Lukas is AroAce And Why That Matters
(no picture here cause this is rushed af)
Happy last night of Pride Month! I wanted to spend at least one day on the AA spectrum, but didn't find the time to do it with art or fanfiction. Instead, I want to try character analysis of a character not many people know about.
To be clear: this is about Lukas from SoV, not Lukas from Gaiden. FE2's remake made a lot of changes to the og cast, some of which resulted in the game being less straight. There's not much discussion of Lukas's queer coding even in the FE fandom, so I want to bring more attention to it. Also, I'm using the term AroAce, but a purely Aromantic reading of Lukas is also supported by the text. I just think there's enough evidence that Lukas is also Asexual.
Part A: Supports
Clive Support
The real meat and potatoes is in the Python support, but there's also hints in his support with Clive(remember this guy, he WILL come up again)
The C support starts out well, but after Clive talks about Forsyth and Python, it goes south.
What was that about? We find out in the B support.
While Lukas's lack of passion could refer to several things, I think it's about his relationship with romance. His hangup about not feeling ENOUGH passion is something many aros can relate to before they figure themselves out(same with aces and sexual attraction) He also lives in a world where romance and sex isn't just normal, but expected. So when Lukas feels no desire for either, it leaves him isolated from his peers. The 'cold observer' title reads as another reminder of that, since allos tend to assume those that don't feel romantic or sexual attraction must be too cold or emotionless to feel anything.
The B support ends with Lukas reluctantly accepting that this is just how he is. It's bittersweet, but thankfully the A support ends on a much happier note.
What's nice about this ending isn't just Lukas feeling more comfortable with who he is. It's also the fact that Clive helps him get there. That's a running theme with Lukas: he doesn't have to go on this journey alone. He gives and recieves platonic love with his fellow soldiers, and is reassured this is more than enough for him. Clive being one of the characters to do it is great for reasons we'll see in the Python support. Speaking of...
Python Support
Unfortunately, this support is a DLC exclusive, so it's near impossible to get in-game these days. Luckily for modern FE fans, it's still easy to find archives on Youtube and wiki's(thank you fireemblemwiki for letting me screenshot this dialogue)
The C support shows us how Lukas and Python's personalities clash, along with their interest in a specific type of gossip.
Lukas having no interest in this could just be a matter of respect, he's the mature one in this dynamic. But notice how disappointed Lukas becomes when Python starts prying into Clive's love life. He wants nothing to do with this romance gossip, and this continues in their B support.
Now Python is prying into Lukas's love life and the red soldier isn't just uninterested, he doesn't understand the appeal. Again, you could just chalk it up to Python being rude(which he DEFINITELY IS), but every time Python asks for details like flirting, aesthetic beauty, potential suitors, Lukas either gives up and goes with it to get Python off his back, or dissuades him from talking about it at all. Romance is what breaks it for Lukas, because he just doesn't understand what's so special about it.
Some of you might not be convinced since Lukas says he courted a woman for 'many a year'. That's a long time, right? Surely this guy felt SOME kinda romance with that many attempts! To answer that, we have to look at the A support.
Turns out even video game characters aren't safe from comphet! Python's behavior is proof that's what this is, since he pushes for this news with the expectation Lukas is just hiding it to be polite. Here though, Python finally picks up on his disinterest in the subject. When he asks if Lukas ever loved her, he responds by admitting that pursuit was fueled by obligation. That his lack of attraction everyone seems to have makes him feel broken, especially compared to Clive and Mathilda, who are the lovey-dovey couple of this game. That's why Clive's approach in his support is so nice, he's basically the opposite of Lukas in this regard!
(Also the fiery loins innuendo is clearly hinting at sexual attraction, and Lukas is equally baffled by Python's obsession with it. That's enough to convince me he's also asexual even though the support is focused on aromanticism)
But how will Python respond to this news? Will he insist that fire'll come to Lukas one day? Will he dismiss Lukas's feelings in the process? Nope, he does something better.
THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE SUPPORT. It would've been SO easy for Python to recite the 'lid for every jar' nonsense and say Lukas will come around eventually. Instead, he tells Lukas that sentiment won't be true for everyone. That alloromantics can be pretty weird in their own way, and that Lukas can take all the time he needs to figure himself out. He does it with a sense of humor, as Python does, but this time he respects his friend's feelings to help them out. Their exchange ending with Python saying he'll support Lukas, allo or no allo, so the red soldier won't feel pressured to understand himself ties into the theme of self discovery with platonic love. Something many aros and aces would appreciate on their own journeys with identity.
This is how Lukas's supports explore aromanticism, but those take place during the game's story. What about the end of that story? Does it chose to follow through on this theme?
Part B: Ending
At the end of every Fire Emblem game, each character gets a short description thay details what they did after the war. Ever since FE7, it's been standard for most of the cast to get a paired ending if they reach rank A or S with the right character. These can be platonic, but romantic ones are more common, especially between male and female characters(far as I know, the 1st platonic boy/girl ending was with Leonie and Felix, in the franchise's SIXTEENTH entry).
In SoV some characters get 1 paired ending with another if both of them survived, along with a sadder ending for the survivor if one of them died. Lukas does not have a paired ending, so that eliminates any possibility of a romantic ending. Here's what his ending says:
That's right: every time Lukas makes it to the end of this game, he gets to enjoy platonic love with his "cold" personality WITHOUT any desire for romance. Is it a perfect way to end this? No. He has no paired ending, so we don't get to see Clive and Python follow through on their promises. But we do get to see clear cut aroace joy. This is not a 'headcanon'. This is not the writer's 'stumbling into representation'. This is intentional coding, and it's worth appreciating when the team had no obligation to add it(the original game didn't even have support conversations).
Part C: Why This Matters
Like every other piece of media, Fire Emblem is very lacking in rep for aros and aces. These games were allonormative af BEFORE Avatars became the norm; with romantic subplots, paired endings, and a first generation of fighters you could ship in one case. With Avatar-Emblem, devs are practically required to make every character straight or bi so the player can romance them. That's why Lukas is so important. In a remake that had no obligation to add any queer rep, the writers made an effort to give us an aro-coded character anyway. They gave him a story about how he felt broken for not feeling the same love as everyone else, ended it with his friends reassuring him that they'd support him no matter what, and topped it off with a happy ending where he felt no desire for romantic love. It's beautiful, and we may never get anything like it from Fire Emblem again, so it's worth talking about today.
