PaigeFTW: In Defense of Vaan
One of the most frequent complaints about Final Fantasy XII is its protagonist, Vaan, and how just about everyone hates him.
The apocryphal story is that game director Yasumi Matsuno intended the hero be the older Basch, a disgraced knight seeking redemption, only to be told that Japanese audiences responded better to coming-of-age teenage heroes, and Vaan was written in to shoehorn the gap.
Now, I quite like Vaan and have for many years counted him as my most beloved of Final Fantasy characters, and so I must defend him.
Vaan is most critiqued as being insignificant to the story and generally annoying. He does get a lot of groaner moments, and I’ll admit I think the developers overplayed the naivete angle.
But don’t mistake not having active stakes as being insignificant. Vaan is the catalyst that brings the party together, from stealing the Dawn Shard from Balthier and Fran, to saving Ashe from Imperials.
More importantly, his presence reminds the game’s loftier characters what is at stake. A war orphan may not have a reason to be involved in this grand mission outside of the excitement of it, but he is a reminder that some people don’t have the privileges of kings and wealth to fall back on.
When the long-exiled princess Ashe spits at the idea of reconciling with her enemy Archadia, Basch is able to point towards Vaan (and Penelo) as reminders that her citizens, who have long lived under Archadian rule while she stayed hidden, may not have the privilege to be so principled.
Vaan’s true purpose is to help Ashe grow into the hero she needs to be to save her people.
And Ashe, of course, is the real hero of Final Fantasy XII — she is the one who changes most over the course of the story. We’re just not used to being the support instead of the star. Therein lies the misunderstanding of Vaan.
And if that’s not persuasive enough, his status as the game’s strongest, most versatile character in battle should win him praise enough!
