A Justified Murder...? (Spoilers Within.)

[Squall of SeeD]

After remembering this while posting in the Delita Thread, 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.)

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.)

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:

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.

[DocFrance]

It's a mistranslation mixed with misunderstanding. Involvement, though it seems to imply it, does not necessarily mean conspiracy. Teta was involved in the assassination attempt in the sense that she was around Dycedarg when the attempt took place and that her abduction was a direct result of the attempt, not that she conspired to assassinate Dycedarg.

[Squall of SeeD]

It's a mistranslation mixed with misunderstanding. Involvement, though it seems to imply it, does not necessarily mean conspiracy. Teta was involved in the assassination attempt in the sense that she was around Dycedarg when the attempt took place and that her abduction was a direct result of the attempt, not that she conspired to assassinate Dycedarg.

I was thinking it could be that, as well. It's saddening the degree to which context was ignored in some spots during translation.

At the same time, however, I have to wonder why else Zalbag would have had Teta killed.

[BG-57]

Because she was a commoner and in the way and therefore expendable. Zalbag and Algus were only interested in saving nobles like Alma and Elmdor. To them, killing a commoner to wipe out the Death Corps was an acceptable sacrifice.

[dodhungry]

This is a perfect example on why I still play this game. You learn something everyday. I never realized that untill you pointed it out and it sounds and looks good to me. Thats just cool.

[Drinkinlinkin]

Man youre thinking about this game waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

I think the theory is at least plausible, Zalbag is a pretty noble person and he doesn't strike me as the kind of person to needlessly sacrifice somebody. His reaction in that event always struck me as somewhat odd given his behavior in other regards.

[BG-57]

Zalbag is noble and self-sacrificing when it comes to Alma and Ramza, who are also nobles (and siblings). It's when it comes to commoners that he displays an uglier side.

[feioncastor]

Man youre thinking about this game waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much

Okay, don't come into a FFT board and say things like that. For a lot of us, this game is the greatest video game ever made, and offered us days, weeks, even months of entertainment, and for me personally, holds a great deal of nostalgic significance because I was with some of my best friends when I used to play, and those friends are no longer around. FFT is more than a video game for me, and I don't know that posting something like that is at all appropriate.

Feion

[BG-57]

I dunno, I think Drinkinlinkin was just trying to be humorous. And the point may be valid, to the extent that fine analysis of plotlines indicates a high degree of obsession that most people do not share.

I consider this thread no worse that what Phil Farrad does (nitpicking Star Trek) or the R=U threads on FFVIII forums. We certainly picked an excellent game to obsess about!

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

Given Zalbag's slaying of Teta, that also brings up another point. Do you think he redeems himself later with his actions against Dycedarg?

[BG-57]

Almost. He's good and noble when it comes to fellow nobles (as was his father I might add), but he's the one who orders Teta's muder and he must bear responsibility for that. Not that Algus doesn't as well.

[Masamune·1600]

Except Balbanes had respect for everyone, not just nobles. It was on his behest that Delita was in the academy in the first place, as I recall.

As to the original thread, I personally believe it was the result of the translators failing to fake context into account, or simply a translational error. Even with the language as it is, it would be somewhat difficult to suggest that it implies involvement with the assassination attempt. Since she was a "hostage" and was "abducted" by the Death Corps, it seems unlikely that she was in on the conspiracy. Had she been, and had that been known (which would have meant she was killed with that in mind), she certainly would have fled on her own free will.

[BG-57]

I meant that Balbanes was also a noble, not that he was just like Zalbag. In fact, Ramza and Alma seem to be his only children that took after him.

[TurkSlayer]

It probably is a translation error, because Golagros himself said he only abducted Teta because he needed a way out and he thought Teta was a Beoulve so he could use her as a shield. And about Zalbag ordering Algus to kill her. I believe Zalbag was directly ordered by Dycedarg to kill Teta, because there doesn't seem to be any other way he'd do it. Zalbag was a very kind person, and he treated Teta like a sister. However, until he learned that Dycedarg had killed his father, he had extreme loyalty to him. If Dycedarg didn't order him to do it, I don't believe he would have done it.