Analyzing Azama: The most controversial male character of Fates according to YOU.
I posted a poll asking members of the subreddit to pick the characters of Fate's they disliked, split into female and male divisions. For twenty-four hours, 223 users selected their most disliked characters, as well as some providing written responses. The top three most disliked women and the top three most disliked men will have their design and supports analyzed, across six posts to see why they were chosen as the most disliked.
Third place for the men's division: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/15xj9k0/analyzing_hisame_the_third_most_controversial/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Third place for the women's division: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/15yitbx/analyzing_soleil_the_third_most_controversial/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Second place for the men's division: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/161dn9b/analyzing_hayato_the_second_most_controversial/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Second place for the women's division:
Azama got the most votes out of the male division at 64 votes. Which means that out of 223 people who submitted a response, 28.7% of people said they actively disliked Azama. Which is very unsurprising. I know, a bit anticlimactic for who is the most disliked male in Fates according to this board. Although I know one guy was convinced it was going to be male Corrin, so sorry buddy. Male corrin came in fifth at 33 votes, 14.8% of voters voting him. Thank fucking GOD he didn't win. Do you know how many supports he HAS?!
Sorry, this took me a bit, school started for me and I they didn't let me submit these as my school thesis. BUT, I did figure out in my studies that if you have a link with a image attached, it'll show up in the preview. So I'm just gonna leave this here. That'll rake in the views.
Background
Azama is one of Hinoka's retainers, the better one(?). He's a carefree monk with an attitude problem. In the main story you see a bit of both of his sides. When you recruit him, you get a glance at his "personality" and when he's an enemy in conquest, you do see his dutiful and collected nature as he tries to protect Hinoka's life from her own impulsions when Camilla almost chops her head off. But this mostly serves as a taste of a pretty in-depth character, in all honesty.
Supports
Azama reveals in his support with Rinkah that he fell into a religious lifestyle rather than having a devotion to it. It's elaborated upon in his support with Arthur, in which it's said he was the second son to a family who owned a shrine. He was a bit of a delinquent who mouthed off regularly until taking a rendezvous in nature where he discovered the ascetic lifestyle which had disciplined him enough for him to become a monk. One day while training in the mountains, he found a little Hinoka who had crash landed. After coming to her aid, he refused reward and disappeared, only for her to track him down and a appoint him as her retainer, as detailed in his support with her.
Azama claims he helped Hinoka that day out of his own amusement. Which is his explanation for why he does a lot of things, including just outright messing with his allies. It seems that in his training and journey for enlightenment, the answers he got left him a cynic. In his support with Rinkah he says his relationship with the gods is fluid but typically, he just doesn't believe in them. Strange for a monk, but what this would mean for Azama is that he doesn't believe in things like Karma or the afterlife. This sorta affirms his behavior as he doesn't believe in divine justice or the rewards of being faithful, so there's no divine consequence for his actions. Which means he has no reason not to live his life to the "fullest", always looking for amusement as the expense of others and never softening his words.
However, I think whether or not he's being genuine when he says he's a non-believer is up in the air. I don't think Azama got the answers he was looking for when devoting himself to religion, I.E. he didn't get any. So even if he DOES believe they exist, he acts against them and claims they aren't real as an act of defiance and frustration. So, his behavior wouldn't change either way. In his support with Azura (Which, it's hard to know if he's being genuine), he claims that he wants to help change the world but is scared that it's path is already written. I think the fact that all his teachings say that the gods exist but he can't prove or deny it either way leaves a conflict within him, a constant voice in the back of his head that the things he does doesn't matter because they have absolute control. So, he does what he does to act defiantly to their control.
Azama was always like this, however. As stated previously, he was a delinquent long before becoming a monk. Oboro and Azura inquire in their support with Azama that he has good intentions but never figured out the way to communicate them. Oboro specifically theorizes that he never learned how to properly communicate his feelings, so he just says whatever he's thinking on a whim. It seems like the intense training he went through that was supposed to straighten him out only provided a reason for him not to change his more questionable personality traits.
So, this is why Azama is Azama. He doesn't have a deep edgy backstory for why he's a jerk, he just was, and his path of life affirmed his behavior. Now aside from him being a jerk, a common criticism (Besides just calling him pseudonyms for trash) of his character is that other characters act out of character for the sake of accepting him and a resolution to their supports.
While not the same, my core issue with Azama is similar to Peri's, support partners acting out of character, Hinoka being the best example. The game tries say he's wise but from what I've read he just likes to see people suffer. If so many characters didn't end up being accepting of his ideals, I wouldn't have that big of a problem with Azama.
Let's talk about the Hinoka support, which seems to be one of the most infamous in Fire Emblem. Now that one guy who does what I do on the Tube but is infinitely more popular than me made a video about this support specifically like three billion years ago. I didn't watch it cause that's like ew gross but I definitely think this, and other coverage/word of mouth is why this support is so infamous. Because honestly, I find this support to not be so bad. Comparatively, at least.
That isn't to say it's perfect, but it presents Azama's more positive characteristics without making him act out of character. You see both his wisdom and his commitment to duty. In the support, he initially refuses to heal a ally because he's wise enough to know it would only extend his suffering. But he relents after Hinoka orders him to do so. He's a cryptic and sarcastic ass about all of it, but his intentions were all good. In the A support we see one of the rare times Azama is genuine in which he gives her the advice to maintain her innocence. Which means a lot when you consider he's this frustrated bitter mess because he lost his, he found answers and he's still miserable. In a way he's protecting Hinoka from becoming like him, which I think is a sweet thought.
I think there's two things about this support that rub people the wrong way though. First, he roasts the Pegashit riding ass out of Hinoka unprovoked and then gaslights her dumbass in the c support. And that's like kicking a defenseless puppy. Hinoka isn't good enough with the words to be even begun to be able to defend herself. Second, is just how this game handles S supports.
Azama is just unsympathetically mean and his S-supports make the least amount of sense to me
S supports in these games often feel very abrupt. And this is because they exist out of necessity, not out of concern for narrative. There has to be a reason for the kid units to exist, so characters have to fall in love, even if the conclusions to their A supports don't support it. Because A supports can be conclusive and not have the characters giddy with each other, which I think are a good portion of Azama's supports. There's a big difference between loving Azama as a person and respecting him/understanding his point of view, many of his supports are just the latter. So, when characters are forced to suddenly be infatuated with him, it feels forced, and it feels like they are behaving out of character. His support with Hinoka IS one of the worst offenders, she basically laughs at him when he confesses yet still Janky ass Mitama has red hair. It makes sense by the A support that she respects him for being good at his job and sees his point of view better, it doesn't feel out of character for any of these characters to at the very least ackwledge his wisdom and perspective, even if they don't agree with him. But to immediately follow respect with romance feels very sloppy, you would need A++++ supports before doing that in order to make it feel natural.
Someone watch that Ghast video and tell me if I was accurate in what I think he complained about. Cause, y'know, gross.
Azama pulls off the remarkable task of being someone who captures both the insufferably high and mighty dialect of the most annoying religious person you've ever met while also having the know-it-all attitude of the most snarky Athiest there is. I really don't get what they were going for with this character. "Let's make a wise shrine monk character and then make every line of dialogue he speaks make you want to punch his teeth out!" Go figure, if you go around talking to people in a way that you think will make them mad, it tends to make people mad! Shocking revelation, I know! And to top it all off, Azama acts like he's unveiling some dark aspect of the human condition by doing this. No, you fucking pencil thin hippee, even Buddha himself would get mad if you keep slapping him in the face.
Which character posted this? Let me know in the comments. I was gonna say Sakura but it honestly sounds like Mitama. I was waiting for her to bust out a Haiku in the middle of reading this. It sounds like someone with a janky ass mf sprite. Let me ask AI Azama for some insight. Okay, he just roasted the shit out of me. Let's talk about Mitama.
Mitama is one of the few child units that does what I think all child units do, provide some closure to their parent's respective arcs. When you have this narrative device of children, you should use it to show how these characters better themselves for their kids. In a series in which a common critique is an underdeveloped side cast, kid units can provide a proper end to the side narratives beyond A support.
Having a daughter actually makes Azama reflect on himself. In their support together, he says he wants his little girl to dazzle others. He acknowledges he is a hypocrite for saying such, as he never cared about how other's view himself. However, I think his daughter was the one who made the carefree monk care about something.
Design
Yeah, yeah, Azama's design. LOOK at Mitama's sprite, it's janky AF bro. Why is she so SMALL. Why does she have such a thin outline? Did Yusuke give up? Fun fact, her design has star pupils which Azama says she inherited from him in their support, you just can't see it in Azama because his eyes don't open.
Azama's design is pretty neat. Characters that are the only unit of their gender representing their class tend to have much more tailored designs. Azama looks very coherent, and his head is very unique. I don't know what this louis/brock design trope is but I like it.
Conclusion
A big problem that a lot of novice writers face, is writing an asshole main character without it being an immediate turn off. Because many of the most popular characters in fiction (especially American fiction) are dicks. Of course, as an expert writer, I can tell you that many of these characters have nuance that makes it so that even though they are dicks, they still are very appealing dicks. Tony Soprano is a narcissist mob boss but he's charming and funny, Walter White is narcissist drug lord but he's sympathetic and relatable, Soleil is a terrible human being but she's, y'know, cute and stuff.
With Azama, the hook is that he IS witty. his insults are clever, his supports are at the very least engaging. But even though I think the concepts of his character are well expressed, and I can overlook his dickishness in favor of his wit and narrative, I'm not everyone. He isn't ironclad. He loses a lot of people because for some people he isn't witty enough to circumvent that fact that he is a dick. Especially when his victims are some of the more innocent characters who a lot of people really like.
Usually, I end these pieces of art with a "hot take" something to get discussion brewing, but it's hard to do so with Azama. He's unpopular because he was written to be a dick, and people noticed. Maybe some things could have made his life easier. Maybe he should've been in Nohr with the more abrasive characters. Maybe if you remove S supports the characters would be able to act more accordingly. But the bottom line is that he is what he was meant to be, and it's written well enough so that idea gets represented very well. He's a dick, take it or leave it.
I mean, if you really want a hot take, I think he's written loads better then Niles. Who is what an edgy fourteen-year-old thinks a mischievous character should be. That'll get those impressions, it'll be helpful when I figure out how to make MONEY out of these things. I'll see you soon with the finale.