Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

Lately, I've become increasingly interested in this plot point of the story. This little tucked away bit of information may -- from his perspective -- justify what Zalbag ordered Algus to do.

If one reads the Brave Story biography notes on Teta, it suggests that she had a hand in the assassination attempt on Dycedarg's life:

(Before her death.)

Quote

Teta Hyral (Age: 15)
Delita's sister. Daughter of a farmer of a fief in the Beoulve Kingdom. Losing her parents to the Black Plague, she was taken in by the Beoulve family with her brother. She is secretly worried about her brother, who is forced by the Beoulve family to attend the Academy. She is abducted by the Death Corps, as she was involved with the assassination of Duke Dycedarg. Current whereabouts are unknown.

(After her death.)

Quote

Teta Hyral
Delita's sister. Daughter of a farmer of a fief in the Beoulve Kingdom. Losing her parents to the Black Plague, she was taken in by the Beoulve family with her brother. She attended the Aristocratic School with Alma, but had a hard time due to her family background. Abducted for her involvement in the assassination of Duke Dycedarg and killed by Algus at the Fort Zeakden.

Further, if one reads Golagros Levine's biography notes after Teta's abduction, there's another hint toward this:

Quote

Golagros Levine (Age: 28)
Knight in the Death Corps. Attacks Beoulve in Igros, trying to assassinate Duke Dycedarg, a promiment official under Prince Larg. The assassination attempt failed, but during his escape, he confronts and abducts Delita's sister, Teta. Unknown why she was taken as a hostage. Ordered her release by Wiegraf, but continued to escape to Fort Zeakden.

It says here that it's unknown why she was taken as a hostage, whereas Teta's notes state that she was taken because of her involvement in the assassination attempt.

Granted, this leaves the question of why the Death Corps were also trying to take Alma until Zalbag cut down the Death Corps Thief who was dragging her, but the Brave Story does seem to offer an explanation behind Teta's abduction beyond her just being a shield, though it's never touched upon in event dialogue.

Perhaps it was a plothole or simply a mistranslation, or perhaps Dycedarg even made up the bit about Teta attempting to kill him (in which case Zalbag would have believed what he ordered to be justified), but if Teta did, indeed, attempt to help assassinate Dycedarg, then Zalbag would have believed killing her to be justified, and Teta's involvement in this matter would have never been known to Delita, adding a whole new angle of tragedy to his actions.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it likely to be true? Do you think it a mistake in translation? A misconception of context? A lie on Dycedarg's part that's never revealed?

In the event that you do believe it to have been the case, do you feel that it in any way justified the course of action Zalbag took? Would Delita have taken a different path had he known?

Speculate away, folks.

This post has been edited by Squall of SeeD on 3rd March 2005 17:56

--------------------

My Final Fantasy VII Plot Analysis

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" — Edmund Burke

It makes sense. Otherwise, Zalbag wouldn't have had Teta killed.

--------------------

Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Quote (Hamedo @ 3rd March 2005 14:08)

It makes sense. Otherwise, Zalbag wouldn't have had Teta killed.

Well, there's still the possibility that he viewed her as expendable because she was a Commoner. I have to wonder if this was possibly the case.

The wording of Teta's biographical information suggestions involvement in a conspiracy to kill Dycedarg, but by being "involved" in an assassination attempt on him, it may mean that she was simply there when it took place. Considering other errors in translation or failure to clarify context in other parts of the game, I think this may be a good possibility.

At this point, I think it was probably an error in translation and failure to establish context, myself, but I'm still interested in hearing other views on the matter.

--------------------

My Final Fantasy VII Plot Analysis

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" — Edmund Burke

Quote (Squall of SeeD @ 3rd March 2005 15:06)

The wording of Teta's biographical information suggestions involvement in a conspiracy to kill Dycedarg, but by being "involved" in an assassination attempt on him, it may mean that she was simply there when it took place. Considering other errors in translation or failure to clarify context in other parts of the game, I think this may be a good possibility.

At this point, I think it was probably an error in translation and failure to establish context, myself, but I'm still interested in hearing other views on the matter.

Basically, yeah. It was just oddly worded. Her involvement was purely in being a hapless bystander. And yes, she was viewed as expendable and thus killed heartlessly. That's why Delita went into his rage and questioned Ramza's loyalty to him and his brothers and etc. and why Ramza questioned the merits of his brother's decisions. Delita felt wronged and used since Teta was so easily tossed aside. Ramza felt his dear friends had been wronged and that his brothers should not have been so quick to sacrifice the life of someone they had proclaimed for years was near family to them.

--------------------

Games on the Go
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy: Four Warriors of Light
Baldur's Gate

Too much to play, so little time!

Greg

Yeah, I'd say it was a bad translation (after all, FFT has enough of those). I mean, she had nothing to do with Dycedarg's death. Teta was just an innocent. Poor girl.

--------------------

"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus

I'd rack it up as another indistinct bungle in translation or intent. It's already been established that Teta is a commoner, and being of such a low rank in her occupation, it's highly unlikely she had anything to do with the raid on Dycedarg. After all, she's fairly timid and biting the hand that feeds her doesn't really fit her personality.



--------------------

It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Yes, especially the way she reacts to Delita when he visits her a little while before her kidnapping.
She's far too innocent to do something like that.

Let's face it: FFT has some bad translations.
Oberisk, Fire/Ice/Thunder/Holy Bracelet, etc...

--------------------

"Dance, water, dance!"
-Demyx, Kingdom Hearts II

"I met my love before I was born..."
-AFI, 'Love Like Winter' from 'Decemberunderground'

Currently Playing: Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus

Didn't the Death Corps officers, Weigraf, Weigraf's sister, and even Gologros, mistake her for being a Beoulve? Mistaken identity is what I think it was, and killed for no reason by Zalbag's orders except to follow Dycedarg's orders.

This post has been edited by FabulousFreebird on 4th March 2005 19:23

--------------------

"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

Quote (Shinjutsei @ 3rd March 2005 16:49)

Yeah, I'd say it was a bad translation (after all, FFT has enough of those).

Amen to that. Literally Teta was involved in that she saw the assassination attempt and the assassin's identity. I believe it's a poor choice of words, and should read "abducted for witnessing the assassination..." I don't believe that the plot indicates that Teta would or could have been involved in any treachery. If she was, then it still wouldn't be right to kill her of course.

--------------------

Get me off this Disciplinary Committee so I can play any FF except for FF8!!!

Wrong place at the wrong time Is what I think. She was with Alma, and then they grabbed her as a hostage on the way out. The murder really was only justified if you look at it politically, where they needed to show how little they cared for commoners and get the upper hand, which of course is wrong no matter which way you look at it. They only took her because they needed a hostage, and as she WAS at the Beoulve manor, one can only assume she had some sort of value to the family. Which as I said, soon proved incorrect.

This post has been edited by MogMaster on 4th March 2005 21:39

--------------------

If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

I too believe that Teta was killed by her status of a commoner girl, otherwise there will be some scenes in her "conspiration" again Dycedarg,Dycedarg even after saying that she (Teta) is like a sister for him, but he considered her a minimal loss and so probably won`t mind if she was killed,but about Zalbag I don´t know why he ordered Algus to kill her...probably what you think is really a bad translation, like "Lich"-"Rich", "Moogle-Mogri", that difficult the real understanding of the course of the game, think this:" Alazam-Arazam" might be Ramza after all..who knows ?
and all because of bad translation...^_^

--------------------

"Its no cheating if you don't get caught"

I'd take the other side of the story just to make a point but it's just soooooo hard because you see the Death Corps. arguing about her abduction all the time. It was either, 'Release her back to her family' blah blah blah or 'No we need her as a hostage to survive' yadda yadda yadda. If she had been kidnapped for a particular reason, other then just being a human shield that is, then they wouldn't have had those arguments now would they? I forgot the exact reasoning as to why they kidnaped her in the first place but I think it was a combo of wrong place wrong time and mistaken idenity. As for why she was killed, she was a human shield and needed to be shot first so she'd slump out of the way so they could kill her captor. I remember the guy behind her being particularly confident that he wouldn't be harmed as long as he was holding her hostage. Boy, was he ever proved wrong.
However, despite all of this, I can't help but think I'm missing something about the assasination attempt. If I can find my copy of Tactics, I should look in my brave menu and see if I can find the events involved with it.

This post has been edited by Tonepoet on 5th March 2005 01:35

--------------------

Role reversal at its finest.

Teta was taken because Golagros needed a hostage to escape and, like someone said, Teta happened to be in the manor and was mistaken for either Alma or was known to be associated to the Beoulve family. I would probably go with the latter.

Quote

Wiegraf: Why did you kidnap the girl?

Golagros: I needed a hostage to escape.

Wiegraf: If that was the case, you could have let her go later. What....now you, Golagros?

Golagros: You putting me with Gustav? Think. The Death Corps lost most of their men and now are surrounded by the Hokuten. SHe was our only ace in the hole to get us out of this. Because she's a Beoulve.

--------------------

It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Quote (Moglv99 @ 4th March 2005 19:30)

...probably what you think is really a bad translation, like "Lich"-"Rich", "Moogle-Mogri", that difficult the real understanding of the course of the game, think this:" Alazam-Arazam" might be Ramza after all..who knows ?
and all because of bad translation...

No doubt that there's bad translations, but such mistakes as you're suggesting usually occur with l/r and a/u mistakes ("Atma Weapon" instead of "Ultima Weapon" in VI, for instance). Besides, Alazlam's last name is shown to be "Durai" in the ending and he says that Olan's papers were confiscated by the church and held for several hundred years.

--------------------

My Final Fantasy VII Plot Analysis

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" — Edmund Burke

As far as I know we never see the assassination attempt.
Could Teta have been forced to help the assassins inside the castle or somehow gain entrance?

This could also be why Zalbag could easily have ordered her death, in his eyes she betrayed them.

This post has been edited by Queensarrow on 5th March 2005 09:04

--------------------

"You know what they say, 'curiosity killed the cat.'"
"'and satisfaction brought him back.'"
"What?! No it didn't!"
"Of course it did. How else would cats get nine lives?"
- Conversation with Alec, the Smart One

Yeah, maybe there was a knock on the door or something and Teta opened the door, unbeknownst as to who it was and Zalbag and Dycedarg considered this a betrayal and had her executed. NOT!

--------------------

"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja