stufffffff
A while ago I was talking with a friend about my interpretation of Kristoph, and I figure I may as well make some notes here on what I said so people have an idea of what I'm thinking. It's not really an essay but I need to do a more essay-y essay later after I've played him more and with more people that are completely unassociated with the AA cast. FOR NOW THERE'S THIS.
(...I didn't ask my friend if I could post anything so if you read this, sup. ilu. I snipped out parts of our conversation. 8|b)
-friend: I wonder what Kristoph looks like in khaki shorts, sandals, and a striped polo.
me: oh my god
me: ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
me: SO wrong
me: it probably says something that the pictures of Kristoph in a fancy dress are MUCH more believable
friend: They really are. There is an income barrier way before a gender barrier.
-...right, so, Kristoph is insanely classist. He has disdain and disgust for the common people, and I believe this factors in to how he can kill dudes without much caring, because to him they barely even register as equal human beings anyway. This sounds very extreme when it's typed out and probably it is not as extreme as it reads, but with the hissy fit tirade he threw over the Jurist system, I think it... really is pretty bad.
-my friend, who is a psychology geek, was also tossing out some smart-sounding personality analysis and psychological insight. Obviously Kristoph is mentally unstable, and narcissistic. Friend suggested he might have histrionic personality disorder, which I don't entirely agree with? but I don't know enough about it personally to say and it's something to think about I guess. Also, he's a first child, and really there's quite a few years between him and Klavier, and going from settling into an only-child lifestyle to SUDDENLY there is a baby in the family, and lol someone like Kristoph, I think he would be jealous. I will now proceed to blame Klavier for my psychosis. (not really, but slightly in part.)
-Kristoph does in fact love being a defense attorney. He loved his job! He has a knowledge of the law like you wouldn't believe. He does not, however, love being a defense attorney for the same reasons Phoenix and Apollo do. They have an idealistic drive to save the innocent--Kristoph has no such thing. My belief is that Kristoph is sort of the opposite: he has the morbid drive to see what he can get people out of. If the law is manipulated just so, if you can cover this and that up and hop through loopholes, perhaps pin it on someone else and maybe forge evidence to make sure everything runs smoothly--the law is a game! Kristoph likes the game, it is a fun game. He wants to win it. And he can, and does! His attachment to his job has nothing to do with his clients--he doesn't care about them in the least. It's really all about his own entertainment. That he enjoys toying with people's lives like that is again part of what makes him slightly not right in the head. (ETA now that I'm rereading this--but it's also what makes him able to keep such a cool head in court. Phoenix and Apollo always end up freaking out over their trials because they sincerely worry about their clients, but Kristoph is able to keep a level head because the stakes are not that high for him. This is how he can be the COOLEST DEFENSE IN THE WEST!)
-he's basically asexual. I mean. Yeah. I think he's too crazy for sexual attraction.
-going back to Kristoph's drive to win, me and friend started drawing parallels between him and the von Karmas, where we found kind of a major difference. He pointed out that the von Karmas were more concerned with the von Karma reputation, whereas Kristoph doesn't give a fuck about his family, and it's all about his own PERSONAL reputation. (When he was urging Klavier to consider his reputation he was making a faulty assumption that Klavier thought anything like he does. plus, he was really concerned about his own reputation. After he'd already been convicted for murder he still wanted to minimize his losses and scrape by with the highest amount of dignity and 'victory', even if he's going to be sentenced to death either way.) He's not upholding a long-term perfect record, but he has a personal competitive drive, and a personal reputation to keep.
-RE: Kristoph being 'evil':
me: It doesn't really suit--him. Like he's not MU HA HA I WILL POISON THE LITTLE CHILDRENS though uh, he does poison the little childrens
me: It's not that he gets joy out of poisoning the little childrens, it's incidental
friend: Right. Anyone that stands in his way needs to go. Anyone.
me: yesss
-he voted against Phoenix losing his badge because he wanted to bring Phoenix closer to him so he could keep an eye on him. He knew that everyone else would vote for Phoenix's disbarment so he made a strategic symbolic vote. ON ONE HAND, THIS KINDA WORKED OUT FOR HIM, because being friends with Phoenix is what got him to find Zak Gramarye and kill him. On the other hand, uh, also Phoenix ended up cluing into his true nature and planning the counterattack that would destroy Kristoph's life in return. WHOOPS!
Ok so what I have to write an essay on later is: Kristoph in camp. Because a lot of this stuff doesn't apply as well when Kristoph is A) post-game with post-game canonmates who know he is a dick and will tell other people that he is a dick and B) in CAMP FUCK YOU DIE, where you can't afford to be classist, killing people will not make them go away, etc etc. We don't know how Kristoph acts in the time after his final defeat; for all I know he completely broke the rest of his sanity that day (though I obviously don't play him that way). The point is it's a tricksy thing to balance out but I have to balance it out, Kristoph has to adapt to a life after failure, which is something that I hope to play out better when I play more, and then I can essay about it. yeahhhh babe.
NOW, TIME TO GO SHOPPING. Comments are welcomed, I will get to them when I come back.
(...I didn't ask my friend if I could post anything so if you read this, sup. ilu. I snipped out parts of our conversation. 8|b)
-friend: I wonder what Kristoph looks like in khaki shorts, sandals, and a striped polo.
me: oh my god
me: ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
me: SO wrong
me: it probably says something that the pictures of Kristoph in a fancy dress are MUCH more believable
friend: They really are. There is an income barrier way before a gender barrier.
-...right, so, Kristoph is insanely classist. He has disdain and disgust for the common people, and I believe this factors in to how he can kill dudes without much caring, because to him they barely even register as equal human beings anyway. This sounds very extreme when it's typed out and probably it is not as extreme as it reads, but with the hissy fit tirade he threw over the Jurist system, I think it... really is pretty bad.
-my friend, who is a psychology geek, was also tossing out some smart-sounding personality analysis and psychological insight. Obviously Kristoph is mentally unstable, and narcissistic. Friend suggested he might have histrionic personality disorder, which I don't entirely agree with? but I don't know enough about it personally to say and it's something to think about I guess. Also, he's a first child, and really there's quite a few years between him and Klavier, and going from settling into an only-child lifestyle to SUDDENLY there is a baby in the family, and lol someone like Kristoph, I think he would be jealous. I will now proceed to blame Klavier for my psychosis. (not really, but slightly in part.)
-Kristoph does in fact love being a defense attorney. He loved his job! He has a knowledge of the law like you wouldn't believe. He does not, however, love being a defense attorney for the same reasons Phoenix and Apollo do. They have an idealistic drive to save the innocent--Kristoph has no such thing. My belief is that Kristoph is sort of the opposite: he has the morbid drive to see what he can get people out of. If the law is manipulated just so, if you can cover this and that up and hop through loopholes, perhaps pin it on someone else and maybe forge evidence to make sure everything runs smoothly--the law is a game! Kristoph likes the game, it is a fun game. He wants to win it. And he can, and does! His attachment to his job has nothing to do with his clients--he doesn't care about them in the least. It's really all about his own entertainment. That he enjoys toying with people's lives like that is again part of what makes him slightly not right in the head. (ETA now that I'm rereading this--but it's also what makes him able to keep such a cool head in court. Phoenix and Apollo always end up freaking out over their trials because they sincerely worry about their clients, but Kristoph is able to keep a level head because the stakes are not that high for him. This is how he can be the COOLEST DEFENSE IN THE WEST!)
-he's basically asexual. I mean. Yeah. I think he's too crazy for sexual attraction.
-going back to Kristoph's drive to win, me and friend started drawing parallels between him and the von Karmas, where we found kind of a major difference. He pointed out that the von Karmas were more concerned with the von Karma reputation, whereas Kristoph doesn't give a fuck about his family, and it's all about his own PERSONAL reputation. (When he was urging Klavier to consider his reputation he was making a faulty assumption that Klavier thought anything like he does. plus, he was really concerned about his own reputation. After he'd already been convicted for murder he still wanted to minimize his losses and scrape by with the highest amount of dignity and 'victory', even if he's going to be sentenced to death either way.) He's not upholding a long-term perfect record, but he has a personal competitive drive, and a personal reputation to keep.
-RE: Kristoph being 'evil':
me: It doesn't really suit--him. Like he's not MU HA HA I WILL POISON THE LITTLE CHILDRENS though uh, he does poison the little childrens
me: It's not that he gets joy out of poisoning the little childrens, it's incidental
friend: Right. Anyone that stands in his way needs to go. Anyone.
me: yesss
-he voted against Phoenix losing his badge because he wanted to bring Phoenix closer to him so he could keep an eye on him. He knew that everyone else would vote for Phoenix's disbarment so he made a strategic symbolic vote. ON ONE HAND, THIS KINDA WORKED OUT FOR HIM, because being friends with Phoenix is what got him to find Zak Gramarye and kill him. On the other hand, uh, also Phoenix ended up cluing into his true nature and planning the counterattack that would destroy Kristoph's life in return. WHOOPS!
Ok so what I have to write an essay on later is: Kristoph in camp. Because a lot of this stuff doesn't apply as well when Kristoph is A) post-game with post-game canonmates who know he is a dick and will tell other people that he is a dick and B) in CAMP FUCK YOU DIE, where you can't afford to be classist, killing people will not make them go away, etc etc. We don't know how Kristoph acts in the time after his final defeat; for all I know he completely broke the rest of his sanity that day (though I obviously don't play him that way). The point is it's a tricksy thing to balance out but I have to balance it out, Kristoph has to adapt to a life after failure, which is something that I hope to play out better when I play more, and then I can essay about it. yeahhhh babe.
NOW, TIME TO GO SHOPPING. Comments are welcomed, I will get to them when I come back.