A Compilation of Geeky Essays

Heropon Riki and Hidden Depths

[A/N] THERE ARE HEAVY SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST XENOBLADE CHRONICLES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. This is part 1 of 2 of my Xenoblade Chronicles Comic Relief essay. It was written April 15th, 2020.

Xenoblade Chronicles impacted me a lot as a gamer and a writer. It's an exquisitely written game in terms of its plot, characters, worldbuilding, and even music. So there's a lot to unpack and analyze. There are dozens of topics I could touch upon (and I plan to do at least 2 of these). This particular essay, however, will focus on the comic relief characters of Xenoblade Chronicles, and the deconstruction of comic relief as a whole.

There are two main characters who can be classified as comic relief in this game. I really love both of them, and they're actually surprisingly similar. I'll go over the one I personally consider "lesser" first, and then cover the other one in the next part

The Nopon are a strange species. They're little puff balls. For height reference, if most of the party members are shin-deep in water, a Nopon would be chin-deep. They speak in broken English and add "pon" to the end of every relation (i.e "daddypon" and "wifeypon"). They live in a giant tree village, and they use basically a huge hamster wheel to produce one of their main goods. I can't exactly say that I was expecting to have a Nopon party member in this relatively serious RPG. But a Nopon party member is what I got, and an absurd one, at that! Enter Riki, the fearless Nopon named by the chief as Heropon. In actuality, he doesn't believe in this prophecy mumbo-jumbo, and just agreed to be the village's hero because it would get him out of debt. Food seems to be high on his list of priorities. He has a strong but healthy rivalry with Reyn. He has attacks like "Bitey Bitey," "Say Sorry," and, "Burninate." His armor and weapon choices are by far the silliest (including Riki whacking a baddy with a fish skeleton). And, because of a joke made during development that stuck, he has the most HP of any party member.

The main thing that I enjoy about both of the comical characters is that there's more to them than that. In Riki's case, he's a loving husband and father. He's much wiser than his appearance would indicate. He was able to console Dunban (basically the sage, slightly older badass of the group) by seeing beyond his stoic exterior, listening to Dunban's story, and reminding him that watching over people is all that you can do sometimes, but that it's enough. Riki has raised many children. He knows what it's like when things are out of his control. He understands that watching over his family from afar is sometimes the best thing he can do, and he passes this on to a worried brother.

He puts this policy into action when it comes to the party. This is especially clear for Melia, with whom he shares a wholesome relationship. He takes notice of when she's tired but won't admit it. He goes out of his way to think of her, like picking her favorite flowers with the help of Sharla. But even aside from Melia, he's shown to go to great lengths for his friends, even if they consistently doubt his ability to understand heavily emotional stuff. He even offers to adopt Shulk in one of the Heart-to-Hearts!

Riki defies what's expected of him. He's the epitome of hidden depths. Not only is he a surprisingly wily and dependable warrior, but he's also a startlingly mature friend. None of this contradicts or even undermines his status as comic relief, which is absolutely masterful writing. This balance is portrayed amazingly by his motif. In "Riki the Legendary Hero," this motif is bouncy, and full of instruments you wouldn't expect to go together, including whistles that sometimes clunkily stray from the normal tempo or key. In "Riki's Tenderness," on the other hand, it's portrayed with a music box and some synths, and is gentle and soft. Everything about him is wonderful. So that's why it's so surprising that there's another character who I think is even better. More on that in Part 2!