Scion & Alphinaud 1

"You're a brother, but not entirely; you're a friend, yet in some way family. No matter what pair of lenses I see you through, you and your sister both will always be important to me... And I'll walk the ends of the earth just to save you if I have to, Alphy."

Alphinaud Leveilleur. Self-assured young boy of House Leveilleur with a talent for debate, public speaking and diplomacy. Once founded the Crystal Braves, an organization meant to embody his lofty aspiration of spearheading Eorzea's true champions of the future. His own inexperience and naiveté would eventually lead to the downfall of the Scions when his own men betrayed him. This same experience would humble and temper him as a person especially when he, the Scion, and Tataru remain as the only known living members of the Scions for a time. The Scion becomes very privy to his moments of weakness in this period especially in the times they are alone, and so the two have naturally grown close as a result.

But while the Scion dotes on him like a little brother she never had even in her past life, Alphinaud finds himself crushing onto her instead. He keeps his feelings relatively concealed, not wishing to ruin the platonic relationship he already shares with the Scion, especially knowing that she's still grieving over the loss of Minfilia—a loss he feels responsible for after the events of the Bloody Banquet. Every now and then though, he can't help when he slips up or someone else slips up for him, much to his embarrassment and dismay.

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Alphinaud is a character I didn't expect to become genuinely fond of as I was playing the story. When I first met him, he came off as some kind of lowkey arrogant rich kid with so much to say and not enough years of experience to prove it. So when Heavensward happened, I was absolutely pleased to bear witness to his bouts of angst and melancholy that led to his eventual character growth. Now he's quite easily one of my favorite characters, next to his sister.

I think it's actually kind of funny how the game hints at how he's so fond of the Warrior of Light especially in Heavensward and Shadowbringers. I enjoy the headcanon of how the Scion just loves him platonically and thinks Alphinaud values her the same way, while also being blissfully unaware of just how much (or how badly) Alphinaud wants her to view him differently.