#Iago fe

[cornytheclown]

It’s late at night and I’m thinking about the villain trio from FE Fates. The one in particular that I love so much (Iago, Hans, Zola)

They’re not the most developed, especially compared to other villains in the series. Some would even say that they are mostly 2 Dimensional! And they’re correct!

But despite that, they all got this sort of unique vibe to them, and through the interpretations of their text and actions in Fates + Heroes + other media that I find them in, plus some personal headcanons, I feel like I could give a decent read on the three of them.

I’m gonna segment these out into different posts so that they’re not too long winded. Also I don’t know the word limit on Tumblr posts, I’ve never made a post this long before.

Iago

Right off the bat, it can be agreed upon by everyone in the jury today - Iago is a asshole. Not just any asshole though - but a smart ass. A smug ass smart ass. He would lord over someone about his intellect and capabilities, taking great pride in it.

He’s incredibly gifted in strategy and intelligence, one of Nohr’s best tacticians. However, he’s also incredibly paranoid and over analyzing. Almost like he’s constantly strategizing both on and off the playing field. Which, given that he’s the head advisor to the King, and having a very key role in the court, makes sense. You never wanna let your guard down in that kind of environment.

But he takes things to a whole new level. He’s paranoid and distrusting of everyone whose not King Garon. He’s the kind of guy who plans out how to kill whoever he meets. And while surely he has his formalities (natural of someone in the court like him), he looks down upon just about everyone and suspects everyone around him of suspicious behavior by almost every action they take.

He has little respect for anyone who isn’t above him in some kind of way. Peasants are as good as dead in his eyes, just simple casualties in war (even if they’re not apart of it). Hell, it wouldn’t even be surprising if he used some of them as experiments for his Faceless. Everyone else who works under him or is below him in power is simply just to control or monitor with suspicion. And anyone who steps out of line for him is as good as gone (unless stated otherwise by his King)

Honestly, he’s just such a hater, he would be more than happy just to cruelly toy with someone he was spiteful against in particular. Not the kind of guy you’d want to be on the bad side of, as he certainly seems to take glee in the misery of others.

Anyone who seems like they could overpower him or be of a higher status however (such as a King), he seems willing to follow along with. So as long as he knows they’re on his side - and unless it’s King Garon - he’s still always a step ahead in case they inevitably betray him in his mind. Or better yet - he’ll be the first to betray them.

Hence why he’s so weirdly nice to Kiran in Heroes. Because his King is now under contract with Kiran, by extension, Iago now also serves Kiran. It’s easy to forget that Kiran, in the circumstances designed by the Order, is in charge of everyone. Including Gods. It’s stated in a Forging Bonds event that they literally cannot kill each other due to the magic of their binding contract to Kiran. The same would most likely apply to being unable to harm Kiran.

So Iago is doing what he can to kiss up to Kiran and give helpful advice for strategy, as a fellow Tactician. I don’t think much of it is anymore than sweet talk and advice to improve. At least until their Lvl 40 conversation, where Kiran earns his respect. Even offering to aid them, if they so wish to do evil.

Now I keep mentioning Iago’s constant devotion to Garon. I actually have a personal headcanon that’s probably not canon but I’m going to make it my canon, because Fates is a complete mess (affectionate). There’s gonna be spoilers btw.

My theory is that Iago’s devotion actually lies within Anankos more than anyone. Who, as you know, is possessing Garon the whole damn time. I don’t think Iago lacks devotion to Garon, but his heart is for Anankos.

I actually am in the camp that believes Iago is related to Mikoto, possibly her brother. And he is from Valla. And a devoted follower of Anankos, who might be a little bit extremely bitter about him choosing Mikoto. And having a child - Corrin. The reason why he has such a vendetta against Corrin is because they are the child of Mikoto and Anankos, and given their softer, kind nature growing up, he sees a bit of her sister in them (whom he hates). And doesn’t see them fit to be Anankos’ heir because of their softer nature.

Despite his spite, he follows Anankos to the bitter end, by all of his orders given. Being too blinded to realize just how far gone his God has become due to their madness, brought about by the death of their close friend (the original King of Valla). Or possibly even not caring about morals and such, and just doing what his beloved God asks of him, regardless of consequence. Probably a mix of both.

Iago is a bitter, spiteful, manipulative snake of a man who needs to have everything masterfully under his control, and following the orders of both his King and his God. He serves the higher powers, and spits at those below him. Happily willing to let innocents die if it suits him. He will do anything if it means getting one up in a situation. He knows how to manipulate others and does so happily for his goals. He won’t hesitate to backstab almost anyone whose not above him. He’s smarmy and strategic, always planning his next move and watching everyone else’s every move to ensure that he’s always ahead of them.

There’s not much that’s very likable about him and I think he enjoys that! He wakes up every day extra early Just to be a hater. I also headcanon him to be a Theater Nerd, a lover of theatrics and literature. A classy, cultured man who brings out the same energy of a Musical Villain into his daily life.

Honestly, being the way that he is, naturally he has very few real friends. Between being sus of everyone and just being a generally nasty person, I think it’s kind of why he leans into the whole “cartoon villain” vibe. He has power over almost everyone, he’s an advisor to the King! And in the environment that he’s from, Nohr especially, as well as because of his status, it’s no wonder why he’s on edge and calculating. There’s bound to be a lot of targets on his head from those from opposing sides, or even others who would want to get ahead of him and take over.

Rather than risk something terrible to come out of putting his trust into someone, or even being anywhere near vulnerable with anyone, it’s much safer and easier to push everyone else away and become an infamously unpleasant sort. What does it matter if everyone hates you? You’re the King’s advisor! You have the power and you can control how everything goes, and you’ll always be a step ahead!

And when he’s lost that control…in the moment where he is at the mercy of the Heroes…he becomes a begging, pathetic mess! The man is a cowardly weasel! There’s a good reason why he wouldn’t scoff off Hans, and other then a mutual love of being horrible people and killing others, that’s because Hans could happily break him like a KitKat.

When you take Iago out of his element, where he’s Not ahead of the game like he thinks he is, and he’s left in a powerless state, he’s not too proud to beg for his life or flee if he can. If things are getting out of hand; he’s quick to get the hell out of dodge. Screw everyone else. And if he can’t do that, then well…best he can do is cry and beg and give fake apologies, hoping the other party won’t beat his ass.

Which is another reason why he’s most likely as nice as he is to Kiran - he’s at Kiran’s mercy! He can be sent home and back into his timeline whenever they want him gone. Best to avoid that by being a kiss ass and doing well for them.

Some other Misc. HCs about Iago:

Mentioned it before, but he’s a Theater and Literature Geek. And a terribly pretentious one at that.

The mask he wears, aside from being an aforementioned Theater Nerd, is meant to represent Anankos, and is from Valla. A bit of his golden accents are also common from there.

Being Mikoto’s twin brother, he is also Corrin and Azura’s evil uncle. Is in his mid 40’s, and despite being the same age, he looks 10 years older than Mikoto.

It was that thing of like, he felt like everyone liked his sister Mikoto more, because she was sweet and openly friendly. And when even the God he worshipped for so long favored her more, that’s where he crossed the line into pure hatred for her.

He joined the court and became Garon’s advisor not too long after Mikoto had Corrin. It was very tempting to want to kill baby Corrin, but by his King’s orders, he refrained. But he’s held contempt for them even when they were very young.

I HC him to be Gay, but I don’t think he’s devoted to anyone more than Garon and Anankos (neither one share those feelings).

With that being said, I firmly believe that he and Hans have something going on.

[teaflowersart]

Nohrian dark mages~ 🔮✨

[astrosexologist]

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Why does iago kinda look like post white-ification Michael Jackson

omg

[friendlyfatbee]

I love his design it goes so hard

[fe-smashorpass]

[nierestx]

Someone needs to give this man a kiss

[sterletsss]

«It's hard to look at face you can't beat up» — Takumi, probably.

Love his design. What a man.

[fushigidane]

various fe fates premise/worldbuilding rewritey ideas i've been pondering...

since i've been replaying conquest recently and am once again frustrated with this game's writing

first, as a way of making garon non absolutely definitively evil AND bake anankos's involvement into the game's base premise, having garon NOT kidnap corrin intentionally. corrin is separated from sumeragi on that business trip after their party was attacked by vallite soldiers as anankos wanted to either kill or retrieve his child. corrin is found by nohrians and brought to windmire when they are found to have dragon blood... POWERFUL dragon blood. they suffer the same memory loss like canon. hoshido asks for corrin back, garon refuses since their draconic blood isn't that of the dawn (or even dusk) dragon and he is concerned hoshido wants to use them as a weapon or otherwise does not have their best interests in mind. garon does not believe that corrin is hoshidan because they don't even LOOK hoshidan

corrin still going to the northern fortress but not out of malevolence. it's genuinely for their own health. the attack on sumeragi awakened corrin's dragon form for the first time, but without a dragonstone, they were unable to control it as in canon. they CONTINUE to be unable to control the instincts, which were often triggered by the stressful environment of the concubine wars, so garon sent them far from castle krakenburg to avoid more incidents for their and other's safety. visiting was restricted for a while, but as things settled they were seen often by garon + their siblings.

corrin knows their vague origin, that garon isn't their actual father, but still acknowledges him as such (and garon acknowledges them as their child). they also remember how bad things were during the concubine wars and are both accepting of why they were sent there and somewhat hesitant to leave

more general things of garon being a semi decent father. the manga had a really good part where garon recognised leo's mother in him for an instant and called him that. more please

because of garon being less definitively evil, the hoshidan Throne Of Truth being a way to purge anankos's influence and expose garon's TRUE self i.e. save him rather than expose anankos as in canon. this may be an idea raised by corrin/azura but perhaps even better would be for it to be GARON HIMSELF'S plan as he tries to rid himself of possession without anankos catching on. this being his plan in all three routes but only coming to fruition in conquest... where the throne doesn't work as planned and garon is killed when anankos is brought to the surface

garon being possessed by anankos in the first place as he tries to research what was going on with corrin. he reached many correct conclusions but unfortunately walked right into anankos's grasp. he doesn't want to be possessed, tries to resist the possession (directly and in more subtle ways as in above) but as time goes on, the more his condition degrades

fun idea => awakening trio being accepted so easily by garon as they are a) informed of valla etc., able to steer xander/camilla/leo from the same trap garon fell into with anankos and b) POTENTIALLY able to slow down anankos's possession of him?

an exploration of what the 'skies changing' mentioned in revelations even IS. it is the act of hoshido's sky becoming dark and nohr's becoming light (or vice versa). canon states it happens 'once every few decades', but nobody really knows when it will occur as there is no way of predicting it

the skies changing defining the way both nations act.

nohr, deprived of fertile land and harvest, conquers other nations to gain the resources they need to survive. inequality and poverty is rife as its citizens scramble for the limited available sustenance. even the royal family does not live in luxury and are themselves well-acquainted with not being able to secure food

hoshido, with bright skies and plentiful harvests but knowing that no matter what they do their prosper is temporary, stockpiling resources in preparation for their oncoming long night. its citizens are satisfied but on guard, particularly the older ones that recall its former famines. the royal family, understanding the duty it has to its own citizens when night falls, is reluctant to send aid to other nations. a particular incident is when mokushu had an outbreak, hoshido refused to send medical supplies despite them being allies, which is what caused mokushu's current disdain towards hoshido.

the skies changing is why the two nations have never been able to coexist. even though hoshido currently exists with a surplus, and there could well be enough resources at any given time to adequately support BOTH nations, there is no precedent for either country ever sharing their sustenance when they can access it. neither country will make the first step because there is no guarantee that the favour will be paid back when the skies change again.

garon and mikoto's rule being equally informed by past precendents and desire to survive/fear for the future respectively

garon, as alluded to in canon but never shown, is-slash-was a very good ruler that did a very good job maintaining order in the country, ensuring nobody least of all the royal family is permitted to hoard while others are left to starve. things have only degenerated in recent years as anankos's possession has taken its toll on his ability to rule and food shortages continue to worsen. YES he conquers nations but certainly in the past only when trade deals failed or were unviable => nohr had plenty struggles with these as it is currently unable to offer much except manpower and protection, which not all nations need or appreciate. nohr's view is that they would rather conquer others than allow their own citizens to starve, and for a long time garon has been appreciated by his citizens for doing what must be done

mikoto being cautious above all else, very aware of and fearing what's to come as described above. further, her coldness towards other nations being informed by corrin's kidnapping and sumeragi's death--which she believes was done by nohr. azura, by the way, was still kidnapped in retaliation for nohr's alleged actions.

mikoto also should not die in the prologue. just saying. she should be allowed to stand equally with garon as a good yet flawed ruler that is unable to see past the present and make the necessary first step to a better future

lots of general themes about smaller nations on the continent always being pushed around by the two superpowers' squabbles over resources

[kjaaru]

Completed an old Iago sketch

[fefuckability]

Qualifier 10: Fates

Feel free to rb/comment with your justifications!

[splashysketchdump]

Nighttime Reading.

[theofficersacademy]

hello! i need to reduce my muse load down to one for the moment, so i would like to drop reyson and iago please!

Reyson and Iago have been dropped and are now available!

- Mod Key

[rosecelebi]

Posting my favorite FEH Meet the Heroes art every day

Iago

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

iago is so cartoonishly evil looking and has an evil name and skulks around the entire game that I kind of wish he was a twist good guy. Like he shows up and is like ‘Yeah I only pretended to be Nohr’s head executioner i actually just let everyone go’

That would have actually been kinda interesting 👀

I would S support him instantly.

[astrosexologist]

i miss my wives