Thancred <spoilers>

[Wolfandre]

I've been away from the theorycrafting for a while, but I finally got to doing Through the Maelstrom quests and my mind is abuzz. I could complain about Limsa's 1.0 storyline not getting its due or I could raise questions about Mistbeard or the MacGuffins of Baldesion, but I'll settle for talking about Thancred for a little bit.

So after the Leviathan fight, we're given some insight into Thancred and his background. Odd place to put it, but I'll take it where we can get it. And, boy, did we get it.

We learned that Thancred is not Sharlayan in origin, though it was never stated implicitly that he is Lominsan, just that he spent a lot of time there. We know that he was found on the streets and given an education by Double-L. We also learned that he essentially ran around with the Ninja/Assassins guild. We also saw Thancred employ some Gladiator moves before Leviathan was summoned, and that he learned those moves during his assignment to Ul'dah. We know him to be a Bard as well, but a more traditional Bard.

So...what does that leave him?

Everyone else on the A-Team has a specialty. They are a Thaumaturge or a Pugilist or an Arcanist or a Conjurer only. Thancred seems to have gotten the lions share when it comes to skills. And he's handsome to boot.

The final thing I noticed is that every time Thancred is given credit for something or his skills are noticed, he is embarrassed or tries to move the conversation along. Far be it from him to brag about these things on his own terms, however, as seen elsewhere in the story. So here's my question:

Could Thancred be a Mime?

I see Thancred being a more subtle version of this classic job. He has plenty knowledge of different fighting styles (between basic swordplay to thrown weapons to dual wielding/agility-based) which would be needed to adapt to a copied move. Mimes can also be seen as attempting to stay non-descript (Gogo), and his unwillingness to allow anyone past his rocky exterior can allude to that.

Maybe I'm reaching too far for this one, but Thancred seems to have a little more to him than the other members of the Circle of Knowing, and I'm just wondering how he has capabilities that match those of the player (who has before now been placed upon every pedestal in Eorzea).

Thoughts? Criticisms? Digging too deep? Ok, I'll go back into my hole. Still on the hunt for another W Tribe Mi'qote.

EDIT: I may have left out my reasoning for bringing this up and my main bit of evidence backing my claim....great job, there, Wolfie.

The biggest reason I say Mime is because he not only immediately switches from Gladiator-style to Ninja-style in mid-fight (which, as a precedent set by the game and its mechanics, is impossible) but also does so after witnessing Yugiri fight. I believe we're even given a "Thancred-looks-at-Yugiri-critically" shot before he does so.

Sorry for the confusion. I'll consult my MLA Handbook before submitting my posts from now on. Heheh

[Enkidoh]

Thancred is an odd case, and it comes down to the change in development team back in 1.0. Originally it seemed Tanaka had planned on eventually introducing BRD to the game in a completely different way to how Yoshi-P eventually did - it seems it was meant to have been just a class and not a Job, hence why Thancred uses throwing knives but still calls himself a 'bard'.

Naturally when Yoshida became Producer and introduced the Job system, he had BRD come off ARC and use the ARC's weapon of bows, making Thancred an orphan class-wise. So in ARR he was retconned to use GLA abilities while still being loosely called a 'BRD' (even though Armoury System wise he most definitely is not). I guess this is also the reason for his thief/rogue-type backstory in the 2.2 storyline - it's to try and explain the retconning to his abilities that have been made.

[Vilhem]

Thancred is an odd case, and it comes down to the change in development team back in 1.0. Originally it seemed Tanaka had planned on eventually introducing BRD to the game in a completely different way to how Yoshi-P eventually did - it seems it was meant to have been just a class and not a Job, hence why Thancred uses throwing knives but still calls himself a 'bard'.

So in ARR he was retconned to use GLA abilities while still being loosely called a 'BRD' (even though Armoury System wise he most definitely is not). I guess this is also the reason for his thief/rogue-type backstory in the 2.2 storyline - it's to try and explain the retconning to his abilities that have been made.

This, except that even in 1.0 Thancred had Gladiator AI, so it wasn't a retcon in this department. In gameplay cutscenes he used a standard short sword much like you see him carry in ARR. In the cutscenes though he used the smaller knives. I do think with the original 1.0 storyline and roadmaps being scrapped, they sort of had to explain why he's a "bard" while using knives and whatnot. I don't think we'll ever know fully if his backstory was retconned or if this was their way of originally introducing thf/nin in 1.0.

Fact of the matter is, he's a fast learner and a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. I'll admit, it seemed a bit TOO convenient how he suddenly knew how to fight similarly to Yugiri lol.

[Icecylee]

Gladiators could use throwing knifes in 1.x, and they were originally planned to have more DD-minded options. Them making him the new dual knife guy is just putting him back closer to the fighting style they wanted him to use the whole time / how he was portrayed in the older cut scenes.

Changing classes didn't really seem that odd to me either. I mean, most people have more than one class leveled even if they main one. He was just screwing around on a secondary class while doing low level content until now. >_>

[Viridiana]

Changing classes didn't really seem that odd to me either. I mean, most people have more than one class leveled even if they main one. He was just screwing around on a secondary class while doing low level content until now. >_>

Except he seems to do it mid-fight, which players can't do. Unless you want to argue that he wasn't on anything's aggro table and was thus "between fights" when he changed, which I suppose you could argue.

[Velox]

It's painfully obvious that Thancred just got tired of farming Atma for 60 hours and decided to change mains. That's all, you guys are thinking into this way too much :P

[HumsterMKX]

If you ask me... he is probably just trying to impress anything that look female...

Seriously from 1.0 till now, cutscenes, conversation with npcs, with him, kinda gave an impression he is out for showmanship most of the time.

[Septimus]

Something else, there are a ton of NPCs who are called "scholars," as in really smart folks as opposed to the job. The same could probably be said about Thancred being a "bard," as in someone who sings songs and woos the ladies,

[C-croft]

Maybe I'm reaching too far for this one, but Thancred seems to have a little more to him than the other members of the Circle of Knowing, and I'm just wondering how he has capabilities that match those of the player (who has before now been placed upon every pedestal in Eorzea).

Thoughts? Criticisms? Digging too deep? Ok, I'll go back into my hole. Still on the hunt for another W Tribe Mi'qote.

EDIT: I may have left out my reasoning for bringing this up and my main bit of evidence backing my claim....great job, there, Wolfie.

The biggest reason I say Mime is because he not only immediately switches from Gladiator-style to Ninja-style in mid-fight (which, as a precedent set by the game and its mechanics, is impossible) but also does so after witnessing Yugiri fight. I believe we're even given a "Thancred-looks-at-Yugiri-critically" shot before he does so.

Thancred isn't really giving Yugiri a critical shot per say, just complimenting her fighting style from the Far East. He is a former scoundrel, assumed rogue/thief due to his ties of before he was a scion, Louisoux found him and sent Thancred down the path of becoming who he is today. His gladiator skills are explained due to him being posted in Ul'dah. I also agree with Humster in that Thancred is a manwhore(wannabe?) with the ladies. lol. He is caught talking to himself about different women throughout the story mode when interacting with him as an NPC. I think it is a slightly off attempt at comedic relief and was possibly translated too literally.

[Icecylee]

Except he seems to do it mid-fight, which players can't do. Unless you want to argue that he wasn't on anything's aggro table and was thus "between fights" when he changed, which I suppose you could argue.

I'd totally argue that if I had to, and then point out that none of his abilities went on cooldown when he changed either. And the only counter argument to that is: if they did, it would have made for a really boring cutscene. Sometimes mechanics are slightly ignored in favor of being cooler, visually. (lord knows my protect doesn't stop projectiles in their tracks like Y'shtola's does in cutscenes )