#He was blackmailed into becoming one of the kings of Illyria because he wanted to protect Dizzy

[solradguy]

As one note as the yaoi jokes are it’s hard to deny that sol and ky’s present relationship is pretty much amicably broken up ex bfs/beloathed in-laws/flawed but well intentioned fathers of an unknown but growing number of children

There's definitely underlying homoeroticism to their relationship, but sometimes the fanfiction headcanons need to be set aside to look at what the actual canon is trying to get across, you know? It's easy to boil it all down to "because they're gay for each other" (which I also do sometimes because it's funny lol) but their relationship is so much deeper than that.

I'm not even really a Ky guy, tbh, but I very rarely see people talk about him with the same care they talk about characters with 1/10th the lore he has, and his relationship with Sol is discussed in a serious context even less.

[mysticdragon3md3]

Another example I usually cite is Sol Badguy and Ky Kiske.

For the first several Guilty Gear games, Ky is dressed in his Sacred Order of Holy Knights' uniform and his hair is short. But several games/years later, his hair has grown long, and he ties it back into a ponytail.

This is very similar to Sol's hair. Since the beginning, Sol has had spikey hair with a ponytail hanging out the back. It was always interesting to me, that the more years/games passed, the more Ky's hair began to resemble Sol's.

Then we finally reach Guilty Gear Strive, which could be the end of the series, or Sol's story. Ky has cut his hair short again and wears a jacket over his shoulders. The jacket is likely from his Sacred Order of Holy Knights uniform. But now, Ky's uniform takes up an almost negligible amount of space on his character design. When he faces front, the jacket is mostly covered. He just wears seemingly regular pants and a shirt now.

The thing I enjoy about Ky is his character arc. He started as an idealistic, almost naive, follower of rules with too much trust in systems. His defining identity being that he became the head of a hierarchical system as the High Commander of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights. Then he attained a top position of a system, a second time, as a king of Illyria. In the first game, Ky interacts with Sol, mostly chiding him on breaking rules. Ky was a police officer in the International Police Force, at the time. But it also seems to be his defining contrasting character trait, against Sol's freedom outside of systems. After Sol makes Ky realize, in the first several games, that the world government might be corrupt and to question his concepts of "right/wrong", Ky begins investigating the world government. In one game's story mode, Ky even makes an agreement with Johnny that Johnny will fight the system from the outside while Ky will fight the system from the inside. I don't remember Ky ever wanting to become King of Illyria, as the Guilty Gear Wiki states. (https://guiltygear.fandom.com/wiki/Ky_Kiske) It explains that he was pretty much blackmailed by the United Nations' Conclave into entering the election for king. The way I remember it, is that the world government appointed him king. Either way, he was at least partially forced into the position in some way. I personally believe the world government wanted to stop his investigations of them. If Ky is made the head of a nation, any criticisms he has of the world government could me misconstrued and reframed as him selfishly trying to manipulate systems for the advantage of his own country. They would just accuse him of bias and attempting manipulations. I didn't get to play Guilty Gear Strive myself, but now I hear that Ky abdicated the throne? And this was after his power as king had been split between a triumvirate with 2 other kings? I really hope that was Ky's idea, because that's brilliant. Nevertheless, by Strive, despite being chained down to the position of king since Overture, Ky was also supporting air pirates, hiring Sol to handle discreet missions, and hiding his Gear family. He had come a long way from straightlaced, simplistic views of "right/wrong", to navigating the gray morals of life. Very much like Sol had always done.

So it was very appropriate that Ky's character design grew to incorporating some element's of Sol's design. Ky had that ponytail for many years. And though by Strive, Ky had again cut his hair to the length he had in the first game, now his overall costume design was more casual clothes, with very small, recognizable pieces from the Holy Knights' uniform. Just like Sol. Even Ky's re-cut hair overlaps with the time near the end of Strive, when Sol, now Frederick again, has his hair cut short. Ky's growth to incorporate the lessons he learned from Sol, clearly reflect in his character design.

I forget who said, but someone once observed that at the end of a story, the protagonist usually has to integrate some part of the antagonist or rival. To show their growth, like how to psychologically grow, a person must integrate their Jungian Shadow's lessons.

When TBSkyen said something like that about Riku's character design, it reminded me of how my go-to example used to be Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry 3.

Throughout the DMC3, Dante's and Vergil's character designs contrast in every way. Dante's hair is down, around his face. Vergil's hair is pushed back. Dante's coat is red; Vergil's coat is blue. Like the "red oni vs blue oni" trope. But also the 2 most contrasting of the 3 primary colors. Dante is shirtless. Vergil is very covered up, with a vest and even an ascot. Dante's sleeves are asymmetrical. Vergil's sleeves are symmetrical. Dante wears ankle lengthed boots with loose tops. Vergil wears longer, tight boots, up to his knees. Even Dante's pants are loose, whereas Vergil's, are tight. Despite being identical twins, they contrast in every way.

But during the DMC3 epilogue, Dante is suddenly wearing a vest, knee-length boots, symmetrical sleeves, and his hair is slightly pushed out of his face. He has integrated elements from Vergil's design. It reflects his character growth, having learned to value his family roots and connections. He has kept Vergil's glove. And in the final boss battle beforehand, Dante reached for Vergil as he fell, and Dante finally acknowledges being Sparda's son. This is versus the start of the game where Dante says "I don't have a father" and immediately wants to kill Vergil. But though Dante now has some of Vergil's aspects, Dante does not take it to the same dangerous extremes as Vergil. Dante does not fixate on his fraternal demon roots as much as Vergil did, to the detriment of his human allegiances. Dante has integrated just the right amount of Vergil's aspects, therefore his epilogue character design is temperanced between their 2 designs.

But what's actually impressive is that they had to design their rivalry, reflected by their costumes, backwards. DMC3 is a prequel. DMC1 already had a design for Dante, and it's the same design in DMC3's epilogue. It's likely more accurate to say that Vergil's design is based on Dante's, but emphasizing the more reserved elements. Then DMC3's Dante design was taken to an extreme of the opposite of being reserved, to contrast Vergil's reserved tone.

But notice how when Vergil finally returns to DMC games to stand in the same scenes as Dante, DMC5 has Dante now dressing more casual again, to ensure a contrast with Vergil. Rivals' character designs contrast, but much more so when they spend more screentime together.