Dominia Yizkor Appreciation Life

Words cannot describe how gay I am for Dominia. She's actually one of the first female characters in a video game I started questioningmy preferences over. She may not be as strong a character as she comes off as; as a matter of fact, if she didn't have weaknesses, I wouldn't so strongly identify with her. But I love how strongly tsundere she is, but she's tsundere about the world and not about Ramsus.  I wish there were more canon material related to her and Ramsus' interactions, especially since a lot of them had to be pretty strained since I think Ramsus had been with Miang the entire time Dominia had known him until

Spoiler:

I ran out of words. ^^  Moar later!

Oh dear, I'm going to rant. I'm so sorry. A lot of what's about to come out of my fingers is headcanon. For that I apologize. Also I haven't played Xenogears in a few years now and a lot of the story is a bit of a blur to me...so forgive me if I make a million mistakes and make an ass of myself.

Dominia is so tough and yet so naive. I just...I don't even. Her greatest strength, which is her freakish willpower to get the job done, is also her greatest weakness because it makes her blind and it makes her stupid. ldkjfalsdk I fugging lurb that about her because I identify with that. You guys have no idea how much I want her to break someone's arm in an arm wrestling match.

It probably also doesn't help that Dominia doesn't canonically "end up" with Ramsus anyhow, and her feelings, at least to me, are unrequited. The one thing that's always kind of bothered me about a lot of female characters in fiction is that there always seems to be some sort of relationship/love interest drive in them, and a whole lot less on personal ambitions or familial pursuits. I really like the fact that Dominia isn't exactly 'chained' to wanting a million of Ramsus' babies and wants to get married to him forever and ever. To me she seems more...in love with his ideals, I guess? Just the way that she idolizes him looks more like the giddy reverence kids have for their heroes. At least to me. Derp. Basically she doesn't need to be married to Ramsus in order to be 'happy' in her life. In fact I'm pretty sure she'd be more happy if she became more like her 'idealized'/mentally constructed view of Ramsus, thus gaining his appreciation and his platonic affection. With that being said though I totally wouldn't mind if they just went at it...XD

Oh, she's also basically the last person of her race. Yeah. Manly.

^ I love everything about this post. :3

If Dominia suddenly had ended up with Ramsus on her shoulder, it would have seemed a little hollow. They need as much buildup as Fei and Elly do. And I don't think they'd need it in the same way, either, because I think Ramsus having freedom from Miang has to mean something (especially if Miang kept reincarnating next to him). The whole story of Xenogears is about two people who need each other and who can't stand on their own without one another, but Dominia and Ramsus can both hold their own, and that's what makes them good characters. It's also what makes them hard to write fluff for, because their hardship is the part that's interesting.

IMHO, Ramsus falling on his knees with a 'how I have been blind this entire time, please forgive me' declaration at that final scene they have is kinda... out of place. Like there should be some scenes in-between to make it a more smooth transition between this and him stabbing Miyang. It is still better than most JRPG and anime/manga characters get, of course, but Ramsus doesn't take me as someone who would listen to a 'you just wanted to be loved, shut up and get to lovin' lecture by anyone even in a completely devastated state.

As for the Element group - Dominia in particular - I felt that they've been hit with the 'hammy derp villain' hammer a bit too much and didn't even try to make sense of the hatred-filled speeches for the most part. In the scene where the party makes use of the giant mirror on the Babel Tower I've somehow filtered their 'weak should be culled, hurr' monologue into 'we'll stick with the commander through thick or thin and not just because we happened to be transferred under his command, this is personal loyalty, dammit!' I've been plesantly surprised when the ending scene of their arc showed that apparently that was exactly the impression they've tried to convey.

The Element girls have a tragic backstory and naturally supports Ramsus. Dominia in particular seems to be a female version of Ramsus (with the "traitor!" angry speeches and everything). They both very alike. Dominia just seems to be emotionally stronger, though.

The problem is how they were mostly treated as (unfunny) comic relief with little of their backstories shown. Very unlike the Element boys unfortunately. This moment where Ramsus gets slapped by Citan and he suddenly opens his eyes about the girls would have felt stronger if the Elements girls were treated as real characters imo. Dominia was the only one who got somewhat of a focus (hey, she even got a last name) but it's probably wasn't enough. The narrative should have shown her getting slowly more suspicious about Miang and even the rest of Solaris... it would have been interesting to witness her getting from obnoxious pride at being "superior" but slowly questioning her bosses, investigating on Miang behind her back, protecting Ramsus (like, she and the team should totally have been there for Ramsus right after he stabbed Miang... instead, the Elements all disappeared after the fight against Ramsus... I think it would have been interesting to have them here as additional support for the party even, making them true allies from this point).

Then again, maybe they wanted to do more with those girls near the end of the game but didn't because of lack of time/money. Ramsus completely disappeared with them for no real reason, so I assume there were stuff to be done with this. Like a sidequest or something.