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star_ocean_fanThe Twin Factor - Fayt and Maria Related?
I should point out right now that many of these topics I write about are because of private conversations I have with others. I'm asked questions, and I do answer them. It makes for interesting conversation, that's for sure.
One question centered on why Maria and Fayt look so much alike. Are they twins separated at birth? Their facial features would certainly suggest such a thing. They're also the same age, another point towards yes. Maria was adopted by her parents, the Traydors. That much is definitely known about Maria, and that Fayt is an only child. Some things do point in that general direction.
However, I have to say, no. Fayt and Maria are not twins. I don't even think they're biologically related. For starters, Maria has a crush on Fayt. If it isn't obvious at first (knowing his favorite sport, what he plays, even his favorite food), it does become obvious the moment one talks to Lieber after first arriving on the Diplo and should the player manage to snag the Fayt/Maria ending for Till the End of Time.
"She might not know they're brother and sister. She is adopted, after all, and she doesn't know who her parents are."
Yes, Maria is adopted. She was told by Jessie Traydor, the woman she called (and still calls) mother, told her before sending Maria into space via escape pod. And I can tell you that, when a child finds out she's been adopted, she wants to know who her real parents are. Maria does such a thing. She looks for her biological parents by using the Diplo's computers to hack into the Pangalactic Federation's database. I'm sure her curiosity is even more piqued after she's unleashed a major surge of power to destroy a Federation battleship. Her discoveries about the Leingods, their research, and Fayt aren't by accident. The manga doesn't say that she's found out her parents are . . . in fact, I think there might be an age discrepancy between the manga and the game (something for another time), but I do remember in the game Fayt asking Maria if she ever found her parents. She does reply that she has. I personally feel that, if she and Fayt were truly twin siblings, she'd have said right then and there, "I'm your sister", if not when she first told Fayt about the experiments done on them. Maria, despite the way she goes about telling Fayt the truth (and the way I personally interpret her behavior), does have the best intentions when confronting Fayt. Robert and Ryoko Leingod kept certain truths from their son until they deemed the time to be right, which never truly gave them the chance.
There's also one other thing I take into consideration when answering whether or not I think Maria and Fayt are twins. It's Robert and Ryoko Leingod as parents. In the game, Robert, after being rescued from Biwig's clutches and just before his untimely death, tells Fayt he was never seen as a tool for his research. He also tells Fayt he and Ryoko always wanted a child. When he tells his son that, he is not being gender-specific. I interpret that as, they wanted a child and wouldn't have cared if that child was a boy or a girl. People who want children don't give children up for adoption.
Now, it could be argued that it was done for the safety of the children involved. Once the three - Fayt, Maria, and Sophia - are brought together, their powers are supposed to resonate and grow stronger or even perhaps trigger. Okay. I could buy that if it weren't for the fact that when two people have two children and one is given up for adoption, the one who ends up adopted and finds out resents the child kept. Maria, upon meeting Fayt, doesn't show any signs of resenting him but of resenting Robert and his research team. She is a very angry woman when she first meets Fayt, angry about the research and losing the only parents she'd ever known because of the war with Aldian. If she were truly Fayt's twin, her resentment over being "abandoned" by Robert and Ryoko would show just as much. I could also buy the parents not wanting Fayt, Maria, and Sophia to be raised in the same area if all three grew up without knowing each other. That cannot be said of Fayt and Sophia. From the time she was two, Sophia has known Fayt. They are not only best friends but childhood friends. I don't buy into that theory their powers will trigger so therefore they needed to be separated because of when Maria and Fayt's powers do kick in - which is before they even meet. Maria's powers trigger when she's sixteen (in the game, she's been the leader of Quark for about two and a half, three years), and Fayt's after the Vendeeni start killing indiscriminately on Elicoor II. Sophia's powers do trigger while in the presence of Fayt and Maria, but only because she's near the Time Gate, where her powers will have the most impact.
Another argument that could come up as to why the Leingods would have given a child up for adoption is finances. The Leingods may not have had sufficient funding to raise two children. I could buy that, except they're already becoming pioneers in the field of Symbological Genetics. They already have a research facility and are bringing in more than enough money to live comfortable lifestyles and raise a child.
Finally, if someone were to bring up all of these points and I were to concede that Fayt and Maria are twins, I would still have to ask this: Why did they keep one child over the other? Giving up a child isn't an easy decision, especially if there are two children involved. I do ask why would they keep one child over the other? It doesn't make any sense to me because a - the Leingods are financially set because of their research and b - they wanted a child. If they were blessed with more than one child, I'm sure they'd have been as equally happy and delighted, even if they didn't always have the time for Fayt like they may have wanted.
One other thing . . . it is still entirely possible that Fayt and Maria are twins. Entirely possible. It could be that, in her research on Fayt, Maria discovers something about him that she finds extremely attractive and their time spent together in reaching Luther could intensify what she feels for him. However, there is no way any player, fan of Maria and the Fayt/Maria pairing or not, can know with any certainty whether or not they're truly related. All we have on Fayt and Maria are their ages, heights, and weights. When Tri-Ace and Square Enix released the game and allowed Brady to publish the strategy guide, birthdays were never mentioned, which would actually either prove or disprove the theory of Fayt and Maria being twins. Until I can get my hands on more strategy guides for the Star Ocean series, I'm going to say that The Last Hope is the only one that gives birthdays for the cast of playable characters. Yes, it could be said that characters like Nel, Albel, Adray, and Roger are aliens and therefore their birth dates might not translate into Earth's calendar, but, if that were true, why dates for Faize, Lymle, Bacchus, Meracle, Myuria, and Sarah? (Another discussion for another time, it would seem. :))
I will not say that those who want to write Maria and Fayt as brother and sister are wrong in wanting to do so. I personally thought so at one time myself (but then started asking questions like "why one child over the other"), and I still believe it's possible that Fayt does see Maria as a sister. I only ask that fanfic writers be careful when writing them as biological siblings in a romantic relationship . . . 1 - that does squick some people out, and 2 - it would have an impact on any children that could be "created" from that relationship.
* * * *
Famous Names for the Truly Angst-Ridden Original Characters
If you're anything like me, you're not only in love with the Star Ocean series, but you want to do more than just play the games. You're creative, and ideas start to bubble in your head about potential scenarios with your favorite characters. It happens, and it also happens to be quite fun, too.
The idea of last names to use actually comes from a (poorly-written yet interesting premise) piece of fanfiction I found on fanfiction.net in the last several weeks . . . In it, there are three characters who descendants of some rather famous names in the Star Ocean timeline. These characters have much to live up to because of their last names alone: Maverick, Kenny, and Saionji. While it would be fun to add the last name of Almedio to that list, Crowe is believed to be dead, though if you've triggered the right Private Actions and answered certain questions correctly, players find out he ends up on Roak, where his offspring end up with the last name of Farrence.
Of course, where the character hails from will have a huge impact on what last name a person chooses when creating the angst-ridden original character. For example, if the OC has the last name of Kenny, Maverick, and Saionji and lives in the year 774 S.D., that character will undoubtedly hail from Earth. If the character has the last name of Leingod and lives in the year 800 S.D., the character could hail from Earth, Elicoor, or Klaus - based upon which pairing one likes best (Fayt/Sophia, Fayt/Nel, Fayt/Claire, Fayt/Mirage, Fayt/Maria for the more traditional ways of siring offspring). Original creations with last names like Nox, Zelpher, Lasbard, Farrence, Jerand, Tionysis, Phi, Thanatos, Fittir, and Kaos would not be from Earth, but rather the planet said game character (Albel, Adray, Eleyna, Sarah, Lymle, etc . . .) calls home.
Those aren't the only names available for the angst-ridden original character. Oh, my friends, no. As is mentioned above, I've tossed out the last name of Saionji and Kaos. I can also toss out Esteed and Traydor. However, there are only two ways I'd accept the female last names for original creations with the grandmothers being Mirage (Kaos), Reimi (Saionji), Sophia (Esteed), Nel (Zelpher), Claire (Lasbard), Peppita (Rossetti), Myuria (Tionysus), and Maria (Traydor). 1 - Said character is a single mother who never marries. 2 - Said character marries but the husband takes on the last name of the woman he marries over her taking his last name.In the case of Farrence, it's entirely possible Eleyna and Crowe never marry so her children end up with her last name - all I know at this point from watching Crowe's ending on youtube is that he and Eleyna shack up but never marry. I don't know what the backstory is for the first Star Ocean game just yet. (Still unemployed. Still no PSP to play.) The only character I can't say with certainty about direct lineage is Ioshua Jerand, whom I only know about through finding artwork and stamps on deviantArt. (Which if anyone can tell me if he's a direct descendant of Sarah or is from a sibling we never heard about, I'd most definitely appreciate it. :))
I should point out right now that many of these topics I write about are because of private conversations I have with others. I'm asked questions, and I do answer them. It makes for interesting conversation, that's for sure.
One question centered on why Maria and Fayt look so much alike. Are they twins separated at birth? Their facial features would certainly suggest such a thing. They're also the same age, another point towards yes. Maria was adopted by her parents, the Traydors. That much is definitely known about Maria, and that Fayt is an only child. Some things do point in that general direction.
However, I have to say, no. Fayt and Maria are not twins. I don't even think they're biologically related. For starters, Maria has a crush on Fayt. If it isn't obvious at first (knowing his favorite sport, what he plays, even his favorite food), it does become obvious the moment one talks to Lieber after first arriving on the Diplo and should the player manage to snag the Fayt/Maria ending for Till the End of Time.
"She might not know they're brother and sister. She is adopted, after all, and she doesn't know who her parents are."
Yes, Maria is adopted. She was told by Jessie Traydor, the woman she called (and still calls) mother, told her before sending Maria into space via escape pod. And I can tell you that, when a child finds out she's been adopted, she wants to know who her real parents are. Maria does such a thing. She looks for her biological parents by using the Diplo's computers to hack into the Pangalactic Federation's database. I'm sure her curiosity is even more piqued after she's unleashed a major surge of power to destroy a Federation battleship. Her discoveries about the Leingods, their research, and Fayt aren't by accident. The manga doesn't say that she's found out her parents are . . . in fact, I think there might be an age discrepancy between the manga and the game (something for another time), but I do remember in the game Fayt asking Maria if she ever found her parents. She does reply that she has. I personally feel that, if she and Fayt were truly twin siblings, she'd have said right then and there, "I'm your sister", if not when she first told Fayt about the experiments done on them. Maria, despite the way she goes about telling Fayt the truth (and the way I personally interpret her behavior), does have the best intentions when confronting Fayt. Robert and Ryoko Leingod kept certain truths from their son until they deemed the time to be right, which never truly gave them the chance.
There's also one other thing I take into consideration when answering whether or not I think Maria and Fayt are twins. It's Robert and Ryoko Leingod as parents. In the game, Robert, after being rescued from Biwig's clutches and just before his untimely death, tells Fayt he was never seen as a tool for his research. He also tells Fayt he and Ryoko always wanted a child. When he tells his son that, he is not being gender-specific. I interpret that as, they wanted a child and wouldn't have cared if that child was a boy or a girl. People who want children don't give children up for adoption.
Now, it could be argued that it was done for the safety of the children involved. Once the three - Fayt, Maria, and Sophia - are brought together, their powers are supposed to resonate and grow stronger or even perhaps trigger. Okay. I could buy that if it weren't for the fact that when two people have two children and one is given up for adoption, the one who ends up adopted and finds out resents the child kept. Maria, upon meeting Fayt, doesn't show any signs of resenting him but of resenting Robert and his research team. She is a very angry woman when she first meets Fayt, angry about the research and losing the only parents she'd ever known because of the war with Aldian. If she were truly Fayt's twin, her resentment over being "abandoned" by Robert and Ryoko would show just as much. I could also buy the parents not wanting Fayt, Maria, and Sophia to be raised in the same area if all three grew up without knowing each other. That cannot be said of Fayt and Sophia. From the time she was two, Sophia has known Fayt. They are not only best friends but childhood friends. I don't buy into that theory their powers will trigger so therefore they needed to be separated because of when Maria and Fayt's powers do kick in - which is before they even meet. Maria's powers trigger when she's sixteen (in the game, she's been the leader of Quark for about two and a half, three years), and Fayt's after the Vendeeni start killing indiscriminately on Elicoor II. Sophia's powers do trigger while in the presence of Fayt and Maria, but only because she's near the Time Gate, where her powers will have the most impact.
Another argument that could come up as to why the Leingods would have given a child up for adoption is finances. The Leingods may not have had sufficient funding to raise two children. I could buy that, except they're already becoming pioneers in the field of Symbological Genetics. They already have a research facility and are bringing in more than enough money to live comfortable lifestyles and raise a child.
Finally, if someone were to bring up all of these points and I were to concede that Fayt and Maria are twins, I would still have to ask this: Why did they keep one child over the other? Giving up a child isn't an easy decision, especially if there are two children involved. I do ask why would they keep one child over the other? It doesn't make any sense to me because a - the Leingods are financially set because of their research and b - they wanted a child. If they were blessed with more than one child, I'm sure they'd have been as equally happy and delighted, even if they didn't always have the time for Fayt like they may have wanted.
One other thing . . . it is still entirely possible that Fayt and Maria are twins. Entirely possible. It could be that, in her research on Fayt, Maria discovers something about him that she finds extremely attractive and their time spent together in reaching Luther could intensify what she feels for him. However, there is no way any player, fan of Maria and the Fayt/Maria pairing or not, can know with any certainty whether or not they're truly related. All we have on Fayt and Maria are their ages, heights, and weights. When Tri-Ace and Square Enix released the game and allowed Brady to publish the strategy guide, birthdays were never mentioned, which would actually either prove or disprove the theory of Fayt and Maria being twins. Until I can get my hands on more strategy guides for the Star Ocean series, I'm going to say that The Last Hope is the only one that gives birthdays for the cast of playable characters. Yes, it could be said that characters like Nel, Albel, Adray, and Roger are aliens and therefore their birth dates might not translate into Earth's calendar, but, if that were true, why dates for Faize, Lymle, Bacchus, Meracle, Myuria, and Sarah? (Another discussion for another time, it would seem. :))
I will not say that those who want to write Maria and Fayt as brother and sister are wrong in wanting to do so. I personally thought so at one time myself (but then started asking questions like "why one child over the other"), and I still believe it's possible that Fayt does see Maria as a sister. I only ask that fanfic writers be careful when writing them as biological siblings in a romantic relationship . . . 1 - that does squick some people out, and 2 - it would have an impact on any children that could be "created" from that relationship.
* * * *
Famous Names for the Truly Angst-Ridden Original Characters
If you're anything like me, you're not only in love with the Star Ocean series, but you want to do more than just play the games. You're creative, and ideas start to bubble in your head about potential scenarios with your favorite characters. It happens, and it also happens to be quite fun, too.
The idea of last names to use actually comes from a (poorly-written yet interesting premise) piece of fanfiction I found on fanfiction.net in the last several weeks . . . In it, there are three characters who descendants of some rather famous names in the Star Ocean timeline. These characters have much to live up to because of their last names alone: Maverick, Kenny, and Saionji. While it would be fun to add the last name of Almedio to that list, Crowe is believed to be dead, though if you've triggered the right Private Actions and answered certain questions correctly, players find out he ends up on Roak, where his offspring end up with the last name of Farrence.
Of course, where the character hails from will have a huge impact on what last name a person chooses when creating the angst-ridden original character. For example, if the OC has the last name of Kenny, Maverick, and Saionji and lives in the year 774 S.D., that character will undoubtedly hail from Earth. If the character has the last name of Leingod and lives in the year 800 S.D., the character could hail from Earth, Elicoor, or Klaus - based upon which pairing one likes best (Fayt/Sophia, Fayt/Nel, Fayt/Claire, Fayt/Mirage, Fayt/Maria for the more traditional ways of siring offspring). Original creations with last names like Nox, Zelpher, Lasbard, Farrence, Jerand, Tionysis, Phi, Thanatos, Fittir, and Kaos would not be from Earth, but rather the planet said game character (Albel, Adray, Eleyna, Sarah, Lymle, etc . . .) calls home.
Those aren't the only names available for the angst-ridden original character. Oh, my friends, no. As is mentioned above, I've tossed out the last name of Saionji and Kaos. I can also toss out Esteed and Traydor. However, there are only two ways I'd accept the female last names for original creations with the grandmothers being Mirage (Kaos), Reimi (Saionji), Sophia (Esteed), Nel (Zelpher), Claire (Lasbard), Peppita (Rossetti), Myuria (Tionysus), and Maria (Traydor). 1 - Said character is a single mother who never marries. 2 - Said character marries but the husband takes on the last name of the woman he marries over her taking his last name.In the case of Farrence, it's entirely possible Eleyna and Crowe never marry so her children end up with her last name - all I know at this point from watching Crowe's ending on youtube is that he and Eleyna shack up but never marry. I don't know what the backstory is for the first Star Ocean game just yet. (Still unemployed. Still no PSP to play.) The only character I can't say with certainty about direct lineage is Ioshua Jerand, whom I only know about through finding artwork and stamps on deviantArt. (Which if anyone can tell me if he's a direct descendant of Sarah or is from a sibling we never heard about, I'd most definitely appreciate it. :))
