Ffamran mied Bunansa | Balthier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
askypirate) wrote2022-11-05 10:23 am
askypirate) wrote2022-11-05 10:23 am
Personality Analysis
To the casual observer, Balthier is a charming and dashing rogue with his eye on profit above all else. Several times throughout the course of the adventure, Balthier makes claims of being the Leading Man, using it as an explanation of how things will unfold, a reason for his continued presence along their road, and even as a reason he will avoid perishing under incredibly bad odds. As though to personify this claim, he’s a smooth talker, ready with a quip or clever witticism at a moment’s notice and brash in his willingness to unleash his views on the world upon those around him. Clever and adaptable, he’s more than capable of rolling with the punches should events not unfold as he anticipated, and little seems to ruffle his feathers when everything starts to fall apart around him.
When Balthier, then Ffamran mied Bunansa, was only sixteen, his father made him a Judge. Judges, being enforcers of the law (and more like executioners, to quote Balthier as to their purpose), they are in positions of leadership, and while Balthier has certainly fled that life and all its trappings, he still retains many traits that make up a good leader. Even in the face of great hardship, facing seemingly insurmountable odds, his demeanor is one of calm and at times even flippant disregard for the dangers. With a shrug and a confident smirk, he’ll claim they’ll simply go to Draklor Laboratory and discover precisely what “Doctor Cid” is up to. Simple. Easy as pie.
Along with his persistent confidence is a sharp, take charge attitude that few in the party make efforts to argue with. Immediately after rescuing Vaan from the assault on the Palace of Rabanastre he doesn’t hesitate to lay down the law, stating that he, Fran, and Vaan were all working together, and there would be no mistake on that point. His confidence is at times sweeping in its certainty as well. After stealing the Dawn Shard, Vaan consistently states it is his. With his usual nonchalant surety, Balthier simply shrugs, saying the jury’s still out on that one.
This persona of charisma and persistent casual certainty, while very much a part of who Balthier has become, are more masks than actually who he is at the core. What started out as rebellion, as developing contradiction after contradiction to rebel against all the structure and hidden corruption that is the ruling body of Arcadia, truly became a large part of Balthier’s character. He fell in love with the freedom of the skies, with making his own rules, and living in this world of political intrigue on his terms. Due to that love of freedom and lack of obligation, it is very reluctantly that Balthier will become embroiled in anything remotely resembling higher purpose, going so far as attempting to quietly slip away when Ashe is first met by the party. It’s only after learning that the conflict between the Lady Ashe and the Imperial pursuers is related to the Dawn Shard, which he learned was Nethicite did he become personally invested in their endeavors; it was only then, under the guise of seeing how the story unfolds as any self-respecting leading man should, that he dedicated himself to the cause in earnest.
His multiple masks, of flippancy, of charismatic bravado, of cool and even confidence in the face of extreme danger, recede somewhat around though he trusts most. Fran sees more of Balthier’s hidden insecurities, his fears, and his worries. She notes more than once, in her own way, he’s hiding something, and his reaction is a casual shrug. It would make sense she’d see through his guises and glimpse the scars of his past that burned at the mention of the Nethicite. He allows Fran, and no one else, to see that, at his core, he is little more than a wounded young man, scarred by a father whom he watched destroyed by the damned stone until there was nothing left of Cidolfus; until there was nothing left but a madman consumed by a lust for power. Due completely to watching his father become a slave to the stone and a lust for ever-greater power, he’s grown a distinct distaste for those who would do the same: pursue whatever means necessary to achieve their goals. Having been on the receiving end of being swept along in and used for ends he had nothing to do with, he will try rather hard to avoid being involved in anything bigger than himself.
Due to his experiences in Archades and his notoriety as a Sky Pirate, Balthier is loathe to trust anyone quickly. How Balthier and Fran met is never explained in the game, but there is no mistake they trust each other completely. More than any other they meet in the party, Balthier expresses great worry over Fran, protesting when she offers to open the way to her homeland, saying he thought she’d never intended to return. He refuses to leave her behind twice when she insists he do so, that she would only slow him down. He even goes so far as to refer to her as his “leading lady”. The two of them are an inseparable team that plays off each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Balthier, a natural leader, often claims something is his, and he is the only one of the pair who openly claims to be a Sky Pirate, but that is his role in their relationship more than anything. Fran speaks only when necessary, and lets Balthier do all the talking, a position he’s more than able to fill.
Slow to trust anyone and only out for himself he may be, he isn’t incapable to warming up to those he travels with. At first seemingly annoyed with Vaan’s very existence, Balthier slowly grew to look at the boy as something like a protégé by the end of the game, even entrusting the Strahl to Vaan’s care when he and Fran stayed behind in an attempt to divert the Bahamut from crashing into an unwitting Rabanastre. As Balthier traveled with Vaan, he started to see the potential in the boy, and began offering him little jewels of wisdom as to the whys and wherefores of the world, but always appended it with “you’ve got a lot to learn, Vaan”.
When Balthier, then Ffamran mied Bunansa, was only sixteen, his father made him a Judge. Judges, being enforcers of the law (and more like executioners, to quote Balthier as to their purpose), they are in positions of leadership, and while Balthier has certainly fled that life and all its trappings, he still retains many traits that make up a good leader. Even in the face of great hardship, facing seemingly insurmountable odds, his demeanor is one of calm and at times even flippant disregard for the dangers. With a shrug and a confident smirk, he’ll claim they’ll simply go to Draklor Laboratory and discover precisely what “Doctor Cid” is up to. Simple. Easy as pie.
Along with his persistent confidence is a sharp, take charge attitude that few in the party make efforts to argue with. Immediately after rescuing Vaan from the assault on the Palace of Rabanastre he doesn’t hesitate to lay down the law, stating that he, Fran, and Vaan were all working together, and there would be no mistake on that point. His confidence is at times sweeping in its certainty as well. After stealing the Dawn Shard, Vaan consistently states it is his. With his usual nonchalant surety, Balthier simply shrugs, saying the jury’s still out on that one.
This persona of charisma and persistent casual certainty, while very much a part of who Balthier has become, are more masks than actually who he is at the core. What started out as rebellion, as developing contradiction after contradiction to rebel against all the structure and hidden corruption that is the ruling body of Arcadia, truly became a large part of Balthier’s character. He fell in love with the freedom of the skies, with making his own rules, and living in this world of political intrigue on his terms. Due to that love of freedom and lack of obligation, it is very reluctantly that Balthier will become embroiled in anything remotely resembling higher purpose, going so far as attempting to quietly slip away when Ashe is first met by the party. It’s only after learning that the conflict between the Lady Ashe and the Imperial pursuers is related to the Dawn Shard, which he learned was Nethicite did he become personally invested in their endeavors; it was only then, under the guise of seeing how the story unfolds as any self-respecting leading man should, that he dedicated himself to the cause in earnest.
His multiple masks, of flippancy, of charismatic bravado, of cool and even confidence in the face of extreme danger, recede somewhat around though he trusts most. Fran sees more of Balthier’s hidden insecurities, his fears, and his worries. She notes more than once, in her own way, he’s hiding something, and his reaction is a casual shrug. It would make sense she’d see through his guises and glimpse the scars of his past that burned at the mention of the Nethicite. He allows Fran, and no one else, to see that, at his core, he is little more than a wounded young man, scarred by a father whom he watched destroyed by the damned stone until there was nothing left of Cidolfus; until there was nothing left but a madman consumed by a lust for power. Due completely to watching his father become a slave to the stone and a lust for ever-greater power, he’s grown a distinct distaste for those who would do the same: pursue whatever means necessary to achieve their goals. Having been on the receiving end of being swept along in and used for ends he had nothing to do with, he will try rather hard to avoid being involved in anything bigger than himself.
Due to his experiences in Archades and his notoriety as a Sky Pirate, Balthier is loathe to trust anyone quickly. How Balthier and Fran met is never explained in the game, but there is no mistake they trust each other completely. More than any other they meet in the party, Balthier expresses great worry over Fran, protesting when she offers to open the way to her homeland, saying he thought she’d never intended to return. He refuses to leave her behind twice when she insists he do so, that she would only slow him down. He even goes so far as to refer to her as his “leading lady”. The two of them are an inseparable team that plays off each others’ strengths and weaknesses. Balthier, a natural leader, often claims something is his, and he is the only one of the pair who openly claims to be a Sky Pirate, but that is his role in their relationship more than anything. Fran speaks only when necessary, and lets Balthier do all the talking, a position he’s more than able to fill.
Slow to trust anyone and only out for himself he may be, he isn’t incapable to warming up to those he travels with. At first seemingly annoyed with Vaan’s very existence, Balthier slowly grew to look at the boy as something like a protégé by the end of the game, even entrusting the Strahl to Vaan’s care when he and Fran stayed behind in an attempt to divert the Bahamut from crashing into an unwitting Rabanastre. As Balthier traveled with Vaan, he started to see the potential in the boy, and began offering him little jewels of wisdom as to the whys and wherefores of the world, but always appended it with “you’ve got a lot to learn, Vaan”.