about the site
it started with my own curiousity...
After buying Tales of the Abyss out of curiosity, becoming thoroughly addicted to it, and falling in love with almost every aspect of the
game (minus those damn loading times), I told myself I wouldn't make anymore Tales of sites even despite my newfound obsession.
Because, well, no one visits them.
But the temptation was too great and I realized that Jade was too damn awesome not to write about, so I caved in and
begun work on Element some time in December, 2006. I put a lot of work into writing the content, which underwent countless revisions and edits before
going online (and I'm sure that will continue). There's always room for expansion, but right now I'm hoping that Element is informative and full of quality
content. Or something like that.
I decided to make Element focus solely on the English game canon for a few reasons. First, I don't speak Japanese. So I'm not going to trust
myself to interpret the choppy bits of info I've collected about the Japanese version. I've seen manga scans, translations, summaries, etc.,
but until I see the information written in English I've decided not to include it in this site for the time being. Yes, I've read the director interviews and
I'm aware of the existence of other materials and guidebooks, but I'm not always confident in fan translations (not that they're all inaccurate, of course!).
Second, Tales of the Abyss has a fairly complex plot and Jade is quite a complex character himself, and interpreting the English
game canon is difficult enough on its own. So for the sake of simplicity, continuity, and my own sanity, Element will be based on the English game
translation for the time being. If you're looking for Japan-only information, this site provides some
translations.
As for the name, "Element" has many different meanings that relate to Jade's character. I was a bit pressed for a name, since Jade has such a difficult
character to pin down and a very unique personality, but I decided on "Element" while studying for a Latin exam. A somewhat obvious connection
between Jade's character and the site name would be the fact that he wields elemental magic: fonic artes that employ the use of the first through six
fonons. Though that's a bit boring. But "element" can also be defined as "A fundamental, essential, or irreducible constituent..." Or more simply,
"the basics." In Jade's case, much of the conflict that he deals with during the game has to do with the very basic components of living: life and death.
Despite being such an intelligent and observant character, Jade has difficulty understanding the concepts of living and dying, which are quite possibly the
two basic "elements" of every living thing. Fomicry itself was created out of a disregard for the importance of life and death. Personally, I think that’s a
very interesting aspect of his character, and I'm glad I found a name to reflect that. Element has a few other meanings as well (most notably in terms of
science), which are a bit more vague but somehow make sense in my head. And probably only in my head, so I won't go into detail.
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