Chapter 23: Disk - 3.8 - Garnet's Hair Cut

[Screen resumes inside Cid's Throne Room in Lindblum castle. Cid and Hilda are talking]

Regent Cid "Ribbit! Kuja didn't touch you, did he?"

Hilda "His soul was filled with hate, but he was polite to me." "He just talked an awful lot."

Regent Cid "What about? Ribbit!"

Hilda "Well, he divulged his master plan to me. I didn't even have to ask." "It was tiresome." "But what he spoke of... it was truly a scene from a nightmare."

Why would Kuja do that?

Regent Cid "What did he say?"

Hilda "That he was not of this world. He said his aim was to use this world to acquire an even more destructive power..." "The taking of Hilda Garde 1 was a part of this process."

Yeah well, the destructive power was the Eidolons, which he failed to get. (and didn't even need in the first place) Also the Hilda Garde was less "part of the process" and more something Kuja needed to use once he apparently lost the Silver Dragon.

Actually when was Hilda captured by Kuja anyways? Was it during Disk 1, 2 or 3? It's unclear. Wouldn't he have told Brahne if it was before and she would have used the Hilda Garde 1 to get to the Outer Continent? There is also the confusion of how Kuja thought he was going to acquire Alexander and didn't thus didn't think he needed any help from the Black Mages and Zorn and Thorn, yet they show up inexplicably on the Hilda Garde 1 to rescue him when Alexander was blown up, despite not even originally knowing where Kuja was or how they even got the Hilda Garde?

Regent Cid "We must tell Zidane about this! Ribbit! You have valuable information!"

Hilda "Which leads me to believe that my abduction wasn't a part of his plan."

Then why were you even abducted?

Hilda "He was a hopeless narcissist, but..." [She turns around, her back to him] "But at least he wasn't a skirt-chaser, like you."

Uh, you are leaving out the fact that Kuja caused a war and tried attempted murder. (One of the characters which he attempted it on would become your adopted daughter) But sure, lump in Cid's affair with that, totally isn't moral myopia or anything. Didn't you call Cid your "sweet froggy-woggy" when he found you?

Regent Cid "...Ugh! You just hit me where it hurts most." "Ribbit! I'm sorry about that! That's why I risked my life to rescue you!"

Hilda "Oh, really?" "Are you sure you weren't there to take back Hilda Garde 1?"

Which you shouldn't have even toot in the first place, Hilda. Yes, Cid was wrong to cheat on you, but that doesn't excuse your own behaviour of stealing a revolutionary airship to "blow off some steam" when you could have easily just took a regular Mist powered airship or just went to a bar in Lindblum or some other part of the castle, especially with how taking the Hilda Garde lead to some roadblocks in events.

Regent Cid "I'm not lying! Ribbit! I apologize!" "So please turn me back! Ribbit! I'm sick of being an oglop or a frog!" "I'll never cheat on you ever again! Ribbit! I promise!"

[She turns to face him]

Hilda "...Can your words be trusted?"

Regent Cid "I don't lie! Ribbit! I swear on my father's name!"

Hilda "Alright. I'll turn you back." [He jumps into her arms] "But it's going to be much worse if you ever cheat on me again!"

Regent Cid "I...I understand! Now turn me back!"

Hilda "Maybe I'll turn you into a hedgehog pie."

Okay if there are spells that can turn people into different creatures, how come we never see Kuja, Vivi, Eiko, or Beatrix doing this? There isn't even a spell that does this within battle.

Regent Cid "Erk... P-Please, no! Ribbit! Now turn me back!"

Hilda "Alright, alright."

[The screen goes bright white. When it fades back in, Regent Cid, in human form, is standing up]

Regent Cid "Finally... Ribbit! I'm human again!" "Gwok! I can concentrate on building Hilda Garde 3!" "..."

Hilda "..."

Regent Cid "...D-Darn it!" "I must stop that."

Hilda "Dear..."

Regent Cid "I'm sorry about everything, Hilda."

[He approaches her. They hug. They screen goes black]

Again, there is more chemistry and intimacy between these than with Zidane and Garnet. Speaking of which…

"Zidane..."

"Hmm...? Dagger?"

"Mr. Zidane..."

[The screen fades in on a bed in the Lindblum Guest Room, where Zidane is sleeping. A guard is standing beside the bed]

Zidane "Why are you calling me 'Mister' Zidane...?"

Soldier "Mr. Zidane! Please get up!"

Zidane "!" "Oh, it was just a dream..." "What's up?"

Soldier "Lady Hilda is calling a meeting. Please go to the conference room."

Zidane "Okay. I just wish I could've dreamt a bit longer..."

Soldier "Huh?"

Zidane "Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Yes because this really needed to be a scene, they couldn't have just cut straight to the conference room? And rather than actually have the love story, they just do an annoying tease with an offscreen dream.

[Zidane heads to the conference room. The screen changes to the conference room, where the team, except for Dagger, is gathered around the table. Hilda is standing at the head of the table, while Cid is sitting on his throne]

Zidane "Who's that guy?"

Freya "...it's Regent Cid."

Zidane "WHAAAT!?"

Did Zidane never see what Cid looked like as a human before? Not even a picture or from a distance?

Skipping a little.

Zidane "So? What did Kuja discuss with you?"

Hilda "Some parts of the story may be hard to believe, but please hear me out." "...Kuja plans to use this world as a means of acquiring an even greater power."

We already know the "greater power" part already and he failed to get the Eidolons anyways.

Zidane "Greater power? What would he do with it?"

Hilda "I don't know... He indicated that he wasn't of this world."

Everyone "!"

Zidane "What?"

Hilda "We call our world Gaia." "But he called his birthplace Terra."

Freya "Terra, huh...?"

- Team

[The screen changes to outside the Tantalus HQ. All the Tantalus members are gathered, with Baku at the front of the group, addressing them]

Skipping some dialogue.

[Steiner runs on screen]

Baku "Huh...?"

Steiner "She's not here, either..." "Where could she be...?"

Baku "Yo!"

Steiner "!? Oh, it's only you." "Why are you all gathered here? Are you scheming another abduction or something?"

Is Steiner really still on that whole "abduction" thing, when he clearly knows by this point that Garnet wanted to be kidnapped? (only to render it pointless later)

Blank "Hey, watch your mouth."

Cinna "We were just discussing ways to restore this district."

Zenero "Yeah."

Marcus "Old timer, you've got us all wrong."

Benero "Yeah."

Baku "We're just tryin' to rebuild our home. That's all." "What are you doin' here? From the looks on your face, it seems like you got problems." "What's troublin' you? Maybe we can help."

Steiner "Err... Can I really trust you?"

…Again with Steiner's trust issues? You'd think after the whole "Brahne trying to kill them with monster dogs" fiasco, he would have been past this.

Skipping ahead.

[Screen changes back to the group, with Hilda, in the conference room]

Hilda "This Terra seems to be connected with a place called the Shimmering Island."

Zidane "I don't know where Kuja went, but maybe we can find him if we go there..."

Hilda "...Unfortunately, you can't get directly to Terra from the Shimmering Island."

Amarant "Of course you can't." "Everyone would've discovered this 'other world' by now if it were that easy."

What about the fact that you can find MOOGLES on Terra later? (Though they don't seem to know about Mognet, raising more questions)

There is also all that stuff in Oeilvert that connects to this, but everyone seems to have forgotten about that.

Zidane "So, what do we do?"

Hilda "...I'll tell you." "The gateway that connects the two worlds is sealed, but Kuja said there is a place where the seal can be broken."

Zidane "Where's that?"

Hilda "He said it's an old castle located in the northern area of the Forgotten Continent."

Jeez, why didn't he just leave you the key to the apartment where all the money is? I am ready to believe in many things, but whatever monologue Kuja had about his plans, why would he just say "the door to Terra is locked, but there is a place where it can be unlocked, and this is in a nameless castle, which is located in the northern region of the forgotten continent."? And Kuja, as we see, does not say so.

Hilda "An explorer left a record of his trip to this particular castle on the Forgotten Continent." "If I remember correctly, he wrote that the cliffs were too steep to explore." "Other than that, very little is known about the Forgotten Continent..." "Well, since this castle doesn't have a name, let's call it Ipsen's Castle."

Here.
This dialogue is the apotheosis of being cheap. You understand? "We have a dungeon that we just wanted to put into the game, but we didn't think of a place for it in the plot or any kind of story, so let's name it after a pointless lore character that was mentioned once and let's go through it already."

Zidane "Ipsen's Castle, huh...?" "Yeah, we don't know anything about the world beyond our continent..."

Which is bullshit, because it literally just stated that the explorer, Ipsen, went to the other continents, there is a map of the whole world that Cid has, there are a bunch of boats that Lindblum and Alexandria can use with harbours, Moogles that can use Mognet are on all of the continents, Daguerreo is on a part of the Forgotten Continent where Mist Continent characters can be found, there is a freaking tourist attraction on Esto Gaza that is visited by people from Lindblum. How the frig is the rest of the world "undiscovered" and they know nothing about it beyond the Mist Continent? How haven't people from the Mist Continent build settlements on the other continents yet? The world building is trash.

- Recovery

[Regent Cid walks into the airship dock No. 1, the dock where they conduct their research. Four engineers are working; an airship is taking shape in the background]

Regent Cid "How is the ship coming along?"

Engineer Zebolt "Regent! You're human again!"

Regent Cid "Yes. Now we can concentrate on building the ship."

Uh, why don't they just use the Hilda Garde 1 to get to the Forgotten Continent? Actually, what happened to it? After Mount Gulug, the Hilda Garde 1 isn't seen again, or even mentioned on where it is. I guess Kuja could have used it to escape again, but it isn't really clear, not to mention that it is unlikely that he would be able to operate it all by himself, considering that before, a group of Black Mages were operating all around in the ship, same with the Cargo ship in Dali.

Engineer "Judging by our experience with Hilda 2, we are almost finished with the engine." "We're having problems with the construction of the hull, though."

Regent Cid "Yes... I'm thinking about using parts of the Blue Narciss for the body."

Engineer "How come?"

Regent Cid "I realized that the Blue Narciss was a well-built ship when I rode in it." "There are other reasons, but we must hurry." "I already have a completed blueprint in my head. Do as I tell you and it will be completed in no time." "Let's get ready!"

Engineer Zebolt "Roger!"

[Screen returns to Hilda and company]

Hilda "...That's all I heard." "You may find a clue if you go to Ipsen's Castle."

Eiko "Did you ask Kuja about all of this?"

Hilda "These are all things he discussed voluntarily." "He became very impassioned as he spoke..." "And he volunteered information without even my asking." "He probably thought telling me his plans wouldn't affect his grand scheme."

To quote Deadpool: "Well now, that's just lazy writing." I refer to my earlier statement on Kuja just telling Hilda all this.

Amarant "He's right. His power is great, and we're at a disadvantage."

Enough with the Kuja-wank, Amarant, you are really overestimating him.

Vivi "But I can't forgive Kuja! He toyed with my friends' lives!"

Ugh, time for more idiotic duty remarks from all members of the team, as expected, they are little more than completely goofy!

Just think - he "toyed" with his friends. Horrible! No forgiveness!

What about the fact that he caused the slaughtering of all the rat people, the devastation of Lindblum, mind screwed and killed the fat queen and blew up Alexandria? That's just "trivial stuff".

Zidane "Now we know where we need to go." "The problem is getting there." "I guess we'll have to wait until Cid finishes building Hilda Garde 3..."

[Steiner runs in]

Steiner "Zidane! I bring troubling news!"

Zidane "What? What now?"

Steiner "I cannot find the princess! I've looked all over Lindblum!" "The members of Tantalus aided me in my search, but..."

Zidane "She's not in Lindblum?" "...Then there's only one place."

Steiner "Do you know where she is?"

Zidane "I think so..." "You guys wait here in Lindblum. I'll be right back."

"Yes, guys, wait a minute for me, I'll run away to Alexandria in an instant! You won't even have time to blink, just going across the entire continent. It doesn't matter that we had completely ruined the first disk with this before."

Oh, and Tantalus does the same, they were asked in Lindblum to find Garnet, so they went to the theater in Alexandria. Did they learn teleportation, or what?

Skipping ahead.

[They follow him. The screen changes to Black and Marcus running through the alley by Ruby's theater. She walks up the steps exiting it]

Blank "Hey, Ruby!"

Ruby "Blank! Marcus! How y'all doin'?"

Blank "We're doing alright." "How's show business, Ruby?"

Ruby "Well, the money ain't no good, but I'm havin' fun. I like it."

Gee, maybe it has to do with the whole town being devastated. (which Tantalus seems to be really overlooking here)

Blank "That's great!" "Our hideout in Lindblum got completely destroyed. It's gonna take a miracle to fix the place."

Marcus "Bro, we better..."

Blank "Oh! Sorry!" "We came to Alexandria for a reason." "Have you seen Dagger?"

Ruby "Dagger...? Naw, I ain't seen her." "What about her? You fixin' to kidnap her again?"

Again with this? Does Ruby not know that Garnet wanted to be kidnapped, and that Cid set the whole thing up? Ruby should also know that Garnet went with Zidane, Tantalus and the others a few chapters ago.

Marcus "No, we're just looking for her this time."

Ruby "I was only kiddin', Marcus. I'll ask the patrons to be on the lookout."

Well that joke sucked.

Blank "Thanks, Ruby!"

[Blank and Marcus run off screen]

Ruby "I wonder if Zidane is here with these good ol' boys...?"

Uh yeah, obviously, because he loves Garnet so much, but thanks for wasting dialogue boxes, Ruby.

[Screen changes to the stairs beside the waterway in front of the castle. Zidane is sitting down on them]

Zidane "This is strange..." "I was sure that she'd be back in Alexandria..." "Where else can I look?"

[Baku walks on screen]

Baku "Hey, Zidane! I've been lookin' for ya!"

Zidane "Boss! Have you found Dagger?"

Baku "Nah... Can't find her anywhere!" "I didn't find Dagger, but..." "I think I saw that chick..."

Zidane "That chick?"

Baku "Yeah, you know, that chick!" "I'm gonna check again."

Wow, nice description there, Baku. Really "narrows it down".

[Baku walks off screen. Zidane runs after him]

Zidane "Hey, wait! Who is she? What are you talking about!?"

[Screen changes. Baku and Zidane are walking on a stone bridge in Alexandria Harbor]

Zidane "Where are you going, Boss?" "Is she here?"

Baku "She was standin' over there just a second ago..."

Zidane "Over there...?" [He looks. No one's there. Then, Beatrix walks out] "!" "Is that who I think it is?" [Beatrix walks off screen, while Zidane runs on screen. He appears where she was standing, but, she's no longer there] "Hey!" [He runs off screen and appears somewhere else. She walks on screen at the place she first did] "Ah, over there!" [He runs off screen. She walks off screen. He returns there: she's no longer there again] "Where did she go...?"

What was the point of that? Did they really feel the need to drag this scene out?

[Beatrix walks on screen where Baku is]

Baku "Still alive, eh?"

Beatrix "You are...Baku?"

Baku "Yup, I'm the man who abducted yer princess!"

Beatrix "Let us forget about that. It happened a long time ago..."

That and Garnet wanted to be kidnapped, seriously I thought everyone, especially Beatrix, knew that by now. Also ironic because Beatrix certainly seemed to have forgotten about that whole thing when she was in Burmecia.

Also, stop talking about the kidnapping like it actually mattered.

Baku "You got a big heart, unlike that knucklehead, Steiner." "No wonder the women are runnin' the show here. Gwahahaha!"

Uh Baku, you do realize a lot of the women here committed war crimes, right? Especially Beatrix and Brahne. But sure, keep saying that Beatrix "has a big heart". Stop with the romanticizing already.

[Zidane runs on screen]

Zidane "Boss! You must've seen Beatrix!" "Hey!"

[Screen fades to black. Resumes on the steps near the watefront outside of Alexandria Castle]

Beatrix "As you can see, Alexandria was completely destroyed..." "Steiner and I did our best to protect Alexandria..." "...but our efforts were in vain."

Zidane "Steiner was worried about you. Why haven't you contacted him?" "Dagger's still in shock. She's been mute ever since the attack."

Yeah, why hasn't Beatrix made contact?

Also, Zidane, you have done nothing to fix the mute issue, you have had no impact on it, so much for devotion.

Beatrix "She is...?" "Then it is better for her not to return to this city for a while..." "It won't do her any good to see Alexandria like this..."

This will be ironic in a few moments.

Zidane "Well, here's the thing... We can't find her." "I thought she'd be back here, but I can't find her anywhere."

Beatrix "She is back in Alexandria?" "But she's nowhere to be found...?" "Have you looked in the resting place?"

Zidane "'Resting place'?"

Really? It never crossed Zidane's mind to check Brahne's grave? That should have been the first place he went to, how thick are you?

Beatrix "Yes, if she is back in Alexandria, I am certain that she will be there." "...There are a couple of favors I'd like to ask you..." "If you see Princess Garnet, please tell her not to worry about Alexandria..." "She must take care of herself first."

And you couldn't contact Garnet and do this before, because…?

What about Steiner? Are you forgetting about him?

Zidane "Sure. What else?"

Beatrix "I'd like you to give something to her." [Received Garnet!] "Maybe it will help the princess get through this time of uncertainty..."

That Garnet jewel actually contains Bahamut, but, as I've stated before, the item that summoned Bahamut before back at the Iifa Tree by Brahne was called "Draconic Seedling", why the change?

Also how did Beatrix get this? When Alexander defeated Bahamut, did the gem just fall down somewhere in the town instead of returning to Kuja? How does that work? We saw that Brahne still had the gem for Atomos even after it was summoned.

[Screen fades to black: resumes in the Rest place. Zidane runs on screen, and sees Dagger in front of the tombstone of her mother]

How the heck did Garnet travel across the entire continent from Lindblum to Alexandria by herself when all of the airships and other Mist powered machines are not working due to the Mist being gone now? How did she do this without anyone noticing?

Zidane "I've been looking for you, Dagger."

Dagger "Zidane!"

Zidane "You can talk again!?"

[Dagger nods]

…and the whole mute subplot (which shouldn't even have happened in the first place) just fixed itself, Zidane has absolutely no impact on it.

This is another one of the reasons why the love story sucks so much, it's bad enough that we had all that forced drama between Zidane and Garnet at the beginning of the third disk, but then after the Alexander events the whole thing is forgotten and swept aside for that wangsty mute subplot that the love story had no impact on and just fixed itself.

Dagger "I..." "I've been thinking since... the disaster." "I've been thinking that I have to become a queen and bring back peace to Alexandria."

What about the whole world, Dagger?

Dagger "That's why I came back here, but..." "Can I stay with you guys for a while longer?"

Zidane "Can I ask why?"

Dagger "When my mother was still alive..." "My primary concern was how to talk and look like a princess." "Those were the only things on my mind..." "That didn't change when my mother died and I was about to become a queen..."

Really? Then what was the point of all that "talking normally" and blending in? This seems to contradict the stuff in disk one.

Zidane wasn't on your mind? Again, real convincing love story right here.

Dagger "I only thought about how to look and act like a queen." "I don't think the people will accept me as their queen the way I am right now."

Yes, of course, because they have someone to take care of them, right? Of course, they will not accept you, because they have two hundred queens lying around at every turn (actually no).

Heck, they even showed us a scene in which the trumpeter NPC is trying to organize volunteers to rebuild the city, why don't Zidane and Garnet help organize some things? Regarding Zidane, in fact, here is how one commenter put it: "Most of the time it's "character suggests that they go to 'X' and then Zidane goes, 'That's a great idea.'" He doesn't feel like the leader of the gang, just a tag-along."

Zidane "I don't know about that."

Dagger "I have no right to rule over this country..."

Yeah yeah, blah blah, I'm anti-country anyways.

Zidane "Hmm..." "Oh, I almost forgot!" "Beatrix wanted me to give this to you."

[Zidane throws the garnet in the air. Dagger catches it]

Dagger "Is this...a garnet?"

Zidane "That's right... Isn't it pretty?"

Dagger "It's beautiful..."

Zidane "That gem used to be just another ordinary stone..." "The stone made a wish..." "'I want to shine!'" "The stone traveled from person to person, in keeping with its wish..." "And now, it's shining in your hand, Dagger." "If you're willing to make an effort..." "You'll shine, too, someday!" "The day will come when Alexandria needs you!" "There's no rush. The important thing is to have the desire."

Enough with the cliché speeches Zidane, seriously, this whole scene isn't even romantic, it's just generic platonic stuff.

Dagger "Thanks..." "I have to apologize for using you guys as an excuse to run away from my responsibilities..."

What about Zidane's responsibilities? Stop trying to make it all about you, Garnet. Also ironic because you used your mother as an excuse to run away from Zidane and your friends back in disk one.

Zidane "Hey, what's important is that you honestly want to stay with us..."

That's all you have to say, Zidane? Nothing about your love for Garnet, which you were pretty vocal about at the beginning of Disk three and how you hated being separated, only for all of that to be forgotten after Alexander?

Dagger "Zidane...?" "Can I borrow that knife again...?"

Zidane "Which one?"

Dagger "The one that helped me make my last big decision..."

I don't think coming up with a fake name really qualifies as a "big decision".

Dagger [She grabs the dagger from him, flips it in the air, and catches it] "I'm borrowing this!" "Zidane..." "Remember the way I was...for me."

…A clichéd implausibly naïve princess stereotype that constantly whined about her mother and privileged life, drugged and abandoned Zidane first chance she got and said she didn't care about him and that "it was his fault"? Yeah I don't think anyone, especially Zidane, wants to remember that.

[She runs off screen. Zidane follows her]

[FMV. Dagger uses the knife to cut off the length of her hair. She lets it drop, as it drifts away into the water and the sky. She looks upon the reconstruction of the castle, then to Zidane. Zidane nods and smiles. She nods and smiles as well. The FMV changes to the Hilda Garde 3 in Lindblum, engine powering up and propellors spinning, as it exits the Falcon's Gate and flies high into the sky]

To quote Rabtoons again: "And the point of that was…?" "I'm letting go of my past and moving on" "No, you just cut your hair" "It's symbolic!" "It's cutting your hair, and it doesn't even look good"

I know that in japanese culture, hair cutting can be symbolic, but it's become pretty cliché, and I'm not just saying that because I prefer Garnet with long hair (though it is part of it), if they wanted a "Garnet ends up getting her hair cut" moment they could have done one much earlier in the game in disk one, like what the other fan fictions I've mentioned did, either forcefully or to hide her identity (would have made more sense than just using the name "Dagger") cutely complain about cutting it and as the game went on, it would grow back to it's graceful long length. I like it when Anime and Manga subvert the whole "hair cutting" thing.

[Screen changes to the cockpit of the Hilda Garde 3. Zidane and Dagger walk in; Eiko and Steiner run up to them]

Eiko "Wh-Wh-Wh-What happened!? What happened to your hair!?"

Steiner "P-P-Princess! What have you done!?"

Eiko "I know! Zidane broke your heart, didn't he!? How dare he-"

Steiner "I-I-Is that true!?"

Zidane "Whoa, hold on. Don't jump to conclusions!"

Dagger "Zidane's right, Eiko."

Steiner "!?"

Eiko "Dagger! You can talk again?"

Dagger "Yes... I'm sorry I made you all worry."

Eiko "It's okay, but your hair... It was so beautiful."

Dagger "Short hair doesn't suit me?"

Nah, it doesn't. Honestly they could have had Garnet complain and cutely whine about it, anything to give her an actual personality.

Skipping ahead.

[A crew member runs on screen]

Crew Member "Excuse me!" "Please let me know if you'd like to switch out your party members!" "I shall assist you in any way that I can during your journey."

This is what I meant when I said that switching characters is more tedious in this game compared to others, instead of being able to switch party members right from the menu, you have to go on the airship and speak to a certain NPC to do it.

Zidane "You don't have to be so formal. Let's just relax and enjoy our flight."

[You pick your team of four. You're in the airship, Hilda Garde 3, on the World Map. The Hilda Garde 3 heads over to Ipsen's Castle, and lands. Zidane, on the World Map, enters the castle]

You can also go to the optional area, Daguerreo, which I've talked about before: It is located where only a Mist-less airship can reach, made by Cid just now, outside of the Mist Continent, with Mist Continent characters being found in it, where did you all come from?! One of the NPCs also says something about a "Dragon God" which is never explained.

End of Chapter 23.