Genis Sage

Genis Sage is the best gosh-darn boy that ever lived and a perfect character; no other words I could write here could ever accurately display just how amazing he truly is. The end. Ok, I'm only exaggerating a little bit.

If you're unfamiliar with the "Tales" series... go play at least one of them and come back. Otherwise, you've probably seen Genis' name or art of him somewhere. He's the best friend of Lloyd Irving, protagonist of Tales of Symphonia, one of the most highly-regarded games in the history of Tales. As my brother calls him, a "little bastard" that "caused literally every problem in the game." I can't argue much with that, unfortunately, but maybe you can look past his crimes after reading this page.

He starts off at the beginning of the game as a twelve-year-old little brat (affectionate), and that's basically how everyone knows him. He's much more complicated and better than that, though. Let's start with the basics-what you would think of when you think about Genis' personality. He's cocky, a know-it-all, magical genius. He's a child prodigy and easy to cast aside as the snarky friend-of-the-protagonist. Of course, that's not all there is, though.

He's a bit blunt and starts off with a clear disdain for humans, yet he is incredibly loyal to his companions. He may seem hard to get along with, but he's actually kind to a fault. Remember the "crimes" I mentioned in the first paragraph? The first conflict of the game is Iselia burning down because Genis and Lloyd were caught helping Marble, a human held at a Human Ranch (who Genis saw as somewhat of a maternal figure).

He has complicated feelings toward humans, but he is always on the side of helping others, despite any risks or roadblocks. Eventually he comes to learn that hating humans only fuels more hatred and sets aside his prejudices to try and push for peace. His past hatred of humans was never really that severe, I would argue. He never discrimated against other humans or rejected allowing them to join alongside the group. He treated everyone the same regardless of race or species, just as Lloyd did. His hatred of humanity was more of an internal struggle that manifested most when humans would lash out at him first. This internal struggle is exactly how Mithos connects with him. Even though at this point Genis set aside his hatred, his connection to Mithos puts its significance back in his mind. Logically, he knows he can't side with Mithos' path of destruction, but his bond as a fellow half-elf and own self-doubts make Genis hesitant on refusing Mithos.

He's ridiculously smart and talented with magic, and he's very mature and capable for his age. He kind of had to be. After all, he was rasied by his sister when she herself wasn't even a teenager yet. Supposedly half-elves are more likely to have higher intelligences, and his sister became a teacher, so a little bit of extra work from himself was all it took to cement Genis as the prodigy he's known to be.

To put things together a bit more neatly, his arrogance is only a front. This is put plain-as-day near the end of the first game. Genis admits to not liking himself and being jealous of Lloyd the entire time. He loathes his physical weakness and what he perceives to be cowardice, and thus he feels lesser than the rest of the group. By flaunting his intellect and teasing Lloyd, he's able to feel on more equal ground with his peers. He sees his intelligence as the one thing that sets him apart-the one thing he's good at. He's incredibly loyal and kind, despite his own doubts. This loyalty comes in part due to his feeling that he needs to rely on others stronger than him. He essentially carries a massive inferiority complex and desparately wants a place to belong.

First off, Genis is 12-14 years old in the main game canon and perhaps older in spinoffs. Since I was 13 when I played Symphonia 2 (where he is 14), I headcanon him as one year older than me at all times.

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles released in North America on February 25, 2014. As it so happens, my family pre-ordered the copy, so I got to play the same day it released. At this point in my life, I was very much becoming "boy-crazy," so I pretty much just assumed I'd like at least one of the characters in this game. After about three hours of playtime, I said "I *think* I'm going to like Genis." That might've been the biggest understatement I've ever said.

Genis is the first boy I fell in love with to have ever rivaled my obsession with Crona. He was my official big turning point off my "Crona era," as I could call it. Little 12-year-old me needed my entire life to revolve around Genis, and I've decided to stick with that.

One thing about our relationship is super obvious: we're MASSIVE nerds. We're also both short, annoy everyone around us, speak in sarcasm, are shy and bad at flirting, and filled with internal self-loathing. On the surface, he is certainly more extroverted and cocky than I am (though I can definitely match his cockiness in the right circumstances). However, I think we sort of match each other in that way. He's very open, a bit loud, and flaunts his intelligence. But on the inside, he holds a lot of resentment and views himself as a coward. He's actually rather sensitive and mindful of others- much more than he puts on. On the flipside, I see myself as someone who isn't very good at talking to others and most would see as shy. I hate talking about myself, but once you get to know me, I have a more open and competitive side.

As shown in the sequel book, Successors of Hope, Genis' intelligence shines most with concrete subjects like math and science. He struggles with subjective topics that require a more creative kind of thinking, such as art or creative writing. He still is outstanding at every topic (as evidenced by his Palmacosta Academy scene), but nonetheless he prefers subjects with more clear outcomes and processes. This is of course another way our dynamic sort of mirrors/matches one another. I do pretty well with academics, albiet I do fall somewhat short of Genis' achievements, but I like the exact opposite topics. I absolutely love subjectivity in art, philosophy, culture, writing, etc. And while I can succeed in subjects like math fairly comfortably, my passions lie exact opposite to Genis' strengths.

Cooking is something we also both like. Besides Genis being shown as an excellent cook, you can get a good idea of his preferences in food thanks to the wonderful way cooking works in Symphonia. Each character has likes and dislikes and may perform better at cooking their favorite foods. They'll also add their own ingredients to recipes so you can see exactly how they like their meals prepared. And wouldn't you know it? Genis and I have very similar tastes. Genis will add cheese and/or milk to basically EVERYTHING; we both love dairy.Spagetti with cheese is my favorite food, and of course Genis makes his the same way. Also, again shown in the novel, he loves sweets and adds loads of sugar and cream to his coffee, just like I do.