Regula van Hydrus (potential spoilers until the end of Heavensward)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm reading it right, 余 is an archaic-but-male pronoun and 少女 is "little girl," so he's saying "I (male) was once a weak little girl."

---

Japanese personal pronouns are tricky, as they are, by definition, personal, and as such embody how the speaker identifies themselves. It is not unheard of for women and girls to unironically use male pronouns in their daily lives (the polite masculine boku especially), and even, rarely, for men to use female pronouns (atashi is commonly used by more... colorful portrayals of gay men). In the case of one Nael deus Darnus, however, a woman disguised as a man would use a male pronoun when speaking, and wouldn't necessarily switch to a feminine pronoun just because you saw her face.

However, that particular line from the Japanese script is referencing something Nael said in the line before, so it isn't really conclusive taken out of context.

OK, how about this?

The first mention of van Hydrus is during a quest just after going to the Blue Window, "Familiar Faces." The quest log specifically says the Garleans are trying to capture you under the orders of "Lord van Hydrus." This is of particular import because it's the Garlean soldiers who first mention his name.

That wording, "Lord van Hydrus," is very important. If van Hydrus were a woman, they'd probably refer to her as "Lady van Hydrus," as is custom in medievial-era fantasy worlds.

That doesn't rule out the possibility of van Hydrus disguising his/her sex, but I doubt s/he could rise to the rank of Legatus and still have his/her physical sex unknown. (Gender identity is a separate issue. Either way, "Lord van Hydrus," so he probably at least identifies as male.)

I'd probably just call it a case of a male name following female linguistic rules - i.e. an exception. The supposed gender of the name isn't necessarily evidence of the actual person's gender. For example, in Italian (A latin-based language) the name Andrea is a male name. But following the typical rules of word gender in the language(-a typically denotes a feminine word while -o typically denotes masculine words), it should be female. I would give more examples but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

I'd hardly consider it relevant unless they plan to use it as a plot device/ character development later on.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

OK, how about this?

The first mention of van Hydrus is during a quest just after going to the Blue Window, "Familiar Faces." The quest log specifically says the Garleans are trying to capture you under the orders of "Lord van Hydrus." This is of particular import because it's the Garlean soldiers who first mention his name.

That wording, "Lord van Hydrus," is very important. If van Hydrus were a woman, they'd probably refer to her as "Lady van Hydrus," as is custom in medievial-era fantasy worlds.

That doesn't rule out the possibility of van Hydrus disguising his/her sex, but I doubt s/he could rise to the rank of Legatus and still have his/her physical sex unknown. (Gender identity is a separate issue. Either way, "Lord van Hydrus," so he probably at least identifies as male.)

---

I'm not sure but isn't Livia sas Junes referred to as "My Lady" by her subordinates? I also suggest limiting the comparisons to Nero tol Scaeva and Livia sas Junes considering they are currently the only Garlen Generals who we has 100% positive gender confirmation on. (We've not seen Gaius nor Regula with out helmets and Nael deus Darnus him/her self admits that Bahamut got Nael van Darnus' image wrong but lack the care to fix it) So Nero having been seen Helmetless multiple times and Livia's own sister confirming her gender (Iirc Lucia said they were twins) so By Nero's actions and Lucia's testament respectively Nero is undoubtedly Male while Livia in undoubtably female.

(And have we considered that Nael van Darnus always looked like that but was STILL actually a man with just an extremely effeminate appearance? That might answer why he wouldn't remove his helmet willingly as well as Bahamut's confusion.)

Kaiser though didn't Cid himself say that Gaius practically took him in and raised him as a father should unlike his own father who was doomed by Meteor?

Quote:

---

Cid: You abandoned us all. But he was there for me, Father- there for me when you were not.

---

and cs shows a picture of Gaius walking up to Cid and putting his hand on his shoulder.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rannie

Kaiser though didn't Cid himself say that Gaius practically took him in and raised him as a father should unlike his own father who was doomed by Meteor?




and cs shows a picture of Gaius walking up to Cid and putting his hand on his shoulder.

---

I agree, I say that's almost concrete evidence that Gaius is male since Cid himself admits Gaius was not a "Father Figure" but an actual Father to him (Implying Gaius Raised Cid) while his real father (Lord nan Garlond?) was obsessing over and eventually destroyed by the Meteor Project.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

snip

---

I can't recall if any of the soldiers ever referred to Livia as "My lady," though it sounds familiar. Either way, we have Lucia to confirm that yes, Livia was a woman; she was Lucia's younger sister, to be exact.

Nero is clearly a man. His voice and unmasked appearance scream it.

Gaius... we'll never know for certain. Given he died without us ever seeing his face, I seriously doubt we'll ever know what he looked like under the helmet but many characters refer to Gaius as a man. He also has a deep voice, and both Cid and Livia refer to him as a man.

Nael is... well, ambiguous to say the least. We never saw him unmasked prior to T9, and he never had any spoken lines. That said, I do not personally believe van Darnus was a woman in life. He shows confusion about his body after you break him out of Deus Darnus Mode in T9... even if physically female, Nael's own consciousness defined itself as male. Considering how dickish XIV primal!Bahamut is, I bet he gave van Darnus a sex change when reconstructing his body for shits and giggles. (As an aside, I for one wish van Darnus would have lived through T9. Would make things... interesting, to say the least.)

Regula van Hydrus... well, jury's still out on that one. Let's take a look at the evidence, though:

For being a woman
1. Feminine name.

For being a man
1. Masculine voice.
2. Masculine build (sort of? It's the same as van Darnus and van Baelsar...).
3. Referred to as "he" and "him" in the quest log (might not be valid).
4. Referred to as "Lord van Hydrus" by Garlean soldiers.

Hmmm...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

I can't recall if any of the soldiers ever referred to Livia as "My lady," though it sounds familiar. Either way, we have Lucia to confirm that yes, Livia was a woman; she was Lucia's younger sister, to be exact.

---

If I recall it's what her adds say occasionally upon spawning in Castrum Meridium. Also, good to clear that up. If Lucia is the Older sister then all I really have to do is imagine a slightly younger Lucia to get a vague idea of what Livia looked like. I'd imagine it's close since Cid himself admits to almost mistaking Lucia for Livia in the post bismark hm CS.
I So want to know more about Cid's relationship with his former countrymen prior to his defection to Eorzea. Gaius Raised him and Livia, so that'd presumably make Cid and Livia have a sibling like relationship at one time, Cid and Nero were both rivals growing up, and i'd assume he has some awareness of Nael and Regula at least as passing names. Gaius' Roegaden subordinate maybe maybe not depending on when Gaius picked him up. Any way, that's another topic for another thread.

(Also on Nael, If he was based off of Sephiroth like most think, Sephiroth was an extremely effeminate man too.)

Being a man that has a feminine name in real life... (Technically sexually ambiguous), I really don't seen why everyone is so bent out of shape over Regula's name. It means Rule in latin. Rule of the Serpent. I think the meaning in the name is far more important than the sex. It also makes absolutely no sense why he would need to hide his sex. It's not like the people of the world here are a sexist lot who would deny women the right to serve the empire in war. Trying to bend around logic to make a character something he's not without any viable explanations doesn't work.

Now... To REALLY bust this myth down... let's list some male latin names than end in A... Aquila... Agripa.... Glaucia.... Iovita... Nerva... Scaevola... Seneca...

It's not a stretch to say Regula is an alternate version of Regulus that would be fine for a male.

Souce: http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-roman

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lusavari

Now... To REALLY bust this myth down... let's list some male latin names than end in A... Aquila... Agripa.... Glaucia.... Iovita... Nerva... Scaevola... Seneca...

It's not a stretch to say Regula is an alternate version of Regulus that would be fine for a male.

Souce: http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-roman

---

Uh, if I'm not mistaken isn't Aquila typically given as a male name? (though I dont recall ever hearing of a human named Aquila)

You know what, given that regula's legion is the VIth, perhaps it's going to emulate Celes...? She starts off as general of her own Empire legion, herself

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

Uh, if I'm not mistaken isn't Aquila typically given as a male name? (though I dont recall ever hearing of a human named Aquila)

---

The name means Eagle. There was also an undead Hume who was a villain by that name in FF11. http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/A..._Fantasy_XI%29

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lusavari

Being a man that has a feminine name in real life... (Technically sexually ambiguous), I really don't seen why everyone is so bent out of shape over Regula's name. Trying to bend around logic to make a character something he's not without any viable explanations doesn't work.

---

I'd wager people just want a female Legatus, and are running on confirmation bias and rationalizing the evidence against their point of view.

"Regula van Hydrus could be a woman, and is just disguising her sex and using a voice changer to sound like a man!"

The problem with that kind of logic is that it runs like this:

http://i.imgur.com/K634Yg0.gif

... which is always technically a true statement.

Pretty sure there's a female Legatus, though. We'll just have to wait for the VIIIth (or maybe the IIIrd) to show up.

Gaius and Regula are male if you listened to their English and Jp voices and Nael was just reborn from memories as a female.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alihabra

I'd probably just call it a case of a male name following female linguistic rules - i.e. an exception.

---

Except it's not. It's known that it's a female name. It's the name of a female Saint. She's one of the patron saints of Zurich.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arixtotle

Except it's not. It's known that it's a female name. It's the name of a female Saint. She's one of the patron saints of Zurich.

---

Artemis is traditionally a Female name but can and has been given to Males who show a great proficiency in battle, archery, and Hunting. There are exceptions to all rules. And how do you know it's not an exception? Last I checked Fern and Yoshi-P haven't popped in and gone "Oh yea, Regula is a woman. the name should of given it away on it's own". They most likly picked the name based on it's latin meaning alone. Doing that can net you some weird names. That's why I stopped using latin in my naming conventions for my amature novelas.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fenral

Japanese personal pronouns are tricky, as they are, by definition, personal, and as such embody how the speaker identifies themselves. It is not unheard of for women and girls to unironically use male pronouns in their daily lives (the polite masculine boku especially), and even, rarely, for men to use female pronouns (atashi is commonly used by more... colorful portrayals of gay men). In the case of one Nael deus Darnus, however, a woman disguised as a man would use a male pronoun when speaking, and wouldn't necessarily switch to a feminine pronoun just because you saw her face.

However, that particular line from the Japanese script is referencing something Nael said in the line before, so it isn't really conclusive taken out of context.

---

Completely off-topic, but...

In regards to van Darnus, from what research I've done Nael was always a woman in the JP script, but changed to a man in the EN and other scripts due to that quirk of Japanese personal pronouns.

Naturally, this is only possible due to the lack of voices in 1.x and Nael having no voiced lines in the Coil. Since Nael was probably using masculine Japanese pronouns (boku or ore), they would naturally translate her as a man and without voices there's no conflict or context. Then the Coil comes around, and Nael is unmasked and revealed to be a woman... so they worked around it, stating Bahamut got translated!Nael wrong and "accidentally" gave him a sex change in every language but JP. This ruse only worked because of Japanese language quirks and the lack of voices.

Back on point, such a ruse doesn't work with voiced content because you have the context of what their voice sounds like and, while there are exceptions, there are "typical" pitches masculine and feminine voices fall under. Seeing as van Hydrus has a masculine voice in every language, unless they decide to go with a voice changer trick (which I'm not saying is impossible, just improbable with current evidence) he is, in fact, a man.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

<...>

---

You're not far from what I assume the truth to be.

If Japan pre-planned it beyond out-of-game impressions, however, they could have have decided against giving Nael a male voice pack.

(And, when asked in person post-ARR, Yoshida would probably have more to say than, in-game, Nael was "always man.")

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saber_alter

<...> so his helmet is either designed to have a voice alterer in it...or nael kept his voice in the genderswap

---

Darksteelfoil Hatting: You're doing it right. 10/10. I mean, it seems most likely to me that (looking at it from the perspective of the devs' retrospective clean-up of the in-game continuity) Nael's voice in all its incarnations were within ranges to not raise any flags contradictory of expectations based on the current knowledge of the listener, and, beyond that, DON'T THINK TOO HARD ABOUT IT, but still. 10/10.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dragoelete

yes but so far we have never seen a female legatus therefore it could be that they hide there gender in order to be able to have the hope of reaching that point.

---

But lorewise? why would they feel the need to hide their genders when they don't discriminate by gender in the military?

On that note about a female legate, there are 14 of them total and we've only seen 3, a female one will come at some point even if none of the ones we've seen are.
Either they'll be half n half or they'll be the minority but still there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VargasVermillion

But lorewise? why would they feel the need to hide their genders when they don't discriminate by gender in the military?

---

i imagine it is the same reason some women did that in the real world even after they stopped discriminating on gender in army and such there were people that wouldn't take them seriously and it slowed down there promotions...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dragoelete

i imagine it is the same reason some women did that in the real world even after they stopped discriminating on gender in army and such there were people that wouldn't take them seriously and it slowed down there promotions...

---

Except we have Exhibit A, Livia sas Junius, third in command of the Rogue XIVth. Everyone takes her completely seriously and with good reason.

... considering Livia and Lucia are the only known female Garleans, and Livia was third in command of the Rogue XIVth, what little we have does not point to sexism in the Garlean military. (Plus there's the possibility van Darnus was always a woman in the Japanese script.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

Except we have Exhibit A, Livia sas Junius, third in command of the Rogue XIVth. Everyone takes her completely seriously and with good reason.

... considering Livia and Lucia are the only known female Garleans, and Livia was third in command of the Rogue XIVth, what little we have does not point to sexism in the Garlean military. (Plus there's the possibility van Darnus was always a woman in the Japanese script.)

---

The XIV legon is exceptionally unbiggoted thlugh. Rhitahn having a higher rank than infantry wouldnt have happened outside of the XIVth. Gaius just values (Valued?) merit over blood by his own admittence. So it's possible that biggotry in the other Legions is a very real issue.

(Geez I wish/hope Gaius is still alive. I really could have seen him being an ally under diffrent circumstances.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kaiser-Ace

The XIV legon is exceptionally unbiggoted thlugh. Rhitahn having a higher rank than infantry wouldnt have happened outside of the XIVth. Gaius just values (Valued?) merit over blood by his own admittence. So it's possible that biggotry in the other Legions is a very real issue.

(Geez I wish/hope Gaius is still alive. I really could have seen him being an ally under diffrent circumstances.)

---

Ehh... the XIVth is more meritocratic than the other legions (supposedly), but that's just in regards to nationalism. There's never been anything said as to whether or not the Garlean military is sexist; conversely, there's direct statements that the Garlean military is very nationalistic, demanding conscripts serve a full 20 years before they even get basic citizenship. We have Livia as 3rd in command of the XIVth and nothing stating there's sexism in the Garlean military; we have Rhitatyn as co-3rd (or 4th?) in command of the XIVth and statements that he's an exception.

The empire as a whole preaches that they will give high status to those who earn it regardless of race or gender, if it was just one legion or so mentioning this than maybe the different legions would be more bigoted than others.
I imagine there would be some garleans with racist views no doubt about it but the empire as a whole mentions that you can earn your place regardless of your background or history. I doubt that anyone else but a garlean could hope to attain command over a legion or any other higher ranks but we do know little about their culture so who knows.

Has anyone thought for a moment that Regula might actually be one of our missing Scions? I mean, obviously not Papalymo, but still.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

Has anyone thought for a moment that Regula might actually be one of our missing Scions? I mean, obviously not Papalymo, but still.

---

Uh, No, Thancred, Yda, Papalymo, anf Minfilia are the only MIA scions left. Thancred was the only of three even close to Regula's hight and Thancred should have a limp after that Knee shot.

I did think that female Ascian looked and sounded a little like Minfilia though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

Has anyone thought for a moment that Regula might actually be one of our missing Scions? I mean, obviously not Papalymo, but still.

---

Given the time supposedly elapsed from Before the Fall to Heavensward (a few weeks or months, I can never remember which), that is incredibly unlikely unless said Scion was in deep cover throughout all of 2.0 and probably even earlier.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eisen-Zorn

Has anyone thought for a moment that Regula might actually be one of our missing Scions? I mean, obviously not Papalymo, but still.

---

http://i.imgur.com/K634Yg0.gif

... but I seriously doubt it.

The only candidate is Thancred unless you buy the voice changer angle. Even then, Papalymo is out, and based on certain factors I don't think it's probable. Most importantly, after the Garlean soldier mentions "Lord van Hydrus," Alphinaud gives van Hydrus' first name, so he had to have known about Regula prior to 3.0 meaning there's no way van Hydrus could be a missing Scion.

... unless it's Thancred who was displaced in space-time by Y'shtola's Flow, sent back 20 years and ended up in Garlemald without his memory on top of it.

I assume Regula will be warped (and become a Kefka like character), killing the emperor, disturb the warring triad, is confronted by Lucia (Celes) who is knocked back but saved by Yugiri (Shadow) and then we go to 4.0 :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Altanas

I assume Regula will be warped (and become a Kefka like character), killing the emperor, disturb the warring triad, is confronted by Lucia (Celes) who is knocked back but saved by Yugiri (Shadow) and then we go to 4.0 :)

---

Is it gonna trigger the 8th Calamity, and then we'll have to wander a drastically changed and ruined world while we search for the Scions and our own hope before taking the fight to Regula (who has embraced nihilism) after we kill the Warring Triad?

... if that's the case I'd rather play VI.

(/sarcasm: This isn't VI.)

If they do just copy VI then they jumped the shark a little bit. The meteor project being similar to sephiroth worked but the situation in VI is far to specific to be just a 'nod' to kefka if something similar happened in this game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cilia

http://i.imgur.com/K634Yg0.gif

... but I seriously doubt it.

The only candidate is Thancred unless you buy the voice changer angle. Even then, Papalymo is out, and based on certain factors I don't think it's probable. Most importantly, after the Garlean soldier mentions "Lord van Hydrus," Alphinaud gives van Hydrus' first name, so he had to have known about Regula prior to 3.0 meaning there's no way van Hydrus could be a missing Scion.

... unless it's Thancred who was displaced in space-time by Y'shtola's Flow, sent back 20 years and ended up in Garlemald without his memory on top of it.

---

We could atleast use a frying pan on him to get his memory back... then again i always have this urge to whack Thancred over the head with a frying pan...