#class: hero (alm)

[cerastes]

Fire Emblem Engage has paradoxical depths. Schrödinger’s depth.

On one hand, the maps are very well designed, and the gameplay is very good. There’s tons of little details that add to the love for previous entries — Engage being a 30 year anniversary entry — such as how Lucina’s super has the final hit freeze motion exactly like killing blows did on bosses in Awakening, or how Leif gets a myriad of weapon types and his passive is auto-equipping the best counter to your attacker’s weapon because in Genealogy he is one of two playable (and the only one of his half of the story) Master Knights, who can just wield every weapon type (except Lopto if you consider that a type). The class system is something I enjoy as well, it’s streamlined in a way I think is good, with every class having an integrated ‘type’ like Backup, Armored, Qi Adept, etc, as well as a degree of selectable variance on promotion: Your Sword Fighter can become a Hero that uses Swords and Axes, or Swords and Lances, for example. The balance of combat roles is also very polished: Armored units are true physical juggernauts, even generic Armored enemies, and must be dealt with either specialty weapons (Hammer, Armorslayer, et al), or magic, or it’s an uphill battle. I personally like the way the Weapon Triangle works now, being predominantly a very offensive tool that allows big plays, but that also punishes you if you’re not attentive.

On the other hand, the presence of ‘Emblems’ — spirits of previous games’ characters — is otherwise merely superficial and fanservice that doesn’t really amount to much nor is it worked with to anywhere near its full potential. There’s no personality showcased in the slightest, and they all sound the same: Generically supportive, “trust in your friends”, and otherwise bog standard heroic. This is especially frustrating when you have a character as fun and vivid as Yunaka paired with Radiant Dawn’s Micaiah, who is very spicy back in her home game but is just a generic supportive cute girl in here. I understand and can excuse this (to some degree) being the way with characters like Marth or Sigurd, who didn’t have much character development or characterization back in their original games in the first place, but Celica, Micaiah, and even Roy, those from more modern games, really have no reason to just be as generic as portrayed. Supports (and Bonds, which are Supports with Emblems) are so bare bones and bland that they are not even worth talking about. The story is simple to the point of just being an engine for the gameplay (it’s like I’m really playing an old Fire Emblem!) and, while certain characters are fun, you overall have a pretty generic fantasy ensemble to work with. More than just a bit disappointing! The main character in particular is a huge nothingburger, unfortunately, following in the steps of Three Houses, and making me want to go play Echoes once more so I can feel something again from Alm, Celica, and the rest of that cast.

Overall, yeah, good game, but I don’t think I can call it a good Fire Emblem.

[tactician]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE.  REPOST, DO NOT REBLOG, with the information of your muse,  including headcanons, etc.

pawn and arisen edition!

TAGGED BY: @sangre!! THANK YOU BREE i am so sorry it took me 1000 years to get around to this!!!! TAGGING: @godzillaahh, @famewolf and @killdragons since i know you guys have dd2 ocs and i'd love to learn their #lore! if anyone else wants to yoink this from me, feel totally free to say i tagged you, too!

the arisen

name: aurelien. nicknames: "rel" is the main one! he actually introduces himself as rel more often than his actual name. age: 32. race: human. gender: male (he/him). orientation: he's gay!!! zodiac: leo. giggle. moral alignment: chaotic neutral, but he tends to lean into goodness more often than not as his journey progresses. he can just be a total brat, so, you know. class/subclass: rel is an EXTREMELY skilled mage; healing magic and holy magic are his absolute fortes. he devotes a lot of time to studying defensive spells in particular. (he's a skilled healer in a general sense - not squeamish in the face of gore and very good at crafting medicines, antidotes and the like. naturally, he's very knowledgeable of herbs, too.) i think that he'd see success in pretty much any vocation that doesn't require him to like, face is enemies head-on, and prefers to be Far Away from the front lines. he would NOT do well as a warrior or fighter. do NOT touch him!!!! don't do it!!!! background: rel was dumped off at a temple as a baby and raised by the clergy there. it takes a village, etc etc. he was named aurelien by the head priest due to his golden blond hair. rel had a pretty good childhood within the temple, but he had a flair for the dramatic and was quite obnoxious; he never wanted to join the priesthood or practice a life of modest restraint. he got up to a LOT of mischief and was in trouble pretty much constantly with the rest of the clergy.

(and he was seriously a handful; stealing alms for personal use, pulling pranks on others, running away for days at a time, not adhering to the dress code, etc. contrary to his rather angelic appearance, he was quite the delinquent with one hell of a selfish streak.)

but there was still a lot of familial love there, and he took his studies within the temple very seriously. as such, he was a very proficient healer from a young age and helped out often, particularly with aiding ill worshippers and the like. i also definitely see him as kind of a 'leader' amongst the other orphans at the temple - and arguably quite the bad influence... but he was their champion in a lot of ways, who never backed down from speaking up for them. upon coming of age, he left the temple - because, again, him becoming a priest was a laughable concept and he really wanted to See The World - but he still sends everyone funds, medicines and gifts very often during his travels. he tends to keep this secret from others, tho, because he doesn't want to put a target on the temple, so to speak - or, worse yet, to appear 'soft.' he is also quite pious despite his ostentatious demeanor and prays often. i associate him with gold and everything it symbolises. interests/hobbies: he LOVES reading fairy tales; he loves tales of gallant knights and heroism!!! he can't RELATE to those heroes, but he thinks they're dreamy. lmao. he often dreamt of one such knight whisking away from his routine days in the temple for a grand adventure filled with excitement, which... sort of happened? kind of? vaguely? ...anyway. he is also a skilled medic and would probably do well as an apothecary. furthermore, he loves fashion and tends to want to buy all sorts of fancy, impractical clothes. lmao. he has a certain fondness for feathers and gold; a very 'angelic' sort of aesthetic. spoken languages: common! and he can communicate with dragons, ofc. profession: he is the arisen!!! he embraces his destiny to become the sovran to a pretty naive degree at first. (his initial reaction was very much like 'yes, yes, that makes complete sense - i knew i was destined for greatness!' once the more serious aspects of the role come to light, he's significantly less ridiculous and cocky about it. were it not for his main pawn, slate, and the sights that they see during their journey together, he'd probably do his best to worm out of any sort of duty whatsoever. height: ~5'3" colors: GOLDS and oranges. warmth, warmth, warmth. fruits: cherries and peaches! drinks: he likes anything sweet - juices and the like, especially if alcohol is involved. alcoholic beverages: (points at the above answer) LMFAO. i think fruit wines and sweet rums would be his drinks of choice. smokes: yes; as a teenager, rel would hide behind the temple with a pipe and would scramble to hide the smoke when one of the stricter nuns approached. fdlkdjdfkg he isn't a very heavy smoker as an adult and eventually drops the habit entirely during his travels thanks to a Certain Someone's pestering. drugs: ...yeas:) he claims it's all medicinal. it is not all medicinal. drivers license: LMAO. NO. AND THANK GOD FOR THAT. ever been arrested: every time rel gets in trouble with the law, he pulls the 'umm what? little old me? im an angel. im a Man of the Cloth!' (<- is not even a man of the cloth) and he manages to get out of it. he is a menace. but no, he has not ever been arrested. lmfao.

the main pawn

name: slate. nicknames: rel occasionally calls him 'stone,' 'stony' or 'sir stony' lmfao; it started off as an insult whenever slate was being a particular stick-in-the-mud (in rel's eyes), but it's eventually a term of teasing endearment. slate allows this from rel but will side-eye anyone else who calls him one of those stone-related names LMFAO. age: he appears to be in his mid-thirties, but... pawn moment. race: ...again, pawn moment. gender: male, he/him. orientation: definitely some form of aromantic; he has very little interest in romance and will react with total taciturnity to being flirted with by, like, 99% of people. rel is the 1% exception to this, and even that took a while and was very confusing for him. zodiac: capricorn. moral alignment: true neutral. whatever rel says, goes. class/subclass: fighter, as he is highly skilled with a shield and with adopting a more defensive fighting style - but he's fine with any vocation which allows him to get up close to the enemy and brawl, so he'd excel as a warrior, too. he doesn't do well when asked to keep at a distance, as he wants to tank hits that would otherwise be directed at rel. he would also prefer if rel didn't get in melee range as he does NOT like to see rel get hurt in any capacity. they definitely have a certain synergy. (ftr, he would probably be Okay as a thief, but he tends to be bad at stealthing - again, he is a TANK, he wants to have the enemy's attentions on him and him alone. kind of the opposite of what a thief should be doing. LMAO.) background: everything happened very quickly in regards to slate's summoning. when prompted to reach into the rift for a pawn, rel thought back to classic stories of heroism and knighthood - the sort of fairy tales and manuscripts that he read during his time in the temple. because... well, if he was to be sovran, he'd obviously need the most powerful knight to ever exist. so he wanted someone HANDSOME!!! who could serve HIM!!!! first and foremost!!! with the utmost loyalty.

...and it was actually extremely childish on rel's part!

because he didn't consider how their personalities would mesh at all in reality. rel can be a pretty selfish person, and he basically wanted someone who was selfless to an alarming degree, you know? and so this juxtaposition between his and slate's respective personalities was a hugeee issue during their initial time together. slate would go along with rel's whims without a single complaint; he would literally injure himself terribly if rel commanded it. naturally, this frustrated the highly opinionated, headstrong rel, and, for a time, he took an absolutely horrible approach to slate where he'd basically shove slate into bad circumstances in an attempt to have his loyalty break. (spoiler: it never did.) it was a source of genuine worry for rel eventually, going much deeper than him simply having a guilty conscience. the first time slate fell in battle and left rel alone, rel felt completely gutted and sick with worry; he blamed himself for pushing slate too hard and for not having the healing prowess to back him up. he knew that he could just bring slate back and scrambled to do so, but he didn't realise just how much he had come to rely on his knight and was beyond relieved to see him again. meanwhile, slate really just... had complete faith in rel, lmao. he was chilling. shit happens. he approached their relationship with a cold professionalism and he'd remind rel that he was his pawn and that his loyalty was simply part of his charge. as rel's initial frustrations gave way to genuine care and encouragement for slate to voice his honest thoughts and feelings, slate begins to defrost and come into his own. like i said before, i associate aurelien with gold; the extravagence and malleability of it. slate, on the other hand, is practical. it represents staunchness; balance and strength. those are pretty much characteristic of slate as a character. anyway, eventually, they have a very classic 'healer and tank' sort of relationship, except... very... 'someone will die!' / 'someone will definitely die.' interests/hobbies: slate is like... comically into archealogy and history. his enthusiasm for some particularly impressive ruins breaks through his usual stoic coolheadedness and it's pretty funny. he's great at foraging and really enjoys exploring the natural world. he also absolutely loves sparring, especially if rel is watching. and especially if he wins. teehee. spoken languages: common. profession: holy paladin knight-captain vibes for sure... (tho he has a #dark aesthetic lmfao) ... but he is pretty much fixated on keeping rel safe. he doesn't trust anyone else with him. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!! height: around 6'3"! colors: where rel is warm, slate is cold. silvers and blues. fruits: he has a particular fondness for blackberries. drinks: slate likes strong, bitter drinks! he doesn't really like anything sweet, though... he will just give those drinks to rel. alcoholic beverages: slate has incredible tolerance when it comes to alcohol; he enjoys whiskeys in particular and can practically down multiple glasses of it without so much as flinching. with that said, he prefers to keep a clear head at all times, and if he feels his focus begin to wane, he will stop drinking immediately. smokes: no. he doesn't see the point of it and, when they're close enough for such things, will admonish rel for smoking anything lmfao. drugs: occasionally, but, again, he has insanely high tolerance when it comes to the influence of herbs and the like, so it's pretty much a waste to offer him anything. he'll really only Partake to humor rel, but, even then, he usually ends up being the one taking care of rel when he's zonked out. flkdlkgdfh drivers license: he can drive a carriage but isn't fond of it. again, he likes the natural world a lot, so he'd rather wander in the wilderness and stay off the roads. ever been arrested: no, but he'd like to see someone try.

[randomnameless]

Reverse uno card : Jugdral edition

2014 : "yay, i can't wait for a Judgral remake, with updated graphics!!!"

2024 : "gods please no remake"

What happened in ten years to make me dread the remake I would have sold my soul for back in the days?

Well... IS's policies and new writing, mainly.

While I was joking about "Genealogy of the Holy Self Insert" in 2015, I still had faith in eventual Jugdral remakes. Sure, we were in the big Fateswakening era where the only things I could frown at IS were the "writings" worshipping self inserts (Ryoma being jealous of Corn's talents, when Corn was like, 5?) - but I still had hope for a more "serious" FE, and I first I was very delighted by FE15 - no self insert, a more "serious" setting, no hyperbolic time chambers to try to explain in watsonian words why second gens exist, etc...

But there was still something ringing dead wrong with FE15, which I only noticed thanks to FE16 and its years of discourse - at one point, IS's writing went in a certain direction that makes it impossible, imo, for us to have a "correct" Jugdral remake, as long as IS still follows this direction.

I'm not talking about uwufest - even if it is part of the larger problem - but back in FE15, I remember being really pissed at the schizophrenia of the plot : saying one thing and the inverse at the same time.

The narration reminds us of the classic Kaga lesson : whatever madness exists in dragon/gods, a greater madness/evil lurks in the heart of men.

And yet, we have the Hero (who was so cajoled by the plot that, at times, you have to wonder if Alm wasn't the devs's self insert, he's lavished with praises almost as extensively as Ike was!) saying nonsense - without being contradicted by characters at all (or when Celica does it, she admits later she's wrong) - like Duma being responsible, mainly, for the events that transpired in Valentia and, novelty that wouldn't have been in the original game since the character was made for the remake, Berkut's fall and madness.

By that point in the game, the player saw that Berkut hunts low class people for what he sees and perceives as sport, is the textbook classicist asshat noble, but has a lot of pression on his shoulders due to his role of being the heir of the Empire, pression that isn't alleviated at all by his Uncle who mocks him and refuses to give him a third chance... to fight against a person said uncle very well knows cannot be defeated by Berkut himself, especially as said Uncle pretended to "care" for him, only to pit him against his trueborn son whom he names his heir just before dying.

Point is : Berkut feels betrayed by Rudy and goes mad - because of this betrayal : Rudolph named him heir when he fully knew Alm was alive and was the true heir he always wanted, in Berkut's eyes, no matter what he did, it wouldn't have mattered to Rudolph since Rudolph planned on giving Alm his throne since day 1 - of course, without telling him a thing and making him believe he would one day become Emperor.

Is it Duma's fault that Berkut went off the deep-end in Part 4? Because Rudolph's shit gambit involved playing with the life of his nephew and crush it in a bid to have Alm unify the continent against Duma ? Or... it's just Rudolph being an asshole, not curbing the worst of his nephew tendencies (and in a larger part, of Rigel in general) ?

Now, Rinea. She too, is called one of Duma's victims, and yet, who pushed her in Duma's magic pyre that turns women in witches? Duma himself?

No.

Berkut, who already, when pissed tells her "silence woman" pushes his fiancée and love of his life in a pyre to sacrifice her, because in his grief and rage (caused by Rudy!!!) Rinea is only a pawn to be sacrificed to gain more power to kill Alm. Sure sure, Berkut is redeemed in death and Rinea - in a classic Kaga style writing that wasn't here made by Kaga since this plot is basically new so where the fuck does this sexism come from - forgives him and they both die and ascend to another plane of existence.

The point is, despite what Alm says, Berkut and Rinea's fates weren't caused by Duma's degeneration - but by Rudolph and Berkut's own actions.

Heck, I remember when I was sort of live-blogging my run back then, Desaix's greed and lust for power wasn't fueled by Mila's apathy : it wasn't Mila who burnt Celica's house and tried to cook Conrad, it was Desaix, and why Desaix did it? Because he wanted to become king. That's it, and that's all.

So why FE15 - while giving the Kaga message - still tries its hardest to pin the blame of everything "wrong that happened" on... dragon gods, refusing to acknowledge the own responsibilities of humans in their suffering?

I think we had that lunar dialogue at the end of FE15 (or in part 4?) where Clive (i think?) tells Alm without gods giving their blessings, people in Valentia will starve, and Alm saying that may be so, but ultimately Valentia will survive and work hard through those upcoming harsh times to demonstrate how humans, when they work together, can achieve things without needing to rely on Gods - basically, King Alm tells his people to starve now because Humanity will come out stronger afterwards, since they will have learnt to grow their own food without needing magic dragon blessings to make the ground fertile.

... yeah. That's definitely going to work.

FE15 took the Kaga lesson to try to hammer some "humanity fuck yeah!" Square JRPG message and it completely messed up what FE2 tried to say.

(I confess, retconning Duma'n'Mila in dragon gods like Naga from Archanea was a big part in this shitstorm - that was also retconned to explain Grima from FE13! - i mean Duma'n'Mila have to die because they're degenerating, but they didn't get the memo from Gotoh living overseas that degeneration can be stopped by using dragonstones, instead of being a fatality that must be dealt with death...)

Humans cannot be held responsible for what they did, everything BaD that happened is somehow due to the influence of dragon-gods : even if it means "suffering" and sacrificing a part of your population, this choice is a good one to get rid of the obviously nefarious influence of dragon-gods.

So, is it so surprising that FE16 - the most popular title in the franchise uwu - went in the same direction?

Even if it tried to mitigate the "gods BaD" spiel because the avatar - Billy - is the Goddess reborn, the thing is the CoS - aka the dragon - is blamed for humanity's mistakes through each route (AM dodges the question completely) and all routes end up with the dragon going away (her skull being cracked open, or she retires, or she dies off-screen, or she dies because the plot commands so unless you want, as the player, to shag her).

"But in VW, Claude reconsiders his initial stance!"

And yet, it is only off-screen that he seemingly becomes aware that Fodlan people are not superpals with Almyra because Almyra raids them, not because Rhea told them Almyrans are BaD, that's why he tries to negotiate - off-screen and post-game - some sort of ceasefire between the two parties, or at least make it so Almyra doesn't try to raid Fodlan every Thursday for their weekly dick measuring contest.

No matter the ending, Rhea retires and in the worst support, muses on her failings for "having turned a blind eye" to Fodlan and its people in her quest to resurrect Sothis : aka, Rhea (and the game, since Billy doesn't tell her anything) believes Fodlan's state is due to her inaction and not, you know, the action of the humans who lived in the continent and ruined it of their own volition.

Which is also what fuels the endless discourse about what kind of power she has - or not : Rhea BaD for using her power, but also BaD for not using it and letting humans to their own devices.

Supreme Leader's memetastic line from the trailers ring even more true : in Fodlan, Crusts are to blame for everything. For Adrestian being attracted to young women because otherwise without crests they surely wouldn't seek to bed a 12 years old Doro, for Miklan trying to murder his younger brother (and not because, at least FE16 wise, Miklan is a terrible person who is very jealous and not afraid to kill even a child to get what he feels like he deserves), and for people basically killing their wives/letting their daughters die to get a "suitable" heir.

Humanity/Humans can get a pass for doing horrible things (Berkut burning his fiancée alive) because those horrible things can sort of be linked to "dragon-gods", and so, the blame exclusively lays at their feet.

I am always reminded of that Obi-Wan reply to Anakin when Ani accuses him of having turned Padmé "against" him, Obi-Wan basically tells him he brought this upon himself.

Now, what would Obi-Wan tell a non-recruited Doro who blames the Goddess for the War, the leader she is actually protecting, started?

Billy is no Obi-Wan, so we are left in this limbo where characters are telling you everything wrong that happens in Fodlan is due to "dragon blood" aka their existence and presence, even dragons who blame themselves for "being blind" - but not once do we have the Kaga message, or an Obi-Wan reminding people that they have to take responsability for their own actions : Hanneman will blame crests (dragons) for having killed his sister, but not the man who forced her (marital abuse?) to bear him many heirs until one was "good enough" for him.

Claude blames dragons for creating, both literal and metaphorical walls between Fodlan and Almyra - and it's only in his best ending, after the game credits and off-screen that he seems to realise that those walls were built by Almyrans raiders.

"enough about the fodlan rant, what about jugdral?"

Jugdral was sort of unique for not having a giant eldritch abomination as a boss, unlike the later FE8, we never fight Loptyr in his "original" form, Loptyr is fought through his host, Julius.

And I love Jugdral because unlike Fodlan, the local evil death cult might stage a few skirmishes and manipulations here and there, but Jugdral people are... asses, in general.

Elliot will mount an army to seduce Raquie while Eldie is away - and it's not because Manfroy told him to seduce her, no, Elliot does it from his own will.

Reptor'n'Langobalt'n'Andrei rebel against Kurth and Azmur? Sure, Arvis is pulling some of their strings, but Reptor'n'Langobalt are ambitious, even without Manfroy whispering anything.

Arvis pulls out his gambit... with Manfroy's help (and blackmail?), but also because he genuinely thinks he can sacrifice lives to make HIS world a reality because HE has great ideas about how the world should be and will torch anyone who opposes him.

F!Lewyn, as much as I dislike the character, reminds the cast that while Travant's actions might seem justified to him and to the Thracian people, he is still a man who assaulted a bunch of randoms + non-combattants in a desert, amushed them and slaughtered them : no matter his reasons and how justified he was, Travant is still a criminal to Jugdral people.

In Jugdral, people do things and have to take responsability for it - Oldvis basically dies after losing everything he had - by Seliph's hand (and with his own participation!!) because Oldvis has to take responsability for what he did in Barhara. Ditto for Travant, who accepts to die if it means the peninsula will be united (tfw his son doesn't understand what he meant !).

Dragon blood and Dragon people are never blamed for the shitty state Jugdral is in in the 1st or even 2nd gen, if Danan turned Isaach in giant brothel, it's not Julius-Loptyr who asked him to do so, nor Manfroy.

At least, that was the case for the pre FE15/FEH/FE16 Jugdral.

Now...

While I want to blame FE16 for this shift, I know the roots are more ancient (FE15?), IS's writing seems to favour a certain narrative, aka people having sad and or complicated fates because of their brands and Holy Blood - when the ONLY case of having a fate tied to Holy Blood was the Curse of the Gae Bolg, aka a sibling quarrel between Dain and Noba that will eventually "curse" Noba descendants, but through the events of the game we know that curse is more like a prophecy : Quan doesn't die because he had Noba Holy Blood, Quan dies because Travant kills him in Yied. Why Travant kills him? FE5 reveals Quan and his forefathers are basically letting Thracians starve and refuse to "give" them arable lands, or even export food.

Now, did Travant kill Quan because Quan had major Noba Holy Blood, or because Quan (and his forefather)'s policies made Thracians so desperate that their king feels like he has to resort to murder to "save" his people?

The issue is more complicated than "he has Noba HB so I had to kill him".

Come FEH and we had, in 2018 (before FE16 but after FE15) this :

My blood has granted me gifts, it's true. I have expended every effort to be worthy of those gifts. That same blood makes it impossible for me to live a peaceful life. That's a lesson I learned from my mother...

Now, even if I was dissecting and hc'ing and posting about Saias a lot for 5 years, I fully understand Saias is a character with maybe 20 lines in FE5, so you can only dissect the script and theorise and read between invisible lines to get something about the character.

But this?

It might be a reference to Cowen's last words who basically tells him his job is to "pass on" his Fjalar HB, and how having major Fjalar HB was the reason why Manfroy tried to kill him when he was younger (his mother Aida died to protect him).

And yet, FEH here seems to imply Aida died because Saias had Fjalar HB, and not, y'know, died because Manfroy wanted to kill him due to this HB.

It wasn't HB who killed Aida, but Manfroy!

FE5 never reveals why - but if Fjalar HB was the reason why Manfroy targeted Saias, then why the fuck wasn't Oldvis iced earlier, since he has the same brand and blood?

In a way, Saias blaming HB here as the "reason" why his mother died and why he cannot live a "peaceful life" is similar to a Leif who would blame Quan'n'Ethlyn for being the reason why Travant and the Empire were after his life : what is to blame, their "blood" that makes people want to kill them, or the fuckers who want to kill them?

Granted those lines from FEH completely miss the point of Saias as a character - FE5!wise Saias is in a class that cannot use fire magic, when his HB automatically gives him the highest rank in fire magic, and he is funnily enough the only character who "retreats" in his death quote -> Saias doesn't "expend" every effort to be worthy of HB, he hides and doesn't use the abilities given by said HB!

We can say, mkay, this was just FEH trying to fit their "gods and their influence BaD" narrative and missing the real culprits, aka humans themselves (Manfroy is one!) - from FE15 - in Jugdral, even if it meant retconning a character no one cares about.

But then, last year, we had Galzus' FB :

You speak of the blood of the Sword Saint Od. Perhaps. Is that the reason you have been set on a path of violence and bloodshed?

Nyx says Galzus' "curse" isn't tied to his HB, but it's basically his regret at not having been able to save his daughter.

So far, it's completely the inverse of what I decried, so this was a good FB, right?

:)

There is no doubt that the blood within you compels you to lead a cruel life. However, the loss of your daughter was the wedge that split your life into pieces and let the curse in.

Damn it Nyx, why???

Why Galzus's brand "compels him" to lead a cruel life - when it was just established that Galzus fell to despair and became a mercenary who kills for money after the loss of his daughter?

Before losing Mareeta, Galzus, at least per this FB, wasn't killing people right and left as the merc he now is (or was in FE5).

Now, much like Saias...

Why was Galzus left to roam around Jugdral with a toddler to begin with?

I had a daughter. When my wife died, I brought my daughter with me as I traveled around Jugdral.

This FB establishes that Galzus settled with Mareeta's biomom for a while, but when she died he "traveled around". Why Galzus couldn't return "home" and had to "travel around"?

You know the Ribaut family was devastated by our own House Isaach.

Timeline wise : Ribaut is already demolished during the prologue of FE4, and Mareeta is no older than Leif himself, which means she was born after Galzus' grandfather and Ayra's brother, aka, his uncle, beheaded his dad and demolished his kingdom. Galzus, in exile, had Mareeta, and then had to "travel around" Jugdral because his home had already been demolished by "House Isaach" -

Note how Ayra talks about the Ribaut (i prefer rivough but meh) family when she talks about her very own sister - Galzus' mother. Jugdral family trees being what they are, Shanan, Larcei, Scatach and Galzus are actually cousins, Galzus is Ayra's own nephew, just like Shanan!

Anyways, in FE4, the reason given behind Ribaut's destruction is their attack on Darna, so the Isaachian royals killed them.

Galzus' "cruel life" wasn't compelled by his HB, Galzus' life took a turn for the worst when his Uncle and Grandpa knocked at his door and slaughtered his entire family, destroying their Kingdom.

So why FEH tried to fit his backstory in some sort of "dragon blood is to blame" Fodlan narrative?? They at least acknowledge the bad blood (lel) between Isaach's royal family and Ribaut's, hell, Ayra even wants to say Mareeta is a part of Isaach's royal family in her FB with her son, so it's not to whitewash the Isaachian royal family because their units are more popular and would sell more...

Contrary to Saias, Galzus's writing and his FB seem to have been made by people who cared and didn't completely ignore what the character was about so... why this emphasis on his HB ??

Are we bound in post FE16 releases to have, at least with the current writing team, the excuse of "dragon blood is to blame" ? Galzus cannot blame the Isaachian Royal Family or even the slavers for his (and his daugher's!) fate, but he can blame his HB, aka, a non-entity?

Will HB be now used as a "responsibility free" card, because the fate a character suffers or their actions are only tied to said HB? Arvis will get a pass because his HB compelled him to save the world (tfw Victor prefered to "seduce" women instead), Lewyn will be lightly chided by his mom instead of receiving the beatdown he has in FE4 because his HB now makes him unable to stay in place? Ditto for Ced, Karin won't chew him out for abandoning his mother and sister because his HB compelled him to travel around, so in the end, dragons are to blame for him abandoning his sister and mother?

That's what I'm the most afraid in future Jugdral remakes, that had humans characters with human flaws in a crapsack/shitty verse, the insertion in a future remake of a very Squenix "but aksuhally gods and church bad" when Jugdral is the pinnacle of "the world sucks because people living in this world suck". No need for secret sects manipulating everything in the shadows like FE16's Agarthans, Chagall is a horrible person without needing Manfroy's help, and Hilda will not say "Holy Blood is to blame" when she tortures Tailte to death.

When Tailte is caught and Hilda'd, it's because she participated (or even commited) in parricide, and because her camp/army lost the battle. She doesn't die because of her HB, she dies because Hilda kills her, most likely, for having killed Reptor (Hilda wants to avenge her "father" when fought, i'm pretty sure she means her father in law aka Reptor!).

As befits a game called "Genealogy of the Holy War", people aren't targeted because of their HB, but they are targeted because they are part of a genealogy - see the Leif comparison earlier on : Leif is hunted because he is Quan's son, even if he doesn't have Noba major blood. Seliph is hunted because he is Siggy'n'Deedee's son, not because of his Baldo HB.

In FE4, Manfroy tells Julius Arvis was a thorn at their side because "Fjalar's ways" ran too strong in him - implying he had some moral fiber that would make him oppose the return of Loptyr (but those same "ways" didn't prevent him from torching his own brother and conquering the world...) - I will have to check the translation and og script, but was Saias targeted because he had Fjalar HB, or because he could develop the same moral fiber Arvis does in his later years, or just, because he is Arvis's son? Cowen seems to suggest it is FB, but we know Fjalar HB cannot harm Loptyr so... what was the true reason?

Blaming dragon-gods reduces the complexity of Jugdral's setting and characters - and in a post FEH world where tropes win character contests and sell a lot of alts if they are flanderised enough + a post FE15/16 world where characters, to be likeable enough, have to ditch their responsibilities or at least have the plot elude them to pin them instead on vague and non-important (gacha wise) gods, what is going to happen to Jugdral?

Fanfics are fanfics and people are free to write whatever they want - but I wonder (especially after Nopes and the plethora of 'golden endings' fics that ended up with the CoS as the big bad lol) if fics where Mareeta and Ced blaming their HB for their various hardships is going to become the new canon...

I seriously hope it will never, and it if happens then...

I guess I'll still yell at cloud and nerd about the 1990s versions of those games, completely ignoring the new releases (save for maybe updated artwork).

Tl;Dr : FEH makes me afraid Judgral remakes will borrow the "humanity fuck yeah" page from FE15 and FE16 and put the blame of Jugdral's shitty situation from Jugdralians to... Holy Blood and "dragon-gods", completely missing and rewritting the point of those games. IS already said "fig" to Kaga once or thrice, but this might become the most contentious "fig" they ever give him if they decided to write a Jugdral remake this way.

[faroreswinds]

Hope you don’t mind me sending you this message but as a casual Fire Emblem fan who is absolutely fascinated (and by fascinated I mean a mix of appalled and laughter) by the state of the discourse I’d like to elaborate on why a lot of Edelstans are (very) off base by their “criticism” of the church is that they are absolutely focusing on the wrong religion entirely. I think I’m qualified to speak about Buddhism and why Houses reflects that. No I will not come off anon but please bear with me. I know you and your mutuals have talked about the Buddhism of Three Houses but I hop you don’t mind if I expand on that.

Churches and “churches” in jrpgs are often just window dressing to add plausibly western details to a plausibly western high fantasy inspired setting, but even if they include crosses and saints and cathedrals the central trappings are very much not western at all and western consumers of japanese products often forget that, especially because japan has a very strong japanizing filter they run almost everything through. This is very much the case with Fire Emblem even though their most recent games have tried to incorporate more East Asian elements like with what we see in Awakening, Echoes, especially Hoshido, but that doesn’t mean that the philosophy is missing from the other games. Fans tend to dismiss the general plots of Fire Emblem as the cast fighting and killing an evil dragon-god but they forget a single crucial detail to that: the evil at the end reminds the characters that as long as humanity has evil in its hearts and continues to make the same mistakes over and over again, then evil will inevitably return and so the cycle of fighting and hatred will start again. This is usually not the case with many western media focusing on a single savior figure who vanquishes the evil and then they all lived happily ever after and it explains the confusion with western fans saying stuff like they can’t believe that what Marth and Alm and Celica did was all for nothing because later Walhart and Grima happened. Yes we can argue about retcons for Awakening and Echoes but thematically speaking it makes sense, not because Marth and Alm and Celica were incompetent but simply because what they did was too limited in scope and fixed the problem temporarily because they’re only humans who are tied to the human realm and all its problems (but also because intsys needs to keep making money with more stories or recycling stories). They are heroes but they are unable to break the karmic cycle.

Now this is more apparent with Three Houses even though it does have a mix of western elements like how the crests represent tarot arcana but generally Fates and Houses are the most eastern of the games because of their themes: Fates is a war between west and east but also the secret literal Middle Kingdom manipulating them, Anankos yes he was basically the deity of Touma but people don’t know that in eastern religions and Buddhism even gods are not immune to being corrupted because they too are bound to the six paths and the dual nature of the world. Anankos enjoyed both heavenly and earthly pleasures but being steeped in them too long made him decay, make costly mistakes that only made him more angry and paranoid instead of being able to reflect on them, and in the end became a creature of death and violence and discord who could only be released through defeat.

Houses especially has the basis of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but Byleth’s personal class Nirvana, confirms also the basis for Silver Snow and the dual themes that would come better if Intsys was a more competent writer:

So the six paths/realms (Im condensing very many details) are upper and lower parts on the wheel of samsara. The devas’ realm, the human realm, and the asura’s realm are the upper three and the best paths to achieving nirvana but they all have their flaws and even upper level inhabitants can be reincarnated into lower levels if they behave badly; the lower three are the bad ones and often have no redeeming qualities because they are meant as punishments, they are where contaminated souls live until their karmic debt has run out in that realm/they have achieved some form of clarity enough to change their ways and it qualifies them to move up a path. The lower three are the realm of animals, the realm of ghosts and angry spirits, and then the hells.

Byleth starts out in the realm of animals, it’s reflecting by their title of Ashen Demon and their description of being emotionless killing machines before Garreg Mach. They don’t care about much, they only focus on their immediate needs like eating and resting and whats immediately in front of them, they have no curiosity or inner awareness of themselves and their world. It is coming to the monastery that they become exposed to positive influences that put them on the correct path, they learn structure and good morals and to care for others and the game says so. I have issues with them but ultimately think they work because they show how even a blank slate, like an animal, can move on the correct path through learning and discipline.

Edelgard is an interesting mix, she embodies a lot of the selfishness of the animal realm but her position also incorporates a lot from the realm of the asuras, which is the realm the agarthans inhabit. Asuras were once divine and occupied the same realm as devas but their drunken wild behavior got them thrown out by Sakka as disciplinary measure. Asuras did not reflect on why they were tossed out, instead they got angry and now wage war on the devas in order to retake what they think belongs to them.

Now asuras are not excluded from the path of reincarnation, everyone has the chance to repent, change their ways, do better and move up the wheel until they achieve arhat and nirvana, but often asuras have negative qualities. They tasted heavenly pleasures but do not understand that acting poorly robbed them of that and so blame the devas instead of working to better themselves; they are addicts to pleasure and immediate gratification but also to violence and fighting, they are envious of others and mostly focus on how much they hate others for daring to be happier then them instead of working to achieve their own happiness. Now these are not qualities exclusive to asuras but they best embody them while humans are more neutral.

The agarthans were humans who became greedy and waged war on each other to accumulate wealth and power and the goddess Sothis decided to discipline them, but then agarthans proved they were (ironically) acting like beasts by deciding that their greed was more important. They could not stand being contradicted and being told that their acts were wrong. So they plotted against heaven and chose to condemn themselves to hell (they live underground in the darkness, Shambhala is supposed to be the name of a heavenly paradise but instead they built it underground to continue their evil away from the eyes of heavens), because what sends anyone from any realm to the hells is knowingly choosing to do major evil and embracing major evil.

Edelgard acts out of ignorance like an animal or common beast, her vision cannot see past her own immediate desires and so she acts on that ignorance and her own selfishness. But what condemns her to hell, what turns her into an evil demon instead of remaining a selfish yet innocent animal is that she turns away from many people imploring her to listen to them and that her actions are wrong and that she is causing suffering. Edelgard being born into a wealthy, powerful family would usually mean that her previous karma has been good despite the tragedies in her later life, but good karma can easily be corrupted. Edelgard has been corrupted from a young age by bad faith actors who have embraced hell and so she has been steeped in corruption and been fed bad information for a long time, with no one stepping in to stop that because her environment was turned into one of corruption as well. But it is ultimately her who makes the choices to persist on a path of evil because she refuses to listen to others and embraces the suffering she causes and has caused as justified in pursuit of her goals.

Now Byleth and especially Silver Snow has shown they rose to being qualified by the good influence of the church and its teaching (even if the game doesn’t show much about those teaching but o well) to achieve higher paths, they have chosen to absorb and enact good. But especially, because the realm of asuras and beasts represent laziness, easy temptations, ignorance and immediate gratification opposed to discipline, hard work, introspection, and renunciation, it makes it more significant when byleth decides to sever ties with her when she reveals that she has not been an innocent student but in fact the flame emperor responsible for the many evil deeds along with the cooperation from agarthans. The act of renouncing such ties in order to enact justice and follow the correct path is what immediately qualifies Byleth to Nirvana and why they keep their divine traits on every path except Crimson Flower (where in Crimson Flower, killing Rhea, their final and most egregious act of violence against heavenly principles, condemns them to losing their divinity and turning back into the Ashen Demon, they lost themselves to the temptations and ignorance represented by Edelgard, safflowers are used to dye the robes of monks but red spiders lilies grow on the banks of the river of the dead).

The act of renunciation means Byleth has learned to forgo harmful attachments to instead pursue the correct path even if it comes with heartbreaks, but the reward for the difficulty is being a step closer to arhat. Because they are not the Buddha but are close to reaching enlightenment they achieve a very high position in Buddhism, which is staying in the human realm as a guide in order to help others on the correct path as well and is righteous.

This is also why i have many more issues with Shez than I do Byleth actually, maybe Byleth is silent but they have their own path to follow. Shez has no path and I’m not even sure what they are supposed to represent. Their personal class is asura, often clashing with devas and representing lack of reflection and selfishness and gratification and violence like I said before, but I can’t find anything in Shez story that actually says anything about that or their preferences and choices. Two out of three times they stray from the correct path and Rhea’s death should mean a violation of dharma because the agarthans have won, but I saw nothing in the game about immediate consequences of that violation or the causing of suffering Shez incorrect paths are causing. In Azure Gleam perhaps it is the story of the asura becoming aware that their past actions have been incorrect and so they must work to correct and better themselves, but they are overshadowed by the story of Faerghus. I love Faerghus but I was a little disappointed by the lost symbolism because it became the story of Faerghus repelling the invasion. Yes the Lions are good and righteous but I missed the story of them in Azure Moon, broken, then correcting themselves after they have temporarily fallen off the correct path and rising from their rut into righteousness.

With the Deer in Houses it was a house content to be stagnant and ignorant until war makes them realize they must instead act righteously and so they also choose the correct path, same as the Silver Snow Eagles who cut ties with Edelgard and perform their own renunciation. So Im not sure what Shez or anyone in this newer game are supposed to represent or be about when I liked Houses for its Buddhist themes.

I’m sorry for such a long message! Thank you for letting me talk.

Hi anon. No worries about the long message. I'm just not sure if my response can do it justice!

This is all very interesting indeed! I have a general understanding of Buddhism, but it is certainly not as deep or as complex as your understanding of it. While I grew up in some of my formative years in East Asia, Buddhism wasn't as prevalent in the local religions of my home.

I do agree that Hopes seems to lose the meaning and messages of Houses, although Houses itself was messy in its own right. And I agree that Western audiences often miss or do not understand the cultural differences that are woven into the world and narrative of many Japanese games. Especially when it comes to religion. I know myself and other mutuals have stated that the Church in Houses is no representation of the Catholic Church, as others have insisted upon.

I wish I could give you a longer response to match the quality and effort of your ask. But honestly, I have very little to add! I just thank you for sharing. I got to learn a little more along the way! :)

[crabknight]

Oh goodness shes so pretty...

Weird way to spell it, but i like your style!

Looked it up, a Priory is basically a small church in a remote location

Hmmmm and shes looking for Mycen...........

See? I knew it wasnt gonna matter!!!/j

Man i wonder how Celica's been doing...

OH SO ITS LIKE A THINGY THAT HE HAS HUH

the undo button

Well, it depends on which emu you picked, but mine so happens to-

... WHAT

Its called when someone fucking dies

Oh you mean the DLC? I got that already/silly

YOU KNOW IVE SEEN THIS BEFORE I LOVE SMT IV

The Bad ending (According to @sinnohborn-trainer-evan this is the game over screen, Neat!)

Good to know that Alm was chosen by god. SURELY THIS CANNOT GO POORLY

Oooo is she gonna be healer?

NO I DONT WANT ANOTHER UNIT BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE SILLY/j

ooo thats a new button

ooookay so hello madam Angel how be

OHHH THIS IS WHERE YOU DO PROMOTION!

oooo Silque looks cute!!!!

The heck is a memory prism? game says i dont have any :(

EVERYONE LOOKS SO GOOOOOOOOD Anyways i hope you approve of my class choices. i wanted as much variety as possible

Silque is indeed very oetty and I can confirm that that is the game over screen

For class choices I don't fully agree with them, but you can do well with anything

The lack of a mage worries me, especially with this games low resistance stats (kliff does very well as a mage and is also his "canonical" based on supports, personality and heroes)

Gray mercenary is great no notes there he's just good and fits the class

Faye pegasus knight is also pretty good and what I did on my first playthrough but I know some people like 2 healers early on

Cavalier tobin should be fine, I made him an Archer on my first playthrough but whatever, I don't really like putting my villagers on cavalier mostly just because you get A LOT of cavaliers in this game already, but you wouldn't know that

Anyway, do whatever you want I won't judge, anything works probably

[cat-denied]

1, 9, & 11 for the salty asks?

thanks for asking! gonna go ahead and answer these for fire emblem since thats the fandom im most active in as a fandom

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

oh man, a lot. a lot of heterosexual ones, i feel like? alm/celica. merric/elice feels so abrupt and meaningless in the way that basically any of the non-main-protagonist NES game relationships do, even when they try to retcon it in in the remakes, because it just...forget chemistry, they don't have any interactions! like what!!

felix/sylvain. like, i dunno, i just don't really feel any emotions looking at these two. they are fine? they're fine. i don't...that's it. lmao

also, honestly to an extent i don't really get tharja/robin in awakening. like, i love both characters on their own, but they don't really gel for me in the same way they seem to for a whole lotta other people lol.

ALSO! not fire emblem and i am not in a "fandom" as such for full metal alchemist but shipping roy mustang and riza hawkeye Does Not Gel For Me. i get why people do it but like...i do not understand it.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

i bear grudges especially towards Arvis FE4 (because the narrative treats him as noble and well-intentioned, and basically just tells us that he means good without doing literally anything to back it up) and Gray Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (because i am so fucking sick to death of "guy bothers uninterested woman until she relents into having a relationship with him" AND they always end up in a fucking relationship in their end cards even if you didn't unlock any of their supports).

also shoutouts to olwen FE5, who rules hard and who i love don't get me wrong, but whose supporting cast (fred and reinhardt) are like...way less cool than her. i especially do not vibe with reinhardt, considering he chooses not to defect despite presumably knowing about the child hunts (!), meaning the intended arc of "tragically you cant recruit this cool dude" falls flat because...is he really that cool if he can't be arsed to stop perpetuating tangible horrific evils in fiction? then again, he is working with ishtar, who is described as saving as many kids as possible--but also that only gets mentioned in her other game, which means it's not brought up directly with reinhardt--look the point is i'm not interested in him he's a boring man and i don't know why he has sixteen different alts in Heroes when olwen has one. olwen is the cooler fucking sibling get a grip lmao

i also hate virion (any man who is introduced chasing after a vocally uninterested woman is not worth my while, doubly so if he does not have any sort of tangible character arc), berkut (GOD. AWFUL man. somehow manages to fridge his own wife??? you should be able to recruit rinea in echoes i am forever peeved about this. he's an excellent villain all the way up until you can't recruit rinea about it), and perne (because the narrative apparently believes that kidnapping and torturing a young girl into doing your bidding via frightening her with insects is, like, not a big deal you guys don't sweat it).

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

i love Kris from new mystery of the emblem, i think she rules, she's a goofus. big fan. also all the new mystery gang tbh. i would say i don't understand why people hate her so much, except i do, and it's the same old same old "everything was better in the old days, when we didn't have support conversations or characters with more than 1 line of dialogue" that you get in every fandom, but i've certainly noticed in fire emblem.

i love edelgard, but i wouldn't say the fandom doesn't: i would say some of the fandom doesn't, but it's a split it would seem. i fucking adore monica but so does everybody else with taste. i really like wendy (inasmuch as anyone in the binding blade has a character), admittedly half due to her class as armored knight and half out of spite at how her wiki page says she's non-viable, but there's a solid half in there to appreciate her on her own merits also. this is again a mixed opinion and not a totally unpopular one, but i love ingrid, i think her story arc is fascinating. i LOVE jill i think her story arc is super compelling, she's one of my favorites. look, i don't know, who's unpopular? if you get me a list of "unpopular" fire emblem characters i will probably pick out every woman on there and be like "aw cmon she's cool/underutilized/worthy of appreciation". except camilla.

thanks so much for asking! this was very fun.

[frickingnerd]

V-chan please stop me!! Im trying really hard to don't make a request with Shulk because i want to at least reach half of the story before starting to be a simp but my simp impulse is winning 😭😭

Anyways, I came because i want to ask you something, im curious and I hope is okay for me to ask you this but I wanted to know for what characters you like writing the most and for what characters you will like to write more? Im just curious!! And I love your writing ❤️

he's such a loveable sweetheart, nobody could blame you for it moonie! 🥺❤

i wasn't sure if this ask was only xenoblade related or not, sooo i'm answering this for all the fandoms i'm writing for 👀✌🏻

my hero academia: i'm pretty basic here so i like writing for izuku, katsuki, shoto but also shigaraki, iida, hawks, endeavour, tamaki or mirio! the ones i'd love to write more for would be class 1B boys, since they are underappreciated (+ i just started reading the vigilante manga and i love koichi and pop ☆ step and would love to write for them!)

my dress up darling: not many characters to pick from here, but i'll likely add some new characters soon! my fav to write for here is marin! and once i add the new characters, i'd love to write more for akira and amane!

miraculous: adrien and luka are the ones i enjoy writing for most! but i'd love to write more about felix or specifically chat noir instead of adrien!

percy jackson: leo is my fav one to write about and i'd love to write even more about him in the future!

13 sentinels: ei, shu, iori, yuki and natsuno are my favs to write about! but honestly i'd just love to write more for any of those characters in general, they are so underrated! 🥺

ai: the somnium files: i love writing for pretty much all of them! i really love moma, iris and kizuna so i'd love to write more for them!

danganronpa: i'd love to write more for nagito and kazuichi! kokichi or gonta as well! they are also the ones i enjoy writing for the most!

fe three houses: dimitri is the one i enjoy writing for the most and the one i'd love to write for more! pretty much all blue lions boys! they are all great and i love them so much! (+the other house leaders are fun to write for too!)

fe shadows of valentia: gray! he's my fav to write for and i'd love to write more about him in the future! i also really like conrad and alm and would love to write more for them as well!

fe awakening: chrom! chrom is my fav to write for and i'd love to write more for him! i also really enjoy frederick or stahl, but currently i'd just love to start writing for any of the awakening characters!

fe engage: i love writing for alcryst and diamant! but i also love fogado and hope i'll get to write more for him in the future!

master detective archives: desuhiko is my boy! i'd love to write more for him and i enjoy writing for him the most! i'd also love to write more for pucci, aphex, zilch and even yomi!

persona 5: i like them all rather equally. i enjoy writing for akechi and makoto and would love to write more for futaba!

project eden's garden: i love writing for wolfgang and would love to write more for him in the future! i'd also love to write more for kai and diana!

(neo) twewy: rindo, fret and nagi are my favs to write for! i'd love to write more for them, as well as for neku and joshua!

xenoblade chronicles: i love to write for pretty much anyone here, xenoblade is my hyperfixation 24/7! i'd love to write more for alvis/A, crys, taion, noah, reyn, shulk, rex, matthew and nikol!

zero escape: akane, junpei and sigma are my favs to write about! and i'd love to write more for those three, as well as for diana and phi!

[good-beans]

Ok, I'm in the mood for some funny ranting, so Rudolf and M*neta for the character breakdown 😂

Character asks about such amazing characters! Thanks...

-How I feel about this character: ARGH they were so close to having something good and then didn't!! He’s the kind of character where they pull the twist and you’re like “woah! He was good all along! And was planning this from the beginning! How cool and smart and dramatic of him 🥺🤩” then like five minutes later when you actually try and work out the logistics of the plan you go

-All the people I ship romantically with this character: I couldn’t decide between Jedah or Mycen for the funniest answer...

-My non-romantic OTP for this character: Well is should have been Berkut – I genuinely think the story could have gone the same and we could’ve had the same power-hungry, arrogant, crazed Berkut except at least one person showed him the most basic of care this time. A cool parent/child team taking on the battlefield would be so great and narratively fulfilling in an fe game like that! It literally could have all been exactly the same but the writers decided to make Rudolf lame and fuck up Berkut in one fell sweep...

-My unpopular opinion about this character: I’m glad he’s that ugly because it explains why Walhart is the way that he is despite having Alm and Celica’s pretty genes in his bloodline 👍

-One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: He made any fucking sense!! Maybe my real unpopular opinion is that I think his plan had real potential. The first time I played it actually did convince me (and then I thought about it for more than two minutes.) A plot twist like that would have shaken the story if it, you know, actually worked

-How I feel about this character: My body physically shrivels up in pain each time I see him 👍

-All the people I ship romantically with this character: Uhhhh does the Heights Alliance garbage can count? Ships always work better when each member is very similar :)

-My non-romantic OTP for this character: AU where Kendo is part of 1A and instead of smacking the shit out of Monoma for being annoying she just decks Mineta every time he’s creepy and actually they’re not even friends she just beats him up with a giant fist every time he’s disgusting

-My unpopular opinion about this character: Okay wait this is a half-real answer but I actually think a grape-themed hero would be so cute! The concept of a fruit-themed bnha kid (who’s the tiniest in the class, just a lil guy!)  would have been SO adorable 🍇 ... But instead we just got a perv in a diaper :((

-One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Can you imagine if after establishing what a creep he was, Aizawa was just like “real heroes respect women” and then expels him no questions asked. Midoriya could even go on a whole anime monologue with the epic ost in the background about the true heroics of not being nasty to women. He’d write something in his notebook about it. It’d be great.

[fayesdiary]

then for the fe echoes ask: 5, 26, 27, and 35 !

Speak Your Language Day Asks 🇮🇹

5) What’s an aspect of Echoes you feel is underappreciated?

I villaggi e i flavor text. Decisamente il flavor text.

Non sono un grande fan di come hanno implementato i dungeon specie dopo svariate partite, ma i villaggi, dialoghi coi personaggi e flavor text sono assolutamente il top che Echoes ha da offrire in worldbuilding e caratterizzazione! E fanno spesso spaccare dal ridere😂

26) Talk a bit about the game’s themes!

Adoro la dualità che permea questo gioco, tra il conflitto su qual è la via migliore per l'umanità e la lotta di classe, e questa è probabilmente una hot take, ma non ho un problema col fatto che Alm è segretamente il principe di Rigel, principalmente perchè non detrae dalla persona che è ed hey, la meritocrazia è una menzogna e fallacia logica anche nella vita reale.

Voglio dire, questa è una serie dove il giusto sangue ti dà superpoteri... che non è troppo dissimile dall'essere nato con miliardi di soldi solo perchè ai vinto alla lotteria di nascita.

Non importa quanto ti alleni, non potrai mai fare le cose che ad esempio, un possessore di Holy Blood può fare, e puoi lavorare duro e investire quanto ti pare e non raggiungerai mai una frazione del patrimonio di un miliardario.

Quindi diciamo che per me il punto (nel gioco, chiariamolo) è meno che nobili e persone comuni sono esattamente uguali quanto che i secondi si meritano di essere trattati col rispetto che si meritano e avere la vita, diritti ed opportunità che gli spettano (quindi sai no, non morire di fame perchè non sei nato in un castello) e che solo perchè sei un nobile non ti rende superiore agli altri. Ma questi sono solo i miei due cent sull'idea.

Ah, ed Echoes è letteralmente la trama di un gruppo di eroi che distrugge il sistema in cui il loro mondo funziona una volta che è diventato insostenibile e avrebbe causato solo dolore e sofferenza a tutti se avesse continuato. Just sayin'.

27) Your favorite cool details?

Oltre alle cose che ho già menzionato tutte le voice clip extra che senti durante una battaglia (incluse quelle dove le tue unità si complimentano o insultano a vicenda 😂), ma il mio dettaglio preferito è la penalità ad Avoid che Faye si becca quando supporta Alm, è un modo sottile ma fantastico per rappresentare quanto la sua ossessione sia diventata autodistruttiva!

35) What’s an Echoes alt you really want in Heroes? (Fallen, Seasonal, Legendary, everything is fair game go wild)

Risen Alm for the lulz 😂

Parlando seriamente, penso che un duo Celica/Faye mi farebbe esplodere dall'hype, o magari Halloween Luthier vestito da gatto?

...Qualcuno perlomeno con le orecchie da gatto. Ne ho bisogno😸

[silvershadow1711]

Favorite Class: Archer/Sniper. And I don't mean the hella broken Switch-game archers, nah; I don't even like Neimi but she always had a place on my team because I need that 2 range chip damage.

Favorite Underrated Character: You'd expect me to say Gunter, but most FE fans who don't despise everything about Fates on principal acknowledge that he's a good character, if not just as underdeveloped in Rev as everything else. No, the real answer to this question is Frey. Oh you don't know who Frey is? Of course you don't- no one does. I'm literally this man's only fan. Frey was added to the FE1 remake, and is literally the most important character in Marth's story because he is the reason Marth is alive. When Marth was 14 and Gra invaded after killing his father, he had to escape with a handful of knights... except he couldn't because they caught up to him. Frey dressed as Marth to lure the approaching enemy soldiers away to buy his prince time to escape (it's literally the scene depicted in his Cipher card), resulting in him being beaten so badly it gave him amnesia and a permanant disability, while being left for dead. And New Mystery reveals that this isn't some Shrödinger's plot point- it's canon! This poor, selfless man lost his life to save his prince and doesn't get so much as a passing thought from any of the characters who know his sacrifice full well in Heroes, but that treasonous turncoat Abel gets lauded in the history books? "The Panther"? Bitch, you should only be known as "The Traitor"!

Hot Take: Aside from "fuck Abel", back in the day, I was one of the only people I saw in the FE community calling SoV out as the trash game it was. Putting aside how godawful the maps were, the writing in that game was ass and reeked of inceldom, Gray and Berkut are two of the most loathesome characters in the series as far as I'm concerned (and yes, I'm putting them up there with Arvis- they deserve it), and Alm is more of a Mary Sue power fantasy than Corrin could ever dream of being. But as voice acting has become the norm, it seems that the novelty has worn off and more people are starting to see the idiocy for what it is. So here's my hot take for the newer generation:

*ahem*

Bernadetta is the most overrated character in Three Houses, and Gilbert/Gustave is the most overhated. Bernadetta is just Fluttershy for people who are afraid of being called furries/Bronies, except less charming and honestly, less cute. Her design has never appealed to me, I find her insufferable and I never feel bad when Edelgard torches the balista she's standing on. "But she has such a tragic backstory--!" It's Fire Emblem; so does literally every single character in the fucking franchise! You can count the characters who aren't barely held together piles of trauma and neuroses on one hand. Which leads nicely into Gilbert.

Y'all hypocritical motherfuckers looove tragic backstories, and talking about "flawed" characters until the person you're suposed to be sympathizing with isn't a conventionally attractive teenager. "He abandoned his daughter--!" He was dealing with PTSD and the worst survivor's guilt you can imagine! This man's guilt is so strong he's convinced himself that he doesn't deserve to ever smile again because the dead people he failed to save will never smile again. And still, he knows what he did to his family was wrong, he's ashamed of himself and his actions, but he's also terrified of facing the consequences of his impulsive actions. Like a person would be. God forbid a parent in media be portrayed as human, with human flaws and weaknesses. I genuinely wonder what the overlap of Gilbert haters with "Emperor I'm Literally Going To Erradicate An Entire Race Of People did nothing wrong" stans and "King Kill Every Last One Of Them is just a sad boi" simps is...

Fire Emblem tag game!

Reblog this post and add in the tags~

Your favourite class

Your favourite underrated character

And an opinion that would get you burnt alive in a such a way that people would make barbecue jokes about you for the rest of time.

[fireemblemtcg]

fecipher twitter, 11-9-2020: "Alm: Moment of Embarkation" and "Alm: Hero-King of the Land of the Gods"

[Card Showcase] War has broken out in the land of Valentia. Alm, a young man from a rural village, is determined to himself join the fight in the name of restoring peace. Aided by both the friends he met on his journey, and his longtime friend Celica, he brings an end to the war - and guides the continent into an age of lasting peace. (Illust. Dōji Shiki, Hidari)

Card stats/skills:

B22-????? Alm: Moment of Embarkation Fighter/Cost1 Red/Male/Sword 40ATK/20SUPP/1RNG

"I hope this journey will bring us together again..."

With Hope In His Heart [ALWAYS] If 2 or more other <Red> allies are present, this unit gains +10 attack.

[ATK] Hero Emblem [SUPPORT] Until the end of this combat, the number of orbs that will be destroyed by your <Red> attacking unit is increased to 2.

Illust. Dōji Shiki

B22-???SR Alm: Hero-King of the Land of the Gods Hero/Cost4(3) Red/Male/Sword 70ATK/20SUPP/1RNG

"We'll forge an era of prosperity. All of us - together."

Founder of a Thousand-Year Dynasty [ACT] [ONCE PER TURN] [Send 1 card from your hand to the Retreat Area] Until the end of the turn, all allies gain +10 attack. If 1 or more other Leveled Up <Red> allies are present, draw 1 card.

Prosperity-Bringing Strength and Love [ALWAYS] The Class Change cost of <Red> cards in your hand is reduced by 1. However, Class Change cost cannot be reduced to lower than 1.

Illust. Hidari

More Fire Emblem Cipher Series 22 translations! | Tip jar

[randomnameless]

Reading your headcanons, if Willy was a Great Holy Knight with bold healer, what was Lycaon?

Oh!

A stylised version of the hero class!

(don't make fun of him, his mommy picked the class for him :(, and uncle birdie gave him one of his feathers to put on his helmet to help him "channel magic" since he is "lousy" at it, per his words)

Labraunda being a switchaxe, I guess he'd have mastery over sword and axe ranks (taught by uncle Cichol!) and an acceptable rank in brawling ("playing" with uncle Indech!) adding to his prf class that he can use magic, and in general has better stats around than an usual Hero class (think of how stupidly broken promoted!Alm was, let's say Macuil's enchanted feather on his helmet gives +1 to magic range), inferior to Rhea's stats, of course, but on another plane of existence compared to his dad, when it came to fighting.

Tl;Dr : unlike Willy, Lycaon was a good unit.

Of course being a #badass on the battlefield didn't help him at all when he was stabbed at home (tfw he didn't take his feathered helmet with him).

[gorematchala]

So I wish I had the full body artwork to go off of but I've been staring at what they showed for like 6 hours total by now and I need to ramble about Fire Emblem designs.

Let me start by establishing my position on this series. I played Awakening and I dont care about any of the gameplay or plots of any of the games at all. My opinions are about the character designs and nothing else. Other than I think the child soldier void and the incest shit in Fates is kinda really fucked up. But anyway.

I'm okay with protags all looking like Marth. It really doesnt bother me. The Breath of Fire series has a blue haired dragony hero man and a blonde angel girl as the protagonists of every game and thats fine. I think its neat to have reoccuring character concepts like that sometimes. And I think that Marth, Sigurd, Ike, ect. are cool individual designs. Blue haired Lord class protagonist. Love it, totally fine.

Other weirder designs are also welcome. Robin being a weird dragon cult wizard clone thing was awesome. Corrin being a metal deer dragon, fantastic. Beyond the protagonists I dont even hate the non functional boob armor and such like Camilla in fates. Its a video game it doesnt have to be practical. But whats important about any design is about its functionality in terms of action. That the costume is cool to look at and consistent with what the character does or how theyre themed. You wouldnt give a thief character Black Knight armor, and the Black Knight would look weird fighting with a rapier. But Lucina wants sweater armor? Fine, shes supposed to be agile and she fights with a straight sword. Shes cute, let her be. HOWEVER.

While Robin is really great, and Corrin is extremely interesting, and Alm/Celica are absolutely perfect in their redesigns, FE3H introduced some of the worst character designs maybe in video games as a whole. I'm not just talking about Byleth but I could write a book about how bad Byleth's costumes are. I wont cuz I'm gonna do that for the new one. But the long and short is you've got monotone grey costumes that are half batman armor half cutist robes, with weird desaturated pink trim which doesnt match anything else on the design, with grey blue hair, and a neon purple dagger. The color theory alone is infuriating. Then the models in game make it worse by looking horrific in their own right. My complaints about their amor are too specific to explain without me pointing at them and gesturing wildly so suffice it to say there is a way that armor should be shaped to create a nice visual flow and theirs does not do that.

Now with Alear... I'll start this one by establishing that on a base level theyre better than Byleth. I think in terms of hair the female Alear looks less like a yugioh zexel character which is good. The split color isnt the biggest problem for me but it is *too* saturated and kinda obnoxious to look at, and the heterochromia throws it over the top into being fully annoying. Female Alear has the giant eyeball problem that female Byleth had. I dont get why her tiara is grey when every other accent on both of them is gold. The guys hair would be fine if it wasnt glued together in the front creating this bizarre forehead window. They both have confusing bowtie/ scarf/ neck tie things going on. His disappears under his vest but of course her is suctioned between her balloon tits because of course. I like her skort thing but I dont get why they created visual lines that travel down to become the skirt pleats, bu then they have a belt creating a hard horizontal break in that flow, and why they decided to make the skirt blue because it wouldve looked better white? It wouldve been the same blue to white ratio as the male version because of her thigh strap things. And speaking of straps!! This guy has a strap attached from the end of his jacket to the knee guard on his greaves, and then his belt has a weird cross shaped offshoot that is like sewn to the back of the boot jacket strap??? The gold trim on their arms is kinda meandering and formless, it looks like they should have some kind of gauntlet covering the stuff on the forearm.

Like it isnt as awful as Byleth in terms of it being nothing, but now its too much, and whats there is kind of stupid. Additionally once again whoever is doing the modelling and animations is not doing the game any favors because they all look like mid quality porn models. Something about the placement of the eyes and mouth on all the female characters screams 3d hentai to me. It's also weird how much higher detail their heads are from the rest of their bodies.

I dont really have a point or a conclusion here but I'm just baffled as to why this series has had such a drop off with their character designs since 3H and its been eating my brain for a day now so here is your peak into my psychosis.

[fellincantation]

Grima had rushed out of the venue as quickly as her legs could carry her. Though her body wasn't suited for sprinting like that. Tacticians had to be swift to escape unfortunate situations but in sandals and dress pants that wasn't a simple task. She took a sharp breath as she stopped for a moment, the sound of Alm calling out for her making the hair on the back of her neck bristle. Her hand flew up to the back of her neck as if shielding it as she turned around to face Alm. He didn't recognize her and she knew full well that had she not started screaming he never would have known. Grima would deal with that humiliation later. She was unable to control her emotions in the slightest in this body and she was starting to see incredibly negative effects.

"No. I don't." Grima said, her jaw clenched tight as she spoke. She would get a headache if she kept doing that. "You're Alm, are you not? The Saint-King of Valentia? No doubt a hero to be lauded by history. Though your name will be forgotten your legacy will carry on and for that I despise you. I despise you for finding me now and I despise you for slaying me all those years ago."

Grima knew she should stop talking. She should recoup and leave. Leave Alm confused and in the dust and pretend the night had never happened. She could hole herself up in her dorm, attend classes, and keep quiet. Though her pride, her arrogance, and her immaturity kept her talking.

"You should have left the seal on that door, fool. You should have read the slabs of the labirynth and left me well alone." She hissed, frustration welling up in her chest. She blamed Alm for her suffering. Though it was irrational, she cast blame entirely on him, that woman by his side, and his allies that had found her on that day. Her rage was so simple-minded that she blamed whoever was in front of her, choosing to forget who was truly at fault.

"How long ago was that for you, Saint-King? How long? Time has been so skewed in my mind that for me it has been well over millennia." She said, frustration oozing off of her. She at least had a mind to lie in some capacity to him, trying to save her own snakeskin. "I try to live in peace in this body and you still find me."

his smile drops, confusion taking root in seconds  /  choosing his countenance as home.   &   who wouldn’t be confused in this situation? alm didn’t expect much. even if his smile isn’t returned, an exchange of polite pleasantries would have been more than enough before they spend a few hours among white, pink, and red decorations.

but disgust twisting his supposed partner’s features isn’t what alm imagined moments earlier. nor does he anticipate this sinking, unexplainable feeling that she hates him for some reason.

      (it’s strange when the valentian king has no recollection of seeing her before today. and a little concerning, too.)

she only confirms that feeling with each word leaving her mouth. alm can only offer her a wide-eyed stare at first, stunned by what sounds like the beginnings of an outburst. taken aback, the king doesn’t notice himself taking half a step back.

she sounds so angry.

alm doesn't understand why.

“what—” a single word stumbles out of his mouth. what is happening? why does she look so repulsed, acting as though they have met previously? as though alm committed some unforgivable act? that’s what he wants to ask, his mind scrambling to get to the bottom of this situation.

but alm doesn't get any further than that. much to his astonishment, she calls him a worm and storms away.

he blinks and blinks again.

it takes a second or two for alm to comprehend what just transpired. and if he’s being honest, alm still doesn’t understand. she mentioned a labyrinth. once there wasn’t enough? what? he’s never stepped foot inside mazes. none aside from the haunting ruin full of monsters as echoing footsteps accompanied his descent...

alm ignores the unease settling in his gut   &   concerned, pitying looks thrown his way. without thinking, the youth hurries after her. she has a headstart, but alm isn’t returning to celica’s side this soon.

“hey!” he calls once emeralds catch sight of the stranger’s back. maybe it’s a small blessing she didn’t go far. otherwise, there’s no way alm would be able to find her. the monastery is, by no means, a small place.

“care to explain what was all that about?” the saint-king continues, stopping a short distance away. where he attempts to keep his tone as non-confrontational as possible, alm wouldn’t deny his brow furrowing. “look, i don’t even know you. and you’re this upset with me.”

suspicion lingers at the back of his mind... but that couldn’t be right.

[lethargicsunlight]

'Demon' Chapter 10 : "Respite" Bakugou x Fem!Reader (book 1)

Find the other chapters here! LINK

I usually don't post chapter summaries, but this is essentially just glimpses where you've been inserted into certain moments before and during the exams, right before summer.

Because we all know, summer is where the fun really starts >:)

Book Summary: A slow-burn action/romance where you begin in the bowels of a Villain base and rise up to join U.A.'s top Hero Class. This life was your choice. In the event of learning then losing the love of a friend, you make a decision that changes your reality at the core--to become an imposter among villains and bring them down from the inside out. The organization that ruined your premature perfect life was known as H.H., after their leader Head-Honcho. His crime of choice: intelligence. Training and conducting espionage agents and assassins across Japan as a means to further the dark underground network. Your training began at thirteen, after managing to impress the multi-faced villain with your stealth and your conviction. Rumors would soon spread through the dark alleys of Naruhata City of a masked assassin known as Demon, whose bare face could steal the souls of her targets. Everything appears to be going to plan; but the Hero Agencies you've been slipping information to are calling for an end to your superior sooner than you had anticipated. Your time as 'Demon' is limited. What will happen when your world comes crashing down? Where will you go, when everything you had known you helped to destroy?

WARNINGS: SFW, Alcohol, PTSD themes

•·················•·················•👹🖤⛓🔪💣•·················•·················•

You found yourself falling into a pattern at the end of each day when you were alone in the dorm.

At first, you had barely touched it. You slept stiffly beneath the clean sheets, dressed in whatever extra clothes Nezu had left for you. There was a desk they had brought in for you to complete homework upon, notebooks, pens, highlighters, tape, a stapler..

But it was bereft of personal belongings. After all, you had none.

However, as the rate of time began to pick up around you and the days slid by instead of dragged; you had learned to adapt. You looked forward to your lessons and your classmates; learning and experiencing the world in ways you had never expected to be privy to. Slipping into conversations, learning how to compliment and receive such, navigating the challenges set by your teachers--and your favorite--appearing next to that bewildered ash blonde that wished you ''would just go off and die already!".

Now, as the air cooled and the color of the room shifted from amber to pale cerulean; you turned the desk lamp on and tore out a piece of notebook paper. You pulled some pencils and pens out from the box they had left you with, and started drawing.

The first picture you had drawn was a smiling portrait of your foster-brother; which was now taped up in the center of the wall opposite your bed. Around it, your had begun to tape up pictures of your class mates. Moments and memories of them, what small bits in your mind that were free of memorized school work. You could let them out then, unto the paper, to be immortalized in lead strokes and ink stains.

You even kept one of Nezu, sketched one evening after he had arrived with a teacher by the name of Midnight, asking for preferences concerning toiletries. One day, you promised, you would show him your appreciation. The drawing was there to remind you, just like they all were.

Today was an image of Sato and Shoji, who had worked with you during practical training. Between Sato's immense strength and Shoji's unusual anatomy, you were able to practice some interesting evasive maneuvers. Due to knowing you weren't in a life or death situation, you had found it difficult at first to tap into your skill set since starting at U.A.; but with every class, it got easier. The muscle memory that had been buried so deep beneath repressed images of the Cistern could resurface, and it felt almost as natural as scaling through the alleys of Naruhata.

Almost.

----

"If there are any details in particular you would like for your Hero equipment, please describe in the boxes below:"

You stare at the packet with disdain in your eyes.

I want my old uniform back..

But, as Kirishima might say: 'It's not very heroic.'

True enough. But black hid well in the shadows, and the idea of going without a mask made you feel sick. Despite how you may have hated being 'Demon', you missed the comfort of something pressed to your face--a shield between you and the outside.

Already you could tell this was going to take all night. Nezu had left it in a manila folder beneath the door of your dorm while you had been out training, with instructions to hand it over to Aizawa the following day.

You heave a sigh, moving to sit at the end of your bed, eyes finding the sketch of your foster brother on the opposite wall. His chartreuse hair had been colored in with a vibrant highlighter.

"I think.. I think I'll be something like.. Star Man! Or.. The Blazing Star!" He thrusts his arms in the air, excited, and so loud you slightly cover your ears.

"Sorry," He says quickly, hands touching your wrists. "I was just excited."

"S'okay." You smile, hands returning to your lap.

"Hmm.. What do you want your name to be?" He asks, pulling out his notebook.

"Oh.. Uh.."

"Hey, it's no rush or anything. I can give you some ideas if you want!"

"Okay."

"Let's see.. You'll be really fast and super quiet.. Bullet trains are like that! Ah, but I guess that's not really girly though."

You giggle, shaking your head. "Those are too fast!"

"Of course that's the part you're worried about. It's just for show, it doesn't have to be all that realistic." He muses, flipping through the pages and finding his old 'how to make y/n a hero' notes.

"Hey, if you use those ninja stars like in the video game--you could be Ninja Star! My sister-hero!"

You giggle again, but give him a tight nod. "That one's cool."

Too bad shuriken weren't your ranged weapon of choice.

The memory makes you smile though.

You start with what you knew; describing the intricacies of your old uniform's functions--the soles of your boots, the gloves, how you preferred the fabric. You would need utility belts or some of other form of storage. A hood.

Fortunately, working under the H.H. Organization had made you pretty familiar with the intricacies of hero equipment; though it was usually built to accommodate quirks. Ironic, however, considering technology could replicate the usefulness of less flashy quirks--like your dim-light enhancers in your old mask. It almost felt wrong to ask for it, but you do anyway.

But, then.. As you pencil in the last bit of that information, you were once again stuck. Who did you want to be?

----

"Are you sure?"

You look up at Aizawa, who's fingers gripped the edges of the packet you had given him. He was reading through it, and at the top was your requested Hero name.

You nod, "Yes sir."

------

Sting casually crosses his arms while he leans into the bar, eyeing up the new recruits.

"I'm calling them my Vanguard.." Shigaraki announces, lips drawn in a large chapped grin. "I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with those.. Intelligence gathering skills you possess."

Sting mirrors his grin, giving him a respectful nod. "Of course. I told you, I don't disappoint."

When the strange man-child returns to his new 'friends', Sting inwardly cringes. What had originally been an advantageous relationship had suddenly turned sour--when Kurogiri managed to find his still bleeding body in the abandoned office building.

Now, he owed them.

"Sting." Kurogiri calls him, and the mutant wants to groan.

"Yeah?"

"There's something else we need you to investigate." As though in preparation for his next few words, he slides a glass over to him. His usual order had been vodka.

Surprise surprise. Sting looks at the glass before taking it, mandibles briefly separating from his cheeks as he takes a drink. After it clinks against the bar top:

"What is it?"

----

The written exam came and went. Your Hero Costume was still in development, but you collaborated with Aizawa and managed to find something suitable for the practical. You convinced him that black sweats and similar top would be fine, and once again went in without weapons.

Though surprisingly, you had passed the practical exam alongside Hagakure and Shoji; using his distraction and her invisibility to incapacitate pro-hero Snipe. It was the first time you had ever truly collaborated with someone rather than ordering lackeys about, so you let them lead the way. You were tasked with removing his weapons while Hagakure safely placed the cuffs on his wrists unseen--it was a smooth success.

"Hey, you guys did great!" Midoriya exclaims, turning on his heel as you walked into the viewing room.

"Thanks," Shoji cuts in first, just behind you. You manage to satisfy with a simple nod and smile.

"We were so cool!" Hagakure's gloves present the idea she has both arms in the air to emphasize her excitement.

Despite the rising spirits of your classmates due to the victory, you couldn't help the swelling of apprehension in your chest. You moved up to stand next to Midoriya as the large screen flickered and followed Mina and Kaminari into a maze-like industrial area. Not too different from the Industrial Park where you had met the boy on your right.

It actually weighed on you a little, knowing Kirishima had not passed his practical exam. You almost wanted to see him, but he wasn't around at the moment--probably with Bakugou somewhere. Usually, that's where you would want to be.. But watching the following matches interested you too much. You wanted to see the Pro-heroes in action. You wanted to see the abilities of your classmates up close, outside of sparring.

"You're fighting All Might." You say it, more so than ask it.

Midoriya glances over at you and hums in agreement before his big eyes focus on the screen again. There was something about your quiet that felt conflicting to him. It was comforting, in the way that you wouldn't push boundaries; but also unsettling. He usually chalked that up to your 'quirk' though.

You don't ask if he's made a plan yet. That was a moot point. There was a reason Midoriya was here and Bakugou wasn't.

"I think you'll do great."

Midoriya's surprised by your encouragement. He'd received it from Ururaka and Iida already, but hearing it from you was staggering. Not that he would ever describe you as unkind, but you were certainly reserved. You said little in class, and ever since you had begun sitting with Kaachan and Kirishima at lunch, he'd barely heard from you.

He supposed to was nice to know his childhood friend wasn't rubbing off on you.

"Thank you." He says it in a way that mirrors your sincerity, and succumbs to the silence afterward.

Later, you quietly congratulate both Ururaka and Iida as they pass their exams, giving them more of Midoriya's space. You hadn't doubted them.

When it finally came time and Midoriya left for his own practical exam, you could feel the room grow tense. Hardly a word was said, and you caught the nervous fidgets between Ururaka and Recovery Girl. Even Iida seemed to hold his breath.

----

The screen lit up with explosion after explosion after explosion.. Some gritted their teeth, others were sweating as though they could feel the boys' exhaustion for themselves.

You appeared calm, but your hands were in fists too.

Failing the exam didn't mean the end of the world. But knowing how it would crush their hearts, you hoped and cheered for them inwardly--just like you had during the Sports Festival.

If anyone could defeat the impossible, it was them.

And, seeing as their opponent was the Symbol of Peace, All Might, Number One--that felt like a pretty impossible circumstance, weights or no.

Earlier, in light of Ururaka's questioning, Recovery Girl had given a bit of commentary that interested you. That Midoriya viewed All Might as a God, as someone that was above everything. What would you do, if you had to fight All Might?

To the likes of you, he certainly seemed like a God.

But then, watching Bakugou give himself out against his opponent--going past his limits to the point of unconsciousness--and allowing his comrade to finish the goal (after retrieving him of course, because it was Midoriya); you feel a spark ignite.

Heroes never give up, no matter how bad it gets!

And so, neither would you. Even if you had to fight All Might.

Because you were a hero now.

----

"Awe maaan!" Kirishima wails, shoulders drooping. You stop when you make it up next to him, letting the other students pass by, all heading home with big smiles and chatting about plans for the summer. Aizawa had announced there would be a Summer Camping trip that would include specialized hero training--and those that failed the exam would have even more training, since they were 'obviously lacking'. Kirishima being one of them.

Your heart went out to him. In your mind, he deserved better--but lessons must still be learned. Though, you wondered how 'fair' your exam had been, considering it was the only one with a three versus one ratio.

"I mean, don't get me wrong-" He continues talking, already aware you weren't going to respond--"I'm glad I'm still going to the camping trip n' all, but.. Those extra classes are going to be killer. And I'm kinda embarrassed."

"That's what you get for not listening to my advice." Bakugou chimes in, hands in his pockets as he slows as well. "You better pick yourself back up Shittyhair!"

"Yeah, I know.." He says, still a little glum. "But hey, at least we get a few days off. What are you guys gonna be doing?"

"Tch. Training."

"Of course you are. But you can't do that all the time." Kirishima gives him an apathetic look before turning his attention back on you. "What about you, huh? I bet there's a lot of stuff you've wanted to do since getting out of.. That place."

Put on the spot, you meagerly glance at the dorms out ahead of you. Really, you hadn't thought about it. You were still taking days one at a time.

You choose to say something cheeky to avoid the subject.

A shrug, "Probably just training."

"Whaat?" Kirishima huffs, "You're kidding right? You both are."

Bakugou gives you a very narrowed-eye glare. "You just said that because I said that. Stop being a Creep, Twinkle-toes." He gruffs, then starts walking again.

"Wha--Bakugou was that really--hey, where are you going?"

"Home, duh. I'm done talking, I have things I gotta do."

He saw through you. The thought makes you smile, despite the situation. "Honestly Kirishima," you start back up again, after the blonde was far enough out of earshot. "I haven't thought about it. The girls mentioned getting together but.. I'm taking things one day at a time."

"Yeah, I get it." He rubs the back of his neck, shaking his head and smiling at the disappearing image of his friend at the gate of U.A.. "If you need anything though, let me know okay? Any of us really. You have our numbers right?"

You nod, "Thanks."

"Anytime. Later!" He gives a little wave and starts walking again, eventually joining up with a nose-to-his-phone Sero. Once he realizes where Kirishima had come from, he also gives you a little wave before they walk away.

----

Vrr

Next to your notebook on the desk, your borrowed cell phone vibrates to life. It's a text message.

Asui Tsuyu: Hey! It's Tsu. We're visiting the school to get permission to use the pool, we were wondering if you wanted to go too?

You hesitate over the screen.

It had only been a few days since summer had started, and you had already begun to miss the daily interactions with your classmates. A part of you feels almost giddy at the idea of spending time with them, even if you're just being quiet most of the time.

Yet.. It would be swimming. The last time you'd been in water had been so unpleasant, you barely remembered it. The idea of setting your feet in the water sent a strange chill through your body.

But you're in school to become a hero. You can't afford to be afraid of something so abundant. Confident you had enough self-control to deal with the situation, you reply with a simple:

You: Sure!

[fire-emblem-supports]

CYL5 Predictions & Hopes

I ALMOST FORGOT I USUALLY DO THESE not that i think anyone really cares, but i'd feel weird if i didn't

Expect Three Houses spoilers but also it's been two years man go play the game

Marianne: White Heron Dancer

"I won this garb in a contest five years ago... I still can't believe someone like me won."

I don't know that I consider this particularly likely, but I think it would be more interesting than the sword or magic cav she's likely to get, and it could maybe even break the curse of the red units being the worst, seeing as support units are powercrept at a much slower rate than nukes. This Marianne would be a Sword Flier wielding Blutgang and she would also have the Dance skill. Blutgang gets Beast Fang's effectiveness against dragon and cavalry units and has adaptive damage, but also gets the +4 to all stats from Dancer Berkut's weapon. I think an interesting adaptation of her signature Animal Friend skill would be to allow Beast units to transform when next to her, while also healing 10 HP to herself and all cavalry and flying allies at the start of each turn when she is on a team with two or more cavs/fliers. Letting it heal her allies helps solidify her role as a support unit, though Blutgang and her self-healing means she can be offensive if need be, like Triandra. It would be her B-skill.

For art, I'll put forward Kurahana Chinatsu as decently likely to do either hers or Gatekeeper's, since they like to use the original artists where possible (they didn't last year, but that was probably to avoid showing favoritism to Edelgard, Dimitri, or Claude). I'd lean Marianne is more likely since she's more of a "canon" character. If not, though, Niji Hayashi (Summer Hilda/Marianne, a Marianne Cipher card), Konfuzi Kokon (Faye, Fiora, Marianne's Cipher card as a Dancer), or Fujikawa Akira (Marisa, Celica, Fallen Celica) are all good options.

Gatekeeper: Sworn Protector

"I'll keep this castle safe as long as I'm here, promise! Right now, there's nothing to report!"

Gatekeeper is a bit tough to theorycraft, since there's obviously... not a lot to go off of, lol. I think that, like Brave Lysithea, he'll probably end up with an outfit based on one of the Master Classes, so I'll put forward a version of him that is Axe Cavalry based on the Great Knight class and wielding the Axe of Ukonvasara. The Axe of Ukonvasara is effective against armored foes, heals 10 HP every hit like the Sol Lance, and enables [ Canto (3) ]. Whatever his special skill is called, I predict it being an omni-Save (Near and Far) that grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+3 when Savior triggers.

Like Marianne, Kurahana Chinatsu is a decent prediction for art, but it's worth noting that Kita Senri is actually the only one who's drawn official art for Gatekeeper (for Cipher) and thus could be considered his "original" artist; I'd personally rather see Kita Senri do Gatekeeper and let Kurahana Chinatsu do Marianne. If neither of them, I'd also like to see Tobi (Azelle, Winter Bernadetta, the Morgans), Asatani Tomoyo (Eirika, Ephraim, Berkut), or lack (Beruka, Silque, Brave Dimitri) try their hand at him.

Eirika: Sacred Twin Lady

"Siegmund and Sieglinde... Twins, like my brother and I."

Eirika is hard to come up with anything interesting for because most good ideas have been taken by her legendary and Anamnesis alts and Ephraim's brave alt. So here's what I got: she's a Lance Cavalry, but she wields both Sieglinde and Siegmund. This grants her weapon triangle advantage against blue foes, but doesn't affect the weapon triangle against red or green foes. So basically:

Vs. Red Foe: Eirika gets +20% damage, foe gets -20% damage

Vs. Blue Foe: Eirika gets +20% damage, foe gets -20% damage

Vs. Green Foe: Eirika gets -20% damage, foe gets +20% damage

Vs. Colorless Foe: no effect

On top of that, she gets the dual-phase Brave effect that is now assumed with dual-wielding characters (like Altina and the ninjas). I'm conflicted on whether or not she could get a third effect since both of those are decently broken, but if she does, it would probably be some combination of Sieglinde/Siegmund's skills.

For art, I can't see it being anyone but Wada Sachiko as her original artist and the artist for Brave Ephraim. If it's somehow not, it'll be Asatani Tomoyo, but... come on, it's gotta be Wada Sachiko.

Marth: Hero Lodestar

"This sacred tome was forged from two of the Fire Emblem's spheres. I wield its guiding light against darkness."

And finally, Marth. I'm honestly a little lost on an outfit for him, but I agree with most people that he'll probably be a Blue Mage Infantry wielding Starlight, which would grant him effectiveness against magic foes as well as Odd/Even Recovery's penalty erasure at the start of the turn. I also think he'll probably come with Fire Emblem, even though it's a little unfair to Eirika. Unique special and assist skills tend to be treated differently, like Brave Micaiah's Sacrifice and Lif's Open the Future.

Like Eirika, I think Marth's art is pretty guaranteed: Daisuke Izuka, as artist for the Shadow Dragon/Mystery remakes and Legendary Marth. If it's somehow not him, it'll probably be Mayo (Groom Marth), Tobi (Resplendent Marth), or (if Eirika doesn't get the art she deserves) Wada Sachiko (normal and Young Marth). Maiponpon (Lucina and Masked Marth) or Kozaki Yusuke (Brave Lucina) are also decent possibilities. I'd personally prefer Tobi, Wada Sachiko, or Kozaki Yusuke, but... come on, just let it be Daisuke Izuka.

That's all I got. Once again, I think basically anything for these units would be fine. The biggest travesty would be if Marth just gets Falchion like how they screwed over Alm, and I'd personally be a little upset if Gatekeeper was an armor unit without any movement shenanigans, but generally speaking I doubt any of these characters will get anything too terribly disappointing, and I'm sure art will be fine no matter what. Can't wait for Bravekeeper!