#page analysis

Hi hello I would gladly say more about the page of heart! And later about the sylph as well but that’s for a later post :3

Well then. As I mentioned in the post about pages as a whole, the page is a class of self-growth. They need to learn to better themselves in order to become unimaginably powerful, which, unfortunately, isn’t something we see from any canonical pages, but we can definitely tell they’re not even scratching the surface on how much potential a page can have if they let themselves have it.

Also mentioned in that post is that a page’s lesson at self-betterment would be difficult; they might not like what they’re told they need to change in themselves, or it might be ingrained too deep into who they perceive themselves as, which is also part of why a page of heart can be on both sides of the spectrum when it comes to self-love.

The heart aspect is that of emotions, such as love, and is also about the self, or the soul (hence the concept of fragmentation when it comes to heart players). A heart player would probably be invested in the people around them without any want to mingle, though in a different sense to that of the people-watching mind players. A heart player is likely to give emotional advice, and may even be willing to be the shoulder for you to cry on, as long as you haven’t been looking for them specifically. They’re the center of their own world, but would likely despise being thought of as anyone else’s. I don’t mean that in a mean way, either- I almost thought myself to be a heart player for quite a while, so I say that all with love to all the heart players out there <3

A page of heart, in that sense, is even deeper in self-betterment than any other page, since their sense of self is so strong - the question is just what opinion they may have on that “self”. On one hand, they can adore who they are, which can easily become a fault in the way they treat other people as “other”- the entire “you wouldn’t get it” tirade is strong in that case. They see themselves as entirely separate to anyone else in the sense where they’re higher, and their struggles are more unique or even sophisticated for anyone else to understand. In that case, I recommend a good whacking over the head with a rolled up newspaper (quick disclaimer: this is a joke, I usually use that phrase when talking about characters I like who act like idiots) and a call for them to wake up and see they’re being a bit of a diva. Alternatively, and perhaps more commonly attributed to pages, they might be a person of self-loathing. They see flaws in who they are and find compliments ingenuine or just incorrect. No amount of love would wake them up because everyone else has “unrealistic” expectations of them, and they’re sure they’re failing even when with loved ones who reassure them. I see those pages like most artists probably do when looking at their own art three days after they finish it and immediately go “oh no this is terrible”. They lack that ever-important self esteem that makes them any amount of confident in what they love to do. This page may need some time alone or, perhaps, to truly fail something and be told that nobody in their session thinks them to be perfect; they truly are good at stuff, and all those compliments were well-earned.

The point is, a page of heart would need to reflect about how they see themselves in order to better their session. How do they feel about the stuff they like to do? Would it matter that they’re bad at it, if they are, or is the happiness they receive from it more important? They should define their own worth, and study themselves to make it as accurate as they could, without any bias towards whether they think they’re good or bad at anything in particular. That does mean that if, for example, you’re an artist, and a lot of people like your art, it means its good, regardless of if you see it two days later and think it’s actually awful. We all do that, but that opinion is rather biased. Learning to go beyond that bias to see what you love for what it is, which is something you enjoy and can always get better at (because not all of us can be lords of mind, what the heck), is really hard, and also is the lesson for the page of heart to learn.

The scene of gkika when she says “Iz zo nize to relax und mek vit de pretty colours again-hyu vould not believe-” is one of my favourite. I love how she sees so happy about it in those words, and in the previous panel she looks proud about keeping a human skin colour but, not particularly happy? like it wasn't anywhere near a good experience, and it sort of ties in with the last part of the sentence which leaves her story of what happened when all her brudders and seesters (which isn't ever use but at least there's Jenka) (maybe brudder just became neutral term like guys has?) But when they left, albeit them being annoying and stupid, and mixing that with what almost seems like a partially canonical and I think largely accepted headcanon of jäger social dependence being pretty high, at least more than that of a human, (it would certainly help make there be less deserters if for some reason any would choose to sell the secrets they hold in their genetics to some enemy because then they'd be shunned and that would result in, idk, social withdrawal?) So any ways, Gkika left behind, even if she is a general, still has at least some spectrum of that depenance and is no longer allowed to do one of the things that makes her uniquely jäger, the skin. The pretty colour changing skin. Or generically existing but at least she doesn't have to hide underground the whole time so that's less of a problem.

Im going to write a fanfic for this.

Aw geez, where do I start?

Pages are... well, they usually lack self confidence, at least in the beginning, but that's been mentioned so many times and by so many people, I feel like it's almost redundant to mention.

The specific power of pages is that they can adapt their personalities to fit in their aspect as part of who they are, which makes them very impressionable people. That's not a bad thing at all, for all that the word may have negative connotations. They're eager to learn, and often are very receptive to learning stuff about their aspect, even if it's pretty difficult for them to embrace said knowledge, since usually it should override part of themselves they're already familiar with and may even be used to have as a descriptor of them.

Pages unfortunately don't tend to realize their own power; I think that's part of why people are upset to be classified as pages (well, that and the fact that most quizzes seem to decide that if you aren't a clear copy of any character's personality, you should be a page. I got Page of Light on many, many quizzes, but neither powers nor personality seem to fit me... even if light players do tend to monologue ^^")

Point is, if you think you can be a page, you should probably be less upset - canon says, multiple times, that pages are one of the strongest classes, if only they can find the power that was in them all along. It may sound like a dumb cartoon motivational line, but if you're used to being called weak, you should work towards empowering yourself - stand up for yourself and be prepared to relearn who you are and who you want to be, because your idealized version of yourself may not be entirely possible to achieve (seriously, none of us are perfect, don't worry about that all too much) but you can still turn a look inside yourself and change something you dislike in yourself. Gain some confidence (but like, real confidence, don't just tell yourself that you changed) and see how much better it makes life.

It would take a lot of work, removing bad habits from your life, I'm not saying otherwise, but don't let it deter you because you have the potential for unimaginable strength.

I'd say more if I knew what aspect to focus on, because those do change how you view the world, but since I don't know... idk, feel free to ask for specifics?