Vantan the Valiant

I discovered there is a science fiction story based on Final Fantasy, called ‘Trials of the Valiant’ which has a character called Vantan. I haven’t played the game so am not sure if this is an original character or a made up one.

Up to now, I thought Vantan was a name that occured more in Asia. There is a Vantan design and culinary school in Japan. Previously a South Korean company owned the domain name vantan.com (now owned by the same Japanese school), which they tried to sell to me in the late 90s for several thousand US dollars. And occasionally I get emails from some Vietnamese people by mistake - probably because of the ‘van’. Lastly, there is a nudist group called the Van Tan club - probably named because it is in Vancouver.

Anyway, back to the science fiction story. I like this hotheaded male Vantan character. Here are excerpts:

The man, breathing heavily, offered his hand. “Thank you, whomever you may be. I owe you much. Permit me to introduce myself. I am Vantan the White Knight.”

A white knight!

The following line was hilarious. The characters were eating breakfast.

Vantan prodded his portion while addressing the engineer. “Forgive me, sir, but are you quite sure that this concoction is edible? It fails to resemble any toast or eggs I have yet seen.”

Onward to battle! Vantan temporarily ‘betrayed’ his companions but proved true in the end!

Alma glanced in back of her to see who would be stabbing her. Her face twisted into an expression of contempt as she saw that it was none other than Vantan. She turned away in disgust, not wanting to see the loathsome traitor’s face.

She heard the whistle of his sword, and was amazed as it ignored her and severed her bonds, then turned and swung down to cast Lightning Stab on the two nearby Knights, killing one and mortally wounding the other.

And lastly:

Gurfastus did not have much time to ponder these questions, though, for he suddenly found himself on the receiving end of Vantan’s Crush Punch…

Yeah!