Tsundere is an anime word for a universal trope
Can someone please explain what that word means? I see it being used to describe Shadowheart, but I have been out of the anime fan scene for many years and the word wasn't around/popular when I was an anime fan.
It's a portamanue of japanese: 'tsun-tsun' (cranky) and dere-dere (affectionate). A tsundere character (usually female) that's initially cold/standoffish or even outright hostile to (usually) one specific person, but is actually an affectionate person inside and eventually warms to them. It's a very popular trope in japanese media, hence it's japaense term has wound up in western culture. It has since mutated into someone who really likes someone else, and does their absolute best to hide/deny it.
Shadowheart's a textbook example of the
original incarnation, with the pod-freeing bit essentially setting where the slider is between the tsun and the dere-if you don't free her from the pod and then romance her, she's
the definition of a tsundere towards Tav. She even has a selection line where she voices worry at how she's developing feelings which I believe is tied to her approval with Tav.
Ignoring tav and focusing on tieflings, she tries to keep herself emotionally detatched but her empathy of being a street urchin struggling to survive makes her resonate with the children. Regardless of the fate the tiefling refugees ultimately have, Shadowhearts reaction shows that undernearth the cool exterior is someone who cared about them.
As an aside, assuming she becomes outwardly, obviously affectionate and caring towards a romanced Tav in the full game (
HA!), Lae'zel is the more modern depiction of a tsundere, where it's become outright abusive. Tsunderes arent bad, of course. No trope is, I mean look at Astarion, who is (to me anyway) a textbook 'byronic hero'; a walking prettyboy that's 'mad, bad, dangerous to know,' and someone I wouldn't want to leave alone with woman (or man) in a room. He's *adored* by
twilight fans females and gentlemen with a more masculine taste in partners. Wyll is rocking the "Hero with a dark secret", ect.
[quote=benglynstone97]
Also, a lot of Shadowheart's one-to-one dialogue is approval sensitive - especially in the beginning before reaching the Grove.
If you don't save her from the pod, but avoid any disapproval with her in the beginning, she's pretty trusting of you despite that.
If you do save her from the pod, but get a bit of disapproval from recruiting Lae'zel, she will be suspicious of you. It can feel very topsy turvy in the beginning if you don't know that approval is what's changing her tone and not whether or not you saved her. It's still a bit odd though because the only way to get disapproval from SH that early on is to recruit Lae specifically while SH is in the party.
That's very interesting, I hadn't noticed that.
