Asellus (SaGa Frontier character)

Asellus is a character from the game SaGa Frontier.

Biography

Asellus was born as a human but becomes half-human, half-mystic when one day, while on an errand for her aunt, she is run over by a carriage. The carriage belongs to Lord Orlouge -- a powerful mystic and ruler of Facinaturu. Asellus survives the accident thanks to an infusion of mystic blood from Lord Orlouge. This blood not only makes her half-mystic, it also ranks her as a noble mystic. She becomes "Lady Asellus," a princess of Lord Orlouge.

After the accident, Lord Orlouge brings Asellus to Facinaturu, where she remains asleep for 12 years. When she awakens, she is unaware of the passage of time as, as a half-mystic, she has not aged. Orlouge soon appoints Princess White Rose, the kindest of all of his princesses, to teach Asellus manners and Ildon to teach her about her mystic powers. When Asellus escapes from Facinaturu, she does so with the help of White Rose, who remains her close companion and eventual love interest for most of the story, and a human pilot visiting Facinaturu. Two other mystics who serve Lord Orlouge, Ciato and Prince Rastaban, both seem to be separately scheming against Lord Orlouge.

Asellus and Princess White Rose remain on the run from Orlouge's many servants, but after White Rose sacrifices herself to save Asellus's life and freedom, Asellus decides to return to Facinaturu and defeat Orlouge, to end the struggle once and for all. She is joined eventually by Ildon, who is sent by Prince Rastaban to look after her and protect her until she is strong enough to successfully overthrow Orlouge. Upon doing so, she ascends the throne of Facinaturu as the new Lord of the Mystics.

There are three different endings to Asellus' quest. To get the full-mystic ending, the player must develop Asellus' mystic abilities thorougly and not save Gina from the Griffin (notably this ending contains the one of the games only "voice audio" samples, the hauntingly wicked laughter of Asellus having taken on a much more evil persona). To get the full-human ending, the player must not develop Asellus' mystic abilities thoroughly and must save Gina from the Griffin. The player will get the half-mystic ending if he or she only partially completes the requirements for either ending.

Gay and Lesbian Overtones

Asellus and Princess White Rose gradually develop a close relationship and fall in love with one another, though existing sources conflict as to whether additional details regarding their mutual affection were censored out of the original Japanese version of the game when translated to English, and whether this relationship was genuinely romantic in nature, or the result of Asellus being emotionally confused as a result of having Orlouge's blood in her veins [[1]], [[2]]. There are strong lesbian and homosexual overtones in her scenario, including several monologues spoken by Gina, a girl who tailors Asellus's clothing, that consist largely of how strongly attracted to Asellus she is, how her heart starts pounding when they are in one another's presence, and how she is jealous of White Rose.

Another instance of Asellus's lesbianism is her reaction when discovering a pornographic magazine of nude women hidden in a bookshelf in the town of Shrike. If the player manages to find this item and is playing through Asellus's scenario, she will state that she is getting excited, and that her heart is pounding while looking through it. Also in the Half-Mystic ending Asellus takes Gina as the first of many 'brides'.[[3]].

Two additional central characters from Asellus's story, Ildon and Prince Rastaban, are homosexual male lovers [[4]].