Malt Marzipan

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Malt Marzipan (マルト・マジパン, Maruto Majipan) is the main protagonist of the Fuga: Melodies of Steel series. He is a young moosheep herder from Petit Mona, the elder brother of Mei Marzipan, a longtime friend of Hanna Fondant, Boron Brioche and Socks Million, and friend to Kyle Bavarois. After the Berman Imperial Army attacks his village and kidnaps his grandparents, Malt finds and boards the Taranis alongside his friends, becoming the leader of the crew as they set off to rescue their loved ones.

Physical appearance

Malt is an adolescent-aged Caninu of German Shepherd breed. He appears to be of average height and build for his age, and has light brown fur all over his body (with some darker brown markings) and eyes which are yellow-orange. His hair is blonde-colored and somewhat spiky, with an ahoge appearing at the top.

When in Hero Mode, Malt's eyes turn red-orange and a flowing red and black aura surrounds him.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel

His attire in the first Fuga title is that of a typical Petit Mona villager, with him wearing a simple white button-up shirt, a pair of brown trousers held up by suspenders, and brown boots which appear to be wrapped in some sort of tape or bandages. At this point in time, Malt wears a dark brown newsboy cap, and tied over his right upper arm is a red cloth.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2

In the second Fuga title, Malt has a more mature appearance, appearing to have grown taller somewhat since the first game. Malt now wears a blue Gasco Army bomber jacket over his shirt, and his shoes have also changed to taller tied boots with no wrappings. The red cloth on Malt's arm has been switched for a tie around his collar, and he has since passed down his newsboy cap to Mei.

Personality

This section requires expansion.

Malt is a very courageous, social, steadfast, determined and kind young boy who has a strong sense of responsibility to others. He often points out the fact that he is "the oldest" among both his friends in Petit Mona and the crew of the Taranis as a whole, viewing it as the reason why he must ensure that everyone is safe and cared-for, with him often reaching out to the other children to learn more about them or help them through their issues.

Despite being the one to lead the Taranis crew in their journey to save Gasco, Malt has a great amount of humility and has no desire for fame and glory, simply desiring to live a peaceful life with his friends and family. Malt also doesn't view himself as the "hero" of Gasco, instead believing that his friends should be recognized for their work and efforts as much as he is. His conversation with Jin in the first Fuga game also shows that he would prefer to view everyone on the Taranis as equally being "the leader", with him only formally acknowledging his role as leader in the second game. Even so, Malt only views himself as the leader due to being the oldest among the crew, again stemming from his sense of responsibility.

Despite conveying a generally calm and steady attitude towards the people around him, however, Malt is still prone to distress and anger, and often hides his insecurities and fears from his friends out of a desire to remain strong for their sake. While Malt's strong sense of responsibility is the very strength that allows him to lead his crew to victory, it can also lead him to put a burden of guilt upon himself when he feels he's failed in doing right by his friends, as shown by how he blames himself for his friend's death during the Soul Cannon tutorial in the first Fuga game.

Come the second Fuga game, Malt has become more jaded as a result of his previous experiences in the war, and is shown to be more conflicted when it comes to judging certain situations, often having to juggle the choice of being an empathetic and cooperative leader with the choice of being a resolute and disciplined one. His tendency to burden himself with guilt and responsibility also reaches self-destructive levels, as shown by how he handles Hanna's apparent death more poorly than any of the other children, with his grief and guilt soon spiraling into an obsessive desire to kill Jihl out of a desperate and misguided desire to absolve himself of his failure to protect Hanna. As a result of this despair, Malt becomes far more irrational, closed-off and distrustful towards others, even being tempted to forsake the lives of innocent bystanders for the chance to take Jihl down permanently. In the Normal and Bad Endings of the game, Malt will also personally sacrifice himself to the Soul Cannon out of both grief for his failures and a desire to finish off Cayenne personally.

Despite his stalwart attitude and self-appointed burden to be strong for his friends sometimes leading him to make rash or desperate choices, Malt is indeed capable of forgiving others or letting go of his anger, as shown with how he slowly gains an amicable relationship with Von Stollen and Von Baum despite the two being former enemies of the children, how he comes to value and trust AI Hax despite the crimes committed by his original self, and how he lets go of his desire to kill Jihl thanks to persuasion from Jin and the rest of his friends. He can likewise express a large amount of humanity for even his enemies, as shown with how he sympathizes with Jihl's bitterness towards his situation and is willing to extend a branch of friendship to him once learning his backstory. He even openly sympathizes with Cayenne's anger over losing his family, despite still proclaiming his actions to be inexcusable.

Throughout the second Fuga game, Malt is shown to be able to get through to others and have his words affect them personally, such as through helping his friends resist Jihl's brainwashing, convincing Matir to stand down, or helping Jihl to resist the Belenos' programming. It's indicated that this stems from his innate ability to understand and reach out to others, a major component of what allows him to be an effective leader.

Malt also shows some degree of observational skills, with the second Fuga game showing that he suspected something was awry when the Taranis suddenly stopped moving following the Tarascus' final bout against it, his suspicions being proven right when Jihl is revealed to have escaped to the Belenos once he fires a strong attack on the Tarascus. However, as Malt is often more focused on the bigger picture, he is still capable of overlooking certain details, such as failing to notice Count Nouvellune nearly blurting out his identity as the author Lunet. Malt also seems to be unaware of when girls take interest in him, as seen with how he fails to pick up on Chick's precocious crush towards him.

Abilities

This section requires expansion.

• Transformation - For reasons currently unexplained, Malt possesses the ability to transform into a wolf-like form when experiencing intense emotions, and gains an aura and appearance similar to his Hero Mode. This has been portrayed once in Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 and shown far more explicitly in the manga on multiple occasions. The Taranis and the Exo-Taranis enter a golden "miraculous" state during these moments.

History

This section requires expansion.

Background

Twelve years before the events of the first Fuga game, Malt was born in the Gasco village of Petit Mona to an unnamed mother and father. During his early life, Malt met and befriended other young children in the village such as Hanna Fondant, Boron Brioche and Socks Million.

When Malt was eight years of age and shortly after his little sister Mei was born, his parents were said to have "died of illness", leaving the Marzipan siblings to be taken in by their grandparents. Malt soon began to work on his family's farm as a moosheep herder, eventually becoming proficient at it as he grew older. As Malt grew up, he took it upon himself to be a responsible older brother and look after others as the oldest, an attitude that eventually extended to the rest of his friends. At around the age of ten, Malt met Kyle Bavarois after he moved to the village from Paresia.

Even with his maturity and strong sense of responsibility, Malt lived his days in peace and spent his time as an average boy his age would, attending school and hanging out with his friends.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel

When the Gasco Invasion begins and the Free Lands of Gasco are invaded by the Berman Imperial Army's Special Gasco Invasion Forces, Malt and his friends are still living their usual peaceful lives, as Petit Mona is thought to be too remote to be of consideration by the Berman forces.

One night, however, Malt and Mei are awakened from their sleep by an unknown voice on their portable radio, who orders them to escape to the Forbidden Cave situated at the edge of the mountains. During this time, a Berman garrison led by Colonel Pretzel invades Petit Mona, with the Berman troops rounding up its residents and forcing them upon air transports. While the Marzipan siblings manage to escape the invasion and safely meet up with Hanna, Kyle, Boron and Socks outside the village, their grandparents are captured by the Berman forces. Despite Kyle's suspicions that the Radio Woman could be leading them into a trap, Malt is still adamant about going to the cave and investigating it.

The children arrive at the Forbidden Cave and cautiously enter, finding the inactive Taranis within. Boarding the tank and choosing to use it to save their families, the children are at first unsure of how to activate it. As they begin to have second thoughts, however, Malt internally prays for the Taranis to move, begging for it to save them. It's then that the Taranis whirs back to life, with Malt situating himself at the tank's control panel. Having reactivated the tank, Malt and his friends begin their journey through the Terre-Neuve Forest, hoping that they can use the tank to save their families before they are taken away.

After the Radio Woman teaches the children how to use the Taranis in battle, with the children being victorious in their first bout with the Berman forces, Kyle once again asks Malt if they could trust the Radio Woman, with Malt remarking that they likely have no choice to either way. Tired out from the events of the night, Malt and the other children fall asleep for a period of time, before being abruptly woken up and returning to battle when the next group of Berman tanks attack the Taranis. Afterwards, the Taranis reaches an area with no enemies in sight, allowing the children ample time to rest and recuperate. Malt allows Mei to explore the Taranis and its facilities, and thanks her for helping him learn more about the tank.

However, the children soon reach Colonel Pretzel and his Sigurd tank, with the Berman colonel ordering them to surrender before he would be forced to fight them. While Malt is briefly tempted to surrender for the chance to be reunited with the children's captured families, he remains adamant about fighting Pretzel. Unfortunately, Pretzel gains the upper hand in combat and damages the Taranis with a strong attack, leaving it in critical condition. That moment, the Radio Woman sends a psychic message to the children to "give up [their] soul" and ensure safety for the rest of the crew, with Malt remarking that he has to protect his friends.

Depending on which child the player chooses to sacrifice to the Soul Cannon at this time, different scenarios will occur involving Malt:

• In a scenario where Malt was chosen, he feels a compulsion to head down to the Soul Cannon Chamber as quickly as possible, and assures himself that he had nothing to fear as long as he could save his friends. Malt enters the chamber, and the Soul Cannon extracts his energy to fuel itself, firing a shot that obliterates Pretzel and his forces. However, the other children make their way to the Soul Cannon Chamber in search of Malt, only finding his hat. The Radio Woman explains that Malt had lost his life to the Soul Cannon, leaving the children too distraught to fight back as a Berman garrison finds them and whittles down the Taranis' defenses until the tank is destroyed.
• In a scenario where a different child was chosen, Malt and the others immediately make their way to the Soul Cannon Chamber in search of them. While Malt responds to Hanna, Kyle, Boron or Socks' deaths by lamenting that he "couldn't protect [them]", Malt expresses extreme anguish towards Mei's death. Similarly, the children are again too distraught to fight back against the Berman forces, again leading to the Taranis' destruction.

However, the Radio Woman restarts time to when the children's chance to rest began. Unlike the other children, however, Malt retains some awareness of the previous outcome, with tears forming on his face despite him not knowing why. While he claims to the others that he is fine, Malt still retains a "weird feeling" that he cannot understand.

When the children once again come into contact with Colonel Pretzel and the Sigurd, events plays out as in the previous timeline until the battle itself begins, as the children have been better prepared to fight back. Malt and the others then succeed in defeating Pretzel and destroying the Sigurd with their own efforts, before realizing that they have killed the Berman officer in their fight. The Radio Woman soon tells the children that their families will die if they refuse to fight, while also informing them of the Soul Cannon.

As the Taranis leaves the forest and enters the Province of Dale by way of the Pom Plains, the children grapple with the weight of their situation, knowing that they will need to fight and possibly even kill enemy soldiers if they want a chance to save their families. The morning afterwards, Malt ponders whether he was at fault for leading his friends to the Taranis and into the throes of war. When the Jeanne l Girl of Light briefly appears in front of them, Malt and the other children are momentarily startled, but judge that she is merely a hallucination formed from their stress and fatigue. As the Taranis fights through the Berman forces occupying the Pom Plains, Malt and Socks take a moment to realize how the Berman Imperial Army has possibly occupied most of Gasco, Malt lamenting the circumstances everyone has to deal with. The Taranis soon approaches a group of Berman soldiers and their Goldschakal tank, and with the Radio Woman's encouragement, Malt and the rest of the children gain the will to keep fighting for their families' sake as they defeat the Goldschakal.

After the Taranis leaves the Pom Plains and approaches the Basenji Wastelands of Dale, Malt and the rest of the children take a brief stop at the large village of Tosa, intending to search the settlement for clues on their families' whereabouts. Unfortunately, the village has already been ruined and ransacked by the Berman forces and its inhabitants taken away, so the children return to the Taranis to continue on their journey. As the Taranis starts moving once again, Malt and his friends are soon alerted to the screams of Chick and Hack Montblanc, two twins who stowed away on the tank during the children's stop in Tosa. Realizing that the two are uneasy, Malt simply asks them who they are and how they arrived on the Taranis, promising that the crew won't hurt them. After learning their story, Malt and the others offer to have the twins join their crew, which they greatly accept.

As the children fight through the surrounding Berman forces and day shifts to night, Malt and the children reach Dale's Berman Frontline Camp, where Von Stollen and Von Baum have been overseeing the remote regions of Gasco. Hoping that this could be their chance to find their families, Malt and the others engage the two old generals and their Tillzer and Grobian tanks, before defeating the two and interrogating them on their families' whereabouts. Having been informed by the generals that their families might have been taken to the factory to the south near the Mining Area of Shetland, Malt and the others exit Dale and enter the Province of Vizsla by way of the Kurilia Forest.

In the end, Malt and all of his friends survive the war and are recognized as heroes, and Malt returns to spending his days peacefully looking after moosheep with Mei. They hoped these sunny days would last forever...

Legacy

For his deeds in leading the children of the Taranis to victory and saving Gasco more than once, Malt was recognized as a hero to the nation. At some unknown point in the future, the nation of Gasco was renamed to "Shepherd" in honor of Malt's breed and his profession as a moosheep herder.

Gallery

This section requires expansion.