Character Portraits

Kirke · Post by **Kirke** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 1:33 pm

One of the interesting things about Suikoden I is the character's portraits; notably, the backgrounds behind their faces. There are only a few backgrounds that appear more than once: the red, "bad-guy" background, and the grayish-green "good-guy" background. I was looking through these to see if they possibly hinted that Sanchez was a bad guy, but they didn't. Interesting note though- all of the 108 stars of destiny have the good-guy background except for McDohl, who has a special blue one, and the recruited Imperial Generals (Kwanda, Milich, Kasim, and Sonya.) Alen and Grenseal don't have the red background, though.

Anyhow, there's a couple other unique backgrounds. One is the Star Dragon Sword, and the other is Zorak's (from Warriors' Village). Any idea why they might get their own special background? Zorak was no more special than, say, the Dwarf Chief, but he got his own special background.

Post by **Oppenheimer** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:07 pm

That's very interesting. I never noticed that before.

Ted and Odessa also have the green background yet they aren't stars of destiny. It's very odd that Alen and Grenseal don't have the red background. They always seemed like throwaway characters to me. They were only introduced during the battles with Teo and never really did anything or got lines outside of those few scenes. Perhaps they were not originally supposed to be part of the "evil" team turned good but were put there at the last minute. But Valeria is similar in that she used to be evil but turned good and she has a green background. Maybe red backgrounds are reserved for people you actually fight opposite (even if it's only a strategy battle as in Milich). But you never actually fight Windy and she gets a red background. But she never converts. Now I'm just rambling; who knows what they were thinking.

Kirke · Post by **Kirke** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:14 pm

You're right, who knows. You do fight against Anji, Kanak, and Leonardo, as well as Varkas and Sydonia, and they don't get the red background. Oh well. Side note- McDohl and the Sword have the only good-looking backgrounds. The rest of them look like grandma wallpaper.

Tobias Amherst · Post by **Tobias Amherst** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:25 pm

I think I can explain this one. Anybody with a blue background (McDohl) is the hero and has something to do with both sides (he was under Kraze in Gregminster and changed to the Liberation army) and the green ones are for the Liberation Army recruits. The red backgrounds are only for the Imperial Generals (Kwanda, Kasim, Milich, Sonya,) and the ones involved deeply with SME (Teo, Windy, Barbarosa, Kanaan, Kraze), with exceptions going to Griffith (he was only a checkpoint commander), Valeria (she was born in the SME), Alen and Grenseal (they were only soldiers or can be called as captains, if you will), and Varkas and Sydonia (they were only in the SME because that's where their HQ was). Anji and his two pirates Kanak and Leonardo were never involved with SME and, because of their taunt of Sonya (with the wedding dress), they couldn't be because it's likely they'd be executed. Basically, Blue is both sides, Green is Liberation, Red is SME or former Highland Generals. I have no clue on Star Dragon Sword or Zorak.

Jowy Atreides · Post by **Jowy Atreides** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:29 pm

You mean the Scarlet Moon Empire and not Highland, right?

Tobias Amherst · Post by **Tobias Amherst** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:44 pm

Just noticed that myself. It's fixed.

Soul Eater · Post by **Soul Eater** » Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:56 pm

I think they did it to give the characters 'moods'

red stands out and shows danger - for enemies and powerful people

green is easy on the eyes and a 'friendly' colour for your recruits

other characters have colours to seperate them from these groups