Summary:
Lani temporarily kidnaps and steals from Eiko. Rescued with the help of
a red-headed bandit. Peeling back mystery from Dagger’s past. A new
party member!
Madain Sari
-I noticed that Eiko’s core weapons are flutes. Each is named after a monster. One is a golem flute, another a lamia flute, and the explanation says that each has that monster’s power inside it. At first, I thought it would be like Edward’s harps in FFIV. There, if you had, say, Lamia’s Harp, you’d have a chance to charm the monster when you attacked with it. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. I’m assuming for the moment that it’s pure flavor text.
-Let’s see what got stolen. There was no great crystal or whatever to steal. Maybe the paintings of the eidolons were somehow erased from the wall.
-No. It was something in Eiko’s house. A room that we were blocked from viewing before.
-Someone with a huge axe (Lani probably) came and stole a precious stone. The gems in this game have usually contained eidolons, so maybe it’s the Bahamut eidolon that was stolen or something similarly major.
-This isn’t just a practical problem for Eiko. Her grandparents asked her to take care of the stone as a symbol of the summoners’ heritage.
-NOOO EIKO She’s trying so hard not to cry, to focus on finding it, but she’s just a kid. It’s okay to feel upset, but please don’t be too hard on yourself!
-Zidane again comes to the rescue. She shouldn’t blame herself at all. It was not her fault at all.
-Eiko leaves to pray to her grandparents, but we hear her scream shortly after. If anyone hurts her, they will meet an instant and fiery death (as soon as the game allows it).
-Yup. Vivi saw Lani take Eiko, and take her to the Eidolon Wall. Maybe Lani will try to trade Eiko for Dagger’s pendant.
-The moogles are huddled outside the cave. We peek inside and see Lani holding a flailing Eiko by her wings.
They banter a bit, and it’s a bit funny (as much as a child hostage situation can be). Her wings were a gift from her grandparents.
-The moogles give us an elixir and an Exploda (a Zidane weapon that we already have).
-Mog is here! Zidane thinks he can help us. Let’s go save her.
---
Eidolon Wall
-Lani put Eiko to sleep with sleeping weed.
-Yeah, Lani wants to do a trade.
-OH SHIT – Lani took the precious stone because it’s like the stone she’s looking for. The last shard probably.
-Vivi’s about to hand the pendant over, when BOOM!! That red-headed dude who was talking to Queen Brahne with Lani literally drops in from above, knocking her aside and separating her from Eiko.
Is he gonna be on our side?
-Zidane says he doesn’t know who the redhead is. Huh. I really got the impression that they were old comrades or something.
-Eiko wakes up, and IMMEDIATELY sasses her captor by calling her an old hag.
-??? Dagger recognizes the redhead. He was apparently the guy on the Treno wanted posters, not Baku like I had thought. Number one bandit, according to Lani.
-So he did sign up to help Lani, but has principles that she broke. He doesn’t work with hostage-takers. Very, very interesting.
-hee! And he still wants to fight us. Just on what he calls a “level playing field.” No hostages. Straight up one-on-one. Sweet music too for this guy.
-Ah, this is a one-on-one thing between Zidane and redhead.
-Zidane starts off in a trance. Trying a new “Dyne” ability called Solution 9. And it does ridiculous quantities of damage. 5,555, when Zidane’s normal hit is in the 700-1000 range.
-WAIT A SEC
THIS GUY HAS A CLAW ON HIS FIST AND WE BOUGHT A POISON CLAW WEAPON THAT NOBODY IN OUR CURRENT PARTY COULD USE
IS HE GONNA JOIN US??
-My second Dyne attack, Stellar Circle, finished “Scarlet Hair” off before he could even attack. Just too much damage from Zidane in trance mode.
-Scarlet Hair just wants to die now. He thinks that since Zidane beat him, it’s his right to kill. Really an honorable thief.
-If he eventually joins us, it’s not now. Scarlet Hair kind of side-eyes Zidane’s mercy, and hops away. The jewel is back with Eiko.
Madain Sari
-I noticed that Eiko’s core weapons are flutes. Each is named after a monster. One is a golem flute, another a lamia flute, and the explanation says that each has that monster’s power inside it. At first, I thought it would be like Edward’s harps in FFIV. There, if you had, say, Lamia’s Harp, you’d have a chance to charm the monster when you attacked with it. That doesn’t seem to be the case here. I’m assuming for the moment that it’s pure flavor text.
-Let’s see what got stolen. There was no great crystal or whatever to steal. Maybe the paintings of the eidolons were somehow erased from the wall.
-No. It was something in Eiko’s house. A room that we were blocked from viewing before.
-Someone with a huge axe (Lani probably) came and stole a precious stone. The gems in this game have usually contained eidolons, so maybe it’s the Bahamut eidolon that was stolen or something similarly major.
-This isn’t just a practical problem for Eiko. Her grandparents asked her to take care of the stone as a symbol of the summoners’ heritage.
-NOOO EIKO She’s trying so hard not to cry, to focus on finding it, but she’s just a kid. It’s okay to feel upset, but please don’t be too hard on yourself!
-Zidane again comes to the rescue. She shouldn’t blame herself at all. It was not her fault at all.
-Eiko leaves to pray to her grandparents, but we hear her scream shortly after. If anyone hurts her, they will meet an instant and fiery death (as soon as the game allows it).
-Yup. Vivi saw Lani take Eiko, and take her to the Eidolon Wall. Maybe Lani will try to trade Eiko for Dagger’s pendant.
-The moogles are huddled outside the cave. We peek inside and see Lani holding a flailing Eiko by her wings.
They banter a bit, and it’s a bit funny (as much as a child hostage situation can be). Her wings were a gift from her grandparents.
-The moogles give us an elixir and an Exploda (a Zidane weapon that we already have).
-Mog is here! Zidane thinks he can help us. Let’s go save her.
---
Eidolon Wall
-Lani put Eiko to sleep with sleeping weed.
-Yeah, Lani wants to do a trade.
-OH SHIT – Lani took the precious stone because it’s like the stone she’s looking for. The last shard probably.
-Vivi’s about to hand the pendant over, when BOOM!! That red-headed dude who was talking to Queen Brahne with Lani literally drops in from above, knocking her aside and separating her from Eiko.
Is he gonna be on our side?
-Zidane says he doesn’t know who the redhead is. Huh. I really got the impression that they were old comrades or something.
-Eiko wakes up, and IMMEDIATELY sasses her captor by calling her an old hag.
-??? Dagger recognizes the redhead. He was apparently the guy on the Treno wanted posters, not Baku like I had thought. Number one bandit, according to Lani.
-So he did sign up to help Lani, but has principles that she broke. He doesn’t work with hostage-takers. Very, very interesting.
-hee! And he still wants to fight us. Just on what he calls a “level playing field.” No hostages. Straight up one-on-one. Sweet music too for this guy.
-Ah, this is a one-on-one thing between Zidane and redhead.
-Zidane starts off in a trance. Trying a new “Dyne” ability called Solution 9. And it does ridiculous quantities of damage. 5,555, when Zidane’s normal hit is in the 700-1000 range.
-WAIT A SEC
THIS GUY HAS A CLAW ON HIS FIST AND WE BOUGHT A POISON CLAW WEAPON THAT NOBODY IN OUR CURRENT PARTY COULD USE
IS HE GONNA JOIN US??
-My second Dyne attack, Stellar Circle, finished “Scarlet Hair” off before he could even attack. Just too much damage from Zidane in trance mode.
-Scarlet Hair just wants to die now. He thinks that since Zidane beat him, it’s his right to kill. Really an honorable thief.
-If he eventually joins us, it’s not now. Scarlet Hair kind of side-eyes Zidane’s mercy, and hops away. The jewel is back with Eiko.
---
Madain Sari
-Back in Eiko’s house.
-Her grandfather told her to not leave the village until she turns 16, but now wants to know whether Zidane thinks it’s okay to come with us.
-It’s a complicated question. Sure, it’s dangerous, and not as stable as life in the village, but here she’d just have moogles for company. She’s just a kid. Maybe (in the FF world at least, where monster attacks are par for the course) it’s best if she joins us, even in terms of her own well-being.
-Sounds like she already made up her mind. Vivi bounces her own advice from the Iifa Tree back to her: be honest with yourself about your feelings. She doesn’t want to stay here.
-Eiko’s coming! Yay! She’ll keep the jewel with her as an earring. “Memory Earring.”
-THIS IS TOO ADORABLE
MOG THINKS SHE’S MAD AT HIM AND SHE IS BUT ONLY FOR LEAVING HIM AND SHE WAS WORRIED
SHE AND MOG ARE BEST FRIENDS AND EVEN HAVE FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS
(adding to the cuteness is mog’s neck floof which is off the charts cute)
-Oops, been accidentally misgendering Mog. Mog is female.
-hee! Zidane says just what I said, that he didn’t know Mog was a girl. I don’t feel bad for making that assumption because I’m pretty sure that in FFVI Mog was male. First recurring character gender swap in the series as far as I know.
-Dagger went off somewhere.
-Mog and Eiko were born on the same day, but Eiko was born slightly before. One of the moogles thinks that’s why Eiko has always been “the big sister.”
---
Cove Beneath Madain Sari
-Zidane goes to find Dagger and hears singing from down below. She’s sitting in a boat singing.
-Is that the boat from the intro?
-This is great. They rib each other a bit, but in a friendly manner. Zidane praises Dagger for learning so much and adapting so well. Dagger praises Zidane for sticking with her, for his loyalty.
DAGGER: “I hope I can live up to the hopes of everyone who has helped me.” She puts so much pressure on herself.
-Zidane reiterates what he told her in the Gargan Roo: everyone was doing it for their own reasons, not just for her.
-Huh. Dagger asks him about his path, and it reminds him of the story of the real life (and later fictionalized) adventurer Ipsen. Story time!
-Ipsen worked with his friend Colin at a Treno tavern. He got a letter one day that was mostly washed out saying “Come home.” No context. He went, miles and miles through the Mist, with Colin by his side. He asked why Colin came with him. Colin’s response is kind of beautiful.
That’s why Zidane went with Dagger. Because he wanted to go with her. Incredibly, incredibly sweet.
-The boat they’re on starts to drift out into the water. She… wait, what? She hears a song. It’s THEIR song, the song she was singing. Who’s singing it?
-The Eidolon Wall looks beautiful in sunset apparently, like it’s on fire.
-Something weird is happening. She’s getting déjà vu.
-Cinematic.
-She’s getting flashbacks to a city on fire with a FUCKING TERRIFYING GIANT EYE above it.
-And now the storm-tossed boat from the intro is in the flashback. Are there two people in the boat? Hard to tell.
-They’re all melding together.
The eye, the burning city, the boat.
-Dagger fell unconscious. What the sweet hell was that?? Flashback or flash forward/prophecy? Leaning towards the former.
Madain Sari
-Back in Eiko’s house.
-Her grandfather told her to not leave the village until she turns 16, but now wants to know whether Zidane thinks it’s okay to come with us.
-It’s a complicated question. Sure, it’s dangerous, and not as stable as life in the village, but here she’d just have moogles for company. She’s just a kid. Maybe (in the FF world at least, where monster attacks are par for the course) it’s best if she joins us, even in terms of her own well-being.
-Sounds like she already made up her mind. Vivi bounces her own advice from the Iifa Tree back to her: be honest with yourself about your feelings. She doesn’t want to stay here.
-Eiko’s coming! Yay! She’ll keep the jewel with her as an earring. “Memory Earring.”
-THIS IS TOO ADORABLE
MOG THINKS SHE’S MAD AT HIM AND SHE IS BUT ONLY FOR LEAVING HIM AND SHE WAS WORRIED
SHE AND MOG ARE BEST FRIENDS AND EVEN HAVE FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS
(adding to the cuteness is mog’s neck floof which is off the charts cute)
-Oops, been accidentally misgendering Mog. Mog is female.
-hee! Zidane says just what I said, that he didn’t know Mog was a girl. I don’t feel bad for making that assumption because I’m pretty sure that in FFVI Mog was male. First recurring character gender swap in the series as far as I know.
-Dagger went off somewhere.
-Mog and Eiko were born on the same day, but Eiko was born slightly before. One of the moogles thinks that’s why Eiko has always been “the big sister.”
---
Cove Beneath Madain Sari
-Zidane goes to find Dagger and hears singing from down below. She’s sitting in a boat singing.
-Is that the boat from the intro?
-This is great. They rib each other a bit, but in a friendly manner. Zidane praises Dagger for learning so much and adapting so well. Dagger praises Zidane for sticking with her, for his loyalty.
DAGGER: “I hope I can live up to the hopes of everyone who has helped me.” She puts so much pressure on herself.
-Zidane reiterates what he told her in the Gargan Roo: everyone was doing it for their own reasons, not just for her.
-Huh. Dagger asks him about his path, and it reminds him of the story of the real life (and later fictionalized) adventurer Ipsen. Story time!
-Ipsen worked with his friend Colin at a Treno tavern. He got a letter one day that was mostly washed out saying “Come home.” No context. He went, miles and miles through the Mist, with Colin by his side. He asked why Colin came with him. Colin’s response is kind of beautiful.
That’s why Zidane went with Dagger. Because he wanted to go with her. Incredibly, incredibly sweet.
-The boat they’re on starts to drift out into the water. She… wait, what? She hears a song. It’s THEIR song, the song she was singing. Who’s singing it?
-The Eidolon Wall looks beautiful in sunset apparently, like it’s on fire.
-Something weird is happening. She’s getting déjà vu.
-Cinematic.
-She’s getting flashbacks to a city on fire with a FUCKING TERRIFYING GIANT EYE above it.
-And now the storm-tossed boat from the intro is in the flashback. Are there two people in the boat? Hard to tell.
-They’re all melding together.
The eye, the burning city, the boat.
-Dagger fell unconscious. What the sweet hell was that?? Flashback or flash forward/prophecy? Leaning towards the former.
---
Madain Sari – Later
-They’re all in Eiko’s home. Vivi’s sleeping.
-Dagger admits she has no memory of early childhood. Hey, what if that flashback was Dagger as a child on the boat with her mom, escaping from the city and whoever the giant eye belonged to?
It’s probably because she junctioned GFs and those have the side effect of… oh, wait, wrong game.
-She only was raised in Alexandria from the age of 6. Before then, she was in…
-OH OF COURSE!!!!! The burning city was Madain Sari. She somehow got out when it was set afire and was taken to Alexandria.
-Ten years ago, a huge hurricane hit the village.
-The music playing now is super familiar. Is it a riff on a past game’s piece? [Later edit: never mind – it’s the Dagger song.]
-Queen Brahne is not really Dagger’s mother.
-How did she get to be in Brahne’s care? Best guess: Brahne orchestrated the hurricane that destroyed Madain Sari so she could have a summoner under her control.
-Lord. Zidane thinks something devastating: Dagger has now lost two mothers. Her true mother who died in the boat, and her adoptive mother who changed so drastically.
-Dagger remembers praying at the Eidolon Wall here. We get to see more of the eidolon paintings now. I can see Fenrir, Phoenix, and Atomos.
-Now two more: Ifrit, and something that looks vaguely pterodactylian. Quetzalcoatl perhaps.
EIKO: “Welcome home!” AWWWW
-This is some kind of wonderful.
---
Leaving Madain Sari
-Eiko has decided: she’s coming with us. She prays at the wall – not alone anymore though. Dagger joins her.
-Preparing to leave. The moogles say goodbye. Not just, “Kupo kupo!” Morrison has some wise parting words: “Don’t let our memory become a burden. You must always be light-hearted and free. Thoughts of the Eidolon Wall will always lift your heart.” The blessing of roots and home.
-Hey, it’s Scarlet Hair! He’s back. He’s still confused – the victor wins, the loser dies. This worldview was broken somehow by Zidane’s mercy. He wants to die as a warrior rather than live as a beggar.
-Zidane… YES!!! Zidane invites him to come with us to help understand why Zidane made that choice. Also to give Scarlet Hair renewed purpose, to not feel like Zidane’s supplicant.
-He accepts. He’ll join us to learn what makes the unpredictable Zidane so strong.
-Naming screen. This is wonderful. Love love love LOVE his portrait art here.
He’s known as the Flaming Amarant.
-Party selection time. For the moment, I’ll swap out Dagger. Where’s Quina? Everyone seems notably unconcerned about them, but I’d love them for my party.
---
Next time: back to the Iifa Tree in search of Kuja.
Madain Sari – Later
-They’re all in Eiko’s home. Vivi’s sleeping.
-Dagger admits she has no memory of early childhood. Hey, what if that flashback was Dagger as a child on the boat with her mom, escaping from the city and whoever the giant eye belonged to?
It’s probably because she junctioned GFs and those have the side effect of… oh, wait, wrong game.
-She only was raised in Alexandria from the age of 6. Before then, she was in…
-OH OF COURSE!!!!! The burning city was Madain Sari. She somehow got out when it was set afire and was taken to Alexandria.
-Ten years ago, a huge hurricane hit the village.
-The music playing now is super familiar. Is it a riff on a past game’s piece? [Later edit: never mind – it’s the Dagger song.]
-Queen Brahne is not really Dagger’s mother.
-How did she get to be in Brahne’s care? Best guess: Brahne orchestrated the hurricane that destroyed Madain Sari so she could have a summoner under her control.
-Lord. Zidane thinks something devastating: Dagger has now lost two mothers. Her true mother who died in the boat, and her adoptive mother who changed so drastically.
-Dagger remembers praying at the Eidolon Wall here. We get to see more of the eidolon paintings now. I can see Fenrir, Phoenix, and Atomos.
-Now two more: Ifrit, and something that looks vaguely pterodactylian. Quetzalcoatl perhaps.
EIKO: “Welcome home!” AWWWW
-This is some kind of wonderful.
---
Leaving Madain Sari
-Eiko has decided: she’s coming with us. She prays at the wall – not alone anymore though. Dagger joins her.
-Preparing to leave. The moogles say goodbye. Not just, “Kupo kupo!” Morrison has some wise parting words: “Don’t let our memory become a burden. You must always be light-hearted and free. Thoughts of the Eidolon Wall will always lift your heart.” The blessing of roots and home.
-Hey, it’s Scarlet Hair! He’s back. He’s still confused – the victor wins, the loser dies. This worldview was broken somehow by Zidane’s mercy. He wants to die as a warrior rather than live as a beggar.
-Zidane… YES!!! Zidane invites him to come with us to help understand why Zidane made that choice. Also to give Scarlet Hair renewed purpose, to not feel like Zidane’s supplicant.
-He accepts. He’ll join us to learn what makes the unpredictable Zidane so strong.
-Naming screen. This is wonderful. Love love love LOVE his portrait art here.
He’s known as the Flaming Amarant.
-Party selection time. For the moment, I’ll swap out Dagger. Where’s Quina? Everyone seems notably unconcerned about them, but I’d love them for my party.
---
Next time: back to the Iifa Tree in search of Kuja.
