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TereDion is the slash ship between Dion Lesage and Sir Terence from the Final Fantasy fandom.
Canon[]
Prior to the game events[]
According to the Final Fantasy XVI Ultimania, Dion and Terence were childhood friends who attended monastery school together in the Holy Empire of Sanbreque at seven years old. Terence held romantic feelings for Dion that he believed were unrequited. He wanted to support Dion since Dion’s family did not love him. At the age of twelve, Terence was Dion’s squire/attendant. At fifteen, they enlisted as dragoons for Sanbreque’s Imperial Army. The Battle of the Twin Realms occurred then, increasing Dion’s rank and status significantly due to his role as Bahamut. Terence, wanting to be by Dion’s side, worked hard to increase his ranking as a dragoon in the Army. At eighteen, Dion protected Terence from an attack, causing Dion to have a grave injury. As Dion was recovering, Terence confessed his feelings for him. Dion accepted and reciprocated his feelings and was the one who encouraged the start of their romantic relationship. At twenty years old, Dion established his division of dragoon knights, The Holy Order of the Dragon Knights, and Terence was appointed as the second in command and Captain of the Imperial Guard.
First game appearance in the Year 873[]
At the Battle of Belanus Tor, Dion was on a hill commenting about Odin, the king of Waloed, when Terence appeared beside him holding Dion's halberd and asked if he would engage with Odin. Dion responded that he would, took his halberd from Terence, and walked off to face him. Terence looked at Dion with concern and whispered a prayer for his safety: "Greagor's breath fill your wings..." with a sweet and concerned tone. Dion returned then to the royal tent after the fight with Odin. Through a missive delivered by Terence himself, Dion learned that saboteurs were attacking the Royal city, but despite that, his father, the Emperor, was not in danger; as a result, they wouldn't have expected reinforcements. Hence, Dion is left alone to deal with the enemy. Despite Terence's concern for his Prince, he must prime again to defend the war front; they exchange a meaningful look before Dion returns to the battlefield. Terence gazed at him in anguish.
Dion and Terence during the battle of Belanus Tor (873)
Events in the Year 878[]
While Dion appeared in cutscenes on his own after the timeskip, Dion and Terence's next appearance together wouldn't happen again until after the destruction of Drake's Fang. Here, Terence is shown to care for an injured Dion, all while he implores his prince to care for his health more. They reason with each other, with Terence voicing his concerns for the effects of Priming on Dion's already taxed body, and Dion explains the need for Bahamut in bringing hope to the people. As if to pacify Terence after this, Dion then proceeds to initiate a kiss, before declaring his wish for Terence to be his master instead. After a moment of tenderness following the kiss, with Dion cradling Terence's head between his hands and caressing his hair with his thumb, they switch gears, moving onto to discuss the pressing matters; the impending war with Dhalmekia. The situation is proven to be even more dire when a soldier barges in to declare the ascension of Dion's half brother, Olivier, to Emperor of the Realm. Dion then means to head to the Capital, but before this can happen, Joshua Rosfield enters their tent to end the scene with a tale he means to tell. During this time, Dion's inner voice in the game says "None but you knows my heart", signify that for Dion, Terence is the only one who support and understand fully and wholeheartedly his emotional needs. Terence's inner voice mirrores the words he spoke to Dion during the kiss scene: "I will always be your loyal servant", showing the complete and utter devotion Terence holds for his prince.
Dion and Terence's loving moment in the command tent
With Dion officially entwined with the game's overarching plot as the threat of Ultima is introduced to him, Dion agrees to assist Joshua in his mission to rid Valisthea of Ultima, but only after he has dealt with outstanding issues in his family. His next scene with Terence follows then as he privately inquires Terence of the validity of his plans. "Tell me true. Do you believe what I'm about to do is wrong?" Dion asks. To which Terence responded, "I- We dragoons have but one leader, Your Highness. And we shall follow him unto the very end." Dion smiles in and thanks Terence before revealing in full his plans for the Empire, specifically, for those he deems to be traitorous: his step-mother Anabella, and half-brother, Emperor Olivier. This scene in very important because it enlightens how much Dion relies on Terence for guidance and how much his support meant to him. He is not the ruthless ruler that takes his subordinate and lover's validation for granted, but actively seeks his approval; the common feeling is that Dion would have paused if Terence had voiced concern or opposition. He then smiles at Terence and warmly tells him "Thank you", and this simple words are so much more than a commander thanking his subordinate, but more like a man thanking his partner for always being at his side.
Dion thanking Terence before the Dragoon Coup
With Terence clear support, Dion proceeds to mount a coup d'état with the Holy Order of the Imperial Dragoons. And though his plans are meant to lead to a largely bloodless coup, with his main targets being Anabella and Olivier alone, Ultima machinations culminate in Dion killing his own father. The shock of it, and Ultima's direct influence, causes Dion to prime beyond his control, and lay waste to the Dominion. The ensuing battle with Ifrit and Phoenix both plunges the Dominion into further chaos and Dion is taken to the Hideaway after his defeat, to be cared for by Tarja.
Later, Dion escapes to return to what is left of the Dominion, where he collapses from his injuries and despair both. It is here that he is found by Kihel and cared for. Once healed, he comes to terms with what he has done, and comes to the conclusion that while Bahamut's destruction of the Dominion was a result of Ultima's machination, he alone was responsible for his failure do anything about. He leaves Kihel's care with the resolve to right his wrongs and, though it is not shown, it is assumed that he reunites with what's left of the Holy Order afterwards. During the time of their brief separations, Terence's inner thoughts show how concerned he is for his prince's safety, and how he was directing all his efforts to find him alive again. Dion's thought to Terence, on the other hand, is a statement of his desire to be at Terence's side again, and how much he suffered to be separated from him in such a painful hour for him: "I miss you".
When next we see Dion, it is during the siege of Ran'dellah by the Akashic Hordes, where he leads a contingent of the Dragoons and saves Byron Rosfield from certain death. It is also in this scene that we find Terence has survived the catastrophic events at the Dominion, and has reunited with Dion off-screen. However, the reunion is shown to be short-lived. Dion sends Terence away to find a girl - Kihel - with the order to provide for her, reasoning to Terence that he owes her his life. "I owe her my life, and I always pay my debts. You are to see she is provided for."
Terence and Dion's heartfelt farewell in Ran'dellah
Though Terence is desperate not to leave Dion, to the point of tears even, Dion tries to keep a straight face throughout and finally the exchange between them ends with the following lines:
"Know that I do not ask this lightly."
"And know that I will do it."
"Farewell, Terence."
"Farewell... my prince."
It is only after Terence has his back against Dion, while he walks away, that Dion is shown to finally break his composure and sob. Both of them are shown to be devastated during their scene, meaning that their separation costs them too much. This scene is even more heartbreaking after having been revealed that the two were childhood friends since they were 7 years old, and lovers fo the last ten years.
In Dion's next appearance, he is shown to come to Clive Rosfield's aid, almost literally jumping into the fray during his entrance, during their attempts to destroy Drake's Spine in the Kingdom of Waloed. And after the rise of Origin - and subsequent destruction of Twinside - Dion follows Clive and his team back to the Hideaway. At Hideaway, after agreeing to come along with Clive and Joshua Rosfield to confront Ultima once and for all, Dion elects to stand by the wall. During this time, he makes no mention of Terence at all, and the player is then left to wonder if he is worried for Terence's safety or not wanting to think that he directed Terence to retrieve Kihel from Twinside in the previous scene. His inner voice during this time, however, speaks volumes of his ongoing thoughts for Terence: "Promise me that you will be safe."
Dion's heartbroken expression
During the fight with Ultima, and after casting what is arguably the strongest spell in the game, if not the whole game universe (Zettaflare), Dion is shown to lose consciousness before falling into a cloud of dust. His fate then is left up to the player to decide. Terence, however, is confirmed to be alive post-game as the Inner Voice for both him and Kihel confirm that they were able to escape Twinside before its rise and turn into Origin.
Quotes[]
“Forgive me, Terence, were that you were my master, but alas…”
”I will always be your loyal servant.”
- Dion and Terence in the command tent after their kiss
- Dion – “Terence”
- Terence – “My prince”
- Dion – “Tell me true. Do you believe what I am about to do is wrong?”
- Terence – “I- We dragoons have but one leader, Your Highness. And we shall follow him until the very end.”
- Dion – “Thank you.”
- — Dion and Terence before the coup
Fanon[]
As the ship itself is canon, much of the fanon aspect of the ship is made up of speculation of the events left out by the official materials/game information and interpretation of existing canon.
Prior to the release of Update 1.21, for example, there was a lot of speculation on what their farewell at Ran'dellah actually meant. With fans of the ship caught between the idea of the farewell being a permanent parting because Dion meant to die, or an uncertain but temporary parting because of Dion’s orders to Terence to retrieve Kihel.The update of 1.21 offered a bit more clarity on Dion’s intent through his Inner Voices, however, for fic or headcanon purposes this farewell is still one of the things commonly interpreted differently. Stewart Clarke, Dion's English voice actor, has also expressed his opinion on this scene on the cameo app.
“He does not because he is dissatisfied with the relationship or what the relationship to end, but simply because he knows what he was going to do, that he was going to die, and he doesn’t want Terence to hurt, he is trying to protect Terence, even in the tent, he knows his function is to be bahamut and one day to succumb to the aether sickness. The more he falls in love with Terence (which he does every single day) the more he’s going to suffer[…] it’s all about limiting the damage to Terence, he knows what he was going to do, he doesn’t want to Terence to be a part of it, but he knows that he must do it.”
The slight differences between the localization of the script and voice-acting choices between languages also offered different possibilities for the dynamics of their relationship. One example of such difference would be the tent scene in which Dion says the following to Terence in English: "Would that you were my master." In German, the title master is changed to Emperor, whereas the original Japanese script has Dion asking Terence for forgiveness ("I'm sorry you have to pretend to be my servant"). The French script, in turn, while also having Dion apologize to Terence, instead has him apologize for not being able to love him openly and without concerns. ("Forgive me for not being able to love you better".) The voice acting for Dion in Japanese, also, seems to evoke a stronger, much more unyielding tone and it is complimented by a gentler, softer toned Terence who seems to embody the role of a servant much more perfectly. The delivery of Dion's lines in English, in contrast, seem to portray the prince as a more vulnerable and slightly more tortured character that is then complimented with a more confident, deeper-voiced Terence.
At large however, Terence/Dion is the popular arrangement of the ship, regardless of interpretation based on their chosen localization. The main core of their dynamics being the conflict both of them feels between the duty and the obligations they have towards their Kingdom and their desire to be together in a carefree and open way, where ranks, war and chains of command doesn't matter. The way Terence addresses Dion in the English version, "My Prince" is also seen by fans as his own words of endearment, and as a sort of private language full of love, similar to the use of a pet name, because Terence is the only one who calls Dion like that, and continues to use this form also after Dion becames emperor "De facto".
Another subject of diverging fanon interpretations is Dion and Terence’s past prior to the game. The English game localization, for example, omits the lines about them being childhood friends in its ATL (Active Time Lore), whereas the Japanese ATL includes that information. The Ultimania, released on September 7, 2023, offered a more definite, though still loose, timeline of their friendship and eventual relationship, but while it is largely considered canon, a lot of fans have elected to take it as a guideline for their fics and headcanon for maximum effect. Perhaps the most important subject of fanon speculation to date is Dion’s fate at the end of the game, as it is largely left up to the viewer to decide whether Dion was able to survive it. Terence’s fate was also left up in the air for a while up until Update 1.21 six months later where they finally confirmed his survival through the Inner Voices.
Obviously, for dramatic purposes, Dion is often heavily implied as having died in a good number of Terence-centric fics post ending. However, fandom at large does seem united in their hopes of seeing these two lovers find a happy ending at the end of it all. It’s also a popular headcanon that Dion and Terence (or Terence alone, if Dion is dead) adopt an orphan girl named Kihel at the end of it.
Dion and Terence have been compared to Alexander the Great and Hephaestion along with Achilles and Patroclus.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Dion Lesage/Terence tag on AO3
- Dion Lesage & Terence tag on AO3
- Twitter/ X
- Teredio hashtag on Twitter/X
- テラディオ hashtag on Twitter/X
- @teredioxvi on Twitter/X
- @teredio_corner on Twitter/X
- @terence_tuesday on Twitter/X
Trivia[]
Dion's voice actor, Stewart Clarke, is very open to share with fans about Dion's background as a character and about his relationship with Terence. In this interview, he explored Terence and Dion's relationship, giving fans an insight about the background information he studied for his role, and also describes how it was for him to portray the first canonically gay character in a Final Fantasy series:
S.C.: "[...] An enormous honor and a tremendous responsibility. I was so excited reading the script to portray this aspect of Dion and to treat it with the respect and truth I wanted to bring to the rest of the role. Dion is not defined by his sexuality, but it is an undeniable part of him, and his relationship with Terence is another heartbreaking example of Dion’s ability to put others above himself and his own happiness."
Q: Can you dive into the dynamics of Dion's relationship with Terence?
S.C.: "Terence and Dion were childhood friends, and that grew very naturally into something more. It seems like this only became a problem when Dion was elevated above Terence by rank and the military chain of command became something that separated them. There’s something beautiful about the fact that Terence found his way to becoming Dion’s right-hand man, as it still allows them those moments of intimacy in the command tent where you can see the tenderness and love they feel for each other. Terence, desperate to protect Dion, Dion gently rebuffing him and putting the Kingdom above their own desires. There’s a specificity as well when they blur the lines of master and servant. I found the simple “Thank You” Dion responds with when Terence assures him that he’s with him for the ‘Dragoon Coup’ so much more than a simple commander acknowledging his advisor. It’s Dion, for the briefest of moments, allowing himself to unburden his duty, and connect with his lover, so as to feel not quite so alone in his struggle. It was a very meaningful line for me!"
He also thinks that, in a ideal world, Dion would have been a great dad for Kihel, and would have formed a family with her and Terence. From the same interview: "I think Dion and Terence would make wonderful fathers and in an ideal world they’d be incredibly lucky to have someone as endlessly kind and resourceful as Medicine Girl as their daughter!"[1]
In March 2024, a user asked Stewart Clarke if their relationship is being held secret, to what degree, and the main motivation behind their cautious attitude. Here is his heartwarming response via cameo app:
"There seems to be no hint of homophobia or anything really in Sanbreque. It's purely that they're hiding their relationship slightly, I think, because of rank and circumstance within the military, which [their relationship] might undermine the dragoons in the Sanbrequeian court with Dion fraternising with one of his fellow soldiers. I think that is more the concern for them. I do think it's an open secret. I think people know about it, and I don't think they're at pains to hide it. But I think it's more keeping up appearances and making sure that they can at least have deniability should any issues arise. But really, all the dragoons know. Sylvestre and Anabella, they know definitely, but that relationship doesn't benefit them. Do they approve of it? No, because they're selfish, selfish beings and think only of themselves and their own ambitions. It's absolutely just that Dion is highborn (sort of) and represents a higher status in the court, and Terence is a military professional who worked his way to the very highest ranking he can be. It's just difficult, but not insurmountable, as is clearly demonstrated by the two of them making it work. Because they love each other so much."
During Square Enix's charity pride stream, David Menkin, who is FFXVI Odin/Barnabas's English voice actor, discussed about the issue of the censorship of Dion and Terence's kiss scene, and defined their relationship "A loving, healthy relationship" [2]. Joshua Rosfield's voice actor Jonathan Case also expressed loving words towards the couple, when asked -by a fan on the Cameo app- about FFXVI's tragic romances:
"Specifically Terence and Dion, form me it's just so heartbreaking, They have such a pure love for each other, that has been so intelligently written and with such detail in the game and beautifully performed as well." [1][2][3][4]
References[]
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