>>Folken Lacour de Fanel>>At the Movies N.B. Extreme spoilers follow. To learn all about Escaflowne: the Movie - a Girl in Gaia, check out Tsubasa no Kami. As you will quickly gather, the world of the movie is very different to that of the TV series, and so are practically all the characters. They have the same names and look similar to their series selves, but in almost every case have been conceptually reworked. Because the shorter timespan of the movie puts pretty tight practical restrictions on development of secondary characters, you may be disappointed to find that the only characters whose personalities we really get to explore are Hitomi, Van, and to a lesser extent Folken. My early speculations on the movie were strongly influenced by the fact that I thought all the character designs were butt-ugly; I also didn't know anything about the plot and was not sure whether Folken would be reprising his rôle as a redeemable villain - or being a villain at all. Well, I didn't have to wonder for long once the movie started playing. He is so a villain. But more of that later; first I want to post-mortem my speculations. Okay. I will concede he's quite hot. My initial 'butt-ugly' objection has kind of gone by the board, since now I'm used to the look of the movie designs, I no longer find them objectionable. I was pretty silly not to realise it was 'Escaflowne Nose Syndrome' over again - when most people start watching the series, they find the noses thoroughly weird, but after a few episodes are used to them, and after a few more even find them beautiful. (Ironically, one thing I was bitching about was that the swoopy noses had been rounded off to something more closely approximating what human beings actually have in the middle of their faces.) I also complained that I felt the change reflected a less 'girl-friendly,' more macho vibe to the movie, and I feel I was right about this, although naturally the objection wouldn't be shared by all girls. A Girl in Gaia is much more dark and violent than Tenkuu no Escaflowne; it has very little of the original's lyrical prettiness and fascination with what I like to term the Geometry of Lerv. There are no triangles in this story (that's right folks, Allen doesn't get any) except - well, an odd kind of one that doesn't exactly work. More of that later. Let me now tell you about Movie Folken. Right. The Black Dragon! Cursed from birth with a deformed haircut, abetted by his loyal but evil-smelling manservant Baldrick and his foppish offsider Percy, he devotes his life to wickedness and coming up with Cunning Plans to usurp the throne of Albion. Oh no - I'm sorry, that's the Black Adder. But as you may see as I go on, there are certain points of similarity. In the movie, Van and Folken are not from Fanelia, but from a kingdom called Adon, where it is traditional to choose the heir to the throne by prophecy. In this case, Van, the younger son by ten years, was chosen, shunting his elder brother to one side. So far, so straightforward. It's interesting (although scarcely relevant to the plot) to point out that at this stage the elder brother is not called Folken - his parents named him Dune. Folken is a name he chooses for himself later. (Why? Didn't he like being named after a fat sci-fi novel?) They are of Draconian (or 'Dragonkin' in some translations) blood, and do the wing thing (yay, this is still pretty) but there is no 'demonic' stigma attached to this as there was in the series. What the stylish young parent-murderer is wearing. What doesn't make sense - and I feel this is one of the major failings in the movie's psychological realism, which is otherwise excellent, particularly in its portrayal of depression, from which Hitomi suffers - is Folken's reaction to this shunting. I could understand it if he was embittered and snitty and even went a bit Scar-from-The Lion King-esque. I could also understand it if he became depressed, which he does - but it's the result of this that is unbelievable. He becomes a very practical-minded nihilist who concludes that, since existence is painful and pointless (he said it, I didn't) it would be a good idea to destroy the world. Yeah, really. Just because Van's going to be king instead of him. There is some attempt to acknowledge the absurd extremeness of this within the movie (Hitomi: 'Just for that?') but still, it beggars belief! So he changes his name to Folken, casts away his wings (I don't know if this is a metaphorical thing or if a hacksaw was involved), and at the head of the Black Dragon Clan, embarks upon a campaign of genocide, parricide/regicide (yup, beheads Dad, and apparently offs Mum too), and general Supreme Assholishness. If he'd sought revenge on his parents, yes, that would make sense, if he'd sought revenge on Van, that would have been unreasonable but understandable, but where the hell does he get this logic? 'It sucks to be me. Therefore, all life sucks. Therefore, I must initiate Armageddon.' Solipsists are such dorks. To try to be fair to Folken, it should be pointed out that he suffers from the same demoralising belief as movie-Hitomi - that his existence is meaningless and makes no difference to the rest of the world. This feeling makes Hitomi wish she could somehow painlessly wink out of existence (she can't bring herself to commit suicide, although she thinks about it), which strikes me as pretty natural; I've felt rather like that myself. I still think Folken's mental, and her comment suggests that, even while she has some sympathy for him, so does Hitomi. Another very different aspect of A Girl in Gaia is that Dragonkin characters - Van, Folken, and, just for a change, Dilandau, although he's half-caste - have psychokinetic powers which they can use to throw each other around, strangle each other at a distance and, startlingly enough, cause a horse to explode. (The only other piece of animation I can think of that's featured an exploding horse is South Park - the episode with Big Gay Al. Exploding farm animals are not really common in film and television, of course, but I believe a sheep is dynamited in Peter Jackson's Bad Taste, and Ralph's mad Aunt Cecily does the same to a cow in the feature-length TV film Ted and Ralph, a spin-off from the brilliant Fast Show. Yes, folks, I'm now collecting Tales of Exploding Livestock.) 'You have thirteen hours to reach the centre of the Labyrinth, before I fire the Death Star and kill Tamahome's family.' And frankly, so far, so what? It's just like Folken's channelling Darth Vader - when he's not channelling Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi or Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth (who obviously had an immense influence on his character design - he even has David Bowie odd-eyes). Now, I don't mind any more that they changed the way Folken looks. I even think his new persona is something of a dish (my mullet tolerance has necessarily increased). He looks a bit like David Boreanaz from Angel too. *drool* But series Folken had such a neat, complicated, disturbing, ultimately endearing personality. (Like Angel *^.^*) Movie Folken is irredeemable and ultimately unredeemed. I mean, jeez, Jajuka has to kill him in the end. In fact, I think he's exactly the sort of person series Folken would object to. I think what really irks me is not so much that he's a bad person, as that the portrayal of his character is inconsistent. There's my beef with the psychological realism for a start. But then there's the whole not-quite-triangle deal I mentioned before, involving Folken, Van and Hitomi. It's not that the brothers are in competition for her affection - although they are in competition for her powers as 'Tsubasa no Kami,' the prophesied Goddess of Wings who can awaken the legendary armour Escaflowne. (Folken wants it awake because that way it'll destroy the world. Van wants it because he thinks he can use it to stop Folken.) But there are these weird suggestions that there is some deeper psychic bond between Folken and Hitomi, which are never really pursued to any conclusion. In the series, it was Van that Hitomi saw in her first visions, the Ace of Serpents coming into her life and changing everything. In the movie, Hitomi as a child has a vision of Dune - a gentle, young, pre-prophecy Dune. It is a sinister, black-cloaked astral projection of the adult Folken who beckons her to Gaea with a promise of oblivion. She never has a vision of Van or makes a prediction regarding him. (Movie Hitomi does not practise fortune-telling - or much of anything, since her depression has made her lose interest in the things she used to enjoy, like track club. The only practising diviners in the movie are, get ready to be weirded out, the Mole Man and Chesta - who is the only character to have a vision of Escaflowne. Shame he had to have a thing that looks like a purple sperm painted on his forehead to achieve that.) (Incidentally, as long as we're talking purple facial decorations, movie Folken does not have a teardrop tattoo or any decoration on his eyelids.) All of this Hitomi-Folken stuff seems to be setting up a significant connection between the two characters - but it's Van with whom Hitomi bonds and Van whom she redeems. The story seems to start out one way and then get pushed another, perhaps out of some sense that you can't make the story too different - Van and Hitomi still have to be the central couple or it isn't Escaflowne. Maybe the idea is to emphasise that Folken is irredeemable. But it's hard to see what the point of that is; it feels like overkill. Perhaps it is supposed to add pathos to the character of the villain, but, like the only nice thing Folken says in the entire movie, a dying remark about loving to hear Van call him brother, it feels like too little, too late. One explanation is that Hitomi's spiritual connection is initially to Folken but she consciously changes this when she feels a greater sympathy for Van. This didn't occur to me on first viewing; I think it may well be what the filmmakers were trying to do, but it's a bit oblique. Maybe, of course, this is all part of a plan. I have a Theory, Chris. It is my theory and mine alone. One more really big difference between series and movie Folken is that movie-boy DOES NOT HAVE CATS. Just so there's absolutely no misunderstanding about this, and we don't think Naria and Eriya must be in the next room or something, we are shown that in this version of the story, they are torch-singers who perform in a bar owned by Dryden. (For more about this, see the movie page at Merchant Prince.) Now, think about it. Would series Folken have been redeemed were it not for Naria and Eriya, and for what their loss showed him about what he really believed? If you've read Silver & Gold, you know exactly what I think about this. The lack of cats tells you right there, this guy is doomed from the word go. 'Mwahahahaha.' Seriously, does it look like he's planning to bite her neck or what? What does he have instead of cats? Well, he's got Sora. She sings too. Sora is an elfin-looking woman whose race Folken has wiped out; he keeps her as his slave or companion (or possibly concubine - according to information in the official movie artbook, she is in love with him, but there's no sign of intimacy between them onscreen, and I wonder if it's a Smithers-Mr Burns sort of relationship, in which he's unaware of her feelings) and uses the magic of her song to manipulate possibility and destiny, particularly in order to control Hitomi. (I thought the destiny machines in the series were cooler. Sorry, Sora.) Sora stays by Folken's side right to the end, saying 'I will see your death with my own eyes.' This is one dysfunctional relationship, methinks. He's probably horrible to her - look at how he treats Dilandau. (This is where the Vadery strangling comes in.) This is another way in which movie-Folken would probably earn series-Folken's contempt; he places no value on his underlings beyond what they can do for him, and actively abuses them when they fail. He doesn't offer people a new life, new hope in the service of a great ideal; precisely the opposite, really. God knows how he raised his army - there can't be that many disgruntled nihilists on Gaea. Presumably they don't know The Real Plan and think they are just doing a standard world-conquest. I suppose from his point of view, they're better off dead. Of course, there was no Dornkirk for this Folken either; no-one for him to look up to, no-one to give him something to believe in that would give him a purpose and a role beyond being an also-ran for kingship. He is alone with his darkness and self-destructive urges; that is his tragedy and his undoing. I still think he's a big mean jerk. You remember how he doesn't have a tattoo? He also doesn't have an artificial arm. That's right, to the best of my knowledge movie Folken has all the limbs he was born with and has never found himself starring in 'When Enormous Reptiles Attack' (or, arguably, justifiably defend themselves). So really, jeez, what's he complaining about? He didn't have to kill anything huge and horrible. He didn't get his arm bitten off. He didn't get stuck in a situation where he was disgraced and could never go home. He didn't have to take on a gigantic, scary responsibility whether he felt ready for it or not; in fact, when you think about it, being the non-inheriting prince of a kingdom can be a pretty sweet life, always providing you're not expected to become Archbishop of Canterbury or something. (Curious fact: If his elder brother Arthur hadn't died before their father did, Henry VIII would have had to do this. And this was when England was Catholic so the clergy were meant to be celibate. Henry VIII. God, I love - um - what would you call this, putative/retrospective irony?) Hell, even if you're Archbishop of Canterbury you can still have a bit of quiet fun. (The Black Adder certainly did when he got stuck with the job.) Movie Folken needs a good spanking and a lesson in perspective. Just remember, people - next time you think you're having a really bad day, next time the computer crashes or a bird poops in your eye or your brother gets to marry Katherine of Aragon, just say to yourself 'At least I didn't get my arm bitten off by a dragon.' Pollyanna would be proud of you. All the pictures illustrating this article are courtesy of Tsubasa no Kami. To see more wonderful scans of pictures from the movie trading-card set and artbook, go to its gallery. {{ Return to the Folken index }}