small question about "shadows of the crimean liberation"
in chapter 11 how come Janaff and Ulki didn't recognize Soren as a black dragon branded? I understand for story reasons but you mention specifically that they don't know even after meeting Deghinsea and Kurthnaga in Goldoa so I was wondering if there was another reason too?
Ah, thank you for asking! I do plan to go into it more in other stories, but since it would be from the point of view of characters who don't have the whole picture, I'm happy to provide a top down view.
There a few components to consider.
The first being that Micaiah and Soren recognize that there is something powerful and ancient within each other respectively during Radiant Dawn.
Soren: The Maiden of Dawn… What are you? One of the Branded, that’s for sure. But there is something else about you… Power. Yes, I can feel it in you. You possess great power.
Micaiah: Yes, and you would know. There’s something very different about you, too. Your energy feels so…ancient. You and I seem to have so much in common.
Radiant Dawn, "Blood Contract," Chapter 3-13
So there is some ancient energy within Soren, this is clear foreshadowing to Soren being descended from the Ancient Black Dragon King himself. Micaiah having some unique great power is a likely reference to her being the apostle and having inherited Lehran's ability to hear the Voice of the Goddess and awaken the goddesses.
The other, and most important, component is that Tibarn, Naesala, Reyson, and Caineghis all go to the meeting with Deghinsea and Kurthnaga, and presumably Ranulf, Janaff, Ulki, and Nealuchi all accompany their kings. Many of them speak to, with, and are around Soren, and none of them notice in the game. This despite Tibarn saying later on in Radiant Dawn that:
Tibarn: That Almedha is a formidable woman. At first I doubted her claim that she was the daughter of that useless old lizard. But even I had trouble holding her down. Me! She’s no ordinary beorc woman, that’s for sure.
Elincia: I agree. Lady Almedha and Prince Kurthnaga share a striking resemblance, as well. Not just their faces, but their mannerisms, too.
Tibarn: Is that how beorc spot blood relations? We laguz use scent, mainly. Speaking of which, something has been bothering me about Almedha. She has no distinct scent. It’s as if she is neither beorc nor laguz.
Elincia: She actually told me something that I wanted to ask you about. She said that she lost her power when she became pregnant with King Pelleas.
Radiant Dawn, "Unforgivable Sin," Chapter 4-5
The basic gist being that each type of laguz has its own unique type of scent in addition to the major difference in scent between laguz and beorc. You can read a fan translation by the always lovely amielleon here.
Tibarn also remarks a few sentences later (fan translation, again, provided by amielleon) that "Parentless" have a scent closer to a beorc.
But that clearly means they have elements of both laguz and beorc in their scent, just more beorc than laguz. (This makes it clear why laguz who aren't in the know, like Skrimir or Vika, could mistake a Branded for a beorc, but Tibarn is clearly in the know and can pick up on however small that differentiation is).
And yet no one, not even he-who-spoils-the-Black-Knight-reveal-almost-certainly-based-on-scent-alone Ranulf, notices that Soren is dragon branded, let alone related to Dheginsea or Kurthnaga. Or if they do, they are weirdly and uncharacteristically quiet about it. Which some of them would be quiet (Ranulf is more of a quiet investigator, but even he has moments of cheek "I know what your secret is" [though maybe he's just trying not to upset Soren by keeping quiet]), and others (especially Tibarn) would never be quiet about that tidbit of information ("You'd let your own grandson die by sending us back to the Kauku Caves?" [I love Tibarn, but if he knew, he'd say something for certain when they're in Goldoa in Radiant Dawn, despite the fact that the revelation would kill Soren on the spot(of mortification)]).
So, why does Pelleas have to figure it out? Kurthnaga travels with the Greil Mercenaries in Part 4 and can fight alongside Soren in the Tower, and yet, nothing??? His own nephew is right there, and nothing???
I have nothing, no really good info from the games, so I have to come up with my own answers based on what little we do get.
So back to why can't anyone recognize what Soren's scent is. If the games don't give me the info I want, then I'll make it up.
Well. as Tibarn says, Almedha has no scent that is distinctive of either beorc or laguz. Beorc and laguz have different scents, and the different tribes have their own unique notes as well.
I've decided that the "beorc scent" is of different varities of metals (copper, gold, silver, tin, etc.) and the "laguz scent" is more earthy. Beast tribes being herbal (I reference lions having a basil note later on in that story), bird tribes being more air/water (herons smelling of petrichor, ravens like a storm, etc.), and dragons being stony (black dragons having a subtle clay scent, etc.). Soren mostly gains the metallic scent of beorc, as Tibarn describes, and since laguz have difficulty smelling anything beyond metal scents, the more subtle earthen smell is lost, they just know it's not all beorc if they're more aware than the average laguz.
In addition to that, he has an ancient power from his maternal grandfather within him that Micaiah can sense., and Reyson can also sense to a smaller degree. Maybe it alters Soren's scent a little, maybe not. I'm undecided as of right now.
So Soren just sits there, being a little enigma, because you would have to get up close and personal and smell him to get the obscured notes of his dragon scent, and no laguz is doing that. (Would be funny if the dragon laguz scent notes were stronger in his breath since he's a dragon. Like he just sighs very heavily because of someone annoying him and Ranulf or someone else with a sensitve sense of smell sitting next to him is like "!!!").
And that's why no one can tell he's black dragon for the moment.
Okay, I just woke up and might have a better question. Everyone's favorite movies, both for Canon Era and HoW (modern) era. Chandler can be included or excluded.
Okay, I might have to go broad for some of these but here you go. Sorry this took so long.
Heather McNamara: Canon, she loves John Hughes movies, the classic, super popular brat pack stuff. In HoW, she’s more into tv, everything from reality tv to documentary series she finds on netflix. The others never let her pick what to watch.
Heather Duke: Canon era, horror movies! She loves The Shining, Poltergeist, and The Exorcist. HoW: About the same, except she also has a big weakness for big-budget summer blockbuster action movies
JD: Basically the same as Duke for both, though he’s super partial to cheesy slasher movies and b-movies from the seventies. He also loves Alfred Hitchcock, even though Duke insists that those aren’t scary.
Veronica: Canon: Veronica watches french films and period pieces/historical dramas. She also loves anything based on classic literature. Modern Veronica is slightly less pretentious, but still loves a good period piece.
one of my favourite crossovers in all existence is meshing together any of my favourite fandoms with His Dark Materials (for obvious reasons like... how can you not)
so
under the cut, assorted thoughts on omnics and daemons, and genyatta with daemons
(if anyone else has ever done something like this before please link me to it i crave)
omnics and daemons
why not?
when omnics realise they have a soul, when they truly believe in that notion, they can go through a ritual to come in contact with that part of themselves through the touch of the iris (doesn’t have to be themselves directly coming in contact with it, it could be assisted by another omnic that can already touch it)
it works a bit like will’s trip to the underworld, only that part of the soul isn’t ripped away from them, but just is given birth by itself
it’s painful, but it’s like the warmth from the iris glows through their bodies and takes something away that is returned to them afterwards. it’s bittersweet because one can believe they have a soul, but the proof of it is visible and tangible, but the feeling of separation is unlike anything they’ve ever felt, and to go through that
to feel a part of your soul taken away, and then given back in another form, no more within but visible and fragile
not everybody can go through that, only for visible proof of a soul.
the shambali have a procession of omnics coming. there’re not many of them, but they get some every year, a few who want to come into contact with themselves and have a chance at achieving their daemon.
some fail -it’s too painful, it’s too raw, the enormous meaning of touching the iris and letting go of something, even if they can get it back, the realisation that they do have a soul, and what it means, and the hatred they might be subjected to if they walk out of the monastery with a daemon...
no, not many succeed. but some do. the number increases slowly as time passes by, but omnics are protective of their own, of a precious soul they gained.
some humans still don’t believe. they can’t believe they are not unique, that things made of metal they created could ever be the same.
so they treat even the omnics’ daemons as nothing important and nothing real, even if they are blood and fur and feathers and scales and meat like their own. (and even if the connection between daemon and omnic is the same).
some even say the omnics have stolen daemons from humans. abominations.
the (albeit little) genyatta part hoho
genji’s daemon is resilent. she survived through her human’s almost death. she is proof he’s still human, that his soul still exists, but of course people treat him like an omnic anyway, like he stole his daemon.
but after he became a cyborg, his daemon can travel far from him, so sometimes it’s safer that way, makes him think less, feel less.
he starts to believe a little less in his own humanity, even as he meets omnics with daemons. he doubts. he feels less.
zenyatta and his daemon help, of course.
genji relearns the bond he’s always had with his daemon through the gentle coaxing from his master, comes to find his life still has a worth, and as it progresses further along, the care melting into requited love, he finally learns how it feels to have your daemon touched by someone else’s hands, gently and lovingly, like hands brushing against your very soul.
i feel like omnics would be protective of their own daemons a little more, but would also feel no similar compunction as humans do about touch, at least among them. because there has to be trust to let someone touch your daemon, but it is also proof of their soul, and the shambali monks would want to feel that contact with themselves as deeply as they can, so i feel like at least between the close ranks of the monks, they let each other touch daemons almost freely, thuogh every time it’s like a special situation as it is.
genji is still human in that sense, so for him, the trust of allowing zenyatta to touch his daemon would be complete, but also since he’s still a human, he hasn’t touched zenyatta’s own daemon either, even as he watched mondatta play with him, as zenyatta plays with mondatta’s daemon (it helps them uncurl easily into the iris, opening up themselves to someone else’s touch, the iris burns a deeper golden when it happens).
when genji does finally get to hold zenyatta’s daemon, it feels like coming home, like he holds zenyatta’s core in his hands, fragile and full of trust and love, even more than allowing his own daemon to be touched.
when mondatta dies, when his daemon vanishes in front of the cameras on live television the moment mondatta is killed, it is more of a statement than anything else has ever been.
omnics have souls. there will be always people who deny it, but so many more now believe. (the number of omnics coming to ask for daemons does not increase, but it does not decrease, either. they are scared but there will be always omnics who want more.)
zenyatta cannot cry, and his daemon is not human either, so he can’t shed tears, so genji cries for them both for their loss. mondatta has always been at their side for so long, and now he’s gone.
when zenyatta joins overwatch, months later, his daemon stands proudly where he can be seen, because he will not cower for anyone else, soul proudly on display, to fight for equality and stand on his path.
genji is always at his side, and if anyone sees a hand reach out, boldly, in public, to touch zenyatta’s daemon, nobody says anything.
How much money do you think Naesala got by selling Reyson? I'm interested if you have any thoughts about that with everything else you have figured out about Tellius :) . Only if you want to of course!
I'm adding what I believe to be the second part of your ask as well, anon.
With the previous ask I sent where I said that you've figured out stuff about Tellius, I know it is headcanons and not canon material, I know some people don't want their stuff confused with canon material.
Ah, yes, I definitely don't want my stuff passed around as "canon" but I'm fine if people want to base their headcanons off of what I've mathed out, or use my math to make their own math and set their own headcanons. That's perfectly fine! :)
So thank you for another thought experiment! This is hard to answer, not because the games are afraid to tell us how much gold something is worth, but how much gold is worth in the world.
We know that 20,000 gold pieces is said to be "an outrageous fee" for an escort mission by Ike and "generous offer" and a "gift of such magnitude" that Elincia cannot accept it, but Ranulf also describes it as "perfectly reasonable...borders on insulting" compared to the life of a princess. Who's right, who's got no idea the true value of money? I haven't the foggiest. (We do know an average steel sword costs 700 gold. So about 28 and a half steel swords for this amount).
Later on in the game, we know Naesala leaves behind 120,000 gold that Daein was going to use to pay him the remaining portion of his fee for assisting in the war against Begnion (the 70,000 gold you get to spend at the end of the chapter and the 50,000 Ike uses to pay Volke for the report from Greil) (so he leaves behind the equivalent of 171.4 steel swords).
Naesala: And the remaining portion of my fee?
Petrine: Don't worry, we have it ready. You'll get paid when the job is done.
Naesala: As long as we're clear on that point, everything's settled. Well then, I'm off.
Path of Radiance, Chapter 19 "Entrusted"
But was that 50% up front and 50% at the end, or a different split? Hard to say.
We do know that of the 50,000 gold Ike gives Volke, Volke's retainer to keep an eye on Ike and kill him if he touches the medallion is only 30,000 as he returns 20,000 excess gold when you get to the endgame of Radiant Dawn)
Volke: I have to return something to you.
Ike: What the…!? What’s all this money for?
Volke: It’s the 50,000 gold you paid me the last time around. Well, minus my pay, expenses, and that sort of thing, of course.
Radiant Dawn, Chapter 4-F-1 "Rebirth"
We know that Volke says that the 50,000 gold was a test for Ike.
Ike: Mature? Then what was the fifty thousand gold for?!
Volke: Ah, the gold. That was my idea. I thought it would be a good way to test how resourceful and responsible you were.
Path of Radiance, Chapter 19 "Entrusted"
But Volke's prices are a bit all over the place. He charges 50 gold to pick a lock, 3,000 gold to help kill Izuka, 100 gold to eat a meal with the mercenary group, and 100,000 gold to learn the reason why he wants so much gold. The first two are at least jobs he might be interested in doing, and the last two are likely fees so large that they would deter the asker from further bothering Volke.
We also know that Begnion has gold to throw around.
Pelleas: That document stated that the empire would grant a loan of a billion gold to Daein with no interest rate and an unspecified payback date. At the time, you said that although it was technically a loan, we could treat the gold as compensation for the occupation army’s misgivings and so did not have to pay it back.
Radiant Dawn, Chapter 3-12 "The Price" (Extended translation from Serenes Forest)
Is a billion (yes, with a "B") chump change to them? Is it a lot of money?
But you're fortunately not asking what the GDP is for a country in Tellius is. You're asking what I think Naesala got paid for selling Reyson to Oliver. (Getting at the GDP might be easier to see what kind of money senators have to spend on hiring Naesala, but I don't know economics well enough to throw my hat in the vicinity of that arena).
All we know for sure is that it started at double Naesala's fee for stealing artwork.
Oliver: Oh ho! Something much more stunning. And if you agree to my proposition, I will double your normal fee!
Naesala: That is a most generous offer. Tell me, what is it you desire?
Path of Radiance, Chapter 15 "The Feral Frontier"
We also know that the auction for a heron (I feel icky writing that) cost a senator of Hetzel's position a great deal of money, and that was even before the Serenes Massacre when Rafiel would have been one-of-a-kind (give me a minute to shower the ick off).
Rafiel: The slavers sold me at auction, and the winner was Lord Hetzel. I didn’t know until later, but the bidding for me among the senators was extremely competitive. Lord Hetzel actually spent much of his fortune on my purchase.
Radiant Dawn, Chapter 4-4 "Revelations"
The extended script seems to be much in the same vein, no numbers.
We don't know if Naesala negotiated higher than Oliver's offer of double his fee or not, but we know that since Reyson wasn't going to be auctioned, it was likely considerably less than a fortune for a senator.
Given that Lekaidos/Sephiran had access to a billion gold to spend on a scheme like the Blood Pact with Daein, or Sanaki/Sephiran wanted to give a billion gold as an honest reparation to Daein and Lekain/Sephiran used it for the scheme, I am going to say that we could probably safely assume the senators have somewhere in the hundreds of thousands to the millions of gold to throw around for their own personal salaries, as the games don't imply that Begnion was suffering at all for the spending of a billion gold. (See what I meant about how calculating the GDP might make this math easier/more guided? But, I am not doing that, so we're just going to keep this happy little zone of a disposable income of hundreds of thousands to millions for reference later)
So, for the sake of my sanity as I would like a text reference to at least go off of before inventing a figure, I will assume that Naesala was going to be paid around 50% upfront and 50% after the job was done for Daein. He charges double/triple rates for himself to assist in a battle. He provides Daein with himself and 11 raven soldiers (4 in Chapter 18 "Crimea Marches" and 7 in Chapter 19 "Entrusted").
Naesala: Would you care for some assistance?
Norris: And what would it cost me this time?
Naesala: You learn quickly, my friend. Let's see, you'd be receiving my own royal assistance, so…double--no, triple rates.
Norris: Ludicrous! So much gold… Where would I…
Naesala: I suppose I could defer payment until later. Of course, that does bring up the question of interest…
Path of Radiance, Chapter 13 "A Guiding Wind"
So that gives me the equation of the value of the fee for 14 ravens fighting being the same value of 240,000 gold.
Or the fee for battle is 17,142.85... gold. I'll just round that to 17,000 gold.
Now, Begnion is a lot richer than Daein, and Naesala (like Volke) seems a little cavalier in how much he charges, likely basing it on his mood, how much he wants to do the job, and how much he knows they can pay. (see the "double--no triple rates." and the "question of interest" remarks above. I think he probably didn't want to help Norris route the forces on the Begnion ship carrying the apostle and was using the rates and interest talk to get Norris to back out of the deal in case he survived the battle, and it can be reasonably assumed Naesala knew Sanaki was on that ship. Does that help my figure of 17,000 gold base fee amount one bit? No. But it's the best the text will give me, so I am still rolling with it to get a comfort zone.)
So all that said, it could be assumed that the charge for a piece of art is around 17,000 gold, but the value of a raven life is probably worth more than Naesala than art (but also Naesala would probably price gouge the senate as much as possible, so does that offset it? Idk. Maybe he was also selling fighting services to Daein cheap because he wants a reason to fight Begnion. Who knows? It's all up for interpretation).
All that to say, I think what Oliver paid Naesala for Reyson could be anywhere from 20,000 (borderline insulting value for the life of a princess) to 34,000 (double the fee for hiring a raven soldier) to 240,000 gold (double the remaining portion of his fee left behind in Daein), depending on what assumptions you want to make on how much gold Oliver has for his disposable income to allocate for "purchasing artwork," and what Naesala's fees and negotiations would be.
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).
Rose tensed. Something was happening inside her. It was so strange to feel movement within her body and so worrying. She bite her lip placing both hands on her stomach. It felt like the baby was struggling, hitting against the walls of her womb. Was everything okay? Greg had said a baby grew for nine months but it had only been five. Was this labour? It was too early!
“Rose, what’s wrong?” Pearl asked, immediately by her side.
“We need to get Greg. Something’s happening with Steven!” The moment Rose mentioned Steven, Pearl paled and nodded. None of them knew about this ‘having a baby’ business and Rose only knew the basics from Greg, when they had discussed having a child. Pearl knocked on the door of the temple, calling for Garnet to get Greg so she could stay with Rose. Both Garnet and Amethyst hurried out, Garnet rushing to get Greg from his van as Amethyst and Pearl fussed and fretted with Rose.
Greg appeared in record time, urged by Garnet’s serious concern and flushed with worry. “What’s going on?” The Gems immediately stepped back so he could see Rose. Pearl was wringing her hands, eyes wide.
“He’s moving. This isn’t- I mean, you said it would take nine months before he would he be ready.” Rose said nervously, rubbing her stomach to try and soothe the feeling. It only earned another shift and hit from Steven’s tiny, still-developing limbs.
“Oh! No no, it’s not labour. It sounds like he’s kicking.” Greg sighed in relief, kneeling beside her and touching over her stomach. “Hey, Steven. It’s your dad. You wanna kick for me?” Nothing happened. The Crystal Gems surrounded them, peering curiously at Rose’s stomach.
“So...it’s normal? Nothing’s wrong?” Pearl pressed, squatting on Rose’s other side. All eyes were on Greg as he laughed, nodding.
“Yes! It’s a good thing! See, once a baby gets so big they start moving around in the womb. And if they know your voice, they might react to you. Rose, try talking to him.”
Rose felt herself flush. She looked at her stomach, very conscious of the baby inside her. She had brought life to plants, healed other gems but nothing in her thousands of years compared to this.
“Steven? Can you hear me?” The sensation repeated, the kick against her womb. She and Greg gasped in unison, starry-eyed. Amethyst reached forward.
“Hey, I wanna feel too!” Rose laughed, taking her hand off her tummy and placing Amethyst’s over where Steven had kicked. She shared a look with Greg, and placed Pearl’s hand over her stomach too.
“Steven, Pearl and Amethyst are here. Will you say hello to them too?” Before she had finished talking, she felt him kick. Pearl gasped and pulled back her in hand in shock while Amethyst cheered gleefully.
“I felt it! That means he’s gonna be super strong, right?”
“Rose, it- he doesn’t hurt you when he does that?” Pearl asked. Rose smiled at her concern.
“No. It feels a bit strange but the whole pregnancy feels strange! And if it means he’s healthy, I’m happy for him to keep doing that.”
“Garnet, your turn.” Greg invited Garnet forward as she carefully placed both hands on Rose’s stomach. As Rose introduced her, Steven kicked again.
“Hello Steven.” Garnet answered joyfully. The four of them gathered around Rose, rejoicing in this new development. Pearl gently touched Rose’s stomach again, relieved that nothing was wrong with her or the baby.
Who, in your opinion, is most canonly bisexual, in LoK, and TLA separately? please put the hashtag lokatlabi so I can see all the responses!
In LoK I’d say the only person with legitimate evidence is Asami. It’s obvious she loves Korra, and I don’t think it would be much of a stretch at all to say that she’s in love with her. I’ve been convinced for a while, but that dreamy face she makes in After All these Years and the fact that she’s the one to say “I can’t wait to see her” really made me certain. Even though they’d only spent a few months as friends together before they were separated for three years, the thought of seeing Korra again just meant so much to Asami. And that “let me come with you” from before the time skip…ALSO ALL THE GENTLE LITTLE TOUCHES ahhNot to mention the jillions of things in book 3 I won’t even get into, because that would be an essay in itself. (Nope nope I don’t have shipper bias at all)
There isn’t anything near as obvious as this in ATLA I don’t think, but I do remember them teasing the Zukka and Zukaang pairings in some episodes, so Zuko? I really don’t know about that one, though.Ty Lee?
