#four hounds

[theblindarcher]

Your army is not to be trifled with. Because I respect you, I will hold nothing back.

Mauvier from Fire Emblem Engage, made as a Subscriber Suggestion winner for September '25

[dexjarxenoengage]

The Fell Xenologue; a story in which Alear is permanently dead and their allies’ darker impulses took them over. To me, the Fell Xenologue counterparts of the characters in this game each represents the darker aspects of these characters or what they could have been had a butterfly effect reversed things.

Alfred and Céline in this timeline are in the event that Alear was unable to their kingdom and their mother. It may not be one for one, but Alfred and Céline are notable the most similar to their original counterparts. Only except for fact that they have lost themselves to malice.

Céline in this timeline is desperate to go to war with Brodia in order to salvage her kingdom from decline. If you have Céline from the main timeline fight against FX!Céline, she is FAR from please to see her other self go to such extremes. Showing that, despite our Céline willingness to do anything for her nation, being a warmonger is not one of those lines she would cross.

What I love about the Fell Xenologue is how, through the boss dialogue with most of the royals, we see how much the cast care about one another. Such as with Lapis vs FX!Alcryst or Rosado and Goldmary against Hortensia.

Now that isn’t to say that all of the examples are just simply Opposite Day characters are flipped from good to bad. There is a positive example within the Four Winds, the counterparts to the Four Hounds; a group that serves Sombron and is a thorn in Alear’s side.

The Four Winds serve as Alear and Nel’s allies throughout the Fell Xenologue. Just as the Royals are our enemies in the Fell Xenologue; in contrast the main story, the Winds are essentially to Nel what the Four Primary Royals were to Alear. A Five Man Band that serves the protagonists of the story.

Speaking of Nel, this is a more metaphorical example, but Nel and Nil actually serve as the Alear and Veyle in this story. While Alear and Veyle are confirmed to have Fell Xenologue counterparts; both of them are dead. With Alear’s death being the crux of Alt. Elyos’s fall out and Veyle was killed, hence this version of Mauvier’s defection.

And I feel the comparison to Nel and Alear becomes more obvious when you look in between the lines. Alt. Alear is to Nel what the main timeline Lumera was to our Alear. Divine Dragons that chose to treat Fell Dragons with kindness.

Nel feels the burden to save her world and protect her brother. Not unlike how Alear is forced to take up the role as leader and Divine Dragon when Lumera died. And both Alear and Nel died to save their siblings Veyle and Nil.

Speaking of them, Nil isn’t Nil, his true name is Rafal. And Rafal was groomed by Alt. Sombron into being his evil successor by using Nel’s Dragonstone to tampered with his memories. Not unlike how Veyle had her soul being tampered with by Zephia and used her evil self to wreak havoc.

Once Veyle and Rafal are saved, both strive to atone for their sins in spite of knowing they were being manipulated. The main difference being that Veyle likes spicy foods, while Rafal loves sweets (not unlike Veyle’s evil personality) It makes me so salty that Veyle and Rafal don’t have supports considering what they both represent.

Overall, my opinion is that Fell Xenologue exists to enhance the story of the main game. Not to act as it’s better. By giving new interactions, and delve into some of the mindsets of the characters of the Fell Xenologue.

[viktuurishipper96]

Draw Gregory/Griss in your style. If you don’t know what he looks like, here’s the picture

by the way, I love the way Jamison Boaz(he/him they/them) sings and I respect them.

[wanderingmind867]

I'm gonna start Fire Emblem Engage chapter 20 today. I don't think I'll complete it today, especially not if I'm very slow (as I always am). But I will try to get through it while playing the dialogue. I've been told I should do that, especially since chapter 20 is the big showcase for Griss. Kind of wish I'd gotten to fight Griss more often than I was fighting dry as dirt Mauvier, but I digress.

I'll watch the cutscenes, but I'm skipping chapters 21 and everything up until the fight with Sombron. I already don't have too much love for Mauvier or Veyle, and Alear dying in chapter 21, only to come back as an emblem...I really don't like it. I don't like it one bit. As a storytelling decision, it leaves so much to be desired. It annoys me to no end, and I cannot engage with something that'll only bring me anger and frustration. I just can't do it. Even the idea of using Mauvier in my main party frustrates me, because he's so boring! He's the worst of the main villians, not including Sombron.

Sombron shows up less than Mauvier prior to chapter 20, and somehow they both share a complete lack of character. Beyond "evil" for Sombron and "stoic" for Mauvier, I legitimately got nothing from their characters. Griss has his sadomasochism. Marni has her insecure desire for praise. Zephia has a twisted idea of what love is, and she's also just cartoonishly evil in all the best ways. I get those three. But Mauvier and Sombron leave me wanting more. I get it with Sombron, the final bosses in fire emblem are always kind of devoid of character to me. But Mauvier had ample time to show me his personality. He just... didn't.

So yeah, I think I'll be done with the main story until the last chapter. By doing this, I can imagine my own reimagining of thigns. And that might honestly leave me happier. Maybe I'll share that eventually. I've already shared some ideas for stuff like that. Whenever the final chapter is, I don't know. But I will tune out till then. In the meantime, I have lots of other things to distract me. Things that will bring me joy. Like unlocking the wake up conversations, getting more supports, doing the paralogues, etc. And maybe I'll actually try to level everyone to level 50 in the postgame. I think that'd be monotonous but really relaxing.

[inukai]

grissington

[sharenalovemail]

assorted four hounds stuff

[arkus-rhapsode]

Part of me wanted to make this sort of think piece post on how much I wish FE had more variety in their villain groups like in FE7, but something else dawned on me-I really miss memorable one map bosses.

FE7 had that in spades with the Black Fang, but there was a bunch of memorable one map shit heels in Tellius. I think the last time we really had this was in FE Awakening. The biggest stand out being Mustafa who would go on to get a Fire Emblem Heroes unit.

But in Fates, Three Houses, and Engage? Not so much. Fates was sad because clearly Kozaki was trying to make the capturable characters memorable in their design. But many are locked in paralogues, not the main story.

Three Houses has plenty of generic map generals. Part of it is most likely due to expecting you to not recruit ever kid so the weight if fighting these grown up students be a big maps. But if you’re replaying on New Game+ it’s easy to avoid that. I guess Metodey was the best they had for one offs, but he was no Mustafa.

Engage tries to avoid the pitfalls of having one underdeveloped boss for a map by instead making four villains you fight multiple times to establish them as characters and threats. But that had the issue that a lot of their fights blend into each other and I know quite a few who were fighting the same four guys.

Hoping for the next FE they bring back more fun one off villains.

[aroejumping]

『you were like a mom to me.And a big sister.Honestly,even a god.』