Yuri & Flynn: Two Sides of the Same Coin

[rumynoir]

I feel like I’ve been in this fandom long enough to see various opinions on the whole Flynn + Yuri relationship. You have the fans who adore it and just like them as fluffy as kittens, then you have people who want to see them butting heads 24/7. If you wanna go even further, you have the ones that absolutely abhor the ship and wish Flynn would break his fucking leg or something.

I’m a very “let ship and ship” type of person. If you don’t like Fluri, then that’s absolutely fine - what do I care? There’s a certain canon “Tales” pairing that I’m certainly not fond of myself.

What does have me rolling my eyes though, are the ones who claim Flynn and Yuri were never friends. That Flynn and Yuri hate each other. That Flynn and Yuri don’t understand each other. That Flynn and Yuri are happier when they’re over 9,000 feet away from each other.

Again: Opinions are opinions. But there’s this one scene I stumbled upon on NG+ that reminded me that FlynnYuri goes deeper than just “rivals” and “butting heads.”

The beauty of “Tales of Vesperia” is how they can have a side character like Flynn still be so deeply rooted into the story or have a connection to the main character. You can try and remove Flynn from the game, but it’d require some heavy rewriting if you did. You don’t have to fucking like Flynn - I’m not saying that. I am saying that he fits into Vesperia’s (original) theme of law vs. vigilantism and light vs. dark, and how justice isn’t so black-and-white, and blah blah blah.

I will say compare Flynn’s involvement to the plot with Patty Fleur. While I actually like Patty, I do see where people are like “nah, she don’t fit in that well and can be removed” cause... it’s kind of a Kasumi Yoshizawa (P5R) and Marie (P4G) situation for Patty. Some scenes and skits are awkward because they’re accommodating her into skits that were in the original.

However, Patty and Flynn have some good scenes together. She really shows she’s “wise beyond her years” and the scene on the Heracles is a good place to start.

Patty recalls what happened in Nordopolica when the Hunting Blades were trying to kill Belius, and Flynn was trying to retrieve Belius’ apaetheia. For those that don’t remember, Flynn corners Brave Vesperia outside the colosseum and just kinda drops this line:

“Will you do away with me like you did Ragou and Cumore?”

Aside: I find this really scummy of Flynn because he’s just laying out Yuri’s killings in front of all his friends. If he “knows Yuri better than anyone alive” as he claims post-Mantaic scene, then he would know that Yuri is ashamed of having killed. In fact, he even notes this in the Heracles scene with him and Patty, so uh, yeah, Flynn, that was kinda rotten. (But I like that about him)

Anyway: What Patty is referring to is how Yuri blatantly said that if Flynn starts acting like those shitty nobles, then he “wouldn’t be giving [Yuri] much choice.” So Patty asks Flynn if he’d really do that even if they were friends.

Try to understand from Patty’s point of view as well. She’s just found the graves  of the Black Hope Massacre a few dungeons back, so she’s probably thinking of (what she currently believes) her grandfather/“Airfread’s” crew more than she is about Yuri’s resolve.

Now let’s compare these two screencaps:

You’d think that after Mantaic that Flynn doesn’t know Yuri, and yeah, in a way, he doesn’t. But he knows well enough that Yuri doesn’t exactly bluff and that even though he killed Ragou and Cumore, Yuri didn’t do it out of some petty grudge. In fact, he even says this to Karol when in Baction.

I find it interesting how the two characters who just get Yuri are Flynn and Estelle. While Flynn’s more outraged at Yuri’s decision and Estelle’s not, they both know killing isn’t something Yuri wants to do. But he does it when their backs are against the wall.

What I like about this scene is just how... accepting? Calm? Flynn is about the whole thing with Yuri. He knows Yuri will put an end to him if he becomes the enemy he’s trying to stop. And yet, he doesn’t seem worried. I think that if it came down to it, if anyone is going to kill him from becoming a second Alexei, Flynn would want it to be Yuri.

I’m sure Brave Vesperia kinda sees why Yuri did what he did, but it’s really elaborated on outside a cutscene or two, whereas it seems to be a common topic whenever Flynn’s involved (duh, right?).

So yeah, as I said: Brave Vesperia probably understands why Yuri does what he does. But I don’t think it’s ever shown on as deep an understanding as Flynn seems to have in this cutscene with Patty.

Flynn does know Yuri better than others, or at least he knows enough that Yuri is unwavering. That Yuri will dirty his hands if it means it’s helping other people in the long run.

But wait, we also have this:

While Yuri intends to kill Flynn if he steps out of line (even if the decision pains him), Flynn is also ready to keep Yuri pinned if he goes off the slippery slope. So this no longer becomes one-sided, but an odd, mutual (and unspoken) agreement between one another that they will put a stop to one another if they stray too far.

Yuri will kill Flynn if Flynn becomes Alexei 2.0, and Flynn will lock up Yuri and potentially toss away the key if Yuri becomes a serial killer.

Opinion: It’s stuff like this why Yuri and Flynn have one of the best relationships I’ve ever seen in a video game. Yeah, “Vesperia” is a crock of shit when it comes to its plot, but God damn if they don’t do these two characters well... or at least their dynamic. (End Opinion)

Yuri and Flynn are literally two sides of the same coin, but they both step into the light/dark on occasion, showing they’re not 100% light (Flynn) or dark (Yuri).

• Yuri, for his crimes, is thinking of the little details. His killing terrible people is Not Good, but it ultimately ends up helping the people of Mantaic and even Heliord. He is a hero in his own way. However, if he continues killing people and this goes beyond killing “bad people”, then he’s stepped into the point of no return.
• Flynn is the picture perfect knight as far as “Vesperia” goes. On the outside, he’s flawless and knows what he’s doing. However, he blindly follows Alexei’s orders and ends up screwing things up on more than one occasion. He also does not like taking credit for Yuri/Brave Vesperia’s work and even argues with Yuri about the latter getting credit. Take a shot when Flynn says something along the lines of “let me tell Ioder about what you did so he can excuse your crimes.” If Flynn is as serious about upholding this justice that he says he is, there is no reason he should be searching for loopholes for Yuri. This makes him a hypocrite in his quest for evening out the system.

Should also mention that post-Cumore’s death scene, Flynn is angry at Yuri not because of who Yuri killed, but that Yuri did it in the first place. Notice how he’s not defending Cumore or Ragou’s actions, but he is saying how Yuri can’t do A, B, and C because it will get him in trouble with the law.

If Flynn were dealing with anyone else who did the exact same thing as Yuri, he’d no doubt slap the cuffs on them and send ‘em to prison. In fact, the Flynn manga has him sending a kid to the knights after he catches the kid stealing. This action appalls even Sodia. (I digress)

With Yuri, he gives him a warning... and then keeps the secret between him and Yuri (and Brave Vesperia) and Yuri gets away with murdering scummy ppl because act 3 is A Mess.

These two literally have a bond that can’t be replicated anywhere else. There’s an understanding that goes back to when they were kids, and it’s honestly no surprise why they are as close as they are, or as popular as they are in fandom.

Again: You don’t need to ship them. You can pair ‘em off with as many girls as you want if you’re that turned off to Flynn and Yuri sucking face. But I will say downplaying Flynn and Yuri’s relationship to “oh they just hate each other” is, uh, bullshit. They’re rivals and can argue, but before that, they’re friends.

Added 6/15/2022

Karol confronts Flynn about Yuri, who tells him that he still intends to arrest Yuri for his crimes. Flynn knows why Yuri did what he did, but in the eyes of the law, they're not going to be as sympathetic.

It's a good scene because it shows how deeply Yuri and Flynn do know one another.

This scene also adds some weight to the Aurnion scenes, particularly the scene before Yuri and Flynn duel. You get the implication that for all Flynn claims that he will arrest Yuri, he may not be able to do it when the time comes for that to happen.

I also want to bring to attention how observant Judith is too. She hardly knows Flynn - they've only fought side-by-side once (Ghasfarost) - and she's not far off from guessing what Flynn is struggling with. She's incredibly perceptive.