Auron: a fanfic writer's biggest dilemma

[auronlu]

Spoilers to end of game follow.

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SO. Auron. Lulu is only loved by some, but by most accounts Auron is the best-loved character of FFX, and rightly so: he carries the archetype of ronin, wise elder, and tragic figure so well.

Almost any Auron fan wishes he weren't dead, or at least that he weren't Sent at the end of the story. It's a natural instinct to want to pen a story bringing him back, giving him a second chance, raging against that horrible moment when Yunalesca robbed him of his life. He was only what, 25?

Here is the dilemma. It is so tempting to want to give him that second chance, bring him back from the dead. We hate it when good characters die.

Yet part of the appeal of Sir Auron is that he's doomed and faces his fate calmly. "That is my story." "Don't stop. It's been long enough. This is your world now." Would we find him interesting if he weren't Unsent, if he survived the quest and retired to open a swordsmanship training school for disaffected monks? Probably we'd still like him, but it loses much of the tragic and romantic aspect of the character. It's like Boromir coming back in book three and saying, "psyche, it was only a flesh wound!"

Or, to put it in more general terms: one of the most common moves in fanfic is to resurrect well-loved characters who died in canon. Does that ever work? Or is it one of those mistakes like Mary Sue that one should resist?

Comments

[pyrefly-sky.livejournal.com]

Also on that Tidus point...

Does anyone else find it sickening that the person he fell in love with was a totally different Yuna, yet at the end of FFX2 (don't get me started on that ending...) he was fully able to accept the completely different person she'd become? Doesn't sound that likely to me, he for all intents and purposes fell in love with the younger Yuna, the innocent one not the newer confident Yuna. But no they walk happily off together. *frowns*

I already did my Auron character dissection above... see! :p

[mneme-forgets.livejournal.com]

I have a much harder time accepting Wakka and Lulu, who while they were civil to one another during the game, weren't exactly enamoured either.

It's not like Tidus sticks his tongue down Yuna's throat. I don't think he'd do anything but give a big hug to his friend who he hasn't seen for years while he was in the afterlife somewhere.

Also, I could see him having a relationship with her even if he was disconcerted by the changes in her even out of a sense of feeling beholden to her - I mean, potentially the fayth gave Tidus the heads up on Yuna being the one who wanted him back. I would definitely feel like I owed her one.

[trekqueen.livejournal.com]

Same here on the Wakka Lulu relationship. When I first saw the clip from the end of FFX (international version) that gave the sneak peak as to what was in store for FFX-2.. I was thinking geh! Lu would never do that!!!! I almost cried, she wouldn't give in that easily!