#and while elise's fire is inherently bad

[emioliravioli]

elise is just blaze in a different hairstyle

[lore-of-mobius]

Political Themes in Sonic The Hedgehog

So there are people nowadays that complain about "politics" being "forced" in media such as Sonic The Hedgehog, whether or not this is the case. They often go on to say they just want things like Sonic to be an escapist fantasy and to keep politics out. So I wanted to talk about political themes in Sonic The Hedgehog that have existed since the first game, and exist in other Sonic continuities as well.

So starting off while I don't know where to find said interview, the environmentalism is major theme stated to be behind Sonic The Hedgehog 1. Now while some people might say environmentalism shouldn't be regarded as political which I agree with, it has been made political by other people. With many of the people who complain about politics in media often complaining about environmentalism viewing it in media as inherently political. This is why I am including it. Continuing said themes can be seen in how in Sonic 1 after Eggman is defeated the Chaos Emeralds create more nature in an instant, and in the 8-bit version the Emeralds get rid of all the pollution done by Eggman.

This is further seen in Chemical Plant Zone and Eggman's bases being cold, mechanical, and the absolute polar opposite of Green Hill Zone. This is further seen in the comparison made by ALtheBoi between Angel Island and the Death Egg being polar opposites in their video How Sonic 3 Tells a Story.

This is further seen in Sonic CD with Eggman's greatest and most prized creation Metal Sonic. Or how the Encyclo-speed-dia puts it, "Eggman's answer to nature's perfect hero." In addition, the good future depicts the Little Planet as a solarpunk paradise, while the bad future depicts it as a polluted mechanical city with no nature in sight.

Eggman and Sonic's rivalry is depicted as freedom and nature vs oppression and pollution, as many of the blue blur's descriptions make this clear. Sonic Adventure "With a strong love of freedom, the only thing Sonic hates is oppression." Sonic Heroes "He's basically easygoing, but when he gets fired up over an injustice, his anger explodes with surprising consequences. Always at the receiving end of this aggression is arch-enemy Dr. Eggman, whose fiendish plots to take over the world are constantly being foiled by Sonic." Sonic Riders Zero Gravity "Sonic is a big fan of freedom and has no tolerance for evildoers." Olympic Games 2016 "He despises anything that is unfair and will get into trouble to help anyone in need." Sonic Superstars "Sonic the Hedgehog runs at mach speeds and is quick to engage those that threaten his friends, his freedom, or the natural world around him."

On top of this the existence of the Guardian Unit Of Nations and what they represent alongside their crookedness makes it where there are politics in the Sonic world. The same goes for the existence of Princess Elise and Blaze the Cat adding in monarchies.

The same goes for Queen Alena and Princess Sally as they do the same for Sonic Underground and Satam. Speaking of which Sonic Satam is the more blunt of Sonic continuities with it's political themes with the tyrant Julian Robotnik and his polluted reign of terror over Mobius, which of course bleeds into the Archie comics.

[squeiky]

So i finally decked down and wrote basically rhe entirety of the Sonic 06 timeline (not PLOT-line) because i got confused while trying to figure out some things with the story-

And unironically stumbled upon the fact that Silver and Shadow literally (accidentally) created well..

[Rambling below btw. ]

1. (Probably) a bootstrap paradox (Silver cannot be created nor can the timeline that creates him be created so i have 1 time line thats functionally exist as the origion stort yet because of the solutions the writer uses (erased timeline/ self-healing timeline solutions) this origin is functionally unobtainable, yet still exists.

But this ALSO creates-

2. A grandfather-ish paradox (because Silvers future cannot be created without Silver and Shadow preventing the original apocolypse from occuring (i.e. sealing iblis/mephiles). )

But again its an "ish" because supposively he prevents his own future from happening (via creating a portal so that Sonic can save Elise)?? But its shown like.. in the same scene (the elise dies one) he travels to the future with blaze and its still on fire.? So there could be multiple timelines (as alluded to by eggman in the final episode)

So we'd have to assume theres some weird timeline shenanigns at play here because the fucking WRITING INCONSITENCY- because there was no point in time was a character shown capable of using one portal to travel to different times- (it was always future to past or past to future not future AND past!!) which again makes it so that this gets tricky since how the hell did Silver and Blaze travel to a future that was inherently prevented and resulted in the creation of Solaris?? Which means like no iblis- or mephiles? So?????? I dont know anymore.)

Oh and Silver is the (rather indirect) cause for Solaris occuring- so theres no possible way that his future occured because its made via Elise dying by eggmans ship crashing with her still inside, causing iblis to arrise-

Which is an inconsitency, because again, the only reason Elise is alive and thus Solaris is made is because Silver went "hey just go back in time sonic and save her".

Oh about that:

3. Butterfly effect (Silver is the butterfly in this case and Mephiles is the asshole who decided to release him. If you were to write down everything thats happened because of the actions of both Silver and Mephiles you'd get the equivalent story of Silver fucks up and tries to fix it but ends up fucking up again without knowing it but somehow its in Mephiles favor then its not because of Silver AGAIN. All while Mephiles kicks up his feet and trolls Shadow the hedgehog for 2 days while occasionally chatting with Silver, then kills sonic, and then dies.

For my own sake im calling Silver "the moth effect" as not only does he indirectly (and sort of directly) help create this catasrophe, but also helps to prevent it- creating the net 0 gain of what i call "moth effect" as the boy comes back to bite. )

If we ignore the "accidentally creating his own future" part then its "accidentally became the reason as to why Sonic was able go save Elise which gives Mephiles the ability to finally kill this guy without any trouble (assuming that he couldnt kill Elise due to her protective barrier power or something idk)"

Which also makes it so he inadvertly helped Solaris.. become a thing? Because if he didnt well then we just create 200+ years of Iblis apocolypse, which will just create Silver again which means Mephiles will find Silver after 200+ years and then make him touch a shiny purple rock and send him back in time to go "lets go find the truth" with shadow and "hey just timetravel" to sonic which you'd think would prevent his future but no.

BUT HES ALSO the reason for why Solaris is NOT a thing after hyping everyone up to go find the emeralds and Elise to do her prayer thing-and then helping defeat Solaris (concious) and well knocking thag bad boy unconicous so he turns into a little flame that Elise can blow out.

Which, believe it or not, erases the future that Silver is born in, making it so that he never existed in the first place (with the exception of Blaze who now lives seperate from that dimension)

But also making it so that, much likd the original timeline #1, there is no possible way for them to access timeline #2 making me worry how many fucking timelines it took untill Mephiles (aka Soalris) managed to essentially kill himself (because again, Silver is NOT a certified time travler. MEPHILES IS. He orchastreted his own flight and death like fucking Icarus. My guy sat back, let a child loose in the kitchsn and waited till the house went up in flames i-)

Feel free to argue against me btw just provide evidence to support your claims pls, as itll help me in the long run while i continue my very own Solaris project

(P.S. Elise, Mephiles and Iblis, and Solaris, all have "S" sounds in that back of their name that make you hiss like a snake if you say them fast enough)

Oh outside of 06 its almost a "fate" thing that the world must be fucked as like there cannot be a silver rhe hedgehog without the universe finding a way to make a reality in which he can exist. Unles your Silver from colors, he gets a free run before having to suffer the horros of war.

[crystalelemental]

Character Analysis - Faye

I’m basically writing this as I go with the asks, so let’s compile.  Faye!  She’s a really, really disliked character in Fire Emblem!  I get it.  A lot of her dialogue is obnoxiously Alm-centric, and her support conversations are...oh boy are they not doing her any favors.  Despite all this, I still like Faye!  Because I guess it’s just some personal affectation that I must always like the generally disliked characters.  I will say though, that a lot of this is personal interpretation of Faye as a character.  None of this is inherently written into the canon, but I do think the game offers evidence that can substantiate what I’ll be saying.  Hopefully, you too can come away from this having at least a different outlook on Faye as a character.  But...well, I’m not gonna hold my breath.

Faye Sucks Okay, let’s get this out of the way: Faye seems like one of the most universally disliked characters in the series, and with damn good reason.  She’s the third in a line of characters born from IS not understanding Awakening’s success.  I’m serious, even as recent as the Three Houses interviews, they’ve stated they still do not know how Awakening did so well.  A lot of tropes established in Awakening carried over to subsequent games as a result, and one such trope is the “overwhelming devotion” character.  Tharja started the trend and was one of the most popular Awakening characters.  Camilla followed suit, and while she’s one of the most divisive characters in recent memory, she’s also got a huge fanbase, and won CYL3 in Heroes, so clearly doing something right.

Faye was the third use of the trope, and yet somehow, everyone hates her.  What the hell changed?  I’m gonna cut straight to the point: her supports did it.  It’s 100% because of her supports.  She only gets two, and they do not paint her in a flattering light at all.  Tharja had some fantastic supports, like the serious tone and getting to see positive sides of her with Libra, or the comedy with Frederick.  Camilla similarly has great supports, like her verbal smackdown to Niles, and her sweet interactions with Elise.  Camilla also benefits from being a prominent character in Conquest, giving her a lot more of the plot spotlight to develop.

By comparison, Faye gets exactly two support lines in the entire game - Alm and Silque - and has no story relevance at all after the party leaves Ram village.  Faye is given dramatically less time to explore her character, and it really, really hurts her.  So the next time someone says “Support conversations aren’t important,” just remember: they’re the difference between a Tharja or Camilla, and a Faye.  But hey, quality over quantity right?  Surely a few really good supports can salvage a character!

Faye does not have good supports.  In Silque’s, C and B support are entirely Faye rejecting Silque’s offers of friendship, largely pushing the narrative of disliking gossip and preferring to be near Alm to just talking about Alm.  She apologizes and tries to make up in the A-support, but damage already done.

In Alm’s supports, it’s arguably worse.  The first two are Faye pretty flippantly declaring that she’s ready to kill in Alm’s name, and it’s at a point where even Alm acknowledges that something’s off.  And Alm is a dense, dense boy.  If even he’s noticing, it’s bad.  Again, her A-support tries to tilt thing back, but for many, damage already done.

Based on these two being just about the only real dialogue or development that Faye gets the entire game, it’s not unfair to say that people’s dislike is well-founded.  There are tremendous problems with Faye’s character that largely come about as the result of limited supports and the writing not working in her favor.  That said, I wouldn’t be writing this if I were just going to say “They’re right, Faye sucks, moving on.”  I’m here to argue that Faye’s A-supports, and one particularly well-hidden piece of dialogue that I only found out about recently, do make the case for Faye being more compelling than she initially seems.

The A-Supports Let’s start with Alm’s.  In Alm’s A-support, Faye approaches him and tells him about her dream.  Faye dreams often that, when the war is over, Alm will return with her to Ram village, and they’ll live a quiet life never having to fight another battle ever again.  For the first time, Alm finally comes forward and says no, that’s not going to happen.  He’s very direct about acknowledging how Faye feels about him, and that he doesn’t feel that way toward her.

Surprisingly, she takes it.  Faye’s a bit self-depreciating here, stating that she had hoped that something would change if she continued to fight by his side, but should’ve known better.  She states that she’ll be able to move on, but while they’re adventuring, wants to keep her feelings for him, “at least until we part ways.”  Which I think is fair.  You don’t just snap to getting over someone, especially while they’re still close.  Faye takes the rejection really well, which is something I really don’t think she gets enough credit for.  “It’s because the ending card-” no.  All of those are stupid and non-canon.  If you honestly expect me to believe that Mathilda gave up being the best knight to be just Clive’s wife, or that Sonya went off and became a witch despite witches being the direct product of Duma’s power and Duma being dead by the point she goes off, you’re crazy.  The ending cards have no basis in canon, in this or any other game.  Canas died to a blizzard my ass...

Anyway, the other important part of this is that Faye’s dream is specifically going back to the village and never fighting.  Fighting is not something she enjoys.  Despite her apparent zeal during the C and B-supports with Alm, she wants nothing more than to stop fighting altogether and live quietly.  This seems contradictory now, but hopefully I’ll be able to make sense of it later after exploring the remainder of her dialogue.

For Silque’s A-support, Faye apologizes to Silque and states that she missed her company when Silque finally backed off.  They start to hit it off, and Faye expresses that she’s still not interested in gossip, but she would like to know more about Silque herself.

This is small, but I think very informative for what Faye values.  She likes people.  Not initially, mind.  She’s very hesitant to get to know Silque, for reasons I’ll get into later, but once Silque’s been established as just a part of the group, Faye warms up and wants to get to know her better as a person.  Silque’s offers of “talk not meant for the ears of men” and talking about Faye’s interest in Alm aren’t important, and never were.  That’s not what Faye’s about.  She just wants to get to know Silque personally, once she’s comfortable with her.  Which I think is telling.  Faye’s reserved around people, but once comfortable, is really driven by those personal bonds she has.  She cares about the people in her life as people, but is very hesitant to established new bonds.  I think, for two reasons.

Faye and Celica But first, we need to talk about the hidden dialogue I mentioned.  Did you know that Alm can reject Faye’s offer to join his army, and that you can talk to her with Celica?  Yeah, me either until like three days ago.  Never would’ve crossed my mind to try this.  I didn’t even think about having Celica go back through Alm’s areas, but yeah, of course you can.  You learn some good stuff if you do, too, but we’re focusing on Faye right now.

So, with everything you know about Faye, and all the negative perceptions around her, let’s play a guessing game for those who don’t know the answer already.  Alm and Celica are basically the destined pairing.  Even as kids, Alm started playing more with Celica than his friends.  Faye has a crush on Alm, and even as a child, recognized Celica as a romantic rival.  And Faye, who is often labeled a yandere because of the “killing in your name” bit, is now brought face to face with Celia, who has returned after years of being away.  How does Faye react to seeing Celica again?  My guess was terrible.  I actually dreaded any Faye/Celica interactions in canon, because despite my own interpretations of Faye, it seems obvious they’d play up the jealous yandere aspect.

“Oh, Celica!  You’re back!  Gosh, how long has it been?  I’ve missed you so much!”  That...is not the reaction of a yandere.  Yes, I’m saying Faye doesn’t really count as a yandere.  Yandere comes with the specifics of active violence and harm toward romantic rivals as well, and Faye’s downright happy to see Celica.

This dialogue made me so happy, because I feel like it’s stronger evidence for what I’ve been saying: Faye is people-driven.  Even though she loves Alm, and Celica is a rival for that affection, she holds absolutely no animosity toward Celica at all and treats her like a close, personal friend.  Because they are friends.  They were friends years ago and that still holds true now.

Faye goes on to talk about how Alm left her behind and went off with the Deliverance, and how at first, she thought about chasing after him but decided against, expressing she’d probably be killed if she adventured on her own.  But when she realizes Celica is also on a journey, she excitedly asks to go with.

Now, much like Alm, Celica has a choice at the end of their dialogue.  Recruit Faye?  If you recruit her, that’s it.  That is the last thing you will ever hear from Faye.  Yes, it bothers me a lot too.  No hidden support conversations, IS?  Come on.  This would’ve been perfect.  It is worth noting that Faye is willing to go with Celica at all.  If Faye’s motivation is solely on following or being with Alm, why would she agree to go with Celica?  I’d argue it’s because she’s not fighting for just Alm.  That becomes a centerpiece of her fixation when she’s with him, but Faye fights for more than just him.  More on that later.

The interesting thing is when Celica rejects Faye too.  See, when Alm does it, Faye’s response is almost playful, as if she doesn’t expect him to stick to that answer.  “I guess I’ll just...stay here and be...sad...forever.”  Not exactly the heavy dialogue you’d expect from rejection.  It’s almost like she disbelieves.  But then he does leave, and Celica finds her in the village instead.  If Celica also rejects Faye’s aid?  “R-really?  Oh.  I suppose it was foolish of me to ask something like that.”  She’s completely defeated.  Unlike the first time, this response carries a lot of sorrow in her voice.  Faye’s downright heartbroken over the second rejection, even though Alm’s should’ve stung worse.  Why?

Faye’s Motives I argue that Faye is a character whose primary motivation is in proving herself.  Both in Alm’s A-support and Celica’s rejection dialogue, Faye gets really harsh on herself, claiming she should know better than to expect that Alm would love her back, or that Celica would want her along on the journey.  Faye’s incredibly self-depreciating, and doesn’t seem to find much worth in her own abilities at all.  Hell, when it comes to combat, she’s so unsure of her ability that she’s not even sure she’d survive trying to chase after Alm.

Let’s run through some scenarios.  Suppose you’re Faye, someone whose entire focus is on your bonds with others.  Suddenly, everyone talks about leaving the village to go fight in a resistance army.  Everyone’s leaving.  All your friends, and the person you love.  They’re all just...going off, away from the quiet, happy life you’ve been living.  Now you make a choice: stay with your quiet life as the others leave, or go with to protect the people closest to you.

Scenario 1: you go with.  Alm accepts the invitation, and you’ve now joined up for constant military engagement, in order to protect your friends.  Along the way, the person you love, who’s always been close with your group of friends, starts taking up a leadership role and has no time for you anymore.  You never get to see him on a personal level, and all you ever do is fight.  Your motivation is attention and connection, and that’s being taken away amidst war.  How do you get that back?

Performance.  Those who do well in battle get recognition, and rise up the ranks the same way.  But you have no confidence in your own ability as a fighter.  You’re not sure you can win that recognition in battle.  So you follow up with the next best thing.  You literally beg to be acknowledged.  Watch me in battle, Alm.  I’m ready to fight for you, Alm.  You may not be able to succeed overall, but you can still get that recognition from the person who means the most.  But, what you want most hasn’t been addressed, and it’s not coming up.  After a while, you’re tired of fighting, and approaching the end of the journey.  It’s now or never, so you share your dream with him.  And he rejects it.  You knew it was coming.  You’ve been here this entire time, watching him drift further and further from you and your home, and you knew full well there was never any going back.  But you had to try.

Meanwhile, all through the campaign, more and more new faces get added in.  The first is Silque, who’s a bit chatty and gossipy, but seems nice and wants to talk to you.  But, your main ambition has been to go back to the village, and return to the life you once led.  Every step through this war sees that dream drift further and further away, as Alm takes up leadership, and even your friends become invested in the military life.  The more people added into this group, the more likely your inner circle gets pulled away.  So you push anyone new back.  You don’t want to make friends.  You don’t want them in your life, drawing everyone away, and ruining what should be your happy ending after the fighting.  You do your best to keep people away, but she’s also...the only one paying any attention to you.  She’s kind, and even in spite of your attempts to act stand-offish, she keeps coming back to check on you, to talk to you.  That’s more than anyone else is doing.  So when this person finally gives up, you realize...it’s lonely, not having anyone to talk to.  In spite of your efforts, your friends are already drifting apart, and you pushed away your chance at meeting someone new.  Now you’re going back to them, apologetic for being dismissive, and trying to get to know them because they’re right, you do need a friend.

Suddenly, all of Faye’s disconnected actions start to make sense.  Faye is someone marked by insecurity, and trying to compensate by making herself valuable.  She’s not even sure that’s working.  She doesn’t like to fight, and doesn’t think she’s all that good at it either.  But she tries, and frankly, probably fails.  She doesn’t excel at combat like Kliff would, and doesn’t have the same outgoing personality as Gray.  So she gets left behind, and is desperately trying to cling to the person who meant the most, to have hold of some kind of stability.

Scenario 2: Alm refuses to let Faye go with, and instead she’s recruited by Celica.  There isn’t much dialogue, in large part because this isn’t your friend group.  Your main desire of preserving the status quo is already ruined, and there’s no one left for you.  Suddenly, an old friend shows up, and is willing to take you along.  Same as before, you want to be useful.

But this time, Celica goes straight to where Alm is.  This is a perfect chance to meet up with Alm again, to demand joining his party, or even just refusing to continue to adventure with Celica at all.  But that doesn’t happen.  Celica and Alm leave on bad terms, but let’s be honest, Alm gave you an answer.  He doesn’t feel the same way, and may not even think you’d have practical use in a war.  Celica, though?  Celica brought you along.  She acknowledged you, and even though it’s been a while, she’s still your friend.  You can’t just leave her.

If Faye’s devotion were only to Alm, she’d likely ditch Celica in a heartbeat.  But as we’ve seen in her A-support, Faye is willing to take a clear rejection, even if it hurts.  When that rejection is delivered early, she stays in the village, until Celica recruits her.  And when Celica recruits her, now she’s wholly devoted to Celica’s cause instead.  She had the perfect opportunity to prove herself solely focused on Alm, and instead, she sticks with Celica.  That’s not the choice of someone only motivated by self-interest, and the love of one specific person.  Faye does love Alm, but at the end of the day, she’s just as attached to any of her other friends.  The intensity she has in her supports with Alm are a mixture of proximity to the object of her affections, and feeling like she’s getting left completely behind.  She wants nothing more than to stand out, to be important to other people the way they’re important to her, but in war, there’s no time for personal relationships, and she’s not an experienced fighter like the others.  She’s watching everything she wants crumble in front of her, and is downright desperate to preserve that sense of connection to her old life.  She joined this war to keep those bonds, and is keenly, uncomfortably aware that killing is part and parcel to the job she’s being asked to do.  She doesn’t want to be fighting, but this is the choice she’s had to make, and she’s going to carry it out.

Conclusions As I’ve stated many times before, all of this is me reading between the lines, and crafting the character in lieu of the support conversations she should’ve had.  I think the evidence is there to back me, though, and looking at her character through this lens, there’s an edge of tragedy to her character.  All she wants is to keep her peaceful life, and everything is working against her.  Her friends are scattering apart, risking their lives, and what she wants most is to see them safe and to come back home.  She’s willing to risk her own life for that goal, even though it’s something that cannot come to pass.

If you’ve read this far, hopefully it’s helped you appreciate Faye just a bit more, or at least got you thinking about your own interpretations of her actions and motives.  Thank you for reading, hopefully this kind of post doesn’t become a thing with me because oh god am I tired...