FFIV: A ramble on Rosa
Feb. 21st, 2011 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seventheSo I've been working on something in the background – although it has stalled significantly since this class took over my life, writing, I miss you – but part of that stalling has been idea-wise, and as such I think it's time to open up the floor, since I haven't had a good old school fandom discussion here in a while. I want to talk about Final Fantasy IV, and specifically Rosa.
This will be more relevant if you've read Momentum (Edge, Kain, Rydia) (Edge/Rydia, Edge/Kain, Kain/Rydia, Edge/Kain/Rydia yes it is one of those) (R; 32,800 words) and Content With This Winter (Cecil, Rosa, Kain) (Cecil/Rosa, Cecil/Kain) (NC-17; 5,373 words), but it isn't necessarily necessary to do so. The stories are a very loose series and the third piece (Rosa-centric) will fill it in as a very loose trilogy. This universe could be summed up as "Sex heals everything" or "Kain bones everybody" or "Why Sev doesn't do love triangles (Because She Likes Poly/Open Relationships Okay And Doesn't Believe In Jealousy)" or, again, "Kain does FFIV." This is a joke. It's actually a serious series.
Kain's the unofficial driver of all three pieces, even though Edge narrates the first and Cecil the second: they're about Kain healing and learning and forgiving and finding things. In the first, Kain works out his issues with Rydia, and Mist, and his actions there, as well as faces the truth about his betrayal, via Edge. In the second, Kain faces Cecil's forgiveness and acceptance and his own imperfection, and they take a step or two towards healing their relationship on a couple levels.
Rosa is… she ends up being a presence in my FFIV writing, usually. It's nearly impossible to write Cecil and Kain without dealing with Rosa. She's very central to both of their lives – maybe in different ways, and maybe Cecil's is a little more silly lovestruck and Kain's is a little more stalker creepershark, but I'm not sure you can fully consider the two men without at least acknowledging Rosa, whatever role she ends up playing. And I also find that a lot of the time when I write Rydia, I end up pulling Rosa a little bit to use as a foil, especially looking at the black/white sister/sister mother/daughter complicated relationship they might have. So Rosa ends up appearing in a lot of my fic – but she's difficult to write herself.
Rosa is a character who fits oddly into fandom because so much of her presence in FFIV is static. By the time we meet Rosa, she is everything she will be: her character has already undergone its development and growth. She has chosen to be a White Mage; she loves Cecil; she's training in White Magic so that she can fight with and protect Cecil. This all happened before the game started, and we don't ever get to see it; we just see Rosa the finished product. Her characterization never goes anywhere because she's already where they wanted her to be.
And this is in a game in which two of the characters (Cecil and Rydia) undergo such drastic changes that they get new sprites entirely. Kain's entire arc is in motion; he's never static. Other characters leave the party or die (or, you know, "die"). For comparison's sake, Edge is also a static character (and I think it's the reason Rosa and Edge get less attention in fandom as a whole) – but Edge is presented as imperfect, incomplete, learning, maturing: there's a lot a fanfiction author can do with Edge, for better or worse; there's a lot of character development which could come into play. Rosa, on the other hand, is presented as complete, 'perfect', matured.
And it's hard to get at the motivations of a character like Rosa without – without imposing the author's mindset or desires on her. She was written in an old game, before the lady characters got to be badass and swordwielding, and a lot of her story/angle/person is defined through other characters (Cecil, Kain) or other events (being kidnapped; following Cecil) rather than her own agency. She gets agency and has her moments, don't get me wrong. But I think a lot of time writers can turn Rosa into what they want. They want a badass lady fighter? Rosa becomes an archer warrior princess. They want a sweet perfect wife for Cecil? Rosa becomes domestic. They want a snarky sassy healer-type? Or a mystical oracle sorceress? It's too easy, because Rosa skirts the edges of a lot of these things without… truly being any of them.
Again, she's a static character. And that makes her great in FFIV when so many other things are changing but it's hard for a writer.
The next story in the series is called All The Ghosts, and it's Rosa-centric. I'm coming at it from an angle of examining the Cecil/Rosa/Baron OT3 that I see in my head: how they became King and Queen, why the country was okay with that, and a little bit about the issue of divine right and/or royal lineage – which of course has broken off with Cecil, and yet he's the "chosen King". The story's also muddled with a lot of mythology about Odin, and the backstory of Baron and Mist, and the Dragoons / Summoners / Nobles / Eidolons (which were once their own OTwhatever).
But there are other parts too. Rosa's a White Mage and for her I'd imagine practicing her magic is as important a part of her as her love for Cecil. And personally, I think the best and healthiest kind of love is the kind that does have room in it – whether it's space for two individuals with fulfilling lives, space for other loves figuratively (Baron, White Magic, the Lunarian family) and literally (Kain), or just space for two people to be two rather than one monolith. Because it's too easy to write Cecil and Rosa as CecilandRosa, or just as King and Queen, forgetting that they might have had things they wanted to do with their lives other than rule.
Kain's again the driving force in All The Ghosts, but from Rosa's point of view: there are flashbacks that tell the story of the three of them when they were young, and how their parents (or lack thereof) and heritage meant their destinies were intertwined even when they were kids. How Odin ensnared them in his net for Baron before they even knew what was going on, and what that means for the divine 'right' to rule; why Kain went to Mount Ordeals for 'forgiveness' when his entire being was focused on Baron's Dragoon tradition.
And it also hits on Cecil and Kain's relationship, which in this series is pretty explicit Cecil/Kain. And why Rosa doesn't mind, because she knows there's room in Cecil's heart to love more than just her, and she has White Magic's mysteries and they both are married to Baron now, wed to Odin, and Cecil should have something that is just his own.
I'm really just having trouble getting a handle on where Rosa wants to go, post-game. Where Rosa wants to go – not where Queen Rosa wants to go, not where Cecil's Rosa wants to go. Where she wants to go herself.
This will be more relevant if you've read Momentum (Edge, Kain, Rydia) (Edge/Rydia, Edge/Kain, Kain/Rydia, Edge/Kain/Rydia yes it is one of those) (R; 32,800 words) and Content With This Winter (Cecil, Rosa, Kain) (Cecil/Rosa, Cecil/Kain) (NC-17; 5,373 words), but it isn't necessarily necessary to do so. The stories are a very loose series and the third piece (Rosa-centric) will fill it in as a very loose trilogy. This universe could be summed up as "Sex heals everything" or "Kain bones everybody" or "Why Sev doesn't do love triangles (Because She Likes Poly/Open Relationships Okay And Doesn't Believe In Jealousy)" or, again, "Kain does FFIV." This is a joke. It's actually a serious series.
Kain's the unofficial driver of all three pieces, even though Edge narrates the first and Cecil the second: they're about Kain healing and learning and forgiving and finding things. In the first, Kain works out his issues with Rydia, and Mist, and his actions there, as well as faces the truth about his betrayal, via Edge. In the second, Kain faces Cecil's forgiveness and acceptance and his own imperfection, and they take a step or two towards healing their relationship on a couple levels.
Rosa is… she ends up being a presence in my FFIV writing, usually. It's nearly impossible to write Cecil and Kain without dealing with Rosa. She's very central to both of their lives – maybe in different ways, and maybe Cecil's is a little more silly lovestruck and Kain's is a little more stalker creepershark, but I'm not sure you can fully consider the two men without at least acknowledging Rosa, whatever role she ends up playing. And I also find that a lot of the time when I write Rydia, I end up pulling Rosa a little bit to use as a foil, especially looking at the black/white sister/sister mother/daughter complicated relationship they might have. So Rosa ends up appearing in a lot of my fic – but she's difficult to write herself.
Rosa is a character who fits oddly into fandom because so much of her presence in FFIV is static. By the time we meet Rosa, she is everything she will be: her character has already undergone its development and growth. She has chosen to be a White Mage; she loves Cecil; she's training in White Magic so that she can fight with and protect Cecil. This all happened before the game started, and we don't ever get to see it; we just see Rosa the finished product. Her characterization never goes anywhere because she's already where they wanted her to be.
And this is in a game in which two of the characters (Cecil and Rydia) undergo such drastic changes that they get new sprites entirely. Kain's entire arc is in motion; he's never static. Other characters leave the party or die (or, you know, "die"). For comparison's sake, Edge is also a static character (and I think it's the reason Rosa and Edge get less attention in fandom as a whole) – but Edge is presented as imperfect, incomplete, learning, maturing: there's a lot a fanfiction author can do with Edge, for better or worse; there's a lot of character development which could come into play. Rosa, on the other hand, is presented as complete, 'perfect', matured.
And it's hard to get at the motivations of a character like Rosa without – without imposing the author's mindset or desires on her. She was written in an old game, before the lady characters got to be badass and swordwielding, and a lot of her story/angle/person is defined through other characters (Cecil, Kain) or other events (being kidnapped; following Cecil) rather than her own agency. She gets agency and has her moments, don't get me wrong. But I think a lot of time writers can turn Rosa into what they want. They want a badass lady fighter? Rosa becomes an archer warrior princess. They want a sweet perfect wife for Cecil? Rosa becomes domestic. They want a snarky sassy healer-type? Or a mystical oracle sorceress? It's too easy, because Rosa skirts the edges of a lot of these things without… truly being any of them.
Again, she's a static character. And that makes her great in FFIV when so many other things are changing but it's hard for a writer.
The next story in the series is called All The Ghosts, and it's Rosa-centric. I'm coming at it from an angle of examining the Cecil/Rosa/Baron OT3 that I see in my head: how they became King and Queen, why the country was okay with that, and a little bit about the issue of divine right and/or royal lineage – which of course has broken off with Cecil, and yet he's the "chosen King". The story's also muddled with a lot of mythology about Odin, and the backstory of Baron and Mist, and the Dragoons / Summoners / Nobles / Eidolons (which were once their own OTwhatever).
But there are other parts too. Rosa's a White Mage and for her I'd imagine practicing her magic is as important a part of her as her love for Cecil. And personally, I think the best and healthiest kind of love is the kind that does have room in it – whether it's space for two individuals with fulfilling lives, space for other loves figuratively (Baron, White Magic, the Lunarian family) and literally (Kain), or just space for two people to be two rather than one monolith. Because it's too easy to write Cecil and Rosa as CecilandRosa, or just as King and Queen, forgetting that they might have had things they wanted to do with their lives other than rule.
Kain's again the driving force in All The Ghosts, but from Rosa's point of view: there are flashbacks that tell the story of the three of them when they were young, and how their parents (or lack thereof) and heritage meant their destinies were intertwined even when they were kids. How Odin ensnared them in his net for Baron before they even knew what was going on, and what that means for the divine 'right' to rule; why Kain went to Mount Ordeals for 'forgiveness' when his entire being was focused on Baron's Dragoon tradition.
And it also hits on Cecil and Kain's relationship, which in this series is pretty explicit Cecil/Kain. And why Rosa doesn't mind, because she knows there's room in Cecil's heart to love more than just her, and she has White Magic's mysteries and they both are married to Baron now, wed to Odin, and Cecil should have something that is just his own.
I'm really just having trouble getting a handle on where Rosa wants to go, post-game. Where Rosa wants to go – not where Queen Rosa wants to go, not where Cecil's Rosa wants to go. Where she wants to go herself.
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Date: 2011-02-21 07:19 pm (UTC)Back to Rosa's multiple roles, I'm sorry if you remember these things yourself and have already considered them, but I want to touch back on them anyway. Through the game, Rosa
1) gives moral support to Cecil that arguably helped him resist the dark blade
2)comforts little Rydia and helps her get over her fear of Fire
3) disobeys her mother and runs off at least crossing a desert to find Cecil
4) serves as healer in Fabul until Cecil needs her at which point
5) she stops Kain from killing Cecil and gets abducted, then later
6) helps in convincing Kain to help them fight the good fight, has a few moments here and there until
7) she stows away on the Lunar Whale, wrapping up in
8) marrying Cecil and becoming queen.
Some of those are the same roles, some of them are different ones, but she's not any one of them only. Sometimes, Rosa is a damsel-in-distress, albeit with good reasons and not as bad as many later characters. However, she's also a committed white mage, as her Lunar Trial showed. That compassionate, loving heart that led her to becoming a white mage is what made her act motherly toward child Rydia; she is then a foster mother. At the same time, part of her IS an archer warrior princess; she braved the wilds by herself that would easily destroy Rydia or Tellah and that even give Cecil some trouble at times by himself. Yes, she's fueled by love, but a woman that isn't at least part "archer warrior princess" wouldn't be so adamant about running into danger for the man she loves in spite of all his requests for her not to do so.
There's also the wise tactician side of her that's very subtle. Rosa's desire to stick by Cecil on the Lunar Whale is likely even stronger than Rydia's desire to join the battle, but Rosa kept her emotions in check, formulated a plan and followed through (note: it's possible Rosa and Rydia decided that together, we don't really know for certain).
And then there's the "I'm an independent woman, hear me pray!" side of her that tends to not get noticed. The Lunar Whale moment is one, but a better indicator is her relationship with Cecil and her love for him as a whole. Rosa wanting to be with Cecil, not Kain, was frowned upon while Cecil was a Dark Knight. Society wanted her to be with Kain due to his nobility, not Cecil due to his unknown parentage. But she didn't cave into social and even family pressure. She loved Cecil, she kept with that. This shows a woman that will follow through on her own thoughts and desires regardless of what anyone else wants her to do with herself. If Cecil was an outcast monster and he only had a hole in the ground for shelter, she'd live in that hole with him with no regrets.
Based on everything there is to the character, I don't think there's a single thing she would have wanted to do differently. I believe she's exactly where she always wanted to be, with all the roles she has. The only possible alternative I can see her as wanting post-game would be maybe disappointment that her and Cecil weren't able to raise Rydia, as I got the impression Rosa really had so much love and compassion for little Rydia that she wanted to make the rest of Rydia's life golden and help her grow into womanhood. Also, I think it IS possible that Rosa might have wanted to be with Kain at one point in her life, I just don't think that was anywhere in her thoughts by the start of FF4.
I know you like the idea of Cecil/Kain/Rosa post-game, and I disagree with that myself, but for fanfic it's okay. :) Especially since when you write fanfic, you write it with build-up and explanation, and it keeps at least some consideration to what the characters are really like in there. That's a lot better than most depictions I see where Rosa has sex with Kain solely so Cecil and Rydia can go at each other without Cecil being a cheater and Rydia being a homewrecker, or Rosa participating WILLINGLY in a massive orgy for the purpose of getting impregnated by hundreds of men at once that aren't Cecil.