At any rate, at the start of Esca, Allen has some daddy issues - teeth clenching, brow furrowing rage daddy issues. Given that Leon’s the lead float in the abandonment parade, that’s hardly surprising. And since he is in the lead, everything that comes after him must be his fault, right? Allen thinks so and lets Leon be the scapegoat for just about everything (and it’s a lot) that’s gone wrong in his life. Some of that might be fair - Allen probably wouldn’t have run off to the swamps and become a bandit if his father figure had been around, some of it’s not -- who’s to say Celena wouldn’t have been abducted and Encia would still be alive?
So why does Allen forgive his father so readily after hating him for at least ten years during their confrontation in Episode 16? As Hitomi so astutely pointed out (Episode 15 again), Allen wants to forgive him. He kept the journal (very close to him too, if he’s able to just hand it over to Dryden when they’re out in the middle of nowhere) and if he really did hate him that much, he wouldn’t be very pleasant to hang out with. I won’t bore you with love/hate relationship cliches (i.e. ‘there’s a thin line’ or ‘opposite of love isn’t hate’ etc.), but that’s probably what’s going on. Allen does a lot of snarling at the slightest utterance of anything that has to do with his father, but when he first sees him again, he doesn’t chew him out right away. Instead, he gets this adorable little boy look on his face. There’s more than a little longing detectable when he says ‘father’ (when Shinichiro Miki says it anyway -- no comment on the English voice actor) too.
I’ve had a close friend with parental abandonment issues. Underneath all the anger, bitterness and disappointment, was a strong desire just to hear that he was wanted and loved. Fortunately for Allen, Leon not only admits how foolish he was but he also tells him he loves him, thus erasing years of resentment. (But if I was Celena, I’d be a little peeved my name never even came up once during this great bonding session.)
The series gives very little to go on. She likes escargot? She’s a dog person? She doesn’t like butterflies? She has a tendency to wander around like she’s stoned? Yeah, okay. I’d probably be pretty out of it too if pesky sorcerers kept changing my gender. She does look clear-eyed and lucid the last time we see her. She’s wearing a typical Asturian dress and staying close to Allen, suggesting she’s adapting to her new life but does have some dependency on her brother. All and all, that probably suits Allen just fine.
It should be an interesting, if not hugely awkward, talk. Chid already has a father, one he loves and respects deeply. Mahad can come off as being a little harsh to Chid, but he obviously loved the little guy just as much. He raised him as his own even though he didn’t have to and has enough faith in Chid to entrust the future of Freid to him. Mahad may be dead, but his presence will always be felt in Chid’s life.
Where does that leave Allen? Chid grew up worshipping him from Marlene’s stories only to be let down immediately when he first sees Allen. Between Allen’s injuries and Asturia’s false charges of treason, the image of the ‘invincible knight’ is severely tarnished. Then there’s that bit where Allen holds what everybody thought was a knife to Chid’s throat… Despite all that, Chid is able to listen to Allen’s advice and decides to believe in him. Hitomi remarks that she feels a bond between Allen and Chid. Given Chid’s implicit trust in Allen when logic would dictate that he should be extremely dubious instead, it’s probable that Chid feels it too.
As for Allen’s feelings for Chid, it’s clear he cares for him. Count up all the wistful looks he gives Chid. Factor in how much Allen’s family looms in his psyche. We didn’t see nine million flashbacks of Celena running off into the fields for nothing. Even though Allen has achieved peace with his father, Leon’s absence during the formative years would still play a large part in Allen’s parental style. Judging from Allen’s protective streak, it would likely manifest as a tendency to overparent, to be with the kid all the time and as big of a figure in his life as possible. Oops. So much for that.
But now that Chid’s an orphan, it would be a great time to tell him the truth and be a happy family, right? Maybe. There’s a lot more at stake than a father/son relationship here. Chid is the new ruler of a country he doesn’t belong to by blood. His father, his father’s second in command and the adviser to the royal family are all dead. Freid needs some serious rebuilding. Catching up on lost time with Allen is not a priority for Chid even if he would accept Allen as his father. It’s probably not even advisable. Millerna babbled on cluelessly about the aforementioned resemblance but others wouldn’t be so oblivious. (I like Millerna, really I do. But her ditz reputation isn’t entirely unfounded.) Given how nasty politics can get (just check out Aston and Meiden Fassa’s dealings), it’s easy to envision someone using the situation to his advantage.
It’s a complicated mess to be sure, but one can hope they sort it all out. Life owes Allen a break, Chid needs someone to love him and seriously, is it possible for these two to look cuter together?
*Actually, Natal’s gender is unknown, but I tend to think of her as female if only because I like the idea of a female whose relationship with Allen is entirely on her own terms. Plus, I once read (er, looked at) this weird doujinshi in which Natal transformed into a female human so she could do a little more with Allen than perch on his shoulder. o_O:: Sorry, but I don't remember the website I saw it on.