I’ve been rereading JJ2 recently and that got me thinking that covering our pal Root would be a fine way to bring back the Character Spotlight feature. Now, I believe I told you all about how Junker Jorg got its start as a dream I had and how Chapter 1 is an almost shot-for-shot recreation of that dream. In other words, the original concept for Root didn’t come from any conscious effort of my own. I had the idea of someone who was a bit of a slacker at first glance but could carry himself as a proper soldier when the situation called for it. His background in the Foreign Legion served as a helpful explanation of why he had a little extra grit to him and also explained why he was as cynical as he was. From there, I developed the personable front he uses to navigate most social situations, due to the influence of his salesman father as he would claim. He was made an ex-sniper to give him the skills he’d need for the action scenes. I’m pretty sure I’d already decided to make Faustman a sniper, so the pieces were coming together for Root’s background to take the shape they needed. As a side note, while Root is pretty good as a sniper, he’s wildly outclassed by Faustman as a matter of sheer skill, but an element of luck definitely factors into combat.

While Root was mischievous as most boys when he was young, he never got into any major trouble. He was a decent student but never showed any signs of excellence. He was rather directionless, which led him to the Foreign Legion. Being a native Byrandian, he was tapped for officer training and was the titular leader of a scout platoon, but this was mostly a formality as the Legion requires native Byrandian officers. Because of his talent as a sniper, he was more often operating separately with his spotter while his platoon sergeant actually ran the platoon. In Byrandia, the Foreign Legion gets deployed for action while the Colonial Troops mostly serve as the garrison for Byrandia’s overseas holdings. As Root noted in a conversation with Trish, the Colos are more deeply resented by the locals than the Legionnaires, but that doesn’t mean things were much better. You get a couple of his horror stories over the course of the books and there’s plenty more than he didn’t mention. Even from that inkling, you can see why he chose to ride out his career in peaceful obscurity out in the hinterlands. Of course, Fate had other plans for him.

I do feel that the duology tells enough of the story, it might be interesting to peek into his life after he was sent to the Capital. In JJ2 we often see in the narration that even years later, palace life was about the last thing he wanted. Having the patronage of the King itself was quite the shield but it also painted a target on him as an object of jealousy and suspicion. Perhaps if Root had been more ambitious as a social climber, he would’ve gotten tangled up more in the webs of court intrigue, but he mostly tried to keep his head down and attempted the same effort at obscurity as before. As a result, he largely fell off the radar of the plotters and schemers until he rose to prominence after the arrival of the Imperials.

Although Root had slowed down considerably by the start of the first book, he was quite the womanizer and clearly has the ability to draw women to him even if he’s not actively trying to pursue them. This of course becomes a problem in the second book. Let’s take a look at his relationships with some of the significant women in his life.

1. Trish isn’t the kind of girl Root would ordinarily go after, but working together in HQ led to them naturally coming closer. While he didn’t take their relationship that seriously during the first book, he wasn’t playing the field once they started dating, and the fact that she cared about him a lot more than he cared about her gave their relationship the momentum that led them into marriage. He did learn to love her more the longer they were together. It wasn’t burning passion but a comfortable sort of affection that goes well with someone looking to slow things down. Too bad things in his life started speeding up, but we’ll get to that in a minute. In case you’re inclined toward an uncharitable reading of Root’s character, his regret over cheating on her isn’t just because of the consequences. His sense of obligation to her as her husband was genuine, which is a large part of the reason why he just passively took his lumps even though, by Byrandian law, Trish would have been at highly disadvantageous position. I haven’t decided if those two will reconcile, but Trish isn’t the sort to let go easily and Root doesn’t have the fire in him to pursue her more aggressively to win her over.

2. In so many ways, Azuki is the opposite of Trish and that has no small impact on different his love for her is. Whereas Trish represents a safe and stable if not especially exciting sort of love, Azuki represents a deeply passionate but also dangerous sort of romance. On Root’s part, you might dismiss how he feels as simple physical attraction with a little suspension bridge effect to make it stick, but while they didn’t really connect on an intellectual level, the bond formed from risking their lives together made their short time together unforgettable for both of them. There’s more emotional meat on Azuki’s side, but there was still a lasting impression she left on Root that stuck with him until they were reunited. I’d actually envisioned the “after action” scene with them before anything else in JJ2 and a lot of the events of the story were in service of making this scene come together. The chemistry was there, of course, but Root was too dedicated of a husband to cheat on his wife unless there were extreme circumstances. Cue the messy rescue of Princess Anne and the others being held by the South Malvinans. Root/Azuki shippers out there are probably disappointed with the results, but unfortunately, their romance was always a doomed one. Now, the question is whether or not Root would’ve tried to stay with Azuki if he’d been given the chance. He would be tempted, surely, especially after Trish walked out on him. Even if the Empire permitted them to be together, its demands on her would ensure that they’d never be able to enjoy a proper relationship, so it may have been a mercy for things to have been broken off the way they were.

3. With the Japanese love of age-gap romances, it gets me thinking about the dynamics of such a relationship and that leads us to Princess Anne. While Root frequently invokes the age difference to ward her off, he never really thought of her from a paternal perspective. While Anne was rather young when they first met, they nevertheless formed something of a friendship of equals despite the differences in their age and status. Both of them were unwitting prisoners of the strictures of courtly society, kindred spirits who shared a strong bond of trust. It’s little surprise that as Anne would mature, she’d start to develop romantic feelings for him, especially because few young men of society would be as robust as her father, the first and primary object of her love and respect. They say women are looking for their fathers just as they say men are looking for their mothers in a mate, but of course in this case it’s a little too close to the mark. Now, based on the societal norms of Byrandia at the time, age would be less of a point of objection than the class difference, but Byrandia in general is getting to the point where big age differences aren’t looked upon so favorably, especially among the bourgeoisie, hence Root himself and Lieutenant Juliard being the main people to voice objections. Root does love Anne but not romantically, even though there is some physical desire there. Could something work out between them if we set aside class differences? Possibly, but it would be difficult. Honestly, the trauma of Anne’s escape from captivity put a bit of a wedge between them and pretty well stunted Anne’s romantic aspirations. Probably for the best, but it’s a shame it had to happen that way.

4. Adding Lieutenant Juliard into the mix did honestly feel like a bit of a step too far, but it’s an easy one to make when you’ve got a girl with a serious tsuntsun dynamic going on and I did want to illustrate how women are naturally drawn to Root. To be fair, Root does have a lot of admirable qualities and it’s not too hard to imagine someone starting to feel something after seeing him in action. In his more carefree and unattached days, he would’ve easily started up something with her. I considered having her failed overture be the end of it, but I decided the lure was more than a single rejection could sink. I was channeling a bit of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the way she meets up with him at the end of JJ2. Is there anything there? I can’t see them forming a long-lasting relationship, but a fling is entirely possible. (We can only hope for the sake of everyone involved that Trish never finds out.) It might be interesting to see Root start up a new franchise with her, but it would definitely be settling compared to other options out there. Sorry, Yvette.

5. When Root was sowing his wild oats, Scarlet was just one among many prostitutes he’d frequented, but he did favor her a bit over the others available in Bernecita. That being said, she was more attached to him than him to her. It’s hard to blame her. Hooking up with an officer would be a fine way to get out of the life and would give her son a shot at a decent upbringing. Under other circumstances, maybe something could have happened, but she couldn’t beat out Trish and definitely stood no chance compared to Azuki.

Like so many of my characters, I couldn’t give him a happily ever after. You’d think my own life is far more dysfunctional than it is based on how messy the past, present and future of my characters are. I guess I’m addicted to leaving my readers with a bittersweet taste on the best of days. As of now, I haven’t settled on what happens to Root after the end of JJ2, so feel free to imagine whatever you like for him. Maybe it all works out for him in the end. Who knows?

Since I’ve started with Root, I think I might cover Azuki in the next Character Spotlight. Stay tuned.

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