#a.b.a's such an interesting character. paracelsus too but her hypocrisy with chains gets me. I'm glad she's in strive

[doubleedgemode]

A.B.A's chains-A Guilty Gear analysis

I heard that in the spanish version A.B.A's title of "lovingly latched on homunculus" is translated as "homúnculo encadenado por el amor "(homunculus chained by love) which aside from being a fair translation serves to highlight A.B.A's recurring chain motif, either of real or metaphorical chains.

Out of the way, of course, we have Paracelsus's old chain though of course that's more a motif to him and his story! But in a lesser way you could argue its hers too as it is she who holds the chain.

And of course we have to mention her arcade mode quote of (from memory, sorry for innacuracies) "the shackles of affection are still shackles" which, yes! This is too related moreso to Paracelsus! but its her realization. And a pivotal scene for both.

Lastly, this is more my speculation but you know the gg Isuka xbox cover where her gloves say "Alice"? Part of me wants to believe it's an Alice in Chains reference because.. you know. Guilty Gear.

Whatever, this all plus the hypocrisy she has exhibited about Frasco and Paracelsus make for a really interesting leitmotif. Not as big as the key, frankenstein or even blood ones, but a subtle, present one, imo. A chain motif. Both as the chainer and the chained.

I say hypocrisy because well, she saw Frasco/Flask as her trap (fun fact, the name is prob a reference to Paracelsian lore of homunculi having to spend their early stages in a flask or else they'd die) and she desperatedly wanted freedom, she knows so well how is it to lack autonomy but when she obsessed over Paracelsus she was doing that to him. Hell, while the XX endings aren't canon afaik, we see her bad ending. Just like how other characters in the game make a heel turn or die (I'm oversimplyfying it but you get it) the ending where she keeps human Paracelsus chained (that one ending is... Something) even more crassly than before. She's not the victim here, it's him, but if we follow the metaphorical chaining thing then she has also chained herself very strongly.

As we see in Strive, either always or at some point she realized her doings were wrong... Yet kept on doing them. She's indeed chained to (her unhealthy idea of) love (and her other obsessive mindsets).

Of course, Paracelsus is not innocent, either. This is an A.B.A centric post but of course I have to mention him!! As we see in Strive and, regardless if it was due to his demon nature or simply willingly being a bad guy he was also metaphorically chained before knowing A.B.A... chained to his thirst of destruction and recklessness. And we know he tried to manipulate A.B.A even if he fails and starts to legitimately care about her.

Both of them are chained. Chained not as a good term but as a detrimental one. Chained to eachother, yes, but also to themselves, to their own chains, shackles of obsessions. With A.B.A especially, we know for sure she has managed to escape previous chainings but she keeps getting into them. And that's scary, almost.

But this is Guilty Gear and there's hope and freedom (ha.) so Strive has this beautiful conclusion (or rather new beginning!) to their story, and, while we have seen Paracelsus improve before, maybe A.B.A's won't be linear. But she legitimately, against all odds, WANTS the situation to be better, and both have gotten a better understanding of the other and like Paracelsus said, they can make it right, now. Now what they have with eachother is less chaining and more bonding and dissolving of a healthier kind as partners, be it as lovers, friends or whatever.

The chains are broken now, it's a new beginning.