various stuff I come up with but mainly a Fire Emblem oriented blog with some other stuff about what crosses my (deranged) mind. If you're looking for Fire emblem nonsense, you're right at home!
"Hey Alm, by saying you want people to live by their own strength, aren't you mirroring what this Duma fellow you've told me about said?"
"Nah, I say I want to make a world for humans, not for gods."
"And those so-called gods, what are they? You know, in my world, I advocate for a world where both humans and dragons can live together. In peace. Elibe has been a world for men by hunting to near extinction its dragonkin. I want to change that and make it a world for everyone!"
"Yeah but... They don't rely on the powers of gods, right?"
"Well my wife has a special skill that makes her able to sense impeding danger! It sure helped me and our tactician during our journey!"
"Sorry to tell you that Eliwood, but if people rely on your non-human wife, then she's a god, and she has no place in the Valentia I'll build. We can't have people rely on her instead of their own strength!"
"Say Alm, what if "individuals coming together" move the world in a wrong direction? One that oppresses people ?"
"As long as it comes from people's will, it's fine by me!"
"Even if it means you and your loved ones will be targeted? And maybe killed?"
"Silly, of course not. My will trumps other's, when I said the world should be molded "by us" I meant by me! Remember when I said the world could burn if it meant saving Celica? Who gives a crap about Clive and Atlas?"
"He never self-reflects nor is swayed by anyone's words! Just like Marquis Dain! What a great man of powerful convictions!"
"I will not flee from forging my own destiny - the same destiny my father forged for me since I was born! Because that is the belief he passed on to me!"
the fuck?
"We must get stronger! So we won't sacrifice the ones we love! Strength > Love!"
And he's telling this to Eliwood???
Whose strength doesn't come from his own, but from relying on his comrades???
"The roots of suffering are the same no matter the world! People like you actually Alm."
"Imagine if in 25 years the kid I've saved parrots the same bullshit? That's definitely the quality of being a king/ruler. Something, alas, I am not, being full of doubt, reconsidering my actions and relying on the ones I love despite not being as strong as my good friend Hector."
Eliwood: I heard of a battle just like the Scouring with the dragon gods of your world.
If you survived, it's no wonder you're considered a hero of the people.
When you realise Eliwood apologises to the Nini siblings on behalf of humanity for what the Scouring did, aka exiling them forever from their home, it's...
Well, IDK. I'm not even a super fan of Eliwood, but it's as if you'd have Elincia accept to kill her people because they are "necessary sacrifices" and praise Supreme Leader for sending hers to Uncle's scientific squad.
Alm: I only did what I swore I would— protect the country my father entrusted to me. I'm no hero.
Alm, Rudy only entrusted Rigel to you after forcing you to attack... well, Rigel.
Eliwood: Nor am I. I fought to avenge my father, and to protect my dearest friend and those closest to me.
My reasons were ultimately personal.
"And then I fought a war mongering Marquis who wanted to start a continental War to become Rule of the World, and ultimately, my not father in law who puppeted him because he wanted to create more wars to harvest dead people's energies, or even summon dragons to harvest them. My reasons were very personal. Very."
Also, since when Eliwood wants to avenge his father, or even Ninian??? He never mentions vengeance in any of his quotes against Nergal!
But Alm, I thought the wicked were wicked because Duma forced them to act like asshats? Do you mean Desaix and your asshole cousin were assholes on their own? And oppressed people for the lols ? Why did you kill Duma and blame him for their assholery then?
"I'm glad to have met you Alm. Sure, Hector is as strong as you and doesn't have paper morals, so I still prefer him to you who are pushing and forcing your vision on people using your strength, and refusing to share the world with dragonkin, but we're in FEH, and I have to be thrown in a blender to bow to you so, here we go."
Eliwood: Everyone has their weaknesses. Mine is my frail body.
It has been ages since I've played FE7, but when was this ever mentionned? Eliwood and Hector routinely duel and they're tied - so what's this thing about his frail body?
Is it supposed to be a nod to Oldiwood, who cannot accompany Roy on his journey 20 years later?
Also, is it me of the word "strength" or "strong" is mentionned way too multiple times? Sure, Alm is Duma's champion, but Gaiden was explicitely about leaning too much towards one ideal sucks, so why is Alm talking about his strength here and there, and no lines mention Eliwood's compassion and care for the people? I mean, Eliwood is the one who ultimately pities Nergal ffs!
Alm could have compared him to Celica - down to their hair - but no, IS wanted to wank him to death so Eliwood became his cheerleader? Even if it destroys his character?
Eliwood: I heard of a battle just like the Scouring with the dragon gods of your world.
If you survived, it's no wonder you're considered a hero of the people.
For my fwend @crushednugget
FEH!Eliwood :
"OMG Alm you got rid of those pesky lizards gods like our heroes did during the scouring! The heroes I totally admire because Elibe belongs to humanity!!!!"
"Hey Alm, my dad fought for world peace and tried stop a moron who wanted to start a continental war to become King of the World, and my not father in law who lost his mind and wanted to swarm Elibe with dragons only to kill them and steal their lifeforce! What about yours?"
"Mine started a war, broke a holy covenant that meant eldritch zombies/abomination now roamed around the land on top of the thousands of dead people his war caused, but apparentaly he had to start a war, thus break peace, to bring true piss by killing a crazed dragon he couldn't, somehow kill with the anti dragon sword he had in his basement because blue people scared him, so instead he caught and killed that dragon's sister. And let the crazed dragon become even more crazy."
"..."
"Oh, and contrary to yours, he was a trash husband to, since after my birth and after spiriting me away to the land of his heated enemies he planned to war against in 15 years, he threw my mother away from his castle and relocated her in an area near a crazed sorceress with only a few knights to ensure her protection, leaving her alone all that time. I only meet her in a drama CD."
"..."
"And did I tell you how my Father basically made sure my cousin would hate me and also how he made me a parricide?"
Since we are talking about clown behaviour already
When I saw the Alm and Eliwood duo, I felt cognitive dissonance and couldn't put my finger on it. After spending 2 minutes thinking about it, I have an answer. This duo is just wrong.
First off, the title.
"For Others' Sake" sure applies to Eliwood, but to Alm? This Alm?
Alm's whole shtick is that he does what he thinks is right, not protecting others. This is one of the two lords who says that sacrifices are necessary for the future. Not to mention that he would sacrifice the world for Celica. That's the exact opposite of what the new title says. But that's not all...
Only humanity? If there is any lord who should have a problem with what Alm is saying, it would be Eliwood. You know, the guy who has a child with a manakete. Of course Alm can't be called out. No discussion can follow. Eliwood has to happily nod along to not ruin the "we are all one big family who want the same" illusion, completely assassinating his character in the process.
So how exactly will IntSys bind these two characters together?
Ah yes, they both follow their peace-loving dads! Eliwood follows Elbert who refused to join a rebellion and Alm follows Rudolf who started a war to create a dragon-free Valentia. They have so much in common!
What even is integrity and consistency when you can run your game on good vibes?
It makes me wonder if Brave!Siggy won't be turned in a yes man to nod at Brave!Sylvain's nonsense, especially if his writing is pure Houses, aka "women BaD bcs they only want my super powers" + "crust BaD because people rely on me to help them :("
Or maybe B!Sylvain will get a B!Supreme Leader awakening, and realise, thanks to the ideal of chivalry and heroic behaviour that is Sigurd, how his crust and status makes him able to protect people who can't defend themselves, so instead of crying about it, he either drops his sword, or picks it up to protect his people.
You have GOT to see the new oc how tf does she wear a thong she’s a SNAKE, we going to get a mermaid with a thong next?
Fhsosvfvrlqpfuzxvwjqvtv. Wtf is that? Why does she even wear a thong? And how did she put it on? At this point it's embarrassing to associate with this game 😭😭😭
Not to mention that she looks like your average waifu gacha game fetish bait. Like, holy hell. You could put her in any other gacha game that features characters with animalistic features and she would fit right in. Nothing Fire Emblem about her.
mickey being branded creates incentive for her parents to get rid of her and pretend she died during/shortly after birth due to normal infant mortality reasons both because of general "branded bad" sentiment and how a branded child calls into doubt the legitimacy/'purity' of the apostle's bloodline in a country where being ('purebred') beorc is super important, maybe? not super familiar with her early life and i'd be putting my bets on "devs didn't think this through enough" anyway, but i think you can kinda "that's right, the square hole" it with this
mickey being branded creates incentive for her parents to get rid of her and pretend she died during/shortly after birth due to normal infant mortality reasons both because of general "branded bad" sentiment and how a branded child calls into doubt the legitimacy/'purity' of the apostle's bloodline in a country where being ('purebred') beorc is super important, maybe?
That could have been a reason...
If Grandma Misaha wasn't around, alive and kicking, and had the brand - just like every apostle before her!
While it might not have been common, Misaha's kid (Miccy's mom or dad) couldn't ignore how young their mother appeared to be - just like the other apostles who also had a non beorc long life* - and maybe knew about the strange tatoo she had, if they understood what it was and what it meant about the Imperial line, they wouldn't snuff bby!Miccy out, but see this mark as a sign she's a true descendant of the line!
The supposed plot is supposed to go : Grandma Misaha made some decree stuff wanting to emancipate Laguz + Lekain and pals weren't happy -> Misaha met Lehran and said she wanted to reveal the truth about her identity to the world -> she was assassinated alongside Miccy (who was or not a baby at that time).
Then, her death was used to blame herons and an angry mob took revenge against them - but somehow, the angry mob's anger wasn't fueled by the death of Begion's beloved empress/apostle + her infant granddaughter, just the death of the apostle?
No one ever mentionned the infant granddaughter? Not Lekain, not Begnion random n°77, not even Lehran?
Also, infant mortality or not, if Begnion gets an imperial heir the news is going to spread, especially for a line that is, as you said, as attached as they are about their special bloodline.
Misaha's daughter - supposedly the next in line for the throne if anything happens to her - is pregnant?
The hereditary line is secured, people can sleep peacefully, the Empire isn't going to be wrecked if anything happens to the current Empress, since the dynasty is secured.
The birth of a heir is an important thing, not something supposed to be confined between the walls of a palace.
And if Misaha didn't get a daughter but a son, it's more or less the same thing : Misaha's line will continue, with the added bonus that this time it continues through a girl, so this girl, when she will be older, will become the next Empress.
And yet, no one mentions how the story pushed by the Senate was how the heron tribe tried to wipe Begnion's imperial line - killing the beloved empresses/apostle AND her future successor - nope, nothing.
*It's even wilder when you consider the larger plot : Brandeds are supposedly shunned by people around, and yet, the Begnion Apostles/Empresses- bar the mark they hide - have every attribute of Brandeds and definitely don't live in the shadows, if they're Empresses !
Maybe they bullshited some "blessed by the goddess" lie while hiding the truth, but they also had strange abilities like "receiving revelations" about the future, like crops and what not... Everything that doesn't scream "regular beorc joe" and yet, it was never... frown upon? The Senate never knew in the 600 years Begnion existed how the apostles have kickass tatoos on their hands? Nor made the link between Brandeds, long lives and strange abilities? I mean, if a heron branded's lifespan is equal to 1,6 to 2 times that of a regular Beorc, we're talking about people routinely looking young while they are over 60 and growing old to 120-130 easily!
Which makes the plot even wonkier all things considered : let Sanaki live in ignorance but come on, not even one "older" Begnion character mentionning how Miccy has the same name as the apostle's long dead sister, or how her powers and predictions - and adoration from Daein's people - are oddly reminiscent of the kind of abilities the former apostles/Empresses had before Sanaki? Hell, Numida didn't put 1+1=2 regarding Miccy ? Neither did Lekain?
Tellius recollection book says Heron branded characters have a lifespan that is more or less 1,6/2 times older than their apparent age : according to the same book, Miccy's apparent age is 15 so she would have been around 24-30 years old when Serenes happened.
Which, okay, fits, because Lekain tells Sanaki the herons were blamed for assassinating both Misaha and Sanaki's older sister.
But then...
This had never been mentionned in FE9? You'd think the Senate would pretend the herons slaughtered the beloved apostle Misaha AND her baby/young/infant granddaughter to rouse he masses, but no ?
Also Sanaki wasn't born at the time of Serenes, so it means Misaha's child - Sanaki's father (I supposed he was a guy, else he'd have been the next emperor?) never ever mentionned his eldest daughter? Didn't mourn or had a funeral for her?? Told the weird guy with long hair that talked to her mom about her kickass tatoo how those dastard herons also killed his baby?
I can buy Elincia being a sekrit princess because she explains to us the circumstances of having a political fallout since her uncle Renning was already named heir when Ramon finally got her, but with Miccy? You'd expect Begnion would send messengers, hold a celebration or maybe some kind of fanfare or whatnot for the birth of the first child - the next Empress, but nothing?
Lekain is all "oh noes Sanaki did no one ever told you about your older sister??" but, uh, are we, as players, supposed to be as clueless as Sanaki or what?
Ignoring their dad, wouldn't that even be a major turning point or even, say, a point regarding Begnion's armed forces? Couldn't they have fit this in, idk, Tanith's backstory? Sure, she's too young (27 in RD?) to have been part of the Royal Guard back when the Serenes massacre happened, but we could have had some support in FE9 where it'd more or less be revealed she became the very strict instructor she is now because during her days as a knight her own instructor blamed herself or the knights for having been unable to protect the apostle and her grandchild!
Maybe with someone (Marcia) realising she's not talking about Empress Sanaki, since she's too young, but about Sanaki's older sister.
I mean, those games were designed as duology, and somehow, the main character from the sequel only had a passing mention by her love interest but none regarding her political standing and importance in the greater scheme of things?
It of course culminates in Part 4 where Miccy is yeeted away from the culmination of her own game because she has to be a soul jar, so
1/ Sephiran can only lie to her about "how he would have done things differently had he known she lived" despite the fact he sent Zelgius in Daien to definitly not eat popcorn but to protect her
2/Sephiran's FB is all about Misaha telling him she came to understand why she has a kickass tatoo... but Misaha never mentionned how her cute lil'granddaughter has the same?? Or that part wasn't in the flashback? Hell Sephiran, when he has his breakdown, can't even spare a thought about her who was supposed, remember, to have been killed along with Misaha by the evil herons? No? Not a single thought?
3/
Micaiah: You… Forgive me for asking, but… Aren’t you my–
Lehran: Can we talk about this later?
Micaiah: What? Oh, I mean, of course… Sorry to bother you…
Lehran: Child, you couldn’t possibly bother me. It’s just, the talk you and I must have is going to take a long time. I don’t think Ashera would wait for us to finish.
"I don't have time to talk to you nor say I'm one of your only relatives to you who might have been searching for a long time if you had any family, we have to defeat Ashera!"
3 minutes later
Sanaki: You finally made it, Sephiran.
Lehran: Sanaki, I…
Sanaki: I was starting to wonder I would punish you.
Lehran: I’m sorry?
Sanaki: You are my subordinate, after all. I’ve decided that leaving one’s empress to die is punishable by drowning in a pool of rancid butter.
Lehran: Of course it is, my empress.
Sanaki: I hope you’re a strong swimmer.
"Ah yes Sanaki, I will stop to listen to you, even if I want to engage the conversation and talk to you first. And yes, I definitely have time to listen to you come up with ridiculous ideas about me swimming in butter to apologise for having destroyed the world. Of course my Empress."
5 minutes later
Lehran: Prince Kurthnaga… How you’ve grown.
Kurthnaga: You know who I am?
Lehran: I’ve resided in Goldoa for more than seven hundred years.
Kurthnaga: I… I had no idea.
Lehran: That’s because I was kept in hiding. But I did meet you several times, when you were just an infant.
Kurthnaga: I remember a… a mysterious man with black wings. Was that you? I always thought that was a dream…
Lehran: …
Kurthnaga: I was always so fascinated by that man and his songs… I remember him well, and fondly.
"OMG Kurthanaga, how much you've grown! I remember you from back then, when you were a wee lil'thing!"
Only one of those three isn't his grandchild, can you guess who?
That being said, and because Tellius is obviously a template for Fodlan -
Supreme Leader's missing siblings and stepmothers isn't as ridiculous when you consider poor Miccy's situation.
Adding Julia to the mix bcs of white hair and we get :
1996 : The princess of Granvalle disappeared - or has been rumoured to be dead? Or what? The game never has any NPC appearing in the 2nd Gen mentionning her, afaik, or how after some "tragic accident" Prince Julius changed after losing both his mother and sister. Nope, nothing!
But this can get a pass, Julia is the OG member of the "Julia Tier" and, according to Kaga, nothing but a Falchion with Legs so...
2007 : 21 years later, a new princess (?) with white hair! Her existence was hidden from everyone, even from the plot! But she totes existed before the game was released, her future love interest mentions her!!! She's akshually a rightful princess of Begnion, even if no one from that land gives a fuck about her, save for the evil Senator who tried to kill her!
2019 : 12 years later, we have a princess who is the, well, princess/next in line for her throne!
Sure, she had several siblings who died and no one conveniently suggests* they all died at the same time which left her, somehow, the only heir when she had no chance in hell had that "convenient illness" not happened to inherit her dad's throne, nope!
So yeah, Hubert and Ferdie never name-dropping Supreme Leader's older brother/sister who was child number 1 and the heir born to Ionius and his Empress is ridiculous, considering how they both tied their identity to her as the Empire's heir when she only became the heir at 12-13 and they're as old if not a bit older than her...
But after the pure mess that is Miccy's writing?
Her supreme siblings feel like less of a retcon than Miccy's existence in FE10 and that's saying something.
*Gods I just realised FE10 missed an opportunity to have Naesala ask her the same question Tibarn earlier asked him to Sanaki but tweaked a bit to adapt to context in 3-F when he brings her to the battlefield : Sanaki is the heir because her older sister died right? At least it wasn't from a blood pact, which would make her freak out, what the hell is he saying - and then plot happens and she realises who Miccy actually is.
I have to chime in because this discussion looks fun (sorry) and both Grima and Anankos are my two favorite FE villains (unless you count Rhea as one I personally don’t but to each their own)
Anyway! Anankos loved humanity and then got hit with dragon alzheimer's and is such a tragic and sad character and I’m pissed we don’t have his good self in Feh yet. Technically we don’t even have his dragon in Feh yet because he doesn’t transform and just has bubbles…so we need both. Maybe do a Duma and have the normal version in the art but the degeneration version as the battle unit? But once he turned and become old that’s when he started saying humanity betrayed him and they did but he betrayed them first. If you really want to get technical his first betrayal was actually his mind going and betraying him due to disease and I find him a really good portrayal of dementia though that’s not what he’s meant to be at all. It makes him really unique and Fates true story lingers basically on the story of an old man losing his mind. I saw my grandfather go through it, everyone is out to get you, they’re all wrong, memories warp, it’s sad and scary stuff. You’re a completely different person trapped.
As for Grima? Lol he’s is probably the least tragic character ever and it has always amused me people take those lines and try to humanize him. That said I find him so much fun because there’s so little there everyone who is a fan basically has a different Grima OC. Even if IS’s idea for him was throw some Anankos lines in here, I highly doubt Grima ever loved humanity, he “might” want to be human, lines shared in the alt and future past but I always took that as Robin wishing he was human and not raised to be Grima’s vessel but and I’m going to be honest I didn’t become a fan of Awakening’s cast until all the side material they showed up in, I used to think Chrom was the most bland bread imaginable now I love the guy. Funny how that works.
So with Grima I don’t feel like those lines make him tragic, and if it’s supposed to it didn’t work on me; though yes it did make me very interested in him as a character I’m not immune to filling in holes I’m a writer! We can’t ever know why they gave us those lines or what they were thinking at the time but my headcanon is somehow he got out of that lab humans turned him into an object of worship as they do when they see a dragon and he just went with it because it benefited him until he couldn’t take human nature anymore. That’s the best way I can fit his prior (though not a lot of) character to those added lines and yes I thought about this far more than IS because I have writer brain.
Basically humans are to Grima what customer service is to workers. If you didn’t want to burn down the world after working customer service you’re a stronger person than I
And I’m glad we all agree FGrima is a mistake, girl I want to like you, you’re supposed to be the exact same but your presentation…let’s just say leaves much to be desired.
wdym rhea is not the villain of her game she BaD that's the entire crux of the Fodlan verse lol
More seriously,
Dementia is truly a frightening thing to witness so I can't even imagine how the person suffering from it must feel, but imo, Anankos' story is supposed to be a tragedy because of the inevitable draconic degeneration thing -
Which is why I wasn't super fond of the Archanea verse painting it as inevitable, even if Naga'n'pals discovered dragon stones later - but forgot to send a carrier pigeon to Duma'n'Mila to tell them of those new recent developments otherwise we wouldn't have FE15 - but still I guess it was more or less necessary to explain how and why humans and lizards could "coexist" together or why it would now be impossible (bcs, in Archanea's story, humans turned against dragons as soon as they were weakened enough to be manaketes!).
FE13's Chrom at least had some sort of forced progression arc after the death of his sister - he kills Gangrel with extreme prejudice and iirc Mustafa's men because he focuses on revenge - which is shown in his lines against Walmart.
Then the plot is hijacked by Grimleal stuff, but there's this thing even if I agree, FE13's writing is a bit everywhere and tbh, I prefer FEH!Chrom as his "bow chrom" alt, or even his pony alt, than the various "Robin's bestie" alts we get from now.
As for Grima, well, I'm glad FEH inspired you to write about him and fill holes in his initial presentation!
TBH the Grimleal since FE13 really puzzled me because, uh, contrary to Loptyr who apparently had an Empire going on where a select few could abuse and kick people down, whatever Grima "offered" to his followers was a big question mark. Why did they even follow him? Did he manipulate them? How come he needs a host to be revived, he isn't stuck in a book or a shiny rock, right?
The canon around him is such a mess that yeah, you're better off headcanoning and writing fics about him than try to understand and piece together what the successive writers wanted him to be because, at this point, nothing makes sense.
It's kind of sad IS depicted F!Grima as Grimass and went down the "evil is sexy (for men!!)" trope for her, because F!Robin's initial presentation was as gender neutral as possible, sure, she loses pants in her grandmaster's class but compared to the later avatars who came, she was the least offensive as in, you could really believe the devs might have thought about making a female avatar just in case women would like to play the game without designing her for a predominantly male gaze.
But then, FEH is FEH and one of its staple is to have everyone thirst after (male) Kiran, so the writing for female OCs - including Grimass - has to reflect this :(
Just a clarification the lost memories thing is probably the one canon thing he says in Awakening, came from the future past from “Robin” I see what anon means by the Robin/Grima connection as it was slightly muddied in future past (paid dlc only which could further other anons point maybe but all of Anankos also comes from dlc sooo) and a lot of Fallen Male Grima’s lines actually come from that “Robin” says them. FEH made me curious about Grima because he’s such a nothingburger when I played so I did my own research. The 40 is completely new but the memory thing is probably the one canon thing…and it could very well be a Robin thing actually. If you lose at one tiny point in the future past Grima says Robin like lines while the game still calls him Grima and the fandom (apparently) ran with it for years…only for it to finally be brought back up in that fallen alt. Shadows Grima (ew) also talks solely about gaining memories back.
Everything since that one alt is also made up until we get to the named Grima units which have some lines from the final battle and yell in caps lock occasionally.
Anyway I like Grima I’m absolutely fascinated by the fact they took someone with barely anything and turned him into a Feh OC it’s hilarious to me so I’ll always defend the amalgamation they turned him into. They sort of did the same with Idunn and gave her an arc in Feh giving her some closure which is also really neat! This is what I’ll always give feh props for and don’t get me wrong they have done more bad than good but giving characters with not a lot in their home game is neat to me.
I also never saw him as Anankos lite and more a beta Embla because humans betrayed me I mad and will make them all suffer is exactly the arc we got in Book 6, unless you think Embla came from Anankos too? She could, they aren’t exactly coy about reusing things for the silly mobile game. Either way to all of the humans betrayed me I mad peeps cool to understand where you come from but still murder my guy you’re just as bad as what you hate etc etc
Oh no pbs anon!
Yeah I've checked it's in the future past 3 DLC where Grima, after being defeated, more or less returns to Robin apologising to the Morgans and whatnot, but imo it felt more like a Lyon-Fomortiis thing or Loptous-Julius (something we never see lol), not to say they're the same, but they're separate and one was overwriting the other, or in control?
That being said, not all of Anankos' lines and characterisation came from Heirs of Fate, Revelations (unless you count it as a DLC?) is basically all about his story, and the Rev version of Azura's song highlights what he's thinking of/about.
Imo the Anankos rip-off was more explicit than Grima being a proto-Embla : Anankos' game had been released (2016 when Grima was released in 2018 and Embla popped in book 6!) with the final routes basically explaining he was a benevolent deity, who feared his degeneration thus he gave a song and a pendant to his bff Cadros to calm him when he'd grow mad, he "accidently" razed a forest and the people who once worshipped him feared and resented him, which is why he believes they betrayed him.
Embla is just the same thing with the exclusive feminine sad'n'lonely glazing : FE often plays with the same tropes though, but even if I'm not super fond of both FE13 and FE14, the writing is eons away above Heroes and, well, Embla.
I'm not going to complain about FEH giving characters some love (@9thwither and I are basically agreeing FEH gives more spotlight to Fodlan's Nabateans than the Fodlan games themselves lol) and more development, but it should imo remain consistent with what those characters were in their games without retconning their verse : granted, when the verse shits on them to begin with (remember when Sothis giving a fig about her children is a retcon from the Fodlan games?) FEH is the only place where they can get some light.
Granted, it's also why I don't understand why FEH didn't implement the Forging Bonds mechanic earlier : it's the only place where, bar the fixed lines, they can make characters from past game interact, and in a way, develop!
I’m curious, how can you prefer Awakening Grima when there was practically nothing there? All of his character comes not from his own game and at this point barely ties into it, for a final boss there’s nothing but a Loptous expy except Loptous was allowed to have a character and do things throughout his game. Grima barely exists and while a lot of it is…odd it’d much rather have something than nothing—it should have been in his own game but at least there’s *something now* because for a final boss god there was nothing there. Now I can at least take him somewhat seriously. But also I’m not a big Awakening fan. Cast is fun but Engage did the celebration a lot better, Sombron has a character everyone isn’t an expy first character second and Grima suffers for that the worst out of everyone when he’s supposed to be this really threatening final boss who destroyed everything…and he just sure exists. Maybe he’s actually Robin we don’t know but that’s still not an excuse to give the big bad no character. And if that’s intended? That’s not good writing.
It’s almost poetic he’s a lab creation now, a Mewtwo because that’s his character, a mess. A giant helping of Loptous here, some Anankos sprinkled there for a backstory, even some Medeus, followed by a splash of Fomortis to top him off. Every other final boss has something to them, Grima didn’t and needed literally anything, now while clearly retconed and clearly taking from other bosses he’s on par with the rest of them as he should have been in the beginning. And it took places outside HIS OWN GAME to get here.
For the purposes of this ask I’m ignoring the female version and exclusively referring to the male version because that sure is a choice they made for the exact same character, had no idea female hormones could change your personality so drastically in Fire Emblem
Well, Awakening wasn't a celebration game like Engage was, but something closer to a legacy game : if it worked then it worked, if it didn't then the series at least would have had the last game closing on plot beats and elements and that took inspiration from the other games.
Grima, at least in his redcapslock version, was, as you said, barely a thing but he was supposed to be a nod to Loptous, with the "vessel + brand" thing, the human sacrifices thing and a nod to earth dragons since he was, iirc, supposed to be revived at the dragon's table?
The Fomortiis nod was a bit more complicated, but I guess you can say it's how Grima himself engineers his return ? But imo, it was made clear Grima isn't Robin at all - he's his own thing in Awakening.
FEH borrowing, no, lbr, ripping Anankos' backstory - at a point where Anankos was from the latest released game, and not in FEH ! - already pissed me because, imo, it felt like a retcon.
I'm all in for FEH giving more lore crumbs and all - and gods know I'm disserting about nabatean nonsense thanks to FEH lol - but it really felt like some "can i copy your homework" to upgrade what was already there. Like, can you imagine Panne and Yarne, who are also as unexplained to Ylisse as Grima is, suddenly rip off Ena's backstory? Or Nailah?
FE13 Grima, afair, never lost his memory or never thought humans were doodoo because they shunned him after he helped them - all of those traits are completely incoherent with what FE13 brought, to the point of M!F!Grima being, at this point, a FEH OC!
Add to the injury how Anankos was only added 5 years later, after multiple Grima copies!
Echoes dabbing in "science experiment that went wrong feels less of a retcon - since we could see, in FE13 proper, during battle, how Grima had some sort of human face thing... but again, too little, too late. What does this "knowledge" brings to FE13's Grima? What does it explain? And, again, to add to the injury, this retcon doesn't bring anything to FE13, but damages FE15's already bipolar telling : Part 3 and 4 have kusakihara Alm parrot some gods bad humanity good, and then, Act 5 is all about finishing, or trying to finish, what Duma started by getting rid of the eldritch abomination humans created in their kitchen? Does Alm even reflects on his previous words? No, of course not.
It's just here like a Marvel post credit scene - a teaser to what happens in the future, aka, in FE13.
Which is, even more frustrating given how kusakihara the game wanted to hammer the continuity between Valentia - Rigel - and Valm, but apparently, Walmart never got the memo about the eldritch abomination that is Grima and instead parrots the same "religion BaD humanity > Gods" spiel Part 3-4 Alm had!
I'm not saying FE13!Grima was peak or anything, and I'm old so I guess if "explanations about wtf he is" had to happen, I would have prefered it happened in an interview or in an official book (like Jugdral ones or the Tellius recollection!) rather than be sprinkled in other games like it is now : in Heroes he's Anankos lite with a side dose of uwu because in its first (or second?) year Heroes didn't want to write one-note villains or if they did they quickly forgot them (rip Valter's alts), and in Echoes, he's a man made creation... in a game that praises mankind and blames dragonkin for everything wrong with mankind.
We will have to disagree regarding the other final bosses from the FE series though , Loptyr's reasons for meddling and ruining human lives is more or less explained as him refusing to become a Manakete and he waged war against Naga, but instead of being sealed like his kin and watched over by Medeus, some loser asked to borrow his power, and he did it with the purpose of wrecking havoc and ruining humanity. That's it. And that's only if you read the dev interviews!
Loptyr doesn't do a thing in his game - it's Manfroy who does everything, and even if the game plays a bit coy about who is in control of if "Julius" isn't influenced, bar hunting rebels, destroying bed flowers or parading Ishtar as a trophy, it's nothing compared to what Manfroy does, in his name.
Fomortiis' reasons for being, uh, evil are just "why not" and if we follow Engage's designation of "final bosses", Fodlan's Nemesis was a dude who wanted to be the strongest, that's all.
Good for you if you like Grima as what he's supposed to be now anon!
Still, while I can see how his writing and character sort of "fit" by being a mess, both doylist and watsonian wise, imo he doesn't make the cut for me, as in, I'm half wondering typing this post if somehow, in a future game where he'll be there, he won't "borrow" from FE18's main boss, or the devs won't find a way to tweak his character and backstory even more to make him more "suitable" as an element of the Archanea verse, completely forgetting Ylisse.
I don't really have a way to describe this gane other than sloppy. Like... you guys remember when everyone was trying to emulate tiki taka and walk the ball into the penalty box?
I don't really have a way to describe this gane other than sloppy. Like... you guys remember when everyone was trying to emulate tiki taka and walk the ball into the penalty box?
As far as we know, KT isn't involved in the writing, but re-listening FE15's OST made me realise something quite obvious :
How the frick did Kusakihara turn a Gaiden remake into a "generic JRPG" game where the goal is to, supposedly, affirm humanity doesn't need gods (expect when Mila still blesses the land before dying because mass starvation isn't the best way to start a reign!) when the game is basically a prequel to FE13 where, surprise, a lizard god saves the world by using time traveling shenanigans?
Hell, FE15 also retconned Grima from the same FE13 by making it an eldritch man-made abomination that acquired powers to rival lizard gods, destroyed the world because WHY NOT* and ultimately, needed retroactive lizard godly intervention to save the world.
Twilight of the Gods : but please, make sure my garden is watered before leaving, and return in 1k years to save my ass from some freakish science lab pet project I made during my free time in the kitchen, thx!
All jokes aside, the retcon to make Duma/Mila dragons completely makes the message of the game wonky, and I know Gaiden also had that song, and the main boss was also to put Duma and Mila to rest as they returned to "slumber", but Part 4-5 Alm is the main vector through which the game embraced some silly Squenix goal, when Gaiden had never been interested in telling a story about "gods man humans free if gods gone".
Alm: Oh, come on! What’s wrong with personal feelings?! All of you fought this far because you hold some kind of hope for the world. It’s man’s individual hopes and fears that shape the world. That drive it**. And that’s how it SHOULD be. I truly believe that. Should we let the world crumble on a god’s whim? Or his absence?
(...)
Alm: I will dedicate my life as emperor to ensuring such a thing doesn’t happen. And yes, I know as well as anyone that there will be losses along the way. I think I’ve learned that much by now… But when I think of the next thousand years***, I don’t want this. I want to leave behind a world where we shape our lives by our own hands. Where we make our own mistakes and fix them—as many times as necessary. That’s a world worthy of a future.
Alm: It’s over, Duma! Berkut, Fernand, Mila… Even my father. They and countless others, lost to us— tainted by your precious power. But that chain of tragedies ends here.
How the hell are we supposed to reconcile Kusakihara's Squenix direction/writing (?) with Gaiden's core : "For whatever madness lay in the hearts of gods… a darkness deeper still beats wild in the hearts of man…" ???
That being said, from what I can see online, he wasn't involved at all in Engage, which might explain why there's no "let's liberate humans from evil pointy ears tyrants!" bias, but, Engage was its own thing.
So, imo, Fodlan 3's plot will be heavily dependant on whether Kusakihara is directing again, or not.
Given how Engage and Heroes try to elude the most Squenix aspects of the writing - remember Fallen Supreme Leader's FB ? Or Supreme FB's in general - I have faith IS, or whoever is in charge of the current best selling FE game to date knows borrowing speeches and themes from other franchises to slap them to a franchise that has said the inverse for the past 30 years isn't going to make the cut, and yet...
Houses is still widely popular, so what if, even without KT, the devs believe it was the "Squenix rip-off" that drew people in and ultimately give him the keys of the car to do something similar?
At the end of the day, I'm still not going to buy Fodlan 3 before checking a LP or else about the plot, because damn if fighting on ostriches sounds fun, but if it's to get another "why didn't Tomas/Emile knife Rhea while she was handing gold to students who won the mock battle" tier of writing, I'm not going to jump.
*I confess I miss red capslock Grima : at least it was more campy and, in a way, more interesting than the Temu version of Anankos FEH tried to sell for the first fallen heroes banner, or the Frankenstein creature rip-off FE15 cooked.
**Remember, if Desaix killed Lima, if Rudy waged a war, if Jerome wanted to befried Tati or if Berkut roasted his fiancée, it's because of Duma, not because of their own hopes and fears!! It's Duma's lust for power (???) that made, uh, Berkut want... power? Duma offered?? So Duma wasn't lusting after it???
i can't believe i agree with fodlan's X - wait let me rephrase this
Listening to best Fodlan paralogue with JP!audio made me realise how the point being made was even more "in your face" than what the localisation brought -
Why Rhea turns to Seteth in this line?
Well, that's because the JP!Line is :
私兵団の長として、王国軍の中でも信頼を 得ているとか。そうでしたね、セテス？
You'll recognise Seteth's name - basically, Rhea's saying she heard good things from Barney who's respected in the Kingdom army etc etc... then adds some "right Seteth?", as if she's asking for his opinion.
But we know how it goes :
He disagrees and has doubts about Barney - it's basically their support - because Barney has ties to Agarthans, and Rhea
dgaf about Seteth's doubts.
As usual.
But that's not all!
However, this felt a bit off compared to the audio, so I checked it and Rhea goes instead :
セテスにも困ったものです。フレンのことと なると、途端に冷静さを欠くのですから
Machine translated, she calls Seteth a "real pain" lol, most likely he does stupid things and somehow got himself caught by random bandits, which would never happen usually, because here his mission involved Flayn. However, despite the portrait, Inoue's VA is playful so, again, she's making fun and teasing him.
Something like "he's so annoying whenever Flayn is involved he becomes an idiot and even gets caught by randos" while Flayn's all "I know it's embarassing".
Poor guy can't catch a break in this paralogue :(
---
So unless Heroes releases Halloween!Seteth next and has him interact with Festive!Rhea and Kitty!Flayn, this paralogue is the only occasion where the bond the nabateans share - at least Seteth and Rhea or Flayn and Rhea - is shown and not only informed.
Sure, Rhea has only 5 lines with Flayn in this paralogue, but they are referenced too in one of Flayn's base dialogues where she says Rhea's a fun loving and playful person. Yes, because we see it here (at seteth's expense lol).
In Houses? Rhea shares no lines with Flayn. Or, to be generous, maybe 2, but it's nowhere near as qualitative, as in, being a dialogue or showing the bond between them, as the lines shared in this paralogue. So yes, even if she's, for all intents and purposes, as fridged in AG as she is in the Houses routes bar Tru Piss, she interacts with people she could and should have interacted with in Houses.
Sure it's not much for a NPC with limited screen time, but it's still more breadcrumbs than what Houses ever did.
