
BASIC INFO
NAME: | Gabranth |
A.K.A.: | Noah fon Ronsenburg |
CANON: | FFXII |
HOMEWORLD: | Ivalice |
AGE: | 36 |
GENDER: | Male |
SPECIES: | Hume |
FIRST GLANCE
APPEARANCE: | Link |
HEIGHT: | 5'11" |
BUILD: | Fit, muscular |
HAIR: | Blond |
EYES: | Hazel |
DRESS: | Dark colors, utilitarian |
SCENT: | Leather, oil |
VOICE: | Link |
DEMEANOR: | Stoic, stern |
PERMISSIONS
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BACKTAGGING: | ✔ |
4TH-WALLING: | ✔ |
THREADJACKING: | ✔ |
MIND-READING: | ✔ |
FIGHTING: | ✔ |
ROMANCE: | ✔ |
INJURY: | ✔ |
KILLING: | ✘ |
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Without power, what future can you claim?
What good a kingdom you cannot defend?
PERSONALITY
There are three traits that primarily define Gabranth’s character: his ruthless determination, his priority of honor above nearly all else, and his steadfast loyalty to and pursuit of the people and things that matter most to him. Together these traits make for a well-rounded primary antagonist, but they also tell the story of a broken man who is both chained to his past and driven to regain his honor at any cost.
Throughout Final Fantasy XII, he is shown to interact with most others in a stoic, calm, sometimes aloof and often calculating manner, whether it’s reporting to the Solidors, dismissing an unruly bangaa bounty hunter, or discussing the safety of his charge with fellow Judge Magister Drace. But his true colors show when he confronts his brother Basch, or even when the subject of him comes up in conversation. The grudge Gabranth holds against him for abandoning Landis is one he’s carried for years, and the depth of his hatred shows through in nearly every interaction he has with the player party, and even beyond that. In Basch’s flashback to the night of Raminas’s murder, when Gabranth looks down at him, seeing his twin brother for the first time in many years and in the act of framing him for regicide — essentially sentencing him to death — he regards him with a smirk on his face. Atop the Pharos, he tells him “When you abandoned home and kin, your name was forever stained with blood,” and even after being defeated there, he accuses him of “leav[ing his] debts unpaid”.
He is relentless in most everything he does, but this ruthlessness and drive is particularly evident when it comes to anything concerning Basch. In Gabranth’s mind, the only thing that could absolve Basch of his sins is his death, and he will stop at nothing to deliver it to him. He says this much to Emperor Gramis himself, and it also shows in his interactions with Basch in the latter parts of the game. After his defeat at the Pharos, he still doesn’t lay down his swords until Venat violently incapacitates him; when he later encounters them on the Sky Fortress Bahamut, even though he’s still disgraced and heavily wounded from their previous encounter, he picks a fight with Basch anyway and doesn’t give up until he can no longer stand.
For all his hatred and begrudging of his brother, though, Gabranth’s resentment does not lie wholly with him. Even years after the fact, and despite all that he has accomplished in his service to Archadia, he is still wracked with guilt over joining the empire that conquered his homeland. He feels as though his honor was lost the day Landis fell, and his dignity continues to be broken down throughout the course of FFXII, after Vayne forces him to kill Drace and Dr. Cid condemns him for breaking Larsa’s trust; even though both of these instances were only partially his own doing, he blames himself for both and slips deeper into self-loathing. He believes the only way he could possibly lay claim to honor once again and atone for his own misdeeds is by somehow avenging his fallen homeland, which becomes clear when he addresses Ashe at the Pharos: in provoking her to battle, he tells her “we cannot escape the past,” and asks if her subjugated kingdom and fallen subjects do not demand revenge.
The fact that no vengeance can change the events of the past is something that Gabranth cannot bring himself to recognize, whether he’s too stubborn for it or simply unwilling to admit that all he has struggled for in his quest for honor has been for naught. When he finally is forced to come to terms with that reality, he doesn’t accept it easily; for all the shame, humiliation, and despair he has inflicted upon his brother throughout the years, all in the name of punishing him for abandoning his family and home, Basch still manages to maintain his own honor and dignity, which both vexes and enrages Gabranth. At his lowest and weakest point, he confronts Basch on the Bahamut: “You failed Landis, you failed Dalmasca — all you were to protect, yet you still hold onto your honor! How?”
Of course, Basch’s answer — that he has kept his honor by protecting the princess Ashelia, as Gabranth protects his lord Larsa — isn’t something he easily accepts either. He has spent so many years blinded by his hatred, resentment, and self-loathing that he has somehow failed to recognize what truly renders him an honorable man: his steadfast dedication to the protection and welfare of Larsa Solidor.
While he is one to double-cross others without much second thought should his orders call for it — as evident in his framing of Basch, as well as his reporting on Vayne’s doings with Dr. Cid — when he is truly loyal to someone, he is loyal to the very end. After assuming his father’s throne, Vayne uses and orders Gabranth like his own personal hound, but it’s clear that Gabranth’s true loyalties lie instead with Vayne’s younger brother Larsa, and it is that true loyalty that stirs him to battle once more. Despite his resentment of the empire, and despite the wounds and shame he’s suffered from his defeat just minutes prior, he raises his sword once more in open defiance to Vayne for the sake of protecting Larsa and the future of Archadia. In doing so, he is shown to be willing to ultimately put the lives of those he values above himself and above his own pain, no matter what the cost, and in giving his life to do so, he finally manages to prove himself an honorable man.
INVENTORY & ABILITIES
PLACEHOLDER in case i need this section!
TOPICS TO AVOID
SEXUAL ASSAULT and all related topics thereof. If you feel this subject is unavoidable in your character's interaction with Gabranth, please contact me so we can work something out.
KINKS: Obviously not a factor if we are not writing smut, but regardless, the following is an abbreviated list of kinks I am not interested in pursuing with this character: ageplay; bathroom play; CBT; chastity play; gore; incest; lifestyle BDSM; rape; sounding; snuff; vore. For a comprehensive list of kinks I am and am not interested in writing with Gabranth, please see this link (NSFW).
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