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

One night, however, Malt and Mei were awakened from their sleep by an unknown voice on their portable radio ordering them to escape to the Forbidden Cave situated at the edge of the mountains. It was during this time that a Berman garrison led by Colonel Pretzel invaded Petit Mona, with the Berman troops rounding up its residents and forcing them upon air transports. While the Marzipan siblings managed to escape the invasion and safely met up with Hanna, Kyle, Boron and Socks outside the village, their grandparents were captured by the Berman forces. Despite Kyle's suspicions that the Radio Woman was leading them into a trap, Malt was still adamant about going to the cave and checking it out.

The children arrived at the Forbidden Cave and cautiously entered, finding the inactive Taranis within. Entering the tank and desiring to use it to save their families, the children were at first unsure of how to activate it. As they had second thoughts, however, Malt internally prayed for the Taranis to move, begging for it to save them. It was then that the Taranis whirred back to life, with Malt situating himself at the tank's control panel. Having reactivated the tank, Malt and his friends began their journey through the Terre-Neuve Forest, hoping that they could use the tank to save their families before they were taken away.

After the Radio Woman taught 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 asked Malt if they could trust the Radio Woman, with Malt remarking that they had no choice to either way. Tired out from the events of the night, Malt and the other children fell asleep for a period of time, before being abruptly woken up when the next group of Berman tanks attacked the Taranis.

Afterwards, the Taranis reached an area with no enemies in sight, allowing the children the chance to rest and recuperate— a period of time known as an "Intermission". Malt allowed Mei to explore the Taranis and its facilities, and thanked Mei for helping him learn more about the tank.

However, the children soon reached Colonel Pretzel and his Sigurd tank, with the Berman colonel ordering them to surrender before he would be forced to fight them. While Malt was briefly tempted to surrender for the chance to be reunited with the children's captured families, he remained adamant about fighting Pretzel. Unfortunately, Pretzel gained the upper hand in battle and damaged the Taranis with a strong attack, leaving it in critical condition. It was then that the Radio Woman sent a mild hypnotic message to the children to "give up [their] soul" and ensure safety for the rest of the crew, with Malt remarking that he had to protect his friends.

Depending on which child the player chose to sacrifice to the Soul Cannon at this time, different scenarios occurred involving Malt:

• In a scenario where Malt was chosen, he felt a compulsion to head down to the Soul Cannon Chamber as quickly as possible, and assured himself that he had nothing to fear as long as he could save his friends. Malt entered the chamber, and the Soul Cannon extracted his energy to fuel itself, firing a shot that obliterated Pretzel and his forces. However, the other children made their way to the Soul Cannon Chamber in search of Malt, only finding his hat. The Radio Woman explained that Malt had lost his life to the Soul Cannon, leaving the children too distraught to fight back as a Berman garrison found them and whittled down the Taranis' shields until the tank was destroyed.
• In a scenario where a different child was chosen, Malt and the others immediately made their way to the Soul Cannon Chamber in search of them. While Malt would respond to Hanna, Kyle, Boron or Socks' deaths by lamenting that he "couldn't protect [them]", Malt would express extreme anguish towards Mei's death. Similarly, the children would again be too distraught to fight back against the Berman forces, again leading to the Taranis' destruction.

However, the Radio Woman restarted time to before the first Intermission began. Unlike the other children, however, Malt retained some awareness of the previous outcome, having had tears form on his face despite him not knowing why. While he claimed to the others that he was fine, Malt still retained a "weird feeling" that he could not understand.

When the children once again came into contact with Colonel Pretzel and the Sigurd, events played out as in the previous timeline until the battle itself began, as the children had been better prepared to fight back. Malt and the others then succeeded in defeating Pretzel and destroying the Sigurd with their own efforts, before realizing that they had killed the Berman officer in their fight. The Radio Woman soon told the children that their families would die if they refused to fight, while also informing them of the Soul Cannon.

As the Taranis left the forest and entered the Province of Dale by way of the Pom Plains, the children grappled with the weight of their situation, knowing that they would need to fight and possibly even kill enemy soldiers if they wanted a chance to save their families. The morning afterwards, Malt pondered whether he was at fault for leading his friends to the Taranis and into the throes of war. When the Girl of Light briefly appeared in front of them, Malt and the other children were momentarily startled, but determined that she was merely a hallucination formed from their stress and fatigue. As the Taranis fought through the Berman forces occupying the Pom Plains, Malt and Socks took a moment to realize how the Berman Imperial Army had possibly occupied most of Gasco, Malt lamenting the circumstances the children had to deal with. The Taranis soon approached a group of Berman soldiers and their Goldschakal tank, and with the Radio Woman's encouragement, Malt and the rest of the children gained the will to keep fighting for their families' sake, and destroyed the Goldschakal.

After the Taranis left the Pom Plains and entered the Basenji Wastelands of Dale, Malt and the rest of the children took a brief stop at the large village of Tosa, intending to search the settlement for clues on their families' whereabouts. Unfortunately, the village had already been ruined and ransacked by the Berman forces and its inhabitants taken away, and the children returned to the Taranis to continue on their journey. As the Taranis started moving once again, Malt and his friends were soon alerted to the screams of Chick and Hack Montblanc, two twins who had stowed away on the tank during the children's stop in Tosa. Realizing that the two were uneasy, Malt simply asked the two who they were and how they arrived on the Taranis, promising that the crew wouldn't hurt them. After learning their story, Malt and the others offered to have the twins join their crew, which they happily accepted.

As the children fought through the surrounding Berman forces and day shifted to night, Malt and the children reached Dale's Berman Frontline Camp, where Von Stollen and Von Baum had been overseeing the remote regions of Gasco. Hoping that this could be their chance to find their families, Malt and the others engaged 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 exited Dale and entered 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 returned 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.