More rambling about Crown Gambit! This time about some of the other paladins. I absolutely adore many of the characters from this game, but it is a shame that some of the paladins in particular do not get given a lot of explanation when it comes to their backstory/history. They serve as boss fights for the game, so I can understand not taking more time to explore them individually, but it does leave me with a lot of questions that I am constantly ruminating over.
So below are some of those questions. (spoilers warning or whatever, and also some of these may very well be answered in the game, but the dialogue and splitting paths are so dense that I could have missed them lmao)
Some paladins received a little more love than others, such as Hermet, Alphonse, and the mentors. Gwendor, Yster, and Draknir also have a decent number of appearances, and are very fascinating characters with very fleshed out and interesting loyalties. But there are many paladins who barely got any screen-time at all, but their short appearances still left them ingrained in my mind, just because they are so damn intriguing.
First up, we have Sylir.
Now the thing about Sylir is that he is a mystery to himself as well, given his constant Relic-induced memory loss. As this screenshot below shows, all his knows is his loyalty to Roge Thulder, and he serves him with a very single-minded reverence.
But how did he come to being imployed to House Thulder? And why did he become so obsessed with Roge specifically? We know very little about his history or his desires, for he doesn't really know them either, however, we do know that he and Hael were acquainted at least, as this conversation below clearly shows.
Hael barely knows any of the other paladins, given how recently he joined the Corps, but he clearly knew Sylir, and he laments at the thought of having to fight him. Their relationship is not really explained any further, but I do find it interesting how similar Sylir's armour is to the armour that Hael dons if Karv is crowned.
They both wear a cloth with a metal mask fitted on the front, and both have flowing fabrics that drape off of them. It makes me wonder if Sylir was ever part of the church at some point, but simply forgot about his religion and his ties there. White hair seems to be a theme with some members of the church, this is shown with both Hael and Omeric, who clearly both had their hair dyed white at some point. You can see their true hair colour though in their regrowth. Sylir's, however, looks more natural, given there is no obvious regrowth and that his eyebrows are white as well, but he certainly looks like he would fit right in with the church.
Also interesting is the way that Sylir is very aware of his own memory loss, and seems to regret it at least somewhat. But still, his loyalty to Roge towers above all else, so he makes no steps to preventing his own memory loss, not when he probably feels that he needs his relic to protect his master.
I really wish we could have received some explanation on how he and Roge met, and what caused Sylir to become so infatuated with him. Was it a mere coincidence, that he was simply employed under Roge when his memories first started failing? Or was there something more to cause that devotion? It is also fascinating to me how his loyalty to Roge does not entirely equal obedience. For when Roge argues with his mother, and his mother insults him in turn, Sylir is quick to threaten Neantis, not backing down even when Roge tries to order him to.
Sylir is so obsessed with Roge that he is willing to ignore his commands if he deems it necessary to "protect" him, even going as far to threaten his lord's own mother for him. He is entirely blinded by his devotion, clinging to the one person who remains a constant, as the rest of his memories keep failing him.
And Roge cares about him too, he pleads with you to spare Sylir if you fight him on behalf of Neantis, saying how he wants to patch him up, and he expresses a shocked but reserved dismay if you decide to kill him.
These two make me feral, and I wanna know their deal so bad.
But, moving on! And I these ones will be shorter, lmao, I don't have as many screenshots pre-saved.
Next up, we got Silence.
So, like, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually get properly confirmed, but I have no doubt that she is Yster's daughter. I wish I had a screenshot of the conversation, coz for some reason it has only happened on my first playthrough. But if you fight Silence and spare her, afterwards Yster can come to face you, furious, rambling about how you killed SIlence. Once corrected, he runs off after her, wanting to make sure that she is alright. You can also learn by snooping around the Illioze house that he had a secret bastard child, and that he had the mother killed to try and hide his disgrace. So, given his concern for her, and the fact we know he has a child, I am pretty sure they are father and daughter. Plus, they look realllll similar, just look.
Near identical eyes, similar noses and skin-tone, both scowling, both have dark hair.
So my question is, is SHE aware that Yster is her father?? Or has he been watching out for her from the shadows but keeping his distance? It is clear that them being related is not common knowledge, since no one is supposed to know that Yster has a child, but was she ever informed? Is she confused when Yster comes to tend to her wounds? Does she know that he killed her mother??
My presumption is that she is not aware, but I am definitely curious how she would react when she learns the truth.
Next up, Omeric.
I love this dude, but there is basically zero information about him in the game. I have not been able to find him in any earlier point of the game before Fort Jayant, so it seems he is entirely only there to fill Havrok's ranks a little more. But damn it, he intrigues me. His character profile specifically mentions him having previously been loyal to Karv, before changing loyalties to serve Havrok instead. So now I am left wondering, WHY did he betray Karv?? There is nothing in his dialogue that implies at all that he cares about Havrok's cause or protecting the people of Meodred. He is still a religious fanatic who worships The Anzou diligently, rambling on and on about the deity before you battle him. So then, why turn away from the church? If my theory about his and Hael's hair is correct, that they dye it white to show their loyalty to the church, then the fact that his regrowth has gotten so long seems significant.
It's also interesting that he and Hael seem to know each other, and that Hael seemed somewhat fond of him, looking upset about the idea of having to fight him.
I love the idea that they could have been friends if given the chance.
But back to the main point. There really isn't any reason given as to why Omeric would stop serving Karv. The protags do not question his motives, he does not express any dissatisfaction towards Karv's desire to rule. He kinda just shows up, rambles all ominously and flowery about death at you, and then you kill him. I would have loved some insight into his goals, but alas, he is barely in the game.
I still love him a bunch tho <3
Okayy and next, Yassim.
This one is a real quick question, just hey, what the hell was Alphonse's beef with him?? It was practically violence on sight, Alphonse got so damn furious lmao. I have to assume that Yassim had something to do with the death of Alphonse's family, because he definitely starts to recognize the old man as the battle comes to an end, but I have not been able to find any sort of confirmation or proper explanation as to what their history was. Yassim in general is a very fascinating character, he is one of the paladins who gets a pretty decent amount of screen-time, often appearing whenever Havrok does, but despite that the game is still incredibly vague on who he is. I really just wanna know what went down between him and Alphonse.
Alright last one coz I am getting sleepy, Hunan (with Alphonse returning again)
OK SO, this one is real wild coz I literally had to ask the devs to get part of this information. BUT FUN FACT, MARIAN IS HUNAN'S MOTHER. I ended up being super curious as to why she was listed as a related entry on his character page, so I asked the devs what their relationship was and they confirmed that Marian and Hunan are mother and son. (Well, to be more specific, one of the publishers said this, and a dev gave it a thumbs up). I'm too shy to keep bothering them tho lmao, so I didn't ask any follow up questions, but boy howdy did I have some.
Looks-wise, they certainly do not look similar, but I think Marian must have had blue eyes like his before they became hazed over like they are now.
But yeah I have a few questions about these two.
Firstly, similar to my question with Silence and Yster, but does Hunan know who his mother is?? He has a lot of anger towards the Bloodcrest family specifically, is that because he knows about how they screwed his mother over? I've not seen Marian ever mention or acknowledge him though, so I really have no idea what their connection is.
Secondly, where is this information in the game?? I know they are mother and son because of an outside source, but surely this can be learned in the game somewhere, otherwise why have their character profiles linked at all?? I've been trying to find ways to make them interact or something, but so far I have had no luck.
Thirdly and lastly, who is Hunan's father? It clearly is not Brestel, because Hunan gives no indication of being part of House Thulder, and no one else in the family acts like they know him. Currently, my best theory is that it is Alphonse, due to him talking fondly about Marian, and due to how easily Marian recognises him at the markets.
Alphonse was also mentor to Hunan for a while, and thus is also listed as a related entry on his character page. If challenged early on, he expresses dismay at the thought of the protags battling with Hunan, urging him to cease this violence, somewhat fond of him at least due to having trained him.
Unfortunately, while I did take screenshots of that whole interaction, for some reason they didn't save properly so all I have is the end of that conversation lmao.
There is not huge similarities between them really. Their skin tones are closer though, and they both have light-coloured hair, but there is not much else appearance-wise that clearly links them. Funnily enough though, they both have the same tear in their ear, which surely is not genetic, but it does seem a strange coincidence.
If not Alphonse though, then I have no idea who else could be Hunan's father. I suppose it could be some nameless nobody, but I feel like there has to be something more to this family situation.
Either way, I definitely have wayyyy more questions than that in general, but maybe I will make a future post to ramble some more. For now though, those were the ones that came to mind. This game has a large and interesting cast, and I do so adore rotating them in my mind. Again, I doubt anyone is gonna read this, but whatever, if I don't talk about my blorbos then I will explode, so I'm just gonna keep rambling to myself I guess.