@vivisucre these are actually excellent questions and i’d love people’s take on it?
Balthier being ruthlessly neutral with the knowledge he holds, the bounty on his head being extra high, Ba’Gamnan at his heels under the watch and approval of the Empire/Gabranth, it all certainly adds up.
Maybe, Balthier calling himself the Leading Man is him asserting his role in his own life. Perhaps he felt like an inactive participant in his own existence for most of it. I believe he titled himself the Leading Man once he became a pirate. It was his way of asserting I am valid, I am here, I am important, and I will be heard.
Is there any real evidence that Balthier has any classified knowledge or any ability to predict what happened to Nabradia and Dalmasca? I mean, Nabradia came as a violent shock to Reddas, who certainly would have outranked him, and Dr. Cid isn’t the picture of clarity when it comes to clandestine information.
Dunno if it’s evidence, but i realized that Balthier’s behavior when the party first met Ashe (he tries to flee, turning his back to Ashe) was indicative that he knew who she was and was perhaps afraid she would recognize him too, as a former judge.
I almost threw my phone against the wall when I read this because I’VE ALWAYS NOTICED HIS EXPRESSION. It used to be hilarious to me, I just wrote it off as him being like ‘pls no more I want to go home’ but he really looks like he’s sneaking off and his FACE is just like for a second a broken thing. I’m not sure if he thought Ashe would recognize him, as I doubt she would have when he was a judge around what, 5, 6 years prior. But perhaps Balthier knows something that makes him go Do Not Want @ everything.
That’s so great to piece that together I LOVE THIS THREAD
I’m not sure if there’s real evidence that Balthier knows about deifacted nethicite ahead of time since he went straight for the Dusk Shard in Rabanastre’s palace, and he had full intent to steal it rather than harness it, and wasn’t sure how the nethicite was able to eat the hover of Fran’s bike. And while he was stoked for the Dynast King’s treasure I don’t recall him being uneasy about going for the Dawn Shard, again not being aware that it would eat the Leviathan’s fleet later. He was only about 16 when he fled home so it’d be reasonable he had heard talks of nethicite itself, given his father’s ramblings with Venat and how much he was throwing himself into Venat’s beliefs, and perhaps caught wind of the search for “very valuable nethicite” but probably stopped there? Like he had no idea what it was actually capable of or what it would mean in the grand scheme of Venat’s plans. Or, since his father was the one that ordered Reddas to use the Midlight Shard in Nabudis, he was aware of his father casting an order that involved nethicite? But then it contradicts his unawareness of what the Dusk Shard really is- if he knew the Midlight Shard blew up Nabradia he would have known that the Dusk and Dawn shards existed as well and would have immediately recognized that glowy rocks in the former Galtean Alliance territories are a very bad thing.
However I really like the idea that Balthier instantly recognized Ashe, as well as Larsa. Or at the very least instantly caught on that Larsa was an imperial. It would certainly explain his uneasiness!
Sorry for intruding >_>
No not at all don’t apologize! I love the input it’s really fun! It does make sense that pre-game Ffamran wouldn’t have known-known much of the intricacies of what his growing-mad father was going on about. It probably just become a nasty word to him, nethecite, it took his father, it’s all about power and it sucks and he doesn’t care (trying to think like an upset 16 y/o boy would, lol, I can see him being like I don’t want to fuckin hear about it b y e ). So yes, I can see his knowledge being limited. And good point about the magicite eating Fran’s hover. This is all very evidence Balthier was not aware the guts of what he was doing.
Also, as I was writing this i just realized. On Leviathan, Ghis holds the Dawn Shard and says, “Doctor Cid will be most pleased” or something, and it breaks me when I see Balthier react because he’s suddenly so, so angry and he feels extremely helpless in the situation, he immediately barks almost incredulously, “What did you say?” – as the pieces start lining up early in the game and solidifying why Balthier stays. So, the more we chat the more I realize Balthier is more limited in his knowledge than I initially predicted.
Thank you for clarifying this question about the stones ! Indeed maybe his intent was only to get to the stone (before the Empire) but not suspecting how powerful it is.
About people knowing each others, it always seemed odd to me that no one actually knows the face of Ashe ! I know Vaan and Penelo were young when she and Rasler got married, but we could assume her face was shown everywhere at that time ? Though I don’t recall any recording technology in Ivalice… cameras, videos…. Actually I now doubt the people of Dalmasca had any clue about who their royal family was lol
But for Balthier, when you’re a Judge, you should know your enemy. Indeed Ashe was still a princess when Balthier was a judge, but she was the heir anyway, so still an important figure in politics.
Final fantasy XII &co 