#(Before Fire Emblem being a 1000 year old dragon...

[desultory-novice]

Where comes the idea that Kirby "needs adult guidance?" When has Kirby been shown to ever need guidance by anybody outside of the extraordinary circumstances of Rainbow Curse and Mass Attack?

Kirby is always the one doing the guiding. He's at the head of the party. He also isn't native to Dream Land and we're left to assume he cared for himself perfectly fine before arriving there in DL1.

(Let's not be so quick to remove "traveling" from "traveling youth." Remember that the travels Kirby have been on are inter-planetary ones. This isn't the anime where he was a sleeping infant. The series tells us he's been on galactic adventures before arriving on Popstar.)

Kirby IS a childish character, of that there is no doubt. They are quite likely to be a childish child! But Kirby is no one's dependant.

Kirby is perfectly capable of surviving alone, on their own, in situations that have toppled kingdoms. He can also logic out what is going around him with only loose context. In fact, he picks up on complex situations like Susie's and Taranzas really fast.

Kirby can be young. How young is up to each individual person. If it's your HC or you want to write familial relationships with him and the cast, by all means, write him as whatever is cutest/most fulfilling!

But for the series in a general sense? The evidence of Kirby needing other's supervision, protection, and guidance isn't there.

[ichi-bad]

Fire emblem ages are something that are the weirdest to me too.

For the most part no one is given an age, I think the switch games are among the first where people are given canon ages.

I imagine Robin to be in their early 20s maybe like 22-23 then 24-25 post time skip (it was 2 years after Gangrel is killed right). I’m basing this on Chrom being perhaps 21 and Lissa maybe being 16 and Emmeryn being maybe mid-late 20s.

I peg Corrin at 19 or 20. I think that would make sense because Ryoma/Xander are probably mid or late 20s. Camilla/Hinoka maybe mid/early 20/ though I imagine Camilla to be slightly older than Hinoka. Takumi/Leo are probably 15-17. Elise I say is probably 12 and Sakura maybe 13-14. Corrin is older than Takumi/Leo but younger than Hinoka/Camilla, so 19-20 I think is safe for Corrin.

I’d say Byleth is probably 23 or 24 and didn’t age at all when asleep during the timeskip. Byleth is easier to peg because most of the students are 17 (some are older some are younger) and you’re definitely older than all of them.

Then Alear is probably the hardest to put an age on. Dragon aging is such a fucking mess in fire emblem and you can’t really put an age on them. Nowi for example is 1000s of years old but looks like a prepubescent child. I know that’s probably for the weirdos who like lolis but can skirt around being creepy by saying “but they’re technically 1000.”

We don’t know how long it had been since Gradlon existed. We don’t know how long it took Sombron to go from being exiled to starting a war. We know that Alear looks like a teenager but is at least 1000 years old but we don’t know how old Alear was before sleeping.

We also don’t have any idea how old Veyle is exactly.

[lochnessies]

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills. Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church. Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole. Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

I mean to be fair to edelgard, if I found out the popes/president were actually one guy who lived basically forever, I'd probably at the very least question thus popeident's leadership skills.

why? wouldn’t their longevity make them better leaders? they have much more experience and know how the world works. i mean, agree with the woman or not, rhea’s results are hard to argue with. 1000 years is an extremely long time to help mitigate peace. our world can’t seem to avoid conflict every half decade it would seem. so it’s not like rhea is doing a bad job of it.

Especially if I found out that a good portions of this hypothetical popes religion was fake and that also this pope was basically jesus. Granted, that'd mostly because of a lack of context since this hypothetical immortal popes motives are largely unknown.

that’s when you have a nice little sit down and have a chat. and also, rhea didn’t make up the religion. it already existed before the war of heroes. all she did was change a couple of details to hide the fact that nabeteans existed and the fact that the elites were mad murderers to keep their descendants safe.

Like without the context of her motives, Rhea CAN seen in a pretty negative light. She suddenly goes from a mother/grandmother/wife/daughter who's got issues and is trying to protect her relatives and fodlann with her position while trying to turn some homuncili into her mom, to a dragon lady who's been in head of a major religion that she made up for centuries who actively stiffled/slowed down fodlann's scientific/academic growth for unknown reasons.

as for the tech thing, i mean, we see most of the tech inside garreg mach itself and nobody acknowledges any bans so it clearly was an extremely long time ago that they were taken down. also, edelgard never mentions these things as her reasons for war (or at all) so i don’t even think she’s aware of them so how could they color her view? like edel canonically doesn’t know about the homunculi so why would she find it sus?

Like if you didn't know about Rhea's whole deal, she'd look pretty suspiscious. This isn't me saying "edelgard completely right church bad! Rhea is evil!".

like i said above, all of rhea’s more suspicious behavior is never mentioned by edelgard. and everybody else in the game seems to like rhea well enough and not find her suspicious and all the crimes edelgard espouses are lies so what even is there that would turn her off from the archbishop other than the ‘beasts hiding in human skin’ thing.

the only character that has real legitimate reasons to not trust rhea due to personal experience and rhea’s extremely suspicious behavior is jeralt which he talks about in his journal. but that’s noting war worthy.

I'm more trying to say Edelgard was SORT of right in being suspiscious of everyones favorite lizard pope, but jumped to WAY too fast onto the conclusion of "The church is definitely evil, because crest=bad and crest=blessings of the goddess, therefore church=bad!"

i’m sure ionius had a hand in this since edel talks about how she has information about the church from him that’s been passed down from emperor to emperor (basically a centuries old game of telephone). what was told? who fucking know. she never says.

Rhea WORST 'crime' at most as leader of the church is that she was pretty passive as leader of the church.

is that the worst crime though? i mean, it’s a damned if you do and a damned if you don’t situation. rhea isn’t a queen, she isn’t an emperor, she’s a spiritual leader. she can’t force people to do anything outside of her staff at garreg mach. hell, she has no presence in adrestia, the western church hates her, and the eastern tries to help in the alliance but the nobles don’t listen to them.

the alternative is for her to grab actual political power and involve herself in the politics of the other nations and make laws that you have to follow the church’s teachings which is… uh… bad. thank goodness she doesn’t bc i wouldn’t be able to defend that lol

Like, apart from trying to keep the peace as a whole and hiding technology for a while until she decided (maybe arbitrarily maybe not) that humanity was ready for it, she seemed *largely* content with the state of things as a whole.

but she isn’t though. that’s why she’s trying to revive sothis in the first place. she isn’t satisfied with how things are and she’s actively trying to being back fodlan’s golden age through sothis.

Granted, that strikes me less as her not giving a shit and more just her not knowing about some if the bad shit going on behind the scenes in Fodlann, and her going "Okay yeah thats bad. Buuuut when mom's back she'll be a way better leader and she'll make everything way better than I ever could. Back to studying and researching homunculi children so I can maybe shove my moms soul into one."

yeah. when it comes to twsitd and them fucking shit up in the background she isn’t aware that it’s them. after the war of heroes the church had tried to uncover who helped nemesis since the church is suspicious of the fact that a simple bandit was able to commit so much horror on his own. they believed that he had accomplices who helped him, and with good reason. however, no matter how hard they looked they never discovered the puppet masters behind everything since twsitd covered their tracks and nobody knows they exist. the church eventually gave up the search in favor of helping the people and tried their best to put the incident behind them. and by the time of the game it’s been over a thousand years so i’m pretty sure that rhea believes them to be dead lol

then like you said at some point rhea starts her plan to fix fodlan through sothis again.

That's my take anyway. Basically if Rhea and the lords had a group therapy session a lot of tragedy could have been avoided. Alas therapists don't exist in fire emblem, just look at the various characters with underlying trauma that they havent dealt with.

very true.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Answers To Unexpected Questions:  chapter 3 [end]

“Juudai!” Yubel knocked him down, wings spread wide, avoiding the battery of crossbow bolts shot through the tent. One of them slammed into the man chained up to a pole, sending him spinning as far as his bonds would allow him.

It wasn’t Johan. Sparkman had been tricked. Either illusion or just making a mistake, which wasn’t that surprising.

It wasn’t a mistake that Juudai or Yubel would’ve made. Both of them knew the difference between Johan and his twin brother Rune on sight alone.

Yubel tried to tell me and I wouldn’t listen.

Juudai had enough time for that alone before he brought himself back to his feet and checked Yubel. The crossbow bolts did nothing at all save force them to step back. Their wings remained spread in front of him.

Ancient Elf stepped into the ruined tent, giving a very disapproving look as he did.

“I truly did not believe you would come for this ruffian,” he said, brushing his coat off as if Juudai’s very presence dirtied him. “Now, his brother, that would’ve been understandable. But why him?”

Juudai wasn’t going to let him know the truth. Instead he just tossed his head.

“You should know that I protect all life. Doesn’t matter who it is.”

“Yes, yes, of course. But this world is going to be destroyed and you will not be able to stop it.”

Juudai drew in a very long and very deep breath. “Could you save your speeches for after I’m dead? I really don’t have the time now.”

Rune was bleeding. Rune was dying, because Juudai’s powers didn’t include healing and Johan’s did, and Johan wasn’t there and they needed to get out as soon as they could.

He made no move at all. He couldn’t find Rune’s shadow, not with all the other light in the room. It had been by great good luck that none of the bolts hit any of the candles or lanterns there and set the tent itself on fire.

Maybe that would’ve been better. There would’ve been shadows there for sure. And the tent would’ve burned down. Maybe all of them would have.

Ancient Elf smiled. It wasn’t the kind of smile that would make other people happy in the slightest.

“If you wish to die, then we can most certainly accommodate you.”

“Not as long as I’m around.” Yubel growled, arms and wings spread to defend Juudai at a moment’s notice. “No harm will come to my Juudai.”

The old sorcerer turned a very disapproving look upon Yubel. “No one asked for your opinion, malformed one. But since you insist upon it as well, we’ve made plans for you.”

Fear coiled itself all around Juudai and he started to back for Rune. Even if he died, Johan wasn’t going to leave him here. Johan would need to know about this. “Yubel, we’re getting out of here.”

“Oh, I think not.” Ancient Elf tsked before raising one finger.

Many things happened at the same time.

A net of glowing green materials dropped down from above, wrapping all around Juudai. No matter how much he strained at it, he could not break it, despite how fragile it looked.

Another bout of crossbow bolts shot, arching over the elf’s head and burying themselves deep into Yubel. Each of them carried a malevolent white sigil written upon them, one Juudai only belatedly recognized as something intended to bind the effects of magic, sealing them off from the user.

Aodh had said that Yubel’s power wasn’t unstoppable. For that matter, neither was Juudai’s. Whatever this web was made out of, Juudai couldn’t so much as get a firm grip on it, let alone get it off of him.

Ancient Elf stepped over and stared down at him, a sadistic tilt to his lips.

“Oh, Herald. You thought it would be so easy, didn’t you? That you would just come in here, rescue this piece of offal, and dance away with your misborn creation before any of us noticed you. We knew you were coming from the beginning. It’s what someone as foolish as you does.”

He nudged Juudai with one foot. Juudai twisted away from it, trying to get hold of Yubel, to do something that wasn’t lay there like a lump.

Yubel lay against the far wide of the tent, a thick dark liquid coming from the half-dozen crossbow bolts still lodged within. Slowly, as if feeling his attention, Yubel opened their eyes and turned toward him.

“Beloved...” Yubel tried to reach for him. Juudai tried to reach back. But warriors in white armor trooped in and one of them wrenched Yubel away, not caring how much more damage was done in the process.

“First we dispose of the misborn. Then we dispose of him,” Ancient Elf decreed. He glanced toward Rune. “Throw that in the deadpile. It can be burned with the others.”

Juudai had time only to see that Rune still breathed, if shallow and unsteadily, before they dragged all three out. Yubel and Juudai were taken to a clearing he’d ignored on the way in, where a white marble altar had been spread out, and the strongest and most skilled of the Army of Light’s warriors awaited them.

The altar had been marked with those sigils that kept Yubel’s power bound, ensuring that there wasn’t anything Yubel could do to protect Juudai or anyone else as they hauled Yubel onto it, wrapping thick chains all around to keep them in place.

They’d bound Juudai tighter with the power-nullifying web, which also carried those marks, he noticed when he had a moment to stop fighting. A full two dozen of them stood guard on him, while Ancient Elf moved over to the altar and Yubel.

“Once you’ve both perished in honor of the Light, your souls will be cleansed by its power, and will nevermore be able to touch the unholy Darkness. Should you return to a mortal form, you will belong to the Light.”

Juudai struggled harder. He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere, but he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, if this went through, then he’d be dead forever. Being part of the Light embodied all that he stood against.

Ancient Elf raised a sharp, long-bladed dagger, marked with emblems of the Light. Clearly he wasn’t taking any chances at all.

“In the name of the Light, by the Power of the Light, by the Cleansing of the Light, let you be freed of your misborn form and your foolish vows to the Darkness! Let there be nothing more that binds you, nothing more that keeps you from serving the Light, as all things must!”

He brought the knife down, sharp and deadly and reeking of magic that made Juudai sick.

“I don’t think so.”

A different kind of light filled the clearing, one that Juudai squinted against, but it caused no fear in him. Instead, it drove all fear out, and he found it in himself to hope that this wasn’t the end.

“You!” Ancient Elf spun backwards even as that familiar voice spoke.

Standing on the back of a beautiful winged unicorn stood Johan, in his full power as the incarnate Light of Hope. His arms folded over his chest and he stared down at them like the very wrath of the gods, clad all in armor of white and trimmed in silver.

The rest of his guardians stood near him, a tiger and a great cat, a mammoth and a turtle and an eagle, and on his shoulder, a tiny little squirrel-ish creature that chirruped at the sight of Juudai.

“Johan!”

Johan gave a quick, quiet nod, before gesturing to Amethyst Cat and Topaz Tiger. “Get Rune out of here. I’ll take care of this.”

They didn’t argue, even as Johan turned back to Ancient Elf. “I could ask a lot of questions but I’ll save them for when people aren’t waving knives at my friends. So, let them go.”

He added nothing else. He needed to add nothing else, not with the way the rest of his companions stared down alongside of him.

Ancient Elf moved towards Yubel, knife still in hand. “Of course, of course.” His lip curled in hatred, no matter if he looked at Juudai or Yubel or Johan. “How could we ever disobey you?”

More crossbow bolts, but Emerald Turtle moved in front of them and they clattered harmlessly off of his shell. In the intervening moments, however, Ancient Elf struck down at Yubel, the tip of the blade piercing Yubel’s very center.

Juudai had heard Yubel scream before, but never since becoming his guardian and taking on the form of a dragon. The scream struck into the deepest part of his heart and he could see Yubel’s form shimmering before it shattered altogether, breaking into untold points of light, and then fading away with one last cry.

“Juudai...”

And then Yubel was gone.

Juudai writhed and screamed in rage of his own, rage enough to end the world, and he could see Johan running towards him and he didn’t care, Yubel was gone, destroyed, and it was all his fault, he could blame no one else and wouldn’t have even if he could, if he’d just listened and not rushed off like this, if he’d just so much as waited for a second check…

Yubel was gone.

Yubel was gone and Juudai’s heart bled and power that he’d known he had surged upward, shattering the bonds that held him.

One could hold the Darkness incarnate but only for so long. Darkness always fell and always rose again.

There was a voice that called a name. Then other voices. None of them meant anything to the Darkness.

It rose. The Light was there. It needed to be extinguished.

Yubel needed to be avenged.

The world needed to be saved.

The Darkness reached and all those warriors of the Light fell, screaming, and it was pleasing to the ears of the Darkness.

To the ears of Haou.

He smiled and terror spread among all those who gazed upon him and so would it be.

He would protect that which was his. If that meant to destroy all things, to crush them underneath his heel so that never again would the Light harm them, then so be it. Without Yubel, what did he have?

Juudai. Juudai.

Little more than a whisper on the wind, but it was enough to catch his attention and he turned to where the broken body lay. Standing next to it, transparent as a soap bubble, was… Yubel?

He spoke their name. The world shook at the sound of one word and he heard other voices again, and they still meant nothing at all to him.

I’m … I’m still here. I don’t know what happened. But I’m here.

He tilted his head. Did Yubel wish him to stop, then? He would stop at their will and theirs alone.

No, Juudai. I don’t. Yubel bared their teeth and it was not a smile and he returned it. Destroy it all. Let their folly be known throughout the land. Let the Light know what it threatens and what will happen when it fails.

Haou liked how that sounded. The screaming voices still meant nothing. He turned toward one and tilted his head a bit. The screamer meant nothing but Haou recognized him anyway. He just wasn’t what Haou wanted right now. Nor did he want anyone else to have it.

Hope gave people a promise. The only hope and promise he wanted the people here, the servants of the Light, to know was the chance for a quick death. It was the only promise he would fulfill.

He turned another way to recognize his bodyguards. The ones who weren’t Yubel. They kept on yelling, but nothing they said made any sense to him. Well, no matter. It was time to finish this once and for all anyway.

All the elements lay under his command. Fire rained from the sky with little more than an exercise of will. Water rose up from the river, ten times that of what Bubbleman caused, and the earth underneath their feet rocked and cracked open, sending legion after legion of the Army of Light screaming into the depths.

Winds roared, a tornado touching down in the center of their camp, shredding survivors and tents and all their equipment into useless junk.

“Juudai! Juudai!”

Hope again. Haou flicked a finger and a wave of energy knocked him to the side into one of the few still standing trees. He didn’t move.

Haou moved onward. He had a great deal of work to do and he would like to finish it before sundown.

Pain beyond pain tore into his back, ripping through his armor and sending him crashing to his knees. Haou pulled himself up and around to stare behind himself.

The same blade used to kill Yubel now sank up to the hilt in his own back. Far too close stood Ancient Elf, with another in hand.

“Even if I can’t kill you for the Light, I can still kill you!”

Haou reached for his own last bit of power: he knew what a dying body felt like, and this one was dying. He lashed outward with it, and Ancient Elf was no more, falling backwards with a twisted smirk in the last moments.

Juudai sank back down to his knees, stumbling even then, falling forward. One hand reached for Yubel. The other, for Johan. He spared one breath for the Elemental Heroes, even as he could feel the last of his life fading away.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t know who he spoke to, but he meant it to all of them.

All my fault...

Juudai sat up, panting, before he wrenched around and threw himself into Yubel’s arms, holding onto them as if they would vanish if he let go for a single moment. His heart raced, tears spilled down his cheeks, and he whispered two words over and over again.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Yubel wrapped their arms even more tightly around him. “It wasn’t your fault, Juudai.”

“Yes, it was! Just like last time! This time! I’m always too stupid and I never listen and people get hurt because of it! First you and I … I … did I… Johan? Then? Did I...” Juudai didn’t know how much sense he made, but it must’ve been enough for Yubel.

“No. He survived and helped put Kuragari back together again after that.” Yubel tilted Juudai’s head up. “He made a very good King after Aodh and Kaien passed away.”

Juudai swallowed. Somehow, that didn’t surprise him at all. Then he blinked. “How do you know?” He hadn’t known that. He hadn’t been around to see it.

“Because I wasn’t dead. I didn’t know then what was going on. But because of what Ancient Elf did, I haven’t had a physical body since then. I can mimic one now, especially since you and I fused and I’ve learned more about the power I have. It took me over a century to learn just how to communicate with other people.” Yubel’s lip curled for a moment. “Not that I wanted to communicate with anyone but you.”

Juudai nodded, holding onto Yubel still. No matter what they said, he wasn’t going to absolve himself so easily. Then he lifted his head up and turned to where the Elemental Heroes stood.

“You all knew, didn’t you? About me? And about what I did back then?”

Featherman spoke. “Of course we did. We’ve been by your side almost as long as Yubel has. But why would we blame you for something that you did when you were pushed beyond coherent rage?”

“And why do you think that Elemental Heroes can take on so many different fusion forms in the first place?” Sparkman asked. “We resonate to you as much as the Neo-Spacians do, Juudai. Our fusions reflect what’s in your heart. That means we understand what it can be like when things like that happen. And like what happened in Dark World.”

“You don’t need to be afraid of your power or what you can do with it. Control is all you need, and you’ve been working on that,” Burst Lady told him. “You’re much better about it, too.”

Juudai eased back down into Yubel’s arms. “I don’t deserve all of you.” Nor did he deserve Johan, who’d risked so much to try to help him even when Juudai wouldn’t listen to him.

“So, you were different because...”

“Because after a few thousand years of not having a proper body, of not being with you at all, and what Ancient Elf did severing my connection to you in the first place, I… wasn’t entirely sane at the time, even before the Light itself got hold of me.” Yubel’s fingers tightened for a heartbeat. “I think this time it intended that I make certain you couldn’t fight back against it, instead of trying to take us both out at the same time.”

Juudai shuddered at how close the plan had come to working, both times. If it hadn’t been for Johan’s arrival, then they both would’ve been sacrificed to the Light. And this time, if it hadn’t been for him getting his memories back…

“I really should do something nice for Johan,” he murmured, starting to feel weary all over again. That had not been a restful nap.

Then he recalled Rune, and realized that he’d seen him before: in this lifetime.

“Yubel… that guy in Dark World. The one that I met before I fought Zure.” He winced at the thought of all else that happened then, before forging onward. “That was Rune, wasn’t it? The guy who was Johan’s twin the first time.”

“And still is now. He’s in Dark World somewhere, I presume. That’s where I sent him, anyway.”

Juudai whipped his head around to stare at her again. “You saved him?”

“I saved everyone you cared about. You cared about him, even for those few moments, didn’t you?”

He could not say he didn’t. He hadn’t thought of it at the time, but perhaps some vague memory recalled Johan’s twin brother. Then he sat up even more.

“Come on. I’m going to find him and he and Johan are going to get a family reunion!”

He stood up, all weariness falling away, and reached for Yubel’s hand. Then he leaned up and forwards to kiss her. “I really am sorry.” He would spend all of time making it up to Yubel if he had to. And to Johan as well.

Yubel returned the kiss, with interest. “You’re forgiven.” As simple as two words and his heart sang for joy, and he carried them away into the shadows to find a brother.

The End

Notes: And that's it. Though there will be other tales that involve Juudai and Yubel and Johan and maybe Rune.

[luckythereviewer]

The Truth about Fodlan

This is certainly something a lot of people have discussed and looked into. Ever since the release of Three Houses as well as the Cindered Shadows DLC, people have been looking over ever detail they can find to figure out how Three Houses fits into Fire Emblem as a whole. Some believe it’s simply a different world, some believe it isn’t and there has been debates about everything for a while. Today, I would like to bring up some information that possibly clears up the confusion around Three Houses.

To start off, let me simply lay out the premise now. What if Fodlan is Jugdral 3000 years after the events of Genealogy and Thracia? I know that sounds crazy but think about it. In Awakening, a game that was suppose to be the last game in the series and give us one last look at the world that started it all long after Marth had passed, there is barely any mention of Jugdral. We travel all over Archanea, now called Ylisse, and go to Valentia, now called Valm, but we never see anything Jugdral related. The only time we ever see such a thing is during Chapter 22. The chapter where we face Risen Deadlords and some of them are wielding Holy Weapons: specifically, we see Valflame, Gungnir, Helswrath, Balmung, Yewfelle. Now whether the Risen Deadlords are the actual Dead Lords used in Genealogy and converted to Risens or simply a new take on the Dead lords of old is up to debate. The question here is, how did the Grimleal get their hands on 5 Holy Weapons from Jugdral when we have no mention of them throughout the game.

To this, I ask another question: how come the Three Archanea Regalias and Hauteclere are absent from Awakening yet rusted versions of them can be found in Three Houses? These weapons never have appeared outside the Archanea games (the sole exception being SoV but the fact they have to be forged makes their canonicity dubious at best) yet we can end up finding them by battling special monsters and forging the rusted weapon they drop. What’s even more confusing is how the in game description for Hauteclere reads “An Empire Wyvern Corps Axe, wielded in the War of Heroes, that has a high hit rate and might.” These weapons were used during events of the games. Mercius was used during the War of the Eagle and Lion and Gradivus was used by a defender of Fodlan’s throat. Parthia lacks a sort of description but 3 of the 4 having such descriptions means these weapons were used throughout Fodlan’s history. But that begs the question of how these weapons ended up in Fodlan? One would guess that, since they could be forged in SoV (something I don’t consider cannon) that it means they were forged in Fodlan and yet we have no one that takes credit for them. They aren’t considered Sacred Weapons forged by Maculi, They aren’t Heroes Relics made by TWSITD. They are not stated to have been made by the only other legendary Blacksmith, Zoltan. Meaning these weapons have to be the orignal Regalias and Hauteclere. 

With this we now have two questions from both Awakening and Three Houses. How did 5 of the Holy Weapons end up in Archanea and How did the 3 Regalias and Hauteclere end up on Fodlan? First off look at 4 of the Holy Weapons given: Balmung (a Sword), Gungnir (A Lance), Helswrath (A Axe), Yewfelle (A Bow). Then you have Mercurius (A Sword), Gradivus (A Lance), Hauteclere (A Axe), and Parthia (a Bow). Here’s my idea. During the War of Heroes, TWSITD likely wanted to give an edge to Nemesis and his army in the form of more powerful weapons. This lead to them getting into contact with the Grimleal in the early days after Grima’s first defeat. The Grimleal, likely aware of Jugdral’s amass of Holy Weapons, offered a trade. The 3 Regalias and Hauteclere for 4 Holy Weapons. Given that TWSITD likely did not know or simply could not make use of the full power of the Holy Weapons agree and threw in Valflame as a sign of good faith as well as an item they likely would not need, seeing as all of Fodlan operate on non-tome magic. Of course, the description for Hauteclere shows that the shipment carrying the Regalias and Hauteclere did not make it to TWSITD and said weapons ended up in the hands of the Empire. While some would say TWSITD wouldn’t be dumb enough to give away Holy Weapons, remember these are people who were arrogant enough to try and fight Sothis. From their perspective, they would simply see a group of people offering really powerful weapons with no real requirements and asking for weapons that nobody can make full use of in exchange. Then there is the questionability of TWSITD even having Holy Weapons and to that I say this: The Heroes’ Relic and the Holy Weapons act in such a similar manner that it’s very likely TWSITD found the Holy Weapons, found out what they were and how they worked and figured out they could replicate them if they took the remains of Nabateans and crafted them into weapons. Once they figured out how to do this, the Holy Weapons were just taking up space. 

Now that’s only the first piece of evidence but it’s certainly the biggest and one that took time to explain. These next ones will be much simpler and quick.

The second piece of evidence for this theory is the maps of Fodlan and Jugdral. When you compare both maps, they are very similar in shape. Given that we have examples of continents ending up with different names and changing over time, Archanea being Ylisse and Valentia becoming Valm. Given how Jugdral would have an additional 1000 years to change comapared to Valentia and Archanea, it’s possible that Fodlan is Jugdral after that long of a period. The only other thing of note here is how Thracia and Almyra play similar roles for Jugdral and Fodlan. Thracia tries to invade and conquer the Munster District while Almyra tries to invade the Alliance. The difference being Thracia does it due to lack of food while Almyra does so as a show of strength. Not as strong of evidence as the first example but it was still worth mentioning.

The final example is how the Nabateans were created. We know they were created by Sothis via her blood. Now, the first question would be why Sothis did it this way. If this was any world, why not simply have kids the traditional way as we’ve seen with almost all dragons in FE outside a few notable exceptions (Grima and Lilith being such exceptions). Well, playing devils advocate and saying Fodlan is within the world of Archanea, then people would quickly remember a certain issue that plagued dragons alongside the degeneration: their loss in fertility. These two factors are what lead to dragons becoming Manakete and stepping to the side to allow humanity to become the leading race in the world. Given how many crests there is in the game, there simply no plausible way for Sothis to have so many kids and possible descendants unless she went the blood route. Not to mention this explains why none of them are Divine Dragons like Sothis. (Yes the whole debate of if Sothis was a Divine Dragon or not is a thing but given how we’ve seen how dragons like Mila and Naga can not only control the passage of time but repair the lands as Sothis did after the war with TWSITD, it’s more or less pretty open and shut case Sothis is a Divine Dragon). 

Now as for how she discovered the whole creating dragons through blood method, there is only one known instant of a dragon being created this way before Sothis: Forneus. What’s even a odder coincidence is how Sitri, Byleth, and Forneus’ names are names of demons in the Ars Goetia. Sitri and Byleth being connected via this piece of trivia makes sense. Forenus, on the other hand, a person who only just got named during SoV’s post game, is something to think about. Regardless, Sothis had to have found out or find something that would give her the idea of creating the Nabateans via her blood somehow and Grima and his creation is a very strong possibility. 

Now some might bring up how they’re called Nabateans and not Manaketes or how the Crest Stones are something we’ve never seen before. To answer the Nabatean and Manakete thing, Manaketes are usually referred to as dragons who sealed their draconic powers into dragon stones. The name is likely just to avoid confusion. Ultimately, it’s a name. The core that makes Nabateans the same as dragons is the method of which they transform. We’ve seen how crest stones are integral to this, given what happens to Miklan and other characters that use the crest stones and end up as demonic beasts. We know that the crest stones are quite literally the heart of these dragons. What did dragons do to become Manaketes? They sealed their dragon forms in stones and took a human like form. This is the detail many have missed. Nabateans are not just a different race of dragons. They’re how dragons used to be before they were forced to take on the forms of Manaketes. The entire reason we’ve never seen these crest stones is due to the fact that, in Valentia/Valm and Archanea/Ylisse, dragons have either become Manaketes or they were well respected as to not have their bodies scavenged and turned into weapons. 

There are plenty more details I could bring up like Anna’s existing in Genealogy and Thracia, explaining the Anna we see in Three Houses and why she has a crest, and more, I think I’ve made enough points here. Maybe there are details proving this is wrong or something but this post was mostly to bring up a possible idea I don’t think I’ve seen people really touch upon in regards to Three Houses. 

[semi-imaginary-place]

fe3h blogging 6 because organizational skills are for losers

oh hey yuri get to join chess club[3:24 PM]balthus DID go to the officers academy twice I’ve been trying to reconcile the route differences... it should be that everything that happens in a different route is also possible in the route you are looking at which ever one that may be. Now all there is is figuring out why those differences exist. or alternately to come up with a probability model to explain those differences. Let’s take the major difference of CF vs VW, AM, and SS. In CF unlike the other routes, Rhea is not captured, she organizes the knights and joins with Faerghus. In CF unlike other routes Byleth chooses to side with Edelgard and Rhea attacks them in the Holy Tomb, this is the only difference. Rhea is incredibly entitled when it comes to Byleth and so takes Byleth’s choice as a deep betrayal as the one who was supposed to be on her side chose not to be. In the battle of Garreg Mach, Rhea then also doesn’t entrust the Church to Byleth. Now how does this connect to Rhea avoiding capture in the battle? It could be she was more on guard after the Holy Tomb in BE, it could be that overall Rhea is likely captured but there is a chance she isn’t. Either way because she isn’t captured, she is there to rally and organize the knight’s of Seiros. In the other routes why didn’t Seteth do it? idk man. The Knights and Faerhgus together are better able to fend off the Empire and with the added security, keep Cornelia, the Agarthans, and Edelgard from framing Dimitri with assassination. Thus in CF Faerghus is in a more unified and powerful position with Rhea running the show. Never quite got why Garreg Mach was abandoned by all the sides given how much the characters talk about its strategic location etc. etc. In SS Rhea degenerates and causes the church to become a rampaging hivemind. Rhea is assumedly also in the palace in AM, but we do meet her in VW. This leads to a few possibilities, either she also dragon degenerated in those routes but the credits roll before we get to see that or she doesn’t. Either way she hold the potential to do so. This is probably the strongest probability argument in the game as we are shown no reason why she does in SS but does not in VW. Rhea is like a ticking time bomb. Maybe they should have blood minstrated like half the church. And then the Agarthans, are they just chilling around underground in AM? yeah, probably. They’re probably back to biding their time just like they have the past 1000 years.

I would like to talk about the three categories by which I evaluate how much I like a character in a series. 1. Personal preference: how much does the character's personality appeal to me on a personal level. Would I want to be friends with this person in real life. Do I just really wish they were real and want them in my life? 2.  Character writing: how well written is the character. How good is their character arc? What is the grade of execution? 3. Role in the story: what do they bring to the series as a whole. If they are a villain, are they a good villain? Comic relief. The Bro character. No matter the archetype, how well is it done. What is their narrative and thematic significance.

Let's look at the 3 Lords of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Please note that due to the branching story line and the ability of the player to choose the cast, I will not be focusing on a character's role in story as much as I usually do. Edelgard Personal preference: low. Her personality clashes with mine Character writing: high. Three Houses characters in general are well written. Edelgard feels like a person, her behavior is internally consistent, she's always herself. One of her main flaws explored in the game is how Edelgard will tunnel-vision and double down on a decision, a path even when it is no longer the best option. Role: high. In Crimson Flowers and to a lesser extent Silver Snow Edelgard acts as the central character, she drives the story. As the villain in 3/4 routes, Edelgard is incredibly interesting, acting as a counter point to the other Lords as well as to Byleth in Silver Snow.

Dimitri Personal preference: low. At first I didn't care, and then he was just annoying. He was solidly #2 on my to-punch-list in Azure Moon after Gilbert. Character writing: high. Dimitri has the easiest to notice character arc in the game as it is the main focus of Azure Moon. As such the most time is spent on his arc and it is very strong. The journey Dimitri goes on as he struggles with himself and his trauma is well written, its only weakness being that it hinges on the player (me) caring about him (which I do not). Role is the story: medium high. the overarching story of the rightful king reclaiming his throne nicely parallels the story of Dimitri reclaiming himself. Thus the external journey mirrors the internal one. Azure Moon most strongly brings the human element to Three Houses and this is both a strength and a weakness.

Claude Personal preference: very high. I wish I had a Claude in my life. His personality meshes well with mine and my life would be enhanced with the addition of his company. When I say Claude is my favorite, this is the category I am usually talking about. Character writing: high. Claude has the subtlest characterization and character arc of the Lords, this is further obscured due to mischaracterization by the English localization team and English voice actor. The characters in Three Houses in general are brilliant and Claude is no exception. He's complex and multifaceted as any real person is, and seeing him grow in to his own in Verdant Wind is a beautiful thing. Role in story: high. Claude's role in the Three Houses is also very interesting, his objectives especially in White Clouds turns the game into a mystery thriller which is breaking edge for a Fire Emblem Game. Claude's background is also a bit different from the others and so following along his story, you are able to gain perspective and see all of Fodlan for what it really is.

Jeralt personal preference: meh writing: good role: dad

wait. wait. so are the 4 apostles are called saints in the intro, but were they also children of the goddess?  so i can see indech and macuil dipping after the war of heroes and cethalenn went into a regenerative coma so that takes her and cihol out of the picture, but where were the 4 apostles during the war?  and why does balthus' pants have a specially colored patch for his crotch.  ... did balthus go to the academy twice?  dimitri really went “i’d be nice to just sink into the earth you know” huh. i just started cindered shadows so i can't really comment but... the whole "abyss is necessary for garreg mach" is such horse shit. like oooohhhhh we must have an oppressed underclass to maintain our standard of living.  why do the ashen wolves even exist. its not like there's a school down there and yet a bunch of people have uniforms.  its not like they took some of the officer's academy uniforms either. why waste resources making custom uniforms? oh hey yuri get to joisn chess club. balthus DID go to the officers academy twice. I wonder what happened to Constance. Also hello??? Intsys you have a kidnapping and torture as backstory problem, especially when its happening to female characters. Hapi get’s kidnapped, tortured and then imprisoned, no wonder the life has left her eyes. Also I don’t trust this Aelfric dude. He set up the ashen wolves “house”, but wouldn’t those resources be better spent on food and medicine. nepotism ho! your parent were good so you must be too

anyone else find Jeralt and Sitri's relationship a little weird. Hundreds of years old dude romances incredibly sheltered 19 year old with little life experience. and she and alfric idolized Jeralt when they were young. sitri was born in 1139 and died 1159 from childbirth.  I mean yeah Sitri's an adult and totally consenting and loving, and the relationship is pretty cute and sweet, but.... its kinda weird.... Like when you hear about a 30 year old dating a 60 year old, everyone's well into adulthood, they're consenting adults who can do whatever they want,  i have no objections,... but its still kinda weird. WHAT'S WORSE IS THAT THEY DEVS HAD LITERALLY NO REASON TO DO THIS they could have made her any age they wanted to. She could have been 35. but nooooo they didn't do that

the part that bothered me about maneula's writing. Is how the writers talk down on her for having emotions. You see this strongly in the hanneman+manuela paralogue. Where they make her do something impulsive which has negative consequences, which is fair. But then the game punishes her for being too emotional. "being too emotional" now where have i heard that critique before. This is especially in contrast to the game praising hanneman's intellectual rationality. how do i say this... whenever hanneman and manuela argue the game always takes hanneman's side and is overly harsh on manuela.  Oh hanneman is right that she should not have run off after a rumor about the death knight like that, but its the framing of the scene that bothers me.

the way people talk about the abyss reminds me of the goldfish bowl metaphor. the abyss provides sanctuary, but in it thye are also trapped. huh so edelgard doesn’t recognize dimitri. people sure do like aelfric, reminds me of a cult of personality, but it seems so genuine... A great rhea’s golems are back. they talk!! I was just joking about people’s souls being bound in there!!! aelfric is one of the cardinals!!!!! I've been trying to find these dude for months!!!!! you hear these lines going on and on about the cardinals. oh. he’s part of the seiros hivemind then. hey kids. if he’s a cardinal than the church probably already knows. this don’t tell the church stuff sounds like a trap. that letter is suspicious af. yuri clearly wants something, but what is he up to,,,

Yeah.. it really sounds like the 4 apostles were nabateans, but if that were so are constance, hapi, balthus, and yuri really descended from them? the 4 saints bloodlines in adrestia are from those gifted blood by the saints. yet i do believe the 4 apostles fled to different corners of fodlan, what remains in question is only if there in their new homes they gave blood (like rhea did to save jeralt), or actually did have kids.

i cant believe balthus got put on the bus via giant bird. ah so aelfric and yuri are cooperating with the agarthans. thats what they were up to. wow yuri really is fandom claude, i can still hear those idiots complaining that claude wasn’t up to anything and that he didn’t betray byleth. huh so yuri is struggling with split loyalty and the solution he came up with was to help aelfric but give byleth hints. 

constance calling the holy mausoleum a wretch hovel in on par with sylvain calling the dining hall filthy. huh so that was what yuri was planning. wasn’t expecting the double agent ploy.

so this does not take away from aelfric's decisions, but if rhea hadn't been a coward and just buried sitri instead of keeping her is storage where anyone could find her, this never would have happened. who know's maybe aelfric would have still made horrible decisions, but not this one horrible decision.

wait wait wait. rhea, what happened last time you used the chalice to try and resurrect sothis. what beast was created then? wait wait. nemesis dies and sothis’ heat and bones were retrieved in 91. the blood chalice ritual happened in 185. That’s enough time for rhea to have conducted her first experiment implanting the creststone into someone and having them live out their full life.

 prior to cindered shadows i thought claude had 2 given names much like many real world people of dual identity do (multiracial people, chinese americans, japanese americans, etc.), so claude is his name but he also has an almyran name. now though I am leaning towards the idea that claude is a name he took up upon entering fodlan given what he says to balthus at first and the presence of a claudia riegan in the past. from the feast of decadence: where is boramas? and i hope the bit about watching northern swordsmen ripped apart by wild animals at dinner was a play or something. why do books end up in the abyss anyways. why not burn them throughly. rhea certainly knows people have been living down there.  i wonder who built abyss. its older than garreg mach for sure.  real ironic how the blue lions idolize loog when he was an agarthan pawn not unlike edelgard.  rhea's choice contributed to the power imbalance between sreng and duscur compared to faerghus chevalier became village elder and gave everyone blood during wars. half got crests half turned into demonic beasts. that solves that. 1/4 down

i can’t believe aubin almost died in a ditch before yuri’s mom saved them. well that’s one more person with a really long life span

balthus: describing "bashbros" me: its called a life partner. "Balthus became son-in-law to the great commander, Nader" ... what. also why is the balthus yuri pairen ending the only one balthus ends up broke and on the street in. also where's my holst supports. scratch that. WHERE IS HOLST. oh yeah and you all were crying about byleth potentially outliving everyone, well yuri does too

ashen wolves supports that should have happened. Balthus: Manuela. Yuri: Mercedes. Hapi: Ignatz, Petra, Claude. Constance: Lorenz

Also let judith be a playable character. Claude and balthus already have like half a support with her.

why do feel like yuri and sylvain would be a disaster. and disaster in that they'd hurt each other's feelings

claude whenever balthus opens his mouth: shut up shut up shut up. shut up and go away. goddess. please. no. i enjoy seeing claude annoyed more than i probably should

me taking the fe3h developers by the shoulders and shaking them furiously: WHY DON'T CLAUDE AND HAPI GET A SUPPORT. THEY EVEN BOTH HAVE CELESTIAL MOTIFS!  claude would also empathize with hapi as an outsider of sorts, as well as both sharing a desire to explore the world.  i think the riegan crest and timotheus crest got mixed up in development. in tarot readings the moon is associated with darkness, an unclear mind, madness, creativity etc. it suits "dark dragon" far more than "star dragon". but that doesn't explain why claude gets the unique combat art Fallen Star me one again taking the fe3h developers by the shoulders and shaking them furiously: WHY DON'T YURI AND ASHE HAVE A SUPPORT!! THE APPARENTLY ALREADY KNOW EACH OTHER. THEY HAVE SIMILAR BACKGROUNDS. THEY'RE BOTH FROM FAERGHUS. THEIR BATTLE DIALOG SAYS MEANS THEY WANT TO BE FRIENDS

No bathus/manuela support either LET THEM MAKE POOR LIFE CHOICES TOGETHER. Balthus can have a little milf, as treat

...  yuri is very pretty in part 2

Edelgards biggest flaws are her desire for control and her stubborness or the way she will double down on a decision and refuse to budge. Claude's biggest flaws are his inability to trust, and showing his hand too late. A bit more on that last part. A large part of Claude's strategies involve downplaying his side and biding his time. This strategy is especially weak though to an aggressive opponent like Edelgard who can bulldoze him before he has time to play out his plan. Part of the problem is that Claude is very reactive but not very proactive (its one of the reasons I like pairing him with Edelgard and Petra). He won't just go for something the way Edelgard does, he's wait for the right opportunity. This difference you can also see in how the deal with the Church. Edelgard declares war on them because she thinks they are the root of Fodlan's social problems and need to be taken down. She makes a decision she believes in and readies herself for the consequences. Claude actually believes much of the same (The Church is the root of Fodlan's problems) but would much rather avoid those consequences (fall out with the Church). You see in Verdant Wind he will make use of the Church because the are useful. He's even willing to spout Church rhetoric and propaganda (Byleth as a Church symbol) if it suits his end goal of transferring power to an individual who will shape Fodlan's future to his liking (he does have an altruistic and humanitarian goal much like Edelgard). However in doing so he risks empowering the Church even more. In short Claude will put up a facade that he doesn't agree with on an ideals level and so is always in danger of that facade becoming real and failing his goals. yeah so claude character development has him learning to trust and being more proactive in his goals. so i like pairing him with characters that put him on a similar growth trajectory

wait how are the Fetters of Dromi (Aubin) and Vajra-Mushi (Chevalier) around simultaneously with Aubin and Chevalier. Aubin was last seen 20 years ago and the tales of elder giving blood don’t seem ancient, so were they recently killed?

ok if the vajra-mushi is a replica, what’s it a replica of? that implies an original. and its still able to turn people into demonic beasts. how????

unpopular opinion: I hate seteth. his face pisses me off and every time he opens his mouth I want to punch him. please die.

You know... i'd expected someone to have written a modern au of felix and sylvain being roommates with unresolved sexual tension.... but no its been 9 months and I haven't seen anything. Oh I've seen roommates where its like the new and uncomfortable experience of sharing space with someone you dont know and I've seen modern au where they are childhood friends. But i seriously have not seen the specific scenario where they are childhood friends AND roommates. Like... uuugh its just sylvain. But also uuggh its just sylvain?!? Maybe I'll just have to do it myself... but im no good at writing... 

What if glenn was 160cm but the kids never noticed (except sylvain) because they're so much younger

I want a spin off fighting game starring ferdinand and caspar. Honestly i just wanted to see ferdinand get into a fistfight with someone like in his support

On a fandom level I think the golden deer are the least popular for a number of reasons:

1. some of the characters only reveal their depth in supports and paralogues. Or in other words you must seek out these character to get to know them. Ex: Lorenz, Leonie, Ignatz. I mean without doing their supports you'd never know that Ignatz is the smoothest out of the Golden Deer the the most likely to get a date. If Sylvain is a poser, Ignatz is the real deal 2. Related to the above the writing sometimes relies too heavily on a character gimmick. Ex: Raphael, and Lysithea to a degree 3. Compared to other houses there are less established dynamics. Other characters (Linhardt and Caspar, BL childhood friend squad, etc.) can play off of each other and this can make them more emotionally accessible to a player. In the beginning especially the golden deer act more like co-workers than friends, they are the least cohesive as a house (which means their growth is that much more delicious). 4. the golden deer route in general is less popular and some characters don't appear in other routes so the sheer amount of exposure these characters get is less than other houses. a lot of people in the "fandom" have only played one or 2 routes and those usually include either azure moon or crimson flower/silver snow. people will also just delete or add things to characters.

OK Jp audio thoughts: tiny grandma sothis Alois is gravelier and yells a lot  I've been replaying the line where claude giggles in the jp audiio. How do i record audio ignatz is such a BABY in the japanese version. Like a small bunny Edelgard sounds more princessy Claude is more light hearted, less sassy more... boyish? like that one old school boy character trope that used to be a main character thing and is now more a side character thing eng dimitri more yell-y and feral.  jp dimitri is a lot more subdued and dead inside. but the delivery of the lines makes what he is saying all the more disturbing. dissonant serenity.

your path lies across my grave is such a raw line

Why did yuri get a different part 2 sprite.  he should age the same rate jeralt did. And in his paired ending with byleth? He apparently looks about the same after decades

Hilda and catherine would be EXCELLENT war masters if the devs weren't sexist

So almyra's big. We don't know how big. Fodlan is 2/3 of europe and almyra is bigger so i imagine there's a diverdity of biomes. I imagine the south coast is mediterranian. But that hinges on how subtropical adrestia is. Medditerranian climates are most common at 30-40 lattitude. The map of almyra we can see on the map is the same lattitude as faerhgus. This could be the greenest part of Almyra. I imagine almyra has both hot and cold deserts with a large plain covering the center. The rest would be scrubland/chaperral. All we know is that claude grew up somewhere with no big trees. I imagine that almyran government is more meriocratic than fodlan but that may vary region to region. I have an idea for both a centralized and decentralized almyra. Each regions leader is like the strongest most organized person around. A bit of nepotism may be involved. The exception would be the coast region which is more sedentary (some parts of almyra are semi nomadic) and may have a republic. Decentralized almyra would work kinda like the eu or us with seperate nations and a mediator for when almyra needs to act as a whole. That mediator aids negotions between regions and keeps things together. Mediator would be a council/appointed position. In a centralized almyra there still wouldn't be a monarachy. The king would choose a sucessor. So the king's kid would have a better chance than anyone but its no garuntee. I like the idea that like the 30 closeat relatives has a last one standing system as part of the selection system. This would allow for a dynastic style if ruling where there's a ruling clan but not direct line of descent 

Everyone keeps drawing older felix with long hair but I'm half convinced that 3 years post game he just lops,it off one day or gets a buzzcut

So a lot of people including me have long suspected Claude had an Almyran name and the validation right now just feels so great. Khalid!  Given his dialog in cindered shadows I think its more likely Khalid is the name his parents gave him and Claude is the name he took up upon coming to Fodlan

Things have never been easy for Claude, he says in his s support that he's going, to do it (the whole game/war) all over again. It's heavily implied that things to not end well for Claude outside of VW. i don't think the Almyrans would value a surrender to a fodlander tho. Claude in VW proves his competence as a military commander and leader by controlling all of fodlan. Its stated in some of his paired endings that the current king has some say in who the next king is as Claude had to earn his father's approval to ascend the throne. Don't forget that the general Almyran populace hates Claude. He has to prove himself by their standards before any respect is given and in SS/CF/AM he doesn't do that. Remember that the Fodland stereotype is of cowards and that Almyra values spectacles of strength/fighting prowess over tactical efficiency (invading fodlan's throat isn't for the purpose of gaining land/etc. its for the warriors to show off how strong they are), so they wouldn't value strategically weakening your nation (leicester) to stave off imperial invasion, to them that just looks like cowardice and incompetance. not only that he endangered and wasted Almyran soldiers in fighting a foreign war. Remember that no one really knows about Claude's plans outside of VW, he keeps his cards (too) close to his chest, and in non-VW routes the facade of weakness becomes a reality and all his schemes crumble. and he has little to show for his time in fodlan. Claude is less likely to experience character growth outside of VW, but I think there is potential for Claude's character growth outside of VW. One reason for this I'm just not a fan of Byleth's dating sim powers where everyone just falls head over heels for them. For every character and especially the lords, Byleth acts as a catalyst for the character's growth, but Claude (of the lords) is the least dependent on Byleth so I do believe he could have found some of the connections seen in VW if not to that extent. (also I'm a sucker for found family)[4:22 PM]But Byleth does act as the heart and glue of the golden deer so things wouldn't be that great for Claude and co 

So we cam see both turkic and persian influences in almyra but I've always wondered at the balance. From the turkic side we have the warrior culture and horse riding. This is also where my speculations on a nomadic society and non monarchy forms of government come from. Also note turkic (central asia, like the mongols) and not turkish (one of the turkic ethnicities). On the other side is ancient persia which was a center of science, technology and learning, a materially wealthy empire with imperial dynasties. These are very different and so balancing headcanons has always been challenging to honor both sides. You can see people are all over the spectrum in fandom.

Me shaking dorothea by the shoulders: YOU ARE VALID. I AM PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. EAT THE RICH

im a caught between the dual desires of seeing sylvain succeed at something and be really cool, and seeing sylvain publicly make a fool of himself. sylvain miserable for mundane reasons is such a good look. I pin Sylvain in a headlock and force 2 gallons of respect women juice down his throat

In any universe. Claude's weekly schedule would fill me with terror.

Leonie and dorothea both have "I know a guy" vibes

A while ago I complained that the fodlan calendar doesn’t make sense. Why does the year begin on month 4? Well I recently got around to reading through the abyss library and it confirms that fodlan used to be on the gregorian calendar with months 1-12 lining up with our january-december which in a lot of countries are just month/moon 1-12 and then seiros and the church brought in a new calendar system (imperial year and "___ Moon" naming system). so combined with the other hints from the agarthans (un symbol, ICBMs, etc.), pretty much confirms that fodlan is indeed a post apocalyptic modern world. So the weird calendar system DOES have an in universe justification!

[fyrapartnersearch]

WICKED EYES & WICKED HEARTS

I'm Babs. A 25 year old, PST-living, cis-gendered woman and full time corporate slave. I'm looking for one or two more partners to join my nest. I have a wide array of interests that include books, anime, video games, and the pitfalls of pop culture (eg. tik tok and bad youtube, ironically). I'm looking for someone to spice up my life and give me a punch of romance right in the gut! I like to think I am pretty friendly. I am a total chatterbox and I hope we can find friendship in addition to being great story writers. Basics

Started on Neopets, been writing for over 10 years.

Multi-paragraph / novelle style responses. Not the person to give you 3K words, but can give consistent quality around the 750 - 1000 word range. Also, past tense and third person only.

At the very least, weekly replies. Work can get hectic sometimes. I am usually around to chat, and I hope that we can communicate in a pressure-free environment.

Doubling is an absolute requirement for me. Larger casts of side characters are encouraged. I find the role play gets dry if our love interests don't have any other stakes than each other.

On that note, I also don't mind doubling in a "non-traditional sense" in that we have no "canon" or "end game pairings." We can throw our characters together and see what happens, just give me enough characters to make it worth it.

Feeling into some typical M x F romance right now. If we can have that, anything else rolls with me.

Can chat literally anywhere, including Hangouts and Discord. I do not like chatting over an e-mail thread.

Fine Print

Smut is fine with me. The more open you are with me, the more I'm down to do whatever you feel like! Let's have fun. Not opposed to smut opening up the story and screwing up our characters in some way. Also not opposed to slow burn. Also not opposed to fade to black. I'm flexible here.

Violence, gore, and all things in that category are fine with me. If you like darker themes, let's do it.

Kink-friendly, but respect my limits. Not into pedo, furry, anthro, incest or step-siblings, toilet play, or hard rape. Implicit consent like arranged marriage is fine, however!

I love FCs! I prefer drawn or anime style, but I can swing for real FCs if it's a dealbreaker. I can also completely ignore FCs and go with descriptions instead.

I'm hesitant to play with cis-men. Do with that as you will.

Current Cravings I do not play canons in any of the mention fandoms. However, I am more than happy to completely rip off an entire fandom, or incorporate elements from a select few. Original world-building is also a passion of mine, so anything goes, goes!

Dragon Age: Inquisition: Would love to do an original character driven story set in the universe.

Historic Eras: Medieval fantasy, Victorian, Edwardian, Regency. I'm game for all of them.

Hurt & Comfort: Kind of feeling some nice angst in that one of our characters might be sick or something. Give me the fantasy version of the plague.

Arranged Marriage: I'll admit that this one has grown a bit tiring for me, but it's always a fun one when set in the correct universe. I'll never turn down an arranged marriage plot, so shove something my way!

Other Interests & Spitballing

Space adventure, something like Voltron.

Shounen anime stuff, like a pirate adventure or something set in an academy.

Vampire & Werewolf stuff is always cool, I don't hate. Twilight was a pioneer.

Skyrim, Fallout, Fire Emblem, Rune Factory, Persona 5.

Greek mythology to a certain extent.

I'm all for bad cliches.

Let's write together! When you approach me, please have an idea of what you'd like to role play, or what you liked about my ad! Good places to start are your name, age, what characters and genres you'd like to play. Hell even toss in your limits and kinks, that's helpful. I am so very old and tired and I can't respond to everyone. If we have spoken before and things fell through on either end, feel free to mail me again. Life happens. hangouts & email: blushingbabbit@gmail.com

[silvaruslupus]

Maybe if IS keeps up this Tellius kick we’ll get either Ashera, Yune, or Ashunera as a Mythic Hero. (I can dream)

For those that don’t know who they are and don’t care about spoilers, I’ll explain. I also just kinda wanna talk about Tellius stuff so here we go. If you do care about Tellius spoilers then well you might wanna skip this.

Let’s start with Ashunera:

 Ashunera is the creation goddess in the Tellius games. She’s also an actual god and not a dragon “god” like Naga, Mila, Duma, and Grima. 

She shaped the world’s lands when the planet was nothing but water and filled them with life. She also created the ancestors of the Beorc and Laguz called the Zunanma who worshiped her as the “Goddess of Dawn.”

(Ashunera pictured in the middle)

The Zunanma later evolved/split in the Beorc and Laguz and began a terrible war against each other, because racism causing war and strife is the main theme of the Tellius games. Ashunera tried to stop the war but her emotions were so strong she caused a world-wide flood that destroyed all other continents but Tellius. 

Distraught that her actions killed so many and under the advice of a Heron by the name of Lehran she decided to cast off her emotions and split into two beings:

Ashera - The Goddess of Order and Restriction

(who is also the final boss of Radiant Dawn)

Yune - The Goddess of Chaos and Transformation 

However, Ashera wanted to be absolutely perfect and sought to erase Yune’s existence completely. She started a conflict with Yune and won with the help of the Three Heroes: Dheginsea (The Dragon), Soan (The Lion), and Altina (The Beorc)

Lehran, the same Heron from earlier, was able to convince Ashera not to erase Yune but instead seal her within a bronze medallion, which later became known as Lehran’s Medallion and the Fire Emblem. However, the races of Tellius must not start another continent wide war for 1000 years while Ashera and Yune slumber. The sign they failed would be Yune being released from the medallion  and Ashera would awaken. Then they would pass judgement. If the Laguz and Beorc kept their promise for the entire 1000 years, Ashera would then fuse back with Yune and become Ashunera again.

Lehran and the Three Heroes spread rumors of Yune as a “dark god” in order to deter a large scale conflict from ever happening again. Dheginsea also formed the country of Goldoa, where all the Dragon Laguz live, and shut themselves off from the rest of the world. There is also way more to Lehran’s actions after this point but we’ll leave him here for now. 

The events of Radiant Dawn cause Ashera to awaken about 800 years into the pact and turn all the denizens of Tellius to stone but those strong enough near Yune at the time were spared, aka the playable characters.

The Branded, a mixed race of people with both Laguz and Beorc parents/ancestors, were also spared because Ashera did not anticipate their existence so overlooked them when passing judgement, just a little side fact. 

However, after Ashera and Yune awaken, Yune explains that she and Ashera were supposed to met and talk about the fate of Tellius’ inhabitants, which did not happen. So Yune with the aid of Ike, Micaiah, and Elincia’s armies fight against Ashera plus her Disciples of Order and win. 

Ashera is defeated and disappears. Yune is able to reunite with her, which also causes her to disappear, but not before she undoes Ashera’s judgement.

1200 years after the events of Radiant Dawn end, Ashunera returns to Tellius to watch over it as its creation god. 

(also Lehran is still alive so he’s like an over 2000 year old Heron lol)

So yeah I think they can all qualify to be a Mythic Hero which means we won’t get any of them.

[enchantedbride]

Awakening!Joanna’s Timeline Prior to Awakening

I may have partly stolen this idea from @hinatas-wife with her timeline for her Self-Insert, Mana. Hope that’s okay! I’m also tagging @blackquills-wife and @radiantfluff​ and @promptoargentumsgirlfriend.

1500 years before Fire Emblem Awakening: Joanna is born to a pair of the last Divine Dragons. Only a small handful of their kind remain. The Divine Dragon Kingdom fell long ago, and now most live isolated from one another. Her parents live in hiding, taking jobs in human settlements for a few years before moving on to avoid detection. 

1000 Years before Awakening: The first War Against Grima happens. Naga imparts her brand to the hero who became the first Exalt, and the Kingdom of Ylisse is founded. Joanna is roughly the equivalent of the nine year old human at the time, and recalls her family had very brief encounters with a few major players in the war (although they never met the first Exalt).

500 Years Before Awakening: Joanna becomes physically mature enough to strike out on her own, and chooses to do so after a culminating event with her parents after years of conflict. They wished her to marry her best friend, a fellow Divine Dragon they encountered in their travels and corresponded with named Pyris in order to attempt to restore the number of Divine Dragons, even a little. Pyris himself expressed interest in her, but she didn’t love him, and turned him down.  When her parents protested and attempted to manipulate her into changing her mind, she stood up to them, and left them. She took a ship from the continent of Valm where they were at the time to the continent of Ylisse.

300 Years Before Awakening: Joanna has been traveling from place to place, generally taking up various jobs. She encounters and is befriended by a local mercenary leader whose quite popular in southern parts of Ylisse. She eventually develops an infatuation with him, as well as trusting him completely. However, that trust is betrayed when he abducts her one night, imprisoning her in his home up north in Central Ylisse. She is kept there and is abused by him, having her dragon stone taken from her so she can’t fight back. However, one night after weeks in captivity, she steals back her dragonstone. She has to confront and slay him in order to escape, and on the way out, she sets the house ablaze. At this point, she develops a loathing of humans as a result and goes into hiding for a decade.

290 Years Before Awakening: Joanna is discovered up in the Northern most reaches of Regna Ferox by an all female mercenary company. At first she is apprehensive and ready to defend herself. But a member among them whose a healer recognizes the signs of someone whose undergone trauma, and attempts to reach out to her. The group stays with her for a time, and eventually, is able to win her trust enough that she decides to travel with them. They become good friends to her, and teach her to use a dagger in the case of her dragonstone not being available. She winds up being the main person to tend to their horses and she remains with them for a couple of generations of the company before slowly losing the hatred for humanity her trauma had caused. She eventually strikes out on her own again though, but doesn’t forget their kindness. 

25 Years before Awakening: Joanna seeks out instruction from a master of magic who makes his home at a magic Academy on the Plegian side of the border between Plegia and Ylisse. He keeps her secret of being a manakete, and she is given a place of residence there for the time she’s a student of his. In addition to magic, she learns the apothecary trade as a means to more consistently find agreeable work. 

~8 Years Before Awakening: Joanna arrives in the village of Rhea in Northern Ylisse, and becomes the village apothecary. She is well-liked by the community, and eventually takes on a human apprentice named George.

~1 Year Before Awakening: Brigands attack Rhea, and Joanna helps the local royal militia passing through defend the town. However the secret of her being a manakete is revealed, and she fears she may have to flee to protect herself and the town. However, the Captain of the Royal Militia and Prince of Ylisse, Chrom, offers her a life-changing opportunity, as well as an offer to help. 

She chooses to take him up on his offer, and becomes apothecary to his royal militia, the Shepherds, and a fellow mage alongside Shepherds Miriel and Ricken. 

[wyvern-dork]

let's see about my Akaneia faves for the meme... Tiki and Sheena!

Wow, 2 of them :D Wohoo, Archanea-time!

TIKI:

What is your opinion of this character? If you like, explain why you like him/her.

The first few times I played both FE11 and FE13 I didn’t think much of her to be honest, but she’s grown on me. Most of that I owe to FE12, because that’s where you sort of get the truth about her fate, and not just “some random kidnapped godess that is a kid for some reason ok”, like all of a sudden I understood why Bantu was showing her the world, I understood why she was so eager to follow team Marth - she was meant to go through her entire life, never knowing what life was, and when she learned of its wonders she obviously wanted to learn even more, even faster, a thousand years’ worths of joy pouring out of her. I really love her now, and I fully support the “protect Tiki at all costs”-squad.

As an adult, too, she’s pretty fascinating, but this was Archanea centered and this will be too long if I include Awakening too :p

 Is he/she important to the general plot?

In FE11, not that much, you could go on with not reqruiting her (even though that would break my heart).In FE12, though? A bit more, since some of the motivation for completing the Fire Emblem is to help her, you know? The Divine Dragons have a pretty hugre role there, but not that important to the plot other than to give exposition, I suppose.In Awakening, yeah, she is important - she’s the living Naga Helpline

Can you relate to this character at all? Does he/she grip you emotionally?

Relate? Nah. Emotionally gripping? Yes. Will protect.

Do you ship this character with any other character? Or, are you particularly intrigued by his/her relationship with any other character(s)? (romance-wise or platonic)

One does not romantically ship kid-Tiki with anyone, ever. One does not go to the “she’s actually 1000 years old”-excuse; she looks like child, she acts like a child, she IS a friggin 8 year-old by human standards.Platonically though, I like her big sister relationship with Caeda, her big brother relationship with Marth, and her seeing Bantu as a grandpa is A+. Give Tiki a loving family

Is there anything about the character you would change?

Would be cool to have more interactions with the others in the cast (that is something I think of all Archanea characters haha). I’d die to see a support between her and Maria where they just do silly kid things, and Est teaching her pranks, Linde showing her how to do a flower crown, Draug carrying her around while she screams “I’M SO TALL!”… I could go on. I kind of write these things myself but I’d love to see more of that. Heyyy fellow fic writers… 

If you were in the fandom with this character or knew this character in real life, how would you see yourself interacting with him/her?

I cannot insert myself in anything, sorry, but if a human child that like Tiki would bounce around me I’ll probably either freeze because kids sort of terrify me (”what if I say something wrong what if they hurt themselves oh god”), or I’d just buy whatever she’s saying like “oh, no way!! that’s so cool!!” (depends on if I’m at work or not, bc then I can’t afford to be scared lol) 

Does this character make the cut as one of your all time favorites (if you like) or least favorites?

The entire cast in Archanea is my favorite, though she has tough competition. Minerva obviously #1, then we have the Whitewings, Caeda, Marth, Maria, Lena, Merric, Linde… Those are the main favs. I suppose Tiki comes close third alongside Cain, Abel, Sheena, Nyna, and Katarina.

Would you hype up this character (if you like) or warn about this character (if you dislike) to someone new to fandom?

I don’t know. Maybe I’d hype her a little? I’d probably say to someone who hasn’t played FE11 and 12 something like: “Hey, you know Tiki in Awakening? She’s in Marth’s games too, though she’s a kid and she’s adorable!”

Is this character popular with the fanbase?

Yes, very. She is, right? Awakening Tiki is a fan favorite, anyway. Well deserved.

SHEENA:

What is your opinion of this character? If you like, explain why you like him/her. 

She’s not that well known, but I love her resolve. Her struggles are like Minerva’s, in some ways, becoming the ruler of a conquered kingdom that is scarred from a war, but she, in contrast to Minerva, has almost no one to help her. She has a lot of potential for being a great character 

Is he/she important to the general plot?

I can’t say she is. You speak to her like, once. Though that one line is enough to give you a ton of ideas.

Can you relate to this character at all? Does he/she grip you emotionally? 

Ow my heart, yes she does. I feel for her, she seems so alone. My Minerva-bias at work, I think.

Do you ship this character with any other character? Or, are you particularly intrigued by his/her relationship with any other character(s)? (romance-wise or platonic) 

I don’t have any specific ship, but I do headcanon her as Definitely Not Entirely Straight. Ace? Lesbian? Aro? Bi? A mixture of any of these? All of these work for me.

I don’t know about platonic relationships, either. Though she would adore Nyna, I feel. And she’d get on well with Minerva.

Is there anything about the character you would change? 

I’ll slam my fist into the table and say the same thing as above - more interactions! 

If you were in the fandom with this character or knew this character in real life, how would you see yourself interacting with him/her?

If I met a human that was exactly like her, I’d probably stand with tears in my eyes and say something awkward like “wow, you’re so tall.” Because I’m tiny and awkward and she’s huge and awkward so, uh… Just a guess. I do struggle with inserting myself into fictional scenarios, like I’ve said before.

Does this character make the cut as one of your all time favorites (if you like) or least favorites?

She’s in the same spot as Tiki, see above.

Would you hype up this character (if you like) or warn about this character (if you dislike) to someone new to fandom? 

If I knew said person liked the idea of a lone queen ruler with super cool armor, then yeah I probably would hype her a little bit; but I’d hype Minerva more. 

Is this character popular with the fanbase?  

No, she isn’t, not to my knowledge. But there are a dedicated few that love her, and that’s more than enough. She’s a pretty tiny side character, but she’s still won her way into quite many hearts, she even had her own place in Heroes as one of the first from the Archanea-cast, so that’s cool.

[lastbear12]

So @tinyblek​ want to see me rant about something I don’t like a whole lot-the world building in Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates, as well as how AWFUL Mikoto actually is and how worthless her character is in Fates. So here’s to you tiny. This rant is for you, under the cut anyway. 

Let’s start with Awakening though, as this was the game that started the whole tangent rant thing. So Awakening. It’s story is garbage, as is its’ world building.

So what we know about Awakening is that it takes place some 2000 years after the end of Heroes of Light and Shadow, or FE3 Book 2. And we know this, because Tiki is now a 30 something year old adult-or 3000 years old, but looks like she’s 30. She is the ONLY link that Awakening provides that makes it an actual sequel to the aforementioned FE3.

Oh, but the Falchion! Marth’s Falchion looks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like the Falchion that Chrom and Lucina wield. Look at Smash 4 for the easiest comparison. Marth’s Falchion is a pseudo-rapier, while Chrom/Lucina’s is more of a short sword. How did the Falchion change during the 2000 years THAT MUCH? What ore was used to reforge it? Did it have to be reblessed by Naga? Speaking of, last we saw of Naga, she was a simple Divine Dragon in Heroes of Light and Shadow. How did she become a GOD in those 2000 years? All questions that Awakening ignores and doesn’t address in any of the supports in the game. Because we’d rather have time spent on silly interactions between characters rather than anything MEANINGFUL coming out of these conversations. You’d think Libra or Gregor would have some good world building supports given their respective jobs and age-age ESPECIALLY for Gregor- OH WAIT WE HAVE NO IDEA HOW OLD EITHER OF THEM ARE!

We only know Nowi’s age. She’s 1000. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Woo. That’s it though. We don’t know how old Emmeryn is, we don’t know if Gregor is in his 50s or 60s, and for all we know Walhart is actually in his early 20s. And that’s one of the biggest issues with Awakening. There’s no sense of TIME in the game. In a game where TIME TRAVEL happens, where there’s a TWO YEAR TIME SKIP, there is ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE OF TIME. Things happen because they’re cool things to happen. Oh hey, Ylisse is being invaded! OH HEY IT’S BEING INVADED AGAIN, THIS TIME by a group that’s said to be this massively unstoppable force, only it’s not because holy shit after chapter 14 the game becomes fairly easy again unless you’re playing on bullshit difficulty (Lunatic+). Regardless, if the game didn’t EXPLICITLY STATE that there was a two year time gap in between chapters 11 and 12, I honestly would’ve just assumed that it was like, a year because tiny baby Lucina.

Another issue is that, considering that this game takes place 2000 years after the end of Heroes of Light and Shadow, what happened to Archanea? Yes, we’re told of a great schism, but we’re never told WHY the schism happened, or what CAUSED it. We were simply told that there was a schism some time ago and that created the nations that we have on the eastern continent. On the Western Continent, how was Walhart successful? Why was he able to unite almost an entire continent under his rule? Was he actually a bad person, or was his army just a bunch of fucking assholes? Did Walhart have-WHO CARES?! He’s not Chrom, Robin, or Lucina, so he doesn’t NEED a backstory! Despite that none of the previous three have ANY connection to the western continent of Valm and we have no real way of learning what happened on Valm because Say’ri, Cherche, and Virion, the three people of our army who are NATIVE to the western continent, NEVER TALK ABOUT IT IN ANY OF THEIR SUPPORTS. The last two only talk about Rosanne, or whatever Virion’s home country is called. Who cares? Not one of the main characters. Doesn’t matter.

I’m just scratching the surface with this. Awakening’s word building is AWFUL and a FAIR NUMBER of the characters are awful as well-mostly because they’re tropes and ONLY tropes. Fates did a better job about that but OH MAN. OH MAN DID FATES FUCK UP.

Let’s talk about one of the worst things that Fates does. Fates introduces Mikoto, the woman who’s supposed to be Corrin’s mother. She’s supposed to be this great symbol of peace, she’s supposed to be super loving and caring and full of light and wonder. She’s supposed to be an equal to Emmeryn in all rights.

SHE DIES THE CHAPTER AFTER SHE’S INTRODUCED.

She has MAYBE TWO SCENES, ON SCREEN, before she dies. That’s it. Poof, gone, that’s it. No more screen time for her. Introduced in chapter 4, dies at the beginning of chapter 5. That’s it. And we’re supposed to feel like she’s this great leader and the world lost something great the day she died. You know what my thought process was?

“They killed her off NOW? Really? They couldn’t wait like, 4 more chapters to actually SHOW US how good a leader she was before she died?”

Seriously, I was REALLY disappointed with Mikoto’s death because it WAS FUCKING POINTLESS.  There is absolutely NO reason to have her die at that point in time. “Oh but she was keeping a magical barrier up to keep the Nohrians from invading!” Not like that really mattered, considering the Nohrians figured out how to get around it with the Faceless and Golems. So clearly, the barrier never really mattered as it was only a matter of time before there was just an army of essentially drones attacking Hoshido so the barrier is frankly, irrelevant.

So the ONE THING that Mikoto contributed to the plot is worthless. And she’s supposed to be the Emmeryn of this game? The leader who pursues for peace above all else? Let’s talk about Emmeryn for a moment though. Because for as much as I don’t think she was an fantastic leader and maybe a little too meek for real leadership, BUT she was a good leader. She DID pursue peace and desperately tried to replace the horror of her father’s crusade and she did. She showed that she was willing to put peace above all else when she went to parley with a man that her brother and sister were CONVINCED was going to try and kill her, but Emmeryn still went. And then, when it came to fleeing for her safety, Emmeryn chose to return to her people, concerned that people will revolt if they find her missing from the capitol. And then, because she knows that the Fire Emblem is going to be incredibly important in the future, makes the choice that Chrom could never make-Emmeryn chooses to end her own life to save the future. Or try to save the future anyway. She may not have been a perfect leader, but she’s not Mikoto.

Because we don’t SEE Mikoto walk among her people as her first onscreen moment, we don’t SEE Mikoto trying to make peace with the Nohrians, rather she just makes a barrier stopping them from entering. Mikoto is awful and has no right to be even remotely related to Emmeryn. And then there’s the countries of Fates. As in, the two of them that matter and the others. Hoshido and Nohr are both given some basic history, like how they’re descended from dragons, Hoshido from Dawn Dragons, Nohr from Dusk. Or light and dark. Whichever. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s it. No information about how the Nohrians built a castle INTO THE EARTH which is a really impressive feat, no idea how the Hoshidans got the special throne, nothing AT ALL about Valla. Nothing RELEVANT anyway. Like, who the fuck WERE the Dawn and Dusk Dragons? Were they related to Anankos? And the many small countries in….in….wait...do we not have a NAME for the continent where Fates is taking place? SERIOUSLY? Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn gave us Tellius, Sacred Stones gave us Magvel, Archanea in FE1, 3, 11, and 12, Elibe in Sword of Seals and Blazing Sword, Valentia in Gaiden/Echoes, Jugdral in Geneology and Thracia-hell FE5 is named after a COUNTRY ON THE CONTINENT. What is the continent in Fates called? No fucking clue. We just have the names of the major countries and some really insignificant ones that we visit maybe once in each version of the game. Woo. This is honestly the biggest problem with Fates and to a different extent Awakening- we don’t have a name for our continents in these games which is a result of poor world building and makes the world just not feel like, a world. It feels like a set for things to take place, rather than a living breathing world that Tellius or Jugdral. It doesn’t feel like people live in the world of Fates and Awakening, like Tellius or Elibe. It just feels like a stage for scenes to play out, rather than a place where people live and work. Right. I think I got that rant out of my system. Excuse me as I go back to playing Echoes. And play a game where 2 of the most forgotten protagonists in the series become the 2nd and 3rd best lords in the series after Path of Radiance Ike.