Discover Top Posts Tagged with #fe peony

re-draws of my old fairy art. i stated re-doing mirabilis a few years back and only finished her in october. peony only took two months lol. really like the results, and i even drew a background! old art under the cut

#my art #fire emblem #fire emblem heroes #fe peony #fe mirabilis #what a few years and a lack of stress and apathy does to a motherfucker

i’m curious, how would you have written book 4? especially with how Sharena was handled because I’ve seen people say that book 4 could’ve been the book that shown where Alfonse can fall/stumble ( book 3 ) and Sharena can thrive.

That is a curious question with a few answers.

First off, as a preface, when it comes to feh, something that I must emphasize is that I LOVE this game. Flaws and all. Put that 50/50 writing quality directly into my viens. So when I personally write for it, I end up having so much more fun working with what feh is putting down rather than approaching it with a pure “what I would have done” standpoint. The answer is that I would not have made book 4 if I had written it, which is not as fun an answer. I love working with the constriction that I am not allowed to change much. Caveat being that my aim is simply to have fun. This is my enrichment. I basically like playing Pokemon with nuzlock rules.

That being said, you are actually pulling on what I find to be a fundamental flaw of feh, and the part I have the most fun accounting for! For you see, Sharena getting the short end of the stick screen time wise is not simply a book 4 problem. It’s an entire series problem! Feh struggles to manage its own core cast, to the active detriment of the storytelling that actually does work.

One of the most telling examples of this is in book 3. In part 5 of chapter 1, there is a scene with Anna where she voices her distrust of Eir and fully threatens to kill her if she moves a hair out of line. That set up is fascinating given what we know in hindsight. We know that a.) Anna is entirely correct to be suspicious of Eir and, more importantly, b.) the original purpose of the Order of Heroes was to carry out tasks like political assassinations. Anna’s specific training allows her to sniff out an assassination waiting to happen, because she has presumably helped conduct that kind of thing before. Therefore, her dynamic with Eir is a potential well of characterization, set up for that reveal, and progression for their characters during book 3. We can have Anna go on a small arc about helping Eir! She could slowly grow to trust her, only for her suspicions to be confirmed, and then decide to help her anyway. It wouldn’t take much to add either— simply have Anna bad cop some of Eir’s scenes with Kiran.

But we unfortunately don’t get anything like that. Not unless you are Veronica, the best written character in feh. Her arc is gradually built up to and her redemption therefore is very satisfying. Not even Alfonse gets that! He gets the most screen time (and is a delight to watch), but it’s not nearly as clean. His general character arc is far more vibes based and generally implied. Could write a whole other essay arguing that his experiences in book 3 influence how he is in book 5. I wouldn’t be wrong, but compare that to the straight line between Veronica’s loneliness in book 1, to her horrible no good very bad day in book 2, leading to her reluctant assistance in book 3, to her way less reluctant assistance in book 4, to her and Bruno asking for our heroes for help in book 5, and then her adoption into the party during book 6. It’s CLEAN and EFFECTIVE. No other character in feh has this, including Sharena.

These issues all lead directly into book 4, which upon reread, is so far my favorite season of fire emblem heroes????? Genuinely surprised! I did not like book 4 when it was first released. But upon revisit I was so surprised to find that it has a THEME and it’s INTERESTING!!! There’s a core idea being explored here about fantasy and escaping into it when the world is cruel! And it fucks?????? But it's still has some bone deep writing problems???? Allow me to explain.

Book 4 is not to Sharena what book 3 is to Alfonse. Straight up. It’s not just about her in the same way. She ranks third in the most important characters of that season. In a moment I’m going to argue why I believe that decision was the proper one for the story book 4 is trying to tell, but going into it (rightfully) expecting her time in the spotlight is a recipe for disappointment. The choice would be infinitely less egregious if Sharena and her internal world were given proper introduction earlier. Which is frankly not book 4’s fault, as it is trying to do interesting things with her! It just lacks a proper foundation to build upon. That can easily be fixed if we spent time in book 1 going into her feelings about Bruno’s disappearance alongside Alfonse. Hell, throw Anna in there too. Introduce Askr trio via this hole left behind and the differences of how they cope with it. Maybe for flavor, have some moments in book 2 where Fjorm’s hyper competence makes Sharena feel just a littleeeeee bit inadequate as a princess. Surely that won’t come back in any meaningful way in the form of a changeling reveal that confirms her feelings inadequacy.

So, if book 4 is not about Sharena, who is it about?

Turns out that book 4’s quality lives and dies on knowing the twist that Alfonse was Kiran the whole time. It COMPLETELY transforms the text as we realize that we are being introduced to the summoner for the first time. It’s not just set up well, it rapidly becomes the entire point!!!! This is a story about someone, who upon being launched into alien fantastical circumstances, entirely relies on “fake it until you make it” motto as their survival strategy. We get to watch this fantasy they sell slowly get deconstructed and their long buried fears get dragged into the nightmarish limelight. AND ITS GOOD?! ITS SO FUCKING GOOD. And is only accessible on a second reading which is a CRIME.

For example, as combat starts to reach a fever pitch with Freyja, there’s this reoccurring line from our antagonists saying, “there is nowhere left to run.” Normally, that would just be a spooky villain thing to say, but Freyja makes it a point. In chapter 9 part 5, she makes her intentions clear— she wants our heroes to run. She wants them to go mad running themselves ragged with nightmares nipping at their heels, endlessly fumbling to find some way to escape, only to find none. This wouldn’t mean too much to Sharena, Alfonse, and Anna. Alfonse rather notoriously intimidated Death by turning the tables on her inevitable curse by threatening to make sure he takes her down with him. No escape doesn’t mean much if you have the tools to fight. However, that is something the summoner notoriously lacks. Kiran typically makes up for this deficit by taking the only logical recourse: run. Run and think of something else. Meaning, Freyja is calling their bluff! She has clocked the exact kind of person they are under their false self assurance and is going to enjoy making them suffer. And they don’t respond well! There's no witty retort or crazy gambit, just a very real frustration that we have never known Alfonse to show in these situations.

Book 4 rapidly becomes a game of Where’s Waldo. Half the joy I got from it was catching where Kiran is slipping up in their performance and why. This post I made about how “Alfonse” isn’t speaking in character? That’s the entire season!!!!! It’s amazing!!!! And it isn't just for show either. Kiran is on an arc to slowly dismantle the lies they instinctually rely on with the help of everyone they manage to connect with in spite of them.

But you may have noticed that I said that there was another character that was important in book 4, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s Peony! I am amazed by how good Peony is!!!! Peony and the land of dreams are from a completely different genre from the rest of feh up until that point. A Barbie fairytopia movie has unabashedly pulled up on the scene without remorse or shame. Her arc throughout this season is not about reaching for some lofty goal or dragging herself out of hell like Fjorm and Eir before her. Instead she is inspiring those around her to understand her joyous whimsical view of the world. Her wants are simple and child-like, but that is treated as something beautiful, powerful, and most importantly, true. She is the only character this season to be truly self assured in her identity, even with the reveal that she had a life before Ljósálfheimr. Peony is Peony, and without Peony, they would all be dead. She is so unabashedly herself that just seeing her is a relief and inspires hope.

Now, put these two characters next to each other and we get a very surprisingly good season of FEH.

Kiran, even when in a lie, is very entrenched in reality. They are also from a different genre, where the unmagical reality of something was utterly inescapable and true. They're doing really good at playing ball with these new rules, but their incompatibility still shows. There are faults in the performance of their own wish fulfillment. They inevitably start pulling at the truth and bringing about a harsh reality, to the detriment of the dream and often themself. But then there is Peony, whose entire existence takes a comically large hammer to all of that. She is entirely drenched in fantasy and unreality, yet she is the most true to herself character we see. In her world, anything is possible and you can be anything you please without remorse. She sparks a change in them so great that they no longer want to return to a cold reality just because it's real, but because there's a chance that reality can be just as wonderful as the dream. Likewise, the reality of the world might be devasting, but accepting it allows Peony to do the one thing Kiran has always excelled at— connecting with the people that matter to her.

Speaking of, THATS RIGHT ITS FINALLY SHARENA TIME!!!

So, in book 3, we get the impression that once Sharena died, everything began to unravel. It confirms what we already knew by that point— Sharena is the heart of the group. The glue keeping them together. So instead of giving her an arc in the same way book 3 does for Alfonse, book 4 explores why she is able to do this so effectively. Sharena is the only character to have a foot in both reality and fantasy, which gives her free rein to understand and show genuine kindness to everyone in that season. Kiran doesn't begin to understand Peony until Sharena shows the way first. THAT is where book 4 becomes an interesting deconstruction of her character. But it’s going to be damn near impossible to parse on a first read, because we do not know the twist that “Alfonse” is Kiran! Book 4 is only good on a second read through, which is a massive problem if most of the readers are only going to read through the story once. It is like watching a detective story that is utter nonsense until you learn that the detective was the murder. Not inherently a bad idea, but requires a lot of skill to make that first read through intriguing rather than frustrating, which feh doesn't have. They don't even have a solid base charactization of Sharena. Which is a damn shame, because once the twist is known, book 4 is genuinely just as well written as the previous books.

So, given that critique, let’s loop back to that original question. What would I do when facing that conundrum? My goal as a writer playing with and not against FEH would be highly tailored to making that first read through just as in-depth as the second. I believe the best way to do so would be to give the people what they want and focus more heavily on Sharena. While the audience understands why Sharena is such effective emotional glue, it’s an entirely different question if Sharena herself sees the deeper value of what she brings to the table. Especially in comparison to the more tangible contributions of Alfonse, Anna, and Kiran. It’s an insecurity that, as stated earlier, can be set up in previous seasons of feh and then brought to a breaking point in book 4 with the changeling reveal. Having a foot in both worlds means she’s not properly standing in either one, and at the start of book 4, she is actively living in denial about it! Book 4 could show Sharena coming to accept this truth by the end, and then in future books work to find a way to better marry the two halves of her identity. Making it clean and clear cut. Sharena has her emotionally fulfilling arc that can stand on its own and THEN Kiran comes in with a steel chair.

Anyway, all this to say, PLEASE REREAD BOOK 4 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEE. I LOVE IT A LOT ACTUALLY. MY BELOVED 50/50 WRITING QUALITY. If you have ever wanted to know why I went insane about Kiran fire emblem in particular, ITS BOOK 4. THEY ARE A CHARACTER IN BOOK 4. BOOK 4 HAS MY LITTLE GUY. I am the devil on your shoulder trying to tempt you to go back in the fucking building. It’ll be better this time. Source Trust Me Bro. What could go wrong.