Some Surtr (FGO) appreciation
1. I loove how detached Surtr is from the whole ‘humanity as a species’ concept.
Ophelia reacts like this is a cheeky comment, but he genuinely cannot tell human’s apart by their faces alone! It’s the whole reason he categorizes Mash as ‘Shield Girl’, he needs some other factors to differentiate them....Mash with her shield, Napoleon with his annoying-ass comments, Ophelia by her eye and their contract...And it makes perfect sense! He never met a human in his life before Ophelia (spent his time guarding Muspelheim with only the Sons of Muspel as its inhabitants, no-one ever visits or leaves, in no small part maybe bc of Surtr sitting guard) much less multiple ones, and only really ‘meets’ other people at Ragnarok when it’s killing time, but even then it’s only Jötnar and the Gods and at the most dead souls but he’s not really involved with fighting them (his one singled out opponent is Freyr, a god, before he starts flinging fire everywhere). Imagine spending your life as a human observing birds and deer and stuff and hunting them a bit, only to suddenly be dropped into the body of an ant and being asked to differentiate between other ants. The dialogue may feel a bit awkward, but you see it further in one of his other conversations with Ophelia:
(And while it’s implied in the logical conjecture, I feel other translations make it a bit more clear that he’s referring to Sigurd’s memories specifically here) Sure, the dialogue itself it probably meant to make a point about ‘oh, women + feelings stereotypes’ but given Surtr’s character as a whole it just comes across as someone who has no familiarity with humans as a species and human society making a really basic observation...Like: analyizing Ophelia’s expression + comparing it to others in the Sigurd database + matches found, categorized as ‘women’ = Ophelia categorized as ‘woman’ -> showing off his ‘I recognize that reference’ game. (Unrelated, but while my own Japanese skills are not up to the task, if you compare the official translation with some other fantranslations released before it, you can’t help but notice that there are some instances where it seemingly ramped up the whole ‘remember how Ophelia is a woman? Well, so do all the characters and will not talk about anything else’ a bit, yes, also in the case of Surtr)
Also it’s kind of adorable sometimes, okay? Especially when it makes him seem a bit gullible.
2. He’s really perceptive, not just a meathead! I’m sure that you’re probably at least in part supposed to put it down to the whole ‘higher existence so automatically knowing and perceiving more about the world’ trend but don’t care didn’t ask. Immediately recognizing not only Mash but also Holmes as something mixed, sneakily mindcontrolling/influencing Ophelia from the beginning (much as I may disagree with the narrative choice itself), noticing the boost from the Counter-Force to Napoleon, trying his best to parse out Ophelia’s emotional state and insecurities despite having the emotional finesse of a teaspoon...
3. He’s an equal opportunity hater.
Is he wrong? Given just how closely tied together Gods and Humanity are, and how often the conflict is about how the Gods are too controlling and humanity has outgrown them etc., it’s kind of refreshing to have a character that just goes ‘actually both of you suck’.
4. Supportive King!
‘Did you already know how awesome Ophelia’s mystic eye ist?’; [Ophelia panicking] ‘How is it possible for her to do that?!’ [Surtr immediately explaining how it’s possible for her to do that]
5. Apart from his endgoal (and the whole ‘actually he was influencing her from the start!’ bc that’s stupid) Surtr and Ophelia actually do have a fairly functional working relationship? Yes, Ophelia makes it a point remind him that it’s pure business and not to try and get too chummy (which is one of her primary issues in general, the whole mage-sona vs what she actually wants to do and be), and ‘maybe please don’t just opt for killing everyone?’, but aside from that, fairly often they are in accord? Ophelia tries so hard to act as the restraining influence but as soon as someone annoys her she’s immediately all in for murder, fuck what Skadi said actually:
I mean, this is basically Ophelia wink-wink-nudge-nudging Surtr ‘Hey, don’t kill them. Accidents can always happen, but make sure to at least not kill Mash.’ When Surtr does come to her with genuine complaints and questions about their task she does readily give an explanation; she is ready to acknowledge when she does have to loosen the reins a bit (ie releasing his limiters) and as much as the whole knight-tshtick may be a bit of play-acting for Surtr, he does take the act serious and reigns himself in whenever Ophelia reprimands him (and tries to make up for it, in his way, when he apparently messed up a bit).
6. His outdated mode of speech (sometimes a bit lost in translation :(...). Go old man, give us that ‘Alas’! Also just some of the stuff he says in general, big fan of when he does that.
While it does feel a bit more inconsistent in the official translation there’s still more than enough left to make the point, I feel. Anyway, very much reminded me of this post:
7. The violence of course. Both how he conceptualizes himself as a being of pure destruction (and isn’t even wrong about that, per se) and how in part flowing from that he’s just ready to start killing at the drop of a hat. Very iconic of him to just cut Holmes in half, bit of a flop that he ultimately wasn’t allowed to kill anyone though :( Give him his enrichment :( Tfw your love language is murder but your mage won’t let you kill...
