Rune placements on the body

[Beecham]

I have to agree here with both Fliktor and Urn. I agree wholeheartedly that the evidence points to the idea that runes can be inscribed anywhere upon the body. The important thing is ones affinity to runes, which allows for a second or third [or fourth, fifth and so on] rune to be inscribed upon them. I don't care that Crowley is powerful, it makes no sense that he can break his three rune head hand hand mold so badly that he can have a hundred runes wherever he pleases and everyone else is stuck with hand hand head.

[Tony Stark]

Crowley and Leknaat are special cases, and as such must be taken into consideration upon the rest of the Suikoden world. Keep in mind, no one can attach a rune to themselves that does not sell runes, and the only people you run into in the game tell you that there are only three places to put a rune. Leknatt is a more complicated case than Crowley as well, for she has a true rune, or at least half of one, and as PF pointed out, true runes do what they damn well please.

What's up for contestation is not whether it is possible to put a rune somewhere other than the three designated places as specified in the game by rune store owners, without a very powerful magic ability and someone with special training in attaching certain runes, it's whether the average person in the Suikoden world would be able to do it, or use it. It is highly unlikley that even if you meet someone as powerful as Crowley and Leknaat, which is for one unlikely, it is even more unlikely that they will share the secrets of the runes with you and how to attach them in other places in the body. After all Crowley nor Leknaat share this with your hero, whom they very much respect.

As for the case of Mazus, he isn't quite on par with Crowley, not quite but he's close. As Crowley does, he experiments with runes frequently, and I'm near possitive he knows how to put them on somewhere other than the three areas we've mentioned, but he doesn't share this knowledge with people, probably because it would be hard to use a spell from anywhere else other than your hands or head.

It is very unlikely that a person in the Suikoden world, who in this case, many of us are trying our best to assume that role, would run into a person with the ability to attach a rune somewhere other than the three areas. So, unless there is a prior explanation as to why and how this is done, I would probably suggest it is in your best interest to not do it.

My guess about the subject is that the reason they aren't normally attached in other places, is because using them because heavily difficult. It's very easy to conjure your hands into motion and use them as an attachment into a power inside of you, and only powerful magicians can even try to do such a thing when a rune is attached to their head. So, even if it were possible for it to be attached somewhere else, it isn't likely a person would know how to use it from there.

So, if you want to keep continuity with the story unless you're the best magician since Crowley, which none of us should probably pretend we are, you cannot easy attach a rune anywhere but your hands and head, and even the head is a hard stretch for most of us to make.
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[Urn]

Conjuring a rune's spell is not done through hand motions, it is done through the chanting of spells. Therefore, the placement of the rune on the body should not matter. Also, the runesmith's only place runes on the head and hands of the rune users because that is the only option given gamewise. We don't know where they can be put in actuality. And again, magical prowess should not effect where one can place a rune. It may effect how many runes you can use, but why placement? That just doesn't make any sense at all. And why would it not be easy to place a rune on a place other than the head and hands? All you do is inscribe the rune image on that part of the body.

It's obviously not a difficult process because the runesmiths do it to the head and hands. What would make putting it on the legs or anywhere else harder? The fact that you can equip a Holy Rune to the hands in Suikoden 2 and Cedric has it on feet, supposedly, shows that there should be no restraint on rune placement. There would need to be a good explanation as to why placing a rune on anywhere other than the head and hands would cause a problem. And we keep arguing about where a True Rune can or cannot be placed.

Before Suikoden 4 we thought that True Runes could only be placed on the right hand and thought that Leknaat and the leader of the Sindar were special. We don't even know where Joshua kept his Dragon Rune. So, why does having a True Rune make the placement issue debatable? True Runes and regular runes follow the same principles it appears. We cannot deny that magic experience effects the amount of spells one can cast, but it does not effect placement. The games have not shown us that. The game only restricts the placements for simplicity. This cannot be argued against.
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[Beecham]

Since when did any Rune Sage ever tell you that you can only have three runes, and they have to be on your head, left hand or right hand? I've played all four games, and never once did a sage actually come out and say any such thing.

You have your opinion, and you're using game mechanics - not in-world story - to back up your opinion as supposed fact. It isn't. There isn't conclusive proof on either side, but story elements will always weigh more in my book than game mechanics. And the story elements point to the fact that you can have runes somewhere other than the three default positions in the games.

[Wataru]

Well, the Pale Gate/Blue Gate Runes can only be placed on the head, which leads me to believe that the locations do have a little more significance than just as a descriptor. Head Runes also only open up to more powerful magicians, and they are not always the third to open. Characters like Viki and Nina in S2 get a head rune slot and never get a second hand slot, but they are both higher-end mages. Stallion and Kasumi both have their unque Runes on their heads in S2, but they were also always known for being on the higher end of the magic scale (especially in S1). Unless I'm mistaken, no lower-tier magicians get head slots. This makes it seem to me that Rune location is important and that only people with great affinity for magic can go to other locations. If Rune slots could go anywhere, you would see tanks whose only rune slot was on their head. Since you don't see that, and since we've seen more than 350 playable characters, it is pretty safe to say there's a reason we haven't seen that. They've been given ample opportunity to out it out there.
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[Milan Fiori]

Just a note: Joshua probably had his rune on his hand, since that's what he raised when he lent some power to Leknaat at the end of Suikoden 1. Not a fact but very plausible.
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[Tony Stark]

I didn't suppose my opinion as fact, I supposed it as my opinion and how I saw what the game told me. In most cases it's assumed someone is talking about their opinion, not just stating correct/incorrect facts. This is the case for the essay and always has been, why should the same not hold true for forums? I didn't even state my opinion as if it were fact.

Or at least, that's my opinion. (See how unnecessary that last sentance is?)
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[Axiose]

Just to point out, Iscalio was never actually stating a point either way. He was just saying that it is possible that it might only be possible for 99% of the population to use runes on their hands and head; but that's me playing Devil's Advocate.

Another person who did not have their rune present on her hands or head was Sierra. Never present on her hands or body after she reclaimed it from Neclord, and no signs of the Harmonian orbs used in Suikoden III. Though that could be because it's of the True Rune argument.

However, we know by fact that runes don't have to be used on the body to have effect. Runes can be put upon weapons as well and still have effect.
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[Axiose] [Fliktor]

[cid]

Blue Gate Runes can be placed on the head, i thinka that other runes are stronger on other place, so if u try to put a other rune to another place it will be stronger,or it will have another job...lbut some runes can be only placed to one place...and to other characters the parts r differents, maybe on some char . one rune will can put on another part of the body...

[RedCydranth]

I'm of the belief that you have to have some seriously wicked magical power or the holder of a true rune to have it anywhere you please on your body. Crowley is an exception because his magical power is higher than any other magician and for all we know he COULD be a bearer of a true rune, like you all seem to love saying, it doesn't have to be in the game to make it true. True Runes can be placed anywhere, in my belief. Look at Leknaat, her half of the Gate Rune on her chest is the only example (aside from Crowley) shown to be anywhere beside the Head, left or right hand. If they could be placed anywhere on the body, I think SOMEONE aside from Crowley or Leknaat would have it elsewhere. We have over 300 examples of people having runes only in 3 places on their body and 2 examples of people having them somewhere else. The fact that those 2 people are very powerful magicians and not your average magician kinda puts them on a different field as say Zamza, Cleo, Sgt. Joe etc..

The sheer numbers are the only facts i need to claim that in my opinion, Runes on 99.9% of the population of Siukoden's residents must be placed on the hands or head.
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[Axiose]

Crowley does not own a True Rune.

Also, you're only proof that 99.9% of the Suikoden population have runes on their hands and head is because IN GAME that is the only place you gave have a rune.
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[Axiose] [Fliktor]

[Tony Stark]

[Aurelien]

[Sophita]

[Beecham]

I thought the only time she cast True Water's final spell was while she was in all technicality in control of the Rune by virtue of that odd Sindarin sphere thing Luc used to contain it. As for Pale Gate spells... if her Flowing Rune is in her head slot in the game, and she can cast Pale Gate spells [if you're sure you're not thinking of Luc; so far, I've yet to see her do so on this playthrough, and my original playthrough was far too long ago for me to remember much of it], then it lends credence to the idea that not only can you have runes elsewhere on your body, but also more than one rune in what the game considers a single slot. No reason the Pale Gate Rune couldn't be on the crown of her head, or just higher on her forehead, or whathaveyou. I really wish though that the games showed off more runes actually visible on the bearers' bodies than just the Rune of Punishment in Suikoden 4.

I should point out also that technically, we've already seen two different positions for a rune on someone's hand, continuing to lend credence to the idea. The Rune of Punishment was on the back of Konami's hand. The Bright Shield Rune was on the palm of Riou's. Minor details, but the devil's in the details on this thread, it seems.