Leaderboard

Oh, I disagree pretty wholeheartedly on both counts. Celes is seeing through what is absolutely toxic behavior on Locke's part; the loss he's suffered has caused him to start treating all of the women in his life, interchangeably, as substitutes for Rachel, and it begins to show pretty early on in how he interacts with Terra and later Celes. It likely feels objectifying and patronizing to Celes, a trained military general with way more combat experience and (at least on paper) skills to defend herself than a part-time thief part-time revolutionary, to be told upfront that this guy she's only just starting to know and connect with thinks he has some obligation to protect her. Locke's whole character arc is him needing to learn that Celes isn't Rachel, and that he needs to stop projecting Rachel onto every woman he meets and trust Celes to be able to take care of herself (and take care of him, as reflected in Celes' line to Locke at the end of the game as they flee Kefka's tower) instead. Celes is identifying that and calling it out early on. She wants some sort of relationship with Locke, but she wants it to be on her terms, being fully accepted as herself, not seen as some ideal projected onto her, and she's making sure Locke knows that before she goes out and does something very vulnerable and unusual for her. As for Locke's line, I think it not making sense is the whole point. He doesn't know Terra at all when he meets her in the cave, yet immediately promises to always protect her. He doesn't know Celes until finding her tied up in South Figaro, yet almost immediately makes the same proclamation. Both women treat it not as noble but as strange and alienating of him to do (the little blinking animation they give the sprites is great) and it's very clear that like, Locke just jumps to "I'm this romantic hero who will keep you safe" mode the moment he meets anyone he can vaguely project Rachel onto. We're meant to read Locke's statement here as vulnerable but also offputting, way too intense, and unfair to Celes, and her response as a rebuttal of that behavior and also the beginning of an invitation to try to get to know the *actual* Celes instead of Rachel being projected onto Celes.

This response of hers is nonsensically snippy and callous. What was the reasoning here? Locke's new line doesn't make sense either. Locke had never met Celes prior to rescuing her, so what sense does it make for him to say "I saved you because I didn't want to stand by and lose someone I love again"?