#and so would the scions

[dualcastimpact]

You know that scene in Endwalker where people from all across Eorzea helped find the adamantite needed for the Ragnarok, and if you'd done certain raids or story content the people involved in those raids and story content would show up or be mentioned in some capacity? As touching and cool as it was, I still think it was a missed opportunity to highlight just how beloved the Warrior of Light is.

"But wait," you say. "Didn't we have that in Shadowbringers, when all the factions in Norvrandt came together to help build the great Talos that would drag down Mt. Gulg? Didn't they all come to help the Warrior of Darkness put an end to the Light?"

Well, no. Not really. Sure it was the Warrior of Darkness and Thancred who'd made friends with the miners of Twine, but Alisaie had known the people of Mord Souq and the Inn at Journey's Head far longer than the Warrior of Darkness had. They were her people the way the Night's Blessed were Y'shtola— I mean, Master Matoya's. Urianger was going to ask the fae folk before deciding to ask the Crystarium's people instead, and those were the Exarch's people. The fae folk were Urianger's. Alphinaud went to Kholusia, and they were his people. In other words, other than being the mythical figure that the Scions and the Crystal Exarch believed whole-heartedly would save the world from succumbing to the Light, the Warrior of Darkness had very little to do with rallying the various factions of Norvrandt to their aid. The Scions and the Crystal Exarch had been in Norvrandt for centuries, years, months. At best, the Warrior of Darkness had been in Norvrandt for a few weeks. They did not come for the Warrior of Darkness. They came for the Scions and the Crystal Exarch, and to see the Light extinguished.

This is not the case in Endwalker, if you'd done the various raids and story content involved. Without them, it's an assortment of the people the Scions had been involved with: Ishgardians and pirates from Limsa Lominsa, the East Aldenard Trading Company and the Kojin, the Ironworks, the junior Scions, and the treasure hunters of Idyllshire. With them, you get direct assistance from the Redbills, the Bozjans, Ejika Tsunjika, the Four Lords, the Majestic Theater Company, Gaius Baelsar himself, and the Idyllshire goblins—people who had next to no contact with the Scions and only lent their aid because they were friends with the Warrior of Light (or at least owed them one, in the case of Gaius Baelsar). They didn't know shit about the Scions or saving the world, they just heard the Warrior of Light was involved and immediately offered their assistance.

And I wish the game would acknowledge that! The game makes a big fuss in Dawntrail about how the Warrior of Light has walked the world and has loved and been loved in return, but this scene would have been the perfect chance to showcase it! You have all these people very clearly and directly intending their aid for the Warrior of Light—Leofard and the Redbills personally flying to Old Sharlayan to deliver the supplies; Soroban and Hancock passing messages from the Four Lords and the Lexentales, the Bozjans and Ejika Tsunjika; Gaius going back to Valens' Weapons experiments—likely an endeavour that hurt—to find relics suitable for the Ragnarok's purposes; the Idyllshire goblins giving their all because how could they do any less for their dear friend in their hour of need?

All these people offered their aid not for the Scions, not to save the world, but because the Warrior of Light needed their aid, and while it was a great scene for the player, I can't help but wish it's acknowledged in-universe as well.

[trans-emet-selch]

I have always found it interesting that the WoL refers to Emet-Selch as not Emet-Selch but as Hades.

Sure, the journal entry is named Emet-Selch. But the first thing written there is that his true name was Hades. You also see this when you describe him to the Minstrel for his extreme trial.

Additionally, the description of the trial alludes to this as well. As when we talk about those we have faced in the First. We talk and refer to him as Hades. Which is also written similarly to the journal. Both of which were described/written by the WoL.

"Hearken unto a requiem for a hero fallen. A man who lived a thousand thousand of our lives clinging desperately to faint hope, never shirking his sworn duty to his long-lost brethren. A man who stood proud and did avow his true name on the threshold of the battle that would see him fall to his rival—the light to quench his shadow. Borrowing liberally from the funereal rites of the Night's Blessed, the minstreling wanderer weaves an elegy in that hero's honor—the tragic-yet-triumphant tale of a man and a battle that ne'er shall be forgotten."

You can also see this in the quest dialogue and while we cannot know the exact words the WoL used (as it is your own intrepretation of it) it is still clear that the WoL didn't refer to Emet-Selch as Emet-Selch they call him Hades.

For the WoL, this is about honoring the man who held steadfast to his ideas. Who fought for his loved ones just as much as the WoL does. Not the Ascian Emet-Selch. To honor and remember Hades as he once lived.

There is however, the matter brought up by the Minstrel: Why did Emet-Selch reveal his name to the Wol?

We do have a simple meta reason why: Hades is a recurring Summon across the Final Fantasy games. Using the name Hades is just natural to do so.

However, let's look at this from an in-lore perspective as well. For which we can look to what he says and speculate.

In the quest, Return to Eulmore, before leaving to Wright you can question Emet-Selch over the information he gives in the cutscene before. Revealing to us that Emet-Selch, along with the rest of the ascians encountered, is merely a title inherited. Their true names are hidden to take up the name and position of their seat.

You can, upon hearing this, ask him for his true name:

His reply to this is rather interesting:

There are a couple of things to note from his response. Firstly, he doesn't outright dismiss telling you his name, only says that eventually he'll reveal it. Of course, this hinges upon you living through your trials in putting down the Lightwardens and containing the light within, or simply dying from other matters.

But this would be disappointing for him. This dialogue ties into what he proposes to you later in The View From Above. To stand with him as allies. He doesn't propose this to the rest of the Scions, just the WoL. He dangles these threads because he wants them to reach back as Azem would. The WoL dying would be disappointing, and he would have to begin his search anew for Azem's soul.

We don't know if Emet-Selch has encountered Azem's shards before the WoL. Maybe he had or maybe he didn't. But it wouldn't change the fact that the WoL's death would have him searching again.

Even as he hurls insults upon the WoL for once more disappointing him, that is still Azem's soul in there. After all, his invitation to seek him out in the Tempest allows you to die with dignity. Everything he ever does is not let himself be alone and reach out to an old friend.

He wants someone else to remember it all. Who is more worthy of remembering it all than Azem?

Emet-Selch is a man of many masks. It is true, and his emotions are ever cloaked, but there are ever glimpses of them throughout Shadowbringers. Especially if it's Azem's soul prodding at him to reveal the layers underneath.

So in his final confrontation, when either the WoL dies or he, wouldn't it not be disappointing to leave the question of who the man underneath is all truly is? Perhaps even this even the last-ditch attempt to have the bearer of Azem's soul remember before either of you dies.

Emet-Selch yearns for his old friend to come back to him and remember. Just as much as he wishes shoulder the burden of remembering all of those that lived before. The WoL bears that last wish and remembers the man who fought for it all underneath as Hades. A man who once lived.

[fisherrprince]

so important to me that Y’shtola is a rude little beast who grew up in a cave. she just happens to look like a beautiful socialite but she did grow up with one old woman in a cave learning mildly illegal magic

[tokidokifish]

this one is for my ffxiv girlies

[aizel-kon]

LOOK WHAT HE GOT!!!!

"Scions of the New World" continuation 2

I saw yall asking for the jar scene lolol

[wildstar25]

MiqoMarch Day 25 - Fate

"It's almost funny; that my adventures would lead me right back to the isles I had thought to have left so far behind me. Is this all a coincidence or is this fate?"

[robynostornwyn]

Wol'shtola Week - Day 6: Angst

Everything was light and movement. Eternity stretched onward, time and space had no meaning. Y'shtola floated along the current without any control or tether to the world she once knew.

A sharp yank upon her soul, and she was falling. Everything was all of a sudden heavy as she was forced into a dark unconsciousness.

She woke with a start. Her body was stiff and her senses overloaded - wait her body? Everything felt wrong, or maybe for the first time in a while everything actually felt right? The darkness enveloped her.

“Hey, it's ok. You're ok. I've got you.”

A voice cut through the chaos. She had to focus, get her bearings. She felt her body (it was her body, wasn't it?), felt the bed beneath her, the soft clothes against her skin, the hand holding her own.

“It's going to be alright, just breathe”

She knew that voice.

“Robyn?” barely a whisper. breathe

“Yeah, I'm here. I've got you.”

She strained her eyes trying to make her out, make anything out. But all she could see was darkness. Why was it so dark?

“Well it is the middle of the night, but I can get another lantern if you would like?”

“Another…”

She can't see? She is supposed to see, right? The light, the movement…follow the current. 

She gripped the hand tightly.

“Where…what happened?”

“Do you remember the banquet? You collapsed the tunnel and apparently tried to teleport out, and have been stuck in the lifestream ever since. It’s taken us months to find you and get you out.”

The banquet? Robyn in chains. Blood pouring from Raubahn. Running through the tunnels beneath the city. Her mind raced - light and movement.

A second hand grabs her arm, pulling her back.

“I should go get the Seedseers, have them make sure you are alright.”

“No!” She grasps the hand harder, the desperation of her own voice ringing in her ears. “No, please…please don't let go.”

“Ok. ok, I've got you.”

Robyn's big hands envelope her own. She focuses on that touch, as her mind reels. 

Eventually Robyn shifts. Never letting go, the bed dips and strong arms pull her in tightly. She presses her forehead against Robyn's chest as she tries to make sense of it all. 

Teleportation into the lifestream. A desperate act that didn't work quite as intended, and cost her sight in the process? But she was alive. She would figure this out.

The rhythm of Robyn's breathing was soothing to her frayed nerves, her own breaths slowing to keep pace until she calmed enough to drift into a calmer sleep.

"Good morning Robyn, has there been any change...oh!"

heh. well well, sister, what have we here? 'A talented colleague' indeed.

[momijigari]

Grafting

[felonytaxevasion]

Also for the record if you put the Madoka girls in Worm Madoka would also find a way to solve the Scion problem. And she'd still wear a pretty pink dress and believe in the power of friendship while doing it also

[ubejamjar]

Personae non Gratae > Gather information in Tertium

You get the sense you've seen this woman before, though you cannot recall where. ...It seems she has nothing more to say to someone like you.

[fatedroses]

I personally subscribe to the idea that Adventurer Zenos shows his affection and appreciation for his peers in very odd ways (like yoinking the Students' taxes and dealing with their expenses and maybe also paying for some of their expenses but shhh).

[randomnameless]

Why do the FEH devs insist on ignoring Nabatean lore so much?

I recently had a surprisingly cordial discussion on redshit with someone about the "nabateans = colonisers" take, and one of the main points raised was that the game was purposedly foggy around Nabateans/Sothis/their story because it would obviously favor a certain narrative (and thus make another narrative look, uh, not that marketable anymore).

To be honest, we still ended up with a product that had a lead go "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and yet that lead is still marketable enough to have raunchy cipher cards and 5 FEH alts, so I actually wonder if, while pissing on that lore had that purpose, it was ultimately pointless since Supreme Leader can still sell goodies despite her incarnation in FE16.

And not only Supreme Leader - but the entirety of WC where we basically have 70% of the cast crying/complaining about their "mixed blood" or lack of and basically adding their 10 cents to the "this race and its blood is the reason why the world sucks".

I mean, can you imagine Sylvain selling any goodies and alts if Flayn replied to his "wah wah people only are kind to me and want to fuck me because I have Nabatean blood :(" by some uncharacteristic "good for you, I have to hide my ears, had to dye my hair, have to lie about my family because if the truth is found out about my identity, I will be hunted and vivisected like an animal and harvested for parts by people who call my kin abominations - just like what happens in the game where the same people who call my kin "abominations" ally with a classmate who calls me a creature and pretends I am incapable of human feelings based on my race".

FE Fodlan's main selling point is its cast of students, for various reasons, but even if I tried to kid myself, Nopes and FEH made it clears : students are the main selling point.

If you spare more time and attention to the Nabatean plot/lore, the students either grow from "likeable" to "despicable" or worse, you won't gaf about them because yeah sure, Hilda might be upset because people expect things from her due to her crust, but it would feel like a "peanut" compared to Seteth's irrational (granted, it's not so irrational since GW exists) fear that Flayn's newest friends would dissect her if they learnt she was a Nabatean, and being conflicted by finally letting her have human friends and form bonds she crave, or protect her due to the trauma from the genocide of their species.

Don't get me wrong, I love peanuts, I mean, not everyone can have a tragik of loaded backstory!

And yet, given how this verse's DNA is "can you fight against the red emperor who uwus about you", they had to add copious amounts of Earl Grey to their games so there's no clear-cut factions :

The "Your alien blood and its influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command" vs "I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

is turned to :

"Your alien blood Crests and its your church's influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command"

"I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

Sprinkle with the cast's hammering here and there that the "reforms" might be needed - but never develop on what they are - and add a few baseless and groundless takes as a toping (basically everything Claude says about tolerance and the general "isolationism/foreign policy" stuff) and you get FE Fodlan where the Red Emperor's war isn't seen as the catastrophe it is in the other entries from the series!

Now, for FEH...

FWIW, the F!F!Billy's trailer had them try to explain that Sothis was a bit pissed about her slaughtered/massacred children when Nopes never gave any reason about why she was pissed - maybe on Billy's behalf bcs Jerry's dead, but come on, she would indeed deserve the medal of the worst parent in the franchise if that was the case, since Billy can murder her daughter without Sothis taking over ! - but given that they cannot write/go against the source game those characters are from.

They tried a bit, with B!Supreme Leader and Hegemongard's FB, but then it stopped (because she had no "new unit" released since then lol) and I can understand why : Hegemongard came out before the Supreme Emblem, and Hegemongard hates dragons who are seen/perceived as gods by some of their human followers. Come FE17, and now Supreme Emblem accepts Alear because they are "one of the good ones". We can come up with HCs and details and talk about what are emblems or if Hegemongard's views were only hers at the end of AM all day long... But imo, Doylist wise, it still feels it's a retcon because the devs from the main games tried to scrap and remove the most "controversial" traits she had.

For the other characters... Well, you see what Marianne is in FEH (but even in her base games), she's one of the few characters who reacts - in a way - to the partial history about relics and demonic beasts and all... only to give sad uwus to Maurice.

FE16 (and Nopes) refused to have any "student" character react to the Nabatean lore/reveal, about what are relics and all. There are no lines, Claude shared some knowledge in the explore section of VW's last chapter, but we don't have anyone muse or think or even talk about what are relics, what are crests, and what kind of fuckery their ancestors or the ancient humans of Fodlan did.

With that in mind, FEH can't do much : either they write Marianne in a retcon-y way like what happened for Hegemongard (and they're not afraid to piss on characterisation, look at Lyon!), or they flanderise her "character" and develop her around 3 lines she had in the game in her paralogue, and continue to give sad uwus about Momo when he was at best a guy who slaughtered and murdered so much that he abused the Nabatean turned into a relic to the point where he turned in a demonic beast even if he had a matching crest, or at worst, had been part of Nemesis's piñata party in Zanado and was something of a genocider.

Tldr :

Why FE Fodlan never gaf about Nabateans : earl grey + the marketable cast has to stay marketable and you can't sell peanuts at the same price you'd sell swordfish

Why FEH dgaf about Nabatean lore : they can't afford to retcon characters + they have to sell peanut alts with the same seasoning they had in their base game.

For what it's worth though, I think FEH is more daring than the base game(s) given how they gave more lines and screentime to Rhea - through her different alts - than GW. And they even designed her Halloween!alt's lines to piss on some of Claude's assertions, while the various FB involving members of the church also - indirectly - reply to some accusations thrown their way in FE16 when, FE16, never gave them an opportunity or lines to explain that those takes were full of dung.

*"but random, maybe she doesn't know that the crests she often decries is "dragon blood"!"

It's highly debatable, especially given what she and Hubert throw to Billy in CF - but even if she doesn't, Doylist wise we still have a character who, knowingly or not, says "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and who is never called out on her prejudice. That's more of an issue regarding the general writing though, she has to be a red emperor and took pages from Ashnard's book, and yet, the player must still feel bad and want to romance her, so her mindest/goal cannot be looked at too closely, because, I guess, even the devs thought it would be difficult to romance her (thus sell goodies!) if more light was shed on the "blood from this race corrupts our people" schtick -> which in turn would also make characters whose backstory and gimmick rely on "crying about crests" be way less likeable, thus marketable and able to sell goodies.

[whetstonefires]

You know, I've been thinking about it, and it is absolutely essential to the narrative that Jiang Cheng is a dick and a trash fire. (Affectionate.)

Like, first of all, if he was a sainted little angel of a shidi the way Jiang Yanli is a shijie, Wei Wuxian's choices would become obvious, sort of impersonal, and boring.

Sure, lots of people wouldn't tear themselves apart for such a person in such a scenario, but they're not the protagonists of novels, are they; in a book you have to justify not doing that. So white lotus Jiang Cheng is off the table.

Jiang Cheng who isn't fragile-and-insecure but also stubborn-as-hell and violently reactive also won't wash.

If he wasn't the kind of person who sincerely tries to die under these circumstances, Wei Wuxian would have had the option of loyally supporting him in a less self-destructive way; if he was someone who could be trusted to handle the revelation without suffering a ruinous fracture of identity, Wei Wuxian wouldn't have been forced to distance himself after the war, because he could have come clean.

If Jiang Cheng wasn't the kind of person who centers on his own pride and hurt feelings and lashes out about it, it would be very hard to set up the lategame scenario where they're 'enemies' in a real, meaningful way, despite still loving each other and Wei Wuxian never wishing Jiang Cheng any ill. Even with Jiang Yanli's death.

And I mean, you could get most of the plot without doing this interesting thematic examination of the classic 'bond between martial brothers severed by one going to the dark side' trope, but I'd argue you'd lose an enormous chunk of the story.

And without Jiang Cheng's weaknesses, Wei Wuxian's motives don't cohere. His weaknesses form the foundation of at least two of the backstory's major turning points.

There's the tantalizing possibility that Wei Wuxian wouldn't have done it, if Jiang Cheng hadn't strangled him while blaming him for everything.

Probably he would have, all else being equal! But neither we nor Jiang Cheng can be sure.

Jiang Cheng sucking a lot, and knowing his own flaws perfectly well without that granting him the ability to do much about them, is heavily load-bearing. Which gives him such a fantastic implied point of view!

[idalenn]

Our Devouring of the Immaculate

[valeriefauxnom]

You know, if it's one thing that kinda grinds my gears, it's this... weird persistence some fans of Dragalia had to say that the game was totally angling for this ~Euden/Zethia~ ship all the while.

I mean, sure, I guess I can't stop anyone from shipping anything, but I can speak to the supposed 'canon' degree of a ship by analyzing the broader work and specific lines within.

And let me flat-out state now that, for all of its plot craziness, Dragalia actively made a stand against the Euden/Zethia ship.

Proponents of this argument, joking or not, most often point to four major points in the at least semi-serious arguments I've stumbled upon besides just the people who jokingly meme about it for lols:

-Euden and Zethia act 'too invested' in each other beyond 'normal siblings', which suggests to them that they are romantically involved,

-The truth of Euden's birth gives space to start making it a 'non-taboo' ship, 'wow, we aren't related at all, we don't need to hide anything!' sort of way.

-With Euden's total lack of interest in any of the men or women who become interested in him, they take it as though he is already interested in Zethia and thus uncaring about others' attention

-Euden ends Dragalia as someone that potentially might not be even related to Zethia or remember her, further freeing up the ship to be a normal ship for endgame

Let me address those points in turn.

The 'Too Invested' Argument:

Now, I'm not here to claim that Euden and Zethia had a perfectly healthy dynamic. Euden was hyperprotective over Zethia, and, though it gets less focus, Zethia was hyperprotective over Euden.

Yes, both had problems about being overprotective.

I could list examples all day, but I think I'll narrow it down to a few to just recognize this point:

Here, Euden contrasts the value of his life with not hers, but her mere freedom. Between that, ch.14, 15, etc, Euden paints a very clear picture that he puts Zethia above him in value. Just to add some silliness, he comes close enough in one line of dialogue to inspire me to make this:

(Full quote: No matter where we are, we love and support Zethia always. May those feelings find their way to her...)

And on Zethia's side...

Several times she's motivated to great personal risk to get Euden out of binds, including this case where she willing stays in the demon's den of Agito+Nedrick instead of taking a chance at freedom, because she believes in Nedrick's threat. It's a direct and ironic reversal of Euden's words earlier - she values Euden's life more than her own freedom.

Euden's not alone in starting to lose his head if Zethia's in danger, either. Gala!Zethia (well, technically another Zethia) sees her Euden die, and immediately breaks her ordinarily calm demeanor.

I'll address the reasons for this behavior in brief. On Euden's side, it's a combination of 'big brother protectiveness' and his concerns for her mental state. Euden knew Zethia as sensitive, growing up, but changed after their mother died, and views her current behavior as a facade trying to cover things up. So he fears her suffering in misery with nothing but Morsayati or later Nedrick as company (+ all the other reasons for why you might not be keen on letting a demon overlord keep possessing your twin).

On Zethia's, it's a reflection of Euden's actions. Zethia knows Euden is so recklessly devoid of self-preservation, especially in defense of others, that she feels the need to fix any problem he inevitably involves himself in and the injuries that result. She outright states that she's only as good as healing because Euden gave her so much practice growing up. Part of it is also tied to her self-worth - even though Zethia is, by all likelihood, stronger than Euden at the start of canon, Euden's interventionist personality to get in front of her and stop something from truly challenging/threatening her makes her want to be able to do something instead of feeling like she's always trapped under his protective shadow.

For both of them, it also stems from the fact that they only really had themselves and Notte growing up for same-age friends, so there weren't any others to separate them. Limited attachments means less time to spend with others, which only let them become even more glued at the hip.

And this is where Dragalia had a moment of self-realization that maybe this isn't a wholly healthy dynamic to be stuck in, and that's why there's a surprising-large-if-still-a-small-subplot body of moments in late canon where the two of them start to work on becoming less mutually protective of the other.

Bondforged Zethia's story in part revolves around this idea.

...And where Bondforged Zethia walks with this idea amid its main plot, Advent of the Origin runs with it:

Here, both Zethia and Euden start to acknowledge that they cannot be each other's eternal saviors. Euden tries to recognize that Zethia doesn't need him for everything any more, and Zethia attempts to stand strong on her own without Euden's aid.

While both of their efforts are a bit misplaced (Zethia tries to go too hard to the 'I don't need ANY help at all, mom!' direction and neglects telling Euden of the disturbing, potentially ominous dreams she's having), they reaffirm this again after they both get erased from existence oh what a sentence to write, but that's what you get when going into late Dragalia canon...

To put it in brief: yes, Euden and Zethia's dynamic is not that of an perfectly ordinary, healthy sibling dynamic, and it is a thing that Dragalia actively starts to give them both therapy remedy and get them to a more normal place where they both support each other without becoming overprotective. It's not your standard lovey-dovey nonsense couples oft get up to in media that's viewed as a positive as just an 'expression of love', and instead was more informed by their isolationist upbringing and early difficulties of losing their mother so soon.

As a last note, see Bondforged Zethia's line:

The overall trajectory of their relationship is the both of them finding a happy medium where they mutually support each other whilst growing more independent and less overprotective.

The 'Non-Taboo' / Ending Argument

This one is a lot more straightforward than the last one: Dragalia actively affirms at every interval questioned that Euden and Zethia consider themselves siblings at the end of the day.

We can dance around it all day, but at the end of it, this is the sentiment that Euden and Zethia share at the end of canon:

So, no, no matter what dreams any might have that Euden or Zethia somehow would take the increasingly-muddled bloodline of Euden's (even if not much has changed fundamentally from the simple fact that he has inherited Nedrick's, -Zethia's twin, -blood) as permission to change what they think about each other, that's just flat-out not the case.

And while the ending is high-key ambiguous as to what's going on, as I, who wrote a 300k+ speculatory dragalia fic on the subject would know, there's still nothing to suggest this dynamic has changed!

Questions one can ask about the ending are abundant: did Zethia create a base simulacrum of Euden by remembering him, or is he the real thing? What does he remember? What does she? ...But, ultimately, there's 0.00 evidence to suggest anything has fundamentally changed.

What glimpse we get has Euden just concerned about Zethia breaking down in front of him, and Zethia struggling with feelings she has no memory to tie them to. In fact, with the ending more suggesting that Zethia is remembering more about Euden, the odds of them running with the 'whoop-de-doo, now they don't remember each other' contrivance to 'fulfill the ship' are further decreased.

The 'Euden's Lack of Interest' Argument:

Ah, a classic. I still remember all the people hyper-analyzing over who he had blushed for as evidence of a ship or romantic interest.

I've gone over it several times, but it's never too late to bust out the good old evidence that Euden was seemingly aroace instead of just oblivious or already occupied with another. And for once I'm not grasping at threads to make a funny joke or crazy lore idea!

Euden says at minimum three times that he explicitly 'doesn't ever really think about romance', 'doesn't understand romantic love as a concept', and 'doesn't even think he's mentally ready to even start figuring out if he wants a relationship'.

If one wanted to argue that these come from very Dragalia and that Euden could have since developed, one would still be disappointed, because the middle image here is from Summer Mym, very late in the lifespan of the game.

I know when I first saw that they were doing S!Mym, my first thoughts (and probably several others) were something along: 'ok probably inevitable, Mym is unfortunately reduced to this waifubait character 99% of the time even if there technically is shades of something deeper to her, her story is probably going to be mindless rom-com nonsense with Euden'.

But if they instead choose to take the high road and make the bold decision to let her have mature discussions of love with Euden, replete with her understanding that Euden just doesn't romantically love her and respecting his reaction to her confession now that she finally put it in a way he understood...

(They would continue to disaffirm a Euden/Mym ship in the very last chapter, impressively, too!)

...I can't see them backtracking so hard just for another ship, if that's the maturity of love and rejections that they could take with Mym of all characters. Here, Euden again rejects the concept that he even understands what it means to romantically love, and instead has come to recognize that even if he's capable of it, he needs to figure out this little thing called 'self-love' first.

If they'd suddenly made another Elisanne or Euden alt and immediately backtracked on Euden's blanket refusal to engage in anything romantic, fans of all stripes would be pissed, to put it bluntly. Whether it was diehard Mym/Euden shippers upset that they contrived a reason to sink the ship only to ignore that reason to uphold another, people who appreciated the overall strong body of evidence for aroace!Euden now upset that they decided to needlessly shove a ship in... It would please almost nobody save for diehard Elly/Euden fans just trying to take their food where they can get it.

This has gone on a bit of a tangent, but in short: start to finish, Dragalia strongly rejected affirming any /Euden ship, and not just because they wanted to keep shippers' dreams alive - if they're willing to so thoroughly sink one of the biggest ships in the game, nobody was safe and the course did not appear to change.

Also, at the end of the day, blushing isn't just an expression of romantic love/attraction, ya know? It's foremost one of embarrassment and other strong emotions like anger.

In summation:

No, theoretical internet person, Dragalia Lost did not push a Euden/Zethia ship, so if you're gonna ship it, just know you can't hide behind 'but it was canon!' or 'hey, I'm just going along with what the writers clearly wanted' as a cover.

[valeriannnn]

I know little of the Keepers and their cultural norms, but I suppose it should not come as a surprise that matters of grooming and personal maintenance should carry a more pragmatic connotation for those who live in such isolation - or perhaps our friend is simply strange, regardless of his context. I must admit: it was no small comfort to me, in those frigid days heralding the twilight of the Dragonsong War, to discover that our champion did not share our Sharlayan intuition toward personal space. Our more guarded companions don't always share my gratitude for the attention, but I believe that after our long estrangement, even the coldest of hearts could not fail to be warmed by such a gesture.

Wolcred Week 2024 Day 1: Warmth | Home

ok as mentioned in the tags i didnt have time to render a complete scene for this but i found this old mspaint sketch that demonstrates the Vibe. tyagoa just walked up behind him after cleaning up from their meal