Queen Brahne

If there was ever one thing that has bugged me about FFIX, it was the fact the game never really explains how Kuja convinced Queen Brahne to go to war with the world, including her own royal kin, and try to exploit her adoptive daughter as a weapon for her military campaign. The game always describes Brahne before her husband's death as a very kind and loving person, and while certainly the tragedy of her husband's death would certainly mess with anyone's head, I can't quite make the logic leap from loving husband's death to "world domination and driving away all my family". So do you think Kuja just had that great of a silver tongue? or do you think some good old fashioned mind control magic was going on behind the scenes? or was Kuja simply taking advantage of a woman who honestly went completely mad?

I like to think Queen Brahne went a little mad because of her loss and Kuja 'chose' her as an easy target to steer her in some direction.

I agree with Pete and I know there could've been more background info in there, but games have to be finished at one time. I wouldn't have mind seeing the whole actual process of her getting to that point.

Yeah I don't think there was really a good reason, just "her husband died and that made her sad." And that's enough. I'm very forgiving when it comes to video games, at least up until I reach something like " you see it's like this, you're all just characters in an MMO that we in the 4-D world like to play!"

And I just can't fathom how that is silly to you but being a dream from a bunch of 1000 year old dead people is brilliant ;)

The 4D beings left a sour taste in my mouth but it also made me hella excited.

On topic at least, I think Brahne would have been a little bit paranoid about everyone now that the King was gone. Despite her imposing nature, I reckon she was soft. So Kuja would've just convinced her everyone was out to get her and that the only way to save Alexandria etc was to do this this and this. Over time she would've lost focus anyway, hence the insane bitch we see.

Alternatively, Kuja cast a spell on 'er. Magic is always the right answer. Her sudden transformation back into a nice person (SPOILER)just before her death probably helps support that.

And don't give me that :bou::bou::bou::bou:, some people might not have played yet :colbert:

I think she got some good ol young scantly clad guy boinking that helped him get his point across.

Devil's advocate: Was she really all that kind before? Who actually says this? If it's NPCs, I'd just say they're naive about their leader. If it's Garnet, she might be naive about her mother from such a young age.

What I'm saying is that I actually don't think it's very much of a stretch to say that the 'she used to be so nice' is a clouded judgment from whoever made it and something the player should be skeptical about.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

And I just can't fathom how that is silly to you but being a dream from a bunch of 1000 year old dead people is brilliant ;)

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Sometimes you need to overlook silly things to enjoy the brilliant parts.

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Originally Posted by Flying Arrow

Devil's advocate: Was she really all that kind before? Who actually says this? If it's NPCs, I'd just say they're naive about their leader. If it's Garnet, she might be naive about her mother from such a young age.

What I'm saying is that I actually don't think it's very much of a stretch to say that the 'she used to be so nice' is a clouded judgment from whoever made it and something the player should be skeptical about.

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Well, it was from everyone really, Garnet, Cid, and the town people all said she radically changed after her husband's death and Kuja's arrival.

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

And I just can't fathom how that is silly to you but being a dream from a bunch of 1000 year old dead people is brilliant ;)

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Sometimes you need to overlook silly things to enjoy the brilliant parts.

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Once again, says the person who can't get over the fact that only one person dies in FFIV and the game is filled with hilarious "deaths" :p

I think there might have been some manipulation behind the scenes that we are not privy to. Did they ever say if Queen Brahne was human or not? Did she used to look different when she was loving and kind? I have seen some people in other media turn blue when they become antagonists, like the Gross Sisters on The Proud Family, or the enemies in towns in Earthbound!

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

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Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

And I just can't fathom how that is silly to you but being a dream from a bunch of 1000 year old dead people is brilliant ;)

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Sometimes you need to overlook silly things to enjoy the brilliant parts.

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Once again, says the person who can't get over the fact that only one person dies in FFIV and the game is filled with hilarious "deaths" :p

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You know I think I would like FFIV better if I approached it as a parody.

I kinda bought the 'she lost her husband and was vulnerable and then got taken advantage of' because, as I recall, the game seems to stress how much she loved her husband and how lost she felt without him. Given that, it seemed to be that Kuja was able to take advantage of her and appeal to her greed to conquer neighbouring countries. I could imagine that, given her vulnerable state, she wouldn't have taken too much convincing and the fact that someone as manipulative as Kuja took an advantage of her and likely flattered her, made her particularly susceptible.

I wondered how Kuja was able to even see her. Imagine just some random cross dressing man walks up to the castle and asks to see queen. I know had to be laughed at.

He rode in on a white horse silver dragon

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Originally Posted by Depression Moon

I wondered how was Kuja able to even see her. Imagine just some random cross dressing man walks up to the castle and asks to see queen. I know had to be laughed at.

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Given that the ease with which arms dealers currently get access to governments IRL, it's not inconceivable to think that he just wrote a letter or contacted her defence minister or whatever.

Which would be Beatrix. Who I'd doubt let a scantly clad man to see her queen!

Maybe the fact that he was scantily clad is actually why he got access to the Queen!

I find it hard to believe that someone who looks like Brahne could even find a husband.

No wonder she went insane when her husband died, it was because she knew no one else would ever find her attractive.

In this world magic plays a big part of running things. Its likely someone as powerful and power mad as Kuja used magic heavily to coerce Queen Brahne by some sort of mind control.

Kuja in the early days managed to kick Zidane out of his original world onto the world of Gaia on hearing Zidane was a step up above him in being a genome with a better soul. So back then he already had a lot of power.

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Originally Posted by Lone Wolf Leonhart

I find it hard to believe that someone who looks like Brahne could even find a husband.

No wonder she went insane when her husband died, it was because she knew no one else would ever find her attractive.

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Exactly. Even Kuja referred to her as the elephant lady. Not very flattering. I imagine she overheard similar comments. Or another sinister possibility is Kuja spread her unflattering nickname behind her back, and when he played nice in front of her, show her what everyone 'actually' thought of her, and used it to make her learn to hate and wage war.

Think of it like Queen Brahne as Chris Farley.

"OOOOOOOOH MYYYYYY GOOOOOOD, I'M THE FREAKIN' QUEEN OF FREAKIN' ALEXANDRIA, I WANNA STEAL EIDOLONS AND KILL RATS WITH THEM."

Kuja as David Spade looks up from a newspaper.

"Why don't you do that?"

"...OKAY!"

I've never really given the matter much thought, but I'd assume the demise of her husband combined with the pressure put upon her as a result of her royal duties both played a large part in making her vulnerable to Kuja's manipulation. Furthermore, he offered her a route to power - something that is pretty hard to resist in itself.

Below is a link that shows the Queen Brahne's final words spoken to Garnet. She states that the all consuming greed she had felt was gone. I always thought that she was inflamed with greed because Kuja put a spell on her. This, of course, is only my opinion but it does explain why someone would change so drastically. :hello:

YouTube - ‪Final Fantasy IX Part 125 - Bahamut's Fury; The Death of Brahne‬‏

I think theres a part where they mentioned that her hunger for power corrupted her, but then again i havnt played the game in ages so i could be mistaken

I hated her tho

This is certainly something that isn't focused on in the game. I think a lot of what has been said already is very plausible. As it stands, we have no real evidence that Queen Brahne was all that kind before the King's death anyway, it is possible that that was to some extent a facade.

Human history has shown many a time that absolute power corrupts absolutely - or at least very often. People in such positions often only see their own lives and ambitions as having any meaning and therefore commit horrible crimes as a result.