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A summary of localization changes to Henry's character
I believe I've gone through every bit of text related to Henry in the Japanese by this point. So here's a post I need to get out of the way so it can be used as a reference when I fic him off the Japanese.
1. Personality
In the Japanese, Henry never tells a single pun to my recollection. He doesn't joke often either -- the only one to my recollection is the one in his supports with Frederick. He makes precisely two references to blood: once as a part of hell symbolism, and once mundanely in Henry/Olivia B. Nor does he ever express desiring a gruesome death.3 In fact he goes so far as to say that pain is understandably the bad part about death, and offers to provide strangers in suffering [skim to the translation], as well as Maribelle, with a not-gruesome one. He does, however, want a painless1 death, perhaps in the midst of an awesome battle.
That's not to say that he doesn't say surprisingly macabre things. But he only does so when he's quite serious about it -- for example, volunteering to kill various people in Panne and Cordelia supports. (And every time he does say something like that, it elicits a sharp response from the other party.)
There is also nothing inherently sinister about his laugh. "Nya ha ha" was originally simply "Ahaha," which is a perfectly common way to write an open, generous laugh. Many other characters do it too -- ctrl+fing my way down the Summer of Bonds transcripts, we've got Robin, Cordelia, Liz, Vaike, Stahl, Ricken and Sumia using the very same laugh onomatopoeia. (The difference is in the context and frequency.)
Overall, my impression of Henry in the English is that he's a twisted and openly macabre Funny Guy. On the other hand, in the Japanese, he principally comes off as overly-cheerful and childish. His lines often evoke a weird kind of perverse innocence -- for example, in his very introduction, we learn that he was playing with crows, as well as talking to them, and then he starts counting off Risen like some fluffy Sesame Street host.
I say perverse innocence because his cheeriness is usually grossly inappropriate for the situation, and he usually follows it up with some statement like "I love war," or "If you can't trust me, you can just kill me," or "Have you heard about how I was raised by a wolf?2" It's clear from his introduction that he is not actually some adorable harmless airhead, but everything about his speech presents that image. He consistently uses "boku." He frequently ends sentences pluckily with emphatic particles and connectives. When he apologizes to his daughter Severa (transcript, translation), he uses a soft "gomen ne", the least manly of all apologies4. Japanese Henry is a duality of airheaded sweetness and callousness, and at any given moment, it's often easy to forget the latter part. Unlike the English, where punny blood rains down with every other line, Henry's callousness is revealed only in a few important moments. (It's probably why there's a lot more squishy fanart in Jfen, too.)
[It's difficult to summarize personalities in words that everyone will follow. I suggest picking through a few of the translations I've done of his conversations, though some of the vibe is still lost.]
It's also very much worth noting that his only big display of genuine concern for someone else was overwritten. His display of grief/clinginess in Henry/Olivia A and S is a part of him left out almost entirely by the changes to that support chain. (It's such an earnest one too, leading to actual character development and everything.)
2. Backstory
Wizard School did not happen. Mage Camp did not happen. And he probably didn't have a shrink, either. (I wonder if the 8-4 translation team played the FE4 fanpatch?)
Some time after the wolf incident, his parents sent him to an "institution,"5 where they punished children severely. (Their methods apparently included leaving them in a room with spikes on the floor)
EDIT 4/15/13: They kept the spikes to my surprise, but they made it a Wizard School thing.
It's valid to wonder where he did learn magic, of course. I think the not-mage-camp incident is a reference to the wolf incident10, given that I think his comment, "I don’t really remember much about it," is because he doesn't remember and not because he's bragging (as the localizers took it), which ties in conveniently with his attested memory blank and mass murder at that time6. If that's so, he already knew how to hex at a fairly young age. EDIT 3/3/14: The developer's remark in the comments for Henry's Nintendo Dream comment that the wolf incident was also his magical awakening.
There's no canon indication for tome magic, though I have a weird theory about it.
The other bit of backstory we have of him differs, too.
Panne/Henry B, English:
Henry: My parents abandoned me in the woods when I was little. So it was mostly the nice animals there who raised me. I still love their smell. It relaxes me in a totally nostalgic sort of way.
This was originally:
【ヘンリー】 Henry
僕、小さい頃は When I was little,
両親に放ったらかしにされてたから、my parents neglected me so
近くの森にいた、仲良しの獣に
育てられたようなものなんだよね～。 I was sorta raised by my beast friend in the nearby forest.
This is pretty ambiguous, but his description of the same incident from his Olivia B support reads:
ん～、両親は僕のこと
どうでもよかったみたいだよ～。 Nah~ my parents didn't seem to care about what happened to me~
物心ついたときから From my first moment of awareness
放ったらかしにされて育ったし～、I was raised with neglect~
His choice of words here implies that his parents did "raise" him, that is, they played a role in his life, but while they did "raise" him they were incredibly negligent in their duties. Hence it fell upon the wolf to actually nurture him.7 So I don't think he was exactly "abandoned in the woods" per se.
3. Other Stuff/Not Localized Yet
Henry has a bit of a self-destructive streak. It's mentioned in his recruitment, but of course in that context it's hard to know how serious he is. But he later mentions it again in his heart to heart with his son, so he's probably serious in both. (Actually, I'd wager to say that he means nearly all of the crazy shit he says in the Japanese. He is such a oversharer.) He also professes to have considered lovers' suicide if he is married to the Avatar and the Chrom ending is chosen.
Also, the Future of Despair DLCs provide several moments in which Henry says self-effacing things8 about being a father9.
While he's not screaming about how he loves horrible stuff in the Japanese, there is one rather sadistic line in his Harvest of Bonds conversation with Ricken. Apparently he likes the ~pleasant feeling~ of dark magic (:D)! Even killing with dark magic feels different(:D)! Also nothing else fries over your emotional capabilities quite like it, except for heroin, which perhaps has not yet been discovered in Ylisse. (:D?)
Regarding morality, that conversation with Legion is more vague in the original. For what it's worth, he calls himself selfish when talking to Libra in their Summer of Bonds convo.
And, um, that's all I have off the top of my head. I guess if anyone has any questions I'll edit them in here.
EDIT 4/12/13: Oh, I almost forgot. For those of you interested in weird sex headcanon: J!Henry seems to not know how babies are made while E!Henry does.
EDIT 4/13/13: I was asked for my opinion on why the localization team changed Henry's character and so you can see my thoughts on that over there.
EDIT 4/24/13: It occurs to me that by altering his confession line they also take out one of the biggest hints of Henry's self-awareness.
EDIT 3/29/14: I've put together an index of all the translations (and essays) I've done for Henry, for reference.
1 Barracks conversation. His response to being asked about his dreams: "My dream's probably a death without suffering~ / I might not look it, but I hate pain~" [夢は、苦しまずに死ぬことかな～。 / 僕、こう見えて痛いの嫌いなんだ～。▼]
2 This translation (and others by![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
kakuseis) is not mine, but it is accurate.
3 For example, Lost Bloodlines 3:
English
Henry: Ooh! You look tough! I'm going to get splattered all over the place!
Merric: Er, if you know that, ought you not surrender? Ought you not leave?
Henry: What, and miss the best part? Not a chance! Nya ha ha!
Japanese
【ヘンリー】 Henry
あはは、強そうな相手だなあ。 Ahaha, this opponent looks strong, huh.
僕、負けちゃうんじゃないかなあ。 Hmm, it looks like I'm going to lose.
【マリク】 Merric
？ 調子が狂うな…負けると思うなら ? Don't get caught up in the moment... If you think you're going to lose, then
この地から去った方がいい。 you should leave this place.
【ヘンリー】 Henry
でも、それはできないんだよね～。 But I can't do that, you know~
だから戦おうよ。じゃ、いくよ～。 So let's fight. Well, here I go~
4 For example, "warukatta," "sumanai," etc. Not that it's unthinkable for a male to use "gomen ne" (Yanni Yogi does it in the Phoenix Wright movie), but it's very tender coming from a guy.
5 This word, 施設 (shisetsu), is never clarified. By itself it just means institution, facility -- it could plausibly refer to an orphanage or a reformatory or something quite else, though it's unlikely to refer to an asylum as those are all classified as 病院 (hospitals).
EDIT 9/9/13: Contemporary Japanese "orphanages," places where children are raised by the state, can be referred to in common speech as 施設. (The twins' aunt uses the word this way in Marumo no Okite, Episode 1.) However, I maintain that Henry is not referring to some kind of cute cuddly family business a la Lucius and Libra -- Lugh refers to his orphanage (in A support with Raigh) as 孤児院 (gojiin), and Libra's epilogue uses the same word. I think the shisetsu word is meant to imply that it's a state institution meant for raising children, possibly with the difference being that the parents don't legally surrender the child so much as dump them there to be raised, hence Olivia's remark of "why didn't they come back for you?" Still, whatever that place was, it did have spikes, so I'd hesitate to assume that these Plegian child dumping grounds are anything... normal.
6 From his B support with Cherche:
【ヘンリー】 Henry
そのときは頭が真っ白になったよ～。 Then, my mind went totally blank~
周りの人たちにも当り散らして…。 and I'd taken my anger out on the people around me...
(The English goes so far as to explicitly say that he had his blood vengeance.)
7 This, intriguingly, mirrors a real life case of the only confirmed "wolf child" -- Oxana Malaya, whose alcoholic parents failed to notice she went missing and was living among the dogs they kept. The dogs kept her warm and fed her bits of raw meat and what they could forage out of the trash. ... Yeah, child neglect is really pleasant.
8 To Kjelle:
[ヘンリー] Henry
そうなんだ～。 Is that so~
でも、何となくわかる気がするよ。▼ But I think I get what you mean.
僕はソワレと結ばれて After being with Sully,
少し変わった気はしてるんだ。▼ I think I'm changing a little.
きっとこの優しい気持ちを育てて、 Certainly, if I fostered such kind feelings [in you],
将来もっと変わっていくんじゃないかな？▼ I'll change even more in the future, huh?
9 He also seems very serious when he apologizes to Severa for being a brainless flake of a dad (her words, not mine).
10 As a really really trivial point, he didn't specify that the wolf was shot dead by arrows.
1. Personality
In the Japanese, Henry never tells a single pun to my recollection. He doesn't joke often either -- the only one to my recollection is the one in his supports with Frederick. He makes precisely two references to blood: once as a part of hell symbolism, and once mundanely in Henry/Olivia B. Nor does he ever express desiring a gruesome death.3 In fact he goes so far as to say that pain is understandably the bad part about death, and offers to provide strangers in suffering [skim to the translation], as well as Maribelle, with a not-gruesome one. He does, however, want a painless1 death, perhaps in the midst of an awesome battle.
That's not to say that he doesn't say surprisingly macabre things. But he only does so when he's quite serious about it -- for example, volunteering to kill various people in Panne and Cordelia supports. (And every time he does say something like that, it elicits a sharp response from the other party.)
There is also nothing inherently sinister about his laugh. "Nya ha ha" was originally simply "Ahaha," which is a perfectly common way to write an open, generous laugh. Many other characters do it too -- ctrl+fing my way down the Summer of Bonds transcripts, we've got Robin, Cordelia, Liz, Vaike, Stahl, Ricken and Sumia using the very same laugh onomatopoeia. (The difference is in the context and frequency.)
Overall, my impression of Henry in the English is that he's a twisted and openly macabre Funny Guy. On the other hand, in the Japanese, he principally comes off as overly-cheerful and childish. His lines often evoke a weird kind of perverse innocence -- for example, in his very introduction, we learn that he was playing with crows, as well as talking to them, and then he starts counting off Risen like some fluffy Sesame Street host.
I say perverse innocence because his cheeriness is usually grossly inappropriate for the situation, and he usually follows it up with some statement like "I love war," or "If you can't trust me, you can just kill me," or "Have you heard about how I was raised by a wolf?2" It's clear from his introduction that he is not actually some adorable harmless airhead, but everything about his speech presents that image. He consistently uses "boku." He frequently ends sentences pluckily with emphatic particles and connectives. When he apologizes to his daughter Severa (transcript, translation), he uses a soft "gomen ne", the least manly of all apologies4. Japanese Henry is a duality of airheaded sweetness and callousness, and at any given moment, it's often easy to forget the latter part. Unlike the English, where punny blood rains down with every other line, Henry's callousness is revealed only in a few important moments. (It's probably why there's a lot more squishy fanart in Jfen, too.)
[It's difficult to summarize personalities in words that everyone will follow. I suggest picking through a few of the translations I've done of his conversations, though some of the vibe is still lost.]
It's also very much worth noting that his only big display of genuine concern for someone else was overwritten. His display of grief/clinginess in Henry/Olivia A and S is a part of him left out almost entirely by the changes to that support chain. (It's such an earnest one too, leading to actual character development and everything.)
2. Backstory
Wizard School did not happen. Mage Camp did not happen. And he probably didn't have a shrink, either. (I wonder if the 8-4 translation team played the FE4 fanpatch?)
Some time after the wolf incident, his parents sent him to an "institution,"5 where they punished children severely. (Their methods apparently included leaving them in a room with spikes on the floor)
EDIT 4/15/13: They kept the spikes to my surprise, but they made it a Wizard School thing.
It's valid to wonder where he did learn magic, of course. I think the not-mage-camp incident is a reference to the wolf incident10, given that I think his comment, "I don’t really remember much about it," is because he doesn't remember and not because he's bragging (as the localizers took it), which ties in conveniently with his attested memory blank and mass murder at that time6. If that's so, he already knew how to hex at a fairly young age. EDIT 3/3/14: The developer's remark in the comments for Henry's Nintendo Dream comment that the wolf incident was also his magical awakening.
There's no canon indication for tome magic, though I have a weird theory about it.
The other bit of backstory we have of him differs, too.
Panne/Henry B, English:
Henry: My parents abandoned me in the woods when I was little. So it was mostly the nice animals there who raised me. I still love their smell. It relaxes me in a totally nostalgic sort of way.
This was originally:
【ヘンリー】 Henry
僕、小さい頃は When I was little,
両親に放ったらかしにされてたから、my parents neglected me so
近くの森にいた、仲良しの獣に
育てられたようなものなんだよね～。 I was sorta raised by my beast friend in the nearby forest.
This is pretty ambiguous, but his description of the same incident from his Olivia B support reads:
ん～、両親は僕のこと
どうでもよかったみたいだよ～。 Nah~ my parents didn't seem to care about what happened to me~
物心ついたときから From my first moment of awareness
放ったらかしにされて育ったし～、I was raised with neglect~
His choice of words here implies that his parents did "raise" him, that is, they played a role in his life, but while they did "raise" him they were incredibly negligent in their duties. Hence it fell upon the wolf to actually nurture him.7 So I don't think he was exactly "abandoned in the woods" per se.
3. Other Stuff/Not Localized Yet
Henry has a bit of a self-destructive streak. It's mentioned in his recruitment, but of course in that context it's hard to know how serious he is. But he later mentions it again in his heart to heart with his son, so he's probably serious in both. (Actually, I'd wager to say that he means nearly all of the crazy shit he says in the Japanese. He is such a oversharer.) He also professes to have considered lovers' suicide if he is married to the Avatar and the Chrom ending is chosen.
Also, the Future of Despair DLCs provide several moments in which Henry says self-effacing things8 about being a father9.
While he's not screaming about how he loves horrible stuff in the Japanese, there is one rather sadistic line in his Harvest of Bonds conversation with Ricken. Apparently he likes the ~pleasant feeling~ of dark magic (:D)! Even killing with dark magic feels different(:D)! Also nothing else fries over your emotional capabilities quite like it, except for heroin, which perhaps has not yet been discovered in Ylisse. (:D?)
Regarding morality, that conversation with Legion is more vague in the original. For what it's worth, he calls himself selfish when talking to Libra in their Summer of Bonds convo.
And, um, that's all I have off the top of my head. I guess if anyone has any questions I'll edit them in here.
EDIT 4/12/13: Oh, I almost forgot. For those of you interested in weird sex headcanon: J!Henry seems to not know how babies are made while E!Henry does.
EDIT 4/13/13: I was asked for my opinion on why the localization team changed Henry's character and so you can see my thoughts on that over there.
EDIT 4/24/13: It occurs to me that by altering his confession line they also take out one of the biggest hints of Henry's self-awareness.
EDIT 3/29/14: I've put together an index of all the translations (and essays) I've done for Henry, for reference.
1 Barracks conversation. His response to being asked about his dreams: "My dream's probably a death without suffering~ / I might not look it, but I hate pain~" [夢は、苦しまずに死ぬことかな～。 / 僕、こう見えて痛いの嫌いなんだ～。▼]
2 This translation (and others by
kakuseis) is not mine, but it is accurate.3 For example, Lost Bloodlines 3:
English
Henry: Ooh! You look tough! I'm going to get splattered all over the place!
Merric: Er, if you know that, ought you not surrender? Ought you not leave?
Henry: What, and miss the best part? Not a chance! Nya ha ha!
Japanese
【ヘンリー】 Henry
あはは、強そうな相手だなあ。 Ahaha, this opponent looks strong, huh.
僕、負けちゃうんじゃないかなあ。 Hmm, it looks like I'm going to lose.
【マリク】 Merric
？ 調子が狂うな…負けると思うなら ? Don't get caught up in the moment... If you think you're going to lose, then
この地から去った方がいい。 you should leave this place.
【ヘンリー】 Henry
でも、それはできないんだよね～。 But I can't do that, you know~
だから戦おうよ。じゃ、いくよ～。 So let's fight. Well, here I go~
4 For example, "warukatta," "sumanai," etc. Not that it's unthinkable for a male to use "gomen ne" (Yanni Yogi does it in the Phoenix Wright movie), but it's very tender coming from a guy.
5 This word, 施設 (shisetsu), is never clarified. By itself it just means institution, facility -- it could plausibly refer to an orphanage or a reformatory or something quite else, though it's unlikely to refer to an asylum as those are all classified as 病院 (hospitals).
EDIT 9/9/13: Contemporary Japanese "orphanages," places where children are raised by the state, can be referred to in common speech as 施設. (The twins' aunt uses the word this way in Marumo no Okite, Episode 1.) However, I maintain that Henry is not referring to some kind of cute cuddly family business a la Lucius and Libra -- Lugh refers to his orphanage (in A support with Raigh) as 孤児院 (gojiin), and Libra's epilogue uses the same word. I think the shisetsu word is meant to imply that it's a state institution meant for raising children, possibly with the difference being that the parents don't legally surrender the child so much as dump them there to be raised, hence Olivia's remark of "why didn't they come back for you?" Still, whatever that place was, it did have spikes, so I'd hesitate to assume that these Plegian child dumping grounds are anything... normal.
6 From his B support with Cherche:
【ヘンリー】 Henry
そのときは頭が真っ白になったよ～。 Then, my mind went totally blank~
周りの人たちにも当り散らして…。 and I'd taken my anger out on the people around me...
(The English goes so far as to explicitly say that he had his blood vengeance.)
7 This, intriguingly, mirrors a real life case of the only confirmed "wolf child" -- Oxana Malaya, whose alcoholic parents failed to notice she went missing and was living among the dogs they kept. The dogs kept her warm and fed her bits of raw meat and what they could forage out of the trash. ... Yeah, child neglect is really pleasant.
8 To Kjelle:
[ヘンリー] Henry
そうなんだ～。 Is that so~
でも、何となくわかる気がするよ。▼ But I think I get what you mean.
僕はソワレと結ばれて After being with Sully,
少し変わった気はしてるんだ。▼ I think I'm changing a little.
きっとこの優しい気持ちを育てて、 Certainly, if I fostered such kind feelings [in you],
将来もっと変わっていくんじゃないかな？▼ I'll change even more in the future, huh?
9 He also seems very serious when he apologizes to Severa for being a brainless flake of a dad (her words, not mine).
10 As a really really trivial point, he didn't specify that the wolf was shot dead by arrows.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-04-13 02:21 am (UTC)(link)no subject
I do find English Henry endearing. I liked the puns (still do) and their badness just tickled my sense of humor. I liked E!Henry enough to take a closer look. ... And then J!Henry was nearly instantly my favorite. So yeah, I like E!Henry but I'm sad that he replaced J!Henry.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2013-04-24 12:31 am (UTC)(link)It's great insight for me as I'm trying to write a fic (Henry and the Avatar; my deepest apologies, Olivia) and I took on this daunting task to sort of blend both E!Henry and J!Henry. Just- Henry, you are a lovable character all around.
no subject
Incidentally, Henry says some interesting things to the Avatar. One is after she expresses surprise at his proposal, and he says "If you think I only do what people tell me to do, that's a big mistake~" (wtf are you implying Henry), and the other is his proposal: "I will absolutely make you happy. My love is suffocating, so be ready."
no subject
I'll be in a corner crying about my life and choices.
(Also hello and thank you for doing all that work wow)
no subject
Also wow hi didn't you used to write Ike/Soren fic?
no subject
I do ship it a lot though so you might have seen me commenting on fic/commenting with meta
But yes I'm utterly in love now sob