Thank you for reviewing! It's always nice when someone new offers me constructive criticism. ;)
I honestly do believe that, simply because of the rather thin characterizations that pretty much all the characters of FFXII received, there's plenty of room for interpretation for everyone. It's perfectly possible to view Vayne as a completely sane tyrant who simply let his lust for power or what have you lead him down very dark roads. People have written him in this way plenty of times and they've written him well.
But personally, I prefer to think of him as someone who isn't quite a psychopath but skirts very close to the edges at times. Simply put, the Vayne I write is someone who can do damn near anything to damn near anyone to achieve his goals-- the sole exception to this being Larsa, his brother and the one person he believes (thanks to their common lineage and similar intellect/personalities) to be truly "real" and worthy of respect. My Vayne really doesn't have principles-- at least not towards other people. He'd cheerfully double-cross, assassinate or ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, all wile assuring himself in the end that whatever he does is justified for the common good and his grandiose goal of freeing mankind from the grip of the Occuria.
I still prefer to view Vayne as a very human monster-- he can love and loves passionately-- though his love is remarkably narrow and seems to only include his brother and his 'guardian' Venat through the entire game. And he can be out-smarted and defeated and betrayed by the one human being he most loves-- see the ending of FFXII. But he's still a monster in many ways... though god only knows how much his heritage or his upbringing has to play in making him so.
Again, your interpretation of Vayne can differ and be perfectly valid; this is just the Vayne I find most fun. ;) And if you'd like to see more of Vayne, I have another piece on him up right now:
Oh, but I do not think of Vayne as evil monster. Or a monster at all... Even a tyrant is overdoing for me. After all, he have an aim in his live - to free humans from cruel gods (and Occuria is true evil in Ivalice), he does a lot for his House and his Arcadia (and just look on things from his point of view - Rozarria gathering troops, Bhujerba hiding rebels and who knows wat else to answer it Arcadia needs strong Leader, not a child or a old man). And he is not really doing any tyranny... War was not only his decision, but his father too made it. (a pity that no one bothered to show why, for example he and Cid were talking about lack of time) I think to call Vayne evil is the same as calling Alexander the Great evil... (If I were to name an evil Emperor... the title suites Gramis so much better...) But we are not talking about it, right? ^_^;; I did not see any fixation on Larsa in Vayne. Maybe because child runs around and no one seem to care that he consorting enemies (like Al-Cid), criminals (like Balthier), outlaws (like Ashe) or zombies and such. Strange for Vayne... not to care at all. But he did a great job in putting Larsa into perfect place in the end - were dear brother was save no matter the outcome. If Vayne won - he can just scold silly brother a bit, say that he will understand it then he gets older... and if "good ones" won - Larsa is innocent, was against it and so not to blame in any way (I do not think Larsa outsmarted Vayne, only betrayed and that was very Solidor thing to do - sacrifice a family for greater good. Again... Boy was played by lots of people including his brother... at least it looks like it to me and in the end, on Bahamut, Larsa`s decision did not matter... `till Vayne death at least) But for one thing you are perfectly right... so many logical holes in the game - you can twist it any way you like *^_^*
I honestly do believe that, simply because of the rather thin characterizations that pretty much all the characters of FFXII received, there's plenty of room for interpretation for everyone. It's perfectly possible to view Vayne as a completely sane tyrant who simply let his lust for power or what have you lead him down very dark roads. People have written him in this way plenty of times and they've written him well.
But personally, I prefer to think of him as someone who isn't quite a psychopath but skirts very close to the edges at times. Simply put, the Vayne I write is someone who can do damn near anything to damn near anyone to achieve his goals-- the sole exception to this being Larsa, his brother and the one person he believes (thanks to their common lineage and similar intellect/personalities) to be truly "real" and worthy of respect. My Vayne really doesn't have principles-- at least not towards other people. He'd cheerfully double-cross, assassinate or ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, all wile assuring himself in the end that whatever he does is justified for the common good and his grandiose goal of freeing mankind from the grip of the Occuria.
I still prefer to view Vayne as a very human monster-- he can love and loves passionately-- though his love is remarkably narrow and seems to only include his brother and his 'guardian' Venat through the entire game. And he can be out-smarted and defeated and betrayed by the one human being he most loves-- see the ending of FFXII. But he's still a monster in many ways... though god only knows how much his heritage or his upbringing has to play in making him so.
Again, your interpretation of Vayne can differ and be perfectly valid; this is just the Vayne I find most fun. ;) And if you'd like to see more of Vayne, I have another piece on him up right now:
http://mariagoner.livejournal.com/129565.html
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But we are not talking about it, right? ^_^;;
I did not see any fixation on Larsa in Vayne. Maybe because child runs around and no one seem to care that he consorting enemies (like Al-Cid), criminals (like Balthier), outlaws (like Ashe) or zombies and such. Strange for Vayne... not to care at all.
But he did a great job in putting Larsa into perfect place in the end - were dear brother was save no matter the outcome. If Vayne won - he can just scold silly brother a bit, say that he will understand it then he gets older... and if "good ones" won - Larsa is innocent, was against it and so not to blame in any way (I do not think Larsa outsmarted Vayne, only betrayed and that was very Solidor thing to do - sacrifice a family for greater good. Again... Boy was played by lots of people including his brother... at least it looks like it to me and in the end, on Bahamut, Larsa`s decision did not matter... `till Vayne death at least)
But for one thing you are perfectly right... so many logical holes in the game - you can twist it any way you like *^_^*
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