots of sequences have liberally borrowed... FFIX quotes The Phantom Menace at the end in this bit that really hasn’t aged that well despite largely being a pretty great game. Nobody can be sure at exactly what point it was that they decided to just “do Star Wars” in FFXII - if it was a way to take what they had and make a comprehensible plot in the wake of Matsuno leaving or being asked to leave, if it was Matsuno himself using the skeleton of Star Wars so that his Ivalice story would feel more traditional to other FF fans, if it was a course-correction to Vaan’s late-addition. We can’t know, and it doesn’t especially matter. What does matter is that in doing so, they made a version that’s... better? By certain metrics. Certainly it’s about Star Wars the way that the original film is about the serials Lucas grew up with, but in having Ashe as a protagonist, the journey of the two main characters actually follows a more sensible progression.
Putting aside portrayals for a moment, in a vacuum it would make sense if Princess Leia were the one tempted by the Dark Side, right? She lost so much more than Luke did, her grief and her anger would be so much greater. At any rate, the story of FFXII is essentially a story where we watch Leia through Luke’s eyes, as she is briefly tempted and then refuses that power, which would enable her revenge.
Ashelia B’nargin Dalmasca seems to be a difficult character for much of the game’s audience... well, at least much of the game’s male audience? - to wrap their minds around. She’s wearing some ridiculous FF sex appeal clothing, and all of the game’s advertising pivots her as being very coy or demure or traditionally feminine, but in the game she’s kind of a bitch - and I say that as a compliment. Square-Enix can use that key art of her touching her nose all they want, but this is an angry woman who suffered and wants to inflict that suffering, for much of the game. The “problem” is that Ashe is not masculine, not a “man with breasts” female character, but her journey is usually one given to men. She has a love interest die in order to motivate her, and she has to learn to give up her revenge before she does something monstrous - for part of the game she actually considers genocide, until being confronted with the means to achieve it.
If many characters in XII parallel those in FFT in different forms, Ashe is the parallel for Wiegraf Folles - the hero who fell, and the heroine who almost does, both of them the holder of Belias the Gigas first and foremost.
The plot of XII echoes Star Wars more or less beat for beat as we follow desert rat Vaan and his rogue allies and wiser companion until they rescue the princess... at which point the plot still echoes the film, except the princess is clearly the protagonist and upon being rightfully restored, the focus remains upon her.
“Gamers” who bring up “who could have been the main character” are all alike in a very specific way. They all claim that Vaan is bad, and that Basch or Balthier should have been the main character based on some notes about the game’s development. But they all steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that the game’s protagonist is currently Ashe.
It is Ashe who wants to leave Bhujerba and go after Raithwall’s treasure. It is Ashe who wants to speak to the Garif to learn how to unlock the magicite’s power. It is Ashe who agrees to accompany Larsa to Mt. Bur-Omisace, who wants to go to Archades as badly as Balthier, who follows Cid into Giruvegan, who decides to climb the Pharos, who declares she will enter Bahamut and stop Vayne.
And every step of the way, Ashe is advised by men, not left alone by men, her decisions are judged by men. And in fairness to the characters, some of that is deserved. Ashe cannot bear to shatter the stone with the sword, she talks about accruing power. She is the rightful Dynast-Queen and the stone only responds to her, but she speaks in terms far beyond freeing her realm from occupation. But Ondore treats her as a figurehead and does not want her to act with her own agency, Balthier and Fran snipe at her constantly and Balthier especially cannot view her decisions through any lens but his issues with his own father. Al-Cid flirts, Vossler infantalizes, Larsa tries to hold the moral high ground, and Vaan keeps interrupting her.
“I am no false saint for you to use!”
Again and again...
“I am simply myself. No more and no less. And I want only to be free.”
...Ashe tries to reclaim her agency. Her Quickening quotes are ”I must endure” and “I must be strong” and “I must believe.”
The “insurgence” vs. “resistance” joke is a pretty loaded one, because on the one hand, it’s about politics, about how imperialism views resistance, how the narrative can be changed, but on the other it’s about attempts to strip Ashe’s identity away and give her a different one.
Ashe does not get the choice at seventeen, and so at nineteen she stands at the top of the Pharos at Ridorana and Gabranth takes the Darth Vader role, the Emperor role as well: accept the power offered, let revenge damn you. And what she sees is Vaan pick up the sword, and look to her.
The defining moment of Final Fantasy XII is but a spare few seconds as these two young people share a single look. Vaan is at the point of his seventeen-year-old decision here, and Ashe at last has the agency to make a choice. Vaan is many things in this moment - a sort of younger brother figure, in the Luke Skywalker role. Literally one of her subjects, and thus a symbol for her as queen, for how she will consider the welfare of her citizens over everything else as a ruler. As a younger version of all of these men who have pushed her, even as a younger version of herself, less far-gone in being lost to hate.
And because she’s the hero of the story, she discards the stone. And inspires Vaan as well to cast his desire for revenge aside. She inspires him so fully that at the game’s end Vaan uses Gabranth’s blade to land the final blow to help enable Gabranth’s dying redemption.
The focal moment of the story, and it does not work without Vaan there - Vaan is necessary to make the story work.
--Vaan and the male “Gamer”
If you want to know why a certain sort of game-player is so insistent upon reminding you at every moment that Vaan was not always intended to be in FFXII, I think you need look no further than the above image, which is official artwork.
There’s nothing about the above image to appeal to a straight male “gamer.” I’m a straight cis male myself, so I’ll not make assumptions as to whether anyone else likes the look.
Vaan’s abs have been a meme for a decade because of the bizarre choice in how they chose to render them in game, it’s true. In that respect, he’s always looked weird. The rest of his character design is pretty obvious, however. He’s a desert street rat, Vaan Ratsbane, and so he’s meant to explicitly reference Aladdin. The shirtless vest, the band around his waist. But this is a major promotional image, and it’s relying upon a sex appeal you don’t normally see in male video game characters.
Vaan is a viewpoint character, but he is not the protagonist. Vaan is who you control as you run errands. Ashe talks to gods. Balthier looks cool standing at the rim of a prison arena and saying fantasy-racist slurs to provoke some bullies. Basch gets to have noble speeches. Vaan provides comic relief and his most-known moment is when he claims to be someone else to attract attention.
A certain contingent of those who play games do so in order to be supplied with a power fantasy, a wish fulfillment. One would think having Vaan get the best stats and stand up to Gilgamesh and Zodiark and Ultima and Vayne would be enough, but the game does not treat Vaan as wish fulfillment in that way. And they can tell.
Cloud Strife, in the original Final Fantasy VII, is actually a scared and lonely boy who has constructed a personality around himself that appears cool, detached, and badass. Ostensibly the game is about peeling that shell back to see the the boy beneath. But the game’s style, the length of time spent on the “badass” part, and the way the spin-off media treats the character have all worked to leave the traditional gamer affirmed. They’re riding the motorcycle, they’re fighting in the Gold Saucer arena, they’re battling Sephiroth. Final Fantasy XII does not do this.
The character above is not wish-fulfillment for men in part by looks - he is not muscled, he is not “cool” the way Balthier is, and his biggest cutscene action is screaming as he stabs the enemy with someone else’s sword. He’s not wish-fulfillment in the game itself because despite his good stats, every character can play every role competently (even if in the job system, certain characters using certain jobs will be very sub-optimal), and in general viewpoint characters are rarely wish-fulfillment because every other character knows more about what’s going on than they do. Ivalice is a complicated world, and somebody needs to have it explained to them or the player will not be able to follow along, but many players hate getting explanations.
It’s not his youth, either, I hasten to point out: Ramza was young. Denam was young. Nobody has ever taken issue with them in the way they have Vaan. It’s specific issues with Vaan that they have.
He’s more “feminine,” despite being perfectly capable at all times. It’s the lady in the pink miniskirt who does all the cool hero stuff. That’s what people hate. That’s why they always namecheck Basch or Balthier. Despite the game’s plot hinging on Ashe, the character they want to be is a more traditional male hero.
A viewpoint character is especially important in FFXII, however, when you consider that the game is not necessarily played in a vacuum.
--XII as prequel
It’s hard to tell exactly what shape XII would have taken before the outside influences. It’s easy to believe that with Matsuno leading the whole way, it would be a better and more complete work, but we can’t ever really know. It’s interesting to view XII through a lens where its relation to the other Ivalice games matter, however, because many decisions have rather more import when that knowledge exists. The game plays differently when you’re playing it as a prequel, versus a game of its own.
The Final Fantasy Tactics continent of Loar exists in XII-era Rozarria, somewhere far-off to the west. And Rozarria is (if you’ll pardon the term) the “Phantom Menace” of FFXII, always lurking in the shadows, always looming over events. Many, many of the decisions that many characters make in the game are motivated by the knowledge that any provocation could bring Rozarria into the fray more actively, and in so doing cause a war that would wipe out Dalmasca completely. After all, as Migelo would tell you, occupation is monstrous, but it’s better than death. And so Rozarria becomes, in a sense, the spectre of Final Fantasy Tactics itself, always just out of frame, never forgotten. It is Rozarria in the final act which enacts the false flag operation which leads to the climax - an explicitly Dycedarg maneuver!
Al-Cid invites Ashe to visit the Ambervale of Clan Margrace when the hostilities have ceased. The “Ambervale,” of course, was the site of the final battle in Final Fantasy Advance, the game where we first meet Montblanc at a younger age. The other games aren’t forgotten.
Final Fantasy XII occurs pre-Cataclysm, and establishes that there have been many such world-ending events in the past. Out of control nanotechnology, Esper wars, all sorts of events (almost assuredly the inspiration for how FFXIV treats its Calamities). This is a deliberate tie to FFXII’s use of the cycle of revenge and hostility, but it also prompts the informed player to watch the game’s events as a sort of ramp-up to the Cataclysm. We don’t run into Ajora or Germonique here, we don’t see the Cataclysm occur, but the game is asking the player to understand the way these political battles become events that cannot be walked back, how small events can have ramifications, how sickly ironic viewpoints can be in retrospect.
The Viera maintain their isolationism even after being confronted with matters of global scale. In ninety years’ time, the Viera will cease to exist, making this sequence a tragedy in a way it does not for a player who does not know the other games.
Bergan (& Venat) kill the Light of Kiltias and end the Kiltian religion. As a consequence, Pharism will spread and Ajora will rise up to create the events of FFT.
Larsa, the youngest brother, echoes Ramza in demeanor, in signature weapon, in naivety about his elder brother, only to stand a hero in the name of peace.
Vayne may have motivations that stem from love and justice, but his actions are monstrous. Here’s a key: next go-round, note the way the word “Necessity” recurs through his story, and compare it to how Delita’s story uses the word “Endeavor.”
We learn Ultima’s origin, we see why Zodiark is different, we form a connection with Belias.
The Mist is introduced as a central element (inspired by FFIX, which was in turn inspired in places by Tactics), while knowing the Mist will no longer exist post-Cataclysm, which suggests all sorts of things about why the magick system is different and the world is so changed.
These things are not necessary to the understanding of the game’s story - some references to the past are even the sole provenance of the localizers (calling the naturalist “Merlose” in the Clan Primer is just Alex O. Smith having fun, for instance) - but the weight of history - and of the future - very much solidifies ideas that the game is already talking about.
--And so
The expression “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” could have been invented for Final Fantasy XII, because it’s quite obvious that many parts were created with different goals in mind. There is noticeable friction between those parts in many places (isn’t it weird that they get captured and then escape from the same ship twice in just a few hours of gametime? Or, I get that him being Boba Fett makes this part of the joke, but Ba’Gamnan is really sort of a dead end, huh?) but the whole of XII works, and if that’s in spite of itself, that doesn’t matter, only that it does.
And there are many valid criticisms to level at the game, but the predominance of certain criticisms, the laser-focus of a certain type of “gamer,” suggests that those issues have less to do with the game itself than with certain other reasons.
I look forward to playing The Zodiac Age in a few months, as I’ve never gotten to play the IZJS edition of the game. That is very much the draw for me, rather than the visual improvements - I find myself quite nervous about how those are going to go, actually, and not every single change to IZJS was wholly positive, even if many of them are - and it’s always nice to have an excuse to revisit one of my favorite titles. Gameplay-wise, XII was somewhat ahead of its time. It took titles like Xenoblade to catch up to what XII was doing with its west-meets-east, MMO-inspired flavor, and I’m rather fond of it despite its issues.
But mostly, I’m hoping it’s a chance for many to go back and reexamine a game that was and is very unfairly maligned, and especially so for the wrong reasons.
