Title: [GRIT] {meta} Symbols
Author: apeori@ug.cs.dal.ca (AARON JAMES EDWARD PEORI)
Date: 4 Sep 1997 18:45:49 GMT

I was browsing the WWW today and I found an interesting site. It's called
the Symbolic Ranma 1/2 (http://members.aol.com/NimueLeaf/SymRan.html)
which delved into the symbolism of Ranma 1/2, and more importantly what
the characters represented. I recommend this site, since the author has
some original ideas and it's a refreshing change from the usual Ranma 1/2
page-of-the-week monotony. I don't -agree- with all he said, but it is an
interesting read.

However in reading it I got to thinking about GRIT (a natural extension
of Ranma 1/2 for me now) and how it is very symbolic. Then I decided to
write up what I thought each character symbolized. Now these are just my
opinions, and I'm sorry if you find some of them offensive or inaccurate,
but I think this would make for good discussion. Also I wasn't able to do
-all- the characters, quite frankly many characters bore me to tears but
I digress. If you don't see your character below I'm sorry, it doesn't
mean I think you are a bad writer/roleplayer it just means you have
failed to capture my interest. if anybody wants to point out there own
takes on diffrent, or even the same characters as I do feel free.

                          Symbolism in GRIT

What do they GRIT characters symbolize? What parts of humanity does each
embody? What concepts and ideals does each bring to mind? This attempts
to answer those questions, as best as anybody can.

But who to start with... oh well, let's try to start just where my mind
is right now.

SCOTT - Scott is the quintessential "nice guy". He cares deeply for those
he calls friends, and forms connections with whoever he can. He appears
soft, a shoulder to cry on, and sounding board for your troubles and your
problems, something to hold when you need to hold something. Even his
fighting style is not based on aggression, but on drawing out the other
persons inner darkness and showing it to them, on reflecting their anger
back at them. Underneath however he has a core of steel He will not bend
with the wind but stand up to it, not screaming defiance, but with
unshakeable resolve. His tragedy is that he also seems to embody the
concept that "nice guys finish last". His "sounding board" philospohy
often gets him in trouble when he says something the person isn't ready
to hear. Also he has trouble expressing what he feels and getting what he
wants. His desire to help others solve their problems makes him force his
own to the backburner. Thus he never spends time trying to get what he
wants, and he will never accomplish his dreams until he can find time for
himself, to uncover the core of iron and not simply face down the wind,
but walk into it.

HIROHI - if there was ever a better argument in support of the statement
"ignorance is bliss" I would be hard pressed to find it.

JO - if there was a "star" in GRIT it would be Jason Akane Tracewell
Heavensrun the first. Jo is a leader, an explorer, a forger of new paths.
Jo is forced into this role but is no less capable of fulfilling it. Jo
is looked up to, and sought after by all the other GRIT characters at one
point or another. He is always given the choice, forced to make the
decisions and decide what paths the others can take. His strength is his
independance, but it is also his weakness. For Jo must ultimatly make his
decisions alone, no one can make them for him. Without guidance he
agonizes in doubt, and this agony builds within him, fueling his rage
which eventually forces his hand, perhaps down the wrong path.
Jo's leadership also makes him into an icon, but his own identity is in
crisis. He is what everybody looks to for leadership, and everyone sees
soemthing diffrent in him that they figure is worth following. But he can
not see this himself, he can not figure out who he is or what he is.

JACEN - if Jo is the "star" of GRIT Jacen is the shadow he casts. He
resides unseen next to his brothers brightness, he never leads, but he
doesn't follow either. Instead he remains where he is, clutching at what
is now and never looking towards to future. This is his tragedy, unable
to accpet change when it finally comes it runs roughshod over him. Thus
Jacen represents reservation and caution, which in too great a quantity
can be dangerous.

JEI - Jei represents honor. Bushido, chivalry, gentleman's code, native
american, all of them. He follows his code and eats, sleeps and breaths
them. His code can not be summed up in words, he follows the code of his
heart. His flaw is the rigidity that this code brings, the inability to
accept it's failings. This is best represented in his recent injury,
despite the danger to himself he continues to fight for what he believes
in.

MIST - if Jei is honor, Mist is justice. But justice, as they say, is
blind. The same is true for Mist, he is blind by his own choice, taking
the gift he has been granted and refusing to enjoy it. He takes waht is
human about himself and pushes it aside, all so that he may bring justice
to the world. He has become a machine, performing it's appointed task
with efficency. Yet he does not see his own danger, for by rejecting his
own humanity he starts down the same path his fallen brother did long
long ago. What is Justice without compassion? This is best represented by
his fighting style, for ki, the very power of life that he has been
granted, is viewed as a tool and nothing more. Because of this attitude
he will "burn" himself up with his own weapon, mirroring his destruction
due to viewing his emotions as a tool on a smaller scale. In fact, the
only technique which does not burn him, is the one which draws strength
from his emotions.

EPSILON - Epsilon, to me, represented not anything that is within
humanity, but the alien, the unknowable, the arcane... the "other". He
was everything that humans are not, emotionless, eternal, powerful. But
in the end the "otherness" that was Epsilon was revealed for what it was,
nothing. For Epsilon was the Abyss, and he had nothing he could do.
Instead, all he was was what others had projected at him returned. He
could do nothing to them, unless they allowed him to. Jo and Ranma had to
give themselves up to him before he could kill them. Blade could have
destroyed him but Epsilon had to use his own love for Ukyou against him.
His most basic power was the ability to turn your own power against you.

In fact, only those attacks which held onto the self, which were not
seperate from the person could inflict harm upon him. In the end, his
evil was not the Medallion working dark magic, it was him reflecting the
hatred they all felt for him, the blame theyb placed on him for their
woes and problems. Even the one time someone showed him kindness it
became reflected, for when Al-X showed him compassion Mist came to be. In
the end, the defeat of Epsilon did not come from power, it came when they
realised that Epsilon was the blame we place on things other then
ourself. The inability to accept responsibilty for their own darkness was
what kept him coming, yet when Blade and Ukyou chose to think in terms of
"I chose" that spelled Epsilon's downfall.

BLADE - now I know what you're expecting, you're expecting me to say
"Blade is vengance" or something similar. But Blade is not Vengance (in
GRIT, that honor currently belongs to Tarou). Blade is hope, fragile hope
but hope none-the-less. Think about it, he is a man who has been consumed
by his own evil, whose past was shattered and who embraced an evil
stonger than that which he sought to destroy. But he has not been
destroyed by it. Instead his love for Ukyou, and his dedication to his
friends (few though they may be) has dragged him out of the Abyss time
and time again. It is hard, and his path is filled with pitfalls. That's
why Blade is fragile hope, for it could be dashed to pieces any moment.

AKEMI - Akemi is innoncence, but she is not the "nice" kind of innocence
that we tend to fantasize about. She is true innocence. Unable to feel
pain (in more ways then one) she does not realise the pain she causes
others (in more ways than one). She is the child who never grew up.

VINCE & AMY - this is one of the most powerful examples of dicotomy in
GRIT. But it is not the dictomy between male and female as you would
expect, no. Vince and Amy represent temperance and temper respectivelly.
Vince is controlled emotion, channeled, focused, contained. Yet because
of this inability to let emotion control him he never does more than
scratch the surface. His "love" for Akemi is shallow, not because of it
beings just lust, but because he is unwilling to give into the emotion
fully. Amy is the opposite, she is wild emotion, travelling from extreme
to extreme but never resting in the middle. Her violence and temper are
only natural outgrowths of this valotile mixture. Her emotions however,
are deeper and more meaningful then Vince's. Thus they represent the
battle of intellect versus emotion.

AL-X - Al is the primal person. Not a person with no capacity for
intellect (like Akemi), but rather one that has simple chosen not to let
intellect bother him. He represents instinct and primal emotion, this has
it's good points and it's bad. On the good side he tends to be an anchor
which keeps the others from getting to 'serious', showing the fallacy of
their actions to themselves. On the other hand his primal emotions are
strong, and his anger can consum him at any moment.

U-CHAN - U-chan is like Al, but diffrent. Where he helps people along by
showing them the inhernent foolishness of their current choice, she is a
steady hand which a drowning man grasps at. She is a protector and a
savoir, someone to anchor yourself to so you do not drift away. She is
the the person who lights a lamp in the darkness and the one whose
shoulders you step on to climb out of the hole you have dug for yourself.
Her flaw is the fact that she does not know who she can help and who she
can not, thus she ends up offering her hand to those more willing to drag
her down with them than pull themselves out.

GAELD - Gaeld is paranoia and fear. he is the boogey-man who keeps you
awake at night, he is the thing that lurks in the shadowed corners and
waits for the unwary to approach to close. His malkavian schemes and
gambits remind me of the ramblings of conspiracy thoerists. I bet he has
his "Illuminati" membership pin hiding around his office somewhere. but
like real fear, he does have his uses. He can warn us of dangers we are
not aware of, and aid us in indirect ways when that danger arrives.

SHIRO - Shiro is unfettered love. Love that is not attached to physical
desire, that is not attached to conditions. In this way she has come the
closest to "true" love, but she represents the drak side of love. The
pain and the loniliness of unrequited love, the bitter-sweet joy of
actually attaining that which you crave most.

CHYRON - Chyron is fettered love. Her love is conditional, forged through
material connections. What better representation of this than her
relationship with Terbril? Brought about by the connection of the Terbril
and Anbril gems, when Terbril renounced that connection her love was
shattered. And that is her flaw, the pain caused when her material
connections are borken and she is left alone.

TSURUGI - If Mist is Justice, and Jei is Honor then Tsu is Compassion.
But compassion without moderation. He smothers others with his kindness.
He does not realise that he causes more harm then good. For in his
misguided quest to bring joy into everyone's life he tries to remove all
their needs, to do everything for them, to take away all there wants. In
this, his compassion is ultimatly shallow, for it does not address the
real problems. He tries to smoother his problems, and those of others,
instead of facing them.

TRINA - Trina is what happens when a person no longer has needs, when all
your challenges and problems are taken from your hands and solved for
you. She has no more need, and has become a being of pure desire. She
lives for the moment, for she has no need to worry for the future. She
has become shallow, her life has become a meaningless hedonistic persuit.
She wants to embrace everything, but the real meat of life slips from her
grasp.

LING - Ling is like Trina, but instead of wanting to experience
everything at once, she wants to expereince one thing to the fullest
before moving on to the next. The problem is, in her scrutiny of only one
thing the rest of life passes her by.

ZEPHYR - Zeph is freedom. He is the person who has fought his dark battle
and one, who has overcome his inner demons and now stands looking towards
a brighter future. But Zeph is also the price of freedom, for he
symbolizes vigilance, always ready to step forward and defend those he
calls friends. His one flaw is the inability to step down from this
challenge. The price of freedom truly -is- eternal vigilance...

SPICE - Spice is devotion. She fulfills her obligations and feels a great
need to honor her depts. The problem is that this need drives her to
dangerous lengths, and sometimes she must put aside what she thinks is
best to accomplish her given tasks.

SKJAM - SKJAM represents wisdom, hard won and hard to keep.

MIDORI - Midori represents idealism. She is driven by it, given strength
by it and her only flaw is that this idealism can sometimes blind her to
the more pragmatic reality of the situation. The irony is her telepathy,
which gives her information of great use, is often overcome by her blind
faith.

BURRANTO - Burranto is Midori's contrast, the ultimate pragmatist (some
would say pessimist). He has no faith, no ideals besides his own
survival. He really wants to do something important, but he sees little
he can do. This causes him to feel weak, and cowardly. But he is not
really a coward, he just knows he can't do anything. And has created a
self-fulfilling prophecy.

ANN - Ann is acceptance, she does not coem to you, but anyone who comes
to her will find it if the only look. Her problem is that she does not
strive for change, she accepts it all.

STEVE - Steve is the opposite of his "sister". He can not accept, he must
always look for something better, always strive to make life better. He
leaves and breathes the motto, "The grass is always greener on the other
side". The problem is that he can not realise when he actually has found
a good thing, and whenever something minor goes wrong he runs away,
hoping to find soemthing better. But again and again he is drawn back,
because the strive for perfection is always doomed.

JAY - Jay is a person who represents innocence lost. A character who is
tragic for being forced to grow up to soon, and who gains both strength
and weakness from this.

KAPPA - Kappa represents a desire for simplicity, a quest which in this
conplex world, is very hard to achieve.

STARK - Ambition without greed, but also ambition without moderation.

RYUU - As I play Kumon Ryuu, he represents aimless violence. The words
"rebel without a clue" spring to mind...

That's about all the ones I know a great deal about, many of the other
characters I just don't know enough about to write up anything meaningful
about, or their players have departed.

--
-----------------
Epsilon

" Pain without Sorrow;
  Want without Desire;
  Purpose without Passion,
     That burns like Fire."
        - Sensation