Fern's Personality

[Aikofox]

So is it just me or is Fern a lot less hateable in e19? I finally got around to downloading e19 and started a new save file to see all the changes and just paired up with him in Mosswater. It's early days yet but I remember his intro dialogue being a lot more aggressive. I hated him pretty much from the first but now he feels a lot less nasty for lack of a better word. Sure he still has that monstrous ego, but he seems more justifiably annoyed at being interrupted than out and out confrontational. Am I remembering e18 Fern wrong or did he really get a tone down?

[SharlaSmith44]

I still despise Fern, so no, he doesn't seem less hateble. That's just me, though. He is less aggressive at first. Then he becomes his usual douche-y self at about you get to Jasper.

[Aikofox]

Good to know. I wasn't sure what I'd do if I couldn't play the game with my seething hatred for the little prick.

[AlyssaR]

I think that it's less that he's less hateable and more that in EP19 that there's a more clear buildup to why he's an asshat. He basically just started being an asshat towards the player for no reason pre-E19 but afterwards there's a visible buildup such as him getting his moment of glory interrupted by the player at the Blackstream Factory and whatnot while some of his moments such as the one in Beryl Bridge has been toned down.

 

He's still an asshat, but it's just that now his asshat-ness is at more realistic levels and there's more depth to why he's an asshat.

[Oscarus]

18 hours ago, SharlaSmith44 said:

I still despise Fern, so no, he doesn't seem less hateble.

He's just very, very jealous - MC has a natural talent when it comes to Pokemon battling 

Spoiler

(well... we could say it was "passed down" from our "mother"),

 and we are generally more liked than him. 

There are reasons behind it, 'course. Firstly, they rarely talk, and when they do, it's quite laconic and usually about events, not people. Fern, on the other hand, always tries to prove his worth,

Spoiler

to show he isn't worse or more incompetent than Florinia, as he thinks the community think of him. But most of the time, it backfired, and the results were even more tragic - like when he actually forgot about sister's birthday, was without a present, but tried to get it from the ones who bullied her, with a grain of some ass-whoopin'; two in the price of one. While his intentions were... questionably noble... the results had him become a laughing stock (but being able to defeat two upperclassmen at once in fist-to-fist combat was impressive; and as someone who was forced to bare fight several teenagers while in elementary school, once even 10vs1, no kidding; is worth of at least some compliment) 

Also, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through to the top, rather lingering at the bottom (I guess having more successful older sibling, who was at the top, puts a lot of pressure; again, speaking from experience... as I used to be that older sibling). Expectations crushed him, and so he became obsessed with being at the top so no once could complain about his successes (...you get the idea...)

 

Are his actions and motives understandable? Yeah, I think so.

Are his actions and motives justifiable? Ummmmmmm, that's complicated.At the beginning, with him being a mildly-annoying asshole, I could see that he's a little salty, and had a sour life. After joining Team Meteor, I was "Jealous much, Ferny loser?"... although his comments about Aya had me a bit furious, wishing for a minute to tear apart the barrier with my bare hands and snap his neck. But in the Victory Road...

Spoiler

he legitimately tried to MURDER MC! Like... SERIOUSLY!

To be fair, he isn't the only one - Solaris had his Garchomp decapitate them, and then Amaria is Reshiram Route locked us away in a water-filled room, to have us drowned. To be fair, one is a fairly depressed, misguided and emotionally shambled old man, and the other is a mentally ill yandere, but Fern, like, is he so jealous and desperate that he wanted to kill us just so he could have the self-confidence boost? ^what?

 

Spoiler

I guess that needed some redemption arc~, or some shit, and this version of him deserved some love... but he went definitely went too far; for a worthless scrub, Fern was doing lot and talking even more. Yet his own hubris was the cause of his downfall - personally, I like the Zekrom version of the scene more: a) he was tricked, he was backstabbed, and he was, quite posssibly, bamboozled, b) Lin basically showed how little is he worth in her grand scheme; instead of Reshiram's version, where she leaves damaged tool, she threw it out herself, signifying that she was going to do this either way, c) Titania has already done enough damage to Sevilla siblings, no need to put more oil to the fire. 

 

Spoiler

I think he has learned his lesson. Also, no one was hurt because of his actions directly (well... physically at the very least), yet I still question giving him Gym Leader position. I know that MC and Adrienn thought that it could help his stabilize, and with Florinia resigning (I assume she did that for Fern, and for her to find a true purpose in life), there aren't many good Grass specialists in Reborn - the only one left would be Laura, the Heavenly King of Reborn League, so... Fern it is. 

The location of the Gym is a little wonky as well... choosing the building in which you have died and have been resurrected, but whatever bro. 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Oscarus
I've gone a little too far

[SharlaSmith44]

1 hour ago, Oscarus said:

-snip-

None of that excuses his bullying, asshole-ish behavior to me. I've been a victim of bullies like him (not to THAT degree, thankfully), so I know bullies when I see them. He also said some...crude things about Cory's suicide that I can't forgive him for.

All in all, I will never not hate him.

[Rendolf]

2 hours ago, Oscarus said:

He's just very, very jealous - MC has a natural talent when it comes to Pokemon battling (well... we could say it was "passed down" from our "mother"), and we are generally more liked than him. 

 

There are reasons behind it, 'course. Firstly, they rarely talk, and when they do, it's quite laconic and usually about events, not people. Fern, on the other hand, always tries to prove his worth, to show he isn't worse or more incompetent than Florinia, as he thinks the community think of him. But most of the time, it backfired, and the results were even more tragic - like when he actually forgot about sister's birthday, was without a present, but tried to get it from the ones who bullied her, with a grain of some ass-whoopin'; two in the price of one. While his intentions were... questionably noble... the results had him become a laughing stock (but being able to defeat two upperclassmen at once in fist-to-fist combat was impressive; and as someone who was forced to bare fight several teenagers while in elementary school, once even 10vs1, no kidding; is worth of at least some compliment) 

Also, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break through to the top, rather lingering at the bottom (I guess having more successful older sibling, who was at the top, puts a lot of pressure; again, speaking from experience... as I used to be that older sibling). Expectations crushed him, and so he became obsessed with being at the top so no once could complain about his successes (...you get the idea...)

 

Are his actions and motives understandable? Yeah, I think so.

Are his actions and motives justifiable? Ummmmmmm, that's complicated.

At the beginning, with him being a mildly-annoying asshole, I could see that he's a little salty, and had a sour life. After joining Team Meteor, I was "Jealous much, Ferny loser?"... although his comments about Aya had me a bit furious, wishing for a minute to tear apart the barrier with my bare hands and snap his neck. But in the Victory Road... he legitimately tried to MURDER MC! Like... SERIOUSLY!

To be fair, he isn't the only one - Solaris had his Garchomp decapitate them, and then Amaria is Reshiram Route locked us away in a water-filled room, to have us drowned. To be fair, one is a fairly depressed, misguided and emotionally shambled old man, and the other is a mentally ill yandere, but Fern, like, is he so jealous and desperate that he wanted to kill us just so he could have the self-confidence boost? ^what?

 

I guess that needed some redemption arc~, or some shit, and this version of him deserved some love... but he went definitely went too far; for a worthless scrub, Fern was doing lot and talking even more. Yet his own hubris was the cause of his downfall - personally, I like the Zekrom version of the scene more: a) he was tricked, he was backstabbed, and he was, quite posssibly, bamboozled, b) Lin basically showed how little is he worth in her grand scheme; instead of Reshiram's version, where she leaves damaged tool, she threw it out herself, signifying that she was going to do this either way, c) Titania has already done enough damage to Sevilla siblings, no need to put more oil to the fire. 

 

I think he has learned his lesson. Also, no one was hurt because of his actions directly (well... physically at the very least), yet I still question giving him Gym Leader position. I know that MC and Adrienn thought that it could help his stabilize, and with Florinia resigning (I assume she did that for Fern, and for her to find a true purpose in life), there aren't many good Grass specialists in Reborn - the only one left would be Laura, the Heavenly King of Reborn League, so... Fern it is. 

The location of the Gym is a little wonky as well... choosing the building in which you have died and have been resurrected, but whatever bro. 

OP said they started a new save file and had only just passed Mosswater, so maybe cool it a bit on the endgame spoilers

[Oscarus]

6 minutes ago, Rendolf said:

OP said they started a new save file and had only just passed Mosswater, so maybe cool it a bit on the endgame spoilers

Whhops 

I get a little ahead

Sorry

 

[GrovyleTheThief]

Personaly, Fern is probably one the most poorly written characters I've ever seen. For one, he literally dosen't redeem himself at all and the build-up to his development is like super rushed. And two, he just disappears and reappears a little too much like most of the cast in Reborn. I just wish Fern and most of the cast were more consistent but whatever. And we never really know his past since the game barely talks about it.