Character Discussion/Appreciation: Caldina

[Mokonalord]

CALDINA

Because she needs more love though I'm sure Lafarga is more than willing to provide . More Caldina fun for everyone! *throws confetti*

[Mokonalord]

Meant to add something else when I made this thread, but then just plain up put it off. SORRY CALDINA!

I'll start by giving us something to think about: Her motivation. Whenever you have an antagonist, the reason you give them for opposing your protagonist/s is what kind make the difference between that character being compelling or cliche. So what do we get for Caldina's motivation?

Caldina: I need the money.

It's hilarious just how weak a motivation it is to kill people, and just how much this series recognizes that fact. If she were the first villain the Magic Knights had to face, that'd be a generic filler motivation. But she's not. She's the third. She comes after Alcyone, who was fighting for love, and Ascot, who was fighting for a place to live peacefully with his friends, both reasons that explain why they'd be okay opposing the rest of Cephiro. But for Caldina, she's got nothing really personal invested in fighting, and that's ultimately how Fuu gets her to back down.

It isn't until the second season that we get why Caldina would even agree to fight in the first place even though it wasn't such a big deal to her. We find out she's a traveler originally from Chizeta, and that she's been to all sorts of places. How exactly does that change things? Well, now we know that the destruction of Cephiro wouldn't have inconvenienced her much. As Natasha Romanoff said in The Avengers, "Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that." Since she could just move on to another place any time she wants, why not make some money off the conflict while she's there?

Here's where it really gets interesting. Some time during the interval between the Magic Knights defeating Emeraude and them returning to Cephiro, Caldina made the decision to stay. Why? Well, Caldina says there's a ton of reasons, but we all know the main one: Lafarga. Bow chicka bow wow.
Of course, I think Ascot's one of the other reasons, too. Those three as family make me so happy.

So, who else has got things to say about Caldina?

[suzanami]

mother hen Caldina!

she's of course more of a Cool Big Sis but she's actually really mothering as well.  one scene off the top of my head is in the 4th volume of the manga (I think it is) where the Knights were momentarily whisked away, she gathers them all up and looks over them and is like "YOU GIRLS ARENT HURT ARE YOU??"  of course everyone else felt the same way but Caldina was bursting with concern. 

I think she likes to make sure the Knights are doing okay, always kind of peeking in on them.  this is partly because she's a busybody but also partly because she's legit concerned over their happiness 24/7.  and in fact the busybody aspect of her I think is just part of her mother hen tendencies, they come from the same place of being very interested in the people in her life.

I think she also frets over Lafarga a lot, and of course she worries about Ascot constantly, in how she took him under her wing after they quit working for Zagato.

[Ithil]

It isn't until the second season that we get why Caldina would even agree to fight in the first place even though it wasn't such a big deal to her. We find out she's a traveler originally from Chizeta, and that she's been to all sorts of places. How exactly does that change things? Well, now we know that the destruction of Cephiro wouldn't have inconvenienced her much. As Natasha Romanoff said in The Avengers, "Regimes fall every day. I tend not to weep over that." Since she could just move on to another place any time she wants, why not make some money off the conflict while she's there?

I think this observation is quite interesting. It would be great writing a story about her life before she came to Cephiro - why did she move from Chizeta?
Caldina is the only person from Chezeta that we meet in Cephiro. This could suggest that it is not so common to move out from your own world to another... unless you have a particular reason (as in the case of Lantis)...
And how did she manage to travel from one world to another?
I'm also really curious about how she met Lafarga! When did it happen and why? (Oh, CLAMP... I hate you, sometimes.)
I love the idea of Caldina and Lafarga "adopting" Ascot <3 The relationship between Caldina and Ascot is just so adorable! <3

[Antoinette Veronica]

I love Caldina for her friendliness and her outgoing nature. She befriended the Magic Knights so quickly after her hell face turn and have rooted for them ever since. She is someone I love to be friends with.

In the anime, her interactions with Ascot are very sweet too. Always a caring big sister to the lonely boy. I hope Ascot will get the friendship and love he always yearned for through Caldina.

[Mokonalord]

Mother hen Caldina and Cool Big Sis Caldina are both incredibly fun. She's just fun in general. You know what else is fun? Caldina embarrassing other people. Mostly Ascot. Mokona forbid she ever get ahold of his baby pictures.

I think this observation is quite interesting. It would be great writing a story about her life before she came to Cephiro - why did she move from Chizeta?
Caldina is the only person from Chezeta that we meet in Cephiro. This could suggest that it is not so common to move out from your own world to another... unless you have a particular reason (as in the case of Lantis)...
And how did she manage to travel from one world to another?
I'm also really curious about how she met Lafarga! When did it happen and why? (Oh, CLAMP... I hate you, sometimes.)
I love the idea of Caldina and Lafarga "adopting" Ascot <3 The relationship between Caldina and Ascot is just so adorable! <3

I gots theories. Tarta and Tatra's reason for invading Cephiro was to get more territory because their own planet was so small, right? Overpopulation could mean a surplus of workers. Caldina might have left thinking she could make a better living for herself elsewhere, since there wasn't much opportunity there.
Back when Emeraude was pillar, anybody coming to Cephiro with hostile intentions was repelled. That probably has more to do with the shortage of visitors than anything else. A traveling dancer just trying to make a living was harmless enough. Maybe on other worlds, because they tried getting through the barrier with military forces but couldn't, most people just assumed it wasn't possible to get there at all? Maybe Caldina happened to be passing by at some point and thought to check for herself if it was true.
As for traveling from one world to another, I'll just leave this here...

I also want to know how she met Lafarga! I want to know what happened between the seasons so badly! Really need to work on 'Mid Knight Skies' sometime. It's gonna be all about those three during that interval.

[Mokonalord]

I've accidentally come up with my headcanon for Caldina's origin.

In Chizeta, her family was lower to lower-middle class, and both her parents could only make a living with jobs that kept them away from their kids almost constantly (Asteroid mining? Attendants to a noble family who didn't want their kids interacting with the help's kids?). She had a sickly younger brother and ended up doing a lot of odd jobs/learning to dance because the money their parents made was only enough for food/water/shelter and not enough for doctors and medicine, and he couldn't do much himself because, well, he was sick, and also Chizeta's matriarchal society meant his employment prospects were more limited anyway. He didn't have a happy disposition overall, so Caldina usually took it on herself to cheer him up with tricks and routines and just trying to distract him from the shitty hand life dealt him. In return, he was her anchor, her stability, what kept her from throwing all caution to the wind. Whether she considered that a good or a bad thing varied from day to day.

But then he died. Caldina grieved, she tried to get back to business as usual, but she found things no longer worked the way they use to. She wasn't constantly saving for his medicine, she didn't have to stay close to the house, she looked around her and found nothing there worth staying for. So she saved up, got herself a spaceship, and left. She traveled the worlds, enjoying the new views, the new people, the new customs, and overall, she was happy. But on every new world, there always came a time to leave, and however much she enjoyed staying on that world, she never felt inclined to stay.

Until Caldina got to Cephiro, that is, and found herself thinking she would really miss Ascot and Lafarga when she left.

Yay/nay? Hey, Down, you got a lot of thoughts on Chizeta, does this backstory mesh with your theories about that world in general?

[VKiera]

I totally approve of this headcanon *nod nod* I think it'd be a combination of missing Ascot and maybe wanting to find about more about that hunky guard, who's not so creepy anymore, now that he's not being controlled by Zagato, that makes her want to stay. Plus I think she'd feel a bit sad for the girls when she finds out what they ended up having to do in the end, and she might want to help Cephiro out, even if only in a small way.