Character Study: Tristan Taylor
Approximate Age: (by the Japanese anime) Fifteen to seventeen
Character Archetype: The Pinch Hitter, the straight man (As in comedy, not as in sexuality. :P)
Probable Element and Alignment: Earth, Lawful Good
Most Obvious Vocal Quirks: Sort of a "cool tough guy" lilt.
Poor Tristan. Poooor, poor Tristan. When he's not being ignored, he's being made fun of for being boring. They really could have put more about the poor guy in the DM anime; he has more backstory than Téa does.
For example, we know (mostly from the manga) that he has an older sister, who married a guy with a motorcycle, and that their son, Johji, is already a disturbing little pervert before he can walk. We also know that Tristan's sister probably picks on him, because he was apparently bullied into watching said nephew. His brother-in-law apparently trusts him enough to let him borrow said motorcycle, indicating that he's pretty trustworthy.
We know that Tristan has a dog and that apparently he never thought to get her spayed. We know that he's a fairly sensible guy who doesn't see the point to overly expensive shoes just because they're the cool thing. We know that he used to look up to Joey and that he apparently used to hate himself before he really became friends with Yugi, at one point telling Yugi he didn't want him to fight gang members "because even though you're my friend, I don't want you falling to my level." Like with everyone else, Yugi was a good influence on him.
We know that he tends to like shy girls (because the other girl he's crushed on is Miho, who in her appearance in the manga never is seen directly face on, only from the side) and we know that he's usually ready to get caught up in Joey's enthusiasm when it involves either fighting or flipping skirts. We know that he's a crack shot, and that he likes Westerns.
From the anime, we know that he's always ready to step up when no one else is there, that he's got a better sense of how to carry a souless shell than Kaiba does (Fireman's carry, Kaiba, not bridestyle! XD) that he's a bit more skeptical than Yugi, Joey OR Téa as well as a bit more realistic, and that he's willing to lie his head off to impress a pretty girl (Serenity.) We also know he's about as shameless as Duke.
Just by looking at him, we know that he's the kind of guy to get a crew cut. Because I'm fairly sure that's what that's supposed to be. ^_^''
(I've heard SOMEWHERE he wants to be a pilot someday, but I know not where I heard that, and he apparently doesn't mention what KIND of pilot, of which there are many.)
Point is, we know a lot about this guy, and he presents himself as pretty likeable, when he's not chasing after redheads. The thing about Tristan is that he's a fairly believable, ordinary kid. Aside from everything else I've listed, he's probably from a family that's comfortably middle-class, because his clothing is always neat and looks like his mother picked it out to make him look handsome. His family life is probably boringly stable, and so it's possible he got caught up with Joey more because of Joey's charisma and his own boredom than because of any dramatic strife in his own life.
All of Tristan's major flaws come out more strongly when he's crushing on someone than at any other time. I've mentioned he seems to crush on shy girls (obviously this isn't as true in Season 0, but I don't count it in my canon because Season 0 was totally insane.) I suspect this is because Tristan is essentially looking for someone to protect. But if there's anyone I tend to feel should try to date outside his own type...
In order to impress Serenity, Tristan puffs himself up by lying about his own abilities as a duelist. As I've mentioned, he's already got plenty of good qualities, and if he was just himself Serenity would probably be plenty and appropriately impressed with him. But for whatever reason, Tristan decides being a crack shot and a pretty sensible guy aren't good enough for this girl. Perhaps he's been luckless enough in love that he feels the need to lie, or maybe he's decided she wants a good duelist because her brother is.
He also lies because he's trying to protect Serenity from the reality of who Joey really is: a kind of goofy guy who doesn't really manage to look cool all the time. Tristan doesn't understand that Serenity doesn't expect Joey to look cool, that's not why Joey is her hero. He assumes he knows what she wants, and he's dead wrong. The worst part is, even after she calls him out on the lying, he continues trying to protect her, from Duke, behind her back. As Duke points out, Tristan really doesn't know what Serenity wants, he's just being possessive.
So yeah, when it comes to Serenity, Tristan lies to her, assumes too much, and acts way more possessive than he has the right to (the girl never ONCE said she liked him like that), and I have to admit I don't care for that. (I'd prefer to see him with a woman who will tell him in no uncertain terms what she wants out of him, see how he likes THAT. XD) When it came to Miho in the manga, he was far too eager to have Yugi write the love letter he was going to give her, once again showing that he just doesn't seem to think he's good enough to win a girl on his own.
Despite this, he does at least want very earnestly to fill the role of "shining knight" for someone, and if he just were himself, Tristan wouldn't be half bad at it. As I noted, he's very capable and responsible. He can take on two to five thugs alone (as long as he doesn't have to worry about innocent bystanders) and can still grin while he's doing it, a prerequisite for many young women when it comes to "my hero."
I don't tend to think he's a very good judge of character, though. He assumes, because she is a quiet and polite girl, that Serenity is "sweet Serenity," pure and innocent and easily broken (a lot of fans make the same mistake), but she's actually canny, surprisingly resilient, and likes the idea of nobody being able to push her around. He mistrusts Mai as a femme fatale for much longer than the other characters do, when Mai is actually sensitive, good, and sad. In other words, Tristan takes people at face value, and has a hard time getting past that first impression, even with his friends.
Another sign of his "rescuer" trait is the fact that he's the one who trotted all over Pegasus's castle looking for soulless bodies. He's also the one who dragged Bakura and Téa all over selfsame castle trying to prove that Pegasus was cheating, he's the one who offered to carry Bakura after Yugi had to blast him with Slifer, he's the one who tried to shake Joey out of a coma during Battle City, and he's the one who carried Joey when Joey lost his soul during Waking the Dragons. Tristan is proactive, and he's not only unafraid to shoulder the burden of an injured friend, he's eager. He's also apparently got some wisdom with regards to how to do that, since you'll notice that he almost always resorts to fireman's carry, which is considered the "proper" way to carry another person.
Of course I haven't really mentioned the fact that Tristan is kind of a pervert and used to pick on people. They're part of his character, yes, and yet somehow they feel kind of incidental; he'll read dirty magazines and appreciates Serenity's body because he's a man, he used to pick on Yugi mainly because he used to be angry all the time and it was a way to vent his frustration at the world.
And hey, also because Joey did it. He's something of a follower, at least when Joey is concerned. It's not that he can't think for himself (because obviously he can) it's that it's so easy to get caught up with whatever Joey wants to do. Often when Joey's not around, Tristan is much calmer, and steps up as the point man, even when Yugi's there (especially when a situation requires a certain kind of action.) Tristan's parents probably see Joey as a bad influence on him, which admittedly Joey sort of is. XD (If there's any reason at all that Tristan fights with his parents, this is it.) Tristan is a second-in-command sort; he can lead, but if his chosen leader's there, he does what the leader wants, even when he's trying to be a voice of reason.
(At one point in the manga, Joey decides he needs new shoes-- and not just new shoes, super special awesome air pump sneakers. Tristan complains through the entire story that this is just ridiculous, and even offers Joey a pair of his own shoes, but he still goes with him to the crazy scorpion shoe store, is still willing to beat the crap out of the guys that steal the shoes later, and doesn't exactly try to stop Joey from stomping his foot into a sneaker that allegedly has a scorpion in it. Joey, by the way, continues to wear these shoes for pretty much the entire rest of the series.)
Tristan is only a piece of the unit that makes up Yugi's core group of friends, and he's a piece that tends to fade into the larger picture. But if he wasn't there, the series would sorely miss him, and the support, reason, and stability he adds to the cast.
Final Distillation:
Tristan is capable and responsible.
He's Joey's wingman, and therefore picks up any slack in the group.
He also keeps the other characters on a straighter course. He's stable.
Tristan is a "rescuer." His taste in women reflects this.
He tends to take people at face value.
He gets caught up in Joey's charisma very easily.
Tristan is proactive.
As always, comments can be made either to the DeviantArt journal, here, or through our Gmail, I'd be happy to hear them.
