Étiquette : meta

One of the reason Balthier decided to leave Archades is because he couldn’t stand the madness and the obsession his father had with the stones. But then it was only research and studies. Now, he is facing the reality, that the research became real, and that other people become mad because of the stones. Here he examines the Judge’s body, the stone inside his flesh, and he is clearly disgusted.

Ashe decided to seek the sword and to destroy the Stone away before that, but Balthier kept quiet about the potential location of the Stone. I guess he waited for Ashe to actually get her hand on the sword first. 

This moment here in Bur Ominace, I think, is the moment he makes up his mind and he decides to get 100% involved. 

[315/?]

Important

vivisucre:

Rasler is an orphan. Ashe is an orphan. Penelo is an orphan. Reks. Then Vaan and all the kids in Rabanastre. Basch is an orphan (family and homeland). Fran is an orphan since she must cut all links with her sisters. Larsa is an orphan. Balthier considers himself as one (until he becomes one)

This is why they become a family

Important

Rasler is an orphan. Ashe is an orphan. Penelo is an orphan. Reks. Then Vaan and all the kids in Rabanastre. Basch is an orphan (family and homeland). Fran is an orphan since she must cut all links with her sisters. Larsa is an orphan. Balthier considers himself as one (until he becomes one)

It seems so important to me that Penelo and Vaan are in the center facing the Gran Kiltia. Indeed, as Ashe stated before the jungle, they are the future. 

Larsa and Ashe are in the foreground, as future leaders. Basch always standing next to Ashe (you could mirror Gabranth standing next to Larsa). Then you have Vaan and Penelo. And finally, Balthier and Fran are in the background. Observing and analysing what’s happening as always.

[290/?]

This scene at the magical barrier is so important ! It says a lot about Balthier and Fran.

Like, Fran takes 0 seconde to decide to go and see the Vieras. She clearly doesn’t want to, but she’s doing it anyway because it matters. She is the only one who can help them. It costs her a lot but she doesn’t hesitate at all. Even Balthier is surprised. Meaning, I think, he would hesitate a lot more at that moment of the story if he had to come back to Archades, the place he doesn’t want to come back to.

I was also surprised that Fran actually doesn’t know the link between Balthier and nethicites. Otherwise she wouldn’t tease him on how the stone troubles him. It troubles him to the point he can’t hide it. She knows the stone is extremely important to Balthier, but she doesn’t know why.

Side note but, why Bathier is not included in this shot ? Is this somehow his pov ? We see everyone but him.

@skystones

skystones:

hello this is a fun educational video & essay about why balthier took ashe’s ring. i hope you’d think our leading man has more tact in his flirting than to snatch a widow’s wedding ring just because you think he fancies her. who does that. sorry he didn’t take it because he had a big pirate crush on her. he took it because she was fidgeting over it like a pining fishwife contemplating mass genocide a la nethicite and let’s just say He’s Been Here Before.jpg

i spliced together two scenes while doing research for my fic, and stumbled across this expression of his that i cropped in on; you can see after she gazes down at her ring, makes complicated noises, and breathes about vengeance while holding nethicite that balthier quickly puts two and two and two more together–i’ve got a bad feel about this scoob fran. then, upon leviathan, his fears ring true – doctor cid is involved, and there’s no way he’s going to run any longer like a fucking baby. put on your big boy shoes ffammy. no, not those shoes. not those. those are ugly. you’re gonna wear those? fine.

next, we have the scene immediately following leviathan. surprise! ashe is yelling about power even more in a frenzy because everything sucks and she’s getting mega-screwed and i’d be hella fucking mad and wanna blow up everything too if all these fucking men kept tryna screw me out of literally anything while shitting all over my country. i reeeeally slowed down the balthier zoom-in here, because as ashe goes off on her lovely dalmasca-poem that makes murder sound very pretty, while holding the empty shell of a completely spent dawn shard in her hand, that ring stands out again and he regards her intensely and briefly; at :55 you can see a (v subtle) eyeshift gaze, where i believe he’s simply processing the connections between her and his projected, justifiable fears from the past. it’s as though he’s watching someone become enamored with nethicite’s power all over again. his voice in this entire scene is just dripping with a knowing bitterness that i’m surprised no one (read: vaan) is like hey balthier r u ok u sure seem to Know A Lot And Have a Lot of Feelings About It but i guess he’s too dashing for anyone (read: vaan) to call him out. he’s lucky he’s so pretty.

remember, balthier keeps it a secret for a long time from this point that he was involved with draklor (i like to coin it as his Actor’s Secret but that’s because i’m a big balthier nerd); “i’m just here to see how the story unfolds” is no lie at all. he keeps his past a secret for quite a while, only until, quite frankly, he can’t keep it in any longer the closer they get to the capital. and that’s when they have that heart-to-heart and balthier literally fucking cries lol .

and so, he takes the one thing from her that he thinks he has some semblance of control over without blabbing to the entire empty stockroom in the back of the bazaar ASHE DON’T FUCKIN DO IT YOU’RE REMINDING ME OF MY DAD AND IT’S FREAKING ME OUT PLEASE STOP. he uses it to anchor her. he tucks the ring safe away so that ashe doesn’t have something tangible to remind her of an anger that is already so vibrant within her already. balthier made the right decision here, without asking anyone, without thinking, and yes it was rash and yes it was controlling and yes it was a dick move from everyone’s perspective but his, which he chooses to not share with anyone, the wily fucker.

additionally, balthier is still a gentleman about this whole thing. the last clip i attached is the body language. ashe puts down the nethicite to take off her ring, and i’m sure balthier is patting himself on the back here because aren’t they already off to a grand start and he’s a genius bla bla yes we know balthier, fran has bumper stickers for the strahl that read my child is an honor roll student.  

he doesn’t go all piratey and snatch it from her as soon as the ring touches his hand. she drops it. she lingers. she hovers. her hands itch to take it back. none of this feels right to her. it sucks. why does everything have to suck ashe. i dont know im sorry. and then, only then when she pulls her hand completely away, does balthier take it. he gives her the chance to change her mind. she doesn’t. good. he’ll hold on to that little trinket nice and tight until they all help her fulfill her duty. and they do. (spoiler alert)

thanks for tuning into a balthier feel. i hope this helps with any confusion you had. and if you didn’t have any confusion i hope now you do.

Thanks for reminding me this post !!! It is also nice that Ashe put the stone away before giving the ring. I mean, yeah technically you need both hands to take off a ring. But still, the symbol is nice.

Okay I need to comment further on this shot.

Yesterday I was half-joking in the tags, how balthier was worried about Ashe. I was joking because at first I saw this shot as the usual “balthier observing things in silence” role he has. Also, we know he doesn’t want to be involved.

And then in the middle of the night it occured to me… He is worried about the princess. He’s just watched someone talking alone in the presence of a powerful stone. Sounds familiar ?

The less he wants to be involved the more he becomes aware of the inevitability of his situation.

And typing this makes me realize the (potential) etymology between the verb occur and Occurias..

@skystones


http://vivisucre.tumblr.com/post/170785637132/audio_player_iframe/vivisucre/tumblr_p40rmvw5Ds1vj8g52?audio_file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tumblr.com%2Faudio_file%2Fvivisucre%2F170785637132%2Ftumblr_p40rmvw5Ds1vj8g52

skystones:

Throws phone across the room because–

This track, Training in the Sewers, is the first time we ever meet Vaan. He’s killing rats under Rabanastre and that’s his way of life. Does this lilted little tune sound familiar?

It’s the same music that plays in Balfonheim.

It’s meant to show you how much he’s grown and how far he’s come from killing rodents in sewer water, dreaming of being a sky pirate – and traveling across Ivalice, finding his purpose, and ending up in the heart of all things pirate. 

I always made fun of the Balfonheim music because I thought it was too silly and lighthearted for a town of pirates, but now–damn it, now it all makes sense. I need a moment, or ten. Maybe a year, or ten. Y’all know how much I love Vaan and I’m honestly tearing up right now.

It’s so cool the game does that.

This.is.so.important

Balfonheim is the City of Skypirates. And the game doesn’t link it with Balthier no. Vaan is finally in the city of his dream, free of grief, free of guilt, ready to kick some asses.