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From Cardboard to Diamonds
Oct. 21st, 2009 03:47 pm "You take characters who have been given free reign to be cardboard and mold them into diamonds through pressure and adversity and exposure to new paradigms. I don't think I could write Loyal-Servant-Kent-Devotional-
So says writerawakened over on the ffnet fora, where we've been debating the essence of the Cain'n'Abel FE archetype. While I don't plan anything as drastic as the "new paradigms" WA alluded to in that thread (like sending Sain to the dungeons for weeks), that's pretty much one point of the whole Unified Kingdom project. Part of what got me started on it, beyond a desire to see how a "positive" ending to FE3 might play out long-term, was the character ending for Cain in FE3. Cain, for those of you who don't know, becomes a trusted advisor to Marth after Jeigan kicks the bucket. The most trusted advisor, in fact. It's a natural progression of what is already shown in the game, given that Cain is the guy put in charge of Altea while Marth runs down on his ill-fated expedition to Grunia at the outset of Book II. It also posed a challenge to me as a writer and obsessed fan of the Archanea-verse.
See, the qualities essential to be a great knight aren't exactly the qualities needed in a great advisor. Some of them are diametrically opposed, in fact. A knight is expected to carry out his lord's orders-- even when those orders are sloppy, suicidal, or contrary to the knight's own conscience. A trustworthy advisor, on the other hand, has to be willing to speak his mind and his conscience, to tell the lord things he doesn't particularly want to hear, and to call his lord out when the occasion requires it. Sir Cain of the Temple Knights is going to need a new skill set in his new job as Cain, Steward of the Realm. Not necessarily a foreign skill set, as Cain would be developing these skills already in his leadership position among the Altean knights, but definitely Cain is going to have to broaden his horizons.
So, in the three Cain-centric 'fics of the Unified Kingdom series, that evolution is going to be captured. "Song for a Fallen Kingdom" features Cain as shown in the FEDS Prologue-- a young knight with a rigid sense of how the world ought to work who gets a terrible lesson on how the world really functions. "Another Piece of Blue" features Cain in transition, going through that paradigm shift and taking stock of what it means to be a loyal servant in post-war Archanea. "Interregnum" will feature the final phase of that evolution, wherein Cain leaves behind the old conceits of knighthood and becomes fully the advisor. Cain's foil through this progression is Catria, who inhabits the role of Loyal-and-Devoted-Knight that Cain is leaving behind. Catria has her own paradigm shift in "Interregnum" as she tangles with her new sovereign, the young crown prince of the Unified Kingdom.
I don't know that the end results are "diamonds," exactly, but this sure is fun.
So says writerawakened over on the ffnet fora, where we've been debating the essence of the Cain'n'Abel FE archetype. While I don't plan anything as drastic as the "new paradigms" WA alluded to in that thread (like sending Sain to the dungeons for weeks), that's pretty much one point of the whole Unified Kingdom project. Part of what got me started on it, beyond a desire to see how a "positive" ending to FE3 might play out long-term, was the character ending for Cain in FE3. Cain, for those of you who don't know, becomes a trusted advisor to Marth after Jeigan kicks the bucket. The most trusted advisor, in fact. It's a natural progression of what is already shown in the game, given that Cain is the guy put in charge of Altea while Marth runs down on his ill-fated expedition to Grunia at the outset of Book II. It also posed a challenge to me as a writer and obsessed fan of the Archanea-verse.
See, the qualities essential to be a great knight aren't exactly the qualities needed in a great advisor. Some of them are diametrically opposed, in fact. A knight is expected to carry out his lord's orders-- even when those orders are sloppy, suicidal, or contrary to the knight's own conscience. A trustworthy advisor, on the other hand, has to be willing to speak his mind and his conscience, to tell the lord things he doesn't particularly want to hear, and to call his lord out when the occasion requires it. Sir Cain of the Temple Knights is going to need a new skill set in his new job as Cain, Steward of the Realm. Not necessarily a foreign skill set, as Cain would be developing these skills already in his leadership position among the Altean knights, but definitely Cain is going to have to broaden his horizons.
So, in the three Cain-centric 'fics of the Unified Kingdom series, that evolution is going to be captured. "Song for a Fallen Kingdom" features Cain as shown in the FEDS Prologue-- a young knight with a rigid sense of how the world ought to work who gets a terrible lesson on how the world really functions. "Another Piece of Blue" features Cain in transition, going through that paradigm shift and taking stock of what it means to be a loyal servant in post-war Archanea. "Interregnum" will feature the final phase of that evolution, wherein Cain leaves behind the old conceits of knighthood and becomes fully the advisor. Cain's foil through this progression is Catria, who inhabits the role of Loyal-and-Devoted-Knight that Cain is leaving behind. Catria has her own paradigm shift in "Interregnum" as she tangles with her new sovereign, the young crown prince of the Unified Kingdom.
I don't know that the end results are "diamonds," exactly, but this sure is fun.
