[Women Lovefest] Why I Love Ashe
So. For the womenlovefest, or We Love the Women that Fandom Hates, I decided to do Princess Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, from Final Fantasy XII. That's her in my icon. For a lot of reasons, but mostly that she's my favorite female character from the Final Fantasy series, and I love a lot of the female characters in the Final Fantasy series, so that's saying something.
But seriously, guys, I love her.
There are a lot of different reasons why, but they can be summed up pretty simply: she's a genuinely strong female character, and I don't mean that in the whole "she acts like a man and is unfeminine so can be considered strong" sort of way or in the fake action girl here to titillate your male viewers/readers sort of way, but in the personal strength and dynamic nature as a character sort of way. I mean, she does wear fairly . . . odd clothing with a lot of gaps in it and shows some skin, but . . . well, that's a Final Fantasy thing. I direct you to Exhibit A:
So, yes. Not just the girls. It's more a Final Fantasy aesthetic to wear odd clothes with a lot of gaps, and while I certainly think titillation is a factor, everyone has it going on, not just Ashe--despite her pink hotpants and pleather (?) skirt.
Ashe is the princess of Dalmasca, a desert kingdom overrun by the Empire of Archadia several years before the story of Final Fantasy XII begins. Her death was staged to prevent her from being used by the empire to control Dalmasca further after the death of her husband, Rasler, the prince of the country of Nabradia, and her father, the king of Dalmasca, and she joined the resistance, learning how to fight along the way. She is a strong woman who has already been widowed at the age of nineteen, and has grown into the person she is at the beginning of the story, from sheltered princess to rebel leader.
Which is not to say that Ashe doesn't have her flaws. She is a bit haughty, aristocratic and unwilling to accept the help of those she doesn't know. She can be standoffish, and she doesn't trust easily. She is independent and makes her own decisions, which often leaves her unwilling to rely on others. Though she is a compassionate, thoughtful person, she is repressed and can seem cold, and she is extremely stubborn, with a thirst for revenge that she battles throughout the story.
Which leads me to my next point. Ashe grows and changes throughout the story of Final Fantasy XII. She not only drives most of the action, she accepts that she needs to learn, to expand her horizons, that she has been wrong about her decisions and judgments in the past. Ashe is intelligent and knowledgeable, but she accepts that she has more to learn, and that deepening her understanding of the situation at hand will only help her. This is probably the thing I love most about her--that she is willing to accept that she's been wrong and that she grows and changes throughout the story, but without losing any of her strength.
Because Ashe is extremely strong, there is no doubt about that. She functions as the leader of the party, and basically recruits all the other characters to her cause. She makes the decisions, and the rest of the party follows her without question, even as they do so for their own reasons and ulterior motives, or question her from time to time. She has a charismatic hold over them as well as a political one, and she becomes more and more sensitive to their reasons for doing so as the story goes on. She is not an aristocrat who feels disdain for the common people, even if she knows little about them, and she is willing to learn about their lives despite her initial arrogance, but she never loses her role as the party's leader or chief actor. She is never defined by the men around her, or, in fact, by any other character--she is complete and independent in and of herself--but grows and changes in response to the people around her. She is idealistic and believes in her cause, refusing to compromise her beliefs or become a figurehead monarch, but not refusing to learn or change, either, altering her stance when she truly believes it is in the best interests of her people. She takes her role as a monarch and leader extremely seriously.
In fact, the trait I love most about Ashe is her responsibility. She is extremely responsible and honorable and hold herself to a high standard which she refuses to compromise--except for the greater good--and she is strong enough to live up to that. But she also has her vulnerabilities, and the game allows us to see those without them making her weak, like her love for her husband, Rasler, now dead.
In short, Ashe is everything I want in a female character--strong but vulnerable, defined by her character, not her femininity, but not disallowed to be a woman. She is both feminine and strong, independent and compassionate, and I love her for it. She has a storyline traditionally given to men--the king in exile, driven by grief over the spouse lost and the suffering of her people into revenge, and I love that she carries it off without sacrificing an ounce of womanhood or strength in the process.
But seriously, guys, I love her.
There are a lot of different reasons why, but they can be summed up pretty simply: she's a genuinely strong female character, and I don't mean that in the whole "she acts like a man and is unfeminine so can be considered strong" sort of way or in the fake action girl here to titillate your male viewers/readers sort of way, but in the personal strength and dynamic nature as a character sort of way. I mean, she does wear fairly . . . odd clothing with a lot of gaps in it and shows some skin, but . . . well, that's a Final Fantasy thing. I direct you to Exhibit A:
So, yes. Not just the girls. It's more a Final Fantasy aesthetic to wear odd clothes with a lot of gaps, and while I certainly think titillation is a factor, everyone has it going on, not just Ashe--despite her pink hotpants and pleather (?) skirt.
Ashe is the princess of Dalmasca, a desert kingdom overrun by the Empire of Archadia several years before the story of Final Fantasy XII begins. Her death was staged to prevent her from being used by the empire to control Dalmasca further after the death of her husband, Rasler, the prince of the country of Nabradia, and her father, the king of Dalmasca, and she joined the resistance, learning how to fight along the way. She is a strong woman who has already been widowed at the age of nineteen, and has grown into the person she is at the beginning of the story, from sheltered princess to rebel leader.
Which is not to say that Ashe doesn't have her flaws. She is a bit haughty, aristocratic and unwilling to accept the help of those she doesn't know. She can be standoffish, and she doesn't trust easily. She is independent and makes her own decisions, which often leaves her unwilling to rely on others. Though she is a compassionate, thoughtful person, she is repressed and can seem cold, and she is extremely stubborn, with a thirst for revenge that she battles throughout the story.
Which leads me to my next point. Ashe grows and changes throughout the story of Final Fantasy XII. She not only drives most of the action, she accepts that she needs to learn, to expand her horizons, that she has been wrong about her decisions and judgments in the past. Ashe is intelligent and knowledgeable, but she accepts that she has more to learn, and that deepening her understanding of the situation at hand will only help her. This is probably the thing I love most about her--that she is willing to accept that she's been wrong and that she grows and changes throughout the story, but without losing any of her strength.
Because Ashe is extremely strong, there is no doubt about that. She functions as the leader of the party, and basically recruits all the other characters to her cause. She makes the decisions, and the rest of the party follows her without question, even as they do so for their own reasons and ulterior motives, or question her from time to time. She has a charismatic hold over them as well as a political one, and she becomes more and more sensitive to their reasons for doing so as the story goes on. She is not an aristocrat who feels disdain for the common people, even if she knows little about them, and she is willing to learn about their lives despite her initial arrogance, but she never loses her role as the party's leader or chief actor. She is never defined by the men around her, or, in fact, by any other character--she is complete and independent in and of herself--but grows and changes in response to the people around her. She is idealistic and believes in her cause, refusing to compromise her beliefs or become a figurehead monarch, but not refusing to learn or change, either, altering her stance when she truly believes it is in the best interests of her people. She takes her role as a monarch and leader extremely seriously.
In fact, the trait I love most about Ashe is her responsibility. She is extremely responsible and honorable and hold herself to a high standard which she refuses to compromise--except for the greater good--and she is strong enough to live up to that. But she also has her vulnerabilities, and the game allows us to see those without them making her weak, like her love for her husband, Rasler, now dead.
In short, Ashe is everything I want in a female character--strong but vulnerable, defined by her character, not her femininity, but not disallowed to be a woman. She is both feminine and strong, independent and compassionate, and I love her for it. She has a storyline traditionally given to men--the king in exile, driven by grief over the spouse lost and the suffering of her people into revenge, and I love that she carries it off without sacrificing an ounce of womanhood or strength in the process.