#rajaion lives

[serenlyss]

A Man Amongst Dragons

Fandom: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn Rating: General (goldoan prince soren au, rajaion lives au) Relationships: Ike/Soren, Soren&Rajaion&Kurthnaga Word Count: 6026 Read it on AO3: A Man Amongst Dragons

For day 7 I decided to tackle the Prince Soren AU, which is an AU that I'm very fond of, though I decided to go with a Goldoan Prince Soren instead of the Daein variety I see more often. I just wanted to write dragon family banter bc I think Soren's relationships with Kurth and Raj could be very interesting! And Almedha too, though I didn't get the chance to include her in this one beyond references. Hope you like it!

[randomnameless]

I am Ninian. I have a vision of a better world—one in which humans and dragons prosper together in harmony

eww

My power may be diminished, and I may age and die as humans do, but I have no regrets. In fact, I'm happy

Ah, Tru Piss best ending, that creature is happy to “die” as a “human”! /s

If we can realize Lord Athos's vision of utopia here, then perhaps humans and dragons can finally live in peace

Of course they can, if only they accept to be turned into relics.

Have you ever heard of Lord Athos, the Archsage of Elibe

Who? Forblaze isn’t Lilina’s tome??

He believed that humans and dragons would one day live together in harmony and understanding

He was an old fool! They are not human, thus cannot have human feelings!

But I have seen the seeds of such a paradise planted, in Elibe and in Askr. It pleases me to watch them grow.

Someone please keep Ninian away from Fodlan and Supreme Leader

Nils will still be here, though. And I'd like my brother to see a world where both humans and dragons are happy

interestingly, in the JP version (google translated), she talks about a light that gives hope to the despair of a dragon...  

 見せてあげたい、ニルスに。 人と竜が手を取り合い生きていける世界を。 竜の絶望に、希望を灯す光を

Is she talking about Roy?

Even if my lifespan is that of a human's... Well, I'm all right with that.

At least she accepts to get rid of her “arrogant draconic traits” like her lifespan.

All jokes aside, this Ninian is the one who married Eliwood a Ninian who really thinks people can coexist no matter the race, and has faith in the future.

After Fodlan, this is very refreshing.

[kiussart]

"Rajaion lives" (and Soren was never abandoned I guess) Goldoa AU

a commission for the FE Rally for Gaza

[aurantia-ignis]

MY VERY BIG DRAGONS PROJECT. @vellatra asked for an AU in which everything worked out better for the Goldoans and they live a happy life, so I jumped at the chance to draw some of my favourite characters. I realised that the Goldoans clothing are very loosely inspired by manchurian clothes, with a mix of the POR/RD Euro-fantasy style, and a lot of capes. And as it turns out, Soren's magewear already looks very similar to that ;D (KITA SENRI DID YOU PLAN THIS. I'M READY TO BELIEVE THAT YOU DID) so I just added gold trimming and a more obvious side collar. Ena and Rajaion's baby's clothes are inspired by manchu baby photos. I kept parts of Almedha's original design, but gave her the cape that all Goldoan royals have, and eliminated the veil that gave her the whole WEEPING WIDOW look. Architecture based loosely on the meeting ground we see in POR, because we don't get to see anything of Goldoa otherwise. WHICH IS A CRYING SHAME I TELL YOU................!!

[fiery-emblems]

Like a lot of people I sometimes ponder what my favorite characters might look like if they were allowed to grow older. I've been seeing a lot of good designs for older Soren specifically so of course I got to thinkin' about my own take!

Some notes on design process under the cut cause I think we should all share our thought process once in a while:

So, for this I didn't want to just want to go with "Soren, exactly the same but older". My thought was "if I was actually in charge of designing for a fire emblem game, one that takes place in a future Tellius perhaps and featuring this character as a guest (a la Tiki or the Awakening trio, which they should keep doing BTW) how would I go about doing that".

You have to think of course, about what the character is actually doing and what their role is. It seems pretty likely that after RD Soren is either traveling the world with Ike or wandering around (probably the former) so "traveler" was the theme. As far as the overall shape and the outer layer especially it seemed obvious to reference the dragons, who are also travelers:

I don't want to just straight up copy the look of the robes though for a couple of reasons. 1) that's boring and the idea here is for an updated visual style 2) I wanted to combine different elements to evoke a feeling of mixing cultures. I figure if this scenario takes place say, 80 years in the future or something, fashions will have moved forward and perhaps you would see elements of beorc and laguz fashions mixed together. Especially for Soren given what he is. So I went with an inner layer that looks more Victorian puffy sleeves (which you don't actually see a lot of in PoR or RD since the characters favor more stiff looking tunics, but they are there and I figured its the future and maybe Crimea has entered its puffy shirt era) with the outer layer looking more like what the dragons wear. 3) Staying with robes seems kind of stagnant. I imagine that a much older Soren who's lived a good life along side his love has probably chilled out a little bit. A little bit. 4) I think having more leg visible gives a more adult silhouette.

The other consideration is the hairstyle. As much as I love Soren being a carbon copy of Rajaion, it wouldn't be the most interesting design choice if I was the character designer of a game to just copy a past design 1 for 1. So I decided to just lengthen his hair a little bit and give it a look like its been blown around in the wind. Soren is the windy guy and I'm assuming he would be more chill here so why not let it be loose and free? This also helps avoid him just looking like Sephiran cause I see that a lot too lol.

Yes I also changed the shape of his brand. I've always been fascinated by the fact that it changed shape between games. I know it was likely just a design oversight but what if it changed because he isn't an adult yet and it changes more as he ages?

Lastly there's the why. Why would your fav show up as a guest character? What would he even do?? Well I think Soren could be really fun actually if we assume he went with Ike and that Ike kept Ragnell with him. I'm picturing a situation where Ike has lived out his natural life and died, leaving Soren to return to Tellius alone in order to tell Mist's family what happened (cause Ike just left without telling anyone anything lol), and to return Ragnell to them. Instead some conflict breaks out, you know how it is, and the more chilled out Soren is convinced to bestow the sword onto the new starry-eyed lord who reminds him of his beloved.

Oh yeah. I can see it now.

[silvergarnet12]

Finally finished this, for anyone wondering about their splashtags, I'll copy the text I added on my wip about it under the cut.

Edit: forget to mention the bg is hastily edited concept art from the Tellius Recollection books. Spoilers for the Tellius games are in, just a warning.

For weapons, every weapon here has the Kraken Royale special in Splatoon 3, and someone agessss ago tagged my first inkling Kurthnaga suggesting he could turn inot the Kraken, and I thought that was fun.

Kurthnaga: He has a roller purely based on the fact my brain thinks he'd use one. Don't ask why it's just vibes I guess.

"Promising Ruler" is a reference to the end of Radiant Dawn, and the number 3108 is a reference to 31/08 or Halloween, because of his Heroes debut. He has the lvl 999 Tableturf badge because I think he'd enjoy playing it, the gold Kraken badge because weapon reasons, the bronze Grizzco badge because I imagine Almedha ropes him in to joining her on shifts sometimes.

Almedha: She has a splatling because I think it looks cool, and does a lot of damage from a far just like a certain dragon laser beam.

"Restless Sister" is because she left Goldoa before the Tellius games and inadvertently helped set events in motion. 2202 is 22/02/07 and is Radiant Dawn's Japanese Release date.

I also think she has some tendency towards violence since in canon she had a child with Ashnard of all people, and I doubt he was ever non violent. So she has Salmon Run badges, the flyfish is because I hate them and anyone with that badge is automatically cool to me.

Ena: She gets the Gal because usually it's pink and so is she, I also think she'd find tricky ways to use the Splash wall it comes with.

"Fortunate Tactician" in this au Rajaion doesn't die(if I make any tragedy it'll be reversible because this is funny squid game au and I like happy endings), and she's still good tactically. 2004 is 20/04/05 and is Path of Radiance's Japanese release date.

She has the Kraken badge like Kurth because of her weapon, X Rank badge because she takes battling as a tactical challenge, and the gold Tableturf badge because I think she'd also enjoy it, but play it less than Kurth.

Rajaion: He gets the charger because I was running out of weapons with the Kraken, so he gets an Elitre because I think they look cool, even if I hate fighting them. Also the spawn in pose is cool as hell.

"Revived King" He gets to live in this au, and not die. With Dheginsea being retired from whatever his role ends up as, Rajaion is technically in charge now. 1004 is 10/04/07 and is Radiant Dawn's Australian release date.

He also gets a matching bg style with Ena.

All his badges reference his luck in not being dead in this AU. The gachapon badge is basically gambling, so luck based, Cuttlefish got revived in Splatoon 3's story, and the wavebreaker is used as a revival device a lot in Salmon Run!

[gloamvonhrym]

Day 2: future | dreaming of home | dark AND - Day 3: identity | quiet days | canon-divergent

“dear old fried (bring wine to bed)” 🐉 ~25k (not all posted) 🐉 teen+ 🐉 dragon ptsd fic 🐉“Rajaion lives. Ena brings him home. Everything is different.”

[vellatra]

Tagged by @blue-haired-rock

Answer and tag nine people you want to get to know better and catch up with!

Favorite color:

Blue! Especially royal and turquoise

Last song:

idk what it was! But I was listening to the hard rock/metal station on the radio in the car this morning....

Currently reading:

Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Vell Jr. and Dare to Discipline alone

Currently watching:

Battlestar Galactica with Mr. Vell

Currently craving:

CHOCOLATE (I have a problem lol)

Coffee or tea?

Why must I choose? Both are so good and both are consumed with reckless abandon 🤣

Hobby to try:

Clutter clearing 💀🤣

Current AU:

What does this mean Ummmm the most recent one I worked on was The Twin Princes - a Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance AU (babies! Rajaion lives! fluff! random angst that jumps in out of nowhere!) idk if this is how I was supposed to answer that question lol

Uhhhhh NPTs @scriptrixdeo @megan-karau @chrystallink @thunderfistproductions @reneethegreatandpowerful @aptericia @enbyleighlines @imissthefire @emotiandon

[crestoflaminee]

How Old Is Soren Fire Emblem?

It’s an honest question, and not just for Fire Emblem veterans. Even the most superficial soldiers running around with their heads shoved up their own asses have wondered, ‘What is that small child doing on a battlefield with a Wind tome?’ Or worse,

(Image alt under the cut.)

Soren’s battle prowess is not to be questioned, nor underestimated. Uncertainty arrives when trying to discern how old the Greil Mercenaries’ strategist and chief staff officer is.

Based on information from in-game conversations, from the canon timeline, and from the Tellius Recollection volumes, I have an answer. Read on under the cut. Or skip to the end, I don’t mind, I even put the important stuff in bold for you.

[Alt ID: the image is divided horizontally into two screenshots of a viral video of a young child running through a backyard. Soren’s original Fire Emblem Heroes portrait has been photoshopped over the child’s face. In the first panel, the caption at the bottom reads, ‘“Let me see what you have”’. In the second frame, Soren/the child is closer to the camera. A screenshot from Soren’s Wiki page reading “Skills: Knife” has been added to the left of the image. The caption at the bottom reads, in all caps, ‘“A knife!”’. End ID.]

Googling ‘soren fire emblem age’ yields a suspiciously simple result. According to the Tellius Recollection volumes, Soren is physically sixteen in both games. Immediately, it is clear there is more to Soren’s age than that answer. Since Soren is half-laguz and half-beorc, he ages differently from his beorc companions. In his Path of Radiance (PoR) A Support with Stefan, he admits, ‘I thought I was aging normally… Well, until about three years ago.’ There is some ambiguity here, as Soren only noticed he was aging differently ‘about three years’ from the time of this conversation during the latter part of PoR, but if nothing else, we know Soren must be older than sixteen. We may assume this line means Soren stopped aging three years before this point, and was sixteen at the time. If this is true, Soren would be about nineteen in PoR. But what if Soren is older?

What is the oldest Soren could be? To figure this out, I looked to Almedha and Ashnard. When Almedha met Ashnard, he was power hungry and if he wasn’t already, soon set on war with Goldoa. In Radiant Dawn (RD), Nasir informs Almedha that ‘the red dragon platoon which went in search of [her] was captured and turned into Feral Ones by King Ashnard’. Unaware of this at the time, Almedha continued to live with Ashnard until Rajaion’s capture ‘more than twenty years’ ago, at which point they ‘had a falling out and ended up living separately‘ according to Almedha’s conversation with Elincia. Though a ‘falling out’ is a weird way to describe the aftermath of her brother being drugged into insanity by her husband, we now know that Soren is more than twenty years old when RD takes place in year 648, though not too much older, or Almedha would have perhaps picked a different number to say than twenty.

Returning to Almedha’s conversation with Nasir, Kurthnaga, and Ena reveals that Ashnard’s cruelty toward the dragon laguz had intention. Nasir says Ashnard ‘did everything in his power to provoke King Dheginsea’. Indeed, near the end of the Mad King’s War, ‘the king thought he'd lost not only dragon soldiers but also his children’, not knowing Almedha and Soren were still alive, and was ready to join the war. Why was it that ‘Ashnard needed Goldoa to get involved in this war’? Goldoa was completely isolated from everything outside its borders until Almedha left, so Ashnard had no personal reason for provoking them. Nasir tells us that if the Goldoans had joined the war, they ‘would not have stopped until the continent was ashes. Then the spirit of chaos would have spread across Tellius, awakening the goddess’. Why would Ashnard want to destroy the continent and all humanity, when what he clearly wanted in PoR was to be the most powerful man alive? Awakening the goddess to pass judgement was Sephiran’s motivation. Thus, when Almedha met Ashnard, he was either already plotting with Sephiran or would conspire him in the short time between Almedha’s departure from Castle Goldoa and the arrival of the red dragon platoon sent to look for her in Daein. Based on this information, we know Soren could not have been born before the Serenes Massacre of 625, after which Sephiran decides humanity needs to be judged. So the oldest Soren could be during PoR is twenty years old.

So now that we have an upper limit, what is the youngest Soren could be? Another member of Goldoa’s royal family holds the answer to this question. Rajaion left Goldoa to rescue Almedha and Soren ‘some nineteen years ago’ according to Ena near the end of PoR. At this time, Soren was already born and determined to be worthless by Ashnard. We also know Ashnard was already king when Rajaion was captured, meaning this happened after 627. If Soren was born in 627 he would be eighteen at the start of PoR, and perhaps would turn nineteen before the end of the game in the spring of 646, meaning Ena’s line about ‘some nineteen years’ would still be accurate. This means eighteen is the youngest Soren could be while still keeping with the continuity of the game.

It is important to note that Ena’s line corroborates the earlier conclusion drawn from Soren’s support with Stefan that Soren is nineteen in PoR. Furthermore, if Soren were nineteen in PoR, he would have been born within the calendar year limits determined by the events surrounding Rajaion’s capture (625-627). Nineteen is also the average of the oldest and youngest he could possibly be (18-20). Thus, I conclude that

in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Soren is nineteen years old

and factoring in the three year timeskip between the games and Almedha’s line about her and Ashnard’s separation,

in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Soren is twenty-two years old

which makes a lot of sense. If I were twenty-two but looked like a sixteen-year-old boy, I would also get zero sleep, have the self-confidence of a duct-taped teacup, and cry at inopportune moments. Pre-T trans men, you are our strongest soldiers.

You have reached the end of my investigation into Soren’s age! As a bonus, Ike is seventeen in PoR, so the age difference between the two of them is two years.

Thank you for reading. Vote Soren for Choose Your Legends Seven.

[dirtyoldmanhole]

okay the ONE complaint i have with revelations handling of gunter:

HOW TF DO YOU CHICKEN OUT OF THE ACTUAL DEATH(?) SCENE THAT MUCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is exactly like rajaion's death in FE9 where half the fandom (including me) thought he was ALIVE due to the script being so vague about whether the herons healed him and we didn't find out until the next game he was actually dead l m a o. just. the reverse!

imo? if it was me in the writer's chair?

I'd have committed.

the dude legit just ran himself through with his own broadsword.

I don't care if you've got a fleet of healers right there or some dweeby divine power at the last minute, that kind of mortal wound, plus his grief, plus his body being wrecked by being possessed, and his advanced age feels like it's exceptionally weird to survive.

i would have also tweaked the next few lines, instead about being 'living to atone' - you have him confessing everything. corrin's 'you'll always be important to me' line, (plus a few others i'm not gonna mention now b/c they're going in this slowburn fic).

and then i would have had the scene fade on corrin grieving him, with his body staying intact and bloodied, rather than fading away into the holy water like arete/sumeragi/mikoto.

subtly underlining that stark difference of him as the man, the broken traitor all along, but with still that odd sense of finding peace in concrete death.

(it also sets up a powerful bookend with ryoma's death in conquest, which i thought was well done for exactly the same reasons i have beef with this scene!)

and the thing is - even if he stayed alive to fight through the last battle i think he'd hang himself as soon as the game was done (just like his unmarried conquest ending!). the sheer .... staggering guilt of everything would break nonpossessed!gunter and honestly the mental image of him trying to still live with the (in his mind) unforgiveable) weight is more upsetting than actual fking death.

[atypicalsenerio]

Mad King’s Shadow (AU Meta)

Under a cut for Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn spoilers. Last art on this blog is inspiring some Daein!Soren thoughts and I gotta let them spill out somewhere.

It gets a bit dark, but I think it makes for an interesting AU. TW mentions of manipulation, nothing really outside the scope of canon events though.

Soren is canonly Ashnard’s son, but once Soren was born and Ashnard saw he’d inherited none of Almedha’s draconic powers and deemed him weak, he disposed of him, passing him off to some stranger to take care of. Almedha lost her brother Rajaion to Ashnard and also had been led to believe that Soren had died.

In an AU where Soren is actually raised as the Prince of Daein, I have some thoughts on how Soren was shaped as a person. Ashnard is cruel and manipulative, valuing strength above all else. Daein does not treat Branded such as Soren kindly, and I thin that Ashnard would curate Soren’s world experience for him in such a way to make Soren think Ashnard’s vision of a world where the strong dominate and/or kill the weak is favorable for him.

Ashnard lets Soren out on diplomatic ventures or in the most prejudiced areas of Daein to have Soren experience some of the judgement firsthand, instances where he may be treated poorly or spoken down to for being Branded, even as a prince. Some of the trips may have to be outside of Daein, where no one knows who Soren is. By comparison, returning home to where his father respects him for his abilities would make Soren more inclined to be loyal to Ashnard.

Ashnard would also keep him rather isolated, banishing his mother Almedha while telling Soren that she abandoned him, and not allowing many people to be near Soren. The idea that no one will have a relationship with Soren except out of some mix of fear and respect for his abilities is reinforced by outsiders’ reactions to him if they perhaps don’t know who he is when he ventures out without a crown.

In canon, Soren began training with an old sage at the age of four and was a prodigy. Ashnard would put him through similarly harsh training that never truly lets up, so Soren becomes a frighteningly powerful mage, tactician, and perhaps gains expertise with physical weapons as well. Ashnard gains someone powerful and held under his control, not drugged like Rajaion, but leading Soren to believe that the only world he can belong in is one where he, someone strong, can earn his place for himself, and his blood, even Ashnard’s blood, matters less than his capabilities.

Soren is a cold person in canon. In this AU, he’d be even worse, still with a glacier in his heart, still deeply pessimistic about the nature of people.

I still like the idea of Ike being the first person to really treat him as a person, but it happens as enemies, as adults across the battlefield during the Mad King’s War, as Soren serves as Ashnard’s tactician and general.

Soren gets captured by the Greil Mercenaries and expects to be executed or tortured, but is surprised to be treated with civility. He tells them all to spare his life as a hostage...

...but he knows full well Ashnard will never take him back, since his failure during battle and getting captured prove his weakness and unworthiness.

So, Soren has time to debate his next move while living with the mercenaries, and bit by bit he sees that his perception of common people and of far away countries weren’t right. Ike in particular surprises him, as Ike stubbornly seems aware of the high walls Soren has up and genuinely just wants to know who’s behind them. Some of what Ashnard said was true about the world, but the more time Soren spends outside of Daein, the less he wants to see it ravaged by Ashnard and himself. Eventually, Soren decides to defect, even though there’s some obvious trust issues from everyone but Ike. He’d used to it.

Soren has no qualms facing off against his father, and once he realizes what had been done to Rajaion/who Rajaion was, feels as though at least he could attempt to atone for what Ashnard had done by bringing him down as Ike’s new tactician. He continues to stay at Ike’s side, realizing there was some hope for the world, but still being unable to thaw around most people. His identity feels lost to him, wondering how much of himself is Ashnard and what he was led to believe, and how much of himself is Soren.

He has plenty of time to find out.

Soren renounces the throne, having played a part in Ashnard’s death and even if it was justified, not wanting Daein to continue to be ruled by someone who gained power by murdering their family members. He also doubts he’s a good person and admittedly has bitterness towards Daein. While it may be selfish, he prefers to be with Ike, to see more of the world.

If he ever finds Almedha and finds out she didn’t abandon him, this Soren would be much more receptive to her affection/want a relationship with someone who actually loved him. Again, his worldview would be turned upside down with the realization of one of Ashnard’s lies and his betrayal by taking Soren from his mother, but there can be time to heal.

This could be a fanfic I write someday or a scenario to RP!

[goldoanheart]

Dance of the Evanescent

Dancer Mastery Drabble!

Kurthnaga was never much of a dancer, always lingering off to the side during galas and balls, never quite one to join in the action. Always content to watch from the sidelines, never to join in.

He knew his waltzes, of course, he was a member of Goldoa’s royal family. Those around him had made sure he knew the dances by heart, even if he were to never use them. His sister had danced with him, Almedha’s gentle hands, so much tinier then, reaching over his own that had yet been untouched by time. And when Rajaion had time, he had danced with his elder brother too. Though, his brother had always taken a bit more convincing than his dear older sister. But he had always crumbled eventually, not wanting to disappoint his little brother.

He had danced with Ena, as close in age as they were, learning the dances around the same time, just kids stumbling around and tripping over each other’s toes. And when they had become older, she was one of the few he would drift towards during a gala, always by her side to offer a dance if they both still lingered to the side. Most of the time, though, he had been more than content to just let her dance with Rajaion, watching from the side as they waltzed through each other’s hearts.

He had coaxed Gareth into dancing with him once, when he was still young enough to convince people without having to offer extensive reasoning. To this day, he still wasn’t sure if the older man had agreed to it out of the goodness of his heart, or simply out of a loyalty to his family. Either way, they had danced, messy and energetic, following no particular rhythm. And Kurthanaga, as young as he had been, had been content with that. Content to let loose from his royal constraints every once in a while, and dance as any other kid would have.

The one person he had always wanted to share a waltz with, just to feel closer to him for a moment, had been even more reserved at galas than Kurthnaga had been, even though he had been Goldoa’s king, the one hosting them to begin with. He had never gotten the chance to dance with his father, not formally. Though, there had been one instance, many, many years ago, one time that Kurthnaga barely remembered, hardly old enough to stand on his own, just barely beginning to learn his waltzes under the instruction of a much harsher tutor than the one who had properly taught him later. His father had taken Kurthnaga’s tiny hands into his own rough and aged ones, and they had danced, without another soul around. No one had known, other than the two of them, and they had never spoken of it again. Even if Kurthnaga had wished that they had, his father remained distant and shut off. Perhaps if he had lived after the tower, they could have had another chance, to speak, and to dance one more time.

And now, at the academy, it is harder to remain reserved. Surrounded by so many people he can now call friends, he cannot bear to watch from the side anymore, desperate to join in on the fun in a way that he never had wanted to before. It is a different feeling, than the uptight royal waltzes he had learned as a kid, much more freeing. He is freed from his duties of being a royal, much in the same way that Goldoa has begun to be freed from its walls.

And he dances. Until he is so tired he can’t anymore.

Freedom.

[randomnameless]

It's also never explained why Soren spent his childhood in Gallia

We don't know day by day what happened to him after his Uncle came to visit, but we know his Best Dad didn't give a fuck about him since he had no scales, thus didn't care about him.

Almedha was... somewhere? Idk if she was depressed like Lehran or not.

And thus, bby!Soren was spirited away, instead of left in a dumpster. Now, how did he end up in Gallia, I don't really know.

[aptericia]

The Tellius games!

Lol you caught me fast, I just deleted that post bc I realized most of it was shippy stuff and most of my answers would probably be like “idc”. Anyway, I love Tellius so here you go!

Fave character: ughhhhh don’t make me choose…. I feel like I ought to say Sanaki because she’s my icon, so we’ll go with that.

Least favorite character: hmmm I like most of the characters! I’ll say Geoffrey purely because he's incredibly boring (and his name is pronounced the Very Wrong and Incorrect Way)

5 favorite ships: Ike/Soren & Ike/Ranulf are good (although I don’t see them living together permanently), Jill/Lethe, Kieran/Oscar, and Edward/Leonardo. For shipping in general I care more about the characters interacting than the type of relationship, so any of these could be platonic or romantic (or something else)

Character I find most attractive: Nasir has my favorite design 😁

Character I would marry: none of them lmao, even non-romantically

Character I would be best friends with: Mordecai seems like a chill dude

a random thought: I headcanon that affinity is part of Tellius’s version of astrology, with different affinities supposedly “foretelling” things about the person’s personality, relationships, and destiny

An unpopular opinion: Ike is aroace. Apologies to all you Ike/Soren shippers, I think you're 100% valid and absolutely supported by the canon, but it's not my personal preference

My canon OTP: err... what canon pairings does Tellius even have? Calill/Largo ig?? Ena/Rajaion could be cute but we don't know much about them.

My non-canon OTP: ***sweats nervously*** Sephiran/Zelgius????? Seems messed up in the right ways for them.......

Most badass character: *sigh of relief* Caineghis! Badass fighter AND ruler :D

Most epic villian: I personally really like what they did with Jarod, although Sephiran is unquestionably more Epic

Pairing I am not a fan of: Ike/Elincia, Micaiah/Pelleas, Naesala/Leanne, Jill/Mist, Jill/Haar, a bunch more... (don't kill me plz)

Character I feel the writers screwed up: Petrine was fun but she kinda got on my nerves eventually. I feel like she was only given as much personality as the random chapter bosses (which is fine, some of them are great), but was forced into a larger role that made her look one-note and goofy.

Favorite friendship: Since I already mentioned Ike/Ranulf, I'll say Tormod/Muarim! Or since they're more like family than friends, I'll drop my personal hc friend ship of Jill/Zihark

Character I most identify with: Soren, probably. What can I say, I'm a moody teenager.

Character I wish I could be: none of them. But also Elinica.

[soren-apologist]

enough edelgard discourse, time for ashnard discussion

it’s really too bad that people don’t talk about ashnard very much, considering he’s actually a really fascinating character. he starts off as generic evil king, but as the story develops, it shows how he’s sociopathic and macchiavellian, yet he still has cohesive thought behind his actions that parallel the mercenaries in a really interesting way.

ok, i’m not gonna sit here and attempt to argue that assnards is a good person— he’s an absolutely massive douche. part of what separates discussion of him from ones about edelgard, despite them having similar “the ends justify the means” plans, is that a. the game never tries to convince you he’s a good person, and b. ashnard doesn’t try to convince you he’s a good person. one of the things he says to ike is essentially, “i’m going to let history decide whether or not i’m justified.” i find that really interesting, considering that, despite the fact he’s attempting to conquer tellius for what he believes is a good reason, he has enough self-awareness to realize that this doesn’t inherently protect him from criticism. in contrast, one of the major themes behind edelgard is that she’s deluded to the point where she thinks she’s completely in the right with what she’s doing, despite, y’know, the fact she’s sacrificing countless lives of her countrymen and the rest of fódlan for her own ambitions. but this is about ashnard, so i digress. the fact that he doesn’t view himself as some “hero of the people” despite his actions potentially helping in the long run (giving the poor an opportunity to rise in the ranks by becoming knights, attempting to change the world so that the strong are the ones in control, etc.) is just something you tend not to see that frequently. i’m not saying his plans are necessarily foolproof— historically, meritocracies don’t do very sexily due to how they basically just end up being a situation of “the rich succeed, the poor fail.” that’s actually what i find beautifully ironic about the ending to cf, edelgard believes that she has found a way to fix fódlan but just puts them back at square one (instead of crests determining power, it will ultimately lead to the wealthy becoming powerful, since they can, y’know, afford shit). i bring this up because it’s pretty similar to how daein was run, though instead of it being run by nobles that would eventually become corrupt, it was run by soldiers who, more often than not, were bloodthirsty, cruel bastards willing to sacrifice their men if it meant a chance at more power to them. i really like how the two situations relate to each other, as in their leader’s well-intentioned quest to improve the lives of the people, they end up not really doing a whole lot.

for the record, i actually happen to like edelgard as a character, this isn’t a bash session that’s thinly-veiled as a character analysis. the difference between me and most of her fans, though, is that i like her because she’s kind of an ass, which is more or less the same reason i like ashnard. despite what i may have implied earlier, ashnard is a really, really horrible person. as some examples, he:

•forces powerful soldiers to fight to the death for his entertainment

•abandoned his infant son when he didn’t have any wacky and uncharacteristic dragon powers

•used said son to bait rajaion and drive him insane to use as a mount

•fully supported the use of feral drugs on laguz

•made no attempt to end the widespread laguz hatred of daein despite him boning one

and so on. but you know what? i like the fact that he’s such an unabashed asshole, and he doesn’t pretend like he’s the good guy in the situation, which is why i prefer him to edelgard, who always has to try and justify her actions. he’s absolutely relishing in just how terrible of a person he is, and it makes him really entertaining to watch. it makes for a really interesting contrast with the greil mercenaries, who also have a main purpose behind fighting and warfare, but have completely different intentions behind it. the mercs are good at heart, at times taking hard jobs for lackluster pay simply because it’s the right thing to do. ashnard does what he does because he thinks it’s the right thing, but in the process cares little for just how much bloodshed and destruction he causes. i just think the parallels are neat.

anyway, to sum up the point of this discussion, i think we should embrace the shitty behavior of morally gray characters like this instead of trying to find ways to justify them.

reject justification, embrace assholery

[fiery-emblems]

I like to think that, in his final moments, as Rajaion lay dying in his beloved’s arms he looked out in the crowd and saw Soren’s face and recognized him (after all, with that hair, eyes and mark, how could he not?) and felt peace wash over him. It hadn’t been all for nothing, his young nephew lived, lived well, and had gotten stronger all on his own, strong enough to help defeat his own father. I think that would give him a lot of solace and comfort, knowing that Ashnard couldn’t get him now. He was safe, just like he and Almedha wished for. I think about this a lot.

Tellius remakes and add this scene please