One of the games that I really like is Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies for the Nintendo DS.
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| A fygg (from fig + Yggdrasil), the in-universe counterpart of the Forbidden Fruit. |
Among many interesting things in this game are subplots that form the basis for a large part of the beginning of the game. As part of the main plot, fyggs or fruits from a Celestrial Tree fall down below to the terrestrial plane. These fyggs purport to be able to grant the desires of people that eat the fygg, Yet, the granting of the desires turns out to be quite problematic. The fygg turns the person into a monster, that as the heroine, one must defeat. After the monster is defeated, we find that the original person was usually quite ordinary, with ordinary faults and failings. These made for quite interesting and often moving subplots to the game.
Those of us who have been watching DokiDoki Precure will likely recognize this theme. The villains from the Selfish Kingdom “grant the wish” of their victims by turning their heart black, stealing their hearts, and using these dark hearts to create a monster that creates havoc until the Precures come to defeat the Selfishness and return the cleansed hearts to the victims.
So, what is wrong with one’s wishes being granted? That is a good question, and I think that the answer is a bit complex. I think that one of the points in both the game and in DokiDoki Precure is that victims wishes are not really being granted. I think that maybe the best way to explain is that these are the wishes of their False Self, or the part that we all have inside that is not aligned with Good, like the popular Western motif of the little devil on our shoulder. Our True Self is that which is aligned with the little angel on our shoulder. As you recall, in DokiDoki, the victim often resists the urge that the villain eventually uses to steal their hearts.
I think that there is an assumption in both Dragon Quest IX and in DokiDoki Precure, that most of us truly wish to be good, and that this wish trumps any self centered desires that we may have. As the Dragon Quest game proceeds into the larger story line, we find that the fyggs are actually…oh oops…spoilers. Well, I can say that the fyggs themselves are not evil either, and the wishes of the victims are not evil wishes, they were just corrupted. In fact, we find out later in the game that fyggs are actually fruits from the Divine in Her Daughter form. In the Dragon Quest game, after the victim of the corruption is purified, the energy from her wishes are also purified.
As I am writing, I am having a really hard time being able to put into words the difference between the corrupt wishes and the purified wishes. Even if I were to give spoilers and specifics, it would be hard.
In talking with Cure Dolly, who watches DokiDoki Precure with Japanese subtitles, she has mentioned that she could imagine how difficult it would be for the translators.
One of the things that she explained was about the Selfish Kingdom and the monsters, “Selfishnesses.” If I understand correctly, selfish is not really the precise term, but there is no equivalent in Japanese. From what I have been told, in Japanese culture, there is an expectation that people will think of the group and community first, and to do otherwise is considered quite rude. For example, it is my understanding that a statement that seems positive to a Western mind, “Do what you want to do,” is considered quite insulting in Japanese culture. The closest translation to this concept is selfish, from what I have been told.
This takes me back to the premise of this article. I think that in DokiDoki Precure and in DragonQuest IX, it is not the wishes themselves that are problematic. We should have dreams and wishes. What is problematic is when these wishes only relate to one’s own personal well-being without considering the group or the society.
Teasugarsalt writes:
I think people are really good, and when they wish for things, they can make mistakes about the best way to accomplish what they really, deep down, want. But usually, what they really want is good, I think, if they could only find a better way to get it.
My own opinion (Ice and Fire/Othello/Faust/Alexandra Romanova)
I am thinking of the Dragonstoners and how they relate to this. The Red Priestess has this black and white way of thinking (she tells Davos that there are no shades, everyone is either good or evil)... Her MO is corrupting Stannis (for goals still unknown). Meli fires Stannis up with the passions he has kept in check until he met her (jealousy of Renly, wishes for approval). And, once he is convinced, he finally has some pleasure: they make love on the Painted Table: the culmination of his surrender to her symbolized by this act: he literally yields to her, like Othello to Iago or Alexandra to Rasputin. Then come the regrets for having killed Renly (the old Cain and Abel story), but he has become WIRED on Meli and her "you're the messiah" rant. Davos doesn't trust Meli, like most innocent people disapprove of corruptors (Tiana of Facilier, the female cast of Othello disapprove of Iago), but his words can't reach Stannis's heart. As little as Desdemona's words can reach Othello's.
Comparing Melisandre to the Jikochuu cadres and Loulou de Morcel... "I'll make your wish come true!" "This is a Magical Jewel. It will make your heart's desire come true". Even if that wish means killing lovable loved ones in a fit of rage. Othello, Heinrich Faust, and Stannis Baratheon are all three textbook cases of this phenomenon. Neither of them has his heart literally taken out, but all of them cling to their tempters, believing that they're doing "the right things", and regret upon having taken the life of a precious person.