A selection of scenes I think about
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Sometimes there are scenes in fiction that come to mind well after experiencing them, and which ones they are can be a bit random at times. So I decided I could take some time to write about a few of them, their place in their narrative and why they stand out to me.
Diantha and Lysandre - Pokémon X and Y
Pokémon X and Y are widely considered a significant step back in writing quality for the mainline games after Black and White raised the bar for the series. Despite that, a certain scene from the game has come to mind lately, one I ended up writing a transcript of so I could have it on hand, as there are no youtube videos of just that scene.
At one point the player sees Lysandre, a previously introduced character who is obviously the villain despite it not being formally revealed yet, conversing with a famous actress named Diantha. This is the first bit of their conversation.
Lysandre: You played a young girl so wonderfully in your debut on the silver screen.
Lysandre: Wouldn’t you rather remain young and beautiful forever and always play such roles?
Diantha: What a strange question…
Diantha: Why would I want to play the same old roles forever?
Diantha: Youth may be beautiful, but it’s not all there is to life.
Diantha: Everything changes. I want to live and change like that, too.
Diantha: So I look forward to playing different roles as I get older.
At the time I didn’t think much of that scene. But as I’ve thought of aging, Diantha’s words came back to me. Her confidence in accepting aging comforts me in a sense, because the problem of idealizing youth is what happens when you lose it. And I like the double meaning when speaking of different roles, since it could refer to life in general.
On reflection, X and Y definitely tried to build on the increased focus on storytelling that Black and White had, but suffered from being rushed. The story has clear themes poking out through the rush job, about give/take, beauty, and immortality. I think that’s why that scene stands out to me in a plot I find otherwise only remarkable for poor quality.
Lysandre’s focus on youthful beauty and fear of decay could have made for a fascinating villain, like his later insistence that Diantha has a “duty to be ever beautiful,” but the finale of the game instead shifts to having him rant about Malthusian economics and limited resources.
Also there’s a bit of irony to the scene in a meta sense for me, because X and Y were greatly held back by overflowing nostalgia that buried a good amount of its own identity. In other words, it was by and for people trying to make their childhood eternal. At this point the franchise is more aligned with Lysandre than it is with Diantha.
-“Looks like my summer vacation is over.” - Kingdom Hearts II
In some ways the prologue for Kingdom Hearts II is a complete story in itself, following a boy named Roxas who over the course of the final week of summer vacation learns that he doesn’t exist and the life he thought he knew was all a lie.
Kingdom Hearts I featured shadowy monsters formed by hearts that had ‘fallen to darkness.’ The second game expanded on this by introducing Nobodies, the bodies of people who lost their heart, but through sheer willpower stayed alive when they should have died. They’re incapable of emotion and their existence is merely a glitch in the universe.
Roxas turns out to be a Nobody, created when the main character of the first game, Sora, briefly died. And in order for Sora to fully heal and take center stage again, Roxas must return to nothingness. Roxas doesn’t take the collapse of everything he knew and his sense of self sitting down. He outright tries to kill DiZ, the mastermind behind his current situation, and keeps attacking even when he learns its only a hologram.
Yet in the end, there’s nothing left for Roxas. Summer vacation is only temporary, and the one that made up his existence is on its final day. So the prologue ends with him being absorbed into Sora, who then serves as the main character for the rest of the game, not even learning of Roxas and the sacrifice demanded of him until shortly before the end.
The scene of Roxas at the end of the prologue is one that stuck with me, it’d always come to mind when summer vacation neared its end. As a child summer vacation and its end holds a lot of emotions, I think the scene worked so well for me because it played on that. There’s also an ironic sense of finality. I meant what I said earlier, it doesn’t feel like the end of a prologue, it feels like the end of a story.
Thankfully the game goes on to show that Roxas does literally live on within Sora, that he didn’t fade into oblivion. And Kingdom Hearts III ends with him finally able to live as his own distinct person.
Xemnas’s second defeat - Kingdom Hearts III
Speaking of Kingdom Hearts III, there’s a tangentially related scene that has also stuck with me. As the grand finale to many of the series ongoing story arcs, the final section of the game gathers all the villains for a gauntlet of boss battles, each getting one last monologue after they’re defeated.
Xemnas was the main villain of Kingdom Hearts II, the leader of Organization XIII, a group of Nobodies attempting to regain their hearts at all costs. Another game infamously messed with their motivation by declaring that Nobodies naturally develop hearts. But Xemnas’s final scene in III is able to bring back part of what made him interesting.
After beating Xemnas again, Sora asks if Xemnas felt it was worth it. Leading to this exchange.
Xemnas: I feel… the emptiness where my companions once stood. I took them for granted. And now, I have… nothing. My first surge of emotion in years… for as long as I can remember… and it’s… loneliness. Do you see? A heart is just pain.
Sora: Pain is being human, Xemnas.
Xemnas: Really? It must take… incredible strength…
Xemnas fades away.
I’ve found myself thinking of and rewatching this scene when I’ve felt lonely or abandoned. Sometimes you want to see a pain similar to yours, and I understand now what the emptiness Xemnas described feels like. And his voice actor did a great job of conveying the sense that he’s on his last legs.
After the release of a prequel about Xemnas’s human self, the scene reads as more tragic to me, since now you can see a pattern of him failing to appreciate the friendships he has while he has them.
There’s also an honest bluntness to Sora’s response that adds to the scene. There’s no shifting the conversation to other parts of the heart, just an acknowledgement of pain. Sometimes that’s all that is needed.
The most convenient, disgusting phrase in the world - Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Persona is a series that heavily draws on Jungian psychology, so the concept of the shadow, the part of the self that’s concealed, is one that frequently comes up. In Persona 2 the shadows of the party members appear as opponents to confront.
Notably the shadow of one party member, Maya, infiltrates the team as they explore one of the game’s dungeons, which confronts the other party members with visions and mementos of a shared past they buried. In several rooms you get a chance to speak with each party member, Maya’s shadow providing cynical commentary that contrasts with her normal self’s cheerful optimism.
Shadow Maya: Do you know what the most convenient phrase in the world is?
Shadow Maya: It’s “I’m sorry.” Anyone who hears that is obligated to forgive, no matter how hurt or angry they may be…
Shadow Maya: There’s no more disgusting phrase in all the world. It’s used to displace your suffering onto others so you can escape your sins…
Shadow Maya: The moment you employ it, your suffering becomes the other person’s. A thing can be unforgivable, but oh, if they apologize…
Shadow Maya: I say there’s no reason to accept that suffering. You don’t have to forgive them. Cast aside the mask of your conscience.
If you speak to another character in this same room, Yukino, a returning character from the first game and Maya’s coworker, she has this to say.
Yukino: “I’m sorry” is a disgusting phrase…? I don’t think so.
Yukino: It’s hard to explain, but we coexist by forgiving and being forgiven… It’s, what do you call it, a social contract, right?
The truth revealed in this section of the game is that aside from Yukino, the other characters had all met and played together as children. But when Maya had to move away, she and Tatsuya (the player character) were locked in a shrine by the others, later escaping when an arsonist attacked the shrine. When the other kids went back the next day, all they saw was a burnt down shrine. Everyone involved repressed their memories of the whole affair.
The room where the quoted dialogue takes place has the other characters apologize to Tatsuya, realizing his present character was likely a result of their actions towards him. In a sense it invites the player to consider if those apologies should be accepted, since Tatsuya is left silent as a vessel for the player.
Notably, unlike other confrontations in the series between a person and their shadow, the real Maya never openly acknowledges her shadow as a part of her when they meet, referring to her shadow only as an impostor. But it doesn’t change that a shadow is inherently part of someone, meaning to some degree Maya felt everything her shadow had said at some point.
It adds more nuance to Maya, that based on her shadow she does feel some understandable resentment over how things turned out as a child, but makes the choice to focus on reconnecting with the others instead of how they hurt her, not even vocalizing the likely link between her pyrophobia and being locked in a burning shrine as a child.
As for what it means to me personally, I don’t have any special story, but it is something I’ve thought about when considering an apology. It’s not the complete truth, but I do think Maya’s shadow wasn’t entirely wrong. When I think of that exchange, I try to be more thoughtful with how and why I apologize.
And here’s where I’ll end this for now. There are more scenes I could discuss, but then I’d keep going on and on. Let me know in the comments what scenes have stuck with you, and if you’d like to see more posts like this.
The segment about Pokemon XY was nicely said. Do you have any thoughts on Pokemon Legends Arceus?
I liked that one from Kingdom Hearts 3. It's thought provoking I think.
KH is a part of my childhood, I used to watch the first one being played. I wanna play those so bad. One of these days, maybe when I buy my computer and finish Psychonauts, I'll but them on Epic.