Sheena Fujibayashi: Shifting Sides, Deep-Rooted Fears, and Loveability

I don't always play video games, but when I do, I play Tales of Symphonia. The story seems fairly straightforward: Sylvarant is a dying world. Desians terrorize citizens in human ranches and everyone fears for their lives, but there's one beacon of hope: the Chosen of Regeneration who will sacrifice her life to save the world.

But Sheena Fujibayashi aims to kill her because her own world, Tethe'alla, will decline if Sylvarant's Chosen succeeds. Thus begins the story of the most dynamic female character in the game. This complexity is what makes her my favorite.

Sheena starts out as an enemy. She appears multiple times and attempts to assassinate Colette, the Chosen. However, she always fails due to her own clumsiness, but that doesn't shake her determination. As the game progresses, you discover that Sheena's acts out of desperation for reconciliation. In the past, she attempted to form a pact with the Summon Spirit Volt, but she failed. The results were devastating. Volt attacked her village and killed many people; the survivors resented Sheena. However, if she traveled to Sylvarant and killed their Chosen, they would forgive her. With this heaviness, Sheena tries to kill Colette, but Colette in all of her selflessness expresses only concern for Sheena's well-being. This attitude of selfless love changes Sheena and she shifts from assassin to ally.

I've always found these types of characters fascinating. The internal conflicts that come with renouncing comfortable allegiances for ones that are truly good create characters that not only experience deep pain, but mask it. Sheena, although easily flustered and readable in terms of her crush on Lloyd, has to deal with many issues alone. In the end, she doesn't exactly get what she wants. She doesn't regret her decisions at all, but she's forced to face her past and bear the burden of her mistakes. Most of the other characters can leave behind or easily rectify their pasts, but Sheena's haunts her throughout the majority of the game and it plays key parts in the larger story.

This is what makes her realistic to me. Sheena enters into the picture with a dark, confused past and finds people who truly love her. They support her every time it obstructs their journey and they help her overcome her fears. With them, she finds her own strength and becomes one of the most important, loveable characters in the game.

Sheena also appears in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, but that's a sequel that most people quietly ignore.