Which resulted in me flying with the kat even more on that playthrough. Oh, is that the feeling you get, Eisen? Maybe your crew just ISN'T good enough for me after flying on the Claw and Concordia!
Thrakhath and Hobbes
- Thread starter Farbourne
- Start date
Which resulted in me flying with the kat even more on that playthrough. Oh, is that the feeling you get, Eisen? Maybe your crew just ISN'T good enough for me after flying on the Claw and Concordia!
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Perhaps this was *because* he's too valuable, though. The Victory, assigned less important missions (before Tolwyn's adoption), is a nice mix of the combat role he insisted on in Wing Commander 2 and a safer assignment preferred by High Command.
The bigger question is: what happened between End Run and Wing Commander III? Ralgha went from being the Wing Commander aboard the flagship of the Confederation's most important fighting fleet to being Executive Officer of the Victory in the space of two years. Even his initial assignment, temporary Wing Commander/permanent Executive Officer for the 58th Fighter Wing is a heck of a step down in both position and prestige.
I'll end by noting that Wing Commander 3 makes a point of saying that the assignment as Eisen's exec was *Ralgha's* decision. Foreshadowing that implies some level of Kilrathi control over him at the start of the game or simple coincidence?
I believe Hobbes is one of the specific example Kevin cites regarding the choice of the Victory - while other carriers may be more polished, the Victory has a 'genuine expert on Kilrathi psycology' (and for better or for worse, this isn't something Tolwyn necessarily came up with... Eisen is clearly using Hobbes to help him predict what the Kilrathi will do earlier on in the story).
It's hard to know for sure. Freedom Flight says: "[Ghorah Khar] reminded him of home, of his native planet of Hhallas, where he had lived his childhood, before spending his years in officer's training on Kilrah. Many Kilrathi said they admired the metallic splendor of Kilrah, the silver walls and tall towers of the Imperial planet. Not Ralgha... even after all these years he still yearned for the wild mountains and untamed wilderness of his home planet."
... but then the Victory Streak character stats accompanying his letter say: "Homeworld: Kilrah, Hhallas clan". It also seems clear that his line about "returning to my homeworld" in Wing Commander III refers to Kilrah rather than Hhallas (though the latter would be so much more romantic). The Heart of the Tiger novelization also notes that Hobbes kept his quarters lighted with a "dim reddish hue," which was "a reminder of Kilrah's K6 star. A reminder of Ralgha's home...".
I've always taken this to mean that Hobbes was starting to become uncomfortable with killing his own kind. He didn't want the empire to win, but he started to be more wary about shooting down other Kilrathi.
I'm going to take a shot at retconing this:
Hobbes was born on Kilrah, but when he was just a little kitten he and his parents moved to their clan's home planet Hhallas. Hobbes spent his childhood on Hhallas, but then transferred back to Kilrah when he joined the military and where he stayed until he was transferred to the war front.
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
That's something of odd way to take it, since Victory Streak has his letter complaining about space-racism and since he has no problem returning to flight status when Blair asks him back.
Death
gh0d (Administrator)
Given the outright antagonism shown by at least one pilot to him (Cobra, of course), and probably other assorted hostility (assumption on my part, not supported by canon material IIRC), I always took his decision to not fly being out of concern for not interrupting the flight wing.
On further thought, it's probably not too hard to shoot holes in that, but I never really thought too deeply about it in the first place, I just accepted it and moved on.
On further thought, it's probably not too hard to shoot holes in that, but I never really thought too deeply about it in the first place, I just accepted it and moved on.
Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
Well, that's what he *says* -- the question is whether or not it's true.
(Blair is sure it's Maniac's fault in the novel!)
(Blair is sure it's Maniac's fault in the novel!)
Not so much when you consider that the pilots on the Victory didn't want to fly with him. He was probably starting to feel alienated and was yearning for some kind of acceptance. Killing things that looked like him, and where he was from, probably just got a lot harder for him. However when Blair come aboard he gave Hobbes that unconditional trust and acceptance that he was looking for, and he was able to go back to fighting the Empire he rebelled against without much thought.
BTW: Regrettably I have never had the chance to read any of the Wing Commander novels. So if there is something in them that contradicts any conclusions I may draw feel free to hit me over the head with it.
Death
gh0d (Administrator)
"Maniac's fault" doesn't exactly strike me as being all that bad a position to take barring further evidence to the contrary, in general.
