Grasping at Shadows [5/5] (Suikoden II, Jowy and the Highlanders)

[puella_nerdii]

Seven months, 38.5k words, 88 pages, three garbled save files, two lost notebooks, one additional playthrough, way too many weeks of writer’s block, hours of whining, and a ton of attempts to make sense of the weirder parts of SII’s script later, I stick a fork in this fic, for it is done at lastAnd you know what, I don’t say this kind of thing a

Comments

[val_tanelle]

I suppose it's the game's fault why I felt Jowy was the more vocal one between the two, what with Riou being a silent protagonist and seemingly following every Shu's command. I do understand your interpretation; it reinforces the difference between the two of them so I would have really wanted to see Jowy try and failing, and I doubt it would always be so amusing. I wound find it personally painful what with all the ideal he has, he lacks (as per your interpretation) the power to bring people together (I guess that makes him better suited as a strategist). Most of us seem to accept Jowy's statement of how he envies Riou to be able to bring people together but from what we've seen so far, Jowy isn't really that different despite what he says. The only understanding there is to what he said was because of the whole 108 SoD thing.

To be honest though regarding Jowy, I agree with Jillia. I'd admire him for his dreams and ideals. I disagree that Culgan and Seed only followed him because of their commitment to Highland. That's just part of it - I believe they saw what Jillia saw in Jowy. Or else wouldn't it be safer to side with Agares Blight? I don't disagree exactly with what you said; I think that's sort of true but only because Jowy finds it harder to open up. He didn't have a sister like Nanami on his side to support him. He only had Pilika, a constant reminder of how he failed her and her family.

He hides a lot of secrets and agenda. He might not have charisma as you say but he might have had the same power as Riou if the circumstances had been different; if only he could forgive and love himself. Given what he's done, he doesn't seem to care about his own life. Not out of martyrdom but as atonement for his sins.

Oh and my rp staff and I once discussed a theory that Jowy conspired to bring Highland down all along from his declaration in the beginning of the game that he would never forgive the country that betrayed them. It might sound crazy but he might have plotted to let Jowston win the war to get rid of Highland from the map.

EDIT: And I wanted to add about my comment regarding the thoughts and why they didn't do the impact they were supposed to have. It might have conflicted with the feeling you were giving that he was becoming emotional detached. It's not just with him - anyone in the middle of war would experience that and I felt the thoughts were unnecessary to add. What comes in my mind was when he wanted to "punch Sasarai." As humorous as it was, it felt childish and witty. It's not bad but the fanfic wasn't going with that kind of humor. I love that more subtle, less-talking-to-the-reader one where Seed kids about Jowy being the "right age." It's like one of the funniest, most spot-on Suikoden joke ever. And the talk with Seed's injury - there, that's the kind of humor appropriate for the fanfic. I found the scene with Sasarai out of place. It felt too direct and made the reader side with Jowy. Yeah, Sasarai was a douche but Luca is infinitely worse, yet I'm sure given his performance readers side with Luca's character still and he will surely be missed now that he's gone. The way Sasarai was portrayed made him look like a generic politician douchebag people were just supposed to hate (in a good way! Who can hate Sasarai?).

While Jowy is being portrayed to be emotionally detached, he continues to portray emotions toward the readers, so it felt like it wasn't being cohesive to me and the style at the last part seemed abrupt. Because at first Jowy had this "voice" to the readers then as we progressed to the end, it was gone.

When I think of emotional detachment especially in the case of war, I think they have less time to reflect on what they're doing and almost move routinely. Jowy came off to me as if he's wearing his heart on his sleeves all the time, though he's good at hiding it.

I hope you don't misinterpret my comments. Oh, I definitely enjoyed the fanfic but Chapter 5 could have been better. I don't mean to spoil your sense of accomplishment (dude, you should really be proud) but to me, it's better to give justice to people's efforts by being reasonable and honest. Everything has its flaws. Regardless, like I said, I still enjoyed this fanfic and consider it one of the best I've ever read.