shadowmagegemini

[shadowmagegemini]

Good trope (warning, spoilers for the Fire Emblem Three Houses and Fire Emblem Engage main stories):

Big Bad has a low-class henchman. Low-class henchman tries to fight the Good Adventurers and fails spectacularly. And then either 1) low-class henchman returns to the Big Bad or 2) they use an item given to them by the Big Bad - either way, Big Bad/item given by Big Bad turns them into a monster. Good Adventurers defeat the monster of course, and sometimes low-class henchman gets a few dying words at the end of the fight. Either way, it both introduces how far Big Bad is willing to go to get what they want and even sets stakes for if any of the Good Adventurers have the same thing happen to them.

As an example, Miklan in FE3H might have been on the "bad side" but he didn't want to become a monster. Yet he had no idea that he would be one as a result of the relic. He was just doing what he thought would bring him justice because yeah, the crest-based caste system is faulty and yeah, his dad was wrong for treating him differently than Sylvain for not having a crest. But even though he didn't know what would happen, he still became a monster for it. And for being the first Beast in the game, it's pretty terrifying if you're doing it for the first time.

Is it a bit of a sad trope? Sure, especially if the low-class henchman actually had somewhat good intentions or is just innocent despite being on the bad side (like they didn't know what they were getting into). But man is it a good trope even so.

In a similar vein, the "forced to bad side" trope is also a good one, particularly if the character loses something because of their shift. Like in FEE when the Emblems are summoned by the bad side, their powers are the same, but they can't talk. They can clearly still think and don't want to fight against the good side, but they have to and can't do anything to be good again. Yet in this same game is a sort of inverse to the trope where the good character becomes bad but is still good - Alear becomes a Corrupted to come back to life but still retains their memories and goodness, despite looking bad. There's just a lot you can do with that dynamic and it's really interesting just about every time.

If anyone else knows of more medias with similar tropes let me know, it's such a fascinating one to read and sets up stakes/magic systems/risks/character so quickly. I know there's more media out there than just Fire Emblem that'd be just as good examples.

[shadowmagegemini]

Saw a video of all these people doing super impressive sports things today, and it was meant to be inspiring (which it still kinda was, the stuff was very cool) but it got me thinking about what would happen if the way we consumed sports and art were inversed, like:

"Ah, the artist chooses another brush! Things are about to get crazy, folks." "The crimson? Oh, no, she swerved at the last moment and chose the vermillion instead! An interesting choice, we'll have to see what this does to the painting in the long-term." "He drank the paint water! This will be bad for the season, folks, we may have another hospital visit on our hands. ...And looks like he's down for this painting session."

vs.

"That backflip turned out so well! Can't believe it took you five hours." "Oh you like, play sports, right? You should kick a ball for me right now!" "Yeah I was thinking about hiring a professional, but just anyone can shoot a few hoops, you know? Plus they have that new AI thing these days... sports are just so much more accessible now."

Anyway there's a lot of interesting comparisons you can make with art and a lot of things, just kinda funny to compare it to sports especially given recent controversies I think

[shadowmagegemini]

Hello, Tumblr, I'm ShadowMageGemini! Just about any nickname is alright with me, but some variation of Gemini is preferred. I'm cool with any pronouns, particularly they/them. I'm a practicing author, artist, gamer, and napper.

Some of my main fandoms are the Legend of Zelda, Octopath Traveler, The Cosmere, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Dungeon Meshi, Fire Emblem, and a variety of other games, books, shows, and medias. I also like my ocs, feel free to ama about them!

Thanks for sticking around, stay safe out there :)