#but whatever. he's a fuckin mess oshus literally calls him a wreck the first time we see them interact

[waywardsalt]

(^prev tags)

@morimess you’ve got a very good point, and i didn’t consider that as much when i hashed this post out, linebeck is more on the fence between action and inaction (he's probably the most interesting part of the theme since he's a major character and his arc is kinda tied to it), i think i just got caught up in him taking action in a very literal sense, he's in a spot of inaction when it comes to fixing himself. he goes after the ghost ship, which is his bit of action over other characters, and i consider him notable since he is actively... doing things, and he's very comfortable and capable in what he's doing, he's just got personal issues he either doesn't seem to be aware of or feel the desire to fix. (tbh i feel like when/if i get around to realllly looking at the theme the whole thing between him and jolene might get its own section because it feels like a fucking trainwreck of action driving things into what really just amounts to inaction and some kind of messy stasis, with my read of that subplot). i still think he stays in that group of characters who are more willing to take action due to that more literal action and the fact that he does seem more willing to solve his problems, even if in the biggest case he's just running away (but again yadda yadda nuance and my own read on that subplot), and a lot of his major character moments are generally around him taking some kind of action (i count the letter, his lapse between action and inaction with the ghost ship having no treasure, that bit before the last ocean king temple run, defending link from bellum). he's probably going to be the most interesting character to look at with this theme since both parts can apply to him and he's the character who goes from inaction to action the most, i think.

with my phantom hourglass replay, there are two things i noticed;

a possible theme you could glean from the game is action vs inaction, and i think it's especially prevalent before you even leave mercay the first time, with oshus frequently urging link to not go after the ghost ship, then to just wait until the broken bridge is fixed, and seems reluctant at every turn while link and ciela are more than eager to go and do something about this problem, and the people of mercay in general talking about things and their problems but never seeming to act on their fears or desires, as well as the mention that due to the ghost ship, very very few people are still sailing around, while linebeck is one of the only people we see in the game actively going after the ghost ship and still sailing around. i might make a longer post just talking more about the action vs inaction in phantom hourglass but i just noticed it a bit and thought it was a bit of an interesting sort of theme you could find in the game.

linebeck moves so fucking much. i think he moves more than any npc in the rest of the game. not just in his intro cutscene where he is very animated, just in how much he moves when just standing in his little idle post, it's damn near distracting when the camera is focused on him, he moves a lot. i don't think i've really acknowledged how much he moves, and it really gives the impression that he's antsy or eager to get going, both of which fit him pretty well with how he acts.