#raganfrid bleaker

[autumnslance]

In reference to this post I reblogged earlier, but don't want to muck up UC's activity:

#i think it's more important to see that redemption is in the eye of the beholder #not everybody (characters or real people) will accept the same type or amount of repentance for the same sins #some people might not care at all if the person who wronged them feels sorry; only if they materially repaid their crimes #others can feel the opposite #and either way that's their prerogative #you can disagree with the characters or the fans or the writers about who “deserves” OR has “achieved” redemption and that's okay #because it's ultimately a complex philosophical issue #like i agree with OP!!! but there's media literacy in accepting that not everyone will

I'm going to disagree with many of these tags, especially it being "in the eye of the beholder" and would argue it's more media literate to recognize when a character has a workable redemption arc even if one disagrees they "should" get one. It took me a long time to learn this cuz of how we're usually taught redemption = forgiveness in Western (especially very Christianized, and especially if explicitly raised Christian) culture:

It doesn't rely on anyone but the person seeking redemption.

Yeah, it's the wronged party's prerogative to never forgive, to think the perpetrator's atonement (and/or punishment) is not enough and never will be. Anyone (characters and actual people) who sympathize, and who are on their side, can agree it's not ever enough and that character/person's sins are unforgivable.

And that still doesn't matter to their redemption.

We have an example of a workable redemption arc that not all accept in Final Fantasy XIV with Fordola's situation, through the Endwalker healer role quests. She was raised a collaborator of Ala Mhigo's imperial occupiers, and thought the best way to help her people was to soldier for the empire, becoming their Butcher.

In the Stormblood patches, Raganfrid says he will never forgive her; he thanks her for the aid she gave in the throne room that day, but that's all. And even in the EW healer role quests, their interactions are complicated. He still can't forgive the collaborators, even as he works to reintegrate them into Ala Mhigan society. He recognizes many thought they had no choice. He can't, won't, forget the pain of losing his own loved ones to them. This is stated multiple times.

And others, like M'rahz, Sarisha, and M'naago also struggle, also say they won't forgive...but reluctantly agree they can understand how for the sake of their families, the collaborators felt pushed against a wall, and what lengths have they themselves gone to for their own families? M'naago even scolds Fordola: she doesn't get to give up, she has to keep working--or she dies as exactly what everyone said she was.

Fordola starts out as the one punished for her sins. Through the story, she makes her choices to change and fight and work for her people as a free woman. There are still those who despise the Butcher, and always will. Redemption comes from Fordola's actions, Fordola's choices. Who forgives her and who doesn't can't change that she has changed, and continues to do so.

And in the interest of fairness, for the opposite of Fordola, we have Laurentius. In A Realm Reborn, he collaborated with the empire, selling out his nation. He came out of his punishment wanting a new chance, so joined the Crystal Braves...and immediately fell under Ilberd's sway. While others remained loyal and stuck to their morals (and paid for it with imprisonment or even death), Laurentius went along with all of Ilberd's plans. And in the end, the player gets an opinion in the punishment he and his comrade face, but it's clear from talking to Raubahn there isn't much hope. Laurentius had his chances, but he didn't make any effort to actually change--so faced the consequences.

For Reference for the Healer Role Quests: Garland Tools Healer quest text starting with "Far From Free", and my own saved text in Gdocs (raw, not very organized compared to my later saved/updated docs).

(Nero's the war criminal who...didn't even get a slap on the wrist, he just waltzed into a leadership meeting 15 mins late with Starbucks and has been helping us save the world since. Gaius is the war criminal that went through traumas, saw his privileged preconceptions torn apart, and is starting down that road in the wake of Werlyt to clean up his mistakes and not let his children's sacrifices be in vain. None of these characters "need" punishment to decide to change; some of it simply happens as part of their stories, but they make their own choices and actions toward atonement.)

(Also redemption is usually an ongoing process, which is why "Death Equals Redemption", like how Yotusyu's situation is framed, is so dicey and often unsatisfying; are they actually changed, or they just getting out of putting in that effort to? Nothing indicated Yotsuyu actually cared to change, as sympathetic as she was in the end! But she has her redemptive moment for her fans, and the people who hate/won't forgive her also "win"--the trope is a "have your cake and eat it too" writing cop-out IMO at this point.)

[autumnslance]

  I decided to form a volunteer group─the Silver Griffins. Our main concern is the welfare of Ala Mhigans who sided with the Empire─for whatever reason─and helping them find their place in society. In particular, the surviving families of the Crania Lupi.   Make no mistake─I've not forgiven them. I don't have that in me, and I doubt I ever will. But the memory of that day in the palace, of Fordola asking to be locked up again after saving us all...it stayed with me.   Got me to thinking about why she and the other youths would commit such atrocities. Why they'd swear to serve the Empire. And the answer was simple: because they'd seen what we'd seen and suffered much the same.   In a hell where all were condemned, they chose to betray one brother to save another. That's how the Garleans win─not by breaking you, but by making you break yourself. By making that choice the right one for a man at the end of his tether.   Healing only begins with liberation─and some scars never will regardless. Those who've returned from foreign lands may have difficulty carving out a living here, but the ones who'd pledged allegiance to Garlemald...   This is not the Ala Mhigo we dreamed of. But after twenty years of misery, I'll not see it all thrown away because we can't come to terms with the past. That's why I formed the Silver Griffins. To see that no one is cast aside. -Raganfrid Bleaker, Endwalker Healer role quests

Raganfrid remains one of my favorite secondary characters. He doesn’t forget the past, but despite his justified anger and weariness, he tries to understand why people made the choices they did to survive, and find a way forward now that the situation has changed for everyone to try to heal his war-torn country.

Ala Mhigo had serious issues and divisions even before the Garleans swooped in, taking advantage of the chaos (that they had accelerated and exacerbated to make conquest easier), but the future is yet to be decided--a future Raganfrid won’t see, given his advanced age, but he’s determined to help heal what he can so his people have a better life.

He’s perhaps one of the best leaders in the game, for putting aside his personal feelings to do what’s right for everyone else, with thought and care and a mind for the future others will inherit from his generation.

We could all learn a lot from him, as some of the characters have.