Nomad(read his fics at FanFiction.Net, they're really good) has sent in some rebuttals and comments on my essay, The Three Seifers. I think Nomad's points are quite valid, especially on the tactical consequences of Seifer's actions at Dollet. Thanks, Nomad, for taking the time to comment. I've added a couple of comments, but other than that all words are by Nomad.

An acquaintance of mine pointed me towards your essay on Seifer, and argumentative ficcer that I am, I couldn't help but comment. You made some really good points, but I'm not quite sold on a major part of your thesis; the "Seifer as hopeless failure with everyone out to get him" element, that would be. So, I feel obligated towards rebuttal.

First, about the Dollet mission. I'd point out that from a tactical standpoint, the Central Square is probably the most important point in the city, aside from the docks, due to the fact that from there, you have access to every other point in town, including the Communications Tower. If Seifer and the others hadn't hidden when the Galbadians had come running along on the way there, they could have prevented the Comm Tower from even becoming an issue, and probably significantly altered the rest of the game. But anyway. Seifer's (and the SeeD candidates') job was to eliminate Galbadian forces inside the city. The Communications Tower was not inside the city. There were also nine SeeDs, plus Dollet forces, hanging around to take care of issues like that. The reason they didn't seem to be doing that, in my mind, was because by the time Squad B had reached the comm tower, Selphie was already on their tail with the withdraw order. Meaning, the agreement had already been reached between Dollet and Galbadia, and the SeeDs and candidates were already pulling out. Or were supposed to be. Hence, Seifer went way outside his assigned mission, and in doing so left a (literally) central area of Dollet completely unguarded, which might well have permitted the Galbadians a route by which to mount a counterattack on the beach if they'd been so inclined. That's easily grounds for dismissal in my book; what I don't get is why no one chastised Squall for supporting the action. (Lunatique: I'm guessing it was because it didn't matter whether he endorsed Seifer's actions or not. He was obligated to follow the captain's orders anyway.)

I feel like I also have to spring to the defense of Quistis and Xu. In my impression, Seifer was just looking for a fight when he went after the Communications Tower. Prior to the Galbadians appearing (who, for some reason, he hides from), he is complaining right along with Zell about how uneventful their assignment is being. Then when Squall says he supports Seifer's decision in running away from their post, Seifer replies, "You want to wreak some havoc too, don't you?" Implying that Seifer himself wants to...yeah. (And really, is it realistic to think that being a SeeD means that you fight all the time and that's all you ever do? I mean, witness Nida.) So Seifer abandoned his position because nothing interesting was happening there (although this might have something to do with his policy of hiding from the Galbadians) and decided to go off looking for someplace with more action. I think this is a pretty good sign of someone whom you can't trust to be a team player. In other words, Quistis was, I feel, correct in what she said, and Xu, while not being the friendliest person on the planet, probably wasn't exaggerating when she said that Seifer was a joke of a captain. (I'm guessing she was mad about how condescending Seifer was being to Quistis.) (Lunatique: I think so, too.)

Still, I don't think your thesis really needs any of those points to stand up. It's fair to say that as a kid, Squall got more attention than Seifer, even though Seifer was older. Quistis, the other older kid, got adopted. Seifer didn't. That's plenty enough to make him competitive when he made it to Garden; and the fact that Edea was Matron certainly could add a dimension to the fact that Seifer was suddenly her favorite son, except not really in a nasty twisted way. And the game does hint at the idea that Seifer, with Edea/Ultimecia, is living out this dream of his, of becoming the Sorceress' Knight. And while I'm skeptical of mind-control plot arcs in general, there is good evidence that, starting when the Sorceress shows up in the TV station, Seifer isn't really all there.

So, uh, to recap, in case my ramblings so far haven't made any sense (as is often the case). I don't think Seifer was the victim of everyone else's low expectations, and I don't think he was very good SeeD material. But the rest of your thesis is very well done, and really insightful; there's a lot of stuff there that hadn't occurred to me, but that I must concur with entirely. And I finally feel like I understand the whole "Seifer smiling at the end" bit. So please don't think I'm just some wandering herald of negativity. Because I'm not. Sometimes. (Lunatique: I like wandering heralds of negativity. *g* Feel free to tear up my logic--or lack thereof--anytime. Thanks!)