#celica x rinea

[fayesdiary]

!!!

@loregoddess

I simply ship rare WLW

[fayessketchbook]

Day 7 - Free

[fayesdiary]

001 for Faye x Rinea and Celica X Faye, and character of your choice who you've been wanting to talk about for 002, for the ask game

Faye/Rinea

When I started shipping it

When I saw this art by @ grimoirering. They were so cute together and eventually I started genuinely thinking about them and realizing they actually work together really well and so... here we are.

My thoughts

I adore them. It's a rarepair that works better the more you think about it (such as noticing the various parallels or the spring/winter aesthetic) and can has huge potential for both fluff and angst.

I just delved into a bunch of fluff at the moment, but you bet I want to make something angsty with them one day.

Mainly involving Witch Rinea because I mean, come on. It's right there.

What makes me happy about them

These two are adorable.

They work so well from the village girl/noble lady and spring/winter dynamic, both of their lives revolving around a male lead meta-wise and not and being very unsure of their place in their group, so them finding love and support in each other is just *screams*

And something I realized when writing the latest chapter of Socially Distant and makes this pair even better is that Faye is still a bit clingy and obsessive with her loved ones because that's just how she is (though nowhere near to the unhealthy levels as she was with Alm), but for Rinea that's ironically a good thing since she constantly needs showings of affections to remind her that she is truly loved and not just a pretty thing to show around like she's been viewed as for most of her life.

Helps that neither of them like being at the center of attention, too.

What makes me sad about them

Faye and Rinea's view of themselves is very bad and they tend to struggle understanding what the other sees in them. Faye is scared of overstepping her boundaries and making Rinea feel uncomfortable, while Rinea keeps thinking people around her barely tolerate her and will abandon her if she doesn't act as this perfect lady and makes the slightest mistake.

It takes them a long while for them to have a better view of themselves and trusting the other not to leave them behind at the slightest mistake.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me

The fact that beside Socially Distant and a drabble collection where they feature in a really short story, there are no fanfics about these two and I'm starving for more content.

I really have to do everything around here, have I?😤

Things I look for in fanfic

As I said, right now I'm looking for fanfics of them period. Mainly with them as the main focus because them just being a really minor couple in the background wouldn't really count.

Who I'd be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other

For Faye I'd say Celica or Silque... although Chloé recently joined as another great rarepair option me and @zorua-adorable are obsessing over.

For Rinea, and I just thought of it but am already really into it... Clair would be a really fun partner for her!

My happily ever after for them

Living together and having the coziest, most peaceful life and where they're filled with love and care from both their friends and each other.

Who is the big spoon/little spoon

Faye's definitely the big spoon and Rinea just melts in her arms.

What's their favorite non-sexual activity

I just got the mental image of Faye resting on Rinea's lap while the latter is humming while the two are in a garden of flowers and that just works so well.

For Socially Distant in particular it's watching and talking about anime together, particularly magical girl ones. Weebs.

Faye/Celica

When I started shipping it

Many years ago, specifically thanks to this fic by @ pureauthor-blog. Which, ironically, is another Faye rarepair fic set in a modern setting, so I'm kinda picking up the torch with Socially Distant? Maybe? Hopefully?

Anyway, that's the fic that really got me into the pair and I haven't stopped shipping it ever since!

My thoughts

They are just the cutest!

This was the first Faye rarepair that I started shipping and it's still one of my favorites and most of it is just due to how saccharine these two are.

Another top-tier aesthetic, I adore the childhood friends and village girl/princess dynamic and these two just work so well with each other, you know?

Also, something I just realized is just how similar it feels to Faye/Rinea, which I am not complaining.

...so when Celica/Rinea?

What makes me happy about them

That this one has just a tiny hint in canon.

Well, not outright romantic, but the fact that when Celica returns to Ram Faye is super happy to see her which is so unlike what her archetype would have you think and just one that makes me spiral.

They were best friends. Faye welcomed Celica into Ram and taught her many things like sewing flowers. Faye is almost as devastated as Alm when Celica has to leave but unlike him she thinks she'll never see her again and even if she does she wouldn't remember her anyway.

But then Celica comes back, and remembers her. And the two just melt in each other's arms.

What makes me sad about them

That Faye and Celica could never be together in canon because Alm aside, they just belong to different worlds that can't reconcile.

Faye would be miserable living as a noble or outright a queen because it's just so alien to her entire life and what she cherishes, and while Celica would want so badly to just be a simple girl and live to Ram with her she has so many responsibilities to her kingdom she would never shy away from.

So there's this constant sense of distance and longing, and while maybe there are some ways they could work (like Faye secretly courting Celica and occasionally visiting her), they could never be anything more without jeopardizing who they are as people, no matter how badly they want to.

And while this makes for great angst, this is why I joke that I ship them in anywhere but canon.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me

Not enough fics to have found things that flat out annoy me, so no idea.

Things I look for in fanfic

Mainly for more fics.

And mostly fluff, although I would be intrigued by an angsty Faye/Celica fic.

Who I'd be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other

Well I already mentioned Faye, but for Celica it'd be Alm of course, Clair would be fun, Mae and Céline! And as I said before, I'm curious about how Celica and Rinea would be together :3

My happily ever after for them

Living in a cozy home together, surrounded by cats :3

Who is the big spoon/little spoon

They switch! Sometimes it's Faye and sometimes it's Celica :D

What's their favorite non-sexual activity

Gardening! I like to imagine they have a large garden filled with several flowers. And yes, they still sew them.

And for the character I choose Loptous! And straight out of the bag, I'm skipping all the romance options because he should not be with anyone.

How I feel about him

Holy shit, this guy is the most evil villain in all of FE and I sincerely doubt IntSys will ever even come close with his level of depravity ever again.

He is pure evil in the best way possible, from his obvious damage on a large scale (the Jugdral timeline at the start of FE4 is just a list of his atrocities) to even a smaller scale to make you hate his guts (Taking advantage of his possession of Julius to drive both Arvis and Ishtar to indirect suicide, and just his relationship with Ishtar is a huge bag of fucked up in the best way possible).

Unlike other evil dragons he doesn't even a tragic backstory. He just things humans are toys to break in so many ways and he turned himself into a cursed tome just to torment Jugdral forever. He doesn't have a tragic motive to hate humans like Medeus and Grima, he didn't degenerate like Duma.

He's sane and just unbelievably evil and sadistic, and that's what makes him terrifying.

Not to mention the grip he has over Julius. By the time of FE4 the two have pretty much become synonyms, and when you kill him you'd think Julius would die as himself for his last few moments like it happened with Lyon and Future Past Robin, right?

But no. Instead the opposite happens, where Julius is fully taken over by Loptous. It even extends to Heroes. For Lyon and Robin, their version where they're taken over by Fomortiis and Grima are relegated to Fallen Heroes, but for Julius?

That's his base form.

Loptous has taken over Julius so much that the latter almost doesn't exist anymore both in official material and in fanon. When people talk about Julius, they're usually actually talking about Loptous.

And that is, to me, an existential nightmare.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Hilda. No, not that Hilda.

She's the only one who comes close to him in terms of depravity and that's an achievement in and of itself.

My unpopular opinion about him

Not sure if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think he's the best villain in the franchise, or at least the best "pure evil" one.

And I doubt IntSys will ever surpass him.

One thing I wish had happened with him in canon

I want to see the moment he starts to possess Julius so badly, I want it to be as fucked up as they can get away with. Can we see it for the FE4 remake please?🙏

A headcanon fact

This is an old one, but I like to think Loptous grew in a hate group of Earth Dragons who rather than just think they're better than humanity they do what... well, hate groups do. Let's just leave it at that. And then Loptous grows up and takes the hate to even more horrifying extremes in Jugdral.

[loregoddess]

Faye from FE for the ask game? :)

First impression: I didn't have any strong feelings for or against her, although I wasn't wildly keen on her writing for my first run, but in the "wow, the writers really messed up" kind of way and not like, "wow this character sucks" kind of way. I did like her as a unit though, she was pretty strong even though I eventually benched her bc I stopped using pegasus knights late-game (which was the class I had her in my first run).

Impression now: One of my favorite FE characters like, ever. Which started off as spite, I will admit, because she got a lot of hate from the fandom, but unlike so many other characters/games where fans criticize the writers, they just went straight for Faye as a character which was ??? bc like, what little writing she gets outside of her crush for Alm is Fine Actually, and again, she's a great unit in battle. So I decided that no actually I'm going to love this character, and then between critically reading her canon writing and coming up with my own headcanons and ideas for expanding her characterization, I ended up genuinely loving her a whole lot. Faye's great.

Favorite moment: This is hard bc again, *vaguely gestures at the game* she doesn't get a whole lot of screentime for anything, although I do appreciate that she comes to terms with her feelings towards Alm being unreciprocated, and is able to forge a friendship with Silque.

Idea for a story: Because I have this rarepair of Faye x Rinea (which was also born out of spite, I swear Echoes is actually tied for my top favorite FE game, I just also have a lot of spite in my heart I guess), I've been kicking around different ideas of how that could work in a mostly-canon but canon-divergent post-game story where Rinea is able to survive, and how Faye would help her along her healing journey while she also recovers from the war and comes to terms with her own feelings about Alm and stuff (and possibly have Faye help Sonya out with her witch recovery efforts in general), although I haven't gotten too far with any specific ideas to have a solid mental outline or anything.

A story exploring her life growing up with the other Ram kids would be pretty interesting too, although I'd probably get sucked into the research rabbit hole trying to learn about things like a complete history of farming and end up stressing about whether the fantasy farming village of Ram seemed like a legit farming community or not.

Unpopular opinion: I kind of feel like loving Faye is unpopular in and of itself, but yeah. Writing aside though, I do genuinely think Faye's a good character, like, from a visual design standpoint and also from a game mechanic standpoint, she's got a lot going for her. The writers did a poor job with her writing sure, but I think there's a lot of potential for her to be an interesting character in her own right.

Favorite relationship: Again, she doesn't get much, but I do like the friendship she has with Silque (and I don't mind the romantic ship of the two either even if it's not my first choice of ship for my own fleet), and I would have loved it if we got more insight into her relationships with the other Ram kids aside from Alm, bc I think there was a lot of missed potential there. Also, because Faye can be recruited to Celica's army instead, I would have loved if Faye had supports with at least Celica to explore what their relationship would have been like (I think they would have gotten along, even if Faye was a bit jealous of Celica at first). And well, of course my wild rarepair of Faye and Rinea.

Favorite headcanon: Hmm, I dunno if I have a favorite per se (since I mean, a lot of trying to expand Faye's characterization is just making stuff up that seems plausible), but I think since she was the only girl in a group of boys growing up that she's got sort of a rougher streak, like, she's willing and capable of throwing someone down in a fight, especially if they were picking on one of the other Ram kids (which could be reflected in her stats in the game, since she's pretty strong all things considered), and also due to Ram being a farming village she isn't really squeamish or icked out by things which some of the high born noble girls would have hated (bugs, dirt, mud, snakes, etc.). Like sure, Faye also enjoys wearing dresses and looking cute (she's very fashionable!) but she's also not really bothered by getting dirty and I'm very sure she probably picked up some critter out of Clair's tent one night with a slightly bored expression and released the poor thing outside. Hell, she'd even put some of the noble men to shame with her lack of fear of things that were normal everyday occurrences bc she grew up with a bunch of guys in a farming village (she's also definitely got some muscles as a result too). Also I think she makes all her own accessories by hand, and that she's overall very handy when it comes to sewing and crafts. I do think she's a bit of a picky eater though, not overly so, but just a bit.

[childofaura]

Do you have any feh crackships spawned from characters that you supported for the stats? For example, One of mine is A!Iduun x A!Ishtar, because I ran them on the same team for a while. <3

LOL there was a few. Some of them were just ones I threw together as a test when the Support system first came out.

For characters from Awakening/Fates, I actually tried my best to stick with the pairs I made in their official game (SilasxHinoka, OrochixRyoma, RinkahxKaze, RobinxPriam, BennyxEffie but it was Valentine’s Effie). But there’s a few I had:

M!Kana and Brave Veronica

Shiro and Laevatein (I kinda ship them a little fr not gonna lie)

Loki and Saber (kind of gives me Sinbad and Eris vibes)

Balthus and Mia

Petrine and Kempf (back when I was trying to create a solution to F!Edel)

Phila and Atlas (The Dad Nier and Kaine pair)

Fallen Hardin and Festival Azura.

If there’s canon pairs, I try to keep them together. My three different Alms are all paired to some form of Celica, Rinea and Berkut are together even though they’re both blue units, and Valentine’s Henriette and Gustav are together.

[yourtruefantasyart]

Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! I hope you celebrate it with, love, friends, and family! ♥ Because’s you’ll always be loved by someone, remember you’re never alone! And if you feel like talking, don’t be shy, I’m always up for a chat! 

[reamessage]

[gentleoverdrive]

Oh my fuck. No. Don't cry.

Don't fucking cry.

What could have been.

[youthofpandas]

Top 5 couples in video games 👀 they don't necessarily need to be official or romantic couples either.

OOOO THIS IS FUN… also I lost internet connection for a hot minute so I got to think about this overnight. One of these is cheating i had to do the whole trio

Akane and Junpei (Zero Escape) they are married they are divorced they need each other to live they spend their lives search for each other they can’t stand each other they have it all. If you are only familiar with the first game I probably sound like I’m making things up but I’m not 😭 anyways I love them! The play 999 agenda is real tonight

Morag and Brighid (Xenoblade 2) these bitches are gay I won’t accept disagreements! The heart to heart where Morag can’t cook for shit and Brighid is like “my lady… please….” And then immediately gets caught up in the stupidity 10 seconds later is so fun. Zeke and Pandoria too chuuni x pining fool who goes along with their antics is so powerful

Berkut and Rinea (fire emblem) I’m going there !! I think the tragedy of their relationship only makes things more interesting. It’s about loving someone so much but in your quest to give them the world you destroy them!! He wanted the world to know she was a true queen 🥺🥺 also they make the alm and celica relationship better by being a foil to them I love their addition to the story

Shulk & Reyn & Fiora (xenoblade) their friendship means so much to me I love them so much <3 do not separate and oh god oh no hold on first part of the game what have you done. The heart to hearts are all iconic though this trio had such a funny childhood

What if I picked another xenoblade pair 😳😳 Jin and Lora emotionally destroy me okay he gives up who he is bc he loves her so much and he’s protected her for so long and I just. Oof. Also Haze matters to me so much the trios in xenoblade always get to me okay 3 is gonna kill me at this rate

Honorary mentions to: Edgeworth and Phoenix (ace attorney) Yae and Ei, Ningguang and Beidou, Childe and Lumine (genshin) Geralt and Yennifer (Witcher) Sigurd and Deirdre (fire emblem)

[wish-spinner]

For the FE ask game, what about 10, 14, 20 and 28?

okay wow this got stupid long but!!!!!!

10) A character you find underrated?

there are LOTS of characters i feel dont get enough attention so im just gonna list a few ghfdgh:

- edain (shes so nice and shes the turbomom and she gets NO attention in return)

- oifey (hes so good im sorry hes not as sexy as shannan)

- igrene (im fake and havent played fe6 but shes got such a good sad story and ppl only seem to care abt her for Boob and its sad)

- tauroneo (lowkey incredibly interesting. what if duessel was a pathetic divorced piece of shit dad)

- muarim (THE FANDOM SLEEPS ON HIM SO HARD. I ADORE THIS MAN LIKE LITERALLY EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM. his battle convos in por where hes actually fucking horrified abt mist and rolf being deployed. get em)

- rhys ([137594765 pages of in-depth character analysis] hes gay and sad lol)

- rolf (When I Write My Rolf Essay. Then You Will See)

- laurent (this goes for all the awakening kids but i like seeing how their traits + differences from their parents are related to the situation theyve been growing up in and i think laurents more concerned responsible approach to the Miriel Stuff rlly reflects that. also desert angst has had me fucked up since middle school and i think he deserves more attention).

also all the goldoans but u couldve guessed that already!

14) Something you really don't like about this series?

pretty consistently piss-poor treatment of major female characters as like... setpieces for manpain is. pretty bad tbh. like?? characters like deirdre and ninian and emmeryn and rinea and celica (in sov especially) deserve SO much more autonomy and attention outside of how sad some blue haired guy was abt them dying. obv some are better than others but ive rlly got my fingers crossed for fe4 remake that gives deirdre more,,,, just More. she needs development. ALSO [SHAKES KUSAKIHARA] MAKE YOUR FEMALE COSTUME DESIGNS NOT GROSS CHALLENGE. NOBODY SHOULD RIDE A HORSE WITH THEIR ASS HANGING OUT

20) Least favorite (canon) pairing?

WOW okay there are..... definitely a lot of ships i Do not like. i think a lot of the possible ships in some games are just plain BAD like. nobody should be dating nowi or donnel or dew or anyone who is very clearly like. a kid? ADDITIONALLY student x faculty member in 3h will always feel Bad to me. but in terms of like.... ones that are canon/pseudo-canon?? a lot of them are kinda boring + not my fav, like chrom/sumia or alm/celica or lewyn/erinys but like. the only game that has outright Rancid canonesque ships is rd imo. micaiah/sothe and jill/haar are actually viscerally awful. boyd/mist is Not that bad but it still feels,,, iffy. i did actually make a tellius ship tiermaker so if anyones curious i can do it and post it???

28) Because this fandom doesn't see enough discourse [citation needed], post a spicy hot take here🔥🔥

ik lots of ppl feel this way but the intensification of focus on the avatar characters in fe games is such a HUGE detriment to depth of story and character development. theres such a need to please and appease the player via the avatars interactions and influence over other characters and it feels so cheap and unrealistic. why would u being a good teacher make ashe want to stay loyal to the institution that killed his brother and dad, for instance?? it wouldnt but itd be inconvenient if for the player if he decided to switch sides. remember in por when shinon and gatrie left bc they decided they just Did Not Fucking Like the thought of working under ike. that was good. that was great. the goal of character writing is to make characters feel like people with motivations and ideals and the way fe games are more and more revolving around You is taking away from it imo

[fire-emblem-drabbles]

For the character thingy: Berkut and/ or Lyon?

(Oh my god I forgot these were in the inbox and this is the first time I’ve really slowed down today)

We’ll do both as a treat! (edited both bc I forgot to add in my fav lines)

Berkut:

Favorite thing about them: It makes me happy/sad how truly loyal he is to Rigel/his people! Like... idk he was raised his whole life thinking he would rule, and he was ready for it! He would have been good at it, I think, and I want whats best for him...

Least favorite thing about them: Berkut, sweetie... you gotta stop being so rude to the commoners! For what is a lord, a king, an emperor, without his subjects! There is more to life than the elite and their ways!

favorite line: These are all gonna be from feh since I can’t find shit for ingame lines and its been a sec since I played Echoes but... his dancer confession is so cute... he loves her so MUCH WAHHH

Unlike his older brother the emperor, my father was a kind, gentle man. He passed ere I was 10 years old. My mother smiled often when I was small. I remember it well... Oh, they'd argue, to be sure, but soon I'd see them dancing together in the great hall. I did not yet understand marriage. Still, I knew I wanted someone who'd dance like that with me. When I first met Rinea, she told me she loved to dance. It was as if... Well... I see that I've said too much. Now take that silly grin off of your face.

brOTP: Berkut and Alm! I want these cousins to get to know one another better so so bad...

OTP: Berkut x Rinea of course! They’re so good together (when he’s not crazy, obviously) I want something so soft and sweet...

nOTP: Hmm... probably Berkut/Fernand? They were both bad influences to one another and tbh, deserved better.

Random headcanon: He didn’t really enjoy dancing until he met Rinea! For him, it was more of a duty rather than something to be enjoyed. But with Rinea... well, suddenly he could see the magic in it.

Unpopular opinion: Idk if it's unpopular but I really hate the ending he and Rinea forgot. LIke oh they have to die for Alm and Celica to rule? I think it would have been nice for him to rule as well...

Song I associate with them: Hmm... uhh... this is off the top of my head, but probably Emperor's new Clothes/P!ATD (it fits lol).

Favorite picture of them: Not a picture but I LOVE this scene in echoes so much. The vibes... the music... how happy they both seem...

Lyon:

Favorite thing about them: Hmm... considering I haven’t played scared stones, its hard to say. But... well, it's obvious how much he cares for his people and for his country. It’s nice to see how genuine he is.

Least favorite thing about them: Made Valter a general ;p

Favorite line: Both of them are from feh here, too. Og Lyon:

You work so hard, but I want you to know that—if you need to—it's OK to cry. Nobody here knows what you've been through but you.

Fallen! Lyon:

...Hmph. Looks like I was wrong to disregard the value of human emotions.

brOTP: Him and Eirika! I could ship them romanticly too but the idea and him and Eirika teasing Eph together is... cute.

OTP: Ephriam!! Ephraim!! Their duo hero... the comic about it... its food for the soul.

nOTP: Hmm... unsure? I haven’t really seen any ships for him outside the twins and like, obviously I’m here for that.

Random headcanon: He really likes children, and they really like him! All the child units in Askr love to play with him...

Unpopular opinion: How the hell do you pronounce Lyon anyways? First I said lion, then Leon (in a very french way) and I’ve heard it said differently by characters... ugh

Song i associate with them: Shyness Boy by Anri!!

Favorite picture of them: If I had it I would upload it, but its that Feh comic comparing Eph/Lyon duo hero with Hector/Lillina and Eph is like “oh okay yeah, I’ll pick him up!” and Lyon is just o///o

[stargazer-balladeer]

Fire Emblem: Echoes Page

Characters List:

Alm, Gray, Tobin, Kliff, Faye, Lukas, Claire, Clive, Forsyth, Python, Luthier, Mathilda, Delthea, Tatiana, Zeke, Celica, Mae, Boey, Genny, Sonya, Conrad, Fernand, Mila, Rinea & Berkut.

☆彡 - sfw

★彡 - nsfw

» Alm

» Gray

» Tobin

» Kliff

» Faye

» Lukas

» Claire

» Clive

» Forsyth

» Python

» Luthier

» Mathilda

» Delthea

» Tatiana

» Zeke

» Celica

» Mae

» Boey

» Genny

» Sonya

» Conrad

» Fernand

» Mila

» Rinea

» Berkut

» Alm

» Gray

» Tobin

» Kliff

» Faye

» Lukas

» Claire

» Clive

» Forsyth

» Python

» Luthier

» Mathilda

» Delthea

» Tatiana

» Zeke

» Celica

» Mae

» Boey

» Genny

» Sonya

» Conrad

» Fernand

» Mila

» Rinea

» Berkut

Currently none

[x] Back to Main Notebook

[agoddamn]

You also probably recognize "but look at how bad x feels about it!" and "but x had a traumatic past!" from arguments about Berkut. I don't think I've gone into all that much detail on my opinions on Berkut before and the factors there, so let's do that now.

So...okay, I agree that there are multiple ways to interpret Berkut and Rinea and just what happened with the sacrifice. To recap:

Option A: Berkut had no idea that Rinea was ever in danger. Rinea's quiet, withdrawn personality is just how she is. The violent accusations Berkut hurls at her are totally out of character for Berkut, who has never before treated her remotely like that. Their relationship is fundamentally good.

Option B: Berkut willfully caused Rinea's death. He decided in that moment when he called out to Duma that he didn't care for her, that she was just another liar. Rinea's quiet, withdrawn personality is evidence of a fundamental mismatch between them. The accusations Berkut hurls at her may not be something he's aired before in those exact words, but they're thoughts he's had before and evidence of his selfishness and projection. Their relationship is fundamentally abusive.

There's evidence aplenty for both interpretations, which I won't comb through unless someone asks because I'm assuming that you're familiar with the argument.

The problem with Option A is (among other things) that it adds nothing to Berkut. Rinea's sacrifice wasn't his choice, it was as random as a car accident. In this reading, Berkut as a character never has agency except for, what, the mirror thing? I believe that's the only plot-significant decision he makes, and calling Nuibaba plot-significant is me being extremely generous. Option A tells you nothing more about Berkut save that the writers like to shit on him.

It also indirectly calls into question the circumstances of other witch characters. Obviously you're supposed to see Jedah as a bad guy (fucking look at him) but, apparently, Duma can just take anyone as a sacrifice for shits and giggles? Why, then, was it so important for him to deceive Celica into going along with him?

And what does Option A do to the major themes of Rigel? The themes of Zofia and Rigel representing opposite extremes is pretty clear; Zofia is a land of dependence and hedonism while Rigel is a land where power is all that matters. But how is that possible when Rigel's arguably most representative figure (let's be real, Rudolph doesn't stick in your memory much) doesn't do something horrible in the name of achieving power?

Berkut even says it himself pretty directly:

Power won’t betray me. Power won’t deceive me. Blood ties? Years of life lived together? All meaningless. The only thing in the world a man can rely on is his own strength!

Option A argues that he's basically just crazy at this point, either possessed by Duma's power or so traumatized by Rinea's death that he's completely nihilistic.

Even before getting into uncomfortable real-world parallels of spousal abuse, Option A undercuts both Berkut's character and SoV's already-strained themes. Judging by the angelic Rinea's forgiveness at the end, though, it's unfortunately the reading SoV wants you to take.

[fayesdiary]

hmm, hmmmm, Faye x Rinea, and Celica x Faye, and a ship of your choice for the Ship Opinion Bingo

In order:

And for the ship of my choice, Alear/Yunaka!

[loregoddess]

Sorry to hear that, I hope you can rest at the very least! Anyway, Faye, Rinea and a character of your choice for the ask game!

Ah, thank you--I am trying to rest so that I can finish out the work week at the very least. Anyhow, Faye and Rinea, my beloveds...(and Charlotte!)

Under the cut bc this got out of hand:

Faye:

First impression: *me, having gone to middle and high school w/ a girl who had a crush on the same guy for the entire time* Wow the writers have never spoken to a girl w/ a lifelong crush have they. Damned if she isn't a sturdy unit in battle though.

Impression now: I still think her writing is bad (even if, according to an interview with the writers, it was intentional, but intentional does not equal strong or good writing), but there was just, so much fandom hate for her that unfortunately made it onto my dash a few years ago and I just, like, I dunno. Like, mechanically she's one of the best characters in the game, you can stick her in more or less any class and she performs amazingly (also she helped get me through Thabes and I only dragged my best units into that proto-risen nightmare), and also her writing's not so bad that I can't ignore it and replace it with my own headcanons. I dunno if it's because she's a girl or what, because I've seen characters with much worse writing that fandom loves wildly, but she didn't deserve all the hate she got after the game released, and seeing it all just made me love her out of spite, and now I love her unironically.

Favorite moment: Her supports with Silque, but specifically Faye's disinterest in any gossip, which Silque is apparently really interested in. I know the writers wanted it to be a "haha, girl's so obsessed with Alm that she doesn't have time for love gossip", but we've established the my city now rule in regards to her writing so I like to think that Faye really just, isn't a gossip. It's also interesting to see, at the end of their support chain, how Faye's actually probably really lonely, what with all her childhood friends fitting in with the rest of the army just fine (I get the sense that Faye never really wanted to fight, she just followed along bc Alm and her other friends went), and so it's nice to see the blossoming friendship between her and Silque who is, despite being used to a more rugged lifestyle, also kinda out of place in the army.

Idea for a story: *solid snake voice* Hrrrgnh...I really like Faye x Rinea as a couple, and I've had a story idea bouncing around my head for a few years about how that would work out, like. If Celica can be un-witched, it's entirely possible that Rinea, who was also sacrificed unwillingly and was only a witch for what, maybe a few hours? can be un-witched as well, but the recovery process would be rough (both from being a witch and from being betrayed by the one she loved), so something about how Faye helps out with the recovery, but she is also recovering from the entire "just fought a war and realized I was running from 99% of my life's issues by following my childhood crush into the army" and so it ends up being a mutual helping each other heal and eventually flourish and thrive type story. Whether this gets written or not is a story unto itself, but that’s neither here nor there.

Unpopular opinion: I love Faye, and that in itself seems to be unpopular.

Favorite relationship: Obviously my wild out-of-left-field Faye x Rinea ship, but also I really like her relationship with Silque, either platonically or romantically. I also like to think about how she’d get along with Celica and the pilgrimage side of the story since, I mean, you can recruit her to Celica’s side but there’s more or less no written content for how that plays out. It doesn’t make sense gameplay-wise, since again, she’s one of the best units for Alm’s potential army, but it’s interesting to think about from a potential narrative perspective.

Favorite headcanon: So Faye’s supports with Silque reveal Silque to be a gossip, and Pyhton’s DLC supports with Lukas reveal that Python is also an insufferable gossip, which means that Forsyth has to put up w/ Python’s gossipy habits, and I’d like to think that eventually Python and Silque find out they can be insufferable gossips together, leading to an unlikely friendship between Faye and Forsyth as the "oh gods, my best friend and potential crush is at it again, send help" duo.

Rinea:

First impression: Wow that sure is a side character.

Impression now: The more I thought and stewed on the writing of Echoes, and specifically Rinea, the more I realized how she’d been shafted badly by the writers. Her writing is, in my opinion, just as weak as Faye’s (which isn’t surprising considering Berkut was supposed to be a mirror/foil to Alm, so it makes sense that his lady love would be a mirror/foil to either Celica or Faye, and given how Rinea kinda just follows Berkut around for most of the story, I tend to think she was meant to be a Faye mirror/foil rather than a Celica mirror/foil), but unlike Faye who was needlessly hated for being devoted to Alm, Rinea is...loved for being devoted to Berkut? I don’t get it and I’m not going to pretend like I ever will. But she’s mostly used as a prop for Berkut’s story and could have been replaced by like, a really nice sword or a prized horse and nothing would have changed, and because of that terrible writing I was like, no you’re coming with me, I’m going to give you all the personality and individuality that the writers could never hope to give you. Basically, like Faye, I started liking Rinea out of spite for her terrible writing, and partly out of spite for the way fandom treated her as well.

Favorite moment:  :|<  This girl gets no agency in what little of a story she gets, so I can’t say I like any of the moments since they’re all for the benefit of Berkut’s character arc rather than Rinea’s nonexistent character arc.

Idea for a story: See above for my main story idea, but also it might be interesting to write a story about like, her life. Growing up in Rigel, the expectations placed on noble women, the fear of being sacrificed as a witch by the Duma Faithful, like, just anything to give an idea of who Rinea is as an individual and what goes on in her mind.

Unpopular opinion: Her relationship with Berkut does not float my goats, and my goats are drowning anytime IntSys tries to prop them up as this nice, lovey-dovey couple.

Favorite relationship: Faye x Rinea, I’m also no averse to the idea of Rinea x Faye x Silque either.

Favorite headcanon: In the Rinea Lives AU that exists rent-free in my head, Rinea also gets to know the rest of the Echoes cast, and becomes friends in particular with Celica, Sonya, and Genny, all for varying reasons. Also I’d like to think she’d have a sisterly friendship with Mathilda.

And for my own choice...Charlotte from Fates:

First impression: I followed all the pre- and post-release Fates stuff from when it was first released in Japan, so all of my impressions of the Fates cast is based mostly on the fan translations of the Japanese text, but when Charlotte was first revealed in one of the Japanese gaming magazines, I was not interested in her at all. Like, her design alone made me wary and the small bit of text we got as an intro was just “she’s a gold-digger” and I was like okay, can’t expect anything good here.

Impression now: I was so wrong. After the game was released in Japan, while haunting forums looking for translated supports, I came across someone saying the Laslow x Charlotte supports were good, with a link to the translation, and like, yeah they were decent but something about Charlotte’s character stood out to me, so I naturally went and hunted down every single one of her supports that had been translated and lo and behold, despite the trainwreck outfit, she actually had so much depth and personality and a character far beyond “haha, poor girl is a gold-digger to get rich” shtick I thought the writers would pull. I hope this girl gets everything she wants in life.

Favorite moment: There’s a lot, but I really like that a lot of her supports end with whomever finding out that she’s not this girly, delicate, helpless woman she pretends to be, and is actually a badass who could swear a sailor under the table and also rip apart monsters w/ her bare hands, and people finding out that’s her true self is one of Charlotte’s biggest fears but inevitably that’s why whomever ends up falling in love with her, for who she really is and not who she pretends to be.

Idea for a story: Nothing too wild, although there’s some support chains that I think would be interesting to flesh out beyond the little snippets we get. Anything post-war would be interesting too, becuase there really aren’t enough stories about how people rebuild and move foward after the game events.

Unpopular opinion: I don’t think her outfit needed to look like that to convey the “but I’m just a poor, helpless girl” façade.

Favorite relationship: Hmmm, probably her supports with Xander. The localized version is more or less the same as the fan-translation of their supports that I read, but near the end there’s a few extra lines where, instead of just running to the window and screaming in joy, Charlotte first ask Xander if it’s alright if she goes and shouts for joy, and he’s like “yeah go for it” which just sets up this really nice little basis for healthy communication which I think would make the two work really well as a couple. (Also the idea of Xander falling in love bc she tore apart a faceless to save him is *chef kiss* gold, especially considering how out-going Charlotte is and how shy Xander actually is despite needing to put up this front as the crown prince, there’s just...so much potential for the dynamics between the two). I also really like her supports with Benny since, again, I have a soft spot for people loving each other for who they are and not the mask they have to wear to get by.

Favorite headcanon: If Charlotte marries into royalty or nobility, she does surprisingly well at court life because of her experience putting up a false façade. On the one hand she can act the part that’s expected of her, but on the other she’s smart enough to also be able to figure out when people are lying and keep a track of all the power-dynamics so she can navigate them to her and her spouse’s benefit.

[echoedfates-archive]

§§§§§§§ we have so many at this point, Katya...

7 symbols hmm. That means 7 more.RNG TIME-

1. Charlotte x Yuri. Oh gosh. Oh heck. I can already see how this goes. He teases too much, she loses her temper, it all goes downhill from there.

2. Constance x Celica. Ah yes hello fine lady. I’m sorry Maggie, I can’t see this one working. Maybe friends.

3. Tiki x Tsubaki. He just finds her napping. Constantly.

4. Marc x Aqua. Well I mean Marc would be same gen in a Fates verse. I can not see Aqua liking her given she’s uh. Kinda evil. Misguided, but evil. Unless she goes to Fates post-Grima fight on a redemption quest???

5. Constance (again!) x Tatiana. Oh wow Coco has the hots for the Valentia ladies apparently. If only RNG let her love Rinea and Mathilda too.

6. Ophelia x Naesala. Oh gosh. Ophelia would be so enamoured with laguz. Naesala has a fangirl.

7. Hilda x Lissa. Ponytails!!!