Fandaniel and King Theodric

[Soge01]

Could Fandaniel have been controlling the body of King Theodoric and that's why the mad king was so crazy? He's the only Ascian whose personality pretty much meshes with Theodoric's and his love for money and chaos could explain why Theodric executed his entire family and hoarded all their riches.

Edit: Lol, sorry for the spelling mistake, Theodric! I meant "Theodoric", not Theodric, lol! Thanks for pointing that out, WhiteArchmage. xD

[Enkidoh]

I think it's far too easy to blame every despotic tyrant on the Ascians, where plain old human failing is a more believable and mundane explanation (it was the same with Thordan the Ist in Ishgard - contrary to popular belief the Ascians had actually no hand in Thordan's betrayal of the dragons/murder and consumption of Rataroskr and the resultant Dragonsong War, that was just Thordan's own hunger for power and fear of mortality talking).

In the same way, Theodric was just a tyrant hungry for power, not helped also that Gaius actually stoked his megalomania from behind the scenes for five years (according to the Lodestone), so no Ascian involvement was really necessary.

[WhiteArchmage]

Ascian influence on Theodoric's reign is only in the most indirect manner: Ascian influence on Garlemald, which itself influenced Theodoric's paranoia and led him further into becoming the King of Ruin. Having Fandaniel be in charge of his body would cheapen the very human terror in that story (plus, would also cheapen Gaius' status by essentially removing his influence from Theodoric mental state).

Also, Theodoric. Grumpy dude with anime hair. Theodric's one of our forum posters.

[Ravor]

I think ascian way of doing thing is like give the foundation or the motivation but trying to be involved as little as possible in the long run, they can just dissapear entirely and the chaos will still happen, but the ascian cant stop themself to show up and being cool or edgy to give spice to the drama XD

[Theodric]

Also, Theodoric. Grumpy dude with anime hair. Theodric's one of our forum posters.

Yup!

I definitely did a double take when I read the thread's title.

[Soge01]

Yup!

I definitely did a double take when I read the thread's title.

Meh, blame ma poor spelling. xD

And to all the answers given about my theory, I guess it would be too obvious if Theodoric did turn out to be Fandaniel, lol. Still, I'd at least like some flashbacks and maybe if he was subtly influenced by Ascian machinations here and there, I hope it was Fandaniel that helped further stoke the flames of madness within the King of Ruin. >x3

[SaberMaxwell]

Just to be sure...

You're not Fandaniel in disguise are you Theodric?

[Theodric]

Just to be sure...

You're not Fandaniel in disguise are you Theodric?

No, I'm Lahab -

I mean, of course not!

[Lauront]

I think it's far too easy to blame every despotic tyrant on the Ascians, where plain old human failing is a more believable and mundane explanation (it was the same with Thordan the Ist in Ishgard - contrary to popular belief the Ascians had actually no hand in Thordan's betrayal of the dragons/murder and consumption of Rataroskr and the resultant Dragonsong War, that was just Thordan's own hunger for power and fear of mortality talking).

In the same way, Theodric was just a tyrant hungry for power, not helped also that Gaius actually stoked his megalomania from behind the scenes for five years (according to the Lodestone), so no Ascian involvement was really necessary.

I agree with this. At a certain point it undermines the whole argument that they work with mortal frailties to sow the seeds of chaos to have them behind every incident, notwithstanding which sundered mortals would just be innocent angels. It's not a particularly realistic portrayal of the sundered, which approximate more or less RL humans. The Ishgard thing is attributable mostly to a fan wiki which just made it up more or less, as there's no evidence to support the theory in either of the EE or in-game dialogue... and in the end, it was the personal offence taken by Thordan and his court to Nidhogg's view of (sundered) man (rather frail beings to a wyrm such as him), that catalysed their decision as well as knowledge of the power in the dragons' eyes. Personally I think that was a mere pretext for Thordan to do what he probably planned to do anyway, because in spite of Nidhogg's view, the intent of the dragons was to live in harmony... so to then go murder her because they couldn't stomach his view just seems like a cover up of the real motive.

[TaleraRistain]

I think it would cheapen the story to do that. Sometimes humans are just bad and do bad things.