#Phares

[satsuha]

individual images for my dragalia tribute video here!

[dragalialife]

#430: Curiosities and the Cats

[ritterdoodles]

Catboy Phares, because I can 🐾

[valeriefauxnom]

Subtle Threads - Phares

Now, Phares is something of a bias of mine in the royal family, as you'd probably figure out if you've either read some of my fics or posts here. That being said, with him being such a slippery figure in the royal fam, especially in material that we can wholly put to him instead of the Progenitor and his continual influence warping him, he definitely doesn't have the more robust picture we get for more common members like Emile or Chelle.

That being said, I do think there are still plenty of interesting nuggets that hide within the many lines of text in Dragalia, and I figured I'd cover one for my boy!

Today's topic is that I think there's some evidence of an interesting relationship between Leonidas and Phares.

The introductory website outright says that they consider themselves 'worthy rivals'...

I'd like to expand on this relationship.

In Sibling Assembly, we see a hint that Leo and Phares seemed rather close growing up:

It makes sense. For a little while, they had their own little world to themselves to romp around in as the only brothers, and now a sister was intruding as younger siblings are so inclined to do.

That being said, even after Phares' wyrmscale, Leonidas still seems to consider Phares very highly. In the same conversation, despite being present in the capital to halt it and the one that was 'in charge' of the matter, he does nothing to stop Phares from freeing Beren when he announces his intentions bare:

For him, I almost think this amounts to Leo's form of trust for not immediately stepping in. Leonidas wanted to kill Beren outright, but by the time he gained the authority to order it so, something about Beren's Bad Vibes had grown too strong. The fact that he's letting Phares free him from his prison suggests to me that he believes that Phares could control him, or at least not immediately cause a massacre. At the very least, survive.

I'll also tack on that Leonidas first summons Phares in his story to help him with the fiends, even over Chelle with her high tech and maneuverability with the Gran Fiore, despite everything. While he might not fully know Phares' deteriorating state at this point, it's still a rather strong expression of trust that the Progenitor isn't in him and that Phares is able to help find a way to stem the invasion.

I think it's fair to say that there definitely is respect between the two, which is impressive that it managed to linger even through Leo's 'strong eat the weak' philosophy. Sure, he knows Phares to be very smart, but at the end of the day, if he truly were a hapless little flower, I think Leonidas would grow to disregard him all the same. That only goes so far on the battlefield, and one's performance on said battlefield is the metric he's ultimately concerned about.

They still do butt heads a tiny bit to show a shade of this supposed 'rivalry', though, between their different schools of thought, their ongoing Alberian chess rivalry show, and the fact that Phares was actually the second to start reading up on alchemy after Leo before he devoted himself enough to surpass him:

The chess match is, after all, a 'heated exchange' that has Leo there looking frustrated or otherwise in very deep thought (which he doesn't seem to have to do very often, able to beat Leif and Ilia both).

All this is speculative, but I'd also like to point out Phares' and Leonidas' weaponry.

Leo, of course, uses swords, and Phares, halberds. Halberds as a spear weapon actually have a bit of an advantage versus swords. No, the Fire Emblem Weapon Triangle didn't emerge from nothing!

The reasoning lies in its reach. It can safely hit and threaten a swordsman like Leo without endangering its wielder, and this sort of passive control of range and threat is what makes it hard for a sword-user to find an opportunity to strike safely.

Here's a video of what I mean, where you can see the swordsman just struggling to handle the constant threat of the spear he's facing, and is mostly just having to try to defend himself and seek an opening rather than actually engage in a true equal 'duel':

Here's yet more video for good measure, if you're really interested on how spear/sword match-ups tend to go:

And honestly? With how strong the legacy of using swords is baked into the royal fam as the cool thing to do with Alberius, I could see Phares instead pivoting to the spear and later a halberd to give him that edge against Leo, who is a martial juggernaut in the family.

Furthermore, Phares doesn't really indicate a problem with his physical strength, but he does obviously have one with endurance:

This stems from, of course, wyrmscale, which seems to affect his lungs:

While I'm not exactly a weapons-expert or how they were used, I think this ultimately kinda combines into another reason he went to the spear class of weapons: since he's at a 'safer' distance and always is going to have a sort of passive advantage against foes with shorter weapons, it might help reduce the amount of energy he's expending since his passive threat is so much more than a sword could manage.

Last but not least, with Phares' scales providing some much-needed protection to his left side, he's made himself quite a tough nut to crack, defensively. We don't know the full extent of his scales, but we do see that they at least largely cover his forearm, and have a more patchwork coverage of his upper chest:

See that arm vs. how it transitions at his wrist? That's encased in scale!

His model also suggests that they do at least partially run down his back (this is a side-back view of it, his head's in the top left)

In short, while its protection might not be complete, any amount of highly-resistant scales makes effectively hitting him that much harder, especially since his scales would work double time in stopping a slashing weapon from hitting his flesh as the protruding material.

Now, Dragalia is a magic society, which might make the spear vs. sword analysis more complicated, but still. With all this in mind, I do think that Phares might have gravitated to the spear as a means for him to help even the playing field, combat-wise, between himself and Leonidas. In pure physical shape, Leo would have him beat any day, but Phares has done his best to even the odds, keep the rivalry going, so that he could stand against Leonidas as an equal.

I just think it could be a nice touch to add to this rivalry of theirs.

At the end of the day, though, I'd like to point out that past all this rivalry or base respect between them, that Leonidas seems... rather caring. Emotionally vulnerable, for him. Even after considering his development after 12, Leonidas seems to be much more open about having a genuine brotherly love for Phares than he is for the other siblings.

Really, I'd like to just wave vaguely at Phares' story, sections 4 and 5 in particular, but since you're a captive audience if you've read this far, I'll just show you so you don't have to go hunting...

I mean, come on, anything that can get Leonidas to dramatically start yelling in caps lock is something that's he's not feeling flippant about!

Of course, he goes back to calmly snarking as soon as Phares' life is assured, but that's just Leo and the eldest trio's tendency to sarcasm...

I would also like to note that likely Chelle and Leonidas both were likely keeping vigil over him while he was unconscious, unconscious long enough to move him to the ship and for whatever Super Medical Squad Chelle assembled to ascertain that Phares' internal organs are OK. And for the both of them, both who tend to be busy with schemes and all the things they need/want to do, that says a lot!

As a final thing, Leonidas has good cause to be wary of Phares as next-in-line. All he would need to do is kill or otherwise permanently incapacitate a single elder brother, and the throne is his. And as I've shown, Leonidas harbors no delusions about Phares' abilities, which means that he both knows how dangerous a true foe Phares could be, and yet trusts him regardless even through their rivalry.

Sooo... yeah. Phares and Leonidas (just as Phares and Emile do) have a surprisingly fleshed-out dynamic that just kinda hid in the text, a thing that I'm not sure how many noticed besides me since nobody that's sane probably scours Phares' lines quite as much as I do!

Bonus Fun? Fact:

...Did you know that, -after Valyx, Phares actually seems to have the most square chin of the whole family? I just find it funny (and just found that one out a few weeks ago since I don't exactly stare at people's or characters' chins much...), since he's overall not exactly matching the whole 'Big Tough Strong MANLY MAN' aesthetic that that sort of trait tends to be used for.

(Leo's 'arms in air' pose admittedly and strangely is about equal to Phares, but in most all other arts he's far more angular and more like Euden or Chelle than Valyx...)

Fun? Fact 2:

Phares (well. Kinda. But that's always The Question for reading his lines pre-23. However, I don't think the Progenitor has enough personal knowledge of Euden yet to speak of him like Phares is...) is probably the closest anyone ever came to saying the word 'simp' in Dragalia!

[raichana-artblog]

Dragonyule - gift for Shine

This is my first imagine for a dragonyule art exchange! I had so much fun with this idea of Chelle, phares and Leonidas making snow angels.

I hope you enjoy!

[aestheticallypleasinganimeboys]

Phares - Dragalia Lost

[willofwinnie]

This is an artwork based on chapter 15/4-6 where Euden's life shatters in front of his eyes. This has been a piece that has taken several hours and has been extremely nerve-racking but certainly worth it!

All the family Euden knew and grew up with are depicted, Leonidas, Phares, Chelle, Valyx, Emile, Zethia, and King Aurelius. But after a certain revelation, Euden's connections with them will be forever changed (at least what it would feel like in the moment. Emotions were definitely running high!).

Enjoy!

[francepittoresque]

14 juillet 1827 : mort du physicien Augustin Fresnel, fondateur de l'optique moderne ➽ http://bit.ly/Augustin-Fresnel Si Augustin Fresnel en pince très tôt pour le domaine de la physique expérimentale, perfectionnant les jouets connus sous le nom de canonnières de façon à en faire des armes redoutables, il manifeste surtout une aptitude pour les mathématiques avant de confirmer la théorie ondulatoire de la lumière émise par Huygens au XVIIe siècle et de devenir le « bienfaiteur des marins » en consacrant les dernières années de sa courte existence à une science dont il ne possédait au départ que des notions rudimentaires

[yannjo]

Le port côté Léchiagat

[caweay]

i'm delicate love, but you left me at such a high level of stress that I'll never be like this again... 🗣️🗣️

[ours15]

[satsuha]

new dragalia charms! they'll be up for preorder later this month

these are the only new dragalia merch items that i'll be adding this batch, but the stuff i made earlier this year will be restocked as well!

[dragalialife]

#229: A Prince's Concern

[ritterdoodles]

Repostober day 6: my piece for my friend's zine/typography assignment earlier this year, Alberian Blood

(It's good btw, go check it out)

[valeriefauxnom]

So, of course in Dragalia there were royal siblings that were seen together more often, usually those clustered in the more similar age groups. The trio of eldest siblings, for example, had a few private meetings and otherwise seem to interact with each other more. The twins/triplets in the form of Euden, Zethia, and Nedrick also count for understandable reasons. These are the sibling groups that likely grew up closer together (well, Nedrick aside, but that's neither here nor there).

But one pair that majorly goes under the radar (to me, at least) was none other than Phares and Emile.

Standard warning of long post ahead! There's just what I think is a surprising amount of interaction between them and I feel the need to cite my sources to demonstrate just how many exchanges they had, comparatively!

I'll start it bluntly: the very first time that Phares drops into the main campaign in any prominence is to save Emile, taking a break from his science experiment shenanigans. His next appearance in chapter 10, he shows up with in lockstep, -you guessed it, Emile.

We also see tendencies/hallmarks of their interactions to start forming in chapter 10, on both their parts.

Emile seems to view Phares as the most likely source of protection among his siblings and gravitates to trying to get him to fight his battles, as Phares is apologizing for him and otherwise trying to put a reign on him and his words. Moreover, Emile doesn't seem quite so biting against Phares, which is likely due to the fact Phares' critiques are a bit less pointed and, well, outwardly mean than the other siblings'.

Alas, this is where their paths split for a long time as Phares breaks off to do his own thing, but it makes a triumphal return after Phares is free of the Progenitor's corruption and Emile starting properly on his character development.

Exhibit 1, in the Blood that Binds:

Here Emile continues to use Phares as a sort of crutch, both in protecting him as well as reassurance on what the plan was to begin with. Phares also briefly mentions to Valyx after he recovers that 'Emile was worried' about him, which, whether it is alluding to another conversation in which Emile was being oddly transparent on his concern or just simple observation from afar, seems to hint that Phares does pay Emile a fair bit of his attention when they're together even if he's just trying to stop Emile from doing stupid stuff.

Lastly, Phares is usually among the first to be direct in complimenting Emile's good deeds or argue that praising him is okay, few and far between as they are.

Phares also maintains his tendency to try and dampen Emile's fiery crassness into something more kind/polite. "Emile-translation", if you will. This is clearest in Bondforged Zethia's story.

My coup de grâce regarding this surprisingly long saga of Emile and Phares interactions comes in the form of Phares' lines, in which he declares: "I am happy Emile was able to rely on me. It made me feel like an older brother for once."

Aw. He cares. I think that's a unique aspect of Phares' overall character in that he strongly defies the stereotypical uncaring apathetic genius attitude. Of all the elder siblings he seems the most involved in trying to, well, not 'raise', but outwardly guide and express care for his younger siblings since Leonidas and Chelle usually are a lot more evasive about their actual sibling affection, and I find that interesting. I dunno exactly what I want to say here but it's sweet and what I try to keep in mind when writing him! And Emile, in turn, isn't particularly biting in return to Phares and seems to be the sibling he turns to the quickest for aid.

In any case, Phares and Emile had surprisingly many interactions among the siblings! I wish we had gotten more to get a better idea of their full dynamics, but I can appreciate the odd combos we did get! What sibling interactions do you guys wish we got more of?

[debbyvicenteblog]

Do something today that tour future self Will thank you for 🫠💘

Faça algo hoje que o teu futuro eu lhe agradecerá.