May, the month of Characters: Top 10 heroes I admire

May, the month of Characters:

This is sort of a personal project for me since Video Game Growing Pains is not just a blog about the industry and how change can help, but also a personal blog looking at my journey through the world of gaming as it stands.  And, inspired by the works of Doug Walker and the Blisteredthumbs.net Characters With Character panel, I decided that I would do a bit of reflection on characters that mean a lot to me.  May is going to be the month of characters, with 4 separate lists about characters I think truly make gaming wonderful, or deplorable, and the reasons why.  Hopefully, people can use these characters as baseline comparisons when crafting their own heroes or villains.  Or they can just enjoy the list.  So, let's start with a few heroes.  Here are the 10 heroes I most admire, in no particular order.

Top 10 heroes I admire:

Many people would argue that there aren't enough heroes in the world.  I say it's all about where you look.  In gaming, while we do stray too far sometimes into the generic RPG hero, the fun but ultimately flat platformer heroes, or the often morally bankrupt heroes of shooters, there are times when heroes are born that can move you.  And this is a tribute to the heroes who've moved me the most in my life.  Needless to say, there will be spoilers.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy 7)

A lot of people will sigh or roll their eyes at this inclusion, but Cloud Strife, as both an image and as a character, moved me when I was a kid.  He was different from other heroes.  Larger than life with his five foot tall buster sword and his hardened persona, which seemed self serving but which ultimately did what was right, Cloud was different from the RPG heroes I'd grown up with.  Underneath the more gritty persona, however, Cloud was an engaging character who, for me at least, embodied courage.  True, most of the game sees him chasing after his rival, Sephiroth, for answers, only to be revealed to be a puppet in a greater plot and a failed clone of Sephiroth, but it is how he deals with these situations that makes me say he is courageous.  Cloud will not hesitate to fight for his friends, even if the odds are stacked against him and even if his magic has been stolen.  But more than that, Cloud, with the help of his childhood friend Tifa, has to come to terms with the fact that he was, and is, a failure.  He identified himself as a member of Soldier, an elite group of warriors, when he repressed the fact that he actually failed to gain entry into Soldier and it was a friend of his, Zach, who became a Soldier.  He even inadvertently caused Zach's death, because Zach died trying to protect him.  Cloud had to accept his own weakness in order to get beyond it.  To truly become himself and not a copy of Zach or Sephiroth.  But even before this realization, Cloud showed boundless courage when trying to save those around him.  Before the main game started, it is revealed that Sephiroth burned Cloud's home down and that no one, not even Zach, could stop him.  Sephiroth was truly a monster, capable of slaughtering dragons and other giant beasts with his bare hands.  But after seeing everything he loved in flames, Cloud took Zach's fallen sword and fought Sephiroth, managing to defeat him and toss him aside, though he fell unconscious from his own wounds.  He did this partly out of revenge, but Tifa and Zach had been injured and would have been killed if Sephiroth was not stopped.  So, for their sakes, Cloud fought him.  Even against a monster like that, Cloud didn't turn away when it came time to protect others.  This is especially important because Cloud knows by the end of the game that there may not be any way to save the world.  Sephiroth is trying to drop a meteor onto the planet and even if he is defeated, it may not stop.  But for those he cares about and those who have fallen before him, Cloud does not give up.  However, grim determination isn't all there is to Cloud.  Throughout the game, he's shown to have a softer side, one more open to humor and wackiness, such as crossdressing or participating in plays, and even though he deals with some self loathing throughout his growth as a character, he always faces his fears and fights for those who cannot protect themselves.  Now, Cloud's been interpreted many different ways, from the boring emo character to nothing more than a tool of the plot, but I disagree.  The first time I played Final Fantasy 7, I saw courage in his actions.  And I cannot help but admire the strength he wields in facing his inner demons.

Swathed in black and wielding a giant sword, this warrior's piercing eyes are full of courage.

Fei Fong Wong (Xenogears)

Kindness, madness, denial, and self loathing.  These four words describe the four unique personalities that exist within Fei Fong Wong.  Truly a remarkable character in his own right, Fei has dissociative personality disorder, giving him, at the start of the game, three split personalities.  Near the end of the game, Fei splits himself even further when he realizes some of the atrocities he's unwittingly committed as some of his other personas, giving him four personalities.  But, on his own, Fei is one of the nicest people in gaming.  A martial artist and a painter of sorts, he trains only for self advancement, until war comes to his tiny village, leaving a stranded giant robot and enemy troops coming up around him.  Fei takes the robot and pilots it...only to destroy half the village in an uncontrolled burst of energy, killing two of his oldest friends and ostracizing him from the other villagers.  After which, he sets out on a self imposed exile, accompanied only by an old friend and his self loathing.  Fei is a character with boundless capacity for good, but who fears his own power, especially after what happened to his village.  And with good reason.  Dwelling within Fei is a destructive split personality that can rip humans and robots alike to shreds with his bare hands.  You see, when Fei was a boy he had terrible experiments performed on him, in which his child self went into hiding in the back of his mind, cherishing the good memories, and leaving only a bitter husk of anger behind.  When he was finally subdued and freed from those who would use him, Fei contracted amnesia and, because of that, his current persona of the kind and dedicated martial artist became dominant.  And for Fei to come to terms with all this is one hell of a trial.  Fei meets reliable friends who are fighting for independence, salvation, or just basic human rights along the way and despite his quirks and how dangerous he proves to be, they all care for him, helping Fei to cope with and accept his nature.  He even falls in love with Elly, a young woman who caused the calamity in his village by stealing the robot in the first place.  She too is afraid, but more so of weakness, failure, and a loss of control.  They meet in a forest shortly after Fei leaves his village and end up strangely close, despite Fei's frustration and anger and Elly's bravado.  The next time they meet, Elly's been drugged up on a performance enhancer which increases aggression.  It's up to Fei to save her, having experienced his own form of lost control and knowing what it can do to yourself and others, Fei is able to snap Elly out of her blood rage.  Fei understands pain and is able to empathize and help others better because of it.  By the end of the game, it is even revealed that he and Elly have been brought together through reincarnation countless times throughout history, only to be separated by tragedy each time.  Once Fei is able to merge his separate personas into one, he is able to save Elly from being absorbed by a psychic entity which takes her over and return to their home planet together, thus breaking the cycle of tragedy.  Even though he only wanted a peaceful life, Fei's empathy, kindness, will, strength, and his drive to save others helped change the world, freeing it from a corrupt nation lording over it and helping to establish global peace after a calamity.  Fei Fong Wong is unbelievably complex and nuanced, but at heart, he's just a man trying to help others and do what's right.

His own worst enemy, despite the earth shattering power he wields, this man's kindness is his true strength.

Lenneth Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile)

Valkyries are choosers of the slain in Norse mythology, who ride down to humans who die worthy deaths in battle and take them to Valhalla to feast and fight for all eternity.  Lenneth is a different kind of valkyrie.  She serves Odin, the all-father, at first, but has an unbelievable capacity to empathize with mortals about the situations revolving their deaths.  More than once, she is asked by these mortals to take their lives so that others might be saved, thus earning her approval.  Lenneth also cannot abide people profaning the dead or attempting to use dark power to hurt others and will strike them down if she sees them.  Why does a god have such empathy?  Because when Lenneth is not choosing the slain, she lives as a human, bereft of her divine memories, to experience life as they live.  This is where the story gets interesting.  Fearing Lenneth might rebel against the gods for the sake of humans, or that she would be unable to do her job, Odin sealed her memories and used her as a tool.  But at one point, Lenneth's memories are awakened by a man she knew as a human, after he has been killed by a traitor to the gods named Loki.  This sends Lenneth into shock and leads Odin to try and put her back to sleep, awakening her crueler sister, Hrist, and nearly destroying Lenneth in the process.  Ironically, her empathy for humans is a two way streak, as those she has chosen from the dead to be her allies save her and help restore her to power, with some assistance from a sorcerer who has been stalking her.  Together, she is able to rise above Odin and is given the ability to create and protect.  A plot by Loki disrupts the balance of Asgard, leaving Odin dead and his toadies in a panic.  Lenneth walks through them and fights Loki, for revenge and to protect others.  Loki causes the end of the world, but with her new power, Lenneth causes the world to be reborn, and protects all the living souls within it.  Lenneth's story is not merely one of love, but also one of rising above patriarchal bonds.  Odin decides what is best for Lenneth, but like many in power, his obstinance and assurance that he is correct blinds him.  The other two valkyrie under his command are treated just as carelessly.  Lenneth's younger sister Silmeria is imprisoned for being too empathetic to humans and her elder sister Hrist is cruel to them, using humans as tools, like Odin.  Lenneth finds the balance between the two and ultimately proves wiser than Odin by putting her faith in humanity rather than power or sacred objects.  What amuses me most, however, is that while Odin claims himself to be lord of the gods, father of all, etc. etc. Lenneth and her sisters, when combining their power, can change fate, making them his superior.  A patriarchal figure suppressing a woman out of fear only to have the tables turned on him?  Deliciously ironic.  Lenneth shows detachment at first, but grows to love and respect her human allies as she tries to understand their sometimes irrational actions.  In the end, she is rewarded by being reunited with the man Loki slew, who she now realizes she loves.  Lenneth is an admirable female figure in her own right, made all the more impressive by her boundless ability to care for others and her wisdom in dealing with the trials thrown her way.

Chooser of the slain, her empathy and wisdom allowed her to stand above even the gods.

Chrono (Chrono Trigger)

Chrono is not deep at all.  He's another silent RPG protagonist.  Yet, that doesn't mean he has no character.  Chrono has a unique look, tons of reliable friends, and a loving family life, all while being skilled with the katana.  And when one of his friends is sent back to the past and stranded by a time machine, Chrono embarks on a journey to save her.  In so doing, he discovers that several hundred years after he will die, the world will be destroyed by an intergalactic entity called Lavos.  Even though he need not fear it, Chrono sees the devastation and the hopelessness that engulfs the world after Lavos appears and, with his faithful friends, decides to fight against this evil, even if the odds are stacked against them.  Chrono cares about helping others no matter the time or the place because he is a good hearted soul.  He's also very lucky, too.  At one point in the game, Chrono is outright slain and wiped from existence by Lavos.  However, his friends go back in time to the moment of his death and swap his body out for a cheap clone they were able to find, effectively defying fate to save him.  With Chrono back to life, he is not shaken by fear or the realization of what very nearly could have happened to him, but redoubles his efforts to save others from Lavos's power.  Along the way, he and one of his friends, Marle, develop a close bond.  Eventually, they fall in love.  Marle was the one who saved Chrono, after all.  Chrono is an avatar of the player to some degree, but even if silent, he still maintains a unique personality through his body language and the actions he chooses to take.  I suppose what I love most about this character is his perseverance.  Despite the odds, Chrono never gives up and will fight on.  Even after dying, his memory inspires the others and eventually ends up having him resurrected.  He may not say much, but for the sake of his friends and for the sake of people everywhere, Chrono will travel to the ends of time itself, fight dinosaurs, robots, and monsters, and do it all while having the time of his life.  Chrono never gives up.

A timeless hero, he shall traverse the ancient past and the far off future to protect the innocent.  Even in death, he perseveres.

NiGHTS (Nights into Dreams)

What could be more admirable than a character who embodies dreams and protects others from nightmares?  Nights is a spirit who was originally created to cause nightmares, but broke free of his master's control to enjoy and protect pleasant dreams.  Dreams are hope.  Nightmares are despair.  And when children in despair come to the world of dreams, Nights can help them to find their own strength.  Courage gives Nights power and with that power, Nights helps children recover control of their dreams.  Nights is hope in despair.  Neither male nor female, Nights is a fragment of dreams and imagination that is playful, free spirited, and perhaps most interestingly, vulnerable.  Nights is unable to fight the nightmares without the aid of children who doubt.  Because courage is not something that can be taken from you in the world of dreams.  Even if hope is lost, courage remains.  And it is the courage of children that grants Nights the power to fight.  Nights helps people find the strength within themselves, the strength they always had but were unable to see.  That's why I can't help but admire Nights.  Nights fosters self improvement and hope in people, showing them that if they believe and keep moving forward, then they can face their fears, their doubts, and all the horrors of the real world and their nightmares.  Through Nights, we realize our own power.

The playful dreamer offers hope in despair, showing us the strength within ourselves.

Terra Branford (Final Fantasy 6)

Terra's one of my favorite characters ever.  I first met her when I was just a child, playing Final Fantasy 6, so part of this is nostalgia.  But there's more to it than that.  Terra is a character who goes through a remarkable journey and immense personal growth to overcome a lifetime of slavery and oppression.  You see, Terra was taken from her parents as a baby, raised by a totalitarian empire that saw her as only a weapon, and made to kill and slaughter against her will.  When she is freed from their control, she is horrified at her actions.  Terra is a warrior with great power, but underneath it all is a scared girl who wants to understand who and what she is.  The child of a magical being called an esper and a human, Terra begins without the ability to control her vast stores of power and is a danger to those around her.  But through her friends, she is able to find joy and acceptance, even learning to make peace with her two different lineages.  Terra, despite doubting herself, decides to fight for others, joining a resistance movement to fight the empire at first, and when the world is destroyed, Terra devotes herself to raising and protecting children in a tiny village.  The children even give her the strength to fight to save the world in the end.  Terra acts as a mother without children, seeking to find meaning in her own life.  That's why I admire her.  Even with all her doubts, even with being horrified at her actions, and even with being torn by her very blood, she always finds a way to fight.  To protect.  Her kindness and innocence coupled with her immense power juxtapose nicely with the Kefka, the main villain, who is cruel, self serving, insane, and in possession of godlike power.  When the Kefka asks her what the point of life is, why people live, even when all that remains for them is pain, Terra has finally found the answer.  We take pride in our small victories.  In kindness.  In protecting others.  In hope.  We find our own reason to live.  Terra knows these struggles more than anyone else, being born into slavery and having to discover her own purpose for being alive.  Once the game ends and Kefka is dead, Terra too starts to die, as magic and the espers which spawned her cannot exist without Kefka's power.  However, she chooses life and embraces humanity fully, remembering that she has found her reason to live and will continue to exist, even without magic.

The girl struggles with her two lineages, but ultimately finds her reason to live.  Armed with this reason, she fights to save the world.

Vyse (Skies of Arcadia)

Everyone loves pirates because of their swashbuckling spirit.  The search for adventure, the exploration, the threat of the unknown, the magic...it's why even today we look back nostalgically at pirates and the age of exploration.  Vyse takes that to the next level.  He's a sky pirate.  In a world made up of islands and continents which float in an ocean of clouds and air rather than water, he soars the skies with his trusty crew of pirates seeking adventure and fortune.  However, Vyse is no Blackbeard.  Vyse is a kind, noble individual.  He's a member of the blue rogues, a group of pirates who are noticeable for sparing the innocent, only robbing the rich, and basically being good hearted people.  He saved a girl named Fina when she was in trouble and together with his childhood friend, Aika, they go out of their way to help Fina recover six ancient artifacts to prevent an evil empire from taking over the world.  Along the course of his journey, Vyse gets stuck working for an old sailor and a ladies man, is forced to sneak into a prison to save his family and friends, and is wrongfully accused of being a thief and a villain.  However, he never loses his good nature, his humor, or his sense of wonder.  No one is bound by their circumstances according to Vyse.  He strikes out on his own with naught but his friends for support and he frequently encourages others to do the same.  He shows an old sea captain that revenge may not be the answer.  He offers a young prince the chance to do what he believes is right rather than what is expected.  He even convinces several of his enemies to pursue their true goals, be it love, honor, or to become pirates themselves.  Vyse defines freedom and choice. Everywhere he goes, he finds undiscovered lands and treasures and visits ruins and people who were lost or isolated from the rest of the world.  In fact, the wonder of exploration and his friends are why he goes out of his way to save the world.  Vyse's ultimate goal is to have his own pirate ship and sail the endless skies.  And he can't do that if the world's destroyed.  He wants to see everything that he can and experience as much of the world as possible.  Vyse is a strong fighter, a reliable friend, and a capable captain, but above all else, he's an explorer, charting the skies of Arcadia, free as a bird.

The pirate flies free as a bird through the skies of Arcadia, ever seeking new treasures to discover.

Naija (Aquaria)

There is something wondrous about Naija.  Every new vista she sees and strange sight she encounters causes her to gasp at the beauty around her.  Naija is a girl who loves to explore and the thrill of unknown waters washing over her fins is what constantly pushes her forward.  Naija is interesting because she still retains a sense of child-like wonder and awe at the world despite having to learn to fend for herself, frequently killing others for meat or power in order to survive the dangerous waters of Aquaria.  Even though she must kill to survive and find answers as to why she is alone, she never forgets to stop and smell the kelp flowers or ride a seahorse for fun, or sun herself on the beach.  Even love is all about exploring and experiencing new things to her, which leads her to fall for a human diver named Li.  These feelings of wonder are precious to Naija and she protects them ferociously, dolling out punishment to those who would defile the world or harm her love.  I find something unbelievably beautiful about this creature who started out young and fragile, only to become hardened and tough, while still being able to be moved by the beauty of the world around her.  This is especially true, considering that her mother stole her memories from her.  The one complaint I have about Naija is that her story is not complete.  We only know half and may only ever know half.  It's a bit depressing.  Still, for the half we do know, Naija is someone I admire because of her ability to be moved by all that she sees.  The wonder of exploration is Naija in a nutshell.

The child of the sea truly knows she is alive when uncharted waters wash over her fins and new vistas appear before her.

Gwendolyn (Odin Sphere)

When people say games are inherently misogynist, Gwendolyn is the character I point to that breaks that rule in every way possible.  Gwendolyn is a valkyrie, a warrior woman whose greatest joy is battle and whose greatest fear is marriage and subjugation by a man.  Despite this, she is a respectful daughter and will do anything to make her father, Odin, happy, even if it means she must suffer.  While this could make people think she's a straw feminist with daddy issues, Gwendolyn comes off as surprisingly human, questioning her own motives and thinking some pretty horrible thoughts from time to time.  When she meets her much more beloved half sister, for example, she thinks, "If she's dead, I'll be daddy's favorite.  I'll be all he has left."  However when faced with the chance to let her sister die at the hands of one of her father's generals, she slaughters the general and frees her sister, telling her to run.  And when her father confronts her about her actions, she accepts his punishment, believing she has done what was right in protecting the child he loved.  At first, Gwendolyn never strays from her duty, doing all that she can to grant her father victory in his war with the fairies, even going so far as to betray the trust of someone who loves her.  However, she is not blind to what happens around her and starts to learn that duty is not all there is to life.  Slowly, she starts to change, following her heart rather than her duty as a soldier or a daughter or even as a wife.  She always tries to do the right thing and in the case of saving her sister, her father enchanted her to love her bitterest enemy, the shadow knight, Oswald, as punishment for her betrayal.  Only...Odin didn't.  He didn't enchant her and counted on her loyalty so that he could get a special ring the knight had bequeathed her as an engagement gift.  Gwendolyn didn't know and out of respect for her father, she retrieved the ring for him and saved him from being killed by a traitor.  When she realized afterwards that Oswald killed the king of the dragons to get that ring, which he gave to her as an engagement present, she started to wonder about her feelings and sought to protect Oswald.  She saved him from being slain by another dragon and when her ring was stolen from her father, she fought through a small army to get it back.  When Oswald learned she had given it away, he fell into despair because he knew that she was not enchanted to love him and had tried to win her love through his devotion and actions.  As soon as he learned of Gwendolyn's betrayal, however, he felt that she had chosen not to love him and died from sadness.  Gwendolyn refused to accept this and went into the netherworld itself to retrieve him, killing the queen of the netherworld to save her husband and standing up to her father, at last, for herself and for the sake of her love.  Gwendolyn is a character who is very human.  She is conflicted about her choices quite often and ultimately ends up hurting people she loves.  However, she accepts her mistakes and tries to make amends.  She is strong willed, refusing Oswald's advances at first, even though she believed she had no choice, and strong in body, routinely battling dragons and huge beasts.  She's a romantic and loyal to her dear friends.  Gwendolyn moved me for being exactly the kind of female protagonist I wanted.  Strong and capable, but not just a man with breasts...she was flawed and human, facing very real concerns about being a woman, such as the fear of childbirth and subjugation in a male dominated world.  She and Oswald made a good pair in that regard, as he would never treat her as an object.  I suppose what I admire most is the love Gwendolyn and Oswald share, even though they grew up as enemies.  They respect and care for one another because of all that they have gone through to be together.

The valkyrie faithfully does her duty, until love makes her realize her true duty is to her heart.

Yuri Hyuga (Shadow Hearts)

Poor, poor, Yuri.  He's suffered all his life, lost his mother, father, his lover, his friends, his soul, and eventually his life.  Yet, for all that, he's pretty bad ass.  Yuri is sarcastic, snarky, and lives everyday with purpose, whether that means getting into a fight for fun or just trying to make the voices in his head quiet down.  He's an honest and kind young man underneath the tough street punk that was born out of his mother's death.  In fact, if it weren't for his ability to fuse with demons as a harmonixer, he might well be the star of a dozen different action movies.  Yuri is cursed by his demonic powers and is filled with malice that must constantly be purified, lest he lose his soul.  He doesn't really know compassion till he meets his beloved, Alice, and she gives her life to save his.  Despite the loss, Yuri continues forward, protecting her grave and any people he finds with his power.  Yuri even goes so far as to try and revive her from the dead with his friend, Roger Bacon.  It fails and all he's left with is Alice saying she loves him before she dies once again.  Depressingly tragic, Yuri never lets his misfortune get him down too much.  While he laments Alice's death, he has friends he can depend on, even among the enemy, and tries to make the most of his time, which is sadly limited due to a curse.  When all is said and done, though, Yuri manages to defy fate and return to the moment he first met Alice, this time, sure that he can save her.  Yuri is a survivor.  He keeps on moving no matter what is thrown his way and will protect those who can't protect themselves.  This attitude earns him the respect of his friends and enemies alike.  No one is too high and mighty for Yuri, who isn't above smacking a god with his brass knuckled fists for causing trouble.  What I find most endearing about Yuri though is his romantic streak.  Never having known love besides his mother, he cares so deeply for Alice that he seeks to revive her from the dead.  And when that fails, he defies fate in order to try one more time.  Yuri Hyuga.  He makes even fate quake with fear.

The harmonixer is without fear.  For his love, he will stand against fate itself and emerge triumphant.

Well, that's the top 10 characters I admire, in no particular order.  These heroes are my favorite amongst all the hundreds of games I've played.  Tune in next week for my top 10 villains I love to Hate.