Symbolism of Beatrix

[TheSpoonyBard]

Freya and Burmecian/Cleyran race are referred to as 'vermin' by Queen Brahne and her army. The term 'vermin' gives me the impression of dirty, uncultured persons with no sense of justice. To me this seems ironic as it is the Queen and her minions that are declaring war on a peaceful and highly cultured society which places great importance on values and norms within that society. This seems hypocritical of the Queen, but then again she never was one for self reflection.

This brings me on to my point about Beatrix. Just because she has been labelled General of the royal army (just as Freya and her people were labelled vermin) it does not necessarily mean they will grow to fulfill these labells. Inside everyone is the knowledge of who they truly are, and no exterior influences can change it. Beatrix had this knowledge of who she was, just as Freya had it inside of her, it just took Beatrix slightly longer to discover it. Luckily she managed to find the courage inside herself to break free from the socially imposed shackles and she became an individual with a liberated mind which enabled her to see the truth of her actions and the effects they were having on the world.

[Del Murder]

Interesting points. Beatrix is blind sort of like justice is blind. Blindly following the orders of the crown.

[DaremihC]

When I think of one-eyedness in FF I always think of the Odin in Norse Mythology removing his eye and putting it in Mimer's well in order to gain more wisdom...
There ARE a lot of ties between the FF games and norse mythologies... maybe? I rushed through FFIX (tried to beat it in one sitting... played for 49 hours straight and got to Necron.) so I can't really remember the storylines...

[eestlinc]

yes, physical blindness is generally symbolic of inner wisdom, either Odin's one eye or Tiresias's oracular blindness. So I doubt Beatrix's eye patch is symbolic of her inability to see right from wrong.

[Fireglass]

I don't know if this is true... But I heard that a patch of wolf's skin over ones eye, was believed to make the wearer either invincible, or invisible I don't recall which one though.

[JAS4Yeshua]

Isn't there one bit where it says abut depth perception...or am i comfusing it with something else.

Having the use of only one eye does impair depth perception. I'm familiar with that imparment because I only use one eye at a time. Without depth perception, it becomes very hard to judge distance. One can learn to compensate over time, but it is a visual imparement.

The fact that her one eye is symbolic of her partial blindness to the evil around her is an interesting theory, but I don't see that personally. Oh yeah, the arguments are there, but I think it is more of an accidental symbolism, than an intended one.

Either that, or my personal visual imparement is keeping me from seeing the truth.

[BG-57]

Beatrix is Latin for 'she who is blessed'.

[Ezme]

Like much of the symbolisim in all FF's it probibly is accidental.....It works better that way in my opinion. Its like in English Literature, you probbibly come up with random stuff that the author never even thought of but because its more accidental it's more natural and belivable rather that a personality trait to illustraite something.

p.s. the depth perception bit was from Futurama......why i thought that was from FFIX i'll never know

[JAS4Yeshua]

I'm not saying the creators couldn't have chosen that to be symbolic. That is very common in literature as well. I just don't think they put that much thought into it for the Final Fantasy secondary characters. (IMO)

[Armisael]

Tantalus is in an ancient greek tragedy..It's a small tribe or something..

[BG-57]

I thought Tantalus was the king who thought it'd be funny to serve a banquet to the gods that included humans on the menu. They were not amused and sentenced him to dwell in Hades where, surrounded by a pool of water that receded when he tried to drink and branches of fruit trees that would bend just out of reach when he wanted to pick fruit to eat.

Which is where we get the word 'tantalize'.

[Ezme]

yay, arn't we all learning lots!! lol. I think I've heard that story about the meaning of tantalise.

[Sphere]

I personally think it was accidental symbology, and not intentionally. It does form quite a coincidence though.

I think names are chosen specifically, and the meanings associated with them.

Another name would be of Amarant, which appears to derive from the the word "amaranthine" or amaranton, meaning immortal, undying, or unfading.

It could also appear from the word "amaranth" which means "red dye" (appropriate considering his hair colour)