WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION! 

For a general review of the game, you can read it here.

JULIAN: Julian is the disinherited first prince of Weblin, and current caretaker of the Castle Gardens. He is assigned to serve Fiona, and act as her companion during her arrest for witchcraft. Julian is very kind, gentle-natured and exceptionally soft to Fiona; and the two naturally become affectionate to one another.

During her stay, Julian is her only solace from the loneliness and she is the first person he has been able to speak to in years. He is refined, polite and carries an air of nobility; leading Fiona to question early on whether his status really was of a mere servant. Little does she know however, that he is in fact broken beyond repair by the hands of Mejojo and Auger and his residence in the Garden is akin to house arrest.

During their escape beneath the sewers which Julian had suggested, they are ambushed by Auger and the CCK. It is to their shocking realisation that it had all been a set up between Julian and Auger, with Auger commanding Julian to lead them there or face ‘punishment’. Julian reverts to a child-like catatonic state where he degrades himself to less than trash and revels in Auger’s praise. It was a really disturbing scene to witness because Julian is just such a sweet and lovely character, and then just seeing his personality take a 180 degree turn to something completely different.

His good ending is by far my favourite ending in the game. It just felt so satisfying to read, and it was truly a breather after sitting through both Mejojo and Auger’s routes which is just never ending despair. I felt out of all the characters Julian truly belonged with Fiona and complemented her best. It is through the heroine that Julian regains his true sense of self, and is able to overcome Auger’s tyranny. She brings out the best in him, and they continually lean on one other for support.

They’re the only two people who can understand the other’s circumstances, as Julian has been confined within the garden all his life and the heroine within the tower. As a result, they both lack the skills required to live in the outside world and continually question their self-worth as when the need calls for it; they have no choice but to depend on others.

In the good end when they’ve escaped Weblin and settled down with their new lives, Julian expresses his desire to improve himself for the better and for Fiona to see him as a man; because he wishes to become the type of person who can protect and look after her. It’s just so cute because of their similar circumstances, that they’re able to face the same conflict together and develop as characters. They share so many heartwarming moments together, and definitely have the cutest CGs in the game.

My main criticism for his route is the true ending. Although I have no qualms that they’re the ‘canon couple’ of the game, I definitely felt the conclusion was lack-lustre in many aspects. Julian is finally able to enact his revenge on Mejojo and Auger, catching them off guard for the first time in a decade.

Their calculations regarding him prove to be incorrect, as they believed a broken toy could never develop a mind of its own. He ironically poisons their tea, immobilising them with the assistance of Marquis Galland; Fiona’s relative and father of Elvira. He supports Julian’s reinstatement as the true crowned Prince, and thanks him from the bottom of his heart for finally informing him of the truth behind his daughter’s death.

A few days later, the heroine is eagerly awaiting Julian’s return in the Castle Gardens from his daily duties as Weblin’s new king. However, she notices that he is taking unusually long that day. When he arrives and begins to pour tea, Fiona sees visible blood on his sleeve.

She recalls the rumour she heard from the maids that although the dungeons have now been sealed to public access, the servants claim that they can still hear moans and cries for help at night. Although Mejojo and Auger have been taken away, Fiona herself is unsure of their current whereabouts.

From her experiences throughout the story, she decides that some things are better left unknown; and turns a blind eye to it in order to maintain her current happiness. I always found it strange that Julian’s character was altogether too calm and accepting of his circumstances.

He had every right to be angry, because he suffered just as much as Mejojo and Auger themselves. He lost his mother to suicide, his only remaining family resented and tortured him, and his father disowned him as crowned Prince. This had been the only thing binding them together in a familial relationship.

He suffers helplessly as Fiona is tortured for the sake of breaking him once again. It’s implied that it affected Julian a lot more than it appeared, as he finally puts an end to their reign and inflicts upon them the endless torture he and hundreds of others had suffered. However, I personally wanted to see his anger for myself or just any kind of emotion. He was just so impassive and emotionless to it all, and the writer really wanted to paint him as purely ‘kind and gentle’ to the very end.

It made him weak dimensionally as a character, due to his lack of desires and reactions to anything. After reading through the twins’ story, it’s also difficult to accept their fate in the dungeons. Did they truly deserve it? To some extent yes, but fully? I wouldn’t think so. It brings forth the question in the end on Julian’s own morality: by inflicting upon them what they had done to him, does that really make him any better of a person? Is he truly as gentle and as kind as the author makes him out to be?

As it was the true end, and Julian does not have a route in Last Hope (which I’m appalled about, because every other side character gets one in the game) I really wished to see an ending set in the future rather than only several days later. It would’ve shown us a glimpse of whether or not Julian developed as a character over the years, and whether he had grown into the role of serving as a good and noble King.

Would Fiona have been happy in her future with him? Was turning a blind eye to the torture a mistake? Did he end up reverting to corruption and becoming as twisted as the twins themselves? Would they have had children? What would they have looked like? Considering some of the characters had a futuristic ending, I really don’t understand why Julian doesn’t have one because he is meant to be the canon ending. It would have made a significantly better and fulfilling, holistic conclusion to the game.