Reasons why I like Vincent so much
(January, 1999)
Well, I decided to put a page about this on my web site... then realizing I had to think hard to find things to write. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't like him. What I mean is, what is so great in a man who punishes himself for his sins by sleeping in a coffin? Because I know that's one of the things I like in Vincent, but... why? I don't really know. That's what I mean.
Probably I like him because I kind of identified myself with him when playing FF7. Of course, I don't sleep in a coffin :o) but, I do some self-punishing sometimes. And like him, I'm trying to stop it.
I'm also touched by his love story with Lucrecia. The love he feels for Lucrecia is the kind of love I call true love. When she rejects him, and he realizes she's going to marry Hojo, he says, "If she is happy then... I don't mind". This is true love. This is true bravery. Vincent is a real man. I believe sentimentalism is one of the most important features of men, not aggressiveness or something like that.
Moreover, Vincent is a former Turk. I guess my favorite character in FF7 among the antagonists is Reno of the Turks. That kind of apparent impassibility which characterize them all, and hides a man who has feelings, is something else I like.
I always think of that... when Cloud tells the crew to go and find out why they fight, where does Vincent go? Like Cloud and Tifa, he shouldn't have anywhere to go. Maybe he goes in search for Lucrecia? Or to visit his coffin again? :) Or he just goes along with one of the others, only for the company? He's lonely... but he doesn't want to be lonely. This must have been one of the main reasons why he started trying to stop self-punishing. Well, I feel like that sometimes, too.
A final question. Does Lucrecia love Vincent in the end? I want to believe she does. Long ago, she was in love with Hojo, but she didn't want to harm Vincent's feelings for some reason. I want to believe they finally meet in the end and live together the rest of their lives. So many years... so many nightmares... he... and she, having Jenova cells inside of her... suffering from the death of her son, her only son, the one she had had from Hojo, a man who (I think she eventually found out) didn't truly love her like Vincent did. Hojo was the one who ruined their lives... they should have been happy together from the beginning. But a nightmare, not a sweet dream, began.