#fe fates notes

[windywhispers]

did corrin specify on birthright that they didnt want to kill anyone? it was just so weird how much they stressed it in conquest, given they also didn't want to kill anyone while in birthright

i guess also i'm saying this because i'm comparing the maps between conquest and birthright, and i notice (so far anyways) that birthright often has a lot of 'rout the enemy' maps whereas with conquest you'll have some varied goals as to what you have to do (defend for 11 turns, ONLY kill the boss). and sure, with the conquest maps you can kill/fight everyone if you pleased, but the goal is more focused compared to birthright. maybe that's just supposed to mirror corrin's need to minimize the number of deaths to bring about that path of peace they keep talking about for nohr

and maybe for birthright, it was more about defense than anything, or stomping out the parasite before it gets worse? since nohr is poor and gets its resources by conquering the other nations surrounding it, to put a complete end to it, i guess you'd want to get rid of everyone??

[windywhispers]

And then that brings me to Xander's actions between Ch 6 and 7. I think I first noticed it because once Ryoma starts swinging at Corrin, Xander doesn't immediately go and protect Corrin the way Ryoma does in Birthright. Instead he goes to hit Ryoma instead, fighting alongside Corrin rather than protecting Ryoma, which was a fun subtle way of showing the different methods of tending to their siblings.

I think the way I understand Xander's thoughts, it's almost similar to Rigel? Or I guess something that Leo mentions in his chapter in Birthright ("True power comes from a heart forged in darkness!"). I was trying to understand why he would send Elise of all people, the youngest of the siblings, after Corrin in chapter 7 instead of either Camilla or Leo who are probably more trained to fight, and with this quote in mind, I'm guessing it's something about wanting to train them with hands on fighting rather than normal training sessions: to make them face the reality /the cruelty of fighting heads on instead of in an ideal situation as training where you're not trying to lop each other's heads off.

Especially when the Woods of the Forlorn is apparently the darkest place in all of Nohr, so sending Elise there is even more questionable.

But hey maybe I'm overthinking it and it isn't like that at all lol

There is something really poetic though of having Elise, the "light of Nohr" being sent into the darkest part of Nohr to save Corrin though. Not that I can really understand any significance in it but it IS real neat lol

[windywhispers]

Since I'm stuck quarantining for 2 days, I'll be playing through a huge chunk of Conquest today !

Right now, I'm on chapter 17 of Conquest, the Den of Betrayal where we meet Kotaro the leader of Mokushu, who took Kagero has hostage against Hoshido but fails to mention so as to get Corrin and the others to aid his cause to fight against Hoshido.

This is war! Lying and using people is par for the course!

I thought it was really funny when Kotaro says this and then right after Xander says:

...I see. So your tactics are a product of my father's influence. Pity.

Because I just love the imagery that Kotaro gives of Corrin fighting against their father's methods and trying to maintain their will to fight against it, even despite what happened in Cheve.

There's also something really nice though about the "lying" bit because while it is something that Garon does, it's something the other Nohrians do too. All the royal family at some point or another would lie to Garon in order to survive and go out of their way to do the opposite, so it's neat to think about how they're making use of something that once may or may not have hurt them to produce something better.

[windywhispers]

One of the reasons why I had thought about the theme for Fates being accept yourself is because of a lot of videos that I have been watching during the past month or so, which broke down and went through several supports and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was in fact a running theme amidst all of these. Maybe what it’s supposed to convey is to learn self-acceptance and recognizing your own value. 

So of course, I started trying to see how I can apply with characters that I like. 

I think the most obvious character would be Forrest. When you’ve been avoided by your own dad because of the way you want to dress yourself, it makes sense that Forrest wants to build up his own courage and even learned to love, be proud, and confident of himself because of that lack of support. 

In a lot of Nyx’s supports, she talks about how she’s a monster because of her past actions which caused the curse that keeps her from aging. Because of that, she would always tell her partner to stay away or to keep their distance, and of course, her partner will find some way around it, whether if it was keeping her company anyways (like in Kaze’s support ) or even help her find a way to break the curse (Leo and Silas). And though they may not break the curse, it’s apparent though that through their actions that they still care for Nyx as an ally and want to be around for her, even if she is a monster. After all, she seems to know her mistake and has learned from it, so she shouldn’t continue to punish herself over it. 

There’s also Charlotte, who puts up a fake front to hide how strong she is so that she’d get men to give her cash. I think if I remember correctly, Corrin’s support with her is a good example of accepting the person for who they are. Corrin gets to know Charlotte’s backstory of why she’s so focused on getting cash and Charlotte tells them they can’t change her from what she’s like and they don’t question it, only letting it be. 

There’s bound to be a couple of more out there, but as stated, I’ll probably moreso do that on the spot when I reach those supports.  

[windywhispers]

So re: parallels from the last post I had rb’d 

I was thinking about other parallels going on between the royals specifically (and I’m pretty certain op had wrote a post about them too!! But I can’t find it atm 😔), and one parallel I was noticing was between Hinoka and Camilla, both acting as the elder sister of their respective families. 

I can’t pinpoint an exact support to encompass Camilla’s, but she isn’t all that afraid of relying on others around her to carry out a task or if she needs help or anything like that. 

Contrast that to Hinoka, specifically from her support with Hinata, who admitted that she really doesn’t want to rely on other people, even her retainers. 

Nothing all that important, but I thought that was interesting of a parallel! If I knew more reasons as to why they act and do the things they did, it’d probably easier to add more commentary but just a quick note lol 

[windywhispers]

I'm pretty sure Corrin's favorite food is different for every route, which is something I really like since it proves that while they're the same person they have differences, justifying why they would make different choices to begin with!

OHHH THATS SUCH A NEAT ADDITION >:O i love that thank you for telling me !

[windywhispers]

correct me if im wrong but if you really wanted to use another unit than corrin against ryoma, you’d have to go all the way around, but with the fight against xander you could break the wall and fight (did that the first time and it was too anticlimatic that i decided to suffer angst and go all the way around. also xp—).

its just a nice way to summarize/end conquest (ignoring the final fight w …? idk garon ???) since a lot of conquest was just about struggling between keeping your true plans a secret from your possessed father and his army and then struggling w managing resources (that is you dont visit others castles; i did not—)

[windywhispers]

OK im sorry i keep talking about the maps in birthright vs conquest but i'm just so enamored by the decision to use the goals to really highlight what's going on on both sides

like i finally finished ch 13 uprising in cheve, and that one was a rout the enemy map, which was probably the first map that was rout the map for conquest, and the only reason for that was because garon ordered hans to kill everyone in cheve to suppress the rebellion, and hans explains, "Villagers are just soldiers who haven't grabbed a sword yet, heh heh. If we let them live, it'll come back to haunt us when we least expect it."

so as a result: we have the rout the enemy map here compared to before!