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[muggy_mountain]

What is it about Auron and Lulu --the characters or the couple that attract you? What do they posses or do that draws you to them?

Myself, while they are both entirely pleasant to look at, it is not the image that drew me in. While playing the game for the first time, I was initially attracted to them because they were two of the more believable

Comments

[auronlu]

As for the two of them together, it's difficult to imagine that Auron would notice or allow himself to form an intimate bond with anyone, but if he did so, Lulu seems the most likely candidate. Their strength of will, loyalty, love, selflessness, professionalism, maturity, sternness, and occasional wry sense of humor mesh on similar wavelengths. They're both seasoned guardians; they both know what it means to watch one's summoner die and keep going. Both have close connections with death. Both are formidable, refuse to suffer fools, and are wise enough to shake off outmoded ideas of Yevon when they prove inadequate. They are kindred spirits.

I enjoy visualizing them together, not only for their looks (the mirror-image one-eyed look pleases me for its symmetry), but because Lulu's magic and Auron's sword complement one another. I have SO much fun putting them in combat and imagining them appreciating each others' professional expertise, communicating without words or via cutting remarks.

I think of them as a bit like John Steed and Ms. Peel: cool, collected, witty and self-confident in battle. As dagas_isa points out, they are close to being on equal footing. The problem with formidable characters is that others tend to wilt in their presence. I feel sorry for Wakka-- he'll spend the rest of his life feeling inadequate, while she'll spend the rest of her life being patient (or not) with him. No such problem with Auron; Lulu's probably the only living woman in Spira who's sure enough of her own power not to be overawed by the legendary hero.

Venus sigil, Mars sigil: Love and War. There's so much poetic balance between them! Like the gods whose symbols they carry, I can't help imagining them as vigorous lovers, taking their fierceness and devilish streaks into the bedroom.

Most of all, I'm fixed on that tragedy archetype. Lulu's heart lies with the dead: Ginnem, Chappu, her parents. She's nearly let go, but she really only lets go of Chappu in Guadosalam, and it doesn't help much: she's on course to watch Yuna die and possibly her other remaining friends. Is she strong enough to seize a little joy first? Is she strong enough to let go again, should she survive? As for Auron, it's too late for him to find love, yet my "carpe diem" side wants him to defy Yunalesca just a little, seize a few weeks' life and passion back from death's jaws. The sadness of a liason that's running out of time is so bittersweet yet brave in a world where the dead control the living. It's a form of defiance. I want Orpheus and Eurydice to have one last dance.

(P.S. Muggy_Mountain, thanks: I've been pecking away sporadically at an essay for ship_manifesto for a while, and this has gotten me a lot farther along).