He has green stripes, like the ones Hiro has on his face. It probably has nothing to do with that, but grandpa Gwyn IS Hiro's grandfather (we think) so uhh...Hiro's green stripes could be some sort of beast-remnants. Or not. I just thought it was interesting that they're the same. Or maybe they both just have green stripe tattoos (because they're so signifigant).
Actually, I believe that the Vile Tripe and beastmen paint themselves, while humans don't. This has lead to speculation that Hiro is a remnant of the Vile Tribe, as grandpa Gwyn isn't Hiro's Biological grandfather (if I recall correctly.)
However, if GG is part beastmen, it could be possible that Hiro adapted the tradition of body paint. Or he's like other teenagers and just has to get a cool tattoo....
- "Sometimes life smiles when it kicks you down. The trick is to smile back."
Well, I don't remember them ever saying that Gwyn was his adopted grandfather, but it's just assumed by many. I think.
But Jessica's brown stripes weren't painted on, just like Leo's facial stripes. They're just there because they're beast-people. So I don't really know of any Lunar 1 and Lunar 2 instances where a beast person painted themselves. As for the Vile Tribe, I don't know if that's biologically there or painted, but if they were trying to HIDE that they were of the Vile Tribe (like how they didn't show their ears) why would they continue to paint themselves, and wouldn't someone be suspicious?
I think for the Vile Tribe they might be tattoos, but for the beast people, I just think it's one of the attributes they can have. Funky ears, buttony noses, a horn, pointy teeth, facial stripes, ...that's about all there is. And excessive hair on the guys. The stuff that's not a natural color, like for the Vile Tribe, might be tattoos.
I believe it was Shigema that mentioned Gwyn is not Hiro's grandfather, in the interview. He also mentioned that they really didn't write any background on Gwyn.
That is something they could have done in Eternal Blue Complete, but they didn't utilize the opportunity to shed some light on his history.
Well, every humanoid in the Vile Tribe has the markings. But, the demonic-looking beings are also part of the Vile Tribe, leading me to believe that those with sufficient magical ability can easily change their appearance, and so adopt the human look as standard.
More of Lunar: Dragon Song might shed light on this, but to avoid spoilers I can't say anything more than what I knew beforehand. KF
Er, don't make assumptions about the setting and storyline of Dragon Song. It takes place a thousand years before Lunar 1, after all.
Re the Vile Tribe and markings, in the Vheen manga there's another of Ghaleon's race with the markings, and looking quite human. I'm therefore more inclined to take things the other way...that they'd normally be humanlike, but perhaps life in the Frontier tended to alter their appearance. Perhaps Xenobia/Royce/Phacia's magic allowed them to retain their humanoid appearance. The first instance of Phacia in the Lunar literature was as the parent of a half-mazoku child, so it seems pretty unlikely that her natural form would be a monster. I think that and Xenobia's design indicates that the designers intended those three to have a natural humanlike appearance.
As I've commented before, the Magic School manga and presumably the games indicate that body paint is used to learn/augment certain spells (I know there's a scene of one of the girls being painted in the game). Perhaps the markings are related to the Vile Tribe being able to cast magic instantly or just their greater magic in general. Whether the markings amplify their power or simply indicate that they have that power (in other words, whether or not they were born with them), I couldn't say .
Angelalex242 wrote:Beastmen don't normally have colored markings. And the Vile Tribe is still banished.
So the green tatoos are likely just a leadership symbol. He IS the guy in charge.
Not likely. First, the Vile Tribe isn't banished in Lunar: DS; they were banished about 500 years after then. Second, Hiro's no leader, and Mel had no markings, so the tattoos wouldn't be a leadership symbol either. KF
I think Toshiyuki uses markings for aesthetics more than anything. None of the characters, aside from those in Magic School actually explain the use of the markings, so I don't see them having a real purpose. You can speculate over and over, but in the end they are simply unique character markings.
Honestly, there's so much conflicting dates on when the Vile Tribe was banished (or even if they were), and the whole Magic Empire deal, that it's impossible to really figure it out.
Honestly, I assumed the Vile Tribe WAS banished to the Frontier at Lunar: DS's time. They seem to all be on the Frontier in this game.
Why would they live in the Frontier if they're not banished? Is it so that they can operate outside of Althena's magical radius? I mean, if they'd been living in the Frontier the whole time anyway, then why was the banishment so bad?
Let those who war with life forfeit their own! -- Mareg, Grandia II
***SPOILER FOR DRAGON SONG***
[spoiler]
The Frontier is clearly beyond the reach of the power of Althena. That's the only way the Vile Tribe can adequately gain power without interference, Ignatius included. But, they're not banished, since they can easily cross the Sangrid Bridge, which is what they did to attack the Shrine to Althena.
[/spoiler]
really I have to say when it comes to Hiro, his tattos really just seem to be something the designer just wanted to put there, because we have no real idea of what Hiro's past is, we could speculate forever.
