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Everything That's Wrong With Chapter 3 (G9-12)
.. and how it could be better!
Major spoilers ahead for the entirety of Chapter 3. That would be G9 - Alchemist, G10 - Goddess of Light, G11 - Sword of the Gods, and G12 - Return of the Hero.
I've always felt irked by the writing in Chapter 3, but while I was playing it as a child, I couldn't articulate exactly why. After returning to Mabinogi having consumed plenty of other media within the last 10 years, and replaying these Generations, I've finally been able to collect my thoughts and put together my opinion of why I feel Chapter 3 is full of questionable writing choices and quite possibly the worst chapter of them all(debatable), and why it has aged incredibly poorly in our modern times.
Now and then on other social media, I'll see people mentioning that they didn't care for this chapter as well, so perhaps I am not alone in this! I would love to hear your thoughts and if you agree or disagree with some of the points I will bring up here.
I'll put the TL;DR up front here:
1. The Same Things Keep Happening (and thus it feels like no real progress or character development occurs)
2. The Cast of Characters Fell Flat
3. An Obvious Lack of Planning Shows in MacGuffins, Retcons, and Plotholes
4. The Female Characters Are Treated In An Incredibly Misogynistic Manner
(Bonus) 5. The Gameplay and Character Skills Are Now Extremely Outdated
I think to best convey all the thoughts I have, I'm going to go down the cast of characters and their involvement in each Generation, then go over some general points, and finally, end with how I think things could have been done better. This thread is written out of both love and hatred and while I am admittedly screaming to the void about it, I ultimately write this with the wish that it were better.
To quote a boss from the game Chrono Cross, "I love you so much... That is why I sometimes desire to smash you to bits!!!"
(Chrono Cross also had terrible writing btw.)
Comments
In G9, it's stated that Cai only picked up Alchemy after his beloved fiancee, Lena, passed away. However, in all of the clips that we see of Lena alive, Cai looks exactly the same as we see him now; and he's only 18 years old as shown in his RP missions, thus making the implication that Lena passed away fairly recently from the start of this Generation(either that or Cai was always a burly bearded man even as a teenager. Lol.)
(For all we know, Cai is 15 in this image. /s)
In the story, Cai is stated to be one of the best Alchemists in Uladh, meaning that he accomplished this within the last in-story year or possibly less. And yes, I get Tuatha de Danann means slower aging, and thus, potentially, a lot more can happen in a year for them; it's still a bit of a stretch, especially given some points I will give about other characters.
We are shown that Cai, together with Leymore, were sent on a top-secret Shadow Mission directly from the King in which they are said by Elatha to be "searching for the Caliburn" - it is never mentioned exactly what "Caliburn" is at this point.
After a lot of hullabaloo throughout G9, Leymore sacrifices himself at the end to stop Claimh Solas' explosion, to which Cai responds by transmuting his soul in exchange for Leymore's.
In G10, it is stated that Cai only could do this because he, and I quote Elatha again, "always had the Caliburn in his possession". (?????)
It's finally mentioned what the "Caliburn" is, somewhat, yet still vaguely: in a grand total of three lines, the Caliburn is stated to be some stolen object and the source of Alchemy's power, as well as "the foundation of Tara". But, nothing more as to exactly what its properties or origin are other than being able to control someone and causing possessed Cai to run around on a rampage.
In G11, the writers finally attempt to flesh out what Caliburn is and what it all entails, which mostly comes out as a "vague object that has done a whole lot of different things and can do a whole lot of different things and takes many forms"(very MacGuffin. I have a full list of its properties below.)
And, Cai claims he needs to "return the Caliburn to its altar in Shadow Rath Castle", and multiple other characters confirm that was its initial location.
Keeping in mind that Shadow Realm Tara did not exist in G9 due to game development reasons, and that the in-story reason for Tara's Shadow Realm expanding was due to the revival of Claimh Solas at the end of G9, this means that Cai somehow obtained the MacGuffin from Shadow Realm Tara before it ever existed. (Is Cai a Time Lord.. ?)
In what appears to be an apparent return to Status Quo, despite all of the trouble possessed Cai has caused and all of the trouble Leymore went through during G10 to try to save him, the first thing we see of Cai in G11 is... Cai asks for Leymore's help returning the Caliburn.
Okay, he quit being a Royal Alchemist too, but you would think he'd be at least a little hesitant to rely on his friend after everything. Not even gonna attempt to like, be a better friend, in the name of atonement? (One could argue that his reverse-Uno sacrifice in G9's finale is meant to be his growth/atonement, but.. didn't he put everyone there in the first place? And then also technically made things worse by doing so.. ?)
His motivation to revive Lena is so insignificant at this point that it is just about forgotten, and it is unclear if that is something he is still pursuing (some dialogue towards the end of G9 seems to suggest he has moved on. Maybe.)
Additionally, Cai doesn't seem to suffer any consequences from his actions, regarding being possessed by the Caliburn and "returning to normal" scotch-free, nor any negative impact of his supposed betrayal of his best friend or of working with the Fomors.
Sinead also essentially begs the Milletian to try to get Cai's help/re-recruit him for the Royal Alchemists despite Cai's rampant rule-breaking or the fact that his possessed body murdered a bunch of the Tara Guard. (You'd think the remaining Tara Guard would be somewhat traumatized by having him around?)
Despite feeling like there's a massive unspoken elephant in the room, he sort of fades into being a part of the "Those Two Guys" trope along with Leymore in some very unfun Shadow Missions (thank god they are changed by now), which may have permanently damaged the fandom's view of both of these characters due to how horrendously designed those were from a gameplay perspective. That aspect of the game should have been changed/removed much, much sooner than it did as it reached some pretty memetic levels of awful!
(If you can't hear this image, consider yourself fortunate.)
After Cai successfully returns the MacGuffin to its supposedly rightful place, his involvement in the story seems to sharply drop despite being a focal character of G9 & 10. He claims to feel guilty for causing the events of the story thus far and despite quitting as a Royal Alchemist he remains involved in what are considered top-secret Shadow Missions as if he still is a Royal Alchemist(and then we finally re-recruit him.)
Cai further fades into the background of G12, as his only real scene is when we see the All-Out Battle Mission between the Aliech Regime and Corrupted Alchemists. He breaks up the tension between Leymore and Lennox, and then he is quite literally seen standing in the background as Lennox dies.
(Not even gonna like... check on your bestie there?)
And just like that, we receive no further explanation on how or why Cai obtained the Caliburn or "had it in his possession" the entire time. My man really showed up, had the MacGuffin, and refused to elaborate.
I believe that both Jenna and Leymore's characters suffered from their relationship with each other. Jenna bore the brunt of this, which I have a lot to say about next, but Leymore's character also suffered in that he is an incredibly uninteresting and dull character who has no major motivations, goals, flaws, or personal conflict until G12.
Outside of the previously-mentioned RP mission with Cai, our next appearance with Leymore in G9 is finding him surrounded by and working with Fomors. The first thing that we hear from him is that "it wasn't our intention to side with the Fomors. It was an inevitable decision we had to make when Jenna's safety was in jeopardy."
This line is somewhat vague, but given earlier events when we first meet Jenna, we can assume that the Fomors had either captured/attacked or threatened to capture/attack her and were using this to blackmail Leymore into working with them, and not that he got outright kidnapped or anything(he's a man! that would be impossible!). This is already very telling of how the rest of his characterization goes.
Throughout every Generation save for G12, Leymore doesn't have many motivations of his own outside of "be a good friend", "be a good person" and "be a perfect boyfriend". His actions revolve entirely around the actions of Cai and Jenna. In G9, he is running around the Shadow Realm claiming to do things to protect Jenna, or searching for Cai who has run off on his own. He forgives Cai at the drop of a hat for whatever vague betrayal Cai did of their friendship (selling out Leymore's research or something?) and then sacrifices himself at the end.
This is the beginning of a pattern and one of my core gripes regarding "the same things keep happening".
In G10, Leymore is again running around the Shadow Realm searching for answers regarding how Cai was able to do what he did, and if there is anything he can do to save him. In the pre-boss scene of G10, we the Milletian meet up with Leymore at Shadow Corrib Valley, and the scene plays out as follows:
We run up to the Goddess who is chanting some spell, and Leymore's friend is floating in the air.
Leymore begs Neamhain not to do what she is doing. She refuses and insults Leymore in some way.
Leymore jumps forward valiantly(?) and gets wrecked in all of 5 seconds.
In G11, we see a near carbon copy of that exact same scene except with Jenna taking Cai's place. (
his girlfriend instead of his boyfriend I guess)(here we go, I fixed the G11 credit art!)
Meaning that Leymore has yeeted himself in front of danger now 3 of the 4 Generations. We get it, he has an altruistic nature, but dang, boy. Find yourself some self-worth.
Leymore's other involvement in G11, outside of the poorly designed Shadow Missions with Cai, is similar to his role in G10, where he is running around chasing after Jenna after she has made the terrible discovery that the Tragedy of Emain Macha was caused by Alchemists, and not by Fomors.
But wait. One of the earliest scenes in G11 is of Leymore receiving what is essentially a break-up letter from Jenna, which details that dark twist.
And, this scene is played for relationship drama. Leymore is upset that Jenna has left him, Collen is upset that Jenna has left Leymore, and no one is asking??? about the apparent genocide on Druids carried out by Alchemists??
(another question this reveal begs; did everyone already know this or did Jenna just find out for everyone? It's pretty dark either way.)
Finally, Leymore gets a little bit of spice in G12, when his father Lennox is introduced. In a much-needed pinch of personal conflict, we learn that Leymore has disowned his father- not the other way around- due to Lennox's involvement in the Tragedy of Emain Macha and his overall use of Alchemy. However, this revelation still falls somewhat flat due to how seemingly unplanned Lennox's character was, and it could be argued that this action was still done for Jenna's sake, only really serving to make him look like even more of a good boi upstanding citizen.
Leymore wasn't allowed to have too much spice added to his character, however, as his father dies midway through G12 right in front of him in a violent and fiery explosion, and, immediately following this scene.... nothing. No word from Leymore. No extra side quest. Nothing. The only single mention of Lennox's death goes to Dorren, and Berched who feels sympathetic for Dorren due to Lennox being her friend and fellow Vate. (Wait, what about his own son's feelings???? You good bro??)
(This screenshot right here is the one single line we ever see from Leymore acknowledging his father's demise. Pretty sure that arm behind the portrait art is awkward background Cai, btw.)
My personal theory here is that either
a. Lennox's entire character and death were so unplanned that the writers of the time didn't even consider the consequences of such a scene, or
b. Giving Leymore grief and conflicted feelings over his disowned father dying right in front of him violently would interfere too much with his ~*perfect boyfriend*~ appearance.
Or both.
Leymore is such an uninteresting character that even when he made a cameo in Storybook Tir Chonaill, barely any other characters even spoke about him, despite them having plenty to say about Cai or Jenna. Jenna(obviously) had the most lines about him, but there still weren't many, and Cai, his supposed bestie for life, had all of two words.
These traits of his have the potential to be interesting, if played with or deconstructed, but as it currently sits, he's extremely forgettable.
(meme not mine)
To kick things off, Jenna is stated/shown to be an "elite Temple Knight" who is trained with both swords and a bow. Her Transformation Journal Entry quite literally describes her as this, as well as "Being able to control her emotions perfectly". Let's keep this in mind as we analyze her character.
Throughout the Generations, Jenna has to be rescued at least once a chapter with the only exception being G10 where she wasn't present at all except in a side quest.
In G9, our first meeting with Jenna is finding her unconscious among a group of dead soldiers. This is supposedly the mission that "injures" her for the rest of G9, causing a chain effect of needing to be rescued or having her safety threatened over and over.
Next, we the Milletian need to break her out of Temple Knight Jail for her betrayal of them. She even thanks the player for "saving her twice now". (that's just twice of many more to come.)
We learn later that she was sent to assassinate Leymore, but because of a flashback of when he comforted her after her parents died, she decides against this, saves his life instead, and ultimately leaves the Temple Knights.
Nothing inherently wrong with that by itself.
(though the scene they used to convey this is a little silly - Leymore apparently spaced out so much he couldn't hear a Crag Cow running at him? Isn't that like 500 pounds of mooing rock? How is that man's spine not broken?)
Sprinkled throughout G9, Jenna's safety is constantly threatened or brought up. As noted earlier with Leymore, he only worked with the Fomors because "Jenna's safety was in jeopardy". Collen panics because she goes back into the Shadow Realm "while injured". When the Milletian meets back up with her, a Shadow Lancer threatens to stab her and is only stopped when shot by Granat. (a male side character who has nothing to do with her)
In one scene that I really don't care for, Jenna tries to convince Leymore not to go back into the Shadow Realm to look for Cai and fails to do so, with him promising to return to her. This is a very stereotypical scene of "The Man Must Do Something Important and Tells His Woman to Wait For Him Somewhere Safe" which, to me, is outdated and not a great look considering Jenna is supposed to be a trained knight, who the writers have handwaved her abilities constantly because of her being inexplicably injured for the entirety of G9.
I believe this is a result of the times. These chapters were written in the late 2000s/early 2010s, during which Faux Action Girls emerged in various media, especially in the "shonen" genre. The idea of an Action Girl was played with, tentatively, in a lot of mainstream media, but a very common trope was to limit their power in some way so they weren't too strong, or at least, not stronger than any of the male characters.(because that would be emasculating for some male viewers?!)
Either that or showing that they still needed to be rescued once or twice (or more). Many examples of this can be found in the female characters of Naruto, Bleach, and Kingdom Hearts.
So, throughout G9 alone, Jenna is rescued thrice, has her safety threatened at least once more, and has given up her current life path for "love", even though the only scene we see of Jenna and Leymore's "love" for each other is that one single scene where he is kind to her as children. She has also stayed injured the entire time (note the male characters are not constantly injured despite Leymore getting rammed by a Crag Cow and Cai getting backhanded by Claimh Solas), and is urged to stay home by her male love interest Perfect Boyfriend. Ugh.
In G10, Jenna is simply not present at all whatsoever, except for in the Memory Crystal side quest where she learns that Alchemists were behind the Tragedy of Emain Macha all along.
She can't be rescued if she's not here!
Jenna has a much larger role in G11, where she finally gets some fighting action and accomplishes something, but it's still rife with unfortunate implications.
To start, we learn that Jenna has renounced her relationship with Leymore after learning the truth about Emain Macha's tragedy. As stated earlier... no one but Jenna questions the literal genocide. Good for you, girl.
Jenna seeks out Helvetius who gave her the Memory Crystal in the first place, and we are treated to a scene where Helvetius claims he was "just trying to separate her from Leymore" to kill her. Complete with a Muahahahaha and everything. (is the muahaha necessary? really?)
The implication here is that Leymore is such a stronk boyfriend that Helvetius couldn't have possibly killed them both and that Jenna is vulnerable without her man around to protect her. Even though, if we recall, Jenna is supposed to be the eLiTE KniGht and Leymore is the squishy Alchemist who has gotten himself wrecked 3-4 times throughout the story(one could argue Leymore is even more ineffectual than Jenna but the narrative itself doesn't treat them this way.)
Now our rescue counter begins again, and Jenna is ultimately rescued by Neamhain who takes her under her wing for her plans with Tir na Nog. (Btw, this mission was titled "Jenna's revenge". Is the revenge in the room with us, Jenna?)
Our convenient MacGuffin, the Caliburn, is one of the pieces needed to call forth the Brionac, which Jenna comes into possession of. In a line that I consider almost comical, Cichol appears and tells Jenna to "drop the Brionac". Just imagine this voice in a transatlantic accent, like something out of a 1940s movie.
("Put down the Brionac, Jenna. See, a woman shouldn't be holding a sharp implement, see!")
Accompanied by a pretty hardcore one-liner ("All I know is that a God will soon die, right before my eyes"? Alright, that's a good one.), Jenna kills Cichol for standing in her way. This scene, which is a great character moment by itself, comes off as cheap later, due to Jenna needing to be rescued again immediately after this or Cichol coming back just fine at the end of G12.
Immediately following this scene, we get the Carbon Copy Corrib Valley Scene where Leymore stands up against the Goddess to "rescue" Jenna.(why did Jenna even need to be rescued? When or where was it decided that she had to be sacrificed for Tir na Nog's purification? Why is she floating in the air?)
Despite just killing a God, Jenna sees a fallen Leymore and.. decides to give up her current path for "love". Again. (see: scenes that keep happening.)
She gives the Brionac to the Milletian and assists for the rest of G11's story.
Note that, at the end of this scene where Jenna turns against Neamhain, Neamhain tells Jenna "she will regret her decision". Ominous? (no)
Like, okay. I get what the underlying message is supposed to be. A wholesome "love conquers all", "humanity wins", or Jenna realizing "not all Alchemists are bad" (
"not all men" lol) but, the way this is presented is just. Messy. Stereotypical. I still don't even know how we got here.Post G11, there is a side quest where we learn that Jenna has taken up blacksmithing, is now donning an incredibly skimpy crop top and booty shorts, and she and Leymore are preparing to go to the Tara ball together. Note that Jenna is the only character in the cast of Chapter 3 who gets 3 different outfits.
The entirety of this quest chain is spent fancying up Jenna in a Cinderella-like manner, and note that Leymore is not given a fancy outfit or anything in turn.
The Ball itself plays out with some shallow humor; Jenna is hit on by Keith, who also insults Leymore, and she responds by punching him. Because, haha, anime women being violent is funny! Also: what happened to being in perfect control of her emotions?
Outside of the writing itself, and back to the topic of Jenna being dressed up in three different outfits, note that the developers of the time gave her an entirely separate portrait art to go with her pink dress for a 15-20 second scene with all of 2-3 lines of dialogue. She also received a full body portrait for her concept art, which as far as I know is unique among the cast of C3 characters. Can you say "developer's favorite"?
G12 is where things continue to degrade in terms of her character. Within the G11 sidequest, Jenna has told us she has "traded her weapons for a hammer"- and the implication that Jenna is fighting less in favor of blacksmithing carries into this Gen. Even though she still has a couple of scenes of fighting, she inexplicably stays in her skimpy blacksmithing outfit throughout the entire Generation.
Recalling Neamhain's ominous "You will regret this" at the end of G11, if you view the original trailer for G12, you will see an unreleased scene where we see Jenna sitting over an unconscious(dead?) Leymore in Tara Rath Castle, which is a scene that doesn't actually happen.(note: she's still wearing her armor in it, too!)
(Don't worry, he's fine.)
My theory here- and it is just a theory as I do not claim to know writer or insider knowledge- is that the writers of the time were planning on killing off Leymore for real as Jenna's "regret" for dissing the Goddess, but ultimately decided against this, and instead introduced Lennox as a proxy Leymore to die for Jenna instead. (gross)
In the "All-Out Battle" Shadow Mission, Jenna is not armored and even states that she is rusty/"feeling off" with her blades if you speak with her before starting the mission. As a result, when the Oven Explosion is set off by Helvetius, Jenna is the only character who is knocked down next to an oven that is about to blow, and Lennox sacrifices himself to save her.
There was no good reason for this scene.
Why was Jenna not in her armor?
Why did she choose to go into the Shadow Realm despite not practicing fighting for however long?
Why is she the only one who needs rescuing in the moment? Is it because she was the only non-Milletian female character around?
Did the writers really set her up just to fail?
If this was meant as atonement for Lennox's character for his involvement in the Tragedy, or meant to show that altruistic nature runs in the family, why couldn't they have portrayed this in literally any other way than threatening Jenna for THE SEVENTH TIME?? UGGGH.
And the disrespect didn't end after G12. Jenna's appearance in Storybook Tir Chonaill had nearly every other character remarking how horrible she is at Blacksmithing, essentially turning her into comic relief.
(because "haha, anime woman bad at something." Remembering that Cai was an instant expert in Alchemy at the start of G9.)
If you speak to her with certain keywords regarding fighting/training, she'll mention something along the lines of not doing that anymore, implying she has given up fighting entirely.
I suppose the Storybook Tir Chonaill lines should be taken with a grain of salt since it is a strange fantasy fanfiction world created by Caravan Joe, but I do believe there are hints of truth within it. At the very least, the writers wrote these pieces of dialogue with the characters' personalities and interests in mind.
(The first box is from asking about "Skills". Sigh. Come back, Cichol-slayer..)
Jenna's character is ultimately reduced to being the love interest, who needs to be protected and rescued seven times throughout three Generations, gives up two different paths for a man, gives up fighting, becomes fanservice, and is comic relief for being violent/bad at a craft she is new at. The way the male characters treat and talk about her is demeaning and infantilizing.
Her only saving grace scenes were her rescuing Leymore from the Crag Cow and killing Cichol, otherwise, the rest of her capabilities are completely informed.
My girl Jenna received no respect whatsoever, and the handling of her character is, for me personally, the worst part of replaying Chapter 3.
Next, we are moving onto Neamhain, our Ineffectual Goddess.
Neamhain was originally hyped up during G10 to be both the Goddess of Light and the Great Irinid who created the Elves and Giants. A large chunk of G10 is spent uncovering her prophecy, which details great destruction soon to befall elf, giant, and human life. Ominous? (no)
Neamhain, despite being and having the powers of a Goddess, doesn't succeed in accomplishing much of anything during her time in the story, despite all the hype of her appearance. (deflated balloon noise)
She keeps speaking vaguely of the "purification of Tir na Nog's shadow" and tries to use both possessed Cai and Jenna (the Caliburn and Brionac) to accomplish this, then is stopped by us (Leymore didn't help) each time.
We learn that she is Elatha's mother, having had a child with Morgant/Lugh at some point in time(??? Unclear if Morgant is his father or just a prominent figure in Elatha's past), yet stands by and does nothing except yell "Noooo!" as Elatha chooses to sacrifice himself. (Why not.. fight Cichol.. ?)
After Jenna is "rescued" from Neamhain in G11, Neamhain sort of weirdly disappears into the background as if giving up on her goals, even though we never actually defeated her in battle or anything. All we did was take the Brionac from her, which I suppose is enough to have her slink away into the shadows, but not before giving Jenna the empty omen of "You will regret this decision." (Maybe Jenna being reduced to comic relief is the real punishment?)
In a somewhat ridiculous scene, in G12, we the Milletian summon Neamhain to try to work together with her for some reason. Shortly after we summon her, she winds up being unceremoniously killed by Nuadha, a stronger male deity. (see: female characters treated like garbage.) Paying no mind to the fact that Neamhain was previously very antagonistic toward us, the Milletian jumps to her defense and tells Nuadha he is "being cruel" for attacking her.
Perhaps we feel empathy for her losing her son or something, but in the vein of the storytelling thus far, it comes off more like, "Oh no, goddess woman in trouble! Must rescue despite her trying to kill everyone close to Leymore over the past two generations!"
Morrighan, at the end of G12, tells the Milletian that we can restore Neamhain's "light" (again: why do we want to?), and then that never actually comes to fruition as we sort of forget about her existence.
(You know what? Maybe I don't want to revive you, Neamhain. You can think about what you've done.)
So, the entirety of Neamhain's character: she gets hyped up as this ominous Goddess & Great Irinid & Prophecy holder, none of her prophecies come true, her plans get thwarted twice, and then she gets killed by a man-god after we summoned her, and then we forget to revive her. Womp-womp.
To bring up character portraits again: he is weirdly huge, broad-shouldered, bearded, and has massive hands. I feel like, maybe, he was meant to appeal to female players.. ? Or what the writers/artists of the time thought female players might like?
His role is to shed some insight on Jenna's background, panic about Jenna, and then ship her and Leymore together as much as possible. Weird.
It should also be noted that Collen described Cai and Lena as being "a great couple" as well.
These comments from Collen are a great example of telling and not showing.
Rather than building these relationships up organically through the use of flashbacks or character interactions (see: Leymore and Jenna have exactly one childhood flashback as the foundation of their "love" for each other), I feel as though I, the reader, am being told how to feel about the characters' relationships through Collen.
As Collen is an NPC that you can speak to regularly, in one of his "Personal Story" lines, he talks about how he has given up relationships as a man of the cloth and "sometimes feels sentimental towards the opposite gender." Weird..
(You could not have said that any weirder my dude.)
In a positive light, we can view this as him wanting Jenna to live a full life and not sacrifice for the life of an ascetic anymore as he did.
In a weird light, it comes across like a parent wanting to live vicariously through their child.
To add another layer of inconsistency to this, the church is supposedly against the Aliech Regime and Alchemists, and Collen even outright calls them "the opposing party" as one of his first lines in G9. He's also an ex-Temple Knight, the group that sent Jenna to assassinate Leymore (due to being an Aliech Alchemist). You would think he'd be against their relationship, but alas.
Collen's entire character, right down to his portrait art, rubs me entirely the wrong way, and his role in the story feels largely useless, like you could remove him from it almost entirely and it wouldn't affect much.
I don't have too much to say about Elatha,
since he died before his character could be ruined, but his existence and role in the story still beg several questions.What we know of Elatha's story is that he is the child of Neamhain and maybe(????) Morgant/Lugh, was shunned by other Incubi, rescued Andras when she was a child, killed another Incubus who was supposedly dear to him(informed friendship as we only ever see them fighting each other), spent some time wandering Erinn and then entered the Shadow Realm to spend more time wandering.
(If that's not your baby then you better put it back right now, Morgant)
There are just a few gripes I have with him:
How does Goddess of Light + Human = Incubus-looking demigod???
In G10, Andras describes Elatha as the resident expert of all there is to know about the Shadow Realm. How does he know all of the expositionary information that he gives us throughout these Generations?
He's known as a "Shadow Walker"- but how did he get this title? In G10, he states that Shadow Walkers are "cursed to spend an eternity in suffering, a pain greater than death" and also says this is a "penalty for using the Caliburn with alchemy."
He says this regarding possessed Cai, but why is Elatha also a Shadow Walker?
We see he is slowly driven mad by some inner darkness- what is this from? He's not a "Fomor" if he's made from a Goddess of Light and a Human, right?
Just like Elatha's cryptic means of speaking throughout his short time in Chapter 3, we may never know the answers to these questions.
(This image represents how I feel about the Chapter 3 writing!)
Lena seems like she walked out of a 1980s-90s Marvel Comic; a female character who is killed off solely to motivate a major male character/set them on a dark path.
My girl Lena also received no respect and exists only in 4 pieces of art (5 if you count the one of her tombstone? lol) and one single line of dialogue.
In a similar vein to Leymore and Jenna, her supposed relationship with Cai doesn't carry any depth since we're never shown anything other than him going through Fiodh dungeon to get flowers for her(I mean that IS romantic but we could use a little more than that??)
She is also essentially forgotten about post-G9(admittedly I also forgot about her lol), with no further mention of her. Not even in Storybook Tir Chonaill does Cai, of all people, talk about her at all.
Lena who?
(to be fair, I didn't have the "Grave with Violets on Top" keyword at the time, so I don't know if he would have reacted to that or not.)
I already touched on Lennox's character a little in Jenna's and Leymore's entries. Still, he strongly appears to be a character who was introduced for drama and died for drama in the span of a single Generation. Not that he's the first or last character to be so in all of Mabinogi's Generations, but he's one of the most forgettable imo.
Making him Older Leymore 1.0 who dies for Jenna felt ridiculous, especially considering Lennox seemed to have a much more callous and pragmatic view of the world than his son, just to be like "Oh but wait! He's really just as self-sacrificing as his son after all! Enough to be a convenient stand-in for dying!"
There is no prior mention of Lennox in any previous Generation, and even one of the credit cards of G9 shows a young Leymore studying in Dorren's lab. It is very obvious he was shoehorned in just for G12.
Lennox is one of the four Vates, along with Helvetius, Dorren, and Driana, making this death a huge waste of potential without any knowledge of his background outside of the homunculus experiment & his involvement in Emain Macha, and especially so with the more recent plot that touches on Noitar Arat and the appearance of Morfydrianas.
Helvetius, another Vate who dies in the same scene, is also a waste of potential as well as being an ascended extra.
Throughout Chapter 3, we are treated to several different named Shadow/Corrupt Alchemist characters such as Tiamat, Amos, and Helvetius. Helvetius just happened to ascend to main characterhood after his first appearance in G10 (giving Jenna the memory crystal), another clear example of unplanned character creation for the story. He is swiftly given the role of "Leader of the Arat Alchemist Society", an Alchemy cult that receives no mention pre-G11.
(A pretty hefty title for someone so unplanned!)
Helvetius comes off a bit like a Scooby Doo villain, laughing evilly as he attempts to kill Jenna in G11. He is supposedly killed by Neamhain in this scene.
During G12, they clearly needed a non-Nuadha secondary villain, so he came back with "severe injuries". (not as badly as Jenna in G9, apparently!) It is also revealed in G12 that he is one of the four Vates now, suddenly.
It is stated that, despite rising tensions during G12, the Arat Alchemist Society and the Aliech Alchemists don't actually want to fight each other. And, then, suddenly.. Helvetius gathers an army and starts the fight in Shadow Taillteann, leading to the scene where Lennox dies and Jenna needs to be rescued. Why?
Much like Lennox, his goals and role in the story come across as inconsistent and unplanned, even more so since he existed since the end of G10.
They run around panicking about what the other deities or what the Milletian is doing, get thwarted or killed, and not even Morrighan is spared from needing to be rescued at the end of G12. (Are there ANY major female characters who didn't need to be rescued at least once?!)
To say they were all under-utilized would be an understatement. Personally, I don't hate the concept of "Gods feuding with each other and humanity getting caught in the crossfire", and I also don't hate the inverse of "Humans feuding and Gods getting caught in the crossfire", but this wasn't it, fam
Inconsistences of Timelines and Terms
I understand these Generations were running parallel to new gameplay development with cities/Shadow Realm missions being added which seems to be a large culprit in the inconsistency of terms, plot devices, and characterizations pointed out above.
Inconsistency of Aliech vs Corrupt Alchemist as the Tragedy of Emain
In Jenna's breakup letter of G11, it is initially stated that the Tragedy of Emain Macha was carried out by "Royal Alchemists". That is, official Kingdom-titled Alchemists.
In G12, this dialogue is changed to be "corrupt Alchemists" and that Royal Alchemists, led by Leymore's father Lennox, "turned a blind eye" to what they were doing.
So, then, whodunnit really?
The implication that the Tragedy of Emain Macha was official business carried out by the Regime is pretty dark and tells a tale of deep-seated corruption within the official Royal Court.
Handwaving it as "corrupt standalone Alchemists who were on their own agenda" feels like a retcon of that element.
But the dialogue is rather unclear. Personally, I read it as "Royal Alchemists" and "Corrupt Alchemists" being two separate groups, as that is how it is implied in other dialogue in G12.
It's possible that Helvetius tricked Jenna with the memory crystal by altering it to show them as Aliech Alchemists, but this is never explicitly stated anywhere.
(Dialogue from Jenna's break-up letter in G11)
(Leymore's dialogue from G12)
Inconsistency of the Pontiff's Court vs the Aliech Regime
In NPC dialogue and various bits around the story, it is stated that tensions exist between the Pontiff's Court and the Aliech Regime largely because of Alchemy. In G10, however, Leymore is hired by the church of Lymilark to investigate (see Leymore's Journal item). Why would the Church of Lymilark ask an Aliech Regime Alchemist to do something for them?
Inconsistency of the Timeline of the Shadow Realm
In G9, the Shadow Realm is implied to be a newly appeared realm and the fact that Alchemists are seen wandering in it on a mission is similarly treated as something strange and unusual. From a game development standpoint, this makes sense as Taillteann and its Shadow Realm were newly released back in 2009.
As mentioned in sections above, Tara and Shadow Tara did not exist in G9, and when they were added to the game, the story tries to explain the "expansion of the Shadow Realm" as being caused by Claimh Solas' revival in the boss fight of G9.
In G11 & 12, the dialogue now seems to suggest that the Shadow Realm has existed for several years and that expeditions and Corrupt Alchemists were always in it(perhaps this is supposed to be an implication that several years have passed in-story), but it still doesn't explain the massive plot hole of how Cai obtained the Caliburn from a place that did not exist when he first obtained it(maybe he just.. found it on the ground..?)
The Caliburn being stolen from its original altar is also stated to be the reason why the Shadow Realm exists in the first place, but again, how was it stolen from its altar if its altar did not exist, and why did it create Shadow Taillteann first instead of Shadow Tara?
Several characters state several different "origins" of the Shadow Realm throughout this chapter:
in G9, Berched says that perhaps it was caused by the blood of the Fomors staining Findias' destiny engraved on Claimh Solas in the second battle of Mag Tuireadh.
In G11, Cichol states that the removal of Caliburn from the castle created the Shadow Realm.
In G11 again, Jenna states the grief of the Partholons "created the darkness of"/clouded the Shadow Realm
Perhaps they're all wrong, or perhaps they're all right, or perhaps all of the characters are simply theorizing.
Dead-End Dialogue
Throughout Chapter 3 we are treated to a few lines that seem like they contain extra information or possibly foreshadow a future event but never actually come to fruition. I detailed a few of these above, but I'll point out a few here:
In G9, during the scene in which Jenna tries to stop Leymore from going back into the Shadow Realm, she states "Cai has betrayed you once before." Is this to imply there was some additional betrayal before the vague one in G9, or is it referring to the same one?
In G11, when Helvetius meets back up with Jenna, he states that Jenna's father "perhaps paid an even heftier price than death." What does this line mean? Jenna's memory shows she saw her father's figure fall during the Tragedy of Emain Macha, is this meant to imply he might be still alive in some horrible way? Perhaps as an Alchemical Experiment, a Ghost, or otherwise? But, nothing comes of this.
Later in G11, as stated above, Neamhain tells Jenna she will regret her choice of picking Leymore over whatever they were doing with Tir na Nog. Sure doesn't seem like any regret happened.
In G12, when Helvetius sets off the ovens that kill Lennox, he essentially tells Lennox he'll see him in hell. Given that Leymore has also stated he "disagrees with his father's use of Alchemy", this seems to extend beyond his involvement in the Tragedy of Emain Macha or the supposedly top-secret Homunculus experiment with the Vates. But, we are never treated to exactly what "Lennox's use of Alchemy" is, outside of creating a Tower Cylinder. What else has he done that could be so bad?
I'll touch more upon this later.
In G12 again, we are told by Morrighan that we can "revive Neamhain's light" as stated in Neamhain's entry above. But.. nothing comes of this. We just forget about her. Whoops?
The Over-Reliance of Caliburn as a Plot Device
We have three major plot devices appear throughout these Generations: the Caliburn, the Heart of Courcle, and the Brionac. The writers of the time very heavily relied on the Caliburn for nearly everything.
To list it all out, this is all that the Caliburn is stated to be able to do or has done:
A "tool" used by Aton Cimeni to form the world
Yet also "First belonged to the Fomors"
The source of Alchemy
The Foundation of Tara
Can be used to transmute one's own soul & revive someone
Contains its own will
Can possess people
Started a plague that wiped out the Partholons
One of two pieces needed to call forth the Brionac
Became unstable after being too many things
Stolen from an altar in Shadow Tara which created the Shadow Realm
Is a shapeshifting rock(?), referred to as "the Rock of Destiny"(?)
But is actually not a rock, but rather "a living being that continuously changes form"
Neamhain is known as "Caliburn's Goddess"
Cai just happened to have it without any explanation as to how
That's too much! That's too much for one plot device!
It is quite possibly one of the most extreme MacGuffins to ever MacGuffin as it is used to handwave/"explain" the majority of events that occurred during G9-11. Thankfully it's barely mentioned in G12 anymore. Maybe the writers of the time realized that.
Outdated Elements from a Story That Is Now 15 Years Old
Outside of the storytelling itself, and this isn't just an issue with Chapter 3 specifically, the gameplay is outdated to the point that some parts are laughable. Leymore and Cai are stated to be some of the best Alchemists in Uladh, yet given the time that has elapsed since its release, the two of them still have little baby Alchemist skill sets.
This story immediately followed the release of Iria in G4-7, and so having Elves and Giants appear in Uladh was something of a big deal back then. Not so much anymore, and all of the dialogue regarding their (unwelcome by some)appearance in Taillteann comes off a little strangely now that several other Elf/Giant characters appear in Uladh in events and the story. Andras' backstory has also degraded with time as it relied on the element that Elves weren't seen in Uladh before. Now the kids picking on her and calling her a monster just seem like elf-racists. (maybe they are.. ?)
Finally, I'm going to move into the "How Can Things Be Better?" section. I don't claim to be a professional writer, so this is just my opinion on what I think would be improvements in both the general plot happenings and some characters.
Stop Relying on a Status Quo
I think what was holding a lot of characters back from exhibiting any real character growth was a Status Quo that seemed to be strictly adhered to, such as in a TV serial. Thus dictating:
That Leymore remains a flawless, one-dimensional Perfect Boyfriend(to Jenna) and a Perfect Friend(to Cai)
That Cai is a troublesome wildcard that needs help cleaning up his messes from the Milletian/Leymore, but at the same time dodges any major consequences
That Jenna may be an elite knight but she always returns to being Leymore's girlfriend and is still a woman who needs to be rescued
That Andras may be Captain of the Royal Guard but she's still a woman who needs to be rescued
That Neamhain may be a Goddess and an outright villain but she's still a woman who needs to be rescued
That Morrighan may be another extremely powerful Goddess(the scene where she OPENS HER EYES??) but she's still a woman who needs to be rescued
wait- wait a minute-
This leads to my next topic:
Add Real Consequences or In-Story Backlash to Actions and Events
This is where C3 is set apart from C1, whereas in Chapter 1 we see several characters suffering permanent changes or consequences during the telling of the story. Tarlach is severely wounded, Mari becomes Nao, Ruairi becomes a Dark Knight, and then has a change of heart again, and characters like Mores and Rian die for real with various others actually grieving over them and referencing their deaths later.
Don't get me wrong, Chapter 1 has its own set of flaws that I may go over another day(we're not gonna talk about Saga here. Not yet), but in this regard we at least see the characters being heavily affected by what is happening around them instead of easily handwaving it, shrugging it off, or not acknowledging it at all.
This is also the reason why I feel like Elatha's character turned out to be more memorable than most of the human cast in C3, despite not playing a huge part.
As stated above, Cai doesn't suffer any consequences for his actions outside of feeling a little guilt which ultimately doesn't lead to anything as he returns to being a RA anyway. To show at least some aftermath of this, disagreements between the Royal Guard and Sinead over whether to re-recruit him could have been shown.
Jenna discovering the truth of the Tragedy of Emain Macha seems like Kind of a Big Deal, and the fact that this twist was used largely for relationship drama was a Tragedy of its own. Once Again I Am Asking, did multiple characters know about this and covered it up- Lennox obviously, but perhaps even Dorren, Sinead, or other high Alchemy/Aliech officials? Did Leymore already know? Helvetius also claims he had no memory of that night, being in a similar state to Jenna, even though he was supposedly one of the ones who perpetrated it- what's the deal with that?
It seems clear that Jenna kept this twist largely to herself and her personal circle, as one might imagine a massive amount of public backlash towards Alchemists if it were revealed in a widespread manner.
Eabha being revealed as a homunculus gets all of 2 minutes of dialogue and then is not mentioned again for the duration of these chapters. How is this not a bigger deal? (more on that below.)
Lennox dies (crickets chirp from Leymore's direction)
(side note: I recently discovered the term "Grimderp" and I think that term describes my frustrations with this Chapter pretty succinctly.)
Reduce the Usage of the Caliburn
To relieve some of the intense weight on the Caliburn here, other plot devices could have been introduced. Note that the Heart of Courcle, the other part of Brionac, doesn't have nearly as many attributes used in this chapter despite also being some Very Important Divine Relic. (what does it do exactly? how did it end up in the shadow realm?)
Outside of the Alchemy themes, it's clear there are also themes of Arthurian legend in this chapter. The name Cai is an alternate spelling of Kay(and his name is spelled "Kay" in the KR version), the name Jenna stems from Guinevere, the Caliburn is an alternate name for Excalibur, and there is a scene where Brionac is being held out of the water by Aer (a "lady of the lake"). There may be a few other references that I've missed- I do wonder if the King's name, "Ethur", was meant to be Arthur and was mistranslated, and if Leymore is supposed to represent Lancelot.
Other such mythical objects or concepts from either Alchemy or Arthurian legend could have been introduced:
The Philosopher's Stone
The Elixir of Life
The Holy Grail
Gae Bolg
Just to name a few. There are so many to choose from!
Cai:
Outside of the kerfuffle with the Caliburn, which desperately has some 'splaining to do, Cai's character should have been given a more definitive role in G11 & 12- and it didn't even have to be a major one. Just defined. I think taking "the atoner" route would work for his character, especially given that his possessed self outright murdered a bunch of people, and more clearly resolving his hang-up over Lena would be a good source of character growth for him.
The story plays up Cai's desperation to revive Lena as ~*romantic*~ and about ~*eternal love*~ as the violet flower represents, but, the real tragedy would be if Cai never got over her ever and pined over this dead woman for the rest of his life. (see: he's only 18 years old)
Like mentioned above, there is dialogue that -suggests- he gets over Lena after G9, saying that "the past cannot be relived", but it's unclear, especially since another line has him saying his "hope(for Lena) has not turned into despair". So which is it? Maybe give this man some closure!? (Perhaps this closure was simply lost in translation?)
Moving on, Cai was studying to be a Druid before he became an Alchemist, and this Druid training of his isn't utilized in any way in the story or gameplay outside of him having a few extra magic spells to use in his RP mission. I think there was a missed opportunity here by not having Cai be more of a dual-class type of character, especially given that Druids and Alchemists have a history of tension between each other; showing him as being both could have been used as a message of budding unification between the two factions. (fun fact: this would also act as a nod to some more obscure origins/myths of Kay of Arthurian legend!)
It would also set apart his character from Leymore's from a gameplay/skillset perspective, as having them both be eLiTe AlChEMistS with very similar outfits doesn't help their individuality. (this was worse back when the awful G11 Shadow Missions weren't changed)
Having Cai return to Druid studies while also maintaining his Alchemy skills would have made for an interesting turn to his character. In the theme of atonement, he could even take his past with Lena and use that as motivation to perhaps become a Druid-Healer and prevent others from going on a similar path of immortality-chasing destruction as he did. This brings Lena back into the narrative after being completely forgotten, reconciles Cai's previous lack of faith in Druidry, and makes Cai a fairly rounded-out and complete character! (in My Mabinogi?)
(although the Caliburn nonsense still needs to be explained)
Leymore:
As mentioned earlier, Leymore's character could very easily be made more interesting with just a pinch of personal/internal conflict(the boy is no stranger to external conflict lol) or even so much as a single character flaw!
If we take his existing traits and deconstruct them, we are immediately met with a more interesting character:
If he seems too perfect, perhaps that's because he actively tries to appear that way(a perfectionist).
If it seems his entire life revolves around his friends, perhaps that stems from a lack of self-worth.
If it seems like he forgives Cai too easily, perhaps this is because he's a bit of a pushover.
If he's altruistic to a fault, perhaps this is masking a self-destructive tendency or a lack of regard for his own health/body. (see: "Chronic Hero Syndrome" or "Martyr Without a Cause" on tvtropes)
It doesn't even have to be all of these things; even taking just one of them makes him more interesting.
We can even take the events of the story and twist them such: a protective nature is the foundation of Leymore's character, yet he has consistently failed multiple times to protect anyone dear to him. He didn't save Cai himself; we did that for him. He didn't succeed in rescuing Jenna, in either scene- he got knocked out by the Goddess in 5 seconds in G11, and his father had to step in and rescue her for him in G12. This could be a source of personal conflict(or at least cognitive dissonance).
Lennox dying, as mentioned above, is already an easy canon source of conflict. Sure, Leymore hated him and disowned him, but surely he didn't want to see him die? (or did he? See how spicy that could be?! additional fun fact: there used to be a glitch discovered by Korean players where you could speak to Leymore after the mission where Lennox dies, and he would say "It went well." with his smiling portrait. Hmm..)
Additionally, Leymore's quarrel with his father may be an external conflict, but it's not really a personal character flaw as Leymore is technically the morally correct one in the argument.
Something that I consider to be a massive missed opportunity with Leymore involves the patriarchal undertone of G12 and the homunculus experiment:
The very first mission of G12 shows us a very dark scene of artificial humans- young boys- being created in the Shadow Realm by the Corrupt Alchemists. They are all talking about their father during this scene.
Guess whose father suddenly appears during G12? Leymore's.
We learn that Leymore has disowned his father due to disagreements with Lennox's use of Alchemy, and dialogue with Lennox states that he's not against the research the Arat Alchemist Society puts out, even outright stating the following line:
And lastly, Leymore's final line of dialogue in G12, if you don't count the quest flavor text later, is him crying out for his father.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Due to this dialogue and what appears to be parallels to the opening G12 quest, I genuinely thought the writers were about to hit us with a massive twist, which would have been pretty memorable and dark imo, by telling us that Leymore is a homunculus created by Lennox, thus explaining why Leymore looks just like his father (I know it's a common anime trope for sons to look like copies of their dads but this could have been played with) and would have put a dark twist on why Leymore is (informedly, lol) the "best Alchemist in Uladh".
If this is something Leymore knew about himself already, then it puts an even darker twist on his self-sacrificing nature. If it's something he didn't know, then imagine the truth bomb waiting to drop: the sheer conflict that a character who disagrees with his father's use of alchemy turns out to be made from his father's alchemy!
It even puts into interesting perspective Lennox's dying line, which isn't very remorseful:
This would have also tied in nicely to Cai's story, who had been researching Homunculi with the hopes of reviving Lena, only to find out the answer was underneath his nose the entire time in the form of his bestie. (this is still true with how canon went, though)
This could have also tied into Jenna's mysteriously absent "regret" if either she or Leymore didn't take this revelation well.
Did this happen? No.
Instead, Eabha is revealed to be a homunculus. Eabha, the unimportant side character bowl-cut boy who we haven't spoken to at all whatsoever since a side quest in G9. What.
And thus the status quo reigns supreme!
Jenna:
Jenna's entire role and involvement in the story should be completely redone. If she's actually an elite knight and in perfect control of her emotions, then by all means she should come off more like a Mikasa-esque character (AoT) or Edelgard (Fe3h). The year is 2024, my dudes! It's time to have some competent female fighters!
There is no reason she should be rescued as much as she was over the course of Chapter 3- maybe once or twice would've been okay, but seven times? (actually eight if you count the flashback of the Tragedy of Emain Macha???)
If anything, she should be the one protecting Leymore and not the other way around. If you compare their RP stats, you will see that Jenna has higher HP and significantly higher defense than Leymore does. She should be the tank between the two of them. She even has slightly more strength than him! (she's the jar opener of the house!)
Like many of the other characters in Mabinogi, Jenna has a lot of untapped potential. Her role in G12 should not have been to put down the blade and need to be rescued yet again, but instead, she could have realized she was fighting for true light and justice, no longer misguided by her upbringing in the zealous Temple Knights or Neamhain's ideals. There is a line in G12 that suggests this, right before the All-Out Battle Mission, but then.. yeah. This realization should have made her stronger, not weaker.
It was a missed opportunity for actual character growth, and instead, her character takes steps backward as one of her last appearances in the story.
She could still remain a blacksmith and a competent fighter at the same time; there's no reason she can't do both.
She could have become a training figure similar to Randall's school in Tir Chonnaill, she could have joined the Royal Guard with her fighting experience. If we want to tie in later Generations she could have become a Divine Knight, and if we want to tie in previous Generations she could have become a Paladin(both in the theme of fighting for true light). There were/are so many options.
Another path I could have seen for Jenna is a more tragic one: perhaps in G11 she continues on the path to purifying(?) Tir na Nog, with or without Neamhain, because of being fueled by her love for Leymore. She sees Leymore getting himself wrecked over and over and thus vows to bring forth a world where he doesn't need to do that anymore. It would have made a nice role reversal, and fit in with the themes of sacrifice that are present in Jenna's character and past.
Speaking for myself only right here, I would have been far more into their romance if they had been presented as a gender-flipped Knight/Prince(ss) kind of vibe, with Jenna being a competent Knight of course, and Leymore being the princely son of a Vate. Very Revolutionary Girl Utena. (This also would act as another nod to the trope of courtly love popularized by Arthurian legend!) But, I feel that would have been asking for a lot back in the early 2010s Mabinogi.
This brings me to another point:
Alternatively, just doing away with their romance altogether is yet another option to allow these characters to grow to a fuller potential outside of the context of a relationship, especially ones that don't hold any real narrative weight.
As I mentioned above, I do thoroughly believe that both Jenna and Leymore's characters suffered from their relationship with each other, due to being placed inside of boxes of "how a girlfriend should be" and "how a boyfriend should be". The writers also constantly threatened their relationship with either death or breakup for cheap drama.
I also talked about giving real consequences to the events of the story, and with that in mind, yet-another path for Jenna's character could be finding the whole "Tragedy of Emain Macha carried out by Alchemists" thing to be irreconcilable for her relationship with Leymore instead of getting back together at the end of G11.
Chapter 3 in particular had a LOT of random romantic pairs and subplots in it, many of which felt shoehorned in and some of which ended up being completely forgettable:
Cai & Lena(this one at least held a narrative purpose even if Lena was a highly disposable character)
Jenna & Leymore
Andras & Elatha
Arenen & Ilsa & Voight
Glewyas & Arzhela
Pierrick & Brenda
(I still feel like I'm forgetting one?)
And so often these pairs fell under similar umbrellas of how they were presented, which didn't serve to differentiate many of them from each other(see again: plot points that keep happening).
There's the "man exists to rescue/save his lady" crowd and the "man courts woman and woman finds him annoying" crowd. and then Ilsa's just a cheater. Yikes?
Andras and Elatha, if you view them romantically(I can also view their relationship as platonic close friendship), felt like a more "equal" relationship to me - while he did save her, she also had an interest in soothing his tormented side and made him the gift of the music box.
Put this in contrast to Leymore and Jenna, where Jenna comes off rather selfishly - being the one who is comforted/rescued/worried about/reassured in almost every Generation and the only thing she did in turn was saving him from a Crag Cow / deciding not to assassinate him. (thanks Jenna.) (I thought about the G11 scene where she stood up against the Goddess, too, but.. well, she's the one who put them in that situation to begin with.)
Neamhain:
Neamhain is a character I consider to be the second-most problematic behind Jenna, for many of the same reasons.
Assuming that she is named after Nemain, associated with the Celtic Goddess-trio, Nemain in mythology is stated to be a representation of "war frenzy" or "battle panic" that causes soldiers to confuse friends for foes, resulting in what we know today as friendly fire. This, in my opinion, is a very cool concept for a character. Yet, this proposed origin of her name is not really utilized after her initial appearance, despite the ominous descriptors of her in G4-7 OR the dialogue present in one of her books of prophecy which does seem to nod to it:
Instead, she is a bumbling and ineffectual villain. The year is 2024, my dudes! It's time for some competent female villains!
I'm not saying that the myths we draw from have to be adhered to perfectly, but Neamhain's character is really quite pathetic when boiled down to what she accomplishes in the story (nothing and then dying).
There was an opportunity to make a frightening female villain, such as driving the Elves and Giants against each other in battle over the Heart of Courcle. Instead, the opposite happens- the Heart of Courcle brings Elves and Giants together in defense of it.
As stated above with Jenna's character, there was also a missed opportunity to bring out this concept with the arc of Jenna becoming her disciple in G11- while Jenna did turn against us and the other human characters, the only person she kills is Cichol, everyone's common enemy, and arguably it is a boon to several people that she did so. Having Jenna actually fight against other human characters, perhaps even her own Perfect Boyfriend, or the Milletian, would have shown a much more urgent sense of desperation reminiscent of a Goddess named for war frenzy.
This could have also been used with possessed Cai in G10 who did in fact murder a bunch of Tara Soldiers, and even smacked Leymore upside the head in the pre-boss scene of G10. Outside of the singular and vague line that "Neamhain is the Caliburn's Goddess"(what does that MEAN??), there is no other real nod to suggest that Neamhain is the cause of Possessed-Cai's rampaging, and instead, Cichol is the one who appears alongside Cai. This is another missed opportunity and would have been a means of alleviating some reliance on the Caliburn by stating it was Neamhain's will or possession instead.
And to her untimely death in G12, the way she is killed so easily by Nuadha may have been meant as an example of "The Worf Effect", a strong character(Neamhain) who is killed off by an even stronger character(Nuadha) to show how much spookier that stronger character is supposed to be. Except, Neamhain was never really shown as "strong" to begin with- she accomplishes nothing and never actually fought us.
Another nice nod to her myth could have shown her fighting back, or using others to fight for her possessed by her battle-frenzy, which would have also brought forth the concept I previously mentioned of "Gods warring with each other and humanity getting caught in the crossfire". To have her appear and die within the span of 5 minutes was just some serious disrespect lmao and a waste of a Goddess character
(She didn't even fight back.. at all..)
(I should note it's also unclear whether or not she's actually dead. I personally interpreted Morrighan's lines about "Neamhain's fading light" and "rekindling Neamhain's light" and other similar pieces of dialogue as her having been killed as a result of this scene, or at least actively dying, since we no longer see her afterward, but alas. Vagueness. Looking at Cichol, death clearly doesn't mean much to Gods anyway.)
(SPOILERS FOR G23+ IN THIS NEXT SECTION)
The Vates
In general, now that we know who all four of the Vates were (Dorren, Lennox, Helvetius, and Driana/Morfydrianas), the Chapter 3 story could potentially be rewritten with influences from these characters from the start, thus fleshing out each one and creating a much more cohesive plot. (Where does Professor J fall into all of this? idk)
Dorren's past with her student Driana, Driana's fall into insanity and becoming Morfydrianas, Helvetius founding the Arat Alchemist Society, and Lennox's past and influence on Leymore's life are all areas of the story that can be filled in by doing so.
Noitar Arat was also a concept that was brought forth in C3 but was never really fleshed out. Recently, the newer writers have been bringing the concept of Noitar Arat back, and with the information that we have from G20+, these chapters could also be revised to flow more cohesively into the newer Generations.
Ideas for Character Growth/Development/Explanations, Part 3
Eabha's Story and Resurrection
What exactly constitutes a homunculus? The experiments in G12 seem to imply that the homunculus experiments are completely artificial humans, yet what was done with Eabha isn't quite that: he says he has a mom back in Tara if you chat with him as an NPC. He is shown to be a dying boy brought back from some illness that was meant to kill him. That is to say, he is/was a naturally-born human who may or may not still have his natural-born human body, and he never fully died.
Dorren handwaves many of the details of Eabha's involvement in G12, with the following quote:
Did he fully die and was brought back to life? Or perhaps, his body was transmuted into a newer, better form?(previous Dorren dialogue does say he "was turned into a homunculus") Did this experiment create a second Eabha-appearing figure as a gatekeeper of Falias, and if so, why did no other homunculus experiment do that?
Additionally, this homunculus experiment is implied to have occurred several years ago, perhaps even decades ago, yet Eabha looks the same in the flashback as he does now; is this to imply he isn't aging? Wouldn't all of the townsfolk of Tara and Taillteann notice this?? (
if they had used Leymore for this twist, it would have lined up nicely with his current age of 19, btw.)One way to try to explain the Falias Gatekeeper would be to say that a naturally-born human was needed for it, especially one that was on the brink of death and that some splitting of his soul occurred when the Alchemists forcibly changed his fate, or.. something.
Or, alternatively, does the Falias Gatekeeper predate Taillteann Eabha, and is Taill Eabha the one created in its image?
Dialogue suggests that the Royal Regime knew something would occur on a divine level, given their insistence that the Vates took on the task.
Again, Eabha's involvement in G12 is just a giant pile of ????????? question marks. It also comes off like another highly unplanned twist due to Eabha's previous involvement in the story (barely anything).
I also still think this twist would have been much better used with a certain actual main character but there's no reason they can't both be homunculiAndras
I mentioned Andras above, but her backstory is really so wild I'm not even sure where to begin. It just spawns a bunch of "Why?"s, with the biggest one being, why did Castanea see fit to remove an elf baby from the memory tower and send her into an unknown land!?
Perhaps Castanea herself was experimenting with what might become of an Elf sent to Uladh?
Some dead-end dialogue suggests Andras was picked up by one of Berched's previous students, Tafney, and Lezarro is also stated to be her adoptive father in his NPC dialogue.. however, Lezarro makes no appearance in the "Andras' Story" sidequest following G9.
As Lezarro was also released an entire Generation after Andras's appearance, and Tara did not exist at the time, this also seems to be a thrown-in cover-up for this loose end.
I get the sense that with Andras, the developers of the time -had- an idea or an inkling of what they wanted to do with her backstory, but never found a place to squeeze it in with the main storyline, as Andras' involvement falls off almost entirely after Elatha's death in G10. (also somewhat problematic: I guess she just isn't important anymore after her love(?) interest dies?)
Some thoughts regarding her backstory if it were ever revised:
Given to a human druid for her magic potential? (the Tafney mention?)
An experiment by Castanea? (she is pretty sus)
Was kidnapped as a baby?
Perhaps even an elf/human hybrid and not fully an elf, thus making her more kindred with Elatha?
Lennox
We may have only had Lennox for a very short time, but within that very short time, he makes a decision that is already seemingly out of character for him. As mentioned above, he was introduced as a cold and pragmatic Alchemist whose ethics border on highly questionable, in sharp contrast with his son.
There was an opportunity to flesh out his character more, which would have in turn fleshed out Leymore's character more, by showing a deeper depth of their conflict with each other. Going in two different directions with suggestions here, Lennox could be entirely unremorseful for his actions, or we could have subverted this, making him seem that way but having some deeply hidden regret. (the latter is sort of, kind of, implied in canon)
Lennox does have a line that states he does not wish to make the same mistakes of the past, but then his dying line to Leymore as mentioned above doesn't sound very remorseful, as if continuing to hold onto his beliefs as he lay dying. Again: which is it?
I wouldn't be so malding about the original G12 scene if that was the only instance that Jenna needed to be rescued. I do think there is something poetic about one of the perpetrators of the Tragedy of Emain Macha dying to save the life of a victim of that tragedy as a means of atonement or apology, but it's just frustrating and redundant when stacked alongside Jenna's six other rescues. If she had been properly kicking butt and this was only her first or second needed rescue, it would have been much more tolerable.
That also said, I kind of wish they did not kill him at all, because I think he would have been a very interesting character to utilize in the more recent plots regarding Alchemy. Some of this unused potential could even be posthumously touched upon in newer Gens.
I was hopeful during G23 since I noticed C3 was referenced a lot in the Festival at the beginning, and the play specifically highlighted Lennox's death scene. I thought, finally! Are we going to address Lennox's death?! Who made this macabre play?! And they even had a line that said "perhaps these two will be reunited.." (ominous? still no)
Also, the fake Leymore actor in the play had more emotion than the actual G12 scene. lol.I'd be over the moon to see this chapter thoroughly rewritten with better graphics and voice acting, with hopefully many of these problematic points completely removed or revised.
One thing I can say confidently is that if these chapters are ever reached in Mabinogi Mobile and stay the exact same way as they currently are, I would really not want to play through them again.
I don't want to watch Jenna being rescued several times. Please. Nor would I want to recommend a game to anyone else that contains a female character being rescued 7-8 times. Please.
One thing that I find fun to do is to swap the characters' involvements in the story around with each other, especially male with female characters, which has a tendency to reveal the ridiculously biased manner in how the characters are written.
~*Imagine*~:
-if Cai were the one who became a blacksmith and spent the entirety of G12 shirtless "because he's a blacksmith now" (but he's still shirtless while doing a bunch of Shadow Missions)
-if Leymore were injured by the Crag Cow for the entirety of G9, and then he punched someone at the Tara ball for hitting on him (lolol I'm sorry what)
-Jenna telling Leymore to stay home Because She Must Do Something Important
-Helvetius telling Leymore he "just wanted to separate him from Jenna" and a quest titled "Leymore's Revenge" where no revenge actually happens and he needs to be rescued by a God
-If the G11 credit art with the rescue scene was Jenna pointing the Brionac at Neamhain while standing over an unconscious Leymore
-if Nuadha were hyped up to be a terrifyingly powerful God-King but acted only mildly threatening before being killed by another God
-if Neamhain were the one accidentally summoned by Corrupt Alchemists, attacked Nuadha and absorbed his powers, fought against her own sister Morrighan, and acted as the final boss of G12
Suddenly, Neamhain and Jenna become a lot cooler!
Alright now I'm really done for real, I'll stop kicking this dead horse lol. IF anyone is reading this, feel free to share your thoughts, theories, your takes on the poorly translated dialogue, etc.
Since the dialogue is so very vague in places, I realize a lot of scenes and lines can be subjective and may not even be indicative of how the original Korean dialogue was meant. But, on the other hand, I also feel like even if this chapter was well-translated, there are still several fundamental issues with the writing.
Annnd feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong, there was a LOT of information to sift through for me to write this, some of which felt nonsensical due to the translation at times. I used a combination of the Game Scripts on the Mabi Wiki, my old screenshots, replaying on an alt, and the Dunbarton crystal ball to help me write this monstrosity.
Nexon if you're reading this, if you're not going to bring back the trio characters in the main story please at least consider placing them as conversation-able NPCs somewhere in the world