[ headcanon ]

[at_heart]

In which I launch the 'canon' established by First Strike and the subsequent "voiced" novel* into the sun—


* 断罪者の系譜 — Fandom has taken to calling it Genealogy of the Convictor, which sounds very thesaurus-wordsalad. 系譜 is lineage or family tree, and is very much not necessarily the academic study thereof, and 断罪者 even already has an official translation: It's the Enforcer from Yuri's Dark Enforcer title. Legacy of the Enforcer is what I strongly prefer.

** Also hopefully it goes without saying that since this is headcanon, no one's gotta agree with me on it; I just wanted to get some thoughts down on 'paper' that have been rattling around in my brain half-formed for a while now.

Comments

PEOPLE WHO NEED NAMES

[at_heart]

Hanks and Ted and Jiri* are joined in the Lower Quarter by:

• Tillie and Owen, the couple who run The Comet, the inn (and tavern) where Yuri and Flynn grew up sharing a room that Yuri now lives in alone.
• Roxanne, who goes by Roxie, the little girl who sometimes hangs out in the Comet's tavern. May or may not be their biological daughter.
• Cecil, the guy who mans the fruit stand by the fountain.
• Bert, the guy who keeps showing up every time Hanks and Ted talk to Yuri but who doesn't get a name. (He has a girlfriend he'd like to be married to someday, who only gets an offhanded mention during the opening segment; he used money he was saving for proposing to her to chip in for the aque blastia repairs.)
• Yuri and Flynn's dead moms could use names, lol! They're probably both using their mother's maiden names; Yuri's mom should maybe have a Japanese-y name, like he does. Maybe something with a similar meaning.

* I like the idea of Hanks having a badass dead wife. I dislike... pretty much every other aspect of Jiri's character, from the fact that they called her Dark Wings even though Vesperia already has a Dark Wings (it's a Guild) to the idea that Yuri needed someone to inspire him to vigilante justice to the way that she dies to the idea that she and Hanks adopted Yuri and Flynn. I wish these sources of extra-canon material were... better!

YURI'S CHILDHOOD

[at_heart]

• His mom died in childbirth and his dad was a big question mark (this much is novel canon)
• All he knows about his mom is that she had hair like his (same)
• Yuri's preschool years were spent in the informal Lower Quarter orphanage, which was definitely just like. A big room in someone's house, with a lot of little kid-sized bedrolls on the floor.
• He meets Flynn at around age 4, when Flynn is brought to the orphanage after his mom's death. Flynn is bawling, Yuri approaches him after a minute and offers him the questionable comfort of, "Dead mom, huh? Yeah, we all got those here," which kind of works anyway. After this point, they're inseparable.
• He and Flynn share the room above the Comet once they're a wee bit older, where they live rent-free, but it isn't long before they both grow uncomfortable with the generosity and start working around the inn and tavern to try and help out. Yuri busses tables for a while, and probably wouldn't have ever gotten started in the kitchen if Flynn hadn't developed an interest.
  • For years, they were both little chef's assistants, washing and chopping vegetables, doing dishes, etc. Tillie is pretty quick to learn that Flynn can't be left unsupervised, but they both do a fair bit of cooking. Yuri only knows Sandwich when the game starts partly because of mechanics, partly because he hadn't actually memorized any of the tavern recipes, and mostly didn't cook them by himself anyway, so he wouldn't necessarily be able to replicate the whole thing if he tried.
  • Yuri also does some waiting tables; he dislikes it, and he's sometimes comically bad at it, but he puts in way more of an effort for Tillie and Owen than he would for mere money. The Dahngrest waiter mini-game can suck his dick. (And the Lower Quarter is pretty good to itself, as a rule, but they do get the occasional rough customer, whom Yuri is more than happy to play bouncer for.)
• He and Flynn buy their first sword together when they're... let's say 12–13. They've been engaging in a lot of play roughhousing for years, but the sword isn't for any game: it's part of their shared determination to become Knights and protect the Lower Quarter.
• This sword is still on the wall in Yuri's room when the game starts; presumably the one that looks older and isn't just a Compact Sword.

FLYNN'S CHILDHOOD

[at_heart]

This is where I really throw the movie / "voiced" novel canon out the window, because it's bad and it should feel bad.

• His dad is also a question mark*, his mom contracts some sort of terminal illness when Flynn is around 4.
• The Lower Quarter takes care of its own, so they work together to save up enough money to buy medicine to treat her — only to find, by the time they have enough, that the Royal Quarter has driven prices up astronomically by taking it as a preventative measure.
• Flynn's mother thereby dies, and Flynn winds up at the informal Lower Quarter orphanage. Yuri immediately becomes his favorite person in the world by coming up to him and offering comfort in a way that almost made him laugh.
• See above. Flynn's interest in learning to cook probably stemmed from his desire to take care of people, which is also what Yuri gets out of it, ultimately, but Flynn was a slightly more in-touch-with-his-feelings child.
• At age 7: Flynn falls into a river, is swept downstream, and winds up locked in combat with a Merman (mid-level monster, six feet tall). He's fished out of the river and rescued by Hanks, and turns immediately to Yuri to cheerfully say he's glad it wasn't any big deal.

* Flynn's dad dying while disobeying orders to save a town and that somehow convincing Flynn that he Must Always Obey Orders is the most bizarre thing to have ever bizarred, made even more hilariously awful by how none of this is brought up in any way whatsoever when PS3!Flynn starts flouting orders to repeatedly join the party, and his dad having been a Knight at all, when there were supposed to have been barely any commoners in the Knights, just....... Flames! Flames on the sides of my face—

REPEDE

[at_heart]

• Repede is ~4 years old when the game starts, and he met Yuri and Flynn around three and a half years before that point. At six months old, Repede was mostly full-grown.
• Given that Repede's mother (not his father, what the hell First Strike how are you wrong about literally everything) was "in the Knights" (she earned an Order of the Royal Hound medal), it seems reasonable to assume that Repede's former master was, himself, a Knight, but it was absolutely not someone Yuri or Flynn were personally acquainted with. Instead, this unnamed character was a man the King of Adventure "siblings" knew, a man who — along with his dog, Repede — went missing sometime ago. (Repede's mother has since, separately, passed, and Repede inherits her medal and one of her fighting techniques when Yuri and Flynn wind up talking to the "siblings" about the situation.)
• So: It's the middle of the night. Repede and his master are beset by monsters, probably while patrolling, and Repede acquires his characteristic scars in the fight, trying (and failing) to protect his master. Repede himself is not in good shape by the time Yuri and Flynn arrive on the scene.
  • Since it was specifically a monster attack, it must have happened outside Zaphias; given Repede's age and how briefly Yuri was in the Knights, it stands to reason that the whole thing happened before he and Flynn enlisted. (Relevantly, Zaphias has no big exterior wall — and the Lower Quarter is entirely outside what walls it does have, protected only by the barrier.)
  • As such, it would be easy to see Repede in trouble from the Lower Quarter.
• Yuri and Flynn together are able to chase off the monsters, but only after a long, traumatic fight, so Repede is not very trusting: he growls and snarls at them and fights being taken back to the capital, but he's also weak and soon passes out.
• And, since this is before they enlist, Flynn doesn't yet know any healing artes, and what little they're able to do in the middle of the night with non-magical first aid (gels, washing Repede's wounds out with clean water from the fountain, iodine or the rough equivalent, bandages) is barely enough. Repede loses the eye, but he survives the night.
  • This incident is, in fact, what makes Flynn so determined to learn healing artes; it was probably the part of his initial training that he took the most seriously, which is saying something, since Flynn was very serious about all of his training.
• Repede keeps his former master's pipe and blastia, but he recognizes the kindness and appreciates all that Yuri and Flynn did for him while he was in too much pain to think straight; he's a smart dog, and is definitely aware that he fought some of their attempted ministrations.
• Yuri and Flynn work together to take care of Repede, nursing him back to health, for the next month or so.
• They continue to care for him, and come to think of him as their dog, through Yuri's short stint in the Knights.

JOINING THE KNIGHTS

[at_heart]

• Roughly three years before the game starts
• Yuri and Flynn are 18; I've seen it claimed that that's the youngest you can enlist in the Knights, and I don't remember that being mentioned but see no reason to disbelieve that post haha it was very thorough.
• They share a dorm, which is no problem whatsoever, because they've been sharing everything for their entire childhood. Yuri's a little messy, but he's always been a little messy. It isn't until they're already having Other Problems that this sort of thing starts to wear on them.
• The Fedrock Brigade (named for Niren Fedrock, its captain) has blue and teal as its colors, matching the uniform Flynn actually wears in-game. The first time Yuri puts it on, Flynn bursts out laughing, because he looks so incredibly uncomfortable in it and it doesn't suit him and the colors kind of clash with his skin tone and (on and on). This rather sullies Yuri's initial impression of the uniform.
• Hisca and Chastel can still exist as slightly senior recruits, but their initial impression of Yuri and Flynn should be one of impressive synchronicity. What some people might dismiss as a brotherly bond, Hisca and Chastel are like, "LOL we're twins and we don't get along that well." Also they don't have radically different cup sizes because what? What?? What????
• Also, Hachette, who joined the Knights at the same time Yuri and Flynn did (canon), and was also from the Lower Quarter (headcanon). He and Yuri do a fair amount of goofing off and messing around for the three months that Yuri lasts in the Knights, much to Flynn's initially fond exasperation. One of the things they used to do was sneak into "the warehouse" to switch their bohdi blastia out for nicer ones*.
• Then, of course, things start to disintegrate.

* Directly contradicting First Strike's somewhat strange claim that rookie Knights don't get bohdi blastia. (Even in the smallest least significant details, this movie, I swear.......)

LEAVING THE KNIGHTS

[at_heart]

• Approximately three months after joining
• Put plainly, Yuri does not make his exit from the Knights easy on either of them, saying a lot of things he doesn't feel he can take back later.
• They've already been fighting off and on for at least a couple of weeks before the final blowout. Other friends, like Hachette and the twins, have noticed the tension and are now trying to keep their distance, because the atmosphere is often miserable to be around even when they aren't actively fighting.
• Yuri is, of course, furious about all the corruption, all of the suffering they're being forced to both turn a blind eye to and even exacerbate: ordered to arrest people for loitering on Royal Quarter land, not allowed to actually patrol the Lower Quarter, so on and so forth.
• Flynn feels the same way, but while he might not always have been able to keep his temper for his own sake, over the course of their enlistment he's gotten an awful lot of practice at not only keeping his own mouth shut and his own head down but also running interference for Yuri, with instructors and commanding officers alike.
• By the time they have their final blowout, Yuri has definitely opened his mouth a whole bunch of times to say something that would've gotten him kicked out on his ass, and Flynn has forcibly clapped a hand over it, or stepped on his foot, or apologized for him, or some other such thing.
• This in turn leads to more fighting afterwards, with both of them deeply frustrated; Yuri demands to know if Flynn is taking their side, Flynn is like, I'm taking whichever 'side' lets you stay in the Knights and keep working towards our mutual dream! — but probably not always successfully putting it that well, because they're both teenagers and more emotionally volatile. They're both under so much stress here, and Flynn trying to additionally police Yuri's behavior just adds to it.
  • Yuri is: hurt by the policing, what he sees as a lack of trust, and maybe disagreement on the underlying issue.
  • Flynn is: exhausted by having to police him and also hurt by Yuri's reaction to it. Any implication that Flynn is okay with what they're having to do both further hurts and also pisses him off. How dare you?! How dare you not know him better than that!
• Finally, the last straw: their last fight. They're both just shouting at each other at the top of their lungs now. Yuri has had enough, he wants out, and he wants Flynn to come with him; Flynn refuses because that would be throwing away everything they've worked and waited for, what about all the people who're depending on them! ...And Yuri is only more furious in response, fat lot of good they're doing any of those people here!
• Yuri storms off, nicking his now-current bohdi blastia, the gold bracelet, from the supply room on his way out the door. He probably issues his resignation by telling Niren to his face to go fuck himself, which Niren might have privately liked.
• Yuri also takes Repede with him, maybe without asking, but Flynn is just... so glad he did. Knowing Repede is with Yuri gives him some comfort over the next few years, but he also knows Yuri would have refused to take Repede with him if Flynn had asked him to or even just given him permission; it was... that sort of fight.

AFTER YURI'S EXIT FROM THE KNIGHTS

[at_heart]

• Yuri returns to the room above the inn, determined to help the Lower Quarter now in his own way, but by his own account he is largely unsuccessful. He gains a reputation among the Knights as a troublemaker, eventually winds up with a very long rap sheet of mostly petty crimes, and pretty regularly spends the night in jail the castle dungeon. Among his crimes: throwing a tax collector into the river. (This would also be an example of one of Yuri's more... short-sighted attempts to protect the Lower Quarter; even Ted, who is like 10 years old, calls this out as having been a very "simple" solution to a more complicated problem.)
• Because of the above, and also having lost his best friend, Yuri eventually slips into depression and apathy. By the time the game starts, Ted coming to him for help with a problem first gets backtalk, as Yuri rather snidely asks him why he didn't go to Flynn for help instead. There's also empty bottles of alcohol on the little table in Yuri's room, which seeeeem to suggest that he's taken up daydrinking, although obviously not to the point of alcoholism (since he doesn't drink at all in the course of the game and we never see any indications of withdrawal).
• Meanwhile, at some point Flynn makes friends with Estelle. (She says they've known each other for 2 or 3 years; Yuri had never heard about her prior to meeting her at the start of the game, and in fact was surprised to hear Flynn had "someone he could talk to" at all.)
• Flynn works his way up to officer, absolutely blowing past Hachette and others who joined the Knights at around the same time as or even before he did. (Sodia, a junior knight in his brigade, comes to admire him.)
• Shortly before the start of the game, something happens to both Niren and his lieutenant — perhaps they both retired, perhaps they were both killed in action, perhaps Niren's lieutenant had been promoted to captain of another brigade and Niren had already tapped Flynn to replace him when he himself retired/was killed in action/whatever*. In any case, both positions on Flynn's brigade are vacant at the start of the game, but he has recently been informed that he's going to be promoted to lieutenant himself.
• Although Yuri and Flynn are not talking to each other at this point at all, they have still kept tabs on one another from a distance. (Easy for... both of them really, since the whole Lower Quarter is continuously abuzz with talk of Flynn's career, and Yuri keeps getting in trouble with the Knights.)

* Really, a less tragic explanation makes more sense, as otherwise one might expect Yuri to offer condolences when they first see each other in person, especially if Niren was someone either of them were at all close to.