Sheba | Child of the Gods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seekinganswers) wrote2012-12-31 11:04 am
seekinganswers) wrote2012-12-31 11:04 am
Sheba Headcanons Pt. 1 - General Info
SHEBA
"A Jupiter Adept who was taken in by Faran and his family in Lalivero. According to Faran and some of Lalivero's residents, Sheba literally fell from the sky, "creating a massive depression in the [Venus] ruins" - but miraculously, she wasn't harmed at all. Some consider her the "holy child of Lalivero," while others find themselves skeptical of the tale of her arrival, as well as her power (Psynergy) being real."
"In the town of Lalivero, Isaac learned that Saturos and Menardi had kidnapped a young girl named Sheba, whom they needed within the lighthouse. Isaac fought and defeated them atop the lighthouse, but he was too late--the beacon had been lit.
A great cataclysm followed. Sheba fell into the sea. Felix jumped in to save her, but both were lost in the roiling waves. Jenna left the lighthouse to find them, but to no avail..."
FAMILY LIFE
Her adoptive family treated her very well. Sheba herself admits that Faran has "always been like a father" to her; speaking to and using Mind Read on Faran's wife and son in the first game reveals that her adoptive mother would rather be in danger than have Sheba in danger, and that her adoptive brother just wants someone to hurry up and rescue his "elder sister."
The story of her fall from the sky is common knowledge in Lalivero, so there's no way that Faran's son wouldn't know that he and Sheba weren't actually related. The fact that even in his thoughts he refers to her as his sister is pretty telling of the loving family environment she was raised in. It also indicates that she treated him as well as an older sister would - if she'd treated him badly, he most likely wouldn't have been quite so worried and wouldn't have made a point as referring to her as one of his relatives.
However, I don't think she's read any of their minds, at least not in the last few years. Many times throughout The Lost Age she expresses her concern over being "abandoned" or "left behind," and with her insecurities about where she really came from and who her real family is, I don't think she'd want to risk looking into their minds and finding something that she didn't like - for example, that they might not think of her as their daughter, or worse, that they only think of her as the "holy child of Lalivero" rather than a living, breathing person.
Though she does love her adoptive family, her birth family weighs heavily on her mind. The main reason she tagged along with Felix was to visit Jupiter Lighthouse, because she thought there she'd find out more about who she was and where she came from. (Spoilers: She didn't find anything.) She's more than a little hung up on this, and understandably so; unfortunately, because she's so hung up on this, she's worried that she can never be Faran's "real daughter" even though he and his family have never given her any indication that they'd think otherwise.
Overall - she had a really good family life, but is plagued with the kinds of doubts you'd expect from anyone who was adopted. Also, while it's probably true that a lot of her insecurities about being abandoned come from the fact that the story of her arrival on Weyard leads one to believe that she was just tossed out of some city in the sky as a baby, I think part of them may also be because of how long she spent in Tolbi. Babi knew that holding her hostage would get the Laliverans to cooperate, but I think she was a little disappointed that no one, not even her family, tried to rescue her.
LIFE IN LALIVERO
Sheba is revered in Lalivero as a "holy child" and as a "child of the gods," because of how she fell from the sky as a baby and wasn't injured at all. Some even regard her as a "savior," as you find when reading the mind of the healer in Suhalla. The Laliverans care for her a great deal, enough that taking her captive was more than enough for Babi to be able to use them to build his lighthouse.
But where does this concern stem from? Talking to and reading the minds of the Laliverans in the first game reveals a couple of different attitudes towards her.
Some seem to regard her as more of a symbolic "savior" or "holy child" than anything else, a "lucky charm" that's meant to protect the town from harm. When she's forcibly escorted through town by Saturos and Menardi, many of these people are concerned about her safety, but only in terms of what it will mean for them. "Sheba is our only hope. If something happens to her, Lalivero is finished." / "This all happened because Tolbi took Sheba away from us..." / "Sheba is the savior of Lalivero. There's no mistake about it. I don't know of anyone other than Sheba with a power like that." / "If something happens to Sheba, what will become of Lalivero?" / "They all have a lesson coming to them. They'll learn why Sheba is called the holy child of Lalivero!"
I think finding thoughts like these in the minds of some of the others living in her hometown probably had a profound effect on Sheba's development - especially considering that they're thinking this when she's about fourteen, after she's been in Tolbi for awhile. Thoughts like these don't come out of nowhere, so she's probably been exposed to them since she was much younger. This probably has to do with why she doesn't use Mind Read as much as Ivan does - whereas Ivan greets his new traveling companions by reading their minds, Sheba has to be instructed to use her power by Saturos and Menardi atop the Venus Lighthouse.
She's well aware of how people can view other people as just tools or symbols, and she doesn't like it. So when she wants to think well of someone, she refrains from reading their mind lest she find something she doesn't like.
Others in Lalivero do seem to be genuinely concerned for her welfare, though. Her family is one prime example, but others include seemingly random residents of the town - "If I were bigger, I would have saved Sheba myself!" / "Oh, I'm sorry... I'm just so worried about Sheba, I can't concentrate." / "If you want to stay, I'll let you, because it means more money for me. But if you're a warrior... you ought to be rescuing Sheba." / "If anything happens to Sheba... I'll never do business with anyone from Angara again!" / "If anything happens to Sheba, the good folk of Lalivero won't stand idly by!"
That being said, it's likely because of people like this that, while Sheba is Babi's captive in Tolbi, it's noticeable that she wants to return to her hometown. She puts on a brave face and merely wonders when she'll be allowed to go back to Lalivero in front of Isaac's group, but talking to the others in Babi's palace reveals that she has, at least once, cried and pleaded to be released. In spite of the way some people seem to view her as only their savior and nothing more, she does truly love her hometown. There are few things that are more important to her than that... it's just that traveling with Felix allowed to look into one of those few things.
BABI'S CAPTIVE
By the time Isaac's group arrives in Tolbi, Sheba has already been Babi's hostage "for some time" - long enough for some progress to have been made on Babi Lighthouse, and long enough for her to have been able to put on a brave face despite the fact that she is a very young teen being used in order to make her hometown work on a construction project for an old man. She's not allowed to leave her room in Babi's palace (which leads me to think she probably tried at least one escape attempt before she realized that she wouldn't make it back to Lalivero on her own).
She's obviously resourceful - she's intelligent, so she knows by now that she can't get through the Suhalla alone. Babi's reluctance to let her roam freely could imply that she might have been able to convince someone to take her back to Lalivero if he let her out of his sight long enough, and not only that, but that it's obvious enough that he knows she would try it if left to her own devices.
Despite her status as a hostage, the people caring for her in Tolbi seem to think very well of her. They describe her as a "good girl," albeit with a few quirks. One even notes that it's heartbreaking to see how homesick she is - and when she's happy, that puts them in a good mood, too. When she's finally allowed to be escorted home, her caretakers are relieved that she's been freed, but find that they "miss her a little."
Later on in her journey, Sheba doesn't seem to hold much of a grudge against Babi, despite her extended stay at her palace - she certainly holds much less ire for him than she does for, say, the Mayor of Alhafra. When he comes up in conversation with Kraden and Piers, she just refers to him as "the ruler of Tolbi." When Alex brings the news of Babi's death, her first response is "Could that really be true?" followed by sarcasm regarding Alex's intentions, and then a bit of annoyance that Alex had told them such a thing even though they hadn't asked for him to.
I don't think she liked being his captive, but the thing is, he did treat her well. If any news reached Lalivero that she'd been harmed, all bets would have been off and they probably wouldn't have kept working on his Lighthouse. The fact that he willingly let her go back to Lalivero after Colosso was finished probably did a lot to redeem him in her eyes, too. I don't think she liked being a captive, but she was able to find it in herself to forgive her captor... especially after he died.
It's never outright stated exactly how long Sheba spent in Tolbi. The only indication we really get is when one of the NPCs says that "Sheba has been staying as Lord Babi's guest for some time." Personally, I think she was there for at least two years, probably more. Babi Lighthouse is described as being "half-finished," but from what we see on the world map, a good amount of construction has been done already. It's much wider than Tundaria Tower, but not much shorter. It's also not too much shorter than Venus Lighthouse, at the top of which you can't even see the clouds. Considering that construction takes a long time in the modern day, with all sorts of machinery to help us, the amount of construction done on Babi Lighthouse by the time Sheba returns to Lalivero implies that she was in Tolbi for a very long time. The Laliverans didn't have technology or Psynergy to help them work, so even with the ruins being used as a base, that amount of construction would have taken awhile.
Not only that, but everyone and their mother refers to Sheba as a child. By the time we get her in the party in The Lost Age, which is honestly just hours after the Venus Lighthouse fiasco, she's around fourteen years old (and I like to think that by the time the journey's finished, she's turned fifteen). She might be young, but there's a definite difference between a little kid and a teenager - I think part of the reason everyone keeps referring to her as a child is because she was a child the last time they actually saw her.
"A Jupiter Adept who was taken in by Faran and his family in Lalivero. According to Faran and some of Lalivero's residents, Sheba literally fell from the sky, "creating a massive depression in the [Venus] ruins" - but miraculously, she wasn't harmed at all. Some consider her the "holy child of Lalivero," while others find themselves skeptical of the tale of her arrival, as well as her power (Psynergy) being real."
-Character information in Golden Sun
"In the town of Lalivero, Isaac learned that Saturos and Menardi had kidnapped a young girl named Sheba, whom they needed within the lighthouse. Isaac fought and defeated them atop the lighthouse, but he was too late--the beacon had been lit.
A great cataclysm followed. Sheba fell into the sea. Felix jumped in to save her, but both were lost in the roiling waves. Jenna left the lighthouse to find them, but to no avail..."
-Prologue of Golden Sun: The Lost Age
FAMILY LIFE
Her adoptive family treated her very well. Sheba herself admits that Faran has "always been like a father" to her; speaking to and using Mind Read on Faran's wife and son in the first game reveals that her adoptive mother would rather be in danger than have Sheba in danger, and that her adoptive brother just wants someone to hurry up and rescue his "elder sister."
The story of her fall from the sky is common knowledge in Lalivero, so there's no way that Faran's son wouldn't know that he and Sheba weren't actually related. The fact that even in his thoughts he refers to her as his sister is pretty telling of the loving family environment she was raised in. It also indicates that she treated him as well as an older sister would - if she'd treated him badly, he most likely wouldn't have been quite so worried and wouldn't have made a point as referring to her as one of his relatives.
However, I don't think she's read any of their minds, at least not in the last few years. Many times throughout The Lost Age she expresses her concern over being "abandoned" or "left behind," and with her insecurities about where she really came from and who her real family is, I don't think she'd want to risk looking into their minds and finding something that she didn't like - for example, that they might not think of her as their daughter, or worse, that they only think of her as the "holy child of Lalivero" rather than a living, breathing person.
Though she does love her adoptive family, her birth family weighs heavily on her mind. The main reason she tagged along with Felix was to visit Jupiter Lighthouse, because she thought there she'd find out more about who she was and where she came from. (Spoilers: She didn't find anything.) She's more than a little hung up on this, and understandably so; unfortunately, because she's so hung up on this, she's worried that she can never be Faran's "real daughter" even though he and his family have never given her any indication that they'd think otherwise.
Overall - she had a really good family life, but is plagued with the kinds of doubts you'd expect from anyone who was adopted. Also, while it's probably true that a lot of her insecurities about being abandoned come from the fact that the story of her arrival on Weyard leads one to believe that she was just tossed out of some city in the sky as a baby, I think part of them may also be because of how long she spent in Tolbi. Babi knew that holding her hostage would get the Laliverans to cooperate, but I think she was a little disappointed that no one, not even her family, tried to rescue her.
LIFE IN LALIVERO
Sheba is revered in Lalivero as a "holy child" and as a "child of the gods," because of how she fell from the sky as a baby and wasn't injured at all. Some even regard her as a "savior," as you find when reading the mind of the healer in Suhalla. The Laliverans care for her a great deal, enough that taking her captive was more than enough for Babi to be able to use them to build his lighthouse.
But where does this concern stem from? Talking to and reading the minds of the Laliverans in the first game reveals a couple of different attitudes towards her.
Some seem to regard her as more of a symbolic "savior" or "holy child" than anything else, a "lucky charm" that's meant to protect the town from harm. When she's forcibly escorted through town by Saturos and Menardi, many of these people are concerned about her safety, but only in terms of what it will mean for them. "Sheba is our only hope. If something happens to her, Lalivero is finished." / "This all happened because Tolbi took Sheba away from us..." / "Sheba is the savior of Lalivero. There's no mistake about it. I don't know of anyone other than Sheba with a power like that." / "If something happens to Sheba, what will become of Lalivero?" / "They all have a lesson coming to them. They'll learn why Sheba is called the holy child of Lalivero!"
I think finding thoughts like these in the minds of some of the others living in her hometown probably had a profound effect on Sheba's development - especially considering that they're thinking this when she's about fourteen, after she's been in Tolbi for awhile. Thoughts like these don't come out of nowhere, so she's probably been exposed to them since she was much younger. This probably has to do with why she doesn't use Mind Read as much as Ivan does - whereas Ivan greets his new traveling companions by reading their minds, Sheba has to be instructed to use her power by Saturos and Menardi atop the Venus Lighthouse.
She's well aware of how people can view other people as just tools or symbols, and she doesn't like it. So when she wants to think well of someone, she refrains from reading their mind lest she find something she doesn't like.
Others in Lalivero do seem to be genuinely concerned for her welfare, though. Her family is one prime example, but others include seemingly random residents of the town - "If I were bigger, I would have saved Sheba myself!" / "Oh, I'm sorry... I'm just so worried about Sheba, I can't concentrate." / "If you want to stay, I'll let you, because it means more money for me. But if you're a warrior... you ought to be rescuing Sheba." / "If anything happens to Sheba... I'll never do business with anyone from Angara again!" / "If anything happens to Sheba, the good folk of Lalivero won't stand idly by!"
That being said, it's likely because of people like this that, while Sheba is Babi's captive in Tolbi, it's noticeable that she wants to return to her hometown. She puts on a brave face and merely wonders when she'll be allowed to go back to Lalivero in front of Isaac's group, but talking to the others in Babi's palace reveals that she has, at least once, cried and pleaded to be released. In spite of the way some people seem to view her as only their savior and nothing more, she does truly love her hometown. There are few things that are more important to her than that... it's just that traveling with Felix allowed to look into one of those few things.
BABI'S CAPTIVE
By the time Isaac's group arrives in Tolbi, Sheba has already been Babi's hostage "for some time" - long enough for some progress to have been made on Babi Lighthouse, and long enough for her to have been able to put on a brave face despite the fact that she is a very young teen being used in order to make her hometown work on a construction project for an old man. She's not allowed to leave her room in Babi's palace (which leads me to think she probably tried at least one escape attempt before she realized that she wouldn't make it back to Lalivero on her own).
She's obviously resourceful - she's intelligent, so she knows by now that she can't get through the Suhalla alone. Babi's reluctance to let her roam freely could imply that she might have been able to convince someone to take her back to Lalivero if he let her out of his sight long enough, and not only that, but that it's obvious enough that he knows she would try it if left to her own devices.
Despite her status as a hostage, the people caring for her in Tolbi seem to think very well of her. They describe her as a "good girl," albeit with a few quirks. One even notes that it's heartbreaking to see how homesick she is - and when she's happy, that puts them in a good mood, too. When she's finally allowed to be escorted home, her caretakers are relieved that she's been freed, but find that they "miss her a little."
Later on in her journey, Sheba doesn't seem to hold much of a grudge against Babi, despite her extended stay at her palace - she certainly holds much less ire for him than she does for, say, the Mayor of Alhafra. When he comes up in conversation with Kraden and Piers, she just refers to him as "the ruler of Tolbi." When Alex brings the news of Babi's death, her first response is "Could that really be true?" followed by sarcasm regarding Alex's intentions, and then a bit of annoyance that Alex had told them such a thing even though they hadn't asked for him to.
I don't think she liked being his captive, but the thing is, he did treat her well. If any news reached Lalivero that she'd been harmed, all bets would have been off and they probably wouldn't have kept working on his Lighthouse. The fact that he willingly let her go back to Lalivero after Colosso was finished probably did a lot to redeem him in her eyes, too. I don't think she liked being a captive, but she was able to find it in herself to forgive her captor... especially after he died.
It's never outright stated exactly how long Sheba spent in Tolbi. The only indication we really get is when one of the NPCs says that "Sheba has been staying as Lord Babi's guest for some time." Personally, I think she was there for at least two years, probably more. Babi Lighthouse is described as being "half-finished," but from what we see on the world map, a good amount of construction has been done already. It's much wider than Tundaria Tower, but not much shorter. It's also not too much shorter than Venus Lighthouse, at the top of which you can't even see the clouds. Considering that construction takes a long time in the modern day, with all sorts of machinery to help us, the amount of construction done on Babi Lighthouse by the time Sheba returns to Lalivero implies that she was in Tolbi for a very long time. The Laliverans didn't have technology or Psynergy to help them work, so even with the ruins being used as a base, that amount of construction would have taken awhile.
Not only that, but everyone and their mother refers to Sheba as a child. By the time we get her in the party in The Lost Age, which is honestly just hours after the Venus Lighthouse fiasco, she's around fourteen years old (and I like to think that by the time the journey's finished, she's turned fifteen). She might be young, but there's a definite difference between a little kid and a teenager - I think part of the reason everyone keeps referring to her as a child is because she was a child the last time they actually saw her.