Serah Farron: True Courage (Final Fantasy XIII-2 Character Analysis)

[@Gwen1661]

It's interesting how we learn the most about Serah in 13-2 despite being present and important (to varying degrees) in all three games. I'm someone who came to appreciate the more I replayed or rewatched 13-2. But I love how, as you pointed out, Lightning and Serah begin in different ends of the spectrum and are able to meet somewhere in the middle together, just as they were able to reunite at the end of Lightning Returns.

[@coaster1235]

It’s been lovely revisiting the 13 trilogy, remembering why I liked so much and finding new points to appreciate through your analyses, thank you for them!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

You're quite welcome! I'm really glad you enjoyed them.

[@leuenroo7]

i love that scale of self-reliance! a really great way to represent their growth and how that affects their relationship

[@wanderingbardgaming]

They definitely both end in a good, healthy place

[@yesofcourse8520]

What a great series, the work you put into analysing such an underappreciated cast of characters is honestly amazing. Wishing you all the success and growth with your channel, it's fantastic stuff. Happy New Year to you!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Happy New Year to you too!

[@a.d.snickles9450]

Ahhh Serah and Vanille are my favorite characters in FF history. Seeing someone appreciate them when the game and characters are so broadly hated means a lot to me. Thank you!!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Thank you for watching! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. I do think XIII, while imperfect, is criminally underrated

[@adrielescoz5964]

I'd suggest either FFX or FFXVI characters next for analysis!!!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Well you so happen to be in luck! I have already done some FFXVI vids, and am playing through FFX now. Thanks so much for the rec! It makes me happy when people respond to my requests for input.

[@KooriPlays]

I'm so glad you made this video. And I'm so glad that I subbed ❤

[@wanderingbardgaming]

XD I'm glad about both of those things too ;) In full seriousness thanks so much for the sub.

[@fatelessfire]

This channel is super underrated, love these videos keep it up!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Thank you so much!!

[@fryingpanda]

Serah story and it's conclusion on 13-2 was very touching. I really loved seeing that she's an average girl who just been flung out of her ordenary life to "find her sister" it's true there isn't much depth to her character. She just wants to be married, loved her friends and cat, she has a bit of drama with her bf but she wants to fix it. She goes on a journey to find her sister through portals and discovered so much more. The entire game she always gave the vibe of "I'm there" i wish in her dialogue and memories and texts and whatnot we got a bit more about her every day slice of life stuffs. Random instances of when she used to live with everyone.... But we got forgettable texts about her and very few slice of life stuff that may give her a bit more depth. Even so she was just an average girl who found a resolve in putting everyone before herself and... Died for it. Which is such a beautiful story. It goes to show that we don't really need a protagonist who have much going on about them. At least i think so

[@wanderingbardgaming]

My writing community has a big thing about the concept of an “ordinary hero.” The famous example being Frodo and Sam in LOTR. Serah fits that quite nicely I agree; Sazh is another good example of it

[@ianpage2509]

One for the algorithm thanks

[@commenter6763]

I just wish they would've explored the relationship between Snow and Serah more as a couple. I don't see why Square is incapable of writing a power couple of sorts into their stories. It's always hints that two of their characters may be an item, but it's always surface-level or there's always something getting in the way that prevents them from being close. Examples: Cloud and Tifa never explore being a couple, Squall keeps Rinoa at arms length until the very last scene in the end credits, Tidus was never real for Yuna, etc. In the case of FFXIII-2, Snow needed to travel through time and Serah just accepts it with a, "Welp, gotta go on this journey to find my sister and help Snow." When she sees him in FFXIII-2 for the first time in years at the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF, there's no real bond, unfortunately. It's just a couple of one-liners about how she doesn't want to lose Snow again, and it never gets brought up again. And in the XIII series, Snow and Serah are the only ones that I can recall that even made it to fiance/fiancee status up to that point in any of the FF games, let alone made it to marriage. Having them be engaged was a great plot addition that none of the other FF games had touched upon. In that sense, I didn't like or think the time travel aspect and introduction of Noel in FFXIII-2 was necessary based on how XIII concluded. FFXIII-2 could have been the Snow and Serah show, but it wasn't. It was more about the adventure than about the story. I only played two hours of Lightning Returns, but from what I saw, it was frustrating how they changed the character of Snow to be a heel, basically, which is nothing like his character in the first two games. And that they brought Serah back, but not really, it's just her in the form of Lumina, a heel from what her character was in the first two games. Maybe they shouldn't kill off their characters so much if they need to bring time travel into their stories in order to reverse any sort of permanence or growth that the characters could otherwise have had.

[@wanderingbardgaming]

As much as I do agree that they could have done more with Serah and Snow as a couple, I’m gonna push back against the complaint that “Square can’t do power couples.” There are multiple examples of couples that do have fulfilling relationships and end up together by the end (Zidane and Garnet, Locke and Celes, and notably Rosa and Cecil, who get married at the end of FFIV), and the fact that some couples don’t get to be together at the end (Clive and Jill, Tidus and Yuna, Zack and Aerith) doesn’t negate their worth, especially considering there is excellent sequel content for some of them. As far as LRFFXIII goes, I’m not going to explain Lumina since there’s major spoilers there. But if you want my thoughts on Snow, I have a video about him too

[@commenter6763]

The concept of "power couple" is specific, and powerful. It's not that the other relationships aren't legitimate, but just for once, it would be nice to see two main characters grow as a couple the entire time, so that's what I was hoping for with Snow and Serah. I wasn't negating any of those relationships, but Snow and Serah were *engaged*, and that was unique for the series for main playable characters. Maybe it's a sales thing as they're games, not books, and focusing on character growth in a sequel would just take too much away from the "adventure." Zidane was kept at arms length by a spoiled, bratty Garnet until the very end when they decided to make it as though Garnet actually cared about him. The entire game is her deciding to come around to him in the first place, and it took her all of the game to do it. I haven't played FFIV since 1993 or so, so I don't remember that one when it comes to Rosa and Cecil. Zack and Aerith, there again, Zack is dead and it's only what she's remembered of him that we get to see, and beyond that, she has too much to worry about by being an Ancient to focus on being anything else to Cloud, post-Zack. Tifa and Cloud shared a childhood, even so much as a storybook flashback when they were kids making promises to each other, but nothing happens with them the rest of the game. I haven't played the FFVII remakes and would consider those add-ons if they changed anything, so I wouldn't count them anyway. FFVI: It's actually not clear to me if Celes liked Locke romantically, either. Here again, it's a lot of deciding on feelings rather than actually being written as a couple. They were never an item in the game, and that works for the story because Locke was pining for his embalmed girlfriend in the old guy's basement. It was just hinted at that there may be interest among those two. There is a scene in the end credits where Locke helps her out, but it's not necessarily a romantic gesture, although the player can interpret it as such if they want to do that. They could have given Strago a wife, and even there they couldn't do that. Having two characters be a couple must be something they feel would hurt the story of a bunch of rebels in their games going on an adventure or whathaveyou. Which is kind of weird because most of Final Fantasy's themes are about sticking together, never giving up, looking to a brighter future, etc. But I think a couple in the group would work just fine. In FFX, Wakka and Lulu are hinted at, and yet again, not explored until X-2, because that makes sense in X as Lulu is still dealing with the loss of Chappu. And in X-2, they aren't main playable characters. Clive and Jill I'm seeing now as I'm playing XVI for the first time, today, actually. Just got to the part where Clive beats her in her Shiva dominant form and where Cid gets introduced.

[@curajacaster]

oop a lil harsh on her at first lol shes my fave character next to vanille, i really like her development.

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Oh no I do like Serah! The biggest principle of character writing isn’t that they start in a good place, it’s that they end in one. I do apologize if it came out harsher in the beginning

[@Kingeditz176]

Well, I mean most of the time, I don't really pay attention to the story, but if this is what i missed, it's quite interesting.

[@wanderingbardgaming]

You know a lot of people knock on the writing for the FFXIII trilogy, but I genuinely think it’s quite good, especially the original FFXIII

[@uselessfamiliar]

I'm glad there are a subset of FF fans that appreciate the FF 13 series. It's still my favorite. The last one I was ever hyped for

[@wanderingbardgaming]

@uselessfamiliar I'm late for the party as far as getting into FF, so the only time I was ever "around" for an FF release was XVI. So I got hyped for that one for sure. I think discovery of something old can be as good or better than getting hyped for what's new.

[@Jirusandoicchi]

Do one on Alyssa, please!

[@wanderingbardgaming]

Thansk for the request! Jsyk I likely can't do a full video for Alyssa because there's simply not enough material-BUT I have been wanting to do a video about FFXIII trilogy side characters, so I'll make sure she's on the list!

[@Jirusandoicchi]

@@wanderingbardgaming You should read the “Fragments Before” novel then. There’s a full story told by Alyssa’s pov on why she did e everything did. It was made by the game’s writer

[@ethanebonhart6705]

you know, don't you claire...

[@wanderingbardgaming]

You know I kinda forgot we got a fake Serah in FFXIII too