#clemar

[dexjarxenoengage]

While we are on the topic of shipping when it comes to Metaphor. IMO, it was for the best to remove the option to date other characters. Because IMO, a game should be allowed to just stick with one shipped that can (hopefully) be enjoyed. And this is where I go into spoilers for the end of the game… you have been warned…

Eupha and Will are the closest thing we have to a canon ship. And with Will becoming the new King by the end of the game, this means that if Eupha and Will make their relationship official, two of the most hated tribes will be the rulers of Euchronia. Which is extremely cathartic considering that they have ties to the old world that the Church wanted to keep under wraps.

The main reason why I am making this post, and while I am calling plot spoilers is because of Strohl. Why? Because Strohl is a Clemar. Racist as that may sound, hear me out.

Will is the Prince all along, Will is an Elda (the most hated tribe in the Kingdom of Euchronia). But Will is an Elda Clemar hybrid because his Father; the deceased King; Hythlodaeus V AKA More gave birth with the Eldan Queen.

This means that, if Will was female and was shipped with Strohl, it would be a Generation Xerox of an Elda and Clemar having a child.

[weird-gay-disaster]

I'm mad because this guy actually looks cute & hot but he'll probably end up being a throwaway villain.

[umbrasdoodles]

The Lina fandom variants to match Umbra fandom variants is going to be a running thing, so here is a Metaphor: ReFantazio Lina. Making her an Elda felt too obvious so she's a Clemar instead. 

[zipsunz]

at first sight, a similar feeling

[strangersyndrome]

fire-forged

[starclast]

💖🧡

[shiny-ampharos-writes]

Strohl is one of my main muses. I just released a Batlin fic. I have chapters coming featuring Roger and Morris crack (not with each other) and like. Idk. There is a pattern here...

[novathawed]

thinking about making a metaphor re:fantazio verse for kinpa........ i've been obsessed with that game later and i'd love to throw kinpa at some of the cast tbh ;ww;

[bengallemon]

okay have some spare time because apparently the game needs to download some more stuff. so far:

will should be allowed to start biting people

strohl is the perfect man

gallica needs to shut up before she embarrasses us (i love her)

[basiliomagnus]

spent way too long thinking up super impractical ways clemar decorate their horns for no real reason

[asha-mage]

I love the idea that the Elda (because they are directly descended from the Old World humans) don't really have a concept of homophobia but the Clemar (because of the whole hyper conservative theocratic society thing) do.

So while Strohl is agonizing over their every interaction and catastrophizing over every 'slip up', tormenting himself over his perceived 'monstrous desires' and living in terror that he'll go to far and destroy his friendship with Will and be left with nothing...

Will, who has never really had to deal with concepts like 'repression', 'heteronormativty', or 'internalized homophobia', thinks their already dating and just taking it really really slowly.

[artificervaldi]

If Louis is Lucifer, then Satan is...?

[NOTE: this post will contain spoilers for Metaphor: ReFantazio as well as various SMT games and I guess Dante's Inferno if you care about spoilers for that]

So, it's not a secret Louis Guiabern (AKA Louis Charadrius. AKA Louis C.) is very clearly based heavily on Lucifer, specifically SMT's version of Lucifer. Of course he has Satan elements, though these are mostly Dante's Inferno cues rather than SMT's version of Satan.

While Metaphor is meant to be it's own thing/a third pillar for Atlus there's no denying the SMT DNA present in the main antagonist. From his boss forms' titles matching races in SMT (Archdemon we'll get into in a moment, Destroyer being 破壊神 or Hakaishin matching the light-chaos race of Fury), to his very ideal of the world matching the Chaos alignment well.

But within SMT2, Atlus proposed Satan as a sort of opposite to Lucifer, a Law aligned being to the Chaos shown before. So does Metaphor have any character that matches up to that Satan? The Angel of Judgment and Servant of YHVH?

To figure that out, I want to touch on a few things about Louis, specifically the Archdemon and Destroyer forms we see him in in the game's final boss fight.

It's pretty obvious that there's a lot of Kaneko-cifer in the DNA of the design of Archdemon Louis Charadrius, albeit with eight wings rather than six (though a few times SMT and its spinoffs have shown Lucifer with more than six wings)!

Interestingly, Dante's Inferno contained 9 circles with Satan at the center. There are 9 tribes including the elda and he is at the center of his wings. Given the wings represent the other tribes and notably skip 4 to make it 9, this shows Dante is at play even here with regards to his design.

See below for reference.

1) Anger - Clemar 2) Pride - Nidia 3) Deceit - Roussainte 4 skipped 5) Greed - Mustari 6) Fear - Ishika 7) Gluttony - Paripus 8) Lust - Rhoag 9) Sloth - Eugief

One final thing to touch on with this form is the title of Archdemon. In JP it is 大魔王 or "Dai Maou." This is also used by Atlus in SMT as a race title, but unlike Destroyer/Fury, this one is specific to a certain someone...

Specifically, Lucifer, though in Nocturne and Vengeance it was translated as "Devil." Do pay attention, this will be on the quiz.

Now, Destroyer Charadrius.

We know his design is based heavily on the Lucifer/Satan of Dante's Inferno. His first form and the way it eats the puppets calling to Satan chewing on those Dante considered the worst sinners especially comes to mind.

Honestly speaking, the second form to me is a bit of that SMT-influenced Lucifer coming through. Once again doing their own spin on various mythologies.

Notably, by the by, is that Satan in the Inferno is frozen from the waist down. This is even mimicked, somewhat, by Louis's lower-half in this form being the Charadrius itself.

But this isn't the first time a frozen devil has been featured in an Atlus game. It's actually been used in story at least twice for Lucifer and is otherwise often reflected in his moveset.

(Worth noting in both of the above cases, he does eventually canonically have to get out of the ice at some point. You don't have to release him in NINE, but given he's around in 2 he definitely gets out at some point.)

As for gameplay he often has ice skills (along with others, though the tendency towards ice is very notable) or, in the case of Raidou 2, they're a good thing to use AGAINST him in battle.

As we move into talking about SMT Satan here... It's notable that he usually is associated with fire, but P5R and Soul Hackers 2 specifically pivot him to a more ice-based skillset.

...Interestingly enough, Louis has a small association with fire. Strohl even says that he believes Louis is still stuck in "that night of flames," leading him to the choices he made in the end.

Now back to Satan. Compared to Lucifer his story roles in mainline SMT are farther and fewer between. So while Lucifer we can pull from more games than not, Satan-wise the only one I feel is really comparable to is the one from Shin Megami Tensei 2. Namely because of the human element of Satan.

Zayin is a temple knight and one of the artificial humans made by the Archangels in their madness from TFW no YHVH. He is, in fact, an aspect of Satan and the one meant to judge all life in His name. He starts the game loyal to the center, the theocratic nation you live in, but thanks to the protagonist begins to question and fight for what he believes is right.

This ranges from starting a revolution among the lower classes to attempting to fight the elders (leading to his own frozen/petrified moment -- albeit one more meant to be an homage to Star Wars than anything).

Hell, if you take the Law Route he ends up turning on his very creator and judging him as he judges all other life. But at his core, Zayin is a good man who sees the value in "weaker" life but also value in being able to stand against leaders who do not have your best interests in mind.

Also worth noting as part of the Satan equation, however, is Seth. The demonic half of the angel.

A dragon that sleeps but spells destruction for many/all when he awakens and finds his other half... Surely that's not gonna come into play here later (it is, keep an eye out).

So, who from Metaphor would make a decent fit for Satan, keeping Zayin's arc in mind? First thought might be, say... Gideaux.

Warrior Monk fits Temple Knight fairly well and he does have a (let's be honest, rushed) arc about realizing the corruption around his religion and trying to do right by it.

But he's just... Not a good fit. He's willing to do some of those corrupt things (remember, he's the one who suggested pillaging the relics of the mustari!) and only comes to realize the mistakes when Rella broadcasts them to the world.

Not to mention he's too passive. Yes, he turns a new leaf, but he doesn't lead a charge. Doesn't judge if someone is fit for their role in the world, doesn't rally the people behind a common goal, doesn't even have a connection to Louis outside of a pissing match with Glodell!

...You know, Zayin at one point broadcasts to all of Tokyo Millennium about the corruption. He rallies the people behind a common cause, behind the protagonist.

Doesn't something similar happen in Metaphor?

That's right, I'm presenting the following candidate for the Satan of Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Rella Cygnus herself is the character I want to present as in fact a perfect stand-in for Zayin/Satan. She hits so many of the marks too perfectly not for me to present her as my choice here.

A devoted member of the theocracy's faith of choice? Check. Aware of the horrors behind it at some point and working to better it? Check. Battle against the protagonist and then rally the people behind them when they prove worthy? Check. Willing to die for what they see as right? Check.

Hell, she even has a related dragon with an S-starting name! (And remember, this is the only dragon ever fought alongside a person in their right mind. The rest are on their own or with a Human!)

Does this mean Rella had more planned for her that got cut? Probably. Does this mean she could get thawed out if we get a sequel and we get another proper Law Antagonist? If Hashino loves me, yes.

And uh. It's not very big but. You know how Louis has a few Satan-like traits here and there? You know how Rella's darkest magic presents as thorny vines? Just thought this line from Lucifer in the Freedom ending of SMT3 was interesting.

Anyway, yeah. Rella gets hit with the Satan beam agenda. Thank you for your time.

[metaphorwritings]

Do you have any headcanons for Strohl with a very physically affectionate partner?? Bro's so pretty I just want to kiss his hand like the pretty princess he is

Metaphor Headcanons #2

-. Oh, I was waiting for this one!!!

-. Okay, so lemme just say that Strohl is a man who can do both when it comes to affection.

-. Allow me to explain.

-. When you and Strohl first started seeing each other officially, he was a MESS!!!

-. In private, like, hand holding and little kisses, and he'd blush, he'd stutter, y'know cute shit!

-. But in public, this boy is bright red!!!

-. If you take his hand in public, he will freeze up and just allow you to drag him wherever you'd like.

-. If you kissed his cheek or any part of him for that matter, he would try and kind the growing blush on his cheeks with the collar of his jacket

-. But it's not to say he doesn't like it!

-. Hell no!

-. In fact, he likes when you show off your affection towards him.

-. He always felt comfort in your little touches, because he hasn't had anything so tender like that since his parents passed.

-. Oh, and he LOVES it when you gently caress his clemar horns!!!

-. And if you start playing with his long fingers, or kissing the knuckles of his calloused hands, looking into his eyes?

-. K.O.!

-. This man will be weak in the knees for the rest of the day with butterflies in his stomach!

-. Safe to say, he's a touch starved baby.

-. He also has no idea what he's doing when it comes to affection.

-. Like, he has no idea what he's doing the first couple of times you two would cuddle or anything like that.

-. He's so used to just doing friendly touches like handshakes and shoulder punches that he's a moron when it comes to the romantic stuff.

-. He's so nervous to make it awkward and shit.

[Spoilers ahead!!!]

-. Now, I've listed all of the bashfulness that is Leon Strohl da Haliaetus, and I know what you're thinking

-. "Didn't you say he can do both?"

-. Yeah, this man is POSSESSIVE!!!

-. I think Strohl being the stubborn, hard-headed guy he is...

-. The guy who literally wanted to square up with Louis when they were trying to act like his best buddies in front of ALLLLL OF HIS SUBORDINATES...

-. Oh, he would definitely get jealous easily if he caught someone looking at you funny

-. If he catches some random drunkard trying to flirt and get cozy with you? He puts his arm around you and pulls you in closer to him.

-. If someone is staring at you in a way he doesn't like? Expect two kinds of kisses depending on the situation :

-. Kisses on the back of your hands at formal events...

-. And super, steamy, passionate ones on the lips in front of people he REEEEAAALLY doesn't like.

-. One minute you are chatting with Hulkenberg about the food at this event, or Heismay is telling you an old story of his and then BAM!

-. Strohl turns you around and is kissing you, with tongue, one hand on your cheek, the other groping your ass.

-. He wants that person he hates so much to look at what he's doing to you in public and he LOVES it when you kiss back and hold him close.

-. Hulkenberg and Heismay be like : 😶

-. Then, to reassure Strohl everything is alright, you always cup his face with both of hands, get him to lean down to your height...

-. Or look up if you're tall!

-. And you nuzzle your nose against his

-. And this man's heart is about to explode

-. Speaking of comfort, Strohl likes to have you close to him if he starts having nightmares about his home town being burnt to the ground.

-. He just wants you to keep holding him close and running your fingers through his hair, whispering words of affirmation to him.

-. Strohl is a big fan of tiny kisses.

-. His favourite places are his nose, his neck and his cheek.

-. And when Strohl is away from you for a long time, this man will kick the door and rush at you and pick you up and spin you around and later just let you play with his horns while his head is on your lap.

[auncyen]

I'm only partway through the demo but I'm already convinced Louis is probably a halfbreed. The guy goes on quite a bit about racism, birth, etc. for someone who seemingly belongs to one of the two most predominant tribes. IRL this could just be 'hey, sometimes even awful people have a good point', and also he is noted to be commonborn, but since games usually like a personal touch to the main villain I'm going with he only looks fully clemar because the non-clemar parent, I would bet his mother, was eldan, since the eldan are noted as the one tribe without distinctive physical traits (though there is something about them inheriting magic... and Louis is noted as an accomplished mage).

And yes, I'm also betting she's dead. She faced a ton of discrimination in her life, it led to her demise in some way. Father may or may not be alive still, may even end up playing some part in the plot, even if small--because the clemar are noted for being involved in politics, and it'd be another twist in Louis' backstory if his father turned his back on him and his mother and Louis is aware of that--your birth or circumstance doesn't matter, according to Louis, and perhaps that's because he knows his early life circumstances could have been dramatically different had his parents made different choices, and yet he's reached the power he has anyway.

"This sounds a little too much like _____" I am not putting it past Atlus to recycle that LOL

[benx101cool]

Do you think Strohl and other members of the Clemar tribe in Metaphor: ReFantazio would use their horns to open bottles with caps on them?

[shiny-ampharos-writes]

random one-shot idea(s) for my fantasy is ruined series

is this anything. i know i'm insane