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Spotlight Character: André Grandier (Rose of Versailles)



MAL Character Information Page: André Grandier


MAL Favorites: 56

For the next week I would like to have everyone familiar with this character discuss what they think makes him an exceptional character. What attributes make him stand out in the ocean of interesting characters that exist in the realms of anime and manga.

Unlike the other two subjects I will not force this conversation to fall into any set structure. Characters that are nominated typically get here because they are adept at breaking the existing character moulds and defying definition.

Because of this freedom I encourage everyone to do their very best to stay on topic and keep any and all debate civil. Have fun and I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say about this character



RESULTS OF THE YOU DECIDE POLL

André Grandier was inducted into the club Character list:
24 Yes - 80.0%
6 No - 20.0%

44 I don't know this character - 55.6% of the total number polled
5 Abstained - 6.3% of the total number polled

On 03/15/2013 André Grandier will receive a re-vote

WELL THANKS FOR THAT SPOILER.

Even though it's been on my watching list for like a year.

But still.

Damn you.

Doesn't that kinda mean you'll never finish it? It's not like you have anything attached to the show. Besides, shouldn't you be prepared for spoilers on a discussion thread?

While that may be true, spoiler tags exist for a reason, so use them. We need to keep the thread spoiler free to get more people to watch Rose of Versailles.



By the way, most of Andre's development is in the second half of the series, so you can't really make a fair vote on him until (different Andre-related spoiler from earlier in the series)

I dislike a lot of the show, but I do like Oscar and Andre.

Also, I figure this is a good time to finally finish it.

It gets better near the end when Dezaki takes over the direction, so you should probably finish it.

Anyways, Andre is definitely not a bad character, but I don't remember anything special about his that would cause me to vote for him.

I recommend you read my insights on Oscar's thread, because I also talk a little bit about Andre and why he's a great character.

Mainly the part that states that his emotional development goes up as his health goes down, getting to a state of almost-psychological perfection, with acceptance of facts and consequences and consumation of dreams and wishes.

Far too dependant on Oscar as a character and infinitely more interesting as a plot device than he ever was as a person. Incredibly easy no.

After If I'm not mistaken.

I like him in latter part way better he's no longer dependable in Oscar at the end of RoV, although he caused Oscar cried in a melodramatic way after

For anybody planning to vote yes, a few words on why would be much appreciated.

I would not say that Andre was a weak character, but by himself he really doesn't possess any outstanding qualities. He is what Kircheis is to Legend of the Galactic Heroes: a well-written friend and right-hand man to the main character. He serves more to compliment Oscar as a character than he does to stand out by himself, although there isn't anything inherently wrong with his role in the story. I just don't see any real reason to vote for him as his own character when he is entirely defined by what Oscar does. He's admirable (especially the situation surrounding his progressing blindness), but it's just not enough.

I tend to agree with Veronin's stance here and would like to bring into question how Andre even made it into our relations list in the first place.

While he's not a weak character by any stretch, his role in the story is mostly to compliment Oscar and more importantly make her aware of her true self and beliefs. That being said, Andre did have a couple of strong moments that conveyed his own internal strength and values such as when he fought the members of the French guard after they badmouthed Oscar. His character also symbolizes loyalty, truth and self-worth which goes beyond his lower class status. Furthermore, being Oscar's most trusted companion and the one man to truly know her nature, it's unlikely that she would have come to her final realization without him. However, the problem with this argument is that it doesn't speak to the worth of Andre as a character so much as simply his role in the story, which in this case was a lifelong friend and love interest to Oscar. If we were to permanently induct Andre into our relations list, it should be for what he brought to the table in Versailles as an individual, not for how he made Oscar worthy of her Oscar performance.

So while he's one heck of a faithful man, he unfortunately doesn't do enough to break beyond the mold of his role in the story. A bit of riding off Oscar's success may have gotten him into the club this time, but I'll be voting "no" when the re-vote rolls around.

sawasawa sawasawa

Um.

What?

I suppose if we were only to consider leading characters as induction worthy, the arguments pertaining to Andre being a plot device and a supporting character would be a good argument.

However, if we are going to acknowledge how exemplary of a supporting character Andre was because of how essential he was to Oscar's overall dynamic characterization and the stories overall successful presentation, then we should consider this a strong reason for his induction as a "supporting character" and not try to find fault with him not living up the the role of a lead.

This is a good point that you raise, and glancing through the character relations list, most of the ones we've inducted tend to be those in the leading role. Of course, this does stand to reason since generally speaking the lead characters will be the ones who's perspective is given the most attention as well as the potential for the most pronounced development. However, that's not to say that we shouldn't consider inducting a good supporting character if they are able to stand on their own merits. It could be that very few supporting cast members will have the potential to be exemplary due to the nature of most narratives, but we shouldn't rule out the possibility either.

In the case of Andre, while I do feel that he successfully achieved his role as a supporting cast member, I did not feel this was sufficient enough to categorize him as exemplary on an absolute scale (which is really what we should be concerned with since we want to reward excellency and not mediocrity). Save a few key scenes such as the one where he fought the French guards after they badmouthed Oscar, there wasn't much else that allowed him to stand out. Furthermore, his limited screen time in the first half coupled with the numerous time skips made for a rather inconsistent development of his character. Compared to Oscar, the narrative didn't focus enough on his mentality to convey the shifts in his views and behaviour effectively. Rather, it mostly showed how he changed according to the state of Paris, which does not speak highly to the individual strength of his character. For these reasons and the ones I've outlined in my earlier post, I firmly believe Andre is not an exceptional character, supporting or not.