Sasha and Milla

[HappyCabbit]

OMG...both my 7th grade and 8th grade made us listen to that song.

 

I actually like it.

 

But the guy's voice is kind of annoying.

[Purple Squid]

Nuh-uh. Tom has a great voice.

[Klia]

ALMOST ALL OF THE INFORMATION YOU’LL EVER NEED

Sasha/Milla

 

One thing that the Psychonauts fandom seems to center on is the heavily hinted at romance between Sasha and Milla. While some seem to know every aspect of their bond, others find themselves stumbling along, asking themselves, “Would they say that? Is that correct?” And others completely ignore any canon evidence and charge on right ahead.

 

For those, there is no hope.

 

Instead I have created this article as a collection of my thoughts on the matter. One that I call “Almost all of the Information You’ll Ever Need...About Psychonauts.”

 

Chapters:

Sasha

-Who is Sasha

-What are his motives

Milla

-Who is Milla

-What are her motives

Why

-Evidence

-Longevity

Misc.

-Platonic

*At the end of each chapter I will supply summary notes. For those who don’t like to read long boring summaries.

 

SASHA

 

Sasha, a character so realized that some fans of Psychonauts would spend hours purely discussing his ethnicity. However many fans find themselves obsessing over him, they may find what makes him so realized elusive to capture in fanfiction. As soon as the pencil hits the paper writers can be at a loss for words. Who is Sasha? What are his motives? We’ll never be sure since he can’t speak to us. However I have compiled my ideas of what I think are the answers to these questions

 

Who is Sasha?

 

Supposedly Sasha is a German man somewhere in his thirties.

 

Anyone can easily argue that he is cool, calm, and collected. The strongest evidence for this is his mind. His mind is essentially his restrained thoughts visually represented as a cube.

 

With a little more digging, one could say he prefers to finish things effectively or finish the mission at hand, throwing aside caution. The Brain Tumbler in itself exemplifies this. Especially when Raz easily sways over Sasha into sending Raz back into his own mind. When Sasha had the decision to keep Raz safe but possibly lose the experiment he decided that was not the best option and opted for the more dangerous yet more efficient route.

 

He’s a little distant to others and doesn’t realize how his actions can fully impact other people. That isn’t saying he doesn’t consider other people, what I think is that he doesn’t consider how much it can hurt a person. Take for example Raz and the brain tumbler once again. He did take into consideration what it would do to Raz if it ruined Raz’s brain; however I think if he knew how harmful it could be; how much it would affect Raz’s life he could take all of that into perspective; then I think he would not have allowed him to go in. But his trait of finishing the task on hand probably takes a part in his “distance” with others. Not to mention that in his official profile it states that he does not know how much of a hero he is to young Psy-cadets.

 

In the beginning and ending of the game Sasha reinforces the trait that he believes in facts not guesses or wild ideas. This is one of the first lines he says to Raz when Raz asks if they are going to learn how to blow up brains. Sasha says that it is science and in science life is about coming up with a theory, reinforcing or dismissing it and experimenting to come to a conclusion. Sasha may have become so used to this theory that it affects the way he absorbs the world around him. When Oleander’s brain was taken out he came up with a theory: Oleander was defeated. He reinforced it by gathering the information around him: Oleander was exhibiting all the symptoms of a brainless person. Then he came to a conclusion: Since Oleander was brainless he must be harmless as what could an empty shell do? With this hard evidence Sasha dismissed all other ideas and only thought of it as one way.

 

OVERVIEW

-Cool, calm, collected

-Prefers effective methods instead of safe methods

-Distant and doesn’t realize how his actions can impact others

-He believes in facts, not wild guesses.

 

What are his Motives?

 

In order for a writer to develop a character they need to know what his motives are throughout his life. They certainly have changed from being a child to an adult but for the sake of this article I am only going to explain what I think is the older Sasha’s motives.

 

In my opinion I think that Sasha doesn’t look far into his life. He has near future goals. In these short time periods he plans it out according to how he think it would work best, slightly altering his methods as he goes or completely overhauling everything in light of new evidence. To be honest, I think he lives strictly in the present only allowing himself to think about the future when he has no busy work. Why? He rarely mentions the future, if only to create a plan to take up more of his time. Though I have to say, his actions do follow a pattern, his motives, and unbeknownst to him he may be working for his future by listening to these motives.

 

The first motive is the pursuit for knowledge. It’s rare that the player does not see Sasha experimenting on the Brain Tumbler as he takes in notes. The fact that he’s so engrossed in what he does certainly backs up this idea. Doubly so as Sasha is still fit and young enough to always go back into the field as he had with Milla. This pursuit of knowledge is not for fame or glory as he has already achieved that and has not even acknowledged this.

 

One less monumental desire but still important one is to carry on the scientific aspect of being a Psychonaut. Do I think it is as important to him as knowledge? No, but I think that this is the closest thing he will ever have to a lifelong goal. All of the children in the camp realize what it is like to be brought under the wing of Sasha. How hard he works them and treats them like young adults instead of the kids that they are. The reason why he picks children is to teach them about the science aspect of being a Psychonaut in his hopes that this will get through to them. At first I believed that he only wanted the kids for experiments up until the point when he began pulling strings for Razputin to overcome Raz’s problem. It is most strongly demonstrated when Sasha tries to tell Raz that learning how to battle one’s mental demons is how some people come of age. If Raz was simply his lab rat I highly doubt he would be trying to teach him important lessons.

 

OVERVIEW

-Sasha sets goals in the near future

-First motive is for knowledge

-Second is to carry on his teachings.

[Purple Squid]

Oh... wow. Once again, you impress me.

 

Look at all of those nods towards us. <3

[Klia]

Oh... wow. Once again, you impress me.

 

Look at all of those nods towards us. <3

 

You guys really influenced this article. See how many you can count.

 

I pity you.

[Purple Squid]

One thing that the Psychonauts fandom seems to center on is the heavily hinted at romance between Sasha and Milla. While some seem to know every aspect of their bond, others find themselves stumbling along, asking themselves, “Would they say that? Is that correct?” And others completely ignore any canon evidence and charge on right ahead.

 

For those, there is no hope.

 

Well, nearly all of this.

 

Sasha, a character so realized that some fans of Psychonauts would spend hours purely discussing his ethnicity. However many fans find themselves obsessing over him, they may find what makes him so realized elusive to capture in fanfiction. As soon as the pencil hits the paper writers can be at a loss for words...

 

And more, I think. Do you love us? Or hate us?

[Klia]

One thing that the Psychonauts fandom seems to center on is the heavily hinted at romance between Sasha and Milla. While some seem to know every aspect of their bond, others find themselves stumbling along, asking themselves, “Would they say that? Is that correct?” And others completely ignore any canon evidence and charge on right ahead.

 

For those, there is no hope.

 

Well, nearly all of this.

 

Sasha, a character so realized that some fans of Psychonauts would spend hours purely discussing his ethnicity. However many fans find themselves obsessing over him, they may find what makes him so realized elusive to capture in fanfiction. As soon as the pencil hits the paper writers can be at a loss for words...

 

And more, I think. Do you love us? Or hate us?

 

I hate you because you missed this!

 

Supposedly Sasha is a German man somewhere in his thirties.

 

You guys went nuts over that!

[Purple Squid]

Well, I assumed you'd put that in the 'obsessing over his ethnicity' thing. D:

[Klia]

Well, I assumed you'd put that in the 'obsessing over his ethnicity' thing. D:

 

Fine.. I guess I'll let that pass.

[Purple Squid]

Yay!

 

Well, I can't wait for Milla's. I love her.

[Tahnee]

You guys went nuts over that!

 

Hey, I was going to reply pointing that out, but noooo... Sheesh.

 

Anyway. I loved it (I'm a sucker for good character analysis) and can't wait for the next parts! When you're done you should totally put this all together somewhere so I can pimp it to everyone I know. Even if they've never heard of Psychonauts.

[DarthAve]

One thing that the Psychonauts fandom seems to center on is the heavily hinted at romance between Sasha and Milla. While some seem to know every aspect of their bond, others find themselves stumbling along, asking themselves, “Would they say that? Is that correct?” And others completely ignore any canon evidence and charge on right ahead.

 

For those, there is no hope.

 

Well, nearly all of this.

 

Sasha, a character so realized that some fans of Psychonauts would spend hours purely discussing his ethnicity. However many fans find themselves obsessing over him, they may find what makes him so realized elusive to capture in fanfiction. As soon as the pencil hits the paper writers can be at a loss for words...

 

And more, I think. Do you love us? Or hate us?

On the obsessing over Sasha part, truer words have never been spoken.

[Purple Squid]

She was probably reffering to you, Darth. Xo

[DarthAve]

Yay!!! Congrats on 2000 post Purple!!

[Purple Squid]

Oh, CRAP! Look at meeee!

 

I RUUUUUUULE!

[DarthAve]

you do rule, want a fudgesicle?

[Purple Squid]

Yes, please. Those are quite awesome. Like me. <3

[DarthAve]

yay, congrats you just danced like an idiot jerk.

[Purple Squid]

D: Meanie. You're just jeaolous of my posting-tude.

[90SK]

 

You've outposted people who have been here since the beginning; who are moderators and admins and stuff. In a year you'll be outposting Redwing.

 

It's the puppies. They're like steroids.

[Purple Squid]

Yay! CaptainSkye CARES! And I got... a scary Joker picture.

 

Whoohoo?

 

Yes, it is the puppies. They make my fingers BUFF.

[Klia]

Hey, I was going to reply pointing that out, but noooo... Sheesh.

 

Anyway. I loved it (I'm a sucker for good character analysis) and can't wait for the next parts! When you're done you should totally put this all together somewhere so I can pimp it to everyone I know. Even if they've never heard of Psychonauts.

 

Thank you. I'm flattered that you think it is a good character analysis. Mila, is going to be a lot tougher as we don't interact with her as much and I find her personality a little more offbeat.

 

Oh and I'm going to ask fanfiction.net to allow us to post essays as a subcategory. And if not then I may ask Darth_Ave to put it up somewhere on TTMHftD.

 

On the obsessing over Sasha part, truer words have never been spoken.

 

No, no they haven't.

 

Where the hell do your posts go to Purple Squid. I know you post here a lot but you must be in the other threads or something?

[Purple Squid]

Nope. They're all in here. :3 This is the only forum I post in.

 

And it really is an excellent essay. You can make sense out of things that don't make sense.

[Klia]

Nope. They're all in here. :3 This is the only forum I post in.

 

And it really is an excellent essay. You can make sense out of things that don't make sense.

 

ALL IN HERE? WTF?

 

Umm....I don't think I make sense. I really just ramble on and on for hours. They take a while to sort out. I'm really having trouble with Milla's goals.

 

Could one of her goals be to get over the past?

[Tahnee]

Could one of her goals be to get over the past?

 

I'm not sure. In fact, I'd go so far as to say "no," even. Actually, the whole nightmares thing is a big bone of contention with me, so... See, I know a lot of people think that she's got her nightmares under control and has dealt with them, since, y'know, she's a Psychonaut, they know how to handle these things. (That's kind of an...interesting argument in the first place. I mean, Oleander's a Psychonaut. Look what happened to him.) Maybe she's not "over it," exactly, but she's at least got things under control.

 

The sticking point with me is that, yes, she has her nightmares contained. Good for her. But that's not handling them. That's locking them away in a little box and hoping maybe they'll go away on their own. That's sweeping the problem under the rug and hoping no one will notice.

 

The impression I always got from Milla's nightmares was that she has them under control in the sense that they're not roaming around loose, terrorizing at random, but she's not willing to try and fight them (which is what she would need to do to get over her past, IMHO). Probably because she's afraid to do it--I mean, I would be, too.

 

Interestingly enough, apparently in an early build of her mind (and I've found sound files that back this up), her nightmares were running around loose, snatching kids and dancers and yanking them underground. The level even ended in a boss battle. That all got cut for obvious reasons--Milla being Milla, would she really let kids run around in there if she knew it was dangerous? Anyway...one of the sound files that I found in regards to this pretty much sums it up, for me. Milla, talking to Raz, refers to the nightmares as "party crashers" and tells him to "just do what I do, ignore them."

 

I don't think the version we ended up with is as bad as completely ignoring them--she's aware they're there, obviously, and seems to acknowledge that--but it's close enough. For me, at least.