Speculation One of the nice things about The Vision of Escaflowne is that it leaves the viewer with many unanswered questions. Some people regard this as a weakness, and I can understand feeling a measure of frustration with the ending (it would've been nice if Hitomi and Van had kissed once in twenty-six episodes), but I tend to see it as part of the richness of the series. Shoji Kawamori and his colleagues do such a thorough job of creating a world that one feels sure there are many stories in it besides the one they tell in the TV series. The characters seem so real that you just have to wonder about their lives before and after the events of Escaflowne. This, of course, offers great opportunities for fanfiction writers (you might like to read Scars On the Heart, my own effort - but don't look at it if you haven't seen the whole series). There just wasn't time in those twenty-six episodes to tell us everything we would have liked to know. So here are some of the things I wonder about Dryden. ~ What is his relationship with his family like? We never once see Dryden in the same shot as his father, Meiden; we never get a conversation between the two of them. When Meiden mentions his son at dinner with King Aston, he speaks with a tone of amused pride, but this may simply be a front he's presenting. Do father and son get on? I wouldn't think so. It seems to me that if Dryden knows what his father is really like, he must despise him rather. Perhaps this is a major reason for his long absence; not simply that he was more interested in building his commercial empire than in marrying Millerna right away. ~ For that matter, does Dryden have a mother? We never hear anything of her. His attitude towards Millerna encourages me to think that if his mother is alive, he has a good relationship with her, and respects her as well as loving her as one naturally loves one's mother. But imagine being married to Meiden. Ugh. Poor woman. ~ Was Dryden's marriage to Millerna ever consummated? I really am not asking this just because I'm a pervert. (I'm not muchof a pervert, anyway.) I just wonder how normal their marriage could possibly have been under the circumstances. Since Dryden got fairly badly injured when the wedding was crashed by Nariya and Eriya, presumably he wouldn't have felt ready for anything too energetic for a few days in any case. And after that - well, since things were so chaotic, and since Millerna was really in love with someone else, and presumably worried about her ailing father, would she have been willing? I'm sure Dryden would have respected her wishes, whatever they were. The thought adds a little more poignancy to his giving her up. It's an appalling cliché, but the saying 'If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours forever, and if it doesn't, it never was,' springs to mind. I think that, when he leaves, Dryden knows that Millerna has never really been his own, in any way. And I really don't believe someone as sharp as he is could hold out any serious hope that she would wait for him. The thing is, he leaves to try to become the man he believes she deserves, but by doing so he proves he's way too good for her! Grr! ~ So what becomes of Dryden afterwards? I really don't know. But I hope somehow, sooner or later, his love for Millerna dies of natural causes (time and distance) and he finds someone who will love him equally and make him happy. If I can't hope for that I'm going to get very upset. This train of thought inspired me to write a story about Dryden and his mermaid, which you can find in this shrine. Or maybe he should date Lara Croft. They have interests in common. Archaeology, ponytails, John Lennon sunglasses. You think? Home