Step 1: Father dies/disappears
Step 2: Sibling disappears
Step 3: Mother dies/disappears
Step 4: Balgus steps in and serves as a surrogate father
Step 5: Sibling reappears as red-eyed servant of Zaibach aboard the Vionne
Hell, they even have the same taste in Mystic Moon women! I wish they would get along well. Allen’s done the angry youth thing and could have served a good mentor/big brother role to the surly king. Alas, most of their bonding seems to come during sparring matches and melef battles. And because they’re part of a Hitomi love triangle, they’re often seen as rivals (especially by rabid Vangirls). If they do have a rivalry, it’s a respectful one. They take turns saving Hitomi’s and each other’s butts (too many episodes to site just one). They work together, neither one taking a definitive leader stance over the other despite Van’s title and Allen’s experience (the escape from Zaibach, the battle at Rampant, etc.). They never exchange words, let alone sword blows, over it. Their final duel is more about Allen protecting Celena and Van *really* wanting to get back at Dilandau for being such a destructive little shit than any bitterness over the Hitomi thing. Even cynical old Dornkirk chalks it up to the two of them just liking a good fight. When Allen tells Van about his proposal to Hitomi, I see it as one man leveling with the other out of deference rather than leaving it to gossip to carry the news to Van. And once Allen realizes the true nature of Van and Hitomi’s feelings, he withdraws that proposal and throws his support to them (Episode 25).
They may not be the best of friends, but at least they are both able to look past what could have been an ugly situation and still remain amicable. I guess you could say they see each other as valued colleagues.
*snaps out of it and wipes the drool off* Okay, yeah…this is an Allen shrine. I’m supposed to be talking about him in relation to Allen. Um, well, they never really interacted that much. Allen did go to him to question him about Celena/Dilandau and Folken responded in his typical manner (i.e. he told him the few facts that he knew in a dispassionate voice and otherwise had no observable reaction). So really, the only reason for these two paragraphs was to put up that picture. But it’s Folken, so wasn’t it worth it?
It’s hard to say what would have become of Allen if he hadn’t met Balgus or even if Allen would still be around. Allen seems to be aware of this. He speaks reverently of the Swordsman to Hitomi in episode 15 and unfavorably compares his skill and discipline to Balgus’. He readily invokes their former master’s name and favorite ‘you’re not charging aggressively enough’ criticism to Van to spur him on. In that way, Allen’s not only remembering the man, but also paying tribute to him by furthering his teachings with a fellow student.
My personal theory is that if Mahad would just lose the ugly hat and shave, more people would realize that this man who comes off as being rather stern with his son, is actually an incredibly sweet guy. Think about it. His new wife is carrying some other guy’s kid. He not only accepts Marlene anyway, he adopts the kid too. Years later, the kid’s father shows up in his country -- injured, accused of treason (of which, technically, Allen is guilty) and having recently taken part in a jailbreak in during which he held the aforementioned kid hostage. Mahad just gives Allen a lecture and then offers him a place by his side in battle. Millerna’s speech might have influenced this, but a jerk wouldn’t listen to his sister-in-law, would he?
Maybe he and Balgus should form some non-prettyboy support group for male characters whose less than traditionally handsome features keep them from getting the credit they deserve. (The Moleman’s membership contingent upon giving up scaring the crap out of girls in the swamps.)
You’d think he’d at least take it somewhat personally given their difference of opinion in Episode 16 concerning Leon. They don’t get along at all; in fact, Allen sneers at Dryden that he doesn’t ‘think we’ll be friends’ (while Dryden doesn’t seem to give a Mr. Rat’s ass). I think this snarly exchange has everything to do with Allen’s hang-up about his father and very little to do with Dryden himself, though. Yeah, Dryden is kind of a wank in that scene. Allen obviously has abandonment issues. He’s practically foaming at the mouth when Dryden gets to the part about Hitomi’s grandmother. And Dryden’s response is to poke him with a stick about it. (On a side note, I have to wonder what Millerna was thinking when she heard her fiancee proclaim his admiration for a man who ditched his wife and kids to go live out his dream.)
The nastiness of that scene is an isolated incident. In scenes that occur afterwards with the two of them, there’s no sign whatsoever of any hostility. Dryden has Allen addressing the Asturian council like an equal; Allen lets Dryden in on the meeting with Folken to discuss Celena/Dilandau. See, it really was just Allen’s anger towards his father that caused that unpleasantness!
Okay, maybe there’s more to it than that. They really are disparate personalities. Allen’s a polished military man, Dryden’s a casual hippie (albeit one with a decidedly un-hippie like bank account). Allen likes to dwell on his past losses and make melodramatic statements about never loving again. Dryden vows to be better man and make Millerna love him (Although I think if he had just hung around, he would have accomplished his goal more quickly. Millerna ain’t crying tears of joy when he leaves.) Dryden has a sense of humor, especially when it comes to himself. Allen…uh, I think I remember him smiling once really early on in the series…very early on.
It’s this clash of personalities that brings me to a tangent of the yaoi variety. (i.e. QUIT READING IF THIS GIVES YOU THE HEEBIES) Normally, I don’t like Esca yaoi. For a chick anime, Esca features stridently heterosexual male characters (if you don’t know what I mean, check out Weiss Kreuz, an anime whose sole reason for existence is so that its fans may write yaoi fanfiction). Any trip into Yaoiville generally features the guys acting waaaaaay out of character. But I like the Allen x Dryden pairing, *because* they are so completely different. Granted, I’ve seen two whole fics which feature this pairing (one of them is Didodikali’s ‘Boys Will Be’. Find it in the Links) while the Van x Dilandau *yawn* pairing runs rampant, so I’m in a teeny, tiny minority here. Eh, I always knew I was weird.
Crew of the
Crusade