Character Analysis: Léa

Hey folks, I felt like doing something like I did with Vivian back in the group's journals.  It will give me something to ramble on, and who knows, maybe you'll get to see something from a different angle.  I'll be speculating something about two characters I think have a lot more in common than it looks like on the surface, Léa and Lily.  For this thread, I'll analyze Léa's character and speculate on how things in her life might have played out, then in the next one, I'll talk about Lily and how I think the two have more in common than it seems.  Before I start, I want to make a disclaimer: Everything I am going to say is pure speculation on my part and I make no claim that any of it is factual.  Without further ado, let's start with Léa.

We all know her, she used to be a slave on a desolate world, until fate brought her and her slave masters to Felarya.  There, she met with a giant naga named Crisis and an odd friendship between predator and prey was born.  Right off the bat, I need to get something out of the way, I heard years ago that Léa was sometimes misinterpreted as quite misanthropic.  I think it's safe to say that this interpretation was debunked over time, but I believe there is a grain of truth to that.  What I will speculate on is how I believe she assessed many things throughout her upbringing, how she grew attached to Crisis, and how I think she sees other humans.  First, we need to go back where it all began.

As we all know, Léa is a born slave from Balfrezagg, a dangerous and barren desert world, save for a single giant oasis, where all human population lives.  There, she spent everyday of her life working herself to death in mines all across the vast and unforgiving desert, literally breaking her back to bring water to the selfish rulers of the city, who in turn would offer her no sympathy and outright mistreat her.  You have to understand the conditions she lived in.  Since she was a young child, she has been treated like a tool and not as a person.  She and the other slaves were offered only barely enough food and water, so they wouldn't die of starvation or thirst.  Their clothes, if they wore any, were nothing but torn rags, covered in filth and barely holding on together.  The place the slaves were allowed to rest was unclean and disease probably proliferated there.  If at any point a slave made the slightest mistakes, or showed signs of disobedience, they were savagely beaten by their masters.  Heck, they were probably hit just to keep the pace up, or just so the slave masters could vent their frustration on something.  Slaves probably died from various hazards.  If they received an injury that debilitated their ability to do work, grew too old or weak, or fell prey to a disease, the slavers probably killed them on the spot, seeing them as a broken tool that had to be discarded in favor of a new tool.  Some slaves began to distrust one another, believing if someone sold them out, they would be rewarded, or wouldn't be punished as badly.  Others were crushed by despair, believing their situation hopeless, and may have sought ways to end their lives so they wouldn't suffer anymore.  Whatever happened, this was Léa's life.  Every single day, for over twenty years, this would be what she would witness and experience, and what was considered normal.

So how did Léa assess all of this?  Well, we know she sang to keep her spirit up, but why is that?  In my opinion, Léa must have gotten herself into trouble on many occasions and must have began to sing as a way to vent her frustration and express her sorrows without fear of being punished.  We also know she heard tales from a local merchant, which she recounted to her fellow slaves.  I believe it's possible that, at first, Léa became friends with a few slaves as she told those stories, but many, if not all of them, did not survive, and so she made sure not to grow too attached to other people, so that she wouldn't experience the same crushing sorrow again.  Maybe the thought of ending it all here and now crossed her mind on numerous occasions, but decided not to out of obligation, because she had become somewhat of a symbol of hope to all the slaves she shared her singing and stories with.  Whatever happened, we can be certain she felt utterly miserable, powerless, and lonely.

But then, the day that changed her life happened.  Balfrezagg was attacked and raided by an army from another world.  Countless people died during the assault that nearly decimated the one safe haven of this dead world, and those that did survive, were captured to be transported to their world as a slave.  That did not go according to plan, and the convoy Léa was on had to pass through Felarya, where it was then ambushed by Crisis.  The blonde naga made short work of her convoy, aiming for the armed slavers before they realized they had been attacked, and promptly swallowed them whole and alive one by one.  After gobbling the last slave master, she lifted a cage holding Léa and held her to her face.

Before I continue with Léa, I'd like to share how I think Crisis assessed the whole situation.  We know she was captivated by Léa's beautiful voice and that she was intrigued to see a human who stayed completely calm, instead panicking and struggling to break free like most do.  We know she was moved when Léa told her story, but how exactly was she moved and why did she decide to let her go?  Like all great story-teller, I believe Crisis imagined herself in Léa's place as she told her story.  She Imagined herself in the middle of a wasteland.  The harsh sunlight burns her flesh and the wind buffets sand in her eyes everyday.  She is treated as an object with no free will, rather than a living being, by people she does not know and is forced to serve for reasons she does not understand.  She has no choice but to literally break her back through filthy and decrepit mines, just so her master can keep lives of luxury at her expense.  She is constantly famished and thirsty, as she is given only the bare essentials to stay alive, and there's rarely a moment where her masters aren't violently hurting her.  Everyone around her is suffering and distrusting one another.  Many of her fellow slaves have died before her eyes, whether they fell prey to illness, succumbed to environmental hazards, lost all hope and took their own lives to end their suffering, or because her masters executed them immediately for no longer being deemed useful.  Needless to say, Crisis was horrified.  The thought of living without freedom and in such atrocious conditions, even for a short time, seemed unfathomable to her.  And yet, this little human in her palm lived in such conditions, and she lived in these conditions from the day she was born.  At that moment, Crisis began to falter.  On the one hand, she could eat the woman in her hand.  She would be fuller, and the human would be freed from a life of slavery, so they'd both gain something.  But ultimately, she rejected the idea and released Léa, because in her mind, no one, even preys, should die without enjoying a life of freedom.  It's unclear if there were other slaves on the convoy.  If there were, then Crisis must have gorged herself on the other slaves, which means Léa was the last one she was originally planning to eat.  Hopefully she felt bad for eating them after hearing Léa's story.

In any case, Crisis took Léa to her home at the Giant Tree as she digested her copious meal.  It's unknown whether Crisis planned to escort Léa to Negav to start a new life among fellow humans, if she knew of Negav's existence, which she might thanks to Drayla and Vivian, or if she wanted to stay with her.  My own speculation is that Crisis originally planned to escort Léa to Negav, because even with her around, the Giant Tree was still fairly dangerous to a lone and unarmed human.  But first, she had to take care of Léa, as she must have been in poor health and suffering from many wounds from her years as a slave.  As she tried her best to nurse her back to health, Léa herself was moved by what Crisis was doing for her.  Never before had someone offered her food beyond the pitiful rations she was given or showed this much kindness.  Over time, the two grew close to each other, and when Léa fully recovered, Crisis became reluctant to part with this little human.  But fortunately for her, Léa herself decided to stay with the giant naga.  She could not forget everything she did for her, and when she saw how much Crisis had grown fond of her, she figured the best way to thank her was by staying.  From that day, Léa had everything she could wish for.  She had a proper and quite exotic dwelling.  She made a new friend in the form of Anna, with whom she could talk to whenever the grumpy half-naga got frustrated.  She also met Subeta, with whom she went on to explore several temples and ruins, in a sense, granting her wish to explore the worlds the merchant told so many tales about.

So with all that in mind, what does Léa think of humans?  Well, as I said earlier, it's pretty safe to say she doesn't see humans as bastards.  After all, she sympathized with her fellow slaves and went out of her way to give them hope, however small, so it would be incredibly hypocritical of her to think of humans as a race of assholes.  But, I don't think she thinks of humans as highly as they consider often themselves either.  To her, only two type of people exists: friends and non-friends.  Friends are what she values above all else, while non-friends are just another member of a certain race, whom she probably won't ever see again, and thus has no incentive to become close with.  When she sees Crisis swallowing humans she's not friends with, she doesn't see Crisis killing people like other humans would, she sees her friend eating and being happy.  If she were to encounter a group of humans, I don't think she would act like a total jerk and try to sabotage them, or worse, go out of her way to feed them to Crisis.  After all, if she did, she would be no better than her former slave masters, and I think she's well aware of that.  But at the same time, I don't think she would act super friendly either, and would definitely come of as aloof.  I think that because of her life as a slave, she can't help but be a little wary that the man or woman talking to her may try to double cross her in some way, and that she shouldn't bother being friendly to people she's probably not going to see ever again.  Does that mean it's impossible for Léa to grow attached to other humans?  I don't think so, but it would be quite difficult to earn Léa's trust and friendship.  I don't think she would trust someone's words alone; the person would have to solidly show and prove that he or she is not just "another human".

Anyway, that's all I have to say.  What do you think?  Do you think this is an accurate analysis of Léa?  Do you think the events I speculated on sound like something that may have happened?  If you have something else to share about her, feel free to post about it.

Well, I for one think you've definitely given me more to think about when I write Lea into my story. I'll need to make sure it's not as easy as just 'become Lea's friend, safe from Crisis'. When you say that a person whould have to show that they're not 'just another human', that goes for other prey species as well, yes?

I agree on most points, Shady. In fact, you bring up some subjects that make me wonder...

Stories (barring Chinese myths) make people think and believe that different worlds are possible. We have our media diet controlled as kids in order to bring us up a certain way; I wonder if Lèa was ever beaten for telling stories too. If so, it would mean a lot about her character that she still learned stories, that she still told them.

Singing is a bit more accepted in general, mainly because it can be really nice. I wonder if her singing could've ever reached out to her masters, and created some unpleasant situations for herself.

If Crisis ate any other slaves, then I wonder how Lèa felt about it. The way you put it, it seems as though Lèa had anticipated they would die for some time already, and had long since stopped being disturbed by death, in any of its forms: had grown desensitized, so to speak.

I can't agree that Crisis felt even prey should taste freedom; when Crisis feels for someone, it's because she no longer considers them prey. Maybe it's just me, but Crisis never seemed to pity Lèa for what she had been through, just as Lèa never judged Crisis for eating people: the two of them seem to have great fondness for each other, even if it has gratitude too on Léa's side.


All in all, a great effort, Shady. A lot of fun to read.

Well, it says that Crisis was moved by Léa's story, which I think implies she felt pity for her given how awful her life was, but then again, that's just speculation. I prefer to think it happened that way cause I'm an optimist (usually) and I think it would be an unusual, but very powerful way to show how genuinely kind-natured she is.

By the way, you brought up something I never thought about, how did Léa even hear the stories from the merchant? I'm fairly positive he primarily dealt with the slave masters and slaves were forbidden to talk to him. My only guess is that the slavers allowed him to see the slaves, just to humor him I suppose.

Yup definitely a great portrayal
What you highlighted here make sense. Lea has a very cold and detached outlook on the world outside of the sphere she considers friends. She is not outright hostile but she is abnormally un-sensible. Most of the time, she would simply feels nothing if she watches a fellow human getting eaten. Although that doesn't mean she is completely unable to feel empathy in certain cases. She is a pretty complex and tormented character..