Vampirism?
I vant to suck your blooood!
All character shrines need at least one page dedicated to crackish theories. Because Nash is a vampire in approximately 92.8% of all fanfiction, I thought I'd try my hand at this one.
It's not unusual for an RPG to contain undead, vampries, or characters that look an awful lot like creatures of the night, with the immortality and the brooding and capes and sleeping in coffins and all. So it's not as though Nash is alone in suspected-vampiredom. The Suikoden universe is known to contain vampires, but they differ from the traditional legends in many somewhat unclear ways. We don't know much about them except that they exist, are created from the power of the Blue Moon Rune, and, if not immortal, live for a very long time.
The story goes that some centuries ago one Sierra Mikain was chosen by the Blue Moon Rune and transformed into a vampire. Consumed by bloodlust, she killed the people in her village before learning to master the rune's curse. She took to living in the forest alone. Over time, other lost souls were drawn to the forest when they desired to end their lives. Sierra gave them new life as vampires, and together they all lived in a happy commune, probably surviving off of granola alone. Sierra placed the rune in the center of the village, enabling the denizens of the village to live without blood. Per the way of things, the good didn't last. One member of the village, the totally not suspiciously named Neclord, stole the rune for his own use. Without their source of sustenance, all the vampires save Sierra had to take the lives of humans or die. Most of them died. Sierra made it her mission to hunt down and destroy the rest. Some time after meeting Nash, she regained the Blue Moon Rune.
Right. So then, why do some people think Nash is a vampire? For starters, Sierra is probably his wife. He specifically said that he would become a vampire for her. Love between a mortal and an immortal is generally doomed in the long-term marriage sense of the word, but Sierra is unique among True Rune bearers in that she can signifigantly lengthen the life of anyone she chooses. She has turned her boyfriends into vampires before. There's also the fact that Nash is suspiciously well-preserved for thirty-seven. He even mentions how damn good he looks for his age.
The man on the left is actually 8 years older than the man on the right.
But this is all pretty circumstantial. Last time Sierra made her boyfriend a vampire, he betrayed her and started drinking human blood and/or sleeping with the maid. She may have learned from that experience. They very well might not be together anymore at all. Nash is also one of the most popular returning characters in Suikoden III, and time always treats heroes well. Furthermore, he doesn't do anything remotely vampiric, and while his eyes have mystical color changing properties, they aren't ever red. This pretty much destroys any vampire theories for me, although I do think it's an interesting possibility in the future, especially if that means more Nash in upcoming installments.
Who am I kidding? I'd buy a PS3 if Suikoden VI featured playable vampire Nash. Truefax.
Random Tangent Crack Theory Ahoy!
I was discussing this whole thing with my friend Chloé. Her opinion of Nash is that "he has an eye problem," although she conceeds he has a nice scarf. The reason she thinks this is his squint in the status portrait. Now, my standing "he's not a vampire" evidence has always been that his eyes are (at least most of the time) blue, like any other first class Harmonian citizen. However, my friend's constant "eye problems" remarks got me thinking. What if he were using contact lenses to disguise his true nature? There are benefits to being blue-eyed in Harmonia. AND it is the most technologically advanced place in the Suikoverse. They have gunpowder, and contact lenses are the most logical step forward! It explains the squinting and SO MUCH ELSE!!1.
