Haurchefantโs words for you in The Vault (A Knight's Calling)
FFXIV Heavensward major spoilers
So while in English Haurchefantโs last lines are โOh, do not look at me so. A smile better suits a heroโฆโ his original Japanese lines differ a bit and their implications are much more personal and intimate with his final words to you being โin the end, your smile is bestโ.
่ฑ้ใซโฆโฆๆฒใใ้กใฏไผผๅใใฌใโฆโฆใ(Oh, do not look at me so.)
The first line can be translated to something like a โhero should not wear a face like thatโ or โsuch a sad face doesnโt suit a heroโ, the line is conveying how the player characterโs distraught face is not like that of a heroโs. Perhaps โthatโs not the face of a heroโ could be another translation.
ใใโฆโฆใใฏใใใๅใฏโฆโฆ็ฌ้กใโฆโฆใคใคโฆโฆใ(A smile better suits a heroโฆ )
The second line is more interesting. its โyahari, omae waโฆ egao gaโฆ iiโ. the โiiโ is a callback to Hauchefantโs character tic which was often paired with his signature pose which is also an emote.ย โiiโ means something like โ[ ย ย ย ] is goodโ, I think someone translated it to โsplendidโ, but its an ambiguous positive sentiment that depends on context. in this case the line means something like โin the end, your smile is bestโ or โas I thought, I like your smile the bestโ. The important part is that Haurchefantโs last words arenโt about the player characterโs role as a hero and Warrior of Light, but heโs talking about them as a person.
In English Haurchefant goes from the personal to general which downgrades the moment significantly, where as in the original Japanese text he goes from general to personal. In Japanese he first starts with a joke about how this isnโt like a hero to be crying about him. Its a terrible joke but heโs making it to try and make you/the pc feel better. That means his second line hits harder because he drops the facade of levity and talks to you/the pc directly. In Japanese his final line is a personal sentiment of his for the player character and you alone. Heโs not talking about some heroic archetype or ideal, heโs talking to you as a person, heโs talking to you as someone he loves where as in English the line has more the implication of as hero to admire. Hauchefant loved the player character and wanted good things for you. He wanted you to have a reason to smile, he wanted to see you happy.
Japanese is a language with a lot of ambiguity unless you are familiar with it such as omitting pronouns so that the subject is implied though context. Haurchefant uses a second person pronoun here โomaeโ which is very casual and potentially rude if you use it in the wrong context. In the case of โiiโ my best guess forย โ [ ย ย ] is best of/on/for [ ย ย ]โ is that Hauchefant is expressing that he likes the the player characterโs smile best. I am only fluent in English, not Japanese but I know enough to get by if i sit down and think about the words so if anyone fluent in both Japanese and English reads this, Iโd love to hear from you.
Google Translate translates the line as โAfter all, you have a good smileโ and this post in the link offers an alternate translation: https://clovermemories.tumblr.com/post/137079514648/about-haurchefants-famous-words (their interpretation is that Haurchefant is saying the player characterโs smile is the best of their expressions or he likes the player characterโs smiling face best, which might be more accurate, this is the limit of my Japanese). edit: hereโs another: https://haillenarte.tumblr.com/post/133562112225/a-knights-calling
(So did the localization team ruin things yet again? eh not really. The English localization teamโs interpretation of these lines is certainly inferior, but its not egregiously terrible, the localization team has written far far worse localizations where not a scrap of the original remains, this at least resembles the original)
