#idk how azwel fits in yet but im guessing viola will confront him at some point

[rosearcanum]

My long, in depth meta/headcanon about Viola and her relationship with Raphael

I am basing this meta on what is in the artbook, what we see in sc5 gameplay, some newer information brought to light in sc6, and some of my own personal speculation. Now keep in mind if the game comes up with a way to tie up their relationship with a neat little bow that I find to be compelling I am more than welcome to be proven wrong but TL;DR: I find the possibility that Viola will ever want to go back to Raphael to range from anywhere between very unlikely to quite literally impossible. 

Analysis beneath the cut

First let’s go over what we know from the artbook and from info collected in SC6.

Basically, Viola wakes up with no memories of who she is or where she came from. For a little while she traveled alone, telling fortunes to people in order to make money and that was largely how she got by, however she would very often find herself pissing someone off because they don’t like the fortune she gives them and so for that reason, for her own safety, she’s forced to live nomadically. She can’t stay in town for very long.

She meets Zwei, who has more or less sworn himself to protect her because in his eyes they are the same and people like them have to stick together so they travel together more, all the while evading Graf Dumas’s assassination attempts against them. Eventually they are taken in by Schwarzwind while outrunning these same assassins and they are given a more stable place to stay that will keep them out of harms way in exchange for becoming Schwarzwind mercenaries. This all happens in the 10+ years leading up to 1607, which is when Soul Calibur 5 takes place. Zwei kills Dumas but then Zwei himself is killed by Pyrrha. Dumas is dead and we figure out that Dumas is actually Raphael. Raphael wakes up with no memory of who he is, all he knows is the name “Amy” and he knows that he has to find her. 

In the artbook, Viola is described as someone who is incapable of understanding the emotions of others, which the sole except to that being Zwei. She also makes it a point to stay as far away from people she knows will bring her trouble as she can.

In Soul Calibur 6 we learn that Azwel is the one behind Amy losing her memories and by extension her transformation into Viola. We also learn that Azwel is the one who brought Soul Edge’s existence to Raphael’s attention thus beginning this downward spiral into insanity. 

Now let’s talk about SC5 gameplay.

Viola is barely in the storymode in Soul Calibur 5 and nothing that is said in the storymode in regards to her has anything to do with her relationship with Raphael. Raphael (AS Raphael) isn’t in the storymode at all but we do see him as Dumas. That is not important as Dumas in the storymode never has any interaction with Viola. However there are some things that the gameplay can tell us about their relationship based on how Viola and Raphael react to each other when made to battle. The first thing I would like to direct your attention to is the fact that while Raphael has a very distinct reaction to meeting Viola that only she can get out of him (when beginning the battle he says: “You vex me, woman! Who are you?”), Viola’s line when about to battle him is a generic line that most anyone can get out of her (”In the moon, I see everything.”) You will also notice that Raphael has way more special dialogue lines with Viola than she does with him. His quote when he gets a “time out” against him, his quote when he does certain moves against her, and his victory quote against her. The only quote that Viola has that is specific to Raphael and no one else is her victory quote (”The moon will swallow the sun, and it shall never rise again.”)

This quote here is important because it is another one of her cryptic omens, and there is no canon interpretation of it. However, I believe that the “moon” that she is speaking of here is referring to herself. And the “sun”, is referring to Amy. This would make sense because if she is speaking to Raphael specifically, it would make sense for the sun to mean Amy since, in a sense, Amy was like the sun in his life. The day he left Rouen with her could symbolize the day that she unwittingly brought him out of darkness. So then what does this quote mean overall? I believe that it means that where Amy once stood, now stands Viola. And that Viola is here to stay, Amy is never coming back. 

We can also look at Raphael’s quotes though to paint a bigger picture of their dynamic. Raphael’s victory quote against her is “Stop looking into my soul, damn you!” And if we look at some of the unused lines listed on the various character wiki pages (specifically if we look at Viola’s, Hilde’s, and Zwei’s), we can see remnants of what I’m assuming were supposed to be a story about Viola approaching Dumas in secret, though this story never came to fruition because of the lack of time the game devs had to put SC5 out. But what this all points to is that Viola may be curious about it all. She may be curious about Raphael or about Dumas, if something happens that tips her off about his identity and his relationship to her. However it is important to note that that curiosity does not mean that Viola will want to go back to him once she finds out. 

As I mentioned earlier, Viola canonically has an aversion to anyone who she can see as giving her potential problems. Viola also was never stated as being in search of her family, she merely just wants her memories back. Furthermore, after all this time, she is situated with Schwarzwind now, who more or less have become found family for her. Zwei is canonically the most important person in the world to her. And through unused lines with Hilde and through the only special dialogue we see Siegfried have (he says “you did it!! good job!!” if he loses against her via time out) we can see that she has somehow already opened up to the rest of Schwarzwind as well. She would already be content surrounded by a big group of people she trusts who offer her protection she wasn’t able to get anywhere else. This greatly contrasts Raphael’s storyline in Soul Calibur 5, where his only purpose is to find Amy again. It can be argued that he needs her, but it is clear that she doesn’t need him. 

I would also like to reiterate that Raphael was Dumas, and Dumas had sent assassins after Viola and Zwei countless times. Not only that but Raphael’s actions and decisions far before he became malfested were what led up to Amy losing her memories and becoming Viola. Viola had lived her life up until this point, she’s essentially become a completely different person for better or for worse. Being as reserved, unforgiving, and untrusting as she is, I see no other route for her, if she finds out who Raphael is to her, than for her to be angry with him and to never want anything to do with him again. Most of what had happened to Amy is his fault, and then once Viola comes to fruition, there were many many times where she almost died by his hand. 

Viola has been brought trauma after trauma because of Raphael. Realistically, that is hard for someone to bounce back from, knowing her father was the reason her life was ruined and then finding out it was her father who wanted her dead for so long. Especially when you are someone like Viola, who almost always sees situations from her own perspective as opposed to the perspective of others, I believe it is a hurdle too massive for her to get over. 

And so what I personally believe will happen is that Viola will find a reason to seek Raphael out, she will want to know the truth, and then she will put Raphael behind her and move on. She is not Amy anymore, nor will she ever be Amy again. She will live out the rest of her days staying in contact with Schwarzwind and traveling with Zwei but she will not want anything to do with Raphael after she finds out the truth.