FFXII Essay: In the Future, If Afterwards... [Larsa X Penelo]
Dear God. I’ve just written my very first essay (maybe I am missing school more than I thought) for fandom and it’s all about how an imperial marriage between Larsa and Penelo would hopefully not be a flaming, empire-tearing disaster. My OTP has sunk it’s claws into me deep and is not letting go.
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One of the best and most interesting things about being in fandom is being able to speak and debate with so many other people about what they believe really went on and will eventually happen in canon. And one of my favorite people to discuss that with in the Final Fantasy XII fandom is Mithrigil, author of some incredibly interesting fanfics about how all of our party favorites could end up far after the game. (Seriously, I pimp her work out at every opportunity. It’s bloody brilliant stuff.) In her fics, she came up with an incredibly heart-breaking ending for my favorite potential couple in FFXII, Larsa and Penelo.
In her own words from this entry:
“Penelo becomes Larsa's lover at some point, but he eventually marries someone for political reasons. Unable to reconcile this, Penelo leaves him. She remains by Vaan until he marries as well, and I'm not sure what happens after that but she would be a great mother and a better grandmother, so…”
A great summary of what also went down is available in this drabble..
So anyway, in the context of her universe and while discussing a set of annotations she had given for the story Hem, I asked her (after learning Larsa died in his mid-50s after he jilted Penelo for a foreign princess):
Mariagoner: “Would Larsa have lived any longer if he ever married Penelo and learned about the wonders of early retirement? …Or is it just my own romantic image of marriage talking here?”
And she answered…
Mithrigil: He would have died even younger had he married Penelo. The happiness would have been augmented, certainly--as would the stress of running the recalcitrant realm. Less approval, more uncertainty.
And while it’s true that marrying Penelo and making her his empress in the very distant future would probably be met with more initial bafflement by Archadians than if he had married your random noble woman or princess… I thought, is that union necessarily doomed? Is there any way, in any possible post-game-scenario, that he could have actually been happy and have content citizens and a stable realm if he married her?
Personally, I think that if Larsa ever married Penelo, he could practice the ancient art of PR to eventually woo the Archadian people over to her. Hell, if he played it just right, he might even increase his own regime's popularity in the eyes of the common people. After all, in many ways, Larsa would probably be a radical departure from the rulers who had previously held power over Archadia-- and change is always feared, especially when it comes in the form of giving costly reparations to formerly conquered kingdoms. For instance, how happy do you think that the average Archadian citizen (who was probably perfectly content to see their empire gobble up more and more territories as the years went by) was to see the head of his state just hand over territory willy-nilly for some wooly-headed notion of "peaceful coexistence"? Taking Penelo as his bride could potentially give him a chance to increase his standing with the common folk who make up the majority of his empire that he would not have otherwise.
One thing that struck me about Archadian society is that it certainly is stratified as all hell... but it also prizes ambition and actively asks its people to climb the ranks of society via service to the empire in order to get a hold of those ridiculous chops. In that sort of surprisingly mobile society, I can see Horatio Alger-style folk-stories and heroes abounding and a ruler made more through ambition and/or love than royal blood being eventually embraced. Therefore, I believe that an imperial marriage between Larsa and Penelo could actually become very feasible and even agreeable for most of the empire if he did the following:
1. Cut a deal with Ashe to elevate Penelo to aristocracy as a reward for her exceptional services for the kingdom of Dalmasca. Considering she helped slip that crown back of Ashe's head through Vayne's defeat, that's not really that great a stretch. She would still be from ignoble origins, true, but it would serve as a sop to soothe some of the worries of traditionalists.
2. Make their marriage serve as a symbol of the new peace between Archadia and Dalmasca. Hell, hard feelings must still abound between the two-- how happy would Dalmascans be with Emperor Larsa, considering he's still the head of a terrifying former adversary and the territory pummeling Gramis' son and Vayne‘s brother? How happy would the average Archadian be with giving up valuable former territory? If he made marrying Penelo look like a move that would serve the interests of his empire, people might respect his decision more as something that came from both his heart and mind, rather than just his loins.
3. Simultaneously pushed the "true love" angle along with the "let's make reparations to Dalmasca through introducing Dalmascan blood to the Solidor line" angle. Romantic love is probably just as thematically important to those of Ivalice as it is to us today-- and everyone loves a good happy ending. If the (very, very carefully edited) story of their courting and relationship were spread throughout, they could even become the Jack and Jackie Kennedy (So young! So pretty! So in love and so different from the other horse-faced, inbred aristocrats!) of their day.
4. Spun a rags-to-riches Horatio Alger/Cinderella story for her that would appeal to the average-but-ambitious Archadian. After all, if, through incredible courage and luck, a simple Dalmascan shop-girl could eventually become Empress of a vast realm, anyone in the empire could hope to hit it big. Hell, she could even serve as an inspiration to the public in that respect.
5. Arranged for her to engage in plenty of public, lavishly chronicled acts of charity for the poor and needy so that she could win a few hearts as a sort of "People's Empress"-- as opposed to the usually remote and glittering aristocracy that most of the average people know. That alone could do much to set her apart and endear her to those who could actually admire the compassion her ignoble origins granted her.
6. Sent her off as a peace ambassador of sorts to benighted former realms to assure them of Archadia’s continuing good will towards them. (Think of her engaging in the work of UN ambassadors like Audrey Hepburn or Angelina Jolie-- going to refugee camps, personally visiting the sick and ailing of other countries, etc.) Again, she could serve as the public face of the kinder, gentler Archadia, one that actively works hard to rebuild former, war-ton territories. Larsa has probably already acted as such before… but as the vital head of his state, he wouldn’t have the ability to travel about and take security risks the way Penelo would. (Not that he’d necessarily be happy about said security risks… but Empresses, sadly, do tend to be expendable than Emperor. And I don‘t think Penelo would let anything stop her from doing good if she wanted to.) Hell, she'd probably work harder at her "job" than any other Empress Arcadia has ever had.
In short, I can see Emperess Penelo Solidor eventually becoming a very beloved figure for most of the Archadians of the middle- and lower-classes, though the aristocracy might forever sneer at someone from the lower-classes who ascended to their sphere. (Though I figure even they'd be bright enough to know that to keep favor with her uxorious husband, they had better at least pretend to respect her.) To make a vaguely sacrilegious comparison, Penelo’s cult of personality might be akin to that which sprung up around the Virgin Mary in Medieval Europe. Christians venerated Mary because she was different, more human and more approachable than God or Jesus Christ was to them.
And after she has a child or two with Larsa, her place would be even more fixed. The primary duty of a royal bride, after all, was to pump out heirs for her country. In essence, I believe that with the proper manipulation, public approval for Larsa's unconventional marriage to a former gutter rat and sky pirate would come through.
(Also, I have this idea that once Archadia stops its business of conquering territories whole-sale, it would have to start proving its might in other way-- and one could be through a commitment to creating innovative new technologies and magicks and what-have-you in order to remain dominant in some fashion. And since I believe that Penelo has the potential to grow up to be a sort of magical/medical innovator, since she was doing so well in both fields as a teenager, she could eventually grow up to be the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of her day. And if that was the case, she'd be even more embraced by an empire tired of war but that still wanted to compete with their traditional enemy, Rozzarria, in some fashion.)
Mind you, Larsa could still die early of stress from having to ascend to all the pressures of a throne so young-- though I cherish the idea that by the time he's in his fifties, his children would have taken over before he dies prematurely. However, I don't think that marrying Penelo would have been an immovable obstacle to building an important and lasting legacy for himself. It might be more difficult than if he had just married your random, run-of-the-mill princess... but who said the course of real love tended to run smooth? ;)
In many ways, Larsa strikes me as an incredibly unconventional person. Despite having a father who ordered the deaths of two of his own sons, despite growing up with a brother who cared more about amassing power and nebulously gaining control of his own destiny (never mind the pain it caused others), despite being directed by a Senate that thought it was perfectly acceptable to pit him against his brother to use him as a puppet... Larsa ended up breaking with the prevailing might-makes-right philosophy of both his family and his empire. He ended up changing all of Archadian society at the age of 12 because he believed that it needed to break free from the spiral of war and madness it had been going through in the past.
And in the best of futures possible after the game, I see Larsa as someone eventually learns to avoid all the mistakes all of his family have made in their quest for power-- one of which must be to have married high-born women and raise thoroughly blue-blooded children more for the sake of royal legitimacy than real love. That's why I believe that the most satisfying ending for him would be to marry Penelo, at least if he loved her and she him.
Penelo is nothing like what a traditional royal bride would be: she wasn't born to the splendor of society, she can't bring in an enormous dowry with her and she's probably not an untouched virgin. (Reks X Penelo OTP: Their love was so sweet but short-stopped.) But I believe that the potential for real happiness for the two of them is there. True love doesn't necessarily conquer all-- but love, courage, faith, intelligence and conviction are a formidable combination of factors that I believe both Larsa and Penelo could bring to bear to solve their "royal vs. commoner" problem.
So tell me, those of you who could make it through this huge essay, does it make any sense at all to believe that Larsa and Penelo could end up being an actually happy royal couple quite a few years past the end of the game? Or are they necessarily doomed to be separated in the future because of their differing stations in life? Do they have any hope of a long-term relationship at all?
---
One of the best and most interesting things about being in fandom is being able to speak and debate with so many other people about what they believe really went on and will eventually happen in canon. And one of my favorite people to discuss that with in the Final Fantasy XII fandom is Mithrigil, author of some incredibly interesting fanfics about how all of our party favorites could end up far after the game. (Seriously, I pimp her work out at every opportunity. It’s bloody brilliant stuff.) In her fics, she came up with an incredibly heart-breaking ending for my favorite potential couple in FFXII, Larsa and Penelo.
In her own words from this entry:
“Penelo becomes Larsa's lover at some point, but he eventually marries someone for political reasons. Unable to reconcile this, Penelo leaves him. She remains by Vaan until he marries as well, and I'm not sure what happens after that but she would be a great mother and a better grandmother, so…”
A great summary of what also went down is available in this drabble..
So anyway, in the context of her universe and while discussing a set of annotations she had given for the story Hem, I asked her (after learning Larsa died in his mid-50s after he jilted Penelo for a foreign princess):
Mariagoner: “Would Larsa have lived any longer if he ever married Penelo and learned about the wonders of early retirement? …Or is it just my own romantic image of marriage talking here?”
And she answered…
Mithrigil: He would have died even younger had he married Penelo. The happiness would have been augmented, certainly--as would the stress of running the recalcitrant realm. Less approval, more uncertainty.
And while it’s true that marrying Penelo and making her his empress in the very distant future would probably be met with more initial bafflement by Archadians than if he had married your random noble woman or princess… I thought, is that union necessarily doomed? Is there any way, in any possible post-game-scenario, that he could have actually been happy and have content citizens and a stable realm if he married her?
Personally, I think that if Larsa ever married Penelo, he could practice the ancient art of PR to eventually woo the Archadian people over to her. Hell, if he played it just right, he might even increase his own regime's popularity in the eyes of the common people. After all, in many ways, Larsa would probably be a radical departure from the rulers who had previously held power over Archadia-- and change is always feared, especially when it comes in the form of giving costly reparations to formerly conquered kingdoms. For instance, how happy do you think that the average Archadian citizen (who was probably perfectly content to see their empire gobble up more and more territories as the years went by) was to see the head of his state just hand over territory willy-nilly for some wooly-headed notion of "peaceful coexistence"? Taking Penelo as his bride could potentially give him a chance to increase his standing with the common folk who make up the majority of his empire that he would not have otherwise.
One thing that struck me about Archadian society is that it certainly is stratified as all hell... but it also prizes ambition and actively asks its people to climb the ranks of society via service to the empire in order to get a hold of those ridiculous chops. In that sort of surprisingly mobile society, I can see Horatio Alger-style folk-stories and heroes abounding and a ruler made more through ambition and/or love than royal blood being eventually embraced. Therefore, I believe that an imperial marriage between Larsa and Penelo could actually become very feasible and even agreeable for most of the empire if he did the following:
1. Cut a deal with Ashe to elevate Penelo to aristocracy as a reward for her exceptional services for the kingdom of Dalmasca. Considering she helped slip that crown back of Ashe's head through Vayne's defeat, that's not really that great a stretch. She would still be from ignoble origins, true, but it would serve as a sop to soothe some of the worries of traditionalists.
2. Make their marriage serve as a symbol of the new peace between Archadia and Dalmasca. Hell, hard feelings must still abound between the two-- how happy would Dalmascans be with Emperor Larsa, considering he's still the head of a terrifying former adversary and the territory pummeling Gramis' son and Vayne‘s brother? How happy would the average Archadian be with giving up valuable former territory? If he made marrying Penelo look like a move that would serve the interests of his empire, people might respect his decision more as something that came from both his heart and mind, rather than just his loins.
3. Simultaneously pushed the "true love" angle along with the "let's make reparations to Dalmasca through introducing Dalmascan blood to the Solidor line" angle. Romantic love is probably just as thematically important to those of Ivalice as it is to us today-- and everyone loves a good happy ending. If the (very, very carefully edited) story of their courting and relationship were spread throughout, they could even become the Jack and Jackie Kennedy (So young! So pretty! So in love and so different from the other horse-faced, inbred aristocrats!) of their day.
4. Spun a rags-to-riches Horatio Alger/Cinderella story for her that would appeal to the average-but-ambitious Archadian. After all, if, through incredible courage and luck, a simple Dalmascan shop-girl could eventually become Empress of a vast realm, anyone in the empire could hope to hit it big. Hell, she could even serve as an inspiration to the public in that respect.
5. Arranged for her to engage in plenty of public, lavishly chronicled acts of charity for the poor and needy so that she could win a few hearts as a sort of "People's Empress"-- as opposed to the usually remote and glittering aristocracy that most of the average people know. That alone could do much to set her apart and endear her to those who could actually admire the compassion her ignoble origins granted her.
6. Sent her off as a peace ambassador of sorts to benighted former realms to assure them of Archadia’s continuing good will towards them. (Think of her engaging in the work of UN ambassadors like Audrey Hepburn or Angelina Jolie-- going to refugee camps, personally visiting the sick and ailing of other countries, etc.) Again, she could serve as the public face of the kinder, gentler Archadia, one that actively works hard to rebuild former, war-ton territories. Larsa has probably already acted as such before… but as the vital head of his state, he wouldn’t have the ability to travel about and take security risks the way Penelo would. (Not that he’d necessarily be happy about said security risks… but Empresses, sadly, do tend to be expendable than Emperor. And I don‘t think Penelo would let anything stop her from doing good if she wanted to.) Hell, she'd probably work harder at her "job" than any other Empress Arcadia has ever had.
In short, I can see Emperess Penelo Solidor eventually becoming a very beloved figure for most of the Archadians of the middle- and lower-classes, though the aristocracy might forever sneer at someone from the lower-classes who ascended to their sphere. (Though I figure even they'd be bright enough to know that to keep favor with her uxorious husband, they had better at least pretend to respect her.) To make a vaguely sacrilegious comparison, Penelo’s cult of personality might be akin to that which sprung up around the Virgin Mary in Medieval Europe. Christians venerated Mary because she was different, more human and more approachable than God or Jesus Christ was to them.
And after she has a child or two with Larsa, her place would be even more fixed. The primary duty of a royal bride, after all, was to pump out heirs for her country. In essence, I believe that with the proper manipulation, public approval for Larsa's unconventional marriage to a former gutter rat and sky pirate would come through.
(Also, I have this idea that once Archadia stops its business of conquering territories whole-sale, it would have to start proving its might in other way-- and one could be through a commitment to creating innovative new technologies and magicks and what-have-you in order to remain dominant in some fashion. And since I believe that Penelo has the potential to grow up to be a sort of magical/medical innovator, since she was doing so well in both fields as a teenager, she could eventually grow up to be the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of her day. And if that was the case, she'd be even more embraced by an empire tired of war but that still wanted to compete with their traditional enemy, Rozzarria, in some fashion.)
Mind you, Larsa could still die early of stress from having to ascend to all the pressures of a throne so young-- though I cherish the idea that by the time he's in his fifties, his children would have taken over before he dies prematurely. However, I don't think that marrying Penelo would have been an immovable obstacle to building an important and lasting legacy for himself. It might be more difficult than if he had just married your random, run-of-the-mill princess... but who said the course of real love tended to run smooth? ;)
In many ways, Larsa strikes me as an incredibly unconventional person. Despite having a father who ordered the deaths of two of his own sons, despite growing up with a brother who cared more about amassing power and nebulously gaining control of his own destiny (never mind the pain it caused others), despite being directed by a Senate that thought it was perfectly acceptable to pit him against his brother to use him as a puppet... Larsa ended up breaking with the prevailing might-makes-right philosophy of both his family and his empire. He ended up changing all of Archadian society at the age of 12 because he believed that it needed to break free from the spiral of war and madness it had been going through in the past.
And in the best of futures possible after the game, I see Larsa as someone eventually learns to avoid all the mistakes all of his family have made in their quest for power-- one of which must be to have married high-born women and raise thoroughly blue-blooded children more for the sake of royal legitimacy than real love. That's why I believe that the most satisfying ending for him would be to marry Penelo, at least if he loved her and she him.
Penelo is nothing like what a traditional royal bride would be: she wasn't born to the splendor of society, she can't bring in an enormous dowry with her and she's probably not an untouched virgin. (Reks X Penelo OTP: Their love was so sweet but short-stopped.) But I believe that the potential for real happiness for the two of them is there. True love doesn't necessarily conquer all-- but love, courage, faith, intelligence and conviction are a formidable combination of factors that I believe both Larsa and Penelo could bring to bear to solve their "royal vs. commoner" problem.
So tell me, those of you who could make it through this huge essay, does it make any sense at all to believe that Larsa and Penelo could end up being an actually happy royal couple quite a few years past the end of the game? Or are they necessarily doomed to be separated in the future because of their differing stations in life? Do they have any hope of a long-term relationship at all?