I don't like Tear

[cuddlefish]

So I understand I'm a little late to the party on this one (like, years late), but I think I really agree with people who say Tear Grants is...not very good. She comes across as not very smart and downright mean. (Cut for spoilers for Tales of the Abyss) I'm reading one of the Tales of the Abyss novels (the Yajima Sara kind, and this is not her fault) and for the first time I have considered tearing pages out of a Japanese novel, I am so angry at the tone and how Tear is treating Luke. Even writing this I was totally ready to forgive her for not realizing at the beginning of the game that Luke had never seen the ocean before, or that he was SUPPOSED to think his shoes were really important. But then the book switches back to Tear's point of view after the game, and she thinks about how "ignorant," "demanding," and "spoiled" he was.

What?

After all you went through with Luke? After all he went through for you (including dying)? You don't understand why he was acting the way he did?

This book is a retelling of certain events in the game, but told from Tear's point of view. At least with the game I wouldn't be exposed to descriptions of her amazement and disgust that he hasn't had military training, much less THE ABILITY TO LEAVE HIS HOUSE, to teach him that if you follow the river down it'll go out of the valley. (Yes, I have to be told, too!) They seem to be glossing over the part where she, a so-called elite soldier, forced a civilian and a nobleman to fight monsters and defend her. But the way Tear is not using polite language is still just as visible.

NOT SURE WHAT TO DO. With the Nanoha novel it was simple enough to just put it away and hold down the urge to vomit at the full-color loli fanservice until I forgot about it. This book makes me mad. And it still has stuff in it I haven't read about Guy so I'd rather not put it away or have to look at any damage I caused to it yet. And so LJ suffers the brunt of my outrage. ._.

I used to try to tell myself that Tear liked Luke because he's sort of a cute helpless thing, but she either misses all his cute helpless moments or she gives him hell for them. Then when she does something wrong and is supposed to face the consequences, she never has to. Whose actions resulted in Luke being removed from his home in something not unlike a kidnapping? Whose fault is it Akzeriuth went under?

As someone who at least likes 11/12 idols in idolm@ster, adores the cast of Sailormoon, loves the Magic Knights, and worships Ellen Ripley (to name a few) I am MORE than entitled to hate a female character. I am qualified. I know what I'm freaking talking about.

But I think I should calm down and look at tea sets.

Comments

[without-reason.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never knew people hated her so much. XD;; But I guess actually seeing it from her point of view and her thoughts would reveal a lot of the ugly side of her that isn't shown in the game.

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

I looked at some 2ch threads. People complain about every player character more than they have with other games, but the complaints about Tear are the ones that made the most sense to me. Then I went and read this book and arrrrrgh.

predictably responding because ToA is as alive for me today as it was in 2006

[boogietiere.livejournal.com]

I really didn't like Tear right after the Akzeriuth incident. Then again, at that point everyone pretty much had to start from zero in winning my affection.

I also don't like the tendency of the game to put away long-haired Luke as a foolish asshole and generally the Wrong one, thus only acknowledging self-sacrificial, overly humble Luke as okay. The way I see it, both Lukes have their own charm to them, and are certainly not to blame for anything (unless one can blame a 7-year-old for being emotionally dependent on and obedient to a father character that poses as the only one taking him seriously?). Asch on the other hand, who is never really harshly criticized (only losely so, quite often in reference to Luke even), could easily be summarized as the worst, sociopathical ego-tripper in the game. It's just hard to seriously respect a character that seems determined to die heroically one way or another, without any hint of consideration toward his fiancee or mother. Basically he was a nut when he was introduced, was offered opportunity after opportunity to change, but he still died the same. Not to mention I grew annoyed with his rejective, assholic attitude towards Luke that didn't contribute to anything positive at all, not even in Luke himself -as might be argued-, who in my view eventually regained some self-worth in spite of Asch and his constant condescendance, not thanks to him.

Ah right, um, Tear. I guess, taking her as a whole (in the game), I can still like her. Being a more rounded character, she's supposed to have her shortcomings, but given that as an elite soldier she was basically forced to develop a certain degree of insensitivity (and had been personally trained by Legretta of all people), I can see where her less considerate demeanor comes from and feel less mean about it.

LOL yes

[moumusu.livejournal.com]

But Tear is not a very good soldier. It's not in the original game, but it is canon that she joined the Oracle to get to the surface and be with Van. (She changed her mind when she found out what he was doing up there.) She reaches her position at the beginning of the game on the recommendation of a teacher, not because she was chosen or because she worked hard for a long time.

At the beginning of the game:

-She breaks into the Fabre household by using Yulia's hymn on people on innocent bystanders. This isn't just the guards at the house, but also servants and maids who can't fight.

-She is part of the hyperresonance that sends her and Luke to another continent, but as she is the one who was aware such a thing could happen, she is responsible. (If we're going to say that anyone is responsible, and Tear does talk about blaming Luke.)

-When she gets there, having more or less kidnapped Luke (whether or not she meant to), she speaks to him in language that is inappropriate for a soldier addressing a nobleman. This is separate from any insensitivity---she is supposed to address her superiors with respect.

-She forces him to fight, instead of telling him to stand back and let her do her job of getting him home.

-Luke complains the whole way down, and instead of being a grownup, she retaliates by taunting him and reminding him he's not a very good fighter.

The game could have continued normally if Tear had gone to Luke's house with Van because she was monitoring him, and then landed up causing a hyperresonance with Luke. And Luke would have ended up fighting even if Tear did tell him to stand back because he's Luke and he wanted to be cool/he's secretly a nice bunny rabbit.

Though you wouldn't know this, in Tales of Fandom and another Yajima Sara novelization, it's shown that Legretta didn't really make Tear emotionally tough (though she did make her a good fighter). Cantabile, Tear's teacher later on, mostly wanted to Tear to be determined on a goal. Tear developed what is apparently toughness and insensitivity on her own, and I think it's her way of compensating for being a rather undependable soldier. Worse, other characters who are in the military know the difference between their opponents and normal people, and they act accordingly.