The devs: Wow! we had no idea Simon would be so popular!
Also the devs: Simon design notes. Is the protagonist' best friend. He is handsome. They get along great! Also, he is handsome. He has a relaxing presence! Handsome. He is well liked by everyone. Very important: handsome.
They act coy, but those fuckers knew exactly what they were doing when they made the sandwich.
I love pre-relationship simtaea. Spy has to grapple with the fact he’s very much in love with someone he’s spying on and she’s autistic and oblivious as FUCK to people and spends more time alone or with monsters than she does humans. She is also in love with him and doesn’t know it yet.
Okay so something came up in conversation yesterday re Simon's goal at the Sacrosanctum when he and the heir meet again and I SWORE I wrote about it but then could not find it anywhere. I thought I had straight up hallucinated it UNTIL I found it in a reblog of one of @/bouncingkadachi's posts (where I went SO off topic I am so sorry girl)
SO I would like to give it to the wider world in case anyone else has been wondering something similar. Game spoilers below the cut 👇👇👇and be warned this one is LONGGGG and wordy
So we know Vermeil like, CLEARLY dgaf about what they promised Simon in regards to leaving the heir alive, and Simon is now actively and openly working as their agent. Clarissa doesn't seem worried about keeping control of him, and I assume this is because they are relying on their possession of Ratha V and the theory that Simon's love for Ratha V would keep him in line if he didn't want to see his Rathalos hurt. BUT, I do not think this would actually fully work, because it's Simon himself that attacks Clarissa and Ratha V in the first place to stop her from hurting the heir. Yes he was very clearly aiming for Clarissa, but he did risk Ratha V in the process. And I'm sure he wasn't aiming to kill either since he tried to talk Clarissa down, but the point is that he risked harming Ratha V further in exchange for the heir's safety.
They are also relying on the fact that Simon is siding fully with them because they are the ones with the power to stop Aenshin and they have been developing this power for the last 10 years, so even if Simon did switch allegiances and spill everything to Azuria, they don't have time to wait 10 more years. Vermeil would march and stomp them with battlebound monsties anyway. This would stop him from simply deserting when turned out to carry out Vermeil's plans.
So WHEN did their promise to Simon stop mattering? I think it would be safe to assume that Simon made his request before he ever set foot in Azuria– presumably because all he knew of the heir was that they were Amara's child, and therefore potentially the only thing left of her. Agreeing to his terms would keep Simon happy and on the path they wanted him on, but I think behind his back the plan was always to kill the heir. It would be much easier to kill the kid and take their Rathalos by force rather than relying on the fact that Simon will definitely be able to convince them to join forces with him, considering that at this point Vermeil cannot afford to lose. And with battlebinding, they wouldn't have to worry about the bond between rider and monstie breaking since they could just force another one on Ratha. Obviously Simon would not see this coming because he was just a child and probably believed in things like promises.
If the plan was always to kill the heir, why wait until they were fully grown and more dangerous? Why let Simon actually get to know this person and grow attached when it would be easier to have him lure them out and just. Kill the kid? They only waited because they had to. They needed the time to progress their battlebinding skills and knowledge because sending a kingdom with dwindling resources and a lack of power behind it to war with a kingdom with abundant resources and a healthy militia would be suicide, and killing the heir to said kingdom would be an undeniable declaration of war.
Why not kill them and make it look like Simon did it when they care more for what he can offer them rather than him as a person, and he's already given them his most useful knowledge? Yeah because anyone's gonna believe this scrawny little orphan boy was capable of not only killing the crown heir but also seizing their Rathalos unaided. That and there were probably always guards nearby, not to mention Rudy, so it would have been literally impossible to pull off a stunt like that.
When Fiero comes to Azuria to propose an alliance and a journey to the Sacrosanctum, he says that Vermeil had "planned for this outcome" upon being denied. Obviously the plan was to go to war versus Azuria, with the goals being to gain access to the Meridian gate, AND killing the heir to seize Ratha. Fiero agreeing to speak amicably with Arken was Vermeil extending Azuria a last chance to do things peacefully. And now that the heir and the rangers have made it across the Meridian, they keep sending assassin after assassin despite multiple failed attempts because they're getting more and more desperate. Like I said before, for Vermeil to survive, they cannot afford to fail, which means they cannot afford to rely on bonds or promises. So I don't think the goal was ever to just control the heir, but to guarantee they secured what they needed by force. Simon is a much easier tool for them to control and therefore keep alive due to his naivety and him having no allegiance to either kingdom, but Clarissa was still willing to kill him if he got in her way because they already have Ratha V and she's already perfectly capable of being his rider. It's just easier to keep him alive due to what he already knows, and due to the fact his goals align with Vermeil's.
So then what WAS Simon doing at the Sacrosanctum? Was he supposed to assassinate the heir? His orders are almost 100% just to retrieve the Rathalos (Ratha) by any means necessary, and he likely refused to kill the heir, believing they would listen to him and join him (sentiments to which he was likely told "Whatever boy just don't fuck this up"). He's been given his Ratha V to accomplish this task with Vermeil fully aware that Ratha V is unstable and can't fully obey a rider and therefore may kill the Azurian heir– but, as addressed, this is of no major concern to them because it was always in their plans. However, also as discussed, Simon still has no desire to see the heir die. When he offers his hand to them is his way of trying to protect them because he knows if he cannot convince them to come with him willingly, Vermeil will spare nothing to get their hands on Ratha. This is why he reacts so strongly when he's told no– not just because he's being told no and not because he disagrees with the heir's sentiments (as seen in the line "It's not that I crave that power, it's what we need!") but because the heir is (unknowingly) rejecting his protection of them when he's been fighting so hard to protect them this whole time and he's frustrated because he doesn't understand why. It's also why he engages them in a "fight": if he can subdue them with strength, they'll have no choice but to go with him or die and surely they wouldn't choose to die, and so when Ratha V does almost kill them, he panics– lethal force was not part of his plan and mortal injury was not his desired outcome.
In his mind, if they agreed to join him, Vermeil wouldn't pursue them anymore. Aenshin would die, and everything would be okay– but this wouldn't be the case, because the one person who would be completely miserable the whole time is the person he cares about the most, and the person he swore to protect. He would be the one to do the most harm to them, and in his own desperation to protect them and his village and the Azuria he has come to call home, he doesn't even fully recognise this.
He has taken so much on his shoulders, and feels utterly alone when the one person he was sure would understand him rejects him instead. This is where he begins to falter in his convictions, just slightly.
Can you tell I am normal about Simon Monsterhunterstories3 and his monster hunter story and his relationship with Gender Neutral John Monster
