About

What is Liberation about?
Liberation covers the Hero's Journey, also called the monomyth. It details the call, trials, and rewards that every epic hero must face. Not every hero follows the monomyth to its exactness. Liberation specifically features Aya Brea of Square Enix's Parasite Eve based on what steps she follows in the monomyth, the archetypes the characters around her fit into, and her heroic traits. This site in no way proves that Aya is an epic hero. It is merely a character study based on the steps she has taken in her journey between three games. Also, it should be noted that most epic heroes are male, so it's a little more difficult to stack Aya up against that because she is female.
Why Liberation?
Liberation is the name of Aya's Ultimate Parasite Energy Technique in Parasite Eve. It unleashes the latent power of Aya's mitochondria and transforms her. In this form she is capable of clearing out groups of mitochondria creatures and killing bosses with ease. It seemed fitting to name a site that dives into her character after her hidden powers.
What is Parasite Eve?
Parasite Eve, Parasite Eve II, and 3rd Birthday are video games produced and published by Square Enix. These games follow a series of events based on a novel by Hideaki Sena. In fact, they are meant as sequels to the novel and follow conflicts that take place in New York and the Mojave Desert (the Nevada side). The lead character in all three games is Aya Brea. Although the series is three games, one novel (and a film adaptation), and two manga series, Liberation follows only the games.

The conflict follows the uprising of mitochondria and the transformation that happens when "Eve" the mother of Mitochondria tries to wipe out the human race. She controls her host into speeding up the processes of the mitochondria around her, often resulting in spontaneous combustion. Rarely, there is someone who is affected by the change but not killed – in this case, Aya Brea. In Parasite Eve, Aya faces off against a woman named Melissa Pearce who has become the new Eve and is trying to squash out humans and raise the mitochondria army as the true rulers of the Earth. This happens in New York while Aya is a rookie cop for the New York Police Department. She fights the neo-mitochondria creatures (NMCs) (Tokita 1998). In Parasite Eve II, Aya has joined an FBI Agency called MIST that specializes in the eradication of artifcial neo–mitochondria creatures (ANMCs) that have cropped up after the first incident. It is revealed that someone within her organization has been experimenting with these new creatures and intends to unleash a virus turning all people into NMCs. In Nevada she meets Kyle Madigan and her clone, Eve Brea who later lives as her younger sister (Hirata 1999). In 3rd Birthday, Aya is back in New York but she has amnesia. She fights the twisted, creatures similar to the mitochondria creatures of the past. And though she feels a deep connection to them she does not know why. Now she can travel to the past to save the future. In doing so she hopes to piece together her missing past (Toriyama 2010).
What is the Monomyth?
The monomyth is a set of story standards that feature several steps of a hero's journey. Usually it is done to portray a hero's epic qualities and traits. It is usually done for males and is a little more difficult to make work for females. Usually stories tend to be male–centric. So it tends to be more difficult to make a heroine of female lead match up as nicely. It can be done, but one can tell that the monomyth or hero's journey setup is meant for men. I use a document based on a discussion post from an English class that was written by the instructor at the time. References are included in the site section. In fact, much of the information pertaining to the games that is not obvious speculation is paraphrased or summarized.
Is Aya an Epic Hero?
It is not my goal to say that one way or another. I am merely following the monomyth canon and seeing where she stacks up. Most epic heroes meet most (not always all) the parts, traits, and archetypes around them. It would be very difficult and very rigid for writers if all heroes were cut from the very same cloth. It is not uncommon for them to be missing one or more trait or piece of the journey. It is also true that one could probably recognize any one of the series or traits in other heroes. So, it is safe to say that while most heroes follow the basics of the monomyth there are some small differences here or there.