Dryden Fassa r0XX0rs

Dryden general overview and why he kicks ass, argued from a highly pro-bias -- V 1.0 16 April 2004

Escaflowne is almost purely angst. I came to this realization somewhere around, oh, five minutes into that one episode in which shit happens that involves angst, etc, some flashbacks and self-loathing, etc, profound and yet fatalistic idealism, etc etc. This is not the place to discuss that beautiful side of Escaflowne. Every single planet has an archetype of the stoner, the intellectual dropout who is a hell of a lot smarter than the system that didn’t give him the cut, the hippie who is never seen without a shadow around his jaws. If Gaea has one person who is detached from the sometimes hellish passing of everyday events, it is the Moleman. The person coming in second is Dryden Fassa, and though it may not be a close second, he certainly presents himself with that façade.

Not surprisingly, Dryden has a hate base as wide as his fan base, especially among women. The fangirls that hate him are, almost invariably, Allen-worshipers. The initial hate reasons for the shallow fangirl generally fall into allegations translating along the lines of competition with Allen, antagonizing Allen, or showing Allen up. Dryden outright tells Allen that he loves Leon Schezar’s lifestyle when he knows damn well that it tortures Allen to no end. The more intelligent Dryden-haters tend to deduce that he is callous, selfish, misogynistic, a stuck-up rich boy, and forcibly detached from the trials and torture of the war borne by the other main characters. True, Dryden’s life does not outright suck nearly as much as Allen’s or Van’s, but let us remember that given the chance, both would gladly trade places. Would as many people love Allen if his life was perfect, he had Marlene from the beginning, served as a gilded knight in the city, and never lost his family? Would there not be a little bit of jealousy and yet a remaining love for his character? As Allen would be Allen nonetheless, Dryden would maintain his cardinal character under less ideal life circumstances. Angst or tragedy does not validate one as 'cool' or 'uncool'; it is how one handles whatever situation is handed to him that deems his coolness factor. It is ten times less cool to start angst just to look cool and feel like a martyr than it is to make the very best of life. The former action only shows insecurity and a lack of self-possession.

This is, of course, not to say that Dryden may not have had a less-than-ideal life. Dryden’s trials, though most closely tied to politics and romance, are foremost in his mind as are the problems of all others paramount in their own minds. His history is not revealed. The whereabouts of his mother are not mentioned. We know that his father, Mayden (or Meiden, for whichever Romanization), is a self-serving jerk who directly involved himself in the kidnapping of Hitomi for sale or use as a sex slave. He is probably involved in other activities Dryden would consider unsavory. Mayden mentioned in episode 6 that not only was his son betrothed to Millerna (probably without his knowledge or consent), but that he was always off on his ship, gallivanting away from the city. The tone in polite company is flippant and light, though evidence indicates that such is not the true attitude taken toward his maverick of a son. Mayden’s pseudo-diplomatic smarming to King Aston suggests a love of social altitude, or at least the façade thereof. It is doubtful that such a man would be supportive of a son who was always off on a ship reading books and forgetting to shave or cut his hair. Dryden’s very lifestyle is casual, wealthy but not wasted on clothing and appearance. Have a look at his robes. They are clean, but they look as if they have seen several years of use or were purchased at the Gaean equivalent of the Goodwill. His money goes into comfort, knowledge, and security. Part of Mayden’s money obviously goes into gaudy clothing and white face paste, probably not out of love for the attire itself but for the station it represents. Mayden truly is a product of his time and his culture, though in that quality itself is a timeless representation of the human tendency to fit into presented moulds. If Dryden were to dress as his father, he would do it out of love for the look and not for what others would think. I am sure Dryden likes to use his clothing as an outward avatar for his identity as much as the next person, but there is the difference: Dryden expresses his individual identity, while Mayden expresses his social station.

Therein exists a reason why Dryden kicks ass: growing up in an environment of artificial expression and vacuous small talk, he developed into a very independent, quirky, and genuinely intelligent man. Astorian high society is reminiscent of the pre-revolutionary French upper crust, wealthy and contrived. People play roles to see and be seen. The society leaves very wiggle room for individualism. Though men are given a great deal more freedom than women, it is a feat for Dryden to live as freely as he does. His relationship with his family is probably completely shot. Dryden’s life is not a hell, but it is probably turbulent at times. And yet, Dryden maintains an optimistic outlook. Even amid the company of depressed and tortured people Dryden manages to laugh at the misfortunes in his life and always search for a silver lining, not showing symptoms of the common contagious nature of depression. He spends more time genuinely smiling – not strained, not false – than anybody on the show. As an upper-class son (note: his status in the birth order is unknown, as is whether or not he has any siblings), he would be expected to play the dutiful progeny and represent his family in some honorable way, which doubtfully includes lounging in a library and making a hobby of guymelef collecting. The reasoning behind this hobby is partially due to another abstract facet of his kick-assness: he collects the guymelefs out of genuine respect for their fine construction and operation, probably not as beautiful and rare ornaments as his father regarded Escaflowne when it fell into his hands in Pallas. He respects things for their ingenuity and their spirit, per say, not for their ornamental or monetary value, while in parallel fashion he treats women with respect, while his father treats them as objects. His lack of misogyny or patronage to women in a strongly patriarchal society is further evidence of his individualistic nature and ability to dodge the mental conditioning of his times. His mind is that strong and his self-confidence that great.

With such an atmosphere and with that sort of a parental unit residing within said environment, it is a small wonder that Dryden chooses to spend his time voyaging on an airship. Hell, if I were Astorian royalty and I had the chance to get out of the capitol and see the world, I would jump on it. I postulate that Dryden has a Jack Sparrow or Cid Highwind-esque perception of his airship: that it is freedom, that it has the ability to fly away from troubles and become the wind. In Escaflowne the ability to fly and ‘freedom’ are not necessarily synonymous, which just proves that having wings does not solve any problems—one can fly or run from problems, but they are always waiting—though Dryden truly has gained a degree of freedom by being away from Pallas. He is an off-beat, unconventional free-spirit, the sort of person for which there is little tolerance in the medieval (Fanelia, Freid) / Renaissance (Astoria) mentality of most Gaean nations. He is a product of the right times, just born on the wrong planet; he would be widely popular in modern-day America. Being a clear product of my times and my nation I find it no surprise that I consider Dryden one of my imaginary best friends, though concerning the actual adolescent-American fanbase for Dryden he, once again, has as wide hate-base as he has a fan-base. An additional theory of reason for this—not related to the cornucopia of personalities existing in any time or nation that would find his off-color persona offensive or unstettling, but among those I consider relatively close candidates for loving him, personality-wise—lies in the fact that Dryden shamelessly likes money. The offbeat, neo-hippie set with which Dryden would be popular has many members repelled by lavish spending and lack of shame for wealth. There is heavy evidence that Dryden does not love money, per say, but likes it as a means to an end. Money gives him the ability to travel as he does and purchase his antique melefs and copious library, though he doesn’t care about appearance and breeding. In his initial dialogue with Millerna his first reason to get married is that he is a “rich man whose business is booming”, though this is probably half in jest. There is a definite coolness in the fact that he does not force himself to feel guilty about his financial security in order to feel less like a selfish pig. He would be intelligent enough to recognize the futility of such an action (and would probably laugh at it), as is he also confident enough not to feel guilt. The guilt-inducing reaction is often an attempt to make one’s self feel more virtuous and compassionate, and Dryden needs no such petty masochism to feel good about himself. He is aware of the fact that he was dealt a lucky hand, financially, and played it well to start his mercantile business. Many people dealt a good hand in life do nothing with their good fortunes, as many people dealt a poor hand would if they were dealt a more favorable hand at birth. In short, many people born in Dryden’s social position would do nothing with their lives and live off of their inheritance throwing parties and buying clothing, and they would be no more productive if born peasants, doing nothing but whining about how unfair life is. Birth does not determine a person. Dryden shows a considerable amount of self-drive to do so much with his life even when he needs not do a single thing to live comfortably. In this way, his motivation shows even more clearly than it would if he were born into a social position in which he had no choice but to do something, get an education, and somehow make it in the world. I have every confidence that even if Dryden were born to a crack whore who beat him every day and made him walk the streets giving blow-jobs for pocket change every day until he was ten, he would overcome and still achieve all of his dreams in the end. He just kicks that much ass.

If Astoria follows the true Renaissance pattern, it is before the time of heavy distribution of satire regarding the sloth and greed of the upper classes, though if Gaea’s development is not along the parallel timing as Earth’s, Dryden may have grown up in an environment in which such lavish living would be condemned by intellectuals and writers. As an avid reader and class-A nerd he would be well aware of these writings and would probably read most of them while feeling well confident that it was the truly slothful and dull wealthy that were being satirized, not himself. Less confident people tend to take the projection presented and fear that it applies to them as a secondary product of superficial factors (like having some coins or material possessions), though Dryden would not react in this way. If the time-alignment with Earth’s history is in tempo, Dryden would probably be able to access very obscure works (probably illegal) of satire that might touch on this subject, though if not, he would not have been exposed to the idea in the first place.

So, is Dryden’s life still a cakewalk, despite all of this? It definitely has not been bad, but it is not perfect, either. Many people placed in Dryden’s same situation would crumble and angst over their social rejection and the social pressures placed on them, but Dryden makes these forces seem trivial. Indeed, that is the reason his life looks like a walk at first glance: he shrugs off troubles and makes the feat appear effortless. It takes a much stronger person to ease away troubles than to angst with them and struggle under their weight. This does not at all mean that people who are acutely aware of the serious problems with which they live are at all weak—Folken, somebody for whom I hold a great deal of respect, is like this—but Dryden does not force himself to struggle with his problems to make himself feel as though he is fighting a good fight, being noble, as do many modern adolescents. On this subject, I regard “The Impression That I Get” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones a perfect allegory for Dryden’s situation, even after he marries Millerna and endures the duality of becoming king of Astoria and coping with her lack of affections. The entire song is accurately descriptive of the subject (for Moleman as well as Dryden), though this stanza seems to be cardinal to the subject at hand:

I'm not a coward,
I've just never been tested
I'd like to think that if I was,
I would pass.
Look at the tested and think there but for the grace go
I might be a coward,
I'm afraid of what I might find out

During my Jungian / Meyers-Biggs classification high last summer I was able to clearly place Dryden as an NT rational – ENTP, for those who care – the only other rationals in Escaflowne being Folken and Dornkirk – INTJ, once again if you care. Dryden, Folken, and Dornkirk are Escaflowne’s cardinal intellectuals (note: Millerna is very bright, but not of the intellectual personality being discussed), Dornkirk representing the most absolutely concrete (hence Newton’s mechanical universe), Dryden being the most abstract / literary, and Folken being the median ground. Dryden reads voraciously. He is full of useless and random trivia and mentions as another one of his “why we should get married right now” reasons that his intellect is second-to-none. He obviously prides himself greatly on his intelligence, and he has ample reason to be proud. To me, this is first-class criteria for somebody to kick all ass, right next to an open mind, which Dryden also has. Dryden’s intellect is of the written word and logic. It is unknown how well his mathematical and concrete reasoning skills are—he probably has plenty of ability to perform well in this area, but one does not know how much time he would be willing to devote to these exercises. His interests lean toward the more abstract and esoteric. He is the first one to jump on the opportunity to search for Atlantis with small evidence of its existence in an old diary and through old myths. This is hardly scientific or methodical. While science majors laugh at literary majors for being subjective, Dryden probably laughs at the closed-minded mentality of those who think that all of the mysteries in creation can be explained through concrete evidence. During DVD 5 I tend to have mental images of Professor Hojo standing in the background of Dryden’s airship and flatly stating that the existence of Atlantis is “just a myth, a fairy-tale”, even as the ship is being sucked into the lost city. This is one of the reasons that Hojo is a second-rate scientist, as Rufus says, and though this is not an analysis of Hojo, it serves as a point of reference for the hindrance of a closed mind. In parallel fashion, Dryden could be considered a second-rate scientist for his tendency to discard physical evidence in favor of pure reason. I do have faith in his ability to twist theories to fit facts and not facts to fit theories, but I think that he has a far more Socratic reasoning system than Dornkirk or Hojo, both of whom are rather Aristotelean in their reasoning processes. Why this makes Dryden kick ass from my vantage point: I favor Socrates’ philosophies over Aristotle’s, I tend to think in the Socratic manner (though I am almost just as much Aristotelean), and people tend to value their mindmates the most. Nobody is any closer to understanding the mysteries of the universe and which philosopher’s method is more valid (I think both are equally valid and important in coming to terms with understanding the universe), but Socratic people just have more fun.

Indeed, it is Dryden’s preference for intellectual stimulation over such trivial matters as family and society that leads many fans and Allen to loathe him. Dryden is a first-class smartass, doubtless, which is another reason why he owns all your base. He is by far the most sarcastic person in the Escaflowne cast, and being an insensitive smartass myself, I commend this. The Leon Schezar’s diary-reading scenes are the clearest examples of this, revealing also an edge of antagonism that is not so much malicious as it is out of love for stirring up emotions. Dryden loves to argue just for the sake of the argument, taking any side, as much as he is inclined to express his opinion regardless of whom he offends or angers, which calculates to a very high amount. His borderline insensitivity extends to harassing Allen on clearly sore subjects and brazenly hitting on Millerna. He is not nearly as cynical as he is sarcastic, which is pleasantly rare. Dryden is a paradoxical character in his level of emotion: he is far more inclined to make decisions on his intuition and his gut feeling in some areas than in others. Comparing him to Folken, he is far less emotional in personal and dramatic sectors. He does not wallow in angst, he probably does not have a closet love for sobbing to goth poetry and Tool, and he views his life with a far more even perspective. He is not under the impression that certain people are doomed to a life in the darque, but then again, his life has been comparatively good. I do not dislike Folken – quite to the contrary, I want to fuck him clear into next week, and I also happen to have a great deal of respect for him — but I am aware of the advantages Dryden has over him. Depression is not glamorous, nobody really wants it, and it does not validate any depth or genius, though this is not the place to discuss this in detail. In anime, abstract intellectuals are stereotypically the villains or antagonistic characters, seriously misled if not warped, and while I do not argue that Dryden is delightfully warped and slightly antagonistic, he does not fulfill the stereotypical image of being so blindly hell-bent on changing the world as to ignore common sense, nor is he as depressed as all hell. In many ways, Dryden sees clearly in areas where Folken is stone blind. From the beginning, he had faith in the ability of humans to forge their own destinies. His lack of cynicism shows here: he has pure faith in humanity, flawed and foolish though it may be.

Dryden is also not as active as he is a thinker. Dornkirk and Folken are actively trying to change the world, whereas Dryden would rather run a business to make high-end’s meat and spend all of his time reading and cultivating ideas. He is laid-back, casual, willing to live and let live, and does not feel the obligation to shoulder the weight of the world. Once again, he does not feel guilty for everybody else’s problems, which is a far clearer view of life than Van, Folken, or Allen has. Even when acting as king of Astoria during a war, his only action was to enact trade embargos on Zaibach, which I must admit is ineffective, though he is probably aware of this and how useless the action was. Dryden would rather bury himself in his books than bother with the trivia of the real world, something with which I empathize.

Referring once again to the argument of “Why Allen fans tend to hate Dryden”, I have observed that rabid Allen fans tend to lean toward the security of tradition, chivalry, and good citizenship, and as such love Allen as their avatar. Dryden is the antithesis of this, and as such, to an immature observer he would be the paragon of evil as Allen is the paragon of good. Dryden is an effective foil for Allen, though their differences are definitely not so simplistic as “safe and dangerous”, “noble and immoral”, or even “good and evil” (granted, I have met very few people so simplistic as to view Allen and Dryden as the latter duality). They are polar characters, a hardcore traditionalist versus a hardcore intellectual, but are presented as two sides of equal merit. My prejudice inclines toward associating “traditionalist” with “closed-minded paragon of evil”, though I know that this is not at all the case. Likewise, I champion “maverick” and “intellectual” as “kick-ass”, so my argument concerning Dryden’s further merit as being such will be highly biased. Dryden presidents reason and logic over the pillars of tradition, often established as logical for the time in which they were erected but now obsolete. People such as Dryden establish new ways that become tradition for newer generations to hate and question, but the difference between people like Dryden and people like Allen lies in that: Dryden is a creator, and Allen is an upholder of what is created. Many systems and methods created by rational people remain hailed as paragons for their timeless logical value in any situation, and even if such should become outdated they remain hailed for their ingenuity for the time and the information given. Genius is timeless, but often the manifestations must adhere to the times to work. Ironically, some of the things Allen so rigidly upholds were created by the sort of people he hates, those like his father and Dryden, though this is not the place for in-depth discussion of this topic. It relates to the fact that fans of the same sort as Allen—those who dislike Dryden—are in the same position. Right-wing conservatives in America rigidly uphold the tradition of the Constitution and the laws, opposing radical change, while those things that they uphold in themselves were the product of radical change two-hundred years previous. It makes one wonder where they would stand during the Independence War: with the Constitution for genuine love for it that it timeless, or still on the side of tradition (Loyalists, in short) for its sake. So think for a moment, Dryden-haters of this type: people of his temperament established some of the things you hold as precious today. Do you love your ideas or the idea of tradition itself? Allen, for all of the respect I hold for him and despite the fact that he is actually very fair and rational, is one of the latter. He genuinely means well, but he refuses to see this in many sectors.

This also presents the argument that perhaps Dryden is always blindly on the side of change, which evidence indicates is not the case. Dryden does things because they make sense, not because they are just novel or new. It takes just as much blindness to latch onto ideas just because they are new as it does to attach onto ideas just because they are traditional. Stupidity is timeless; there will always be stupid ideas, new or old, and Dryden is aware of this. Dryden is skeptical of Zaibach’s “war to end war” before and after Folken has given Astoria the full details on the operation. I am not saying that the idea was stupid, but it was riddled with fallacy and foolishness--not of the same element as stupidity. A whole crowd of new-age-pseudo-intellectuals (yes, I am being harsh, but I have seen plenty enough to know what I am talking about) would latch onto the idea of war-to-end-war without taking one second to think “You know, this might not work...” or “What is the exact method behind this? What is the reasoning?”, for such thinking would be placing a hindrance in their desperation to believe in something. They use the absolute insult to the intellectual—“You are closed-minded”—in attempt to silence people, and despite this sort of behavior Dryden would be confident enough of his open mind to maintain doubt. Paradoxically, Dryden is the more open-minded for leaving his mind open to doubt. I imagine that Zaibach has several propaganda books published with ample research, evidence, and essays advocating the fate alteration war to win over the crowd of intellectuals and truth-searchers, but loopholes are evident. Dryden, not himself blinded by the novelty of the idea or the desperate need to believe that it is possible (as is Folken, who is frighteningly intelligent and still falls into this trap), maintains a logical outlook on all things no matter how badly he wants to believe that something is true. He does not try to delude himself into believing that Millerna loves him when he senses that she is hesitant and unsure, and so is able to set her free from the marriage in hope that someday she will love him in return.

Is Dryden truly callous? Despite a detached and sarcastic attitude that would suggest otherwise to those unacquainted with the delightful people known as “sarcastic intellectuals”, Dryden is compassionate and selfless. The oft-used example shortly after his appearance is his surrender of his entire convoy to the Ispano in order to save Escaflowne and therefore Van’s life. He fully respects Millerna as an equal and offers her divorce when he senses that she is unhappy. Unlike most men in his position, who would hold onto her (as would be their right under law in that country) and try to convince her to love them, Dryden chooses to allow her to fly free and see if she will return. This takes a considerable amount of courage on his part. I have a theory that his back was to the camera for most of this scene so that the animators would not have to draw the unfathomable expression that must have been on his face. I assume that it would be with such subtleties showing his mental state that it would be almost impossible to animate accurately. Dryden, seemingly predictable and ruled entirely by self-confidence and logic, is still a human. As such he manifests the internal struggle of reason versus emotions and everyday human urges universal among intellectuals. He is not terrified of his emotions (though he is probably apprehensive), which is increasingly rare among the intelligent, who tend to be control freaks and fear what they cannot keep under absolute reign. It is futile to try to kill emotion in the first place.

And his glasses kick ass. If you want a proper closing paragraph, read something I wrote for English class.