Goshhhhh. Okay, so, Lloyd is introduced as your really stereotypical dumb boy protag! And this is not a lie. He falls asleep in class and jokes around with his friends and says stupid things when they come to mind and his whole party abuses him for being a moron, and all this is very genuine. He's hot-headed and stubborn and believes in justice and optimism and being all you can be! It's all very derp.
Despite the derp, however, Lloyd is super self-possessed all the time, because he basically has complete self-confidence. This also makes him very ruthless. He kills people without it even phasing him if he thinks it's the right thing to do, he's incredibly pushy in all his relationships at some level because he thinks he's right, and he decides to change the world on the strength of "I don't think it should be this way." He has trouble with regrets or guilt. He can admit it when he makes mistakes, but because he feels strong enough in himself to change his course to being more right, not because he thinks he was wrong per se. He knows who he is and what he wants, and it takes an awful lot for him to give any fucks about a path he thinks is stupid.
He'd honestly be a kind of terrible person if not for the fact that he super loves people. People are awesome! He's an extrovert's extrovert; just being around people being people makes him happy. He has enormous faith in people to basically be okay somewhere even if they're being douchebags. He can kill at need and without regrets but his friends and acquaintances can get all the trust and admiration from him, because he genuinely thinks they are awesome! And he is Lloyd so he is right, obviously.
It's interesting to see how being a stubborn jerk of a jesus gets parsed into being a hero. Lloyd ends up the leader of the party not because he's selected or because it's originally his initiative in any way, but because the Chosen, who is the leader of the party, is pretty clearly just. Used to deferring decisions to Lloyd all the time, since she is a people-pleaser and he is him and they grew up with each other. Eventually when Lloyd decides they should ragequit the Chosen system and save Colette, they keep following him because no one really liked the Chosen system, but he's the only one confident that they absolutely must be able to change it somehow. And part of it is that he's confident they can change it — he loves his party and most everyone in Symphonia has existential issues and needs a lot of love and validation.
The way the game itself frames it is that Lloyd is a hero who keeps pushing on through everything, which is not always great — Kratos explicitly points out that he could have been another Mithos if he was less willing to stop, back up, and acknowledge and take responsibility for his fuckups. In ToS:DotNW, Emil, the new protagonist, kind of acts as his opposite in that he's a hero that can only accomplish his journey through not knowing who he was and discovering it; Lloyd is the protagonist who just hits the world with a sword till it does what he wants without looking back.
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Despite the derp, however, Lloyd is super self-possessed all the time, because he basically has complete self-confidence. This also makes him very ruthless. He kills people without it even phasing him if he thinks it's the right thing to do, he's incredibly pushy in all his relationships at some level because he thinks he's right, and he decides to change the world on the strength of "I don't think it should be this way." He has trouble with regrets or guilt. He can admit it when he makes mistakes, but because he feels strong enough in himself to change his course to being more right, not because he thinks he was wrong per se. He knows who he is and what he wants, and it takes an awful lot for him to give any fucks about a path he thinks is stupid.
He'd honestly be a kind of terrible person if not for the fact that he super loves people. People are awesome! He's an extrovert's extrovert; just being around people being people makes him happy. He has enormous faith in people to basically be okay somewhere even if they're being douchebags. He can kill at need and without regrets but his friends and acquaintances can get all the trust and admiration from him, because he genuinely thinks they are awesome! And he is Lloyd so he is right, obviously.
It's interesting to see how being a stubborn jerk of a jesus gets parsed into being a hero. Lloyd ends up the leader of the party not because he's selected or because it's originally his initiative in any way, but because the Chosen, who is the leader of the party, is pretty clearly just. Used to deferring decisions to Lloyd all the time, since she is a people-pleaser and he is him and they grew up with each other. Eventually when Lloyd decides they should ragequit the Chosen system and save Colette, they keep following him because no one really liked the Chosen system, but he's the only one confident that they absolutely must be able to change it somehow. And part of it is that he's confident they can change it — he loves his party and most everyone in Symphonia has existential issues and needs a lot of love and validation.
The way the game itself frames it is that Lloyd is a hero who keeps pushing on through everything, which is not always great — Kratos explicitly points out that he could have been another Mithos if he was less willing to stop, back up, and acknowledge and take responsibility for his fuckups. In ToS:DotNW, Emil, the new protagonist, kind of acts as his opposite in that he's a hero that can only accomplish his journey through not knowing who he was and discovering it; Lloyd is the protagonist who just hits the world with a sword till it does what he wants without looking back.
REVERSE FOR YURI!