Love letter to Penelo

We, fans of Final fantasy XII, have read too many times how Vaan is a “weak” character, a useless hero. This is wrong in many ways. But I am not writing today to speak about Vaan. Vaan is not such an unloved character. Not from a marketing point of view. He is FFXII’s image, marketed character.

Today, I want to shout my love for another and even more underrated character. I’m talking about Penelo.

Penelo is not as physically strong as Tifa.

She is not the main character’s love interest like Rinoa or Aerith. We could argue that Vaan and Penelo are seen as futur lovers and it seems canon in Revenant Wings, but romance does not lead FF12’s plot, and Vaan and Penelo being a couple or not is not relevant to the story.

Penelo is not the central character, the story does not evolve around her unlike Yuna, or Ashe.

I’m part of those who think FF12 doesn’t have a main character. The central character, story-wise is Ashe. Vaan is the relatable character, the gamer grows along Vaan’s development. Basch is essential to the plot. Balthier is charismatic and everyone’s favorite. Fran is also charismatic and she brings knowledge.

What about Penelo ? Who is she ?

Penelo looks like the typical cute white mage of a rpg team. This is not completely wrong. She is cute, and white magic suits her.

Penelo is mentally strong. Her parents died from illness. She became an orphan. And yet she is capable and works as much as possible. She is reasonnable and mature.

Penelo is intelligent. When Vaan is stuck at the doors of Rabanastre. Migelo appears and eases the guards. But who is behind him ? Penelo. No doubt she knew Vaan would be in trouble again, so she fetched Migelo, a powerful ally in such situation.

Penelo is gentle, peaceful and optimistic. Vaan and Penelo both want to get rid of the Empire. But Vaan is spontaneous and seek revenge (at the beginning). At first he sees things in black&white. While Penelo only wants peace. She doesn’t like the Empire, but she doesn’t see it as one bad entity. When Penelo meets Larsa, she does not judge him. He is not an enemy. Even when she learns he is the little brother of the opressor, she talks with him. They share their point of view. I think Penelo would be a great diplomat.

Penelo is gentle, but not naive. I’ve just said Penelo is open minded and she sees good in people even if they should be enemies. However, she still speak up for what she believes in. Larsa is a Solidor, but she doesn’t think twice, she is honest, telling Larsa how she feels about the Empire and Vayne. This is courage. She would be a great diplomat.

Penelo is supportive. She is so helpful to the team during the game. She has her own dream (most likely it involves dance) and yet she wants to help Vaan to become a skypirate. She tells him to work, to earn money. Because, war or not, he won’t fly without buying an airship first.

She follows Vaan after she got kidnapped because she has her own beliefs and she deserves to be involved. She may be a commoner, and an orphan, but she is a Dalmascan. What will happen to Dalmasca and Rabanastre matters to her.

So it doesn’t matter if she is not physically strong, if she is not a leader, if she knows nothing about nephicites. She is part of Ivalice and she deserves to be part of the team.

bagamnan:

@vivisucre submitted:

I wanted to answer to your post and give my opinion on the end of the game, but I ended up writing too much again so I submit it.

I don’t know about the song, I never really listen to it. But for me the ending is lacking something.

Maybe because the all story is more realistic and less dramatic than the other FF. Of course there is Basch and Noah’s arc but I could never be emotionally attached to them, so Noah’s end seemed almost normal story-wise to me. The objective of the story is to bring peace to Dalmasca, it happens, there is no big plot twist nor really emotional scene. The plot twist (according to me) is the existence and purpose of the Occurias, but it happens way before the end of the game. I love the philosophical reflection about destiny and fate and who should control your own path, but that is for the analyse of the game, not what we feel watching the ending scene.

I just feel that the end is too similar to the purpose at the beginning of the game. If you think about FFX, the end is the contrary of what should have happened. Same goes for FFXV. But in FFXII ? No big surprise really. The characters had really good development arcs, but the general plot didn’t change that much.

It doesn’t make me love less of the game, it has other qualities, but it is a thought I had a long time ago.

thanks for your submission and your interpretation comparing this ending to some other FF’s! i know a lot of fans really do love basch and noah so it all depends on how you connect with the characters! it’s so interesting how different folks attach themselves to certain characters for whatever reasons just as complex as people themselves.

for me it is hard to place why the ending feels odd–after all, my favorite boy is vaan and the final shot is of him flying off to the sky in his airship. i’m not sure if the ending makes me feel weird or bad or any negative thing, it just. makes me feel sad maybe because it’s over? but like. seeing that shot of vaan, his smile, his airship, it’s like the best feeling for me as someone who spends the whole game in support of him. so maybe it’s just i’m not used to things ending since i don’t consume much media–i don’t read or watch movies or anything really so, it might just be that the fact it ends makes me feel all. funny ‘nd stuff.

sky-paper:

salut-hurricane:

sky-paper:

radicaldreamer017:

fury-brand:

sky-paper:

@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.

on the bright side at least there are npcs in the bazaar who canonically worry that vaans okay so theyd keep the heat off him (a woman near the stairs who expresses worry about vaan and how hes coping with reks’ death, an npc labeled reks friend near the back who tells vaan to be careful, and a shady seeq who knows about vaans thieving and advises him to wait until the consuls parade is done, and later congrats vaan on being a hunter)

skystones:

ugh YES! I have been combing through Rabanastre talking to everyone and there are quite a few people who are sweet to Vaan re: Reks. It’s nice there are people in the city that believed in him and his brother.

sky-paper:

vivisucre:

sky-paper:

fuckup feels time

vaan spends two years thinking reks had something to do with the betrayal

think of how confused and lost he must have felt, on top of the entire fact of the matter that his brother is gone, the only family he had left

it must be such a weight lifted from him, when he follows basch from the resistance hideout, out into the sun and they have that exchange

it must’ve felt so light that he could finally be at peace. in that scene he dips his head and he smiles, not at basch, not at forgiving him, vaan smiles because he’s thinking i knew it, i knew reks had nothing to do with it, thank you

basch didn’t kill him. reks had nothing to do with it. the empire killed his brother.

and he’s going to make it right. for reks and for everyone.

I’m pretty sure It was not easy for Vaan to actually find a job in those two years.

Orphan and Brother of a traitor. Dealing with the loss of his brother is already terrible, but I can imagine people treating him harshly. Migelo took care of him and Penelo, it is canon.

No wonder Vaan decides not to stay in the city with a regular job, and aims for the skies. He needs freedom. From the Empire, and from judgement.

oh my god.

vivi this is brilliant.

honestly? thank you so much for adding more depth to my pre-game vaan

We could imagine so many things…

At first Vaan is honestly trying to find work. But as I said, employers are dissing him, with the excuse of the unstable economy going on.

We shouldn’t forget that Rabanastre is divided in social classes : the lowtown, the market, upper disctrict. Since we see the story through Vaan’s eyes, we meet a lot of poorer people, but not so many upper classes or merchants. I’m sure any social class would give Vaan a hard time, he would only get respect from the people he is helping in the lowtown.

How vaan would react ? Maybe at first he would feel guilty, and think he deserves to be treated poorly (he’s still pretty young). But then he becomes angry (also a phase of grief andloss). Why should he be treated this way ? If the society is rejecting him, why should he try to fit in ? He starts to train in the sewers, to become strong and be able to protect himself outside the city.

But Vaan is not only full of anger. He is still grateful. He’s grateful to Migelo but he is longing for independance. He knows people aren’t always around here, they can disappear pretty fast right ?

Also, he’s an orphan, and orphans are helping each others. They are a small family by themselves. And Vaan seems to be one of the oldest. What he earns, he earns it for his friends, not only for himself (”I’m going to steal treasures in the palace because it belongs to us”). He dreams of independance, but not only for personal gain. He wants to bring treasures to the kids, and hope, and he wants to show them that life is not limited to the city.

Minor trope rant

calypsolovesleo:

Can we please for the love of the gods stop turnning every single ‘i want to protect you’ character as being in love with the person they want to protect. This shit just bugs me. You can want to protect someone and just be friends. I’m mainly looking at the Larsa and Penelo fans who want to reduce Larsa to a ‘he wants to seduce Penelo cause she can do better then Vann’ First and foremost. get the stick out of your ass and tell me how a person has to earn a person’s love. Tell me how a person has to earn happiness. Please tell me how someone has to be this perfect image in order to be happy. Cause thats bullshit.. No matter which way you slice it. Two, Tell me what Vann has to do in order to earn Penelo’s love. Cause he 1) has supported and took care of her 2) makes her happy 3) is a hero. Also i hate to remind people of this but I have to. Larsa’s father took Penelo’s family from her. Why in the heck would she love him? It dosen’t make any sense. Some of you can’t even look at an snake the same way if one eats your dog, don’t tell me that you could love someone who killed your parents and brother. Number 4) what is with everyone having to ship every single damn thing. Now i just know what someone is gonna say. Some random jerk bag is going to come into my inbox and cry ‘ you have no right to say people can just be friends. you ship Caleo and therefore you have to want everyone to get together cause Leo shoulden’t be happy cause-’ shove a godsdamn pole up your ass, im sick of that being thrown in my face. and im not even touching that. I have a point with this. and its this, two guys and two girls CAN be friends. I know its a troubling concept but yes tumblr two girls can cuddle and be platoinc and still only see each other as friends. Two guys can kiss and cuddle and still be friends. Like not everyone is straight not everyone is gay. and yes, straight people are gullty of this too. A guy and a girl can be friends. this is why Vann and Penelo is such a good bond. Vann and Penelo actually love each other but Penelo and Larsa do not. Penelo sees him as a brother. Penelo is married to Vann. Vann supported her, loved her. and made sure she was okay. Vann is her husband and she is his wife. Penelo supported Vann’s dream of being a sky pirate she never held him down with her feelings. as they saying goes ‘if you love someone good enough let it go. if it returns it was meant to be’ Vann returned every single time cause he loves her. Larsa is the emperor and he is happy with his role. (personally i think he’s Aro but thats just me)

okay rant done.

Thank you for this ! The game shows us Vaan’s development arc pretty clear, from mourning and revenge on the Empire to allowing himself to live a free life I guess. But we don’t see much of Penelo’s development I think. Her backstory is more implied, and doesn’t really have an impact on the plot. Her relationship with Larsa may be her key plot, when she is staying with him and they discuss the presence of the Empire in Rabanastre. Here we can understand that she also feels resentment towards the Empire, but she is a pacifist and want things to be changed without violence (as much as possible). I do think Larsa has always been a pacifist too, but thanks to Penelo, he understands forgiveness. He understands that the Empire has caused terrible damage with the war, but also that redemption is possible. Larsa and Penelo represent hope. Hope for a better and peaceful future. There is nothing romantic in this. Larsa does respect Penelo a lot, he wants her to be happy and to protect her, because if she is happy, then it means the People of Dalmasca can be happy.

(nothing against Larsa/Penelo shippers, I just feels friendship is underrepresented and underestimated)