the single mom of JRPG protagonist is kind of a common trope. There are some with happy, whole families, but often, it's a plucky upstart from a broken home in some way. What I always appreciated was that it's almost NEVER explored as part of the protagonist's backstory. 3/8

It doesn't seem to matter. It. Just. Is. The reason we often saw silent protagonists was so that the player had a way to imprint onto the character without giving them a voice. What a fucking profound choice, then, to give these characters a home life that isn't idyllic. 4/8