#also no offense to anyone that likes to draw robin in ylissean clothes

[iturbide]

Oh! That is a fun ask list. Can I ask 19, 20, and 27 please?

Guess who forgot about their inbox for a while it was me whoops

19. You get to make one more DLC for Awakening. What do you make?

I mean, me personally? Knowing how big I am on Grima backstory and also political intrigue? I'd...kind of want to see a DLC where Ylisse and the new Plegian government are actually working on establishing good, fair terms and becoming friendly, to the point that Ylisse has been invited into Plegia to get a better understanding of their history and culture -- something that we never got to see in the main game, and therefore something we desperately need to humanize these people more. Missions could be focused on addressing any Risen holdouts as they make their way through several important Plegian historical sites, and various spots on those maps could be interacted with to learn more about the nation, its origins, and its roots, going back through time from most recent in the first battle to most ancient in the last.

If it sticks to a three-chapter structure like Future Past, it could always start with a memorial to those lost in the crusade waged by Chrom's father, then move to the history of Grima's fall, and finally to Grima's earliest origins at Thabes Labyrinth (making it a subtle nod to Echoes, as well), thereby painting a more nuanced picture of both Plegia and Grima, showing the Fell Dragon as a protector who was mistreated and lost to despair before they lost their life (and that's just going with the Heroes read, imagine if the conspiracy theory snuck in) and the nation they fostered as a place struggling to survive in the face of harsh natural conditions and hatred from beyond its borders.

20. What do you feel is underappreciated about Awakening?

I don't know if this counts or not, but I feel like Robin being Plegian isn't appreciated enough. Beyond the fact that most of the Plegians we encounter are bizarrely pale (exceptions being Validar and Aversa, who are coded as evil and we don't have time to unpack how shitty that is), I've seen a significant amount of fanart that puts Robin in more Ylissean-style clothes, effectively erasing their heritage (and implicitly vilifying that part of themselves, given how they're removing any visible trace of it). I just feel like people don't appreciate that Robin is not a good person despite being Plegian: they're just a good person, and their Plegian heritage doesn't impact that in any way because a person's ancestry is not a mark of character.

27. A big change you'd make to Awakening:

Where do I start. If I had to pick anything to start with...I'd probably have to go with Gangrel. I've talked before about how weak his canon backstory feels to me, and I really think that a re-write of that part of his character -- and moreover an adjustment to bring aspects of it to the forefront in ways that force the Ylissean characters to confront that history in ways the game doesn't presently address -- would be a great benefit to the story, showing that the first conflict in the game is one firmly rooted in the unaddressed horrors of the past, and that by trying to leave them there without doing the work to put them to rest Emmeryn has effectively caused the present unrest. She meant well, it's true -- but her inaction is what gave Gangrel the foothold he needed to start a new conflict.

Awakening Ask Game