#intsys what’s his NAME

[skarmoree]

So I was right !

[imustbenuts]

The Unnamed King in FEH Book 8

:v ITS THAT ONE EMPEROR. not slick, intsys.

the unnamed tyrant king in fire emblem heroes' book 8 is a reference to a king who also was known as a tyrant, was ruthless, and wanted to attain immortality.

his name was... Qin Shi Huang.

well known for trying to attain immortality through good old chinese alchemy, and then likely dying from mercury poisoining. bc mercury is a key ingredient in those immortality elixirs. (and thus likely had acute mercury poisoning induced psychosis. sometimes called the Mad Hatter's disease. which could explain him burying some 426 scholars alive at one point. look, the guy was a tyrant.)

he also ordered for his tomb to be built while he was still alive. but due to reasons only the front part of his tomb was excavated and this is now known as the terracotta army. bc it's full of clay soldiers.

the inner sanctum where he sleeps in remains unexcavated, tho when probes were inserted the mercury reading was off the fucking charts.

also some guy after his death whose name is Sima Qian wrote that there was a order for all of his childless concubines and extended family to be buried alive in his tomb. and that to guard the knowledge of said tomb from idk raiders, the labourers, worksmen and artists who built it was also buried alive. the exact number currently unverifiable again no open. (some numbers like 70,000 have been thrown around but shrugs)

læraðr absolutely stepped in it rip

also bonus: chinese feng shui elements is at play here

uhhh lets see. for what we need today are these two:

Green outer arrows = An element feeding and being beneficial to the creation of the following element.

Red inner arrows = An element destroying and being detrimental to the creation of the following element.

so Mercury. what this basically says is that Metal is super effective against Wood. mercury was known as some kinda miracle Water liquid, but now known as a form of liquid Metal bc we understand science better now. the chinese alchemists believed Mercury was like some kinda wonder Water ingredient with lots of Yin which would somehow grant immortal life so they really went wild with it.

anyway, Læraðr is of the wood element. if hes dealing with Mercury, he would have gotten absolutely wrecked by the element according to feng shui.

and for what its worth he might be suffering from the same mercury poisoning effects the unnamed king had too.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

(feh talk convo situation but its with a completely regular spider.)

hello!

thank you for depicting me. very fun to see a little guy.

my confession that isnt begging people to pirate IntSys games is as follows:

alear is my favourite fire emblem lord/avatar.

alear has such personality. in all her supports she isnt just a blank backboard, she genuinely interacts with her teammates.

you can tell she loves life even though she knows jack all. she loves her friends with her whole heart.

she has genuine trauma around her mothers death, she has genuine deep seated doubts about herself!

she wants to be what everyone needs her to be and forgets to be herself. she wants to save everyone because thats all she knows how to do.

she would die for any of her teammates in a second, regardless of royalty or not. ivy to etie to louis to timerra she wants them all to live so hard.

she wants peace not just because lumera wanted peace, but because she knows peace is the thing all true warriors strive for.

engage is a simple story on the surface, but really, its all about love.

and how the bonds of love can always defeat anything else.

even sombron loved. he let it corrupt him, he let it make him do terrible things to the people he should have loved (all his kids).

in a weird way, even ms mage dragon (forgot her name) loved the four hounds. but sombron had shaped her in his likeness.

the four hounds loved, too.

everyone was propelled by love. alear and veile are simply (heh) emblematic of this core theme.

the only actual downside of engage is no paired endings TELL ME HOW BEING BESTIES WITH EVERYONE WOULD CHANGE THEIR STORIES INTSYS!!!!!!!

anyway gn <3

-🕷️

.

[fayesdiary]

Intelligent Systems really hates the idea of villainous women with their own agency? Remember Aversa, Eremiya, Arete and Zephia? I also hate how with Aversa, she's not only denied the right to be in power & in charge of her agency, she's sexualized and turn into a fetishezed prize for male Robin/the assumedly heterosexual male player. Like she calls male Robin, big brother and talks fondly about Validar in supports, when in just her prior recruitment, it was established she had no history with Validar other than him enslaving her, most of her memories with him are fake, and that she hates Validar's name being mentioned. Or how in Female Robin's supports, the best writers can think of for her interactions with Female Robin is the two "sexily" arguing over Chrom.

To be honest I kinda forgot about Aversa to begin with but yeah, she's a textbook example of what I'm talking about. Not that I cared much about her regardless of Spotpass being involved but still, she deserves better than these overused tropes (and they absolutely are overused, because even beyond the examples you cited (even if I don't agree with Zephia being one of them), Heroes has a lot of main female villains but from what little info I get [because I absolutely do not care about Heroes' story at this point] they're almost all like this)

But like yeah, all the issues in the writing itself aside the repeated use of these tropes shows Intsys often can't be bothered to actually do something interesting with their female villains which sucks for... several reasons.

(If you're wondering why I don't consider Zephia to be in the same spot as the others is because while she does share some similarities like the skimpy clothing and main motivation wanting to be a mother, the main differences are that she is absolutely a nasty piece of work on her own accord, never shows any romantic interest in Alear or... anyone, not even Sombron, her desire to have a child with him and only him is purely because she wants her personal servant to be as powerful as possible since she becomes interested in the idea of a child only after Sombron expresses his view of his children as tools, she only follows Sombron for her personal gain and her "redemption" is her betraying him out of spite for not giving her what she wanted, and her only regret is not realizing the family she unknowingly formed with the Hounds sooner.

She absolutely does not regret the atrocities she committed of her own accord and while her character does have some tragic elements to it, she is responsible for most of her own misery.

Honestly to me Zephia is a perfect example of how you can easily make even these kinds of villains actually interesting if you just try.)

[raxistaicho]

Faroreswind Buddhism anon

So a while back, user faroreswind answered an anon ask from someone familiar with Buddhism. I thought it’d be interesting to respond to the ask.

Original post here.

Ordinarily I’d reblog it, but the original is ridiculously long, so my reply will also be very long and thus take up enormous space. I’ll also not be replying to everything because a good chunk is just background on Buddhism which is fascinating but not super relevant, because I’m more interested in what the anon has to say about Buddhism as it directly pertains to Three Houses.

And also, a good chunk is just assertions that I’m also not super interested in addressing.

First, just a couple bits of faroreswinds’s reply:

I know myself and other mutuals have stated that the Church in Houses is no representation of the Catholic Church, as others have insisted upon.

Ugh, right. There's not many Catholics in Japan today so the Japanese aren't very familiar with Catholicism!

I'm not saying it's a perfect representation, but the comparisons between the Church of Seiros and Christianity and Catholicism are there to be looked at:

-In ancient times, the creator god was better-known by the people, and in modern times hides from them. (God or His angels used to appear before chosen people quite frequently throughout the Old Testament. This clearly doesn't happen now.)

-The creator god once came down physically, was betrayed and murdered, and their second coming is expected by the faithful. (The general Jesus story)

-Drinking of the blood of a divine figure as a motif for communion with that figure (Rhea's ritual for inducting people into the higher offices of the Church of Seiros bears eerie similarities to the Eucharist)

-A cataclysmic flood in the backstory

-A place of torment in which sins are washed clean

-Tying the two together, a dichotomy of judgement by fire and water.

-Sothis has a very Old Testament-like do not under any circumstances turn the other cheek way of doing things. You gain support with her if you show no mercy to the rogue in Abyss after the mission to fight Kostas.

Now obviously the Church of Seiros isn't the most profound comparison to the Catholic Church, but the similarities are hard to ignore unless you think the Japanese just aren't familiar with Catholics and Christianity, which would... indicate some ignorance of history...

Now, getting to the actual anon post. Yeah, I suspect Anon will never see this, and they probably won't respond even if they do, but I've touched on the Buddhism stuff pretty frequently thanks to Fantasy Invader, so I think it's an interesting subject to tackle anyways.

Churches and “churches” in jrpgs are often just window dressing to add plausibly western details to a plausibly western high fantasy inspired setting,

I would totally agree with you when it comes to examples like Tales of Phantasia, but the Church of Seiros clearly isn't window dressing.

but even if they include crosses and saints and cathedrals the central trappings are very much not western at all and western consumers of japanese products often forget that, especially because japan has a very strong japanizing filter they run almost everything through.

I actually think IntSys is better about this than most series. For instance, the very first game had a very Greek thing going for it (all the Regalia names, Marth's name, the Pegasus Knights, Marth's lack of pants). It took until Awakening to finally get a clear-cut Wutai-like region (I wouldn't count Isaach, since there's a lot of Irishness to it), which is an impressive space of time away from the roots of the series.

Fans tend to dismiss the general plots of Fire Emblem as the cast fighting and killing an evil dragon-god but they forget a single crucial detail to that: the evil at the end reminds the characters that as long as humanity has evil in its hearts and continues to make the same mistakes over and over again, then evil will inevitably return and so the cycle of fighting and hatred will start again.

[Alm, Marth, and Celica] are heroes but they are unable to break the karmic cycle.

That's not that wide a central theme of the series, actually. Medeus and Loptous are the two villains who say that phrase before going down, and they both happen to be (former) Archanean Earth Dragons. Given their shared hatred for humankind and their shared background, it's not at all unusual that it's a philosophy they both hold to, whether through coincidence or not.

In Fire Emblem's specific case, evil doesn't arise again because humans have a cork in their chakras (had to steal a joke from Logicked, lol) but because the old generation (and sometimes even the current generation!) growing complacent and failing and the youth having to correct their failings is a recurring theme in this franchise.

The leaders of Valentia, human and dragon alike, fell to their own decays so Alm and Celica had to take them out and improve the continent, Adrah disassembled the Shield of Seals so Marth had to restore it, ALL the leaders at the start of Mystery of the Emblem fail in various ways, Marth included, the old generation in Genealogy grew corrupt, Sigurd's generation failed to stop them or were party to their failings, and Seliph's had to right the wrongs.

Duty to the people and what it means to fail that charge, leaving the young to take it up anew, is a central theme of this series.

Lastly, "As Long as There is Evil" is a trope. That's how well-known it is. We humans are very aware of our own failings and how we cause trouble for ourselves.

Anon then goes into Fates for a little bit, and I just wanted to correct a point:

Anankos enjoyed both heavenly and earthly pleasures but being steeped in them too long made him decay, make costly mistakes that only made him more angry and paranoid instead of being able to reflect on them, and in the end became a creature of death and violence and discord who could only be released through defeat.

Anon seems to be suggesting that Anankos became a hedonist and grew corrupt through that, but this is absolutely not the case if that was the intended point. Anankos fell to madness through a biological imperative, not by any moral failure on his part or because his chakras were clogged. This is a particularly damning accusation to hurl at his feet since Anankos foresaw his own madness and set up countermeasures against himself in the past. Azura's pendant was created from his dragonstone, and Lost in Thoughts All Alone was written by him to restrain his power.

Houses especially has the basis of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but Byleth’s personal class Nirvana, confirms also the basis for Silver Snow and the dual themes that would come better if Intsys was a more competent writer:

Byleth gets their Enlightened One class in all routes, though. It's also interesting to question who gives them the title Enlightened One.

Is it an omnipresent narrator who knows Byleth is enlightened? Except that wouldn't make any sense, given Byleth doesn't act very differently or more enlightened after fusing with Sothis. You can still choose to portray them as a dipwad when the opportunities present themselves.

Or maybe it's Rhea calling Byleth the Enlightened One because she thinks she's succeeded and Sothis is coming back any second now? I find the latter more believable.

Long paragraph coming up because there's a lot to unpack:

Byleth starts out in the realm of animals, it’s reflecting by their title of Ashen Demon and their description of being emotionless killing machines before Garreg Mach. They don’t care about much, they only focus on their immediate needs like eating and resting and whats immediately in front of them, they have no curiosity or inner awareness of themselves and their world. It is coming to the monastery that they become exposed to positive influences that put them on the correct path, they learn structure and good morals and to care for others and the game says so.

No. This is such a fractally wrong reading of Byleth's character progression that it's astounding.

So firstly, the point on Byleth starting off in the realm of animals.

Treehouse fucked it up, because of course they did, but during the opening of the game, when Sothis asks what Byleth is, she'll only accept the answer that Byleth is human.

(Source for the first, and for the second)

This is the creator goddess herself, whom fusion to allegedly represents Byleth becoming enlightened, and she's telling Byleth that they're human. As I've said in the past, the central conflict within Byleth is the dichotomy between their human and supernatural aspects, and here Sothis is telling Byleth to accept and embrace their humanity and not claim to be a ghost or an evil god.

The whole point behind Byleth's initial state is that they do care and they do have their own thoughts, but they're rendered supernaturally stoic due to what Rhea did to them and have difficulties expressing themselves or forging bonds with others. When Edelgard is in danger at Kostas's hands, Byleth throws themselves before his axe. When considering the three house leaders, Byleth peers straight through their exteriors and gleans the people they are beneath (contrast this against our lovable bimbo/himbo Shez only noticing the exterior). Byleth expresses curiosity for their students and those around them very early in the story.

Byleth is not a cold individual, heedless of the world around them and only concerned with their immediate biological needs. Indeed, Byleth is an empathic, perceptive, and thoughtful, they just have difficulties expressing it.

And it is not the teachings of the Church of Seiros that helps them improve and open up, but their bonds with their students. The game is explicit about this.

The agarthans were humans who became greedy and waged war on each other to accumulate wealth and power

I have no idea where you're getting this from. Rhea (not exactly the most reliable source...) claims humanity turned their backs on Sothis's teachings and started up wars, but we never learn what they were fighting over, or whether it was even the Agarthans who struck first.

and the goddess Sothis decided to discipline them, but then agarthans proved they were (ironically) acting like beasts by deciding that their greed was more important. They could not stand being contradicted and being told that their acts were wrong.

Sothis flooded all of Fodlan to stop them (it seems like this would have also drowned all the world, but we have no way to be sure of that). Unless literally every human living on the surface of Fodlan were evil and warring against each other, this is a very Sodom and Gomorrah-like case of an extreme over-punishment of mankind's follies.

So they plotted against heaven and chose to condemn themselves to hell (they live underground in the darkness, Shambhala is supposed to be the name of a heavenly paradise but instead they built it underground to continue their evil away from the eyes of heavens)

...No. Shambhala's original purpose is unclear, but what Shambhala became was a last refuge as Sothis drowned the surface of Fodlan beneath the ocean waters. The Agarthans didn't hide there to connive against Sothis in the shadows, they did it to survive. It's essentially a bunker. Lorenz even notes the air inside Shambhala is stale, suggesting it's air-tight to keep the flood waters out.

Edelgard acts out of ignorance like an animal or common beast, her vision cannot see past her own immediate desires and so she acts on that ignorance and her own selfishness.

Oh boy, "Edelgard doesn't know the truth of Fodlan," again, it never gets old! Except it did. Ages ago.

Edelgard's immediate desire is to lock herself in her room eating sweets. Starting a war that tears at her is the opposite of selfishness.

But what condemns her to hell, what turns her into an evil demon instead of remaining a selfish yet innocent animal is that she turns away from many people imploring her to listen to them and that her actions are wrong and that she is causing suffering.

The only person I can think of who implores Edelgard to stop is Dimitri late in Azure Moon. Rhea mostly just declares she'll kill Edelgard in the most gruesome way possible, and Seteth and Claude urge her to surrender at the last moment.

Now Byleth and especially Silver Snow has shown they rose to being qualified by the good influence of the church and its teaching (even if the game doesn’t show much about those teaching but o well)

Right, because the teachings aren't narratively important. The church is a false religion created by Rhea to keep control and peace over Fodlan until she could resurrect Sothis. Byleth is not improved as a person through following the moral teachings of the church, but through connecting to other people, predominantly their students.

But especially, because the realm of asuras and beasts represent laziness, easy temptations, ignorance and immediate gratification opposed to discipline, hard work, introspection, and renunciation, it makes it more significant when byleth decides to sever ties with her when she reveals that she has not been an innocent student but in fact the flame emperor responsible for the many evil deeds along with the cooperation from agarthans.

So essentially, because Edelgard's fallen onto the wrong path and is spreading pain to others, Byleth should abandon and stop her.

So what about Azure Moon, then? Over the time skip, Dimitri has fallen onto the wrong path, abuses Byleth and his former friends at every turn, spreads pain to those around him, and is leading them on a pointless suicide march, yet Byleth is rewarded for staying at his side and trying to help him by eventually getting through to him despite Dimitri demonstrating no signs of response until the very last moment. If abandoning a student on a wrong path is the ideal way, Byleth should also turn on Dimitri and be "punished" if they don't.

The act of renouncing such ties in order to enact justice and follow the correct path is what immediately qualifies Byleth to Nirvana and why they keep their divine traits on every path except Crimson Flower (where in Crimson Flower, killing Rhea, their final and most egregious act of violence against heavenly principles, condemns them to losing their divinity and turning back into the Ashen Demon, they lost themselves to the temptations and ignorance represented by Edelgard,

How is killing Rhea in that context a bad thing? By that point, Rhea's fallen so far into paranoia and madness that she'd rather set Fhirdiad on fire, killing every man, woman, and child living inside it, rather than accept a peaceful surrender.

Also, Byleth does not lose divine favor or whatever by killing Rhea: they are still capable of S-support Sothis (the scene even has a specific provision for Crimson Flower) during which Sothis reaffirms her adoration for Byleth.

Crimson Flower is the only route in which Byleth embraces their humanity, as Sothis told them to in the opening minutes of the game.

safflowers are used to dye the robes of monks but red spiders lilies grow on the banks of the river of the dead).

I think you just accidentallied your sentence there. Also, Safflowers have a positive connotation: Safflowers symbolize “good luck and happiness”. In folklore they were thought to be useful for attracting love or marriage. And what do red spider lillies have to do with Edelgard? Is it because they're a red flower?

Because they are not the Buddha but are close to reaching enlightenment they achieve a very high position in Buddhism, which is staying in the human realm as a guide in order to help others on the correct path as well and is righteous.

Heh, what'd I say about Edelgard detractors stealing our arguments?

This is also why i have many more issues with Shez than I do Byleth actually, maybe Byleth is silent but they have their own path to follow. Shez has no path and I’m not even sure what they are supposed to represent. Their personal class is asura, often clashing with devas and representing lack of reflection and selfishness and gratification and violence like I said before, but I can’t find anything in Shez story that actually says anything about that or their preferences and choices.

It's almost like the Buddhism symbolism has a habit of just being window dressing without much meaning.

Two out of three times they stray from the correct path and Rhea’s death should mean a violation of dharma because the agarthans have won, but I saw nothing in the game about immediate consequences of that violation or the causing of suffering Shez incorrect paths are causing.

That's because they don't win. They might arguably win in Golden Wildfire provided you kill Byleth because then Sothis is dead and Thales lives, but Scarlet Blaze ends with both Rhea and Thales presumed dead, or at the very least badly hurt and with their respective organizations routed and disorganized.

I've said it before, but Thales's plan doesn't end with Rhea's death. It ends with the surface Fodlanders wiped out and Fodlan back under Agarthan control. He doesn't get this in Crimson Flower or Scarlet Blaze.

So yeah, that's my thoughts on the Buddhism symbolism. Again, I don't expect the anon to read this or even reply, but I was interested in responding anyways. Later!

[overtsexting]

the way Xander and Leo's signature weapons are named for mythological couple Siegfried and Brynhildr JUST like Ephraim and Eirika's are named for mythological (incestuous) couple Siegmund and Sieglinde. and like, you just know Leo has studied his mythology (especially since it's so chock full of sibcest...). you KNOW he knows those are the names of a couple. and you know he has very complex feelings about it considering his feelings re: his big brother

Fun fact, Siegfried/Sigurd is Siegmund and Sieglinde’s son. I believe Siegfried and brunhild weren’t exactly a couple, but Siegfried disguised himself as another man to woo Brunhild on that man’s behalf. I believe in most versions he does consummate the marriage pretending to be that man (pretty much always non-consensually). She always has a role in killing him, though—usually out of honour.

Oh! Interesting: in trying to fact check that, apparently she IS his lover in the Wagner opera. I missed that when I read through a summary of it before and only remembered her attempting to save his parents and failing.

Hmmmm I think Leo would struggle to draw parallels to it at first because his weapon has the name of a woman, and he wouldn’t really be willing to cast himself in a woman’s role. Depending on which version of the myth he’s read though, I could see him having quite a bit of angst about the fact that Brunhild usually kills Siegfried—since that is probably something his mother wanted for him. And, maybe late at night while he’s pondering this, and Xander and he are playing the roles of their weapon’s mythical namesakes in his head, his mind sometimes wanders to the reason she kills him, and he blushes bright red. It doesn’t matter that the scenario wouldn’t make sense in context, and that Siegfried is in disguise there, it’s already playing out in his mind and he can’t shove the thoughts of being with his brother away.

I wish there were more fun parallels to draw here 😔 believe me, I’ve tried. Sieglinde and Siegmund are easier to parallel to Ephrika. But the various versions of Sigurd’s myth don’t really seem to have much to do with Xander and Leo.

I do actually wonder what Intsys was thinking when they picked these weapon names 🤔 how much did they intend for the myth to reflect in game? Or did they just want to pick funky names? Because sometimes in FE games the answer seems to be “just funky names” but Deirdre for example is ABSOLUTELY based on her namesake in Irish myth. So….. did they want to imply ephrika? Were they actually trying to imply something for Xander and Leo too, and I’ve just missed the parallel??

[sieglinde-freud]

https://www . tumblr.com/sieglinde-freud/730406784151470080/but-what-if-the-entire-lucina-gang-were-sent-to

consider: the new second gen from this happening (aka soleil and ophelia get to have more friends)

okay so i have thought about this before not necessarily in the context of nohr/the fates universe (intsys… give the continent a name please… i cant keep saying fateslandia i really cant) but like im down to take that angle, though i do dislike the whole deeprealm thing we can just… ignore it. maybe. i dont know i think im j gonna word vomit this so maybe i’ll decide halfway through how i feel about that ok lotta thoughts under cut

whenever i liked to think about the awakening second gen having kids (awakening third gen?) it’s kinda hard because i honestly… i dont think a lot of them would? at least not in the state that theyre in once we as players finish awakening. inigo owain and severa get to grow AFTER awakening and we see that, so the case for them is easy. but we dont know what direction everyone goes, so this is a lot of my own interpretations of the characters, so im not gonna make up a concept for all of them. but if you want me to give my thoughts on someone specific i didnt get to here thats totally cool but. on its own this is already gonna be long. i can feel it.

so first is gerome and i dont have like full oc descriptions for any of these kids i just have like ideas of what they could be, and i think with gerome, like realistically in terms of what i think intelligent systems would do given how popular batman is in japan is turn geromes kid into like a robin sidekick kinda guy. but then that gets thrown out the window because percy exists. arthur/gerome realness. but since i cant just steal percy from arthur and call him geromes son, i think a good concept for that would be to have a kid whos very affectionate and like. i think im gonna say itd be a daughter. i think she’d want to be a daddy’s girl kind of like how severa is in her dad supports, but gerome is still in his own shit about raaahh my parents left me and now i have attachment issues the likes of which you wouldn’t believe raaahhh and is REALLY bad about engaging in meaningful interactions with her? gonna use deeprealms actually because if you disregard how absolutely fucking nonsensical it is it brings in some interesting dynamics. anyways so gerome is the type of idiot to do things like purposefully avoid spending time with people to not get attached so hes not sad when they die and i think thats kind of what would go on here? except this time its his daughter and this time he locked her in a pocket dimension for all of her formative years and probably didnt visit her! i hate to paint gerome in a bad light like i really do i love him so very much but i think his inability to reach out would really hit him hard here realistically speaking! and so then their support conversations would be her trying to reach out and slowly getting through to him, forcing him to self reflect on the fact that he neglected his own child for years just because he was scared. and that sucks but i think it would be important for him and a good way to complete his arc that was set up in awakening that he couldnt ever really finish because of the way the support system works

realistically yarne would aim to have like thirty kids but im not conceptualizing THIRTY KIDS but i think his dynamic with this child would be like velouria and keaton but the other way around with yarne being the overly affectionate and doting one whereas the kids j kinda like …okayyy??? but could obviously see yarnes good intentions and relief that. you know. he has a kid! hes safe! i think when it comes to laslow and odin having kids, those supports were more used to further THEIR development, which is what i went for with gerome, but when it comes to yarne i feel like something that could be interesting to tackle with his kid is their identity with being 1/4 taguel and like. idk. wanting to be proud of a culture that doesnt exist? show off their heritage to world thats never heard of it? deal with the fact that while they may pass on the taguel blood like this, itll eventually wither out just due to genetics? maybe his kid wouldn’t be able to transform fully into a rabbit (probably not true since i think corrins kids would all be 1/4 dragon right. bc corrins only half? but whatever maybe the taguel are different) and itd fuck with their sense of self. not sure exactly what direction this would take but i think it could be a fun way of discussing being biracial in a way like this (albeit heavily fantasized because. fantasy game)

severas a bit weird because while yes shes already in fates and yes caeldori might be hinted at being her canon daughter (which i dislike the concept of a lot! as nice as the interactions are) its not ACTUALLY canon and i think she deserves a kid thats specifically her own and ive made a post about this before but i feel like severas issues with her mom is something that she clearly isnt over by the time of fates no matter how her support with cordelia goes. and the perspective that odin and laslow get from being parents in that they learn what their parents went through in protecting and ultimately dying for them would be SO insanely valuable for selena!! she thinks cordelia died for chrom! and while its true we’ll never know how bad timeline cordelia felt and our cordelia is clearly very different, i dont think thats true. severa just needs to see that and i dont think a cordelia look alike is the way to do that. severa strikes me as woman with a son vibes anyways. i think in the same way soleil and ophelia ramp up their dad’s traits, her son would do something similar and just be wayyy tsundere about everything to the point where not even severa can do anything about it. i think it could be funny, but itd also put her right in her moms shoes back in their support conversation, trying to get through to a child whos convinced you dont love them as much as they love you (maybe he’d be pissed off about the deeprealm thing. i think thats a good angle) and she buys his time with sweets and dessert the same way because as much as it pisses her off, hes just like her and she knows what works! now she just has to make sure he doesnt continue to grow up like how she did

theres this part of cynthias character thats very subtle thats shown in her dad support and its at the very end and if you notice at the end of that support there is… no resolution. cynthia hugs her dad, says its okay that she knows she’ll never be his real daughter and he’ll never be her real dad, and then it ends. compare to someone like inigo’s father or lucina’s mother support where they emphasize hey!! youre my kid too! and i think that’s a fun way to take cynthias development in the future because she just… doesnt get that. FOR SOME REASON????? so i think cynthia in fates could deal a little bit with putting that behind her and learning to deal with that in this new world because i think its obvious she doesnt WANT to part from her parents, she just feels like she has to. and i think this could come through when she has a kid of her own. i think she’d actually be a pretty fucking good parent, deeprealms aside, trying to maintain this bond with them and reassure them that she isnt going anywhere because i think thats what cynthia herself always needed to hear. i dont think there’d be too much conflict here, but i think it could be a decent way to finish cynthia’s character arc and let her give herself the closure she was looking for even if she didnt know she was.

and this is long as fuck and late as fuck!!! sorry. though if you saw the last ask (or if this is the same anon. hi 👋) you probably saw that coming.

[faroreswinds]

Hi, I know you're interested in Tears of the Kingdom right now, but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind hearing my take on Hopes and answering a few of my questions. I bought Hopes during the christmas sale, and have now completed all routes 3 times.

First of all, for GW it's a real disaster indeed.

As for AG, it was very good in part 1, but I find it performance decreased in part 2 after completing the basis of the story in part 1.

As for SB, everyone says it fixed all of Edelgard's problems, but I don't see that. Hopes has improved some of her causes of war, but the world-building still contradicts her claims, she is still a contradictory character, and still all characters do not contradict her or question her actions. To be honest, Edelgard in Houses was just a plot device, she is responsible for bandits in prologue, the unrest in part 1, starting a war in part 2, and even in Dimitri's story. Just all her problems lay in not fully revealing her background and having characters question her about the reason for her actions. In Hopes, instead of fixing her problems, they decide to destroy Claude's character and make him a clone of her, throwing Rhea away and turning her into a punching bag. Even Dimitri was at many moments contradictory or OOC for her in AG part 2, in Zahras, and in GW for her clone. In the end I find that Hopes kills off any chance for Fodlan to have a golden route due to confirming that conquest is an essential part of Edelgard's character. If Intsys is considering awarding Fodlan a golden route, they should make Edelgard an OOC.

As for Shez, everyone also says they're better than Byleth and have personality, but Shez just proves that even if they were a full-voiced protagonist, it didn't change that they were poorly written. They cannot be considered to have a personality if their writings have contradictory features, since in their support with Lysithea it contradictory in being frank and direct. Not to mention their revenge story, which made me feel like Shez is just a drama queen, but no, they're just poorly written. I simply feel that Shez is a character who has no role or meaning in a story. Shez was throughout the story just a camera for the player's perspective, they had no foundation in story or lore. Ironically, Byleth excels at these points, where they have a solid foundation, while Shez's sole foundation is to be a foil to Byleth. However, people still say they are way better than Byleth, which makes me wonder how much western fans hate silent protagonist, and then I wouldn't be surprised if Shez became a hated character in Japan because of westerns like Gatekeeper.

Then we have Arval. Even knowing the devs' desire not to reveal too much about Sothis and the Nabateans, did they really have to cram a character like that into lore. Despite Sothis being just a plot device in Houses, Arval is much worse (even Sothis is even worse at Hopes than Houses). Why does he make us sympathize with cartoon villains? Why does no one from Slither recognize him, although we later learn that Thales was knew him, but the only person he knew was a character whose name I don't even remember. We see him during the War of the Heroes where he supposedly fulfilled his burning desire to kill Sothis, yet he still wanted to kill her even before she awakens inside Byleth. Speaking of the rest of the Nabateans, why doesn't he recognize them even though he fought them face to face in the past. Arval's problem is just like Shez, he should be a foil to Sothis because Shez should be a foil to Byleth in every way, since his character is a copy paste of Sothis (I don't know if he speaks in a special way like her is in jp).

I also have a lot to say about devs, so excuse me.

First with Kusakihara and the writers, even though they were the creators of Houses, just made the same mistakes as Neil Druckmann, demolishing what they built thinking they were introducing interesting ideas that fans would like, without sitting back and thinking about how it would affect a previous game.

Then I have Hayashi, this guy with the worst ideas, deciding to replace Byleth because they were the only one who didn't do anything wrong, in a game that wasn't even morally gray, only to end up writing a character who didn't do anything wrong either. Edelgard is bleached, and makes Claude wrong for taking advantage of his imperial allies, but he made no mistake in his invasion of the kingdom and his killing of Rhea. Hell, even Count Gloucester was bleached.

In one of the interviews Eng: "We decided to put Byleth in a third person perspective in order to delve deeper into their character." Delve deeper into marginalized character who only have 2 support. In an interview with Jp: (Convey my thanks to renisfan for translating) "Hopes intended the scenario to be 'what if the house leaders didn't meet Byleth'", but the answer is the route that Byleth didn't choose. "We don't want to nullify the endings of Byleth, so we have to make Yuri give his mother's precious ring just in exchange for a whistle".

They also said in one of the interviews that the development team wanted to complete what they couldn't complete in Houses, but should they have demolished what they built? Couldn't they have thought of a story that takes place between the events of Houses, like Cindered Shadows or Thracia 776? Why did they have to replace the protagonist? Didn't they think fans would hate it and feel the irony? I also don't want Byleth to be the central character of the whole thing, and it's nice to see the characters develop without them, but did they really have to replace them? Because it made me feel that what should have been a sequel to Houses couldn't be considered one because of that difference.

As much as I hated the decision to replace Byleth, I have to admit that there are some positives from it, such as changing your and other people's opinion of them, and realizing that they weren't the cause of all the Houses problems. Or maybe you'd think of them worse if they were still a protagonist in awful Hopes story.

It's clear that the KT devs' goal of Hopes is to make more money, as they admit that they were originally planning a sequel to the first FE Warriors, but changed their minds when seeing the success of Houses. They took the opinion of western fans over japanese fans, because sales were higher in north america. But what I didn't understand, is that if KT sales are only in Japan, while overseas sales are by Nintendo, does KT really depend on what sales Nintendo will have? Or profit sharing? I ask because I have no experience in this field.

Well, sorry for the inconvenience, especially if you were sick of Hopes discourse. I got emotional and my talking got out of control, but Hopes really made my blood run hot. I'm lucky to buy it on sale, otherwise I would have regretted spending my money. Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

It is not an inconvenience, anon. Sometimes you just need a place to vent. Someone to hear you. I totally get it. Don't apologize for the ask.

On your points

First of all, for GW it's a real disaster indeed.

Absolutely. I don't understand how anyone can call it good. Even if you like Claude's character (which you are allowed to like this version), narratively none of it makes any sense when you sit down and think about it for two seconds.

As for AG, it was very good in part 1, but I find it performance decreased in part 2 after completing the basis of the story in part 1.

I can agree. Part 1 is great. Part 2 is better than GW part 2, but taking Edelgard away as the threat did a disservice to both her and Dimitri's stories. Since the war is framed as a righteous and just action by the game, the only way they could effectively make Edelgard come out of Dimitri's route not looking like the villain was to remove her agency and make the Empire literally monsters. I mean, even worse than usual. Burning their own people type of thing. And hearing the characters beat themselves over "invading another nation" over and over again starts to get grating.

As for SB, everyone says it fixed all of Edelgard's problems, but I don't see that.

Well, they kind of do. What they effectively did was take away a lot of the bloat.

Edelgard's character in Houses was a mess. Her justifications and her logical thinking was less like a straight line and more like that conspiracy board you see from Charlie Day.

For instance, explaining why she has such a focus on Crests. She hates them, because she believes they give nobility their status. And she hates nobles because she feels that only those who are best for the role should be chosen for power. She feels this way because she got a second Crest due to nobility greed and manipulation of the Empire royalty. Which led her to hating the Church, etc etc.

It's bloated and confusing. If she hates Crests because they make nobles, then what about Crestless nobles? What about their power? Etc etc.

What Hopes did is effectively streamline this. Edelgard in Hopes focuses more on bloodlines. She still talks about Crests somewhat, but it makes more sense. Crests prove a bloodline, and it is bloodlines she hates.

Furthermore, her chapter 3 plan is honestly pretty good all things considered. Her plans in Houses are convoluted and make no sense. Here, I can understand what she is doing and why. Drive out the Slithers and the corrupted nobles. Boom, easy. Gather her forces, then invade the Church. Easy. Logical.

But this improved writing doesn't make her any more right in her war. If anything, I felt it made her even more wrong than ever. At least in Houses you can justify that maybe, just maybe, she has someone watching her every move or whatever. And that she cannot trust anyone with her plans because she cannot know if they are a Slither.

This is no longer viable in Hopes. She drives out the Slithers. She is firmly in charge. Her war is her own. And her not being able to trust others? Well, she trusted Claude well enough. How does she know if Claude isn't a Slither? Hm? She never even questions it.

And her war is still one of conquest, which is made even more clear. In Houses, it's easier to argue that it's one of liberation (I don't believe it is at all, but with how the writing of the game is it is easy to find ways to make that justification). Hopes removes that as well. It's absolutely one of conquest. No question.

It's just the game frames this conquest as good.

As for Shez, everyone also says they're better than Byleth and have personality, but Shez just proves that even if they were a full-voiced protagonist, it didn't change that they were poorly written.

I've said this before, but Shez is just as bland as Byleth, just with a voice. They are plain, shounen protagonists. Written moment by moment, and not as a real person. In one scene, they will be horrified by bloodshed. In another, they will relish in it and itch for a fight. It's whatever sounds good in the scene, and not about consistency.

And you are right, they basically have no role in the story. They are just there. Their interesting backstory they talk about a lot? Nah, we will never explore that. It's just noise.

Then we have Arval. Even knowing the devs' desire not to reveal too much about Sothis and the Nabateans, did they really have to cram a character like that into lore.

Arval is a mess. He is treated as a foil to Sothis. Like, you are led to believe that he is somehow some ancient god with a feud with the goddess Sothis.

But no. He's just some ancient office worker with a grudge who figured out how to do a soul transfer.

They wanted this large mystery box, but never opened the contents. It's like the more interesting story is in the background but we are forced to do the boring war story instead.

I also have a lot to say about devs, so excuse me.

I won't say too much on this myself, because what else can I say that I haven't already? Honestly, I think they just missed the mark. In so many ways. It's no wonder the game was not well received.

Which is a shame because I did enjoy seeing my favorite characters again, and seeing more character building between them. That is the value I got out of Hopes. Mmmmm, Dimidue content.

But yeah. This was basically a cash grab for a successful FE game, by someone who wanted to make a Three Kingdom's story when honestly Houses was never a successful Three Kingdom's story to begin with. That's why Claude and Dimitri insist they start a war with the Empire, when honestly it was Edelgard that pushed them into a corner. "Surrender or get conquered" is not really much of a choice.

Edelgard forged the hammer but Dimitri and Claude speak as if they were the ones who poured its metal.

[childofaura]

If you're still doing the voice actor thing what about the VA of Hel, Barbara Goodson I believe it's her name. I just love her voice and how expressive (can I describe a voice like that?) she is the perfect choice for my wife Hel, sadly Intsy doesn't want to give us a Hel alt even though Surtr and Freya got one

(she is also the voice of the male kid in persona 5 which is surprising)

YES YES YES YES.

Also fun fact, she’s the voice (just the voice only!) of Rita Repulsa from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and also Mother Talsin from Star Wars: The Clone Wars! So between Hel, Rita, and Talsin, she’s awesome at playing sinister characters.

So emotional performance is weird to really evaluate because Hel doesn’t have much real emotion; her voice is supposed to sound lifeless (ba dum tsss) and devoid of feeling. I think when I was making my categories I SHOULD have said performance over emotion. But anyways, Barbara is PERFECT. Her cackle in the Book 3 ending cinematic while she fights Alfonse, that spoken line where she asks Eir why she’s upset, her slow and ragged tones… Such a fantastic casting choice.

And she absolutely fits Hel, there’s no doubt about that. Barbara’s been playing old women and malevolent female characters for years, and I don’t know if it’s because of the standard VA bullshit that goes on but she should be casted a LOT more; now that sadly Philece Sampler has left us, she might need to be our new Niime.

Because I’m strictly judging range based on FEH characters, I can’t really say anything about that since she’s only voiced Hel. But listening to her other work, I’d say there’s some range, even though she’s usually type-casted.

Barbara Goodson’s a 9/10. She brings a fantastic performance of Hel. And hold strong, friend: We WILL get a Hel alt someday, Surtr only just got his last year in 2021. We just have to be strong and have faith ;w;

[nowis-scales]

Fire Emblem 17 Playthrough… Engage!

Okay Engage’s opening song is like so aggressively anime that it has crossed into like, corny territory and even I can’t like… it’s just cheese, y’all, but the cute kind you laugh at

I wrote this at the time but it absolutely has grown on me and now I jam out to it quite happily lol

Went for casual and normal again this time, because it’s my usual game mode. I could try for a harder one later on a replay, but we’ll see!

Also I called my Alear “Pepper” because I find I just can’t do memey names, so I was thinking along the lines of “Pepsi”, but I think Pepper is such a cute name so I chose that.

Talk about an animation upgrade! Timerra looks awesome! She’s still my favourite character I’ve seen so far. Still so pretty. I’m perpetually begging IntSys for more WOC in FE, especially if they’re going to do skin tones as well as they did for Timerra. I love her, Petra, and Flavia, so I’d love to see what else they can do. Plus, we always need more good rep for WOC! They’re terribly overlooked in the FE series.

Marth you have a wife???

The fact that this guy over here was talking about like, the inevitability of Pepper being no more than like, gum on his shoe gets a lot cooler when you realize his weapon is called “Obscurity”. He’s literally going to try and push us into it.

They weren’t kidding. That Engage sure can anime.

Wait, Pepper gets a new outfit when she merges?! That’s so great! Having been a Fairy Tail fan back in my early teens, I can’t help but be reminded of Lucy’s star dresses!

[skarmoree]

Redguy von engage……..

[elegyofthemoon]

1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 21, 23 and 24 about Leo (Oz too if you want? Leo —the FE one— came to mind first lmao).

I could annihilate you with 6 and 11 but I'll be nice, you're shoe'd enough about this guy.

Super funny that I think I could actually reply to some or these questions myself imagining what you'd say xD

you could have. i wouldn't have minded i think my only response would've been (twirls hair) "wooow out here?? 😳😳on main???😳 😳" as though eitan hadn't already beaten you there by sending kevin my way and Specifically 11 to maul me.

i also bet, given how much i ramble to you, that you could probably answer these in my place :'D

i'll stick with leo though just because these things do get lengthy if i'm not too careful

Why do you like or dislike this character?

He easily charmed me with how easy it is to bully him but I think as I kept playing and getting to know him more I Regret it entirely.

I've talked about this a lot before (at least one gush pass that was given to me by Nick myeheh), but his character's particularly fun for me because of how his upbringing pretty much leaves him trapped in a complex between "seeking love in the only way he knew how to -> the people he loves and he HIMSELF placing himself up on a pedestal -> not feeling that he's actually loved and incapable of being vulnerable with the people he loves". Funnily enough, the same reason why I love him is also the same thing that also frustrates me about his character like IF YOU HAD A CHANCE..... IF YOU HAD JUST ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE VULNERABLE.... OR IF YOU KNEW...... YOU ARE ACTUALLY LOVED

There was also this concept I had in my head about a fic that inevitably got dumped entirely (tossed out the window and set on fire with a flamethrower), which plays around the edges of "You learned to be a weapon first before you learned to be human." And I'm not saying that's exactly what his character is, but at least the way he was raised -- seeing his worth equate to usability -- it feels very akin to that.

Something something "he's held onto that knife for so long he doesn't know how to put it down".

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I DONT REMEMBER THIS SUPPORT but someone said he admires Odin's dramatic hero monologues and in my head, if Leo were just a bit more unhinged, he would have actually started LARPing too. It's not my favorite, it's just one of my favorites lol

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Man eats his tomatoes raw and the fandom/IntSys itself makes it his whole personality.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

🧍🏼 Unfortunately my brain's blanking I don't have ideas for this sowwy

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

The irony that is "I hate that he has such a deep association with tomatoes" and I turn around and name his playlist "🍅boy".

He deserves better than that aldskjfalj

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Uhhhhh I had to reread several of my fics first for Leo because it's been a while since I had actually written anything for him...I'm starting to doubt my abilities to write him while reading through all this LMAO

Something I don't like about the way I write him is I feel I have a tendency to lean into his doubts a lot more than I mean to. I think Leo's a pretty confident guy. If there's something he needs and wants to do, he will do it without the warranted subtext that is his doubts. Trying to find that balance that is understanding his motives and his actions is something that I always find myself struggling with when it comes to writing for him, but for the same reasons, it also makes writing for him a delight!

As for something I do that I like for him...His thought process? I guess? I won't say that he's tight-lipped, but he has a lot more going on in his thought process than what he says. I know I just said I didn't like how much I lean into writing his doubts, and maybe this is just a me thing with my writing, but I've noticed for a few of these fics, when Leo makes a decision, it's made after carefully thinking it over. You'll get very very long explanations of what's going on through his head, shortly followed by a kinda short dialogue with another character regarding his decision. I guess I just like sitting in the process idk asjflkjh (this isnt a good at all explanation I'm just having a hard time explaining this or well, talking about my writing sorry ;;)

23. Favorite picture of this character?

If I could just put any of ai-wa's art here I would. I just adore the art so so so much and I haven't seen anyone else really get his character the way her art does mwah

But this one from the manga :] (WHICH I NEED TO RETURN TO i was watching something for fates and had a little sad chirp noise moment so I stopped. Like. Everything ALKDJFAKDSLJH)

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

🤔another fandom....so it can't be another FE game (I would have said Berkut lmao).... hm.....

I can't tell if it's just because he's sorta been fluttering through my mind, but I'd maybe argue Diluc actually............... I'm not thinking hard enough.

Looks wise, I still laugh a lot about him looking like Count Waltz from my childhood game Eternal Sonata. I was so jumpscared when I first saw Leo, but definitely made me 10x more likely to want to bully him. I don't even like Count Waltz aside from his voice actor's pretty cool

[chiaki-c]

played the blue lions route on three hopes, both with and without byleth and now i must word vomit for a bit!!!!

I get that not many people played this (i got the game second hand myself bc...yeah i can't really justify to buying it at full price) but!!! How are people not losing their minds about this!!!!

Like, is it mostly fanservice stuff? Yes. Is it everything i ever wanted? Also definitely YES!!!!!

In the first half especially i really had lots of fun with the story. The last few chapters dragged a bit but i had moments where i was like man i wish 3 houses was more like this actually :/

I can't believe they gave me so much good dimitri/dedue/felix food??? Was this done for me especially????????

I distinctly remember writing here that i really wanted more interactions between dedue and felix in a king dimitri context.....WELL HERE IT IS

The dimidue cutscene......i can't believe they just Did That. I was so blindsided by it i couldn't believe it I WAS SO HAPPY 😭

This is definitely a more sanitized version of the story but i'll take it, yknow!!! It was nice seeing dimitri and felix being a team and relying on each other. Something about them filling the roles you only see glimpses of in 3 houses was especially satisfying

Oh and talking about shit that blindsided me!!!! Dimilix A support???? HELLLOOOOO???!!!! AGAIN WAS THIS DONE FOR ME ESPECIALLY

If you told me in 2k19 we would see felix picking up dimitri and carrying him to bed....unbelievable!!!!!

So many little nuggets here and there that are just. Dimitri Has 2 Hands

funny that a dimilix cutscene exists and is also sooo good but it's rodrigue's death. they're cutely bickering and rodrigue dies (again)!!! and it comes with additional bonding for them now that they're all out of father figures. like lol they must always be sooo tragic!!!!! well lucky me that's what i'm here for

Oh and playable rodrigue was also soo much good food!! All the dads content!!!!!! Matthias!!!!!

GLENN'S LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!

Bitter that we still don't have an official glenn design :/ no i will never shut up about glenn

Dimitri is super cute in this....... i love his stubborn streak!! so kingly!!!! then he turns around and tells you he doesn't wanna name his horses cause he might grow too fond of them :(((

Again, everything was much more...easygoing in this game BUT i think the effort to have dimitri still be dimitri, with what makes him compelling, is commendable. I don't necessarily think it's like...this great writing achievement they got going on but as far as intsys sanctioned fanfiction goes, i enjoyed it!

The other lions are. There. Unfortunately they are just literally there :(

I enjoyed some of the bonus supports, but nothing mind blowing. Sylvain and igrid's was verty cute!! Annette/mercedes was disappointing

Also did they...somehow make cathmir even more canon or is it just meee!!!!!!! but all the church people got done dirty

what really makes me happy about this game is that, with byleth out of the way, the characters relationships can really thrive. i mean shez is much more what i want from your protagonist character. they have a personality + aren't the be all end all of every character's life. i assume this is very unpopular but i can't stand byleth as they are in houses

that said shez's story is so messy...the last chapters were so whatever!! if you somehow didn't have the main game lore as context i imagine non of it would make the slightest sense. but i mean i'm not here bc i care about shez or the lore really!!

this is honestly just good fun if you wanna see more of your faves + some good nuggets of additional backstory here and there!!

[sunraise]

i’ve had some Thoughts about margrave gautier because that fathers meme is going around but aside from being the worst father ever he holds a weird collection of all sorts of things. from rare pigments to bird feathers to whatever else he can get his hands on, the man has a trove of all that. oh & also he works with the twsitd

[stereotypedebunker]

Three Houses has all these great wonderfully complex fathers with varied and complicated relationships with their children. even off-screen dads get their due in terms of presence, whether in the story (like Count Gloucester) or in their child’s background (like Count Varley even if he’s on my hit list)...but no mother gets anywhere near this treatment by the story/background and quite frankly that’s a damn shame

[em-exceeds-change-zearu]

this is peak sitcom material what the fuck intsys. i can’t stop laughing there’s so many things that make me wheeze i can’t list all of them

the fact that the gatekeeper needs a goddamn list to keep track of the absurd variety of heroes we’ve accumulated over the years

this list is of zero help when three out of the four in this motley crew refuse to give out their actual names

there are gods in this lineup. all in a row, waiting for this one good boi to let them in the gates.

the self-declared embodiment of flame is there. we murdered him. death herself is also there. we also murdered her.

actually we’ve pretty much personally murdered most of this lineup, they’re horrible villains. hooligans, all of them. why is naga here. why are you hanging out with these bastards, naga.

gatekeeper just being rendered silent in the presence of all of these. he’s already told off loli manaketes and pot-wearing villagers for trying to enter the gates when they’re clearly not supposed to be there, but at this point he’s just been fully smacked in the face with the lengths of the ridiculousness we can summon. he’s just one good gatekeeping boi. barring entrance to these monstrosities.

also he fought one-on-one with thorr in the forging bonds main story before this. this boy just sitting here, facing gods on the regular, every day. this is his new normal now.

gakekeeper managing to keep his chipper attitude all throughout this time.

anyways god bless this one single scene for making my entire day, thanks intsys