Commissions of the Herons during the massacre done by the wonderful Prax ( https://bsky.app/profile/strawberryink.ca ) over on bluesky, i do have some happier commissions to share later
While the games try to lead us to believe that Lorazieh is completely comatose from grief (literally unconscious 24/7), they just as frequently say he is "bed-ridden" (an unclear state of awareness) and in Chapter 15 Reyson says to Nealuchi "He seldom rises anymore" (seldom means 'rarely' and not 'never'). As a result, I am inclined to read his state during the games as more along the lines of "mostly unresponsive/unconscious, but at least somewhat lucid on rare occasions".
Lorazieh also likely has formshift, and I've found myself wondering: since he can freely shift between forms, which would he prefer? Does he stay transformed while his consciousness lapses? Do the cliffs of Phoenicis echo intermittently with his sorrowful cries while untransformed, or with a haunting dirge he wails as a heron?
Just a lot of thoughts on the Heron Royal Family and Lehran's possible relation to it based on canon information. I have English Literature and Creative Writing degrees. No amount of lack of information in the source material can stop my hyperfixation!
Rambling and spoilers below the cut, as always. The rambling is more dis-jointed than usual.
Lehran
The first thing I wantwe will need to contend with is Lehran's relation to the heron royal family:
Reyson: We, that is, the descendants of Lehran, we have a gift...Through the power of the slumber galdr, we have the ability to suppress the chaotic energies of the dark god in the medallion.
Chapter 25, Strange Lands, Path of Radiance
Lehran had children with Altina, lost his powers of galdr and transformation, and was stated to have died shortly thereafter. Are the heron royals really his descendants?
Well, to answer that, we need to know which word Reyson was using in the Japanese script. Now, as I have said many times before, I'm a fair bit too dyslexic to learn to read Japanese properly, but I can muddle around with google translate and work done by fans with actual Japanese reading comprehension.
私たちエルランの末裔は……
(Google Translate says: We, the descendants of Erlan...)
Reyson here is using the word "末裔" or Matsuei. To read a more in-depth explanation about matsuei and how it applies to Priam/Ike and Marth/Anri, please check out this amazing analysis by XKAN of Kantopia, the tl;dr is that matsuei implies that they are of the same bloodline, but given the fact that Intelligent Systems uses matsuei and shison (another word for descendant that seems to imply direct lineal descent) rather interchangeably with Priam, and uses shison on Marth being Anri's descendant despite the fact Marth is directly descended from Anri's brother Marcelus rather than Anri himself, there is absolutely no clarity to be gained here as to how they are related, but they are almost definitely related...somehow. Pls no discussions on Ike/Priam. We are not here to have a debate on that. Thank you.
The other clue we get is from when Rafiel talks to SephiranLehran in the endgame of Radiant Dawn:
Rafiel: It is you… Now that I’ve seen your face… I know that you once went by another name.
Sephiran: You are mistaken. I am known as Sephiran, and nothing else.
Rafiel: You have closed your heart. Why?
Sephiran: …I have nothing more to say. Nothing.
Chapter 4-F-4, Rebirth, Radiant Dawn
Rafiel seems to have some recognition of Lehran. I don't know why. By all accounts, Rafiel should have never met Lehran before. So then why? Well, the herons and the dragons are both said to be able to sense the state of their loved ones from far away.
Reyson: It's not your fault. Please don't apologize. I know Leanne is alive. These battlefields are filled with chaotic energy, but I can still sense her… It's faint, but I know it's Leanne.
Tibarn: Which is all the more reason for us to hurry. There may be other ways to finish this, but crushing Daein is the surest.
Reyson: Agreed.
Ike: Reyson, is this mysterious power that you use to sense Leanne something only herons possess?
Tibarn: It's not something any of the hawk clans have! That is a certainty!
Reyson: That's not true, Tibarn. The power may differ in potency between us, but all laguz possess it to some degree.
Tibarn: Ah, so it's just that my sense isn't developed, is that it?
Reyson: The power is distributed something like this…Among the bird tribes, it's very strong in the heron clan. Among the beast tribes, I've heard it's most developed in the cat clan, though not as strongly as in the herons. As for the dragon tribes… It's said they may be equal to, or even surpass, the strength of the herons.
Chapter 26, Clash!, Path of Radiance
Ena: We dragons have the power to sense the presence of our allies. If that ally is someone we care for very much, then we can communicate telepathically. With the sending stone, we can use this telepathy across extreme distances.
Chapter 3-F, From Pain, Awakening, Radiant Dawn
Even more interesting is what Ena says in the Extended Scripts, available on Serenes Forest.
Ena: Yes. We dragons have the power to sense the presence of our own kind. In particular, if we share blood ties with someone… or care for them very much, we can know their condition… as well as understand their thoughts, even across extreme distances.
Ike: When Nasir felt your presence at Crimea… and when Reyson could sense Leanne’s presence, it was because of this ability?
Ena: That’s right. The heron clan… possess that same ability. With the sending stone, we can increase the natural strength of this ability, so that no matter how far apart we are, we can communicate using telepathy.
Chapter 3-F, From Pain, Awakening, Radiant Dawn, Extended Scripts
So even if they don't know the person well, if they share blood ties, they're likely able to sense them. Thus, when Rafiel sees Lehran's face, he's able to tell that this man is someone else. Or he saw a portrait of Lehran somewhere. Idk. I don't make the rules. I'm only explaining my headcanons here and showing the canon evidence I'm using to support myself.
So, if they are related, how so? Did Lehran have a wife before Altina? Did she die in the Flood?
I think it's more like the devs are doing the whole "descendants, but not like literal descendants" thing again like they did with Marth/Anri, in that Lehran is likely their uncle/grand uncle/great-grand uncle/great*whatever many times*grand uncle. And yes, the technically correct term is grand uncle and not the "great uncle" that is used colloquially. If you use great uncle, I will never correct you. I don't have the energy and I use great uncle when speaking so people know wtf I'm saying, but I'm trying to pretend to have standards here.
So which one is it? Great question. This is the father of the herons we see in game and King of Serenes, Lorazieh:
My moderate guess for his apparent age is 60ish, maybe 50ish. Based on my previous work on laguz aging, Lorazieh could be anywhere from about 400-700! What a range!
The Great Flood happened about 803 years prior to Radiant Dawn, and the pact was formed about 780 years prior to Radiant Dawn, and the war against Yune happened a little before the pact forming. Therefore, Lorazieh would not remember those events. However, since Reyson is using the variation of descendants that implies a more distant relation, I wouldn't think Lorazieh and Lehran were brothers. I think Lehran would at the very least be Lorazieh's grand uncle.
My take is that around the time of the war against Yune, Lehran had a younger sibling that was a child still, and their parents died in the flood. I believe that this sibling is someone who, when Lehran has a child twenty-ish years later and is going insane, is too young still to help console Lehran at all, someone young enough that Dheginsea, Soan, and Altina can convince that Lehran died and had no child, or otherwise convince them to go along with the lie that Lehran died and had no child.
I would then need to fix Lorazieh's age to determine how many generations could have passed between Lorazieh and Lehran's younger sibling. I'm going to fix Lorazieh's age to 497 years old in Radiant Dawn, looking 58 or so and born in the year 151.
I'm not touching Lehran's age in this post (because that's complicated, I am also not touching his appearance of black hair/black wings here where the heron royals have white wings and blonde hair because that's another theory), but with the Great Flood happening in the year -155, I'll say the younger sibling was born in the year -161, making them 6 when the flood happens, 30 when the war against Yune happens, and about 40ish when Lehran's child is born. So they would be about 6-14 in apparent age.
So that's about 300 years between the two of them. With the way herons age, that could be Lorazieh's parent or great-great-great grandparent. I will pick the most distant option just for space's sake. But did Lehran have a younger sister or younger brother? That brings me to my next point.
Naming Conventions of the Royal Family
There seems to be a theme of heron royal family names. Lehran and Lorazieh start with "L." The sisters of the current generation also have "L" names: Lillia and Leanne. The brothers have "R" names: Rafiel and Reyson. I should note that there is no "R" or "L" in Japanese, the sound the language uses exists somewhere in between those two letters, but the character representing the sound is most commonly translated as an "R." That said, Japanese game developers often know what they want it to be in English, and the Japanese versions of the Tellius Recollections books have the names spelled out in the English alphabet using L or R, so we'll consider the differentiation between "L" and "R" to be completely and wholly distinct for the herons. I just want you to know I considered that angle.
In Japan, there's a tradition (iirc, it's an older, more archaic one) of taking a portion of the parent's or parents' name(s) and giving it to the child (Japanese names being formed from one or more kanji, so one or more kanji are taken from the parent(s) names and given to the child). While the Fire Emblem games are supposed to be sort of equivalent to medieval Europe, Japanese values and traditions show up as at least a subconscious bias in the writing of the games (see: Three House's dowries that work the exact opposite of European dowries, but function in the way Japanese dowries did), so it wouldn't be too surprising to me if the names of the heron royals worked in a similar fashion, in this case taking the first letter of one of the parents. I would assume that the daughters inherit the first letter of the father and the sons the first letter of the mother.
Given that Lehran has the letter "L," then, I would assume the younger sibling then was a brother, who had a daughter, who had a son, who had a daughter, who had a son named Lorazieh.
Since the princes of the current generation start with the letter "R," then, it would be safe to assume that the mother had a name beginning with "R" if were going with my above deductions. (We dont have to, but I am.)
As Rafiel is listed as the first prince, Reyson the third prince, Lillia the third princess, and Leanne the fourth princess, we know that the current generation had at least 7 children. More over, when Reyson is describing the family he lost he says:
My mother, my brother, my elder sisters… Even my infant sister, Leanne!
Chapter 17 Part 4, Day Breaks, Path of Radiance
In Japanese, he says:
母…兄…姉たち……そして…小さな私の妹リアーネ…
He uses the word 姉たち, anetachi, which Google says is elder sisters, while 兄, ani, seems to be either generic "brother" or "older brother" according to Google. Since we know Reyson is the third prince and Rafiel, the first prince, was not in Serenes during the massacre, we know the second prince was likely there and therefore it is safe to believe that Reyson has no other, younger, brothers. Reyson describes Leanne as "小さな私の妹" seeming to use the words "小さな" (small) and "妹" (sister/little sister). I don't know if "infant sister" as in "my literally infant sister" is the vibe of that phrase, and given that Leanne is described as Naesala's "childhood friend" and he jokes about being as handsome as always with her and Tibarn asks her if she remembers him, I don't think she was literally an infant during the massacre. I think at most it was meant as "my baby sister" as when I describe my little sister as my baby sister, despite her being old enough to drink (which should be illegal. She cannot be that old), but I am not familiar enough with Japanese to determine the correct translation. I will simply hold fast to the point that I doubt Leanne was meant to literally be a toddler/infant during the massacre given the way she is described and talks to the other characters upon waking. Either way, it's a safe bet that Reyson is the second youngest of the family and Leanne is the youngest.
Given that Rafiel is designed with an apparent age of 24, Reyson an apparent age of 22, and Leanne an apparent age of 18, making them approximately 115, 95, and 65 respectively, I don't feel like there's enough room for Rafiel to be old enough to have four other siblings within twenty years, given that there's thirty years between Reyson and Leanne, and I will do what I want with the approximate ages.
The Most Recent Generation of the Heron Royal Family
Using all of the above, this is what I view as the most recent generation of the royal family. Did Lorazieh have siblings? Perhaps. However, Serenes founded itself as a kingdom in protest of the war Begnion was waging against Kilvas and Daein in 470. There are a lot of wars waged by Begnion whenever a new country forms. (Timeline translated by VincentASM on Kantopia)
So I imagine that one way or another, Lorazieh is the last one of the white winged herons left until he marries his wife and has Rafiel, thus making the white winged herons the royals of Serenes. If you look at the below, you can see that I have written that Rafiel is born shortly after the kingdom is established, and I imagine Lorazieh married shortly after forming the kingdom of Serenes. I also don't know why I decided to throw twins in there, for some reason I had it in my head that if Leanne and Naesala have an A support, they have twin children (and twins appear if there is a history of twins), but upon re-examining the epilogue, that does not appear to be stated as clearly as my head had tricked me into believing. But I'll still stick by Leanne having twins and having twins as older siblings as a head-canon.
Lorazieh - King, born 150 (495/498) apparent age 58
Rheanna - Queen, born 167 (458 at death, 478/481 if alive) apparent age 54 (56)
Rafiel - First Prince, born 474 (171/174) apparent age 30
Laila - First Princess, born 490 (135 at death, 155/158 if alive) apparent age 24 (28)
Rosaire - Second Prince, born 502 (123 at death, 143/146 if alive) apparent age 25 (27)
Lorelle - Second Princess, born 502 (123 at death, 143/146 if alive) apparent age 24 (26)
Lillia - Third Princess, born 517 (109 at death, 128/131 if alive) apparent age 23 (25)
Reyson - Third Prince, born 548 (97/100) apparent age 22
Leanne - Fourth Princess, born 564 (71/74) apparent age 19
Also, for Reyson, one of the wikis states that he's 97 in POR and 100 in RD, but there's no evidence to support those ages that I can find. However, it fits in well enough with his apparent age based on my aging chart, so I'm just going with it. If anyone knows where that comes from, I'll be happy to have that information, but I couldn't find anything to support it from official sources.
The Heron Royal Family Tree
Without further ado, here is my take on the heron family tree from Lehran's parents to the current generation of heron royals. I am including my headcanons on the spouses, so Rafiel married Nailah (though that's more or less official), Reyson married Tibarn, and Leanne married Naesala and had two children with him (twins, b/c I've been believing that since 2007 by mistake and I am not able to get rid of that image now).
headcanon: Serenes Massacre, Reyson & Lorazieh, Tibarn’s scar
There is one visit to Serenes Forest that Tibarn remembers vividly: though he did not know it would turn out to be his last.
As relations between Phoenicis and Serenes were always blooming, King Tibarn visited often to maintain their diplomatic bonds. However, as the journey from Phoenicis to the northwest corner of Begnion is not one to be taken lightly, Tibarn always stayed a few weeks, leaving his vassals Ulki and Janaff to tend to the Kingdom in his absence.
It was through discussions with King Lorazieh that Tibarn learned of the world of Beorc. As the Hawk tribe are naturally isolationists, it was through Lorazieh that Tibarn was able to form his opinion of Beorc. The peace-loving Lorazieh had never disparaged Beorc, leaving a lasting impression on Tibarn’s opinion.
There is one visit that Tibarn remembers vividly: though he did not know it would turn out to be his last at the time. He had been sleeping in the royal guest room, a night like any other, resting his body after a long day of discussions. A sixth sense had awoken him, as his nostrils started to fill with the blunt stink of soot and his ears bled with screams of anguish. Rushing out of his room, his eyes could only take the fierce intensity of orange, a blazing inferno, as far as he could see.
Jumping down from his perch, he raced to find the Royals. A nameless Heron he had helped, moving fiery trees trapping the Heron within his home. With the obstable removed, Tibarn instructed him to take flight-- to get as far away from here as they could. Before he could finish, a loud crack resounded as an ancient tree buckled, weakened by the fires. It fell towards them, possibly pulverizing both had Tibarn not turned to protect them with the brunt of his right arm. Tibarn roared as sharp and burning branches and dug into his face and arm, shoving the tree away and repeating his command.
It sickened Tibarn to see countless Heron feathers tinged with disgusting colors of soot black, this fire tainting their hearts and bodies. Many could not gather the strength to move, Tibarn found-- their compassion for the hearts of their suffering brothers and sisters sapped all of their energy.
There was little self-hatred Tibarn carried within his heart, but he would never be able to forgive himself for transforming into a hawk and leaving many behind to seek King Lorazieh and his sons and daughters. Even though he knew he could never save any of the Heron he had abandoned, he had turned his back on people who had needed help: a shame upon Hawks.
How great was his joy when he found the King and Reyson; Tibarn had never felt more grateful for his eyes than at that moment. A sharp dive brought him to the two as he immediately assessed the situation: Lorazieh seemed unresponsive, and a very sickly-seeming Reyson attempted to invigorate the King with a song. Gripping Reyson’s arm, Tibarn barked: “Your siblings?” With just a shake of the head and an anguished face as a response, Tibarn knew what he had to do. “Can you fly?” A nod.
Hoisting Lorazieh up onto his back, he pulled Reyson to his feet. “We’re going,” Tibarn commanded. He hadn’t heard Reyson’s muted answer, drowned by the chaos around him, nor had Tibarn asked, but he knew what the words were: names. Leanne. Rafiel. Lillia. “No time,” Tibarn growled, yanking the Heron up, his strength easily overpowering Reyson’s best attempts at escaping his grip.
With two powerful flaps of his wings, he takes the two up and out of the fire. It was only in the air that he could realize the scope of the situation: no Heron would have the endurance to fly far enough to escape this inferno, especially not their sickly physical state. It simply covered too much area. Tibarn could very well be carrying the last two members of the race.
It was a thought that kept him going, keeping exhaustion at bay as he made for Phoenicis. He looked down at Reyson, who had become dead-weight, having fallen unconscious. He was lucky Herons were as light as they looked, or Tibarns rescue would never have worked.
He tended to his own wounds and the Herons during stops in Goldoa, concerned that the Herons might never wake up from their coma. When he reached the sea, he worked to clean the Heron’s feathers with its waters as he rested for the last stretch to Phoenicis.
It was within Phoenicis’ royal rooms that Tibarn nursed Prince Reyson and King Lorazieh, waiting anxiously for both to awake. He deemed himself their protectors, and solemnly swore that nothing could ever overcome either them again.
