skelezomperman

[skelezomperman]

Sigurd and his lack of foresight

A year ago I wanted to start a series where I put some characters “on trial” for things they allegedly did wrong. And it…kind of fizzled out after Quan and Ethlyn. But now I’m back! Today I want to put Sigurd on trial. Why? Is it because I hate Sigurd? Far from it! It’s more that I wish to discuss Sigurd. I’ve written about him before, but this time I want to actually assess what people accuse Sigurd of doing wrong and whether these charges are fair or not.

The first charge: He invaded too many countries

The first and perhaps biggest charge levied against Sigurd was that he led Grannvalian military expeditions into other countries, specifically Verdane and Agustria. The plot of Genealogy, of course, begins with Sigurd leading a small squadron of his own knights to fight against Verdane which had invaded Grannvale and abducted Edain. No reasonable person would believe that expelling Verdanite forces from Grannvale is unreasonable. It is only after Edain is nowhere to be found within Grannvale that Sigurd decides to continue into Verdanite territory. He seems to do this out of emotions, as seen with this quote from the Prologue:

Sigurd: Gah... I won't let them get away with this... They can run, but until they surrender Aideen, they won't escape me!

Sigurd seems to consider invading Verdane as the only way to rescue Edain and he says as much to Eldigan at the beginning of Chapter 1. It is prudent to point out that Edain’s kidnapper, Munnir (also known as Gandolf), wishes to force Edain into marriage so Sigurd’s reaction is understandable. On the other hand, Sigurd seems to not consider the potential impact of his invasion on Verdane at all. The lack of discussion is perhaps the most damning thing against him. Edain rejoins Sigurd’s army relatively early in Chapter 1, thus accomplishing Sigurd’s main objective. It’s unclear why Sigurd continues advancing into Verdane after this point. Certainly Sigurd at least rescues Ayra and Shannan along the way and he also meets Jamke and Deirdre, but there’s no discussion as to whether it is right for Sigurd to continue or if it is better for him to retreat. Some would say that Sigurd mindlessly conquers Verdane. Of course, Verdane still continues to fight against Sigurd in some way and Jamke is sent out at the end to fight him, so it is not as though Verdane had surrendered.

The war against Agustria unfolds in a similar manner. It was provoked by Agustria as they intend to invade Verdane (currently occupied by Sigurd on behalf of Grannvale) and thus fight Grannvale. Sigurd’s initial push into Agustria was not because of this; rather, it was to save Lachesis from the forces of Heirhein following the imprisonment of Eldigan. Sigurd’s only immediate need here is to secure Nordion; perhaps neutralizing Heirhein could be justified on the basis of their attack on Nordion. After that, Sigurd chooses to lead his forces north due to reports of bandit raids. This could benefit the commoners of that area of Agustria as it saves their lives and property, but the mere entrance of Sigurd could also provoke further war. This dichotomy is touched upon in Sigurd’s conversation with Lewyn when the latter accuses Sigurd of being a warmonger. Lewyn’s accusation rattles Sigurd to the point where he begins considering a retreat; he only remains in Agustria because Lewyn convinces him that it is no longer possible to negotiate with Agustria and Chagall. Does this show that Sigurd is willing to listen to criticism or that he is wishy-washy? It could be a little bit of both.

After Sigurd takes Anphony, Chagall commands his own forces to fight Sigurd. At that point, Sigurd ends up fighting all the way to Agusti. Regardless of whether one thinks Sigurd’s adventures in Agustria to this point are justified or not, his actions have led to a Grannvalian occupation of the country. Eldigan confronts Sigurd over this situation and Sigurd promises to rectify it over the next year. Of course, the situation only deteriorates as Grannvalian officials abuse their power in Agustria and within six months Chagall leads another attack against Sigurd. From this point forward, Sigurd’s actions are not “conquest” as they amount to a defensive war/retreat in Agustria, an intervention in the Silessean Civil War at the behest of their rightful ruler, and a fight against other Grannvalians to prevent Silesse from being drawn into his own problems. But he did leave behind Grannvalian occupations in Verdane and Agustria.

The second charge: He married Deirdre too quickly

I want to cover this charge in a later essay on her, but one claim that is oftentimes levied against Sigurd is that his romance with Deirdre was far too quick. It’s well-known that Sigurd and Deirdre marry immediately following her recruitment which is the second time they are shown to speak to each other. Some have said that their relationship is too saccharine and that it is unrealistic or prone to falling apart if there was some sort of tension introduced. Others take the position that Sigurd and Deirdre’s relationship has further development outside of the script that was never shown on-screen due to development limitations. There isn’t too much to showcase that isn’t already seen within the main plot of Genealogy, but I want to show Sigurd’s reaction in the conversation that occurs if he recruits Deirdre after defeating the final boss of Chapter 1. In that version of the conversation, Deirdre outright reveals the fact that she bears the holy blood of Loptous and that this is why there was a proscription on relations with men. It is quite interesting and speaks for itself.

Sigurd: Deirdre... I know you must fear where your destiny might lead. But nothing will come of living in fear. I will protect you. Come what may, I will protect you. Deirdre, if you and I feel the same way, then we've nothing to fear. O gods above, should our love be a sin, then deliver punishment unto me alone! I swear this day: Even should my body be rendered and rent, no regrets will ever haunt me. All I ask, O gods... Protect my beloved Deirdre in my stead, for all eternity!

Maybe Sigurd is a romantic at heart who loves Deirdre so much that he is willing to take any punishment against her on himself. He may realize that Deirdre feels trapped by her situation and wishes to “rescue” her. On the other hand, maybe Sigurd is prioritizing his own feelings over what is actually best for Deirdre (and himself). Maybe he is being reckless and putting both of them in danger for the sake of chivalry. Both of these readings are valid.

The third charge: Sigurd walked into Arvis’ trap

As those who have played Genealogy know, the climax of the first generation is Sigurd being tricked into an ambush at Belhalla. At the end of Chapter 5, Sigurd accepts an invitation from Aida, a deputy of Arvis, to attend a banquet with the King of Grannvale. This is despite the fact that Velthomer forces had for much of Chapter 5 been against Sigurd and only stopped attacking him in order to eliminate Reptor. There are two questions here: should Sigurd have realized something was fishy about Velthomer’s behavior? And did Sigurd have a realistic means to remove himself from the situation if he wished to? Let’s answer the first question…This is Sigurd’s exchange with Aida when he arrives at Velthomer:

Aida: Ah, Lord Sigurd. I'm glad to see you're safe.

Sigurd: What's going on? What's caused Velthomer's change of loyalties?

Aida: Lord Arvis has long been aware of your innocence, and was on your side all along. This affair in its entirety was dictated by the whims of Reptor and Langbalt, architects of the conspiracy against you. Lord Arvis was unable to act until now, as the dukes' control of the royal court was simply too powerful to contravene.

Sigurd: Is that so... All's well that ends well, then. I can restore my father's good name in the court, and that'll be the end of it.

Aida: Indeed. Lord Arvis and His Majesty await your return in Belhalla, Lord Sigurd. Please, make your way to the royal city as soon as possible.

Sigurd: Really? Very well. I'll be going, then.

Aida: I hear that Lord Arvis arranged a ceremonial reception for you with the entirety of the Belhalla royal guard. Quite the magnificent celebration of your glorious return is in order today, it seems.

Sigurd: Thank you. After all that's happened the past few years, this ought to be a fitting conclusion. Once we're done I should look into getting my allies some compensation for their help. They certainly deserve it after all this!

Aida: Indeed, sir…

I think I’ll let this speak for itself…moving on to the second part, did Sigurd realistically have a chance to escape? It’s worth noting that Sigurd had already sent away the children to Isaach. Sigurd could have done the same himself and led his army to flee to another country, but he chose to fight his opponents in Grannvale instead. The reason why he left Silesse in the first place was to avoid drawing Silesse into his own conflict. For this reason, he probably was wary to draw Isaach or Leonster into the conflict by using their nations as refuge. He knew that he was in a dangerous situation of his choosing. Perhaps this does not apply to the Velthomer situation, though, since Sigurd made the decision to send away the children before defeating Reptor. Perhaps Sigurd had the opportunity to turn south and escape there instead of going to Belhalla. Had he done so, he would have been branded as a traitor forever, but it turned out he would be branded as such anyway. 

Conclusion

Personally, while I feel that Sigurd might have been able to be smarter at times, he probably couldn’t avoid the fate of being betrayed by his own nation. At best, he would be on the run for the rest of his life. That’s not something that fits Sigurd’s personality though; he would want to face whatever sentence he is condemned to even if it is unjust. As he said himself to Deirdre, “deliver punishment unto me alone!” And were it not for Deirdre’s own twisted end, that wish would have come true.

It turns out I am finishing this piece on May 14th, 2025, the twenty-ninth anniversary of *Genealogy*. To boot, this day marks five years since the beginning of my character analysis series for *Genealogy*, Examining the Crusaders. I can hardly believe that five years have passed since then! I hope that I can produce some good pieces over the next year as we come closer to the thirtieth anniversary. 

[skelezomperman]

Ishtar, the Goddess of Thunder

Apparently I haven't posted this one here, which surprises me. I posted this originally on Reddit three years ago. It's topical because of Ishtar's new alt in FEH. Here you guys go:

Shockingly, I am going to criticize Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War today. I will discuss the popular enemy character Ishtar. Ishtar recently was added to Fire Emblem Heroes as an ascendant form, and she’s a character whose portrayal I have been lukewarm on. But there’s some good things about Ishtar that should be discussed, so keep reading for that. As always, unmarked spoilers are ahead.

--

Ishtar is the daughter of Blume (or Bloom), the Duke of Friege, and Hilda. She receives major Thrud blood from her father, making her the heir to the Mjölnir. Ishtar was also betrothed to Julius, the heir and de facto ruler of Grannvale, at some point before the beginning of the second generation.

At the time of the second generation, House Friege rules over the Munster District on behalf of Grannvale. We first hear of Ishtar from a village in Chapter 7, which mentions that she and her brother Ishtore are “fine youths.” The village also tells the player that Ishtar was assigned to guard the city of Munster. Shortly into the next chapter, Ishtar is summoned by her father to Connaught where he was forced to retreat after a defeat at Ulster. She is asked by father to fight Seliph’s army since much of Friege’s forces have already been decimated; these losses included her brother Ishtore and her cousin Tine. Ishtar agrees to do so on the condition that Bloom allows her to use Mjolnir, asserting that with the weapon she would be able to dispatch the rebels herself. Ishtar then gets defeated [1], but she is warped away by Julius. After this a conversation is unlocked between Seliph and Tine (or Linda) about Ishtar and Julius. Tine tells Seliph that Ishtar was “like a sister” and one of the few people who treated her well.

We next see Ishtar at the beginning of Chapter 10, again with Julius. The two discuss the child hunts being executed in Miletos. Ishtar is clearly uncomfortable with the child hunts. She does not directly oppose the child hunts but raises concern that too many children were captured and that Arvis opposed the hunts, perhaps an attempt to stall the child hunts. Julius is dismissive of these concerns and leaves to check on Arvis. Afterwards Hilda appears. The dialogue between Ishtar and her mother takes a different turn as Ishtar is clearly submissive [2]. She seems to be uncomfortable with Hilda trying to rush her into marriage with Julius but is unable to vocalize her concern. Hilda then echoes Bloom’s earlier conversation that Seliph had murdered their family members, but unlike her husband she chooses to send Ishtar to Miletos to assist in transporting children to Belhalla for Julius.

After the gate to the northern side of Miletos is opened, Ishtar is seen again with Arvis in Miletos castle. Arvis attempts to order Ishtar to release the children but he is stopped by Julius. After Julius is done handling business with Arvis and Manfroy, he proposes to play a game with Ishtar to see who can kill a member of the rebel army (i.e., a player unit) first. Ishtar graciously accepts the offer and plays along with Julius’ game, and unlike earlier she seems to have no reservations with this. If she does “win” by killing a player unit, she feels triumphant in doing so and if Julius “wins” she congratulates Julius. It’s unclear why Ishtar has no reservations with this while she has reservations with Julius’ other endeavors.

Finally, Ishtar appears in the final chapter alongside Julius. When Friege is seized, it emerges that Ishtar had hidden away children there - the same children who were slated to be sent to Belhalla. According to an NPC, Ishtar was “kind and caring” and worked behind the scenes to help the children escape. Afterwards, Ishtar volunteers to strike out in front of the Deadlords to fight Seliph’s army. Julius is reluctant to let her go and accuses her of wanting to die to escape him, but Ishtar insists that she still loves him. As a result Julius allows her to leave to fight against Seliph’s army. If you fight her with Tine, Tine will try to convince Ishtar to change sides, but Ishtar refuses - not out of hatred towards Tine, but because she feels that it is impossible for her to do that at that point. Then she dies (or disappears when Belhalla is seized if she somehow is not killed), bringing an end to her story.

--

Ishtar is usually characterized as being a member of the “Camus archetype” of enemies that have noble intentions but refuse to leave the antagonist side out of loyalty. Ishtar adds a different layer to this archetype because it is not just this ideal of loyalty that drives her to continue fighting on Grannvale’s side. Firstly, Ishtar’s immediate family members were all killed by Seliph’s army. This hits close to Ishtar, both with Ishtore and Bloom who are framed to have at least some kind of morals and with Hilda who is framed to be unambiguously evil. Secondly, Ishtar is romantically attracted to Julius. It is understandably hard for her to go against her love interest. Both of these are elements which were not present with the original Camus and which most of Camus’ successors did not share [3].

My biggest issue with Ishtar is that the reasoning of her family being killed is not very developed. Ishtar does not express this feeling until the final chapter when she speaks with Julius for the last time - Bloom and Hilda both touch on this point, but Ishtar does not spend much time sharing that emotion in either conversation. Ishtore having little development does not help either as his death should be impactful on both Ishtar and Tine, yet he is little more than a mook and we don’t know much about him other than others saying that he was nice. This leaves the player with the impression that Ishtar’s primary motivation is her love for Julius, which takes away from the interesting element of being driven by grief over family.

Ishtar also compares unfavorably to Arvis. She never addresses Julius’ possession which makes her appear foolish, unlike Arvis, and she never has the courage to openly challenge the child hunts like Arvis does [4], only limiting herself to covertly hiding away children and trying to find excuses to delay the child hunts. This diminishes the credibility of Ishtar as having “noble intentions.” Even worse than that is the bizarre scene where she gleefully participates in bloodsport with Julius for no apparent reason other than to have fun. I am unsure what the purpose of this was, but it makes it appear that Ishtar has no issues with Julius beyond the most obvious in the child hunts. One could even go as far as to interpret that Ishtar is morally almost as bad as Julius because of this scene. However, I think that it is more logical to say that the scene was botched and Ishtar was meant to be someone who has good morals all-around but happens to be on the wrong side.

On the other hand, it is quite possible to attribute these shortcomings to the game’s age. In defense of Ishtar, I think she is still more interesting than some of the other antagonists within this game like Daccar or Brian. Her interactions with Hilda and Julius reflect a character who is stuck in a bad situation, not too unlike Eldigan beforehand. Continuing the analogy with Eldigan, there’s no equivalent to Lachesis either. Nobody clearly offers Ishtar a spot in Seliph’s army - not even Tine does that. And perhaps her choice to die in battle at the end of the game is some kind of agency for Ishtar. She chooses to die the same way her family did rather than subject herself to the mercy of Seliph or Leif who very well could look unkindly upon Ishtar’s complicity with the Empire’s subjugation of Thracia. It’s a fitting end to a tragic character arc, not too dissimilar from the other tragedies within Jugdral.

Footnotes:

Tine/Linda has unique dialogue if she fights Ishtar. Ishtar expresses disappointment in Tine for joining Seliph.

Some have characterized Ishtar’s relationship with Hilda as abusive. I do not agree that Hilda is outright abusive to Ishtar, but I do think it is unhealthy. Perhaps Hilda reflects the real life phenomenon of parents living vicariously through their children.

Debatably Brunnya and Selena had romantic attractions to the figures they served, although neither one was betrothed like Ishtar was.

She does challenge the child hunts in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776, but that is beyond the scope of this essay. See the comment below for more.

--

Ishtar does appear in Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 as an NPC in two scenes, all of which involve Julius. In the first scene, Chapter 4, she does openly challenge the child hunts (unlike in FE4) and cites the opposition of her father and brother; however, Julius tries to clarify that he "only" wants to force the children to fight against each other for spots in the Empire and then sweettalks her to distract. In Chapter 17, Ishtar appears along with Reinhardt, a Friegian knight who is close to her, as she summoned Saias to try to heal Julius of a fever implied to be caused by his possession. Finally in Chapter 21x, Julius and Ishtar discuss traveling to Miletos as Hilda wants them to check on the child hunts there. He again tries to sweettalk her but threatens to kill Reinhardt if he is seen around her again, showing his envy towards him.

I think Ishtar's appearances in FE5 really make her more complete as a character. It addresses the issue of Ishtar seeming to be unaware of Julius' possession as we see that Ishtar is disturbed by Julius' mood swings between when he acts romantically towards her (with Loptous' influence being weaker) and when he acts cold and violent (e.g., with Reinhardt). We also see her challenge the child hunts. Her weakness of being attached to Julius is more evident as Ishtar despite being aware that something is wrong cannot bring herself to openly defy him, even when he threatens one of her closest confidants. We also see a bit more development in Bloom's opposition to the child hunts which by proxy develops the family aspect of Ishtar more.

[skelezomperman]

“It sounds like you’re ready for bed,” Ivy said as she tucked Holly in. “Good night, Holly. Don’t get sick again.”

Oops I didn't write anything more interesting than OC kids stuff.

I guess I'll tag @louvay and @petraevesplace

Last Line Game

Rules: Post the last line you wrote, then tag as many people as there are words. (or however many you want)

Tagged by the lovely @bananakarenina, Thanks!

Alex turned to Willie. “We heard you. Watch out for Julie or you’ll kill us, mam us, make our lives a living hell, etcetera.”

No pressure tagging @wishfulstargazer, @thephantomchronicles, @sovvannight, @legolasghosty, and @floating-in-the-blue

[skelezomperman]

todays brainworm: christian la monte's incredible performances

[skelezomperman]

I got a request to draw Deirdre ages ago and I finally did it

[skelezomperman]

Answering a few questions

This was requested by @dragoncat91 whom would I would like to graciously thank for giving me these questions. Here are my answer

How many works do you have on Ao3? - 77

What is your total word count? - 296,096

What are your top 5 by kudos? - A Tale of Star-Crossed Knights, And Life Went On, Servant of the Wind, Tirnanog's Mother, Courage

What fandoms do you write for? - Right now it's mostly Fire Emblem Engage, but I've liked the Jugdral games (Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776) as well as Archanea (Shadow Dragon and Mystery of the Emblem). I've also written for Elibe before (Binding Blade and Blazing Blade), but not a lot.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? - Sometimes I do, but usually I don't. I appreciate comments, but oftentimes I read them and then end up forgetting about them before responding...

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? - I have a hard time doing true bad endings, but I think the winner here is A Tale of Star-Crossed Knights. It has a happy ending for Finn and Erinys' children, but I think the epilogue scene with Finn hurts.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? - This is a tough choice, but I'll go with A Dream and a Confession. It is a tough scenario with Lapis nearly dying but has a sweet happily ever after ending.

Have you ever gotten hate on fics? - Thanks be to God, no.

Do you write crossovers? - I have between FE games. (Sadly there's a fic I wrote where Alcryst hangs out with other blue-haired characters I like such as Seliph and Caeda which I never finished.) I have never written a crossover with a non-FE...if I were to do so, it would involve Kirby in some way.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? - Not that I know of, though I do recall someone once used a name for an OC without my permission. I think it's fine though because I didn't come up with the idea of a specific character having parents - that is obviously not original to me.

Have you ever had a fic translated? - Not that I know of.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before? - No, and I doubt I will ever do it.

What's your all-time favorite ship? - Another tough question because there are a lot of ships that I really like. The one that I've really liked the most for the longest time though is Quan and Ethlyn.

What's the WIP you want to finish but probably never will? - As stated above, the Alcryst hangs out with others fic, but I also want to finish Under the Setting Sun (Samson/Sheena) one day. It's been two years since I published the last chapter...

What are your writing strengths? - Putting in niche references to worldbuilding or to random characters.

What are your writing weaknesses? - Actual prose instead of using dialogue as a crutch to advance the plot.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? - The plot of Courage is Ivy struggling to speak French. I thought that was fine. In past versions of A Tale of Star-Crossed Knight I put in bits and pieces of other languages like Italian too, but I cut it in revisions because I didn't think it served a real purpose.

First fandom you wrote for? - Genealogy of the Holy War.

Favorite fic you've ever written? - For sure A Tale of Star-Crossed Knights because I can pick that one up and get myself lost in it any day.

From what I understand you are supposed to ping two more people for this? I've forwarded the set of questions to two other people in private, but I'm not sure if I want to ping them in public. You'll see if they answer!

[skelezomperman]

Hey, you! Yeah, you!!! Do you have a Nintendo account and no stake at all in Fire Emblem Heroes' annual Choose Your Legends poll??? If so, I have a request!

See this man here? This is Sigurd Chalphy, protagonist of the first half of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Look at him!!! Isn't he attractive? He's sweet, too!!! He loves his wife and his son and his friends and would do anything for them. He, uh… well, he ends up conquering half a continent due to this but he was gonna withdraw after things settled back down!!! Making sure everyone's politically and economically stable and all that. He's one of the most powerful units in the series and deserves a spot alongside his son Seliph in the Brave Hero lineup. And if you're not into men or just don't like him, vote for his wife Deirdre instead!!!! Or maybe his stepdaughter Julia!!!! Heck, vote for Arvis!!! If you know you know!!! Anyways all you have to do is go to the CYL site and select him for your vote. You get seven votes-- one each day for a week. If you miss a day, you don't get a vote back, so set a reminder (or not, I'm not your boss).

[skelezomperman]

If anyone is interested in any of the Elusian characters, you should join the Elusian discord server. We ramble about headcanons and what ifs, share art and fics, that kind of thing

https://discord.gg/NbmPkEBtbR

[skelezomperman]

Flashfic #10: Zelkov drinks coffee, to Ivy's dismay

After an hour of prayer and one or two of lying in bed ruminating on her thoughts, Ivy was finally on the edge of falling asleep. This was interrupted, though, when there was a knock on her door. She took her pillow and held it over her chest out of fright until she realized whose knock it was. Neither of them said a word to each other after he opened the door perhaps because they had already said good night to each other earlier. Ivy found herself intrigued by Zelkov finding all of the pillows in her room and meticulously examining each one of them before putting it back. He did this even with the pillows on her bed.

“Zelkov, why is it that you are rearranging every pillow in my room?" she asked after he had done this three or four times.

"This buzzing feeling in my head gives me extraordinary energy," he responded. 

Ivy groaned. "Must you do this now?"

"Yes."

She reluctantly let him test out all of the pillows in her room until he was content. Eventually he picked one of the pillows and gave it to his princess. She was delighted to discover when she lay her head upon the pillow that it was fluffed perfectly – neither too hard nor too soft, it was perfect for her to go to sleep with a smile on her face.

Alas.

She had to cover her head with another pillow as she kept getting distracted by the sounds of Zelkov walking up and down the halls. It was too bad that she couldn't fall asleep with noise in the background like how she could fall asleep with the light of a candle in her face.

Eventually, Ivy had enough. When she got out of bed, her mood was so sour that she did not even bother to slip her feet into her slippers despite the cold floor. Instead she stomped over to her door, slammed it open, and shouted in Zelkov's direction: "What is the problem?! Can you not leave me alone?"

"I assure you, Your Majesty, all of the work I am doing right now is constructive. You will be pleased to see the end result when you wake up."

Ivy put her head in between her hands. "Wake up...like I'm even going to go to sleep with you doing this..." she trailed off.

"I regret to inform you that I had two full cups of this coffee drink that was imported from Solm," Zelkov stated. "I was not aware that its stimulating properties were so potent."

She could do nothing else but shake her head. "Just go outside at this point. Run around fifty times in the snow. I want to go to sleep,” she commanded.

“Indeed I will do so,” Zelkov stated. “Good night, Ivy.”

“Good night,” she brusquely replied as she closed the door on him.

“How did I fall in love with him of all people…” she said to herself as she tried to go back to sleep.

-+-

Ivy did eventually get to sleep although it was only for two or three hours. She was surprised that Zelkov was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, she asked Kagetsu what happened when their paths crossed between meetings. He told him that Zelkov seemed to be sick. When she had a moment alone after lunch, she took it upon herself to enter Zelkov's sanctum in the basement of the castle. She found him reclining on his side on one of the sofas with one of his hands over his head. He barely reacted when she opened the door.

"Urghhhh...." he groaned.

Ivy gasped. "Zelkov, what happened to you?" she asked as she rushed to his side. 

"Head...hurts..."

She had been in the sanctum enough times to know where everything was. Zelkov kept his medicines in one of the cabinets. She opened it and found a blue-colored container: that was his pain/headache medication. For once she was giving to him rather than the other way around. Ivy practically forced Zelkov to swallow a pill and then drink some water from a jug that she found. Then she stayed with him for the next twenty minutes and gently stroked his hair until the medication took effect and he finally came to his senses. (They both loved playing with each other’s hair though it was usually in more serene circumstances.)

“Thank you,” Zelkov said when he sat up. “Never in my life have I felt so fatigued.” 

"Zelkov, promise me that you never drink this coffee again," she sternly ordered him. 

"If you forbid me then I have little choice in the matter," he replied with a slight smile. "But it was quite tasty. I recommend that you try coffee," he said.

Once again Ivy found herself shaking her head. “No, no, no, Zelkov…If that drink did that to you, then I must never try it. I am certain that you prefer seeing me fully conscious just as I prefer that you are fully conscious.”

“I felt your fingers in my hair earlier,” he replied.

In a past time Ivy would have abruptly denied that she had done such a thing. But now that they were both more comfortable with each other, she had the strength to admit the truth. “Yes, I did do that. I would have enjoyed it more had you been awake.”

And she simply put a hand over his mouth before he could respond further…being with each other was good enough.

[skelezomperman]

Flashfic #9 (The kids find out that their mother is scared of haunted houses)

Elusia’s second prince felt relieved when he was invited to a haunted house over the mid-autumn holidays. Carnation was always up for a little bit of adventure even though he was spending time with family while on break from the Academy. “Who better to share this experience than family?” he thought to himself…that was how he found himself in his mother’s office.

Ivy barely looked up from her papers when he entered the room.“I know that you only come here when you want something,” she remarked. 

“You’re right,” Carnation replied. “I’m going to a haunted house with friends tomorrow. Would you like to come with us, Mother?”

The memory of visiting that haunted house in Solm with Panette hit her like a brick. The lack of lighting, the frightening stains on the walls, the absence of any human voices besides her and Panette had all made her panic. Despite her best efforts, she had run out of the house screaming. Though they all laughed about it afterwards, she was affected far more than she should have been…

“N-no, absolutely not!” 

She realized now that her fingertips had turned absolutely frozen and her heart was beating fast. Carnation glared at her as if something was wrong with her. He wasn’t wrong to do so given how she looked to be on the verge of shaking.

“Why not?” he asked. 

“B-because I’m too busy to go with you,” Ivy fibbed. “Why don’t you ask Holly to accompany you?” 

“She already said no,” Carnation answered. “Amaranth’s too young and I don’t think Father will like it too much. It would be too much for his heart.”

“Too much for his heart?!” his mother exclaimed out of surprise. “Ask him. But I am not going to any haunted houses with you. That is final.”

Somehow, Carnation felt that it was a bad idea to press the issue any further. “If you say so, Mother,” he dejectedly said as he left. 

Not long after her son left, Ivy put away her work and walked over to the café to brew herself a very strong and soothing chamomile tea…her thoughts were too much of a mess to keep working.

-+-

That evening, Ivy was laying down in the bed and trying hard to go to sleep. Her husband was sitting next to her reading a book. “I just remembered something I wanted to ask you,” he said as he put the book down on the nightstand. “What did you tell Carnation when he asked to go to the haunted house with you?”

Ivy sighed as she sat up. “I told him that I’m too busy to go with him,” she answered.

Diamant looked at her in the eyes. “Ivy,” he said, “you know that’s not true.”

She looked away from him. “The children don’t need to know that I still have such a childish fear at this age.”

“Carnation is going to be fifteen in two months,” Diamant responded. “Holly is almost twenty. They already know that you’re not invincible.”

Ivy frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you expecting me to suddenly drop this on them?”

“I’ve always tried to be honest with the kids,” Diamant said. “You don’t need to tell them everything, but at least don’t lie to them.”

“...You’re right, Diamant,” Ivy said after a pause. “I shouldn’t lie to the children.”

“He didn’t tell me, but I think he knows you told him a white lie,” Diamant continued. “You should apologize to him.”

“It does set a good example for them,” she quietly noted as she kissed Diamant on the cheek. “Say, Diamant, did he ask you to go with him?”

“I declined his offer as well,” Diamant answered. “That kind of thing bores me.”

“Does it really?”

He nodded. “I went a few times with Amber and Panette when we were much younger. Ghosts and monsters don’t scare me at all. There are far more scary things in the world.” He looked towards her as he added the next part: “Of course I never invited you. Panette had already told me what happened.”

“This must have been before Holly was born, wasn’t it,” Ivy mused.

“Far before that,” Diamant replied.

“Ah,” she said. “I never imagined that one of our children would be interested in haunted houses. They’re growing up so fast.”

“And I never thought that one of them would be into alpacas.” He shot a knowing glance towards his wife since she was more annoyed by that episode in Holly’s life than anyone else. 

“Let’s go to sleep before we lose the entire night to conversation,” she sighed as she laid down. “Good night, Diamant…”

-+-

The five of them were alone for dinner the next day in the Queen’s private dining room. There were no servants or nobles or family members invited up to eat with them. This was perfect for something that needed to stay inside the family. 

The children knew that their mother was going to speak when she put down her cup and straightened up in the chair. “Carnation, I have something to apologize for,” she said. 

“What is it?” he responded.

“I was lying when I said I was too busy to go to the haunted house with you.” She sighed. “The real reason is that I am afraid of ghosts. I would barely survive the experience.”

“How do you know that? You’ll never know unless you try,” Carnation said. 

“I have tried,” Ivy clarified. “Suffice to say, it did not end well for me.”

She recalled again her words on that day: “That thread…is…about to snap. With that…I’M GETTING OUT OF HERE!”

“You always seem so brave, Mother. I can’t imagine seeing you scared of ghosts,” Holly said.

“That sounds more like something you would do,” Carnation said with a grin.

“Would not!” Holly retorted. “I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

“Children,” Diamant said in a stern tone. “The dinner table is not the place for fighting.”

“In any case,” Ivy said, “I will not be going to anything with ghosts or monsters anytime soon.”

“But Mommy, Daddy and I can protect you!” Amaranth interjected.

Holly and Diamant both put a hand over their mouth to try to hold back a laugh. Carnation didn’t even hide it at all. Ivy didn’t laugh, but her mouth turned upwards into a smile. She was nervous that Amaranth might acquire her fear if she learned of it. Far from it, she was over-eager to fight ghosts now since Diamant had fought monsters before. (There were at least two or three times when Diamant had caught Ivy in a nightmare and wrapped his arms around her while whispering in her ear that she was safe…those were moments that she kept to herself yet loved so much.) 

“You don’t have to do that, but thanks for thinking of me, Amaranth,” Ivy replied to her daughter. “Your father protects me enough,” she said while smiling at Diamant. 

“You can still protect Holly,” Carnation chimed in.

“Hey!”

“Children,” Diamant said. “All of you will get the chance to protect each other. There is no need to fight.”

“I’ll go with you, Carnation,” Holly said. “Then you’ll see that I’m not afraid of ghosts.”

Before Carnation could launch another jab at his sister, Diamant cleared his throat and quickly said: “Thank you for going with your brother, Holly.” Looking at Carnation, he continued: “I think that’s enough discussion on the topic of haunted houses for tonight.”

And that was that for the topic of haunted houses at the dinner table, at least for tonight. At least that was that until two nights later when Holly told the story of how she watched Carnation nearly fall backwards from fright at a contraption that looked like a Corrupted. But that story is for another day.

[skelezomperman]

Revisiting Sexualization in the Fire Emblem Community

Originally posted on Reddit. I'm preserving it here for posterity.

About four years ago in the wake of the scandal with allegations of sexual misconduct against figures in the community, I wrote a post which was really intended to be a follow-up to another post that I liked which primarily called out "hornyposting." I don't agree with everything I wrote in there, but it's worth a revisit since this time of year, there is always FEH summer banners which precipitate an increase in this type of behavior.

I think the core point that I stick to is that it's bad when people make inappropriate sexual comments all the time about fictional characters. This is not to say that a person should feel ashamed if they have these sort of feelings; ultimately the characters were designed that way and it is not their fault. This is also not to say that the characters have feelings and need to be protected; they are not real people, after all. The problem is that it furthers the objectification of people and especially of women. The characters themselves do not need to be protected, but if much of the discussion about female characters is lewd discussion, it gives the impression that women should be perceived as objects to be gawked at and not actual people. Again, I have to clarify that this doesn't mean that anyone who makes these sort of comments is a sexist, but in general it creates an unwelcoming atmosphere.

Something I didn't touch upon within the original post itself was how the series itself feeds into that. That post was written in the immediate aftermath of the second summer banner in 2020 which produced Summer F!Byleth/Rhea, a unit which in my opinion has the most crude art in Fire Emblem Heroes if not the entire series. It is hard to dispute that FEH leans heavily into sex appeal and particularly the sexualization of women. This year's summer banners are an example of that, with the first one featuring OCs like Gullveig who already were designed "like that" and the second featuring Goldmary and F!Alear wearing revealing outfits, even more-so than what they wore in their original game. Summer is not the only problem either; we see it happening in other places like the bridal banner (anyone remember B!Cecilia's physics-defying damaged art?) or the spring banner. Some would say that FEH is "tame" with regards to sexualization (and gambling, another concerning trend that is out of the scope of this comment) and if that's the case, then I'm glad that I have never played any other gacha. Fanservice with male characters exists too, but this is generally in a much more respectful way that does not degrade the characters into objects. Compare Diamant and Ivy in Fire Emblem Engage: both would be considered conventionally attractive, but Diamant does not wear something that is so revealing as what his Elusian counterpart does. You can certainly take other similar examples from other games. This, too, feeds into latent sexism.

One other thing I would mention now is the trend of commissions that have some sort of innuendo. If you have been on social media in this fandom at all over the past couple years, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I cannot control what people do with their money, but it's degrading to see this sort of stuff over and over again. Even characters that otherwise are innocent like Lucina and Larcei are subjected to this sort of thing. From my personal experience (and I'm a male, so I don't know what it's like to be subjected to sexism), I feel dejected to see my favorite characters put into vulgar art pieces. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to be a woman in this fandom and get the feeling that female characters cannot just exist in peace without being turned into something sexual.

Whenever these things get brought up, there is always someone who is sure to come and say that this is the result of being a "Puritan" and trying to "censor" other people. But this is far different than that: all that we need is a community that is respectful. What can we do? I'm not advocating for jumping at people who do the above and making rude comments towards them, but we also can't stay silent. We need to have this conversation in some way. Because if we don't...nothing will get better.

[skelezomperman]

Pick a ship, picture them in a heated argument about whatever. How are they cooling down and (re)approach the topic to solve whatever is bothering them and the relationship itself? (Pre-iron clad heating/cooling system as an answer is very nice but not really expected this time 😹)

I completely forgot to respond to this. Finn/Lachesis: They kind of don't cool down. Finn kind of withdraws and sulks after Lachesis yells at him. Lachesis needs alone time too after arguing with him. Then when they realize that it was stupid/what they were arguing over can be compromised, they apologize to each other. Finn tries to apologize first but Lachesis stops him and says she's at fault.

[skelezomperman]

you can redeem one FE villain but the price of their redemption is a protagonist will be evil. exchange who for who and why?

I could take the complicated route of discussing how "evil" could be used merely as a descriptor of an action or behavior being morally wrong. It would certainly be interesting to go this route and interpret the prompt as merely asking to see what protagonist can be made to do evil things even if such things are done with good intentions. But since my time is limited, I'll stick to the colloquial meaning of turning someone into having bad intentions. In this case, I want to see what happens if I trade Hardin for Michalis in Shadow Dragon. Yes, that's cheating because we know what happens to Hardin in Mystery of the Emblem, but how would things turn out differently were it Hardin allied with Gharnef and Michalis was the one helping to keep Nyna safe and fight Gharnef off?

[skelezomperman]

Which second gen lad will look impeccable in a 1) kilt, 2) high-waisted pants, 3) high hat and lorgnette? For science 🐱

I want to say Ares in the kilt, but Leif would probably pull it off the best.

High waisted pants...this is one I kind of want to say Seliph for, and maybe it would be him so he doesn't look like he's completely leg. But I'm going to go with Febail for this one.

Ced is the obvious answer for high hat and lorgnette so I think Ares should do it because it's funny.

[skelezomperman]

congratulations, you are now a despot in askr. this means askr bends to your will, and the owl will be a quill unless you chill! but askr has no fridge, so of course you don't. now, what is: a) the first thing you will outlaw as a despot, and b) the first thing you will assign as mandatory as despot? [eg. ban swimsuit, but mandatory for bald old men like wrys]

Well, as tempting as the swimsuits thing sounds this would be in-universe. The excesses can be written off as artistic license, and it would be quite cruel to prohibit people from wearing what is most comfortable for them.

I think I would ban people from being weird about their love interests, except that it is mandatory for Aida to be weird towards Arvis if she ever gets summoned. She has every right to because of what Arvis did to her!

[skelezomperman]

5 things Ced learns from Altena, 5 things Altena is grateful about Ced for

Ced learns from Altena that it's okay to have a life of your own. He doesn't have to have his life revolve around his sister or his mother. Altena is grateful that Ced lets her have a life of her own. They can live relatively independently from each other while still relying on each other when needed.

Ced learns from Altena that not everything that you need to know is from a book. Okay, I suppose this one is cliche, but it's not that Altena isn't smart - just that her smarts involve more than just academics. Altena is grateful that Ced is willing to try new things. He doesn't stick to his own interests; he tries what she likes even if it doesn't appeal to him.

Ced learns from Altena that it's okay to slow down and appreciate finer things in life. Altena is grateful that Ced isn't obsessed with material objects.

Ced learns from Altena that it's okay to be more vocal in standing up for oneself. Altena is grateful that Ced can stand up for himself without being hostile.

Finally, Ced learns that one doesn't have to be perfect in order to be good. And Altena is grateful that Ced is willing to admit that he has flaws.

[skelezomperman]

You need to style a Jugdral noble and their retainer for a charity gala dinner (modern times). Who will you pick, and how will you dress them?

I think I'll pick Quan and Finn. And let's say they're at some kind of white tie event. Admittedly this is going to be boring but let's see...

For Finn, I think this ensemble works. Especially if the flower comes from Lachesis. It fits him because he's younger.

I think this gentleman's outfit is good for Quan because it makes him look more broad.