The Tragedy of Power in Suikoden II
The Leaders x The Powers x The War Awaits. If this current unrest global situation had taught me something, it was: we were such a frail civilization that always found its way to survive numerous wars across the millennia. And for better or worse, the fate of humanity always be in the hands of one or two world leaders — that hopefully never turn into madmen.
For me, the first lecture I got about war + politics + madmen came from a game called Suikoden, many years ago. To be exact, Suikoden II was my best choice to understand how all these great leaders pushed up their agenda and drove the world one inch closer to total madness.
Suikoden II: What Is Power?
Let’s do a quick retrospective to understand where all the madness & wars within came from.
It began with the presence of two warring countries: Highland Kingdom and Jowston City State.
Highland was a monarchy encompassing a vast prairie area with small towns subservient to the King’s Palace. Jowston City State is a commonwealth — similar to Great Britain — with many independent provinces.
Thirty years before the setting of Suikoden II begins, the two countries are at war. Highland, led by King Robert Blight, wants to expand its territory to the Jowston region. And so the war went on for 6 years, there were times when the Highland invasion was successful, but Jowston managed to hit back. In the end, the war ended with the fall of one area belonging to Jowston, Kyaro, to Highland.
The main story of Suikoden II was started by the wiles of Luca Blight — the grandson of Robert — who wanted to restart the war with Jowston. He arranged a scenario where the Highland army barracks were attacked by Jowston, when it actually was Luca’s doing. All for the sake of starting the war. Our main character, Riou, is one of the young soldiers who managed to escape from the massacre in the barracks.
The story continues with Riou and his friends’ efforts to stop Highland from ruthlessly invading various cities and massacring the citizens. Riou unites the multiple provinces of Jowston and the rest of Dunan — a name for the land where the story takes place — into a unified force to fight Highland. In Suikoverse, this period marks the beginning Dunan Unification War.
Long story short, Highland was defeated, and the entire Dunan region was wholly unified.
For those who have played it, it will be easy to understand up to here. For those who never have, imagine this is like Game of Thrones, a war between kingdoms until a hero appears and succeeds in unifying all kingdoms.
The thing is.. the story of Suikoden II was never that black and white. I can argue that the conflict in Suikoden II wouldn’t have happened if the lousy leaders from Jowston hadn’t committed a terrible crime against the Blight family. Luca Blight would not have been driven to carry out his crusade were it not for that vicious night in his childhood.
By inspecting the perspective of three characters (Luca, Jowy, and Riou), I would like to invite you to reread the story of the war and the complicated power struggle in Suikoden II.
Luca Blight: Sympathy and Justification for Violence
Luca Blight is the cruelest enemy/antagonist in video game history. He is a psychopath full of sadistic killings record. He invaded small villages and forced residents to pretend to be pigs under the pretext that they would be saved if they obeyed.
“Die Pig!!” The citizen was greeted by a sword slash to their head; the option for survival was never there. Think of it as a mix of Ramsay Bolton and Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones but on crueler version.
Throughout his war, he never showed any mercy. His madness made the high-ranking Highland officials worried about the future of the country in his hands. Is there room for players like us to forgive a monster like Luca Blight?
In additional post-game content on Genso Suikogaiden, a poignant part of Luca Blight’s childhood is revealed. On that fateful night, the Blight family’s convoy that was crossing the forest was attacked by bandits. Agares Blight, the king at the time, who was also Luca’s father, fled, leaving behind his wife and child. The bandits then rape Sarah, Luca’s mother. Luca was forced to witness the incident with his own eyes. His cowardly father is nowhere to be found.
Guess who hired the bandits? The leader of the city of Muse, the capital of Jowston State: Darell. He was indeed an incapable leader from the start, a bad one. He justified various wicked ways to maintain his position. At that time, he tried to prove that he had the guts to scare Highland. And his guts ended as a tragic night for Luca and his family.
Sarah became pregnant after the rape, gave birth to a daughter named Jillia, and died. Little Luca Blight was faced with a monstrous situation. Her mother died and he became a traumatized little boy with a cowardly king-father who dares not take revenge. It was from this point that he devoted his wrath for the world.
When he grew up, he looked for the bandits, then slaughtered them with his sword. He then united himself with the Beast Rune, a magic heirloom passed down from generation to generation. This rune fuels him with a terrible power to help all his war missions. One downside of it, this rune eats his sanity and humanity in return.
Can we accept his tragic past as a bridge of fire for all his cruelty?
Luca Blight made his personal grief the basis of wars between nations. I think this happened quite often in many cases of other wars, including the First World War. The death of an aristocrat is a sign of war, whereas the death of a citizen is only a funeral home matter.
But, perhaps, what Luca Blight did was also correct. His pacifist father was never competent to be a mighty king for his people. After all, when Luca began his invasion, Jowston was divided. The ego of each province made Jowston like a sunken ship. Luca is a necessary evil to put it all back together. His cruelty is the only way for the weak to unite, encourage peace, and seek kindness.
He met his end in a tragic but also touching sequence. Jowy Atreides, a leader of the Highland war, had planned Luca’s death at the hands of Riou and Dunan’s unification army. Sure enough, he died at Riou’s hands. Surprisingly, he found relief after his defeat. His chest felt light, without any more hatred. Perhaps what he was looking for all this time was not a war to vent his wrath but liberation from suffering.
And Jowy knew it all: Luca wasn’t a leader, just a frail person forced by circumstances to thirst for blood.
Jowy Atreides: Ending The War with War
Jowy Atreides is a pacifist. He naturally shies away from war. Being born into an aristocratic Highland family didn’t make him much privileged. His mother married a noble from the Atreides clan when Jowy was already in the womb — not pure blood. The loneliness and discrimination he receives from his stepbrothers and other nobles lead him to befriend our main character, Riou, an orphan with no social status.
They teamed up as young soldiers, then received The Bright Shield Runes (for Riou) and Black Sword Runes (for Jowy). Together, they were destined to end the atrocities of war. It did happen, but, unfortunately, not as they expected.
In the middle of the game, Jowy decided to part ways with Riou, then joined Highland. He also became King of Highland after marrying Jilia, Luca’s sister. Both of them stand on different sides until the end of the story. But, it turns out that Jowy is actually looking for the best way to end the war by ‘betraying’ our hero. His resolution? Letting Luca die.
How do we put Jowy in this chaos?
Jowy’s most significant motivation for ending the war by becoming the King of Highland was a little girl named Pilika. Pilika and her parents are residents of Toto Village, who rescued Jowy after escaping the massacre in the barracks of young soldiers. Then Luca Blight arrived and massacred all the residents of Toto. Pilika managed to survive but was severely traumatized — became mute — after seeing her parents killed in plain sight (ah, a deja vu).
After that, Jowy becomes Pilika’s guardian. This moment opened his perspective about the waging war and purpose for power. He knew that the tyrannical Luca couldn’t give people a sense of security. Jowston, which is ignorant and has no idealism, is also prone to conflict. Finally, Jowy offered himself to the world, where he promised to create an ideal and safe haven for everyone using his power. A dumb utopia.
On several occasions on the battlefield, Jowy offered Riou and Dunan’s troops to surrender; to allow him to materialize his utopian-peaceful world. Usually, this is an ideal situation for a ceasefire; however, Highland had already killed too many, and it was impossible to strike a balance with one-sided diplomacy.
Jowy is trapped in a vortex. He had to withstand attacks from Riou while carrying out his grand pursuit. He also had to restrain the Beast Rune with his Black Sword Rune so it wouldn’t manifest into the world and cause a big mess.
After the war ended with Riou and Dunan’s victory, Jowy retreated to the mountains, glancing back at all his sins, for the blood that was spilled for the goal of creating a world without sorrow. He waited for Riou to come for a final battle. After all the irony, Jowy wanted to die peacefully in his best friend’s hands.
You, who play Riou have a choice: finish off Jowy and prove that he chose the wrong path; or not attack him to reconcile, letting go of what happened and return to being two friends — three with Nanami — and go out for adventure together again.
Riou, You: The Sin of a Primus Interpares
Riou is the main character of this game. You can choose whatever name you want for him at the start of the game. Then you control him, deciding the fate of your kingdom through the choices Riou makes. He’s always there & you stuck with him.
At first glance, Riou is a typical game character, unremarkable, and not much different from other games of his contemporaries. But it’s not actually that simple. He is different. Riou has no voice, no opinion, other than a few answer options occasionally appearing in the game, and you have to choose.
With the absence of his ‘voice’, Riou seemed to have no psychological depth. You are the one who decides what kind of character Riou will be. Let’s compare him with Cloud (Final Fantasy VII), Squall (Final Fantasy VIII), Claude (Star Ocean 2), or Fei (Xenogears). Most of these main characters are designed to have the characteristics of the dialogues: Cloud is emo, Squall is antisocial, Claude is sloppy, and Fei is a pacifist.
With the thought process in the dialogue bubble, we know that whatever we do to them will not change their character. In other words: there is no free will for the player. Our role as players is only to determine what weapons are suitable for them or how strong their status is.
Riou was created like a blank canvas. Like Tir in first Suikoden game, Riou also proceeds according to our free will. We can arrange our kingdom and castle as we wish; it can be completed or emptied. The fate of some characters is also in our hands; to let them die or live.
Even though Suikoden II storyline aims to defeat Highland, getting there can be an entirely different experience for the players. With its complex, dramatic, and realistic background story, perhaps Suikoden II can be your first experience as a virtual country leader; to become a real primus interpares.
However, is there any bitterness you feel behind your success in leading the troops to defeat Highland?
Is it true that we lead the Dunan Unification Army for the common good? The foundation for the formation of Dunan’s troops was the ravaged Jowston State. We unite the divided Jowston State to once again wage a holy war against Highland. Are we standing in the right position?
Luca offers a war for revenge and unites the whole country with his power. Jowy offered Dunan’s troops a white flag to end the war peacefully, then regrouped as a family again. What do we do? Keep fighting until Highland surrenders, then unification takes place.
No. We are not carrying our flag of righteousness. We’re just proudly carrying our flag of power. Or perhaps it is as simple as this: Highland offers conquest in the name of absolute monarchy, and Dunan-Jowston offers conquest in the name of liberal democracy.
Both have their fair share of win and defeat.
