Ramza leaving at the end....(Spoilers!)

[Dante WolfWood]

I remember a thread awhile back about who is the best protagonist in the FF franchise. Of course Ramza was some of the members here top pick, including mine, but someone here brought up a good point. Ramza just straight dipped out after defeating the devil (I don't remember the name) and didn't stay to fight the political fight in Ivalice, more specifically, his friend Delita and his corrupt scheme. This, in their opinion, meant he was not that great of a hero. At least compared to some of the others in the series.

I personally found this interesting. I never thought of it that way and while I was in the middle of defending his actions, it did make me wonder. Why didn't Ramza stay and fight? Why didn't his noble personality want to continue to help and protect the people of Ivalice? I have a few theories but I don't know which one is closer to the truth:

1.) Ramza is actually dead and the scene at the grave was actually him riding off into another plane of existence.

I believe this one is plausible and would be the best explanation for why he is never heard from again and doesn't take action against what is going on. I know some people believe this but I don't know if I do or not. To me, it just doesn't seem likely. Why would they put that scene in there like they did if it was true? Seems pointless to me.

2.)After saving the entire world from a demonic invasion, he felt his job was done.

After saving the world from destruction, and finally getting his sister back, Ramza just wanted some peace and quiet. Ramza had a very VERY rough life. He watched his family fall apart, brothers and best friends become corrupt and destroy a country, everything he believed in become a lie, AND still kept his noble and righteous roots. It could be that, at the end, Ramza felt that his duty was done and left Ivalice in the hands of someone else. In this case Delita. Whether or not he agreed with what he was doing.

3.)He just doesn't care anymore.

Kinda like the second theory but instead of a sense of accomplishment and being tired from working so hard, he is just apathetic. After all the things that has happen to him, maybe he thinks that there really isn't anything one man can do and decides to live as a hermit after obtaining the one thing he really wanted; to save his little sister. This is plausible but I think it goes against his nature and would be disappointing if it is true.

4.) He realizes what Delita is trying to do and somewhat agrees with it.

This is the one I might lean towards the most. If you've ever seen watchmen or read the comic, think of Dr. Manhattan and Veldt. Although he doesn't agree with the methods and feels the pain that he causes, he trust his friend and realizes what he is trying to do. Perhaps Ramza could never let himself do what Delita is doing, but is willing to overlook someone else doing it for the future benefit of the country. We have to also remember that Delita and Ramza are brothers. They love each other, very much. I believe Ramza trusted in him, despite the terrible atrocities he was committing.

What do you think? And whatever you believe, do you think it makes him less of a hero? I personally do not. The man saved the world from destruction! His lack of action in future events do not wear away the merits of what he has done in the past. Ramza is, and always be, my favorite FF protagonist.

[VeloZer0]

Though I think the Ramza dies ending ties the story up the best, I think it is clear enough that we shouldn't assume that is the case. (Even if I prefer to imagine the game that way.)

I never saw Delita as one of the games vilians, I see him as one of the heroes. He did what he needed to do to get where he needed to be, nothing more. He did several things which make no sense if he was on a wholly self-serving mission. I think Ramza felt that Ivalice was in as good a hands with Delita as it could possibly be in.

[Dante WolfWood]

Interesting. I always saw Delita as a villain or at least an anti-villain (if that's the right term). His outcome may have had an over-all benefit to society but the atrocities he committed are anything but Heroic. There's also the scene at the end of the game where he questions what does Ramza have that he doesn't. I don't know why, but that always seemed like an antagonistic statement to me.

But you're probably right about Ramza. It does seem that he trusted him a little, or else he would have taken action.

[Colonel Angus]

I think we get stuck on the notion of Delita being a villain due to his first scene, where he socks the Princess in her babymaker. Hard to empathize w/ a guy & his cause after he does that.

[chionos]

He doesn't punch her, he tickles her and she doubles over in laughter. Duh.

[VeloZer0]

Really? After an entire lifetime of whiny princesses in video games that made him my hero.

[Skyblade]

Really? After an entire lifetime of whiny princesses in video games that made him my hero.

So you're happy with him beating up (and later (SPOILER)killing) one of the few non-whiney and awesome ones?

I'm pretty sure I don't need to state where I stand on the matter. Since I'm the guy mentioned in the OP.

[VeloZer0]

I'm totally fine with him killing her in the end, especially since she stabbed him first. There is absolutely no conclusive evidence that he was pre-meditating her death. As a matter of fact one of the things that convinced her to kill him was that he was going to kill Olan and Valmafra, characters who knew his entire plan and he just let walk away.

[Pete for President]

This thread reminds me I should really play this game again.

[Wolf Kanno]

Ramza is alive, Word of God says so...

I never saw Delita as a villain either, just a former idealist who chose to be more pragmatic and took a different path. One article I read on Tactics mentioned how the game shares story similarities with Tactics Ogre but in the case of FFT, instead of letting the player play Ramza as Law or Chaos, it created Delita to play one role and Ramza the other. To me their tale is about two people trying to save Ivalice from itself and winding up in different places in the end. Delita is now king but has alienated himself from all his friends and done several terrible things to get their costing him his soul, whereas Ramza loses all status and most of his family as well as being in exile in his own home for the rest of his days, but he quietly accepts that he saved Ivalice and his sister and leaves to start his life anew. It's a brilliant story.

[VeloZer0]

Um, that link confuses me. Not that it wasn't good to listen to again.

[Wolf Kanno]

My bad, I was failing at multi-tasking...

It should be fixed now.