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the-priestess-of-dawn · 5 months

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Grima and Final Blows

The other day I mentioned that I had an essay about Grima to write that I'd been putting off, and between that and all the great essays my fellow Grimleal scholars have been putting out recently, I decided to sit down and finally get it done.

So here you go. An analysis of Grima's difficulties with directly killing people.

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, because one of my favorite things to explore when it comes to Grima is the gap between their villain act, which they actively play up in front of others in both Awakening and FEH, and their true feelings, which are hinted at in Awakening (particularly through the Future Past DLC) and made even clearer in FEH— their own evil actions are repulsive to them, and they wish they could live normally among humans, but they don’t believe they have any choice but to be the monster that “the fell dragon, Grima” is supposed to be. They are committed to this “fell dragon” character, to putting on a show for everyone, and they are so good at it that it’s easy to overlook that they… uh… aren’t very good at killing anyone important. Not directly, anyway.

Sure, Grima is responsible for numerous deaths. But what is their actual kill count? Well, in Awakening’s main game… zero. (Unless you count Chrom, but, as we witness, that was not a voluntary act on their part; Validar took control of their body. You could also make the argument that Grima “claiming the sacrifice” at the Dragon’s Table counts, but the problem with that is, although it’s obvious that Grima accepts the life force of the Grimleal members as a sacrifice, it’s not at all clear whether or not Grima personally kills them. Although it’s possible that they did off screen, it’s also possible that Validar killed them, or that they were ordered to take their own lives; there’s no reason Grima would have had to lay a hand on them.) In the Future Past, it’s… one, maybe one and half (Naga’s spirit, and Tiki, but only in body. More on this later.)

And it’s not as though Fire Emblem shies away from showing villains directly murdering people, Even in Awakening itself, the intro to Chapter 9 shows Aversa killing a Plegian soldier for delivering an unsatisfactory report, so it wouldn’t have been out of place to let Grima stab a few NPCs as a show of brutality. Especially seeing as Grima is the evil dragon final boss. As early as Mystery of the Emblem, we can see Medeus killing his cleric hostages to restore his own health if you fail to rescue them before trying to defeat him, and as recently as Engage, we get a whole cutscene of Sombron eating Hyacinth. Fantasy violence my beloved <3

Anyway, the point is, Grima could have been written to be much more violent and I don’t think anyone would have complained. Instead, though, Grima repeatedly— and consistently across the series— tries to avoid engaging in direct combat.

Let’s start with what Grima does in the main game of Awakening. We know that Risen pursue Lucina into the past, because we see them fall out of the portal with her in Chapter 1. We also know that those Risen, as well as the others that are appearing throughout the land, are not being directly controlled by Grima, because later in Chapter 13, as the Shepherds are leaving Plegia after meeting with Validar, Aversa, and the Hierophant, they are pursued by more skilled Risen, and Frederick notes that “Either they are learning our ways, or someone is commanding them…” So… It seems that sending the Risen—with or without specific orders—to attack while Grima is not themself present is a favored tactic.

But what about when Grima is present? Take a look at the Endgame: Grima chapter. Yes, you eventually get to engage Grima in direct combat. But not immediately. What Grima does first is…

Grima attacks the Shepherds with dark spikes from a distance, reducing everyone’s hp to 1. Now, here’s what happens next: Grima attempts to possess their past self, Robin hears the voices of their friends and breaks free, Naga heals everyone back to full health, and then the fight against Grima begins… Except actually, the Shepherds have to get to Grima first, because they’re at the top of the map and they’re not budging. Naga warns them that “Grima’s servants will beset [them] to no end.” and she’s not kidding. Grimleal reinforcements will spawn infinitely, and they can hit pretty hard. Even with everyone starting at full health, it’s possible to lose units to these Grimleal soldiers if Grima isn’t defeated quickly. Can you imagine what would happen if Naga hadn’t healed the Shepherds first?

Well, I’d guess that they’d probably all die to the Grimleal without Grima having to face them up close. Which was probably what Grima was going for.

This isn’t the only time Grima tries the dark spikes trick, either. Grima attempts this exact same move in the Future Past 3 when they face Lucina, Severa, Laurent, and Gerome.

Grima announces “With the next blow, I will kill you.” and then demands that they hand over the Fire Emblem as well as the gemstone they hold. The threat is very real. But…

Given that at 1hp, a gust of wind could take the kids out, would it not have been easier and faster to kill them and just loot their bodies immediately? And yet Grima lets the kids have an extended discussion about sacrifice, and even suggests that Lucina would indeed buy a little more time by running… Again, I cannot stress enough that Grima should be able to finish them off in one hit at this point.

So the plan was almost certainly to back off and let the Risen do the actual killing, even though that would be a lot less efficient under the circumstances. And when Chrom and the Shepherds arrive, Grima immediately turns their attention to them, saying “If it’s a reunion you seek, my soldiers shall welcome you on my behalf.” Then they once again pick a spot at the back of the map and refuse to move from it, forcing the Shepherds to fight through the Risen in order to engage Grima in combat at all.

And sure, Grima has some excuses. “I was hoping not to have to flex any muscle,” they say right before the dark spikes attack, as if to justify why they didn’t do it sooner. And of course they taunt Lucina over having to choose to whether to run as her friends sacrifice themselves for her or to stay and fight and die with them. “I must say I shall enjoy this either way!” Yes, Grima, we get it, you’ve made it very clear that you’re an arrogant asshole.

But is arrogance really all there is to it? If we look at what Tiki tells Grima in the good ending of the Future Past, it looks as though Grima’s arrogance has brought their own downfall. “If you had left Mount Prism alone, Grima, you might have stood a chance. Instead, you have brought the Awakening right to your feet.” However, when you think about it… Is Tiki’s continued existence not in itself a result of Grima’s repeated pattern of not really wanting to land a finishing blow? The game states that Grima did in fact kill Tiki… but only in body, not in spirit. This is, according to Tiki, because Robin intervened.

Now, the question I have is… Is it really possible that Robin could have intervened both against Grima’s will and without them having any idea? Honestly, it’s hard to tell exactly how aware Grima is of Robin’s resistance, because they lie about it a lot, e.g. stating that Robin’s spirit perished in sending Chrom back to his own world, even though just moments later, Robin is once again overpowering them. So, keeping in mind that Grima is a liar, was Grima really arrogant to leave Tiki’s body in Ylisstol, and to not make sure that her spirit was fully destroyed? Or was Robin simply able to capitalize on Grima’s propensity towards backing off?

Because surely the only way Grima could be unaware that Robin had acted against them is if Robin hadn’t actually acted against them. I don’t think I believe that Grima really wanted Tiki gone. Naga, sure—longtime nemesis and all. But if Grima had truly cared about seeing Tiki’s existence destroyed… Well, I doubt Robin could have interfered that much.

But maybe it could still be a matter of arrogance. Maybe Grima just didn’t think Tiki’s spirit could do anything with Naga’s spirit gone, and thus didn't care to pay attention to her anymore once she seemed dead enough.

If that’s true, it doesn’t explain why Shadows of Valentia Grima exhibits the exact same habits when fighting Alm and Celica, despite never having been outside of the Thabes Labyrinth at this point in their life. As opposed to the various Terrors throughout the rest of the Labyrinth, which chase Alm (or Celica) down in the overworld to force a fight, Grima is immobile in their room, and will wait patiently there indefinitely until the player chooses to engage. You can even evacuate from the dungeon.

But if you do choose to fight Grima, it proceeds much like the battles against them in Awakening go. The main difference is that they actually will move from their starting position this time, if you position someone in their range. That still requires a fight against (proto-)Risen who are spawning in from the sides to stop your party’s advance.

So… Now it’s starting to look like Grima actively prefers this one particular trick… And it’s a fundamentally defensive maneuver, which makes perfect sense from SoV Grima’s standpoint (they were attacked out of nowhere, after all), but is not really an obvious standout strategy for Awakening Grima, whose taunts and threats suggest an aggression that would be better supported with a more offensive strategy… Consider, too, that Awakening Grima is in fact being even more defensive than their SoV iteration, since they don’t move towards you at all.

With all that in mind, it really, really looks like Grima doesn’t want to fight, especially in Awakening. Not that they don’t intend for the Shepherds to die—on the contrary, they’ve set everything up so that the Shepherds will eventually be overwhelmed—but that they don’t want to land the killing blow.

(And gee, I wonder what might be fueling their reluctance? Being controlled and made to kill your best friend by your own hand wouldn't be totally traumatic or anything, right?)

And then... Funny thing here, I’ve been procrastinating writing this essay for a long time. I originally started thinking about it shortly before the Depths of Despair banner was released in FEH, so imagine my surprise when I saw this characterization hold up in the writing of Fell Exalt Chrom’s Forging Bonds as well… The Grima there says that Chrom was the one to kill the rest of the Shepherds. Now, it’s pretty clear that it was through Grima controlling him, but that’s not the point. The point is that once again, Grima didn't have to do any direct killing.

Look, if it had only ever happened once, I could buy that maybe Grima was just underestimating their opponents, that maybe they thought they could get away without having to put very much work in. But for Grima to operate this way so many times, so consistently, and to their own detriment? No...

Grima doesn’t like direct combat. Grima has trouble even when it’s a fight they asked for.

And when you think about it, that makes their reaction to Robin choosing to land the final blow themself in the sacrifice ending all the more understandable.

“…YOU WOULD… NOT DARE!”

Because Grima would not dare. Grima has always preferred to let someone else land the final blow.

#grima #fire emblem awakening #fe13 #grima studies #honestly realizing that main game grima doesn't kill anyone kind of shook me #future past grima only has naga and tiki... neither of which we get to see on screen so tbh grima might have weaseled out of them too #expiration has 5 range after all. naga could have just taken some dragon breath to the face from afar. we truly have no idea what grima did #to my knowledge the only time we see grima actually try to KILL kill (not dark spikes 1hp em) is... rearmed grima in the forging bonds stor #not her specific forging bonds but the general overarching one for that banner #which i have major problems with for other reasons anyway #and which might be retconned by feh itself bc thrasir said arcane weapons should be avoided at all costs yet... so many rearmed heroes now #so i don't feel too bad ignoring that one #but yeah like... writing this essay made me feel for grima even more #um... you know that one quote that the robin who's part of the day of devotion duo with chrom has...#“Having someone to express your love to is an amazing thing. There IS more to life than constant battle!”#yeah. i think about that quote and i think about grima's defensive fighting style and i. feel things.#to exist always on the defensive...#such an exhausting life they lead

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paunchsalazar · 5 months

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Fire Emblem Awakening families in my play through…

#tried to go off of kid impressions to think of who would be fun/fitting for their fathers..#also kind of off if age within reason lol #and wanted a good balance while keeping w dramatic irony #like I think Lon’qu simply should have a daughter and a daughter who is a LOT…#kellam tharja is funny but like quiet father to Noire with her mother’s dark side..#also Yarne is so anxious and stressed all the time I think Frederick fits as a total worrywart…#+ gaius motivates gerome’s whole look.. he crafts… he doesn’t have a reason to stick around until of course he does…#his son working to not get attached because if he does it’ll hurt more than it already does..#inigo looks like chrom already and also I think legend father gives him that bravado but also sense of always measuring up… secret shyness.#and silly boy with serious older sister is fun…#also I just think Anna is funny and kinda meta in that she has her shops and is the DLC load screen and I couldn’t feel a pull for anyone #else w (male) Robin… because I think he is in love with Chrom lol… they are so beards #like to me vaike is too close to Owain to be his father.. Virion is too close to inigo and also can’t see it w Olivia anyway #sorry stahl I just couldn’t see him with anyone….#Libra was obsessed w emmeryn and also is gay imo..#and say’ri idk she appeared so late…#fire emblem #fire emblem awakening

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swaggycheese · 1 year

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I am going to throw up (/pos)

#chrom fire emblem #fire emblem engage #robin fire emblem #fire emblem awakening #they give off married vibes #they are we all know it #chrobin #I will say that some of Robin’s dialogue sounds a bit clunky #but it doesn’t bother me too badly #the dads are reunited with their daughter :)

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asterouslyaesthetic · 9 months

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concept: kid lucina with grima, but a grima who IS robin—no possessions involved, the closest it gets is to an evil alterego that manifests out of robin's desire to be good and not what her mother fears will be her future

like sample first conversation:

Lucina: "Mommy, mommy! There you are."

Grima, visibly shaken by her appearance and having flashbacks: "You're mistaken, child. I am not your mother. I am the fell dragon who bears her likeness."

Lucina: "Likeness? Oh, like Morgan and Marc! You're her sister! I get it now."

Grima: "That's not it. I am your mother—"

Lucina: "So I was right! I knew it—of course, I know what you look like, Mommy. But why am I not a dragon if you are?"

(she is, but i headcanon the bloodlines did a number on her ability to transform)

Grima: "...Ask your father."

Lucina: "Daddy said to ask you."

Grima: *incoherent curses* "Really, Chrom?"

basically, saying no to a kid lucina is extremely hard and she fulfills a similar role to regular m!morgan. but since lucina isn't quite aware of what's going on, she drags grima everywhere—she just thinks mommy and daddy are having a big fight, like how one of her friend's parents did

it comes to the point where grima no longer throws venom at older lucina nor does she engage with her, because the memories of when they were happier far overpower what she vaguely remembers of their past feud

it freaks lucina out deeply

(she also ends up talking to chrom about it, because it feels so wrong for this to be happening, because this monster ruined her world and took away everything she loved

but now there's visible confirmation that her robin-ness is taking the wheel and the kids aren't nearly as unified on that front as the shepherds.)

why, you might wondering, is that the case? i'm glad you asked because i will tell you very happily

so feh posits the idea that grima is equal parts man hater and equal parts chrom lover.

her lvl40 confession has her dare the summoner to find someone who would accept her, warts and all, and in a few of her lines, she references the idea that she wants to be accepted

then comes the halloween tt+ with s!chrom and h!grima. grima is clearly haunted by her successful murder attempt of her husband, while chrom, whose first appearance has him beg robin to escape and to keep herself safe, is interested in being her friend, claiming that she's robin, so long as a part of her lingers

here is where it slips into headcanon territory, BUT i think that it makes sense for bad future timeline!robin to be more grumpy and angry than her canon timeline counterpart. our robin has no memories of any traumatic events, save maybe physical ones that bleed into her actions.

she's a blank slate and she's molded entirely by her gratefulness to chrom and to the shepherds, rather than any separate life experiences.

but bad future timeline robin likely grew up in hiding, being fearful of the constant threat of turning into grima, and likely resented the grimleal for ruining her chance at an idyllic childhood. she might've been more cynical, balancing out to be more neutral after emmeryn's death

anyway, the point is, robin's lack of memories and lack of lack of a chrom compels her to reject grima. but bad future timeline's doesn't have those things.

older lucina has a lot of baggage associated with her, because she tries to kill grima, while chrom is associated most strongly with his death.

and for a grima who is robin, just all the worst amplified (assuming they're the same entity), nothing is going to be more important than the happy times she had

aka shepherds and chrom and when lucina was younger

she might not warm up to her baby right away, but it will happen.

#fe13 #fire emblem awakening #fe lucina #fe grima #fe robin #f!robin #f!grima #fe chrom #f!chrobin #chrobin #i've always took away the idea that grima IS robin #possibly because i was an awakening baby and wasn't familiar with the tropes associated with fe #however the only times people explicitly say that robin is not grima is like on the final map #when grima is literally trying to get robin to become one with her #like tiki says it #and i think chrom does too?#also everytime they played the 'i am you i am not'#it always felt like 'you're afraid of what you become/you are destined to become me'#like evil future self less than possession #like how alfonse might act about líf #in future past grima's overt desire to kill chrom kind of tried to convince me otherwise #but f!grima is lowkey a yandere #so after that i just took it as her being extremely angry that a different robin has an alive chrom #when robin 'regains' control it's no different than a flash of clarity and a moment of weakness #the split second she needs to focus on a wipeout attack is taken up by the memory of chrom's death #so she sends them all away

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chynandri · 11 months

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“for the good of the people, no matter who or where they are… isn’t that right, emmeryn?”

—

happy birthday chrom!!!! 🥹

#fire emblem awakening #fire emblem heroes #fe13 #feh #chrom #chyna draws too #I’ve wanted to draw this ever since last year when brave Chrom happened #well his birthday finally prompted me to try drawing it…#in the Emm falling scene they used a eagle flying up to like represent her soul #leaving or sth. idk symbolic anime imagery. so I put it in #let’s say Emm lives on as a bird #I’d like to think that yes she devoted her whole self to Ylisse #remember everyone used to hate her and physically harmed her #she chose to see the good in all people regardless #but from my perspective it’s like… feels kinda complex of a relationship #and continuously self sacrificing herself… well now she’s free from that #also those are supposed to be iris flowers 😂

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felikatze · 9 months

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who is this man. wrong answers only

@theotherseapancakes he is complete and he unsettles me deeply

#feli edits #fire emblem #you can tell i was lazy abt the detailing and just ran it over with red but man. he is too powerful for me to witness any longer #chrom fire emblem

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sieglinde-freud · 5 months

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feel like morgan/lucina is kinda underrated like i get why. but also like… duuude… take it from lucinas perspective: the kid of the fell god that betrayed your father turns against you despite years and years of friendship and most definitely knowing eachother since birth (do you honestly think chrom and robin wouldnt set their kids up on play dates immediately? really??) and despite how much you love them you know they’re beyond saving and you have to leave them behind to succumb to grima when you go back in time to save the world, accepting that youll never see them again! oh shit buts whats this… they show up in the past anyways? having forgotten all the time you spent together, the trouble they caused, everything you meant to them? but its them, its morgan and for the first time in years youre able to see them again happy, carefree, and in complete control! should you feel sad? scared? overjoyed? i dont know! but slap some yuri on that and you got a crazy ass little sideplot all im saying!!!

#ann plays awakening #i just think lucina and morgan have a lot of potential!!#childhood friends to mutual crush to ‘oh shit youre evil i gotta go’ to ‘wym you forgot me?!’ to trying to repair the past #to HOPEFULLY AT SOME POINT lovers. do you see what im talking about??#also i think the implication that our morgan is from a different timeline from lucina could be interesting too #like eventually she’ll have to accept that she DID leave her morgan behind and wont ever see them again #seeing our morgan is a relief to know that somewhere out there they were saved. but hers wasnt. isnt that fucked up #anyways so. guess who im pairing lucina with this time hreheheheah #i wasnt going to at first but then i was just suddenly struck with the idea of them and im j. wow.#also great bc they make up 2/3 second gen units i wont be able to galeforce onto immediately #so. support grind AND skill grind at the same time. yeehoo #i still cant believe they didnt let lucina and f!morgan support tho. like are you joking… CHROM AND ROBINS KIDS?!?!??#insanity.

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ro-botany · 10 months

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Today I was reminded that in Awakening, Validar gets revived by Grima in the game timeline. So like, does Validar get revived with a normal healthy body or is it some weird partial-risen stage? Does that mean that Grima can wholesale revive people and chooses zombies instead? It's just such a weird little detail that probably exists just for plot purposes, but it makes me wonder. Can't quite pin down what it is I feel for it to be true, but it has spawned Thoughts. Do you have any opinions?

Oooo, a very good question! I touched on Validar's condition very very briefly in a previous post about RKC and some possible reasons he exists, but to go into more detail... Largely behind a read more because Post Got Big(tm)...

Validar is a weird one. Within Awakening, he's the person who comes closest to getting a true and complete resurrection. And overall he's much more human-like in form and function than anyone else we've ever seen subjected to resurrection at Grima's hands.

But we know for a fact he isn't a Risen. He doesn't get the vocal distortion, speech difficulty, compulsion for violence, glowing eyes and general corpse-like appearance, or most other characteristics associated with Risen, which imo outright excludes him from the category.

BUT, critically, Grima is nowhere near full power at the moment they revive Validar. They're freshly weakened from time travel at that point! And given the apparent difficulty of any form of necromancy in FE, I'm hesitant to claim Grima could bring him back as fully human in their weakened state. It IS curious that they were able to get him that close, though.

There could be several reasons Validar's condition is even possible. It might have something to do with the blood pact; maybe it's just easier for Grima to resurrect people that have extremely close metaphysical connections to them. Or it might be that necromancy is something Grima is naturally talented at and they do objectively complex feats with it even when very weakened.

In either case, Grima—especially when at full strength—is capable of multiple tiers of resurrection, and very possibly even true revival into a fully human state. Risen appear to be on the easier end of the necromancy spectrum (Forneus managed to manually create some by himself, for one thing; and iirc one of Henry's supports has him conjure some Risen-like creatures accidentally?), and near-human deals like Validar are on the more challenging end. RKC is somewhere in between the two states.

The fact that Grima usually creates Risen instead of people when they're doing necromancy is, in my opinion, a conscious tactical decision. A monster that doesn't think for itself, and attacks people swiftly and indiscriminately, is a perfect tool if your aim is to spread chaos and destruction. Bringing back thinking people to be your soldiers may mean they can make more tactical decisions on their own, but it also comes with an amount of free will that may mean they fuck with your plans, especially if they weren't loyal to you to begin with. And besides, Grima already has the Grimleal to act as their commanders in the small scale. So it ultimately just isn't worth the extra effort to make their resurrected soldiers much more than violent automatons.

(Unless the soldier they're reviving is Chrom, of course. For him they will put in effort to preserve the soul. But notice how they don't make him anywhere close to human; which was absolutely on purpose, because we know based on Validar that they could've. I have FEELINGS about this.)

The decision to bring Validar back as close to human as he ended up being was also very tactical on their part. I can't imagine Grima likes the guy very much beyond liking how useful he makes himself. And they know exactly how critical his continued existence is to ensuring that the main timeline's Robin fulfills their destiny of becoming the fell dragon. They can't afford to let Validar die, nor can they get much use out of a garden variety Risen that looks like him, so as close to true resurrection as they can manage while running on fumes is what he gets.

---

As an aside, this aspect of Grima's powers always kinda makes me wonder about the time before they decided to raze the continent. When they were just around and being considered a god by the people of Plegia. Did they not do any necromancy in those days? Or were there circumstances that they DID use that power? Bring some human(s) back to life, either for some logical reason, or perhaps even as a favour granted to someone?

If they did I imagine that would've gotten them in shit with Naga, given the theories that powerful divine dragons are all capable of some form of necromancy but don't do it because it's deeply taboo...

But that's speculation outside of the scope of this post.

#fire emblem #fe13 #fire emblem awakening #validar #grima #grima studies #and also #risen king chrom #however briefly. because i am Obsessed lmao #i love when people ask me questions about awakening. hell YES i have thoughts and opinions and you WILL hear them #long post #at some point i gotta try and noodle out more grima backstory but thats so much time to cover. its very intimidating #robin backstory too that's moderately easier and seems quite fun

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