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| “ | "It wouldn't matter if I were to die right now... You live, you die... That's all..." | ” |
Lacan (ラカン, rakan) is the third known incarnation of the Contact, and a preincarnation of Fei Fong Wong.
Personality[]
Lacan was plagued by self-esteem issues, always putting himself down. When he was commissioned to paint Sophia's portrait in 9499, he was initially hesitant, feeling he wasn't good enough to do the job.
Sophia described Lacan as sweet, observing that he could not bear to see others hurt by his own actions.
Lacan loved Sophia dearly, but he felt wrong to express it, as his love was for her as a person, not as the Holy Mother that many venerated. In order to escape her love, as well as his own feelings, he projected a false front of nonchalance.[1]
When Sophia died, it devastated Lacan completely. He felt that his weakness led to Sophia's death, and he resented himself for not having the power to stop the chain of events that led to her death. He never wanted to be weak again.
Biography[]
Lacan was born in 9475 at the eastern edge of Ignas in a frontier village near present day Lahan Village. When Lacan was six years old, his parents died, and even though he was young, he lived by himself.
When Lacan was about eight years old, he met the frail Sophia at the Ashera monastery, which was relocated to the east end of Ignis. Already a candidate for the position of the Holy Mother of Nisan despite her young age, Sophia had been transferred there to get medical treatment for her congenital illness. Lacan mentions in-game that they were not really childhood friends. A few months later, Sophia was transferred back to the Penuel convent.[2] At their parting, Lacan gave Sophia a sketch of herself.[3]
In 9493, Lacan is pulled into the conflict over rule with Solaris and there, he meets Karellen of Nimrod. Though Karellen is working with Sophia at the time, Lacan and Sophia do not reunite.[4]
In 9496, around the time of the initial outbreak of the Shevat-Solaris War, Lacan and Sophia reunite at Ashera Monastery. Lacan went on to live in Nisan with Karellen and Sophia. In 9497, Lacan became good friends with Roni and Rene Fatima, two brothers who were leaders of a caravan group, and helped to establish a partnership with them for the growing Anti-Solarian Alliance.
Lacan painting Sophia's portrait.
In 9499, at Karellen's urging, Lacan began to paint Sophia's portrait. By that time, Lacan had fallen in love with his childhood acquaintance, but felt undeserving of her feelings toward him and held her at arm's length. Both Lacan and Karellen loved Sophia, but Sophia only had feelings towards Lacan. This frustrated Karellen due to Lacan's inability to accept her feelings. Instead of confessing his feelings, Lacan deliberately painted Sophia's portrait slowly, just so he could spend more time with her as she modeled for it, and eventually decided to stop before it was completed, unable to handle her smile and what the painting had become, in his eyes.[5][6] In the end, Lacan never confessed his feelings, nor did he manage to complete Sophia's portrait.
Xenogears - Timeless Love & Tragedy
Lacan's memories.
A year later, Lacan is part of a reconnaissance group tasked with finding and seizing the Anima Relics. He and his group manage to defeat four members of the Gazel Ministry.[7] It was during this journey that he learned of the Zohar's existence.[4] Unknown to Lacan, the Gazel Ministers secretly reached out to the Council of Elders in Shevat. In exchange for Myyah Hawwa being handed over to Shevat to be frozen in carbonite, the Gazel Ministers would hand over half the land's surface, thus ending the war in Shevat's eyes. The main complication was the additional clause of Shevat handing over Sophia into Solaris's hands.[4]
Xenogears - 42 - The Story of 500 Years Ago, Part Three
Sophia dies as she rams the Excalibur into the Merkava.
Instead of turning herself over, Sophia rammed the Excalibur, the flagship of the Anti-Solaris Alliance, into the Merkava, resulting in her death. Her final words to Lacan were for him to live. News of her death devastated Lacan completely, causing him to rue his own powerlessness to stop her from dying.
Myyah and Lacan talk.
In 9501, Lacan desired to find the Zohar, in order to gain its power. Coming across a captive Myyah Hawwa in Shevat, he helped her escape, and they went to the Land of Bethlehem. There, due to Elehayym not being present, as well as Lacan's own incomplete spiritual growth as the Contact, his contact with the Zohar was incomplete, creating the new personality Grahf.[8]
Grahf[]
Grahf.
- Main article: Grahf
Grahf awakened the Diabolos Corps, which were Deus's prototype mobile terminals. The Diabolos Corps responded to his rage and destroyed not only Solaris, but the surface. Roni Fatima and his allies took over the Omnigears that previously belonged to the Gazel Ministers and combined their might with the Solarian Army, destroying the Diabolos Corps. However, this victory came too late, as 98% of the world's human population was already killed, leading to the event being known as -The Day of Collapse-.
In 9510, Lacan died, and his soul re-entered the cycle of reincarnation. Grahf's soul, on the other hand, survived. Determined to continue his mission, his will lived on by possessing the wills of others, awaiting the next reincarnation of the Contact.
Quotes[]
- "Roni, you're giving me too much credit. As long as you do something to keep yourself occupied... you can ignore the hollowness inside. From the beginning, my very existence itself was an emptiness. It wouldn't matter if I were to die right now... You live, you die... That's all..."
- Even if I go to hell, I will live till the end of this world. And if the world does not come to an end... I will destroy it with my own hands! (Lacan, becoming Grahf)
Trivia[]
- Lacan's name is a reference to the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Tetsuya Takahashi mentioned Lacan during an interview, saying that he couldn't thank Jung and Lacan enough.[9]
- Originally, Lacan was to have a separate design like Kim to differentiate him from Fei, but this was cut due to time restraints. [10]
Gallery[]
- ↑ Perfect Works, pg. 160
- ↑ Perfect Works, pg. 14
- ↑ Perfect Works, pg. 159
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Perfect Works, pg. 15
- ↑ LACAN: "... Her smile... it's killing me. The more she smiles at me, the more I...I feel my very being become insignificant. Inside my heart there is this empty existence. Other than painting, I have no worth... Yet, she continues to accept my presence. I feel like I'm getting smaller and smaller." "I didn't have this feeling in the beginning. I just wanted to paint her one more minute... one more second longer... I wanted to keep on painting forever. But, suddenly I couldn't. As the picture neared completion, the empty part of me started to manifest itself in my brush strokes. I was meant to be painting her as she really is... but...this picture is... my own self... My empty self has begun to appear within there. That's why... I've got to stop now."
- ↑ KRELIAN: "You're just running away! You can't bear it when she smiles at you. By painting her portrait, you noticed the gap between your own inner emptiness and her inner abundance. And you could not fill that gap... That's why you are quitting your painting. You are refusing her! Even so, you still can't bring yourself to leave her, can you? In spite of that... why is it that she continues to smile at you? You who can't accept her feelings... You who won't accept her feelings... Tell me why!? If it was me... who was receiving... such feelings..."
- ↑ Perfect Works, pg. 23
- ↑ Perfect Works, pg. 160
- ↑ Tanaka, Kunihiko, and Tetsuya Takahashi. “Hakozaki Elements 20th Volume Special: The Creators Behind the Moving Game.” https://xenomira.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/hakoere-vol-20-special-interview-with-tetsuya-takahashi-and-kunihiko-tanaka-only-select-parts-translated/.
- ↑ Perfect Works, p. 238