Veyle’s other self: the difference between the altered mind and the other self.
When we look at the aspect of Mind Control as a whole, it is the simple act of altering one’s thoughts to perfectly align with the controller’s wishes. While Fire Emblem itself usually voluntarily just uses mind control to get a (usually female) character to do what the bad guy wants them to do, the mind control trope itself is actually far more variable and complex than what you may think https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MindControl.
Beyond just that, the case of a certain Fire Emblem Engage character is a more interesting case than what some may say. Enter Veyle, who is my personal favorite Fire Emblem Engage character. A lot of people have complained that her evil personality in the words of TVTropes “cheaply removes agency from the real Veyle so she can be entirely sympathetic.” To that I say, what if I told you that that’s the point?
When it comes to Veyle’s story of abuse and control, there are three things we need to take into consideration: 1. Sombron’s control over Veyle’s life. 2. How the other Veyle is supposed to work and 3.(very important) Veyle’s accountability.
The best place to start talking about Veyle’s life of oppression is with the oppressor himself. The Fell Dragon Sombron, Veyle’s (and Alear’s) biological father. In case if it wasn’t obvious from his introduction in Chapter 10, to Sombron, everyone that he comes across (his children, the Four Hounds, and even his followers) are nothing more than pawns at best and tools at worst. Once Sombron has no use for you, you’re just deadweight (emphasis on the dead part). The end of chapter 24 also displays how he sees his children:
So right from the start, of course Veyle was stripped of her agency; she was living under a jerk that only saw his children as worthless slaves. Why would Sombron allow someone he considers to be a pawn to be allowed the chance to decide their own lives? Remember how Sombron rewarded Hyacinth for aiding his revival? He was eaten alive for it…
As a matter of fact, when it comes to Sombron’s control over others, it also foils how Sombron strips an Emblem of their free will when using an invocation on them. This represents the dominance he has over his children just for simply being their father.
This isn’t helped by the fact that the Four Hounds are all followers of the Fell Dragon (Sombron). This is especially the case of Zephia and Griss. Their reasons for treating Veyle as a “defect” is because she lacks the qualities they expected from someone who is Sombron’s child. In other words, they see Veyle as an extension of Sombron.
Zephia (Sombron’s most devoted follower) and Griss (who follows Zephia) only act nice to the good Veyle in order to keep her trapped. So that once Zephia’s spell takes full effect, the real Veyle would be erased and the other Veyle would take her place.
Griss really followed Veyle (EVeyle) so that he could get pain as offering to the Fell Dragon. It now makes sense why he was following Veyle and considers her good side to be a defect. Just Sombron and Zephia, Griss was forcing his expectations onto her.
The mere fact that the Hounds were followers of her father Sombron means that Veyle was going to be trapped by him no matter how many times she tries to run or defy his orders. Sombron will have control over Veyle’s life one way or another. For Veyle, there was never such a thing as being able to control her own life (no agency). Because Sombron is the one who had control over it. The Four Hounds exist to keep her trapped under the rule of her abusive father.
Like I said before, just simply being the daughter of the Fell Dragon allows Sombron to have control over Veyle even when not directly there. As Veyle lost her mother and was forced to go into hiding because of the persecution she suffered from the humans.
This leads into Veyle’s other personality EVeyle. This is not just another mind control situation. EVeyle is her own person with her own thoughts and feelings. She isn’t just some mindless robot who can’t think without someone else doing the thinking.
EVeyle feels more like a Shadow from the works of Carl Jung (referenced in the Persona series, 2 and 4 more specifically). A shadow is the innermost emotional cores that lie deep within our psyche. Often representing the sides of ourselves we wish to hide from others.
EVeyle represents Veyle’s inner hate for humans, her innate desire for Sombron’s acknowledgement, and her fear of becoming a monster. Zephia uses her power to tamper with her heart to create her other self. The other Veyle is the embodiment of Sombron’s will.
Even EVeyle says that she is “the real Veyle.” This is a common word choice for shadow archetypes. Representing the darker paths that we as individuals are at risk of taking.
Yu's vocals: You and I we ain't so different
I guess I had more blessings
Without it, got belligerent
Glass was half full for mine
Adachi's vocals: And it looked half empty for me
Both: Maybe that one glass made the path we took, who knows?
— "Yin Yang", Persona 4: The Golden Animation
As Zephia’s actions with tampering with her Draconic Impulses implies, Zephia was just stimulating the feelings that Veyle held inside of her. EVeyle’s hatred towards humans, her desire to please her father, and her fear of what she would become as a result, etc.
Terra: What did I do? What did YOU do?
Maleficent: You speak as if I pulled some invisible strings. No, you couldn't be further from the truth, child. I simply whispered to the darkness you already held inside.
— Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
As for EVeyle having a personality, Veyle’s supports with Ivy and Hortensia confirm that Evil Veyle liked Sweets. While the real Veyle likes Spicy foods. This is the moment where Hortensia truly begins to accept the real Veyle as the true Veyle.
In the case where this was a similar situation with Hortensia or Invoked Emblems, EVeyle would be a mindless husk incapable of having the capacity for liking or disliking anything. She would have no emotions whatsoever. Would a mindless person have the ability to beg for their life and say “I don’t want to die” with such emotions? I don’t think so.
But the most important aspect about Veyle’s character comes after she finally wins her agency back: her desire to atone for her (EVeyle’s) sins. A choice that she is making for herself. Not because anyone is asking/forcing her to do it.
Veyle’s supports and the rest of the game are focused on her atoning. Veyle could have just blamed all of the bad things that happened onto Sombron, Zephia and/or her evil self. But when it comes down to it, Veyle chooses to atone.
One could say that it’s out of self hatred, and while this may be true, this is another reason why I compared EVeyle to be a shadow. She still treats EVeyle as her own weakness. Something that, if it didn’t overcome her, then everything that happened could have been avoided.
The puzzling question is can one still be hold accountable for circumstances they have no control over? The circumstances may vary, but in the case of Veyle, because EVeyle is the darkness in her heart, she has to make the choice to fight to prove she is more than what others say.
In fact, Veyle was very close to choosing the easy way out and accepting death just to be with her sibling Alear who just died protecting her. And even then, she didn’t blame the world, Sombron or Zephia for the suffering she endured.
It isn’t until Alear (who also suffered from Sombron’s abuse) faces his own struggles that he learned to understand and accept Veyle. And this act of forgiveness would be the first step in saving the world and (more importantly, in that moment) mend their broken relationship.
Regardless if Veyle deserves credit for all that has happened or not, it’s as Sigurd said to Alear and Seliph; truth is subjective and there can’t be one single truth either. We have to see the bigger picture in order to truly understand each other.
If Lumera was in her right state of mind at the time and knew the full truth about Veyle, I’m sure Lumera would have forgiven Veyle without a second thought. And I’m sure Alear forgiving Veyle is what the real Lumera would have wanted too.
Veyle doesn’t deserve forgiveness for being a victim of Sombron’s abuse. Veyle deserves it because she herself made the choice and effort to make things right, to atone, to change… even before chapter 22, she already had the potential to be a hero…
And that’s more than I can say for Sombron and Zephia, who made no effort to repent whatsoever and continued to live in their selfish ways until the very end. In the words of Ike: “they’ll get no sympathy from me.”
So overall, I say screw TVTropes take here. Veyle fighting to get her agency back is the point, EVeyle actually has more depth than you think, and above all else, she’s sympathetic because she chose atonement when she could have hid behind her excuse. That’s just my opinion though.
