My rationale for Celica's behavior (Act 4/5 Spoilers)

[Sentinel07]

Hello everyone. I know this is a topic that has been done to death and back, but I felt like I wanted to express my full thoughts on Celica's behavior through some of the game's more controversial parts. Honestly, the reception towards her in my opinion still feels overblown, and it's something that has bugged me for weeks now. So, I felt like expressing every thought I have here.

Celica's personality 

So to start, Celica's personality. It's pretty clear that when Celica has a certain line of thinking in her head, she's pretty stubborn and stays on it no matter what. She has trouble letting people into her inner circle, including her friends. Plus, kind of going with the game's rather heavy nobles vs. commoners theme, she believes that she shouldn't get commoners (including her friends) involved in struggles like this. It's a rather flawed way of thinking, though one that makes sense with her upbringing as a princess and a devout follower of Mila.

And now...

The plot with Jedah

Obviously, once Jedah enters the picture, this seems to be where most player's impression of Celica  goes into the gutter. Jedah, being the obviously evil villain from our vantage point, stringing her along makes many think Celica is flat out stupid. However, I have some thoughts towards that with some questions I see many asking.

Why did Celica go along with Jedah's demands to do to Duma Tower and sacrifice herself?

Frankly, here's what I think. I believe Celica rationaled Jedah as someone who could not be beat. This isn't too strange, as Jedah is near invincible with Duma's Pact. Even if you "beat" him at the swamp, he walks it off like nothing really happened. She probably thought there was no way they could seriously beat him, and if she went against his demands to go to Duma Tower, he would certainly kill them all no questions asked. On the other hand, if she did go, despite it being an obvious trap, she could at least have a chance to negotiate, which goes fit into her character of always trying negotiation if all possible.

And then....

Why did Celica do what she did in Duma Temple in Act 5?

Ah yes, another infamous moment. Celica appears before Alm and his army, going along with Jedah's demands to sacrifice herself. Honestly, I think there are many ways to interpret why she insisted on going along with it.

1. One sticking point many have is how Jedah claims a world of "fear and chaos" right in front of her yet she doesn't really react. Honestly, I think she figured he was just being overly dramatic. The whole thing was about sacrificing herself was to cure Duma's madness. Last I checked, Duma is not an evil god, not when he's consumed by madness he isn't. In any case, I feel like that line was just written off as drama and nothing more. If anything, I think I'd have more issues with the line itself rather than Celica's reaction, because Duma is not about fear and chaos, despite his ideology that humanity needs unfavorable conditions to become strong.

2. At this point in the game, Mila/Falchion is sealed away, meaning that any real attempt to fight Duma would be suicide. There's no way he could be beaten without them. Thus, Celica didn't want Alm and the others rushing to their certain deaths, deciding that curing Duma's madness would be a safer way to deal with it. As for believing Jedah would unseal Mila/Falchion, I imagine she thought Jedah would be the only person who could possibly possess such abilities, an aspect he obviously exploited to lure her in. This likely explains her "surprise" when Jedah unveils that he doesn't possess such abilities.

3. Speaking of Alm, another reason was Celica trying to keep him from having to fight anymore. From Duma Tower onward, she is forced by Jedah to watch Alm, including seeing his anguish as he kills his own father. She didn't want him to be burdened further with more fighting, so this connects with the previous point of her trying to stop him from getting himself killed against Duma.

4. Another reason refers back to when Celica stated that she believed Valentia would be doomed without the gods, something that many in Valentia are raised to believe in fact. Even just having a cured Duma around would still be better than no gods at all. Getting Mila back is the cornerstone of her journey, so she believes any small chance to get Mila back is worth it, even her life.

And to add one extra thought, her line of thinking and fear of Jedah and Duma likely played a part in why she insisting on continuing to believe sacrifice was the best route, despite Conrad constantly telling her not to. As far as she could see, her enemies could not be beaten and that any decision besides sacrifice would just end in their deaths.

 

Anyway, that's all my thoughts for right now. I just felt like I needed to get this stuff off my chest. This is why Celica is honestly one of my favorite Lords in the series, because she has very human flaws that have serious consequences that she does grow from in the end. The game doesn't coddle her for her mistakes and I feel like she comes out of a game a much better character.

Sorry if the format comes off as weird as I wasn't sure how else to do it. In any case, this is all my opinion, so feel free to agree or disagree with me. Thank you all for reading this worthless topic and have a nice day. :)

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

3 hours ago, Sentinel07 said:

she believes that she shouldn't get commoners (including her friends) involved in struggles like this.

I don't think that's why she doesn't let other people solve her problems; she didn't let Conrad know about her deal with Jedah, even though he's a prince.

I think Celica, despite having grown up around supportive people, didn't really have people she could trust and depend on as family around her for long periods of her childhood. Alm, Mycen and Conrad were the closest, but she didn't get to spend much time with them. Growing up, she likely felt alone, with only herself to rely on.

3 hours ago, Sentinel07 said:

I believe Celica rationaled Jedah as someone who could not be beat.

I'm not sure. She sort of already gave up at Dolth Keep, and the main reason was that she thought she could save all her friends just by sacrificing herself.

3 hours ago, Sentinel07 said:

Honestly, I think there are many ways to interpret why she insisted on going along with it.

I agree with those except the first one. That's a bit of a stretch.

 

Celica embodies the flaw of Zofians (over reliance of gods) and has her own personal flaws, but, unflattering portrayal aside, my biggest problem with her is that she promises Conrad that she won't throw her life away then still does it.

[NekoKnight]

While it's in character for Celica to internalize her problems, I find it makes her dislikable. Her treatment of Alm after their reunion was terrible, and straight up lying to Conrad was pretty bad too. Even if sacrificing herself for Alm's sake was selfish (it would hurt her friends if she died), she should have told them about the deal Jedah proposed.

Worse than Celica's behavior, however, is Jedah's. The proposal itself is reasonable but he keeps acting like a crazy, treacherous weirdo. Celica even calls him completely mad but still goes along with him.

4 hours ago, Sentinel07 said:

1. One sticking point many have is how Jedah claims a world of "fear and chaos" right in front of her yet she doesn't really react. Honestly, I think she figured he was just being overly dramatic

How is Celica supposed to interpret this line? "He SAID he wanted to create a world of fear and chaos but what he actually meant was that is going to donate to the poor and devote his life to good works"?

I think when the obviously treacherous guy, the leader of a cult of evil, says he has evil intensions, you should take those words at face value.

[Sentinel07]

8 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

While it's in character for Celica to internalize her problems, I find it makes her dislikable. Her treatment of Alm after their reunion was terrible, and straight up lying to Conrad was pretty bad too. Even if sacrificing herself for Alm's sake was selfish (it would hurt her friends if she died), she should have told them about the deal Jedah proposed.

Worse than Celica's behavior, however, is Jedah's. The proposal itself is reasonable but he keeps acting like a crazy, treacherous weirdo. Celica even calls him completely mad but still goes along with him.

How is Celica supposed to interpret this line? "He SAID he wanted to create a world of fear and chaos but what he actually meant was that is going to donate to the poor and devote his life to good works"?

I think when the obviously treacherous guy, the leader of a cult of evil, says he has evil intensions, you should take those words at face value.

I don't think she really lied to Conrad, at least not intentionally. I think she meant it when she asked, but in the end, she couldn't help falling back on it.

And that's why I said I had some issues with Jedah's dialogue.