#damn if the nobility bad creed was demolished by leonie who's the true commoner from the cast who isn't tied to dragons

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Nobles bad?

I said I wanted to make a post about Lorenz and how refreshing he was from the general trend of putting all ills of society, FE wise, on “ugh nobles”, but I forgot.

Of course, in the course of the story (or stories) the people who are doing shit are nobles, because they are the one able to raise armies/mercenaries to give us red units to fight and exp to farm.

But, in previous FEs, it has never been reduced to “nobles bad”.

Even in FE Tellius (I know).

In FE Tellius, a certain hero disses on “nobles” because he’s a country bumpkin and generally thinks all nobles are poop. And, for some reason, some characters agree with him, even if, hm, he is actually hired by a noble who wants to return to her home to assume the throne by getting rid of the mad king who invaded.

This certain lord ditches the noble title he received during the course of the game - and returned to play mercenary with his little band while two countries are rebuilding with more or less success.

But what is a noble in FE Tellius? Is it only being a stuffy prick ? Are Tellius nobles only Begnion Senators? What are we supposed to think about Elincia then? She’s in charge of a land with people living in it, and those same people are killing each other. What is she supposed to do? Can she just “fig off” and disappear with a band of merry friends until the plot calls her back? Micaiah is bound (lol) by her duty to the people of Daein. Are they stuffy nobles? All of their stories involving drama (thus plot) happen because they are in position of power, and yet have to deal with what it means, how can they protect their people when their people want them dead and/or they have to fight a pointless war else they will all die?

Naesala is called a Good King - despite his dastardry - because he always thinks of his people. 

IMO, being a noble, in Tellius, means accepting the responsability to lead people. Some are lousy (Valtome, Lekain, Hetzel, Numida, etc etc) but for the ones we see and follow? It’s a hard job. Nobles aren’t only lousy moustache twirling vilains, they have, sometimes, to make hard choices.

Nobles bad? What was Naesala supposed to do? Kill Lekain? Let his people die? Ask Tibarn for help which would have led to “kill Lekain” + let his people die? Smash a watermelon? Ditto for Elincia, what was she supposed to do? Abdicate? Kill her people? Run away and let Crimea fall to anarchy with Ludveck as the new regent?

So when That Lord sprouts his nonsense about nobles, when Elincia had her arc in Part 2, and happens as a deus ex machina because the devs couldn’t stop their right hands to solve everything, it sucks. But at least the duology is consistent, Ike abandonned his title because he didn’t want responsability to lead people, so at the first given occasion, he also ditches his so called family to sail to unknown lands with his BF of choice.

which would lead to another piece being written about Ike’s wish to lead the GM or rather lack of but that’s for another day

Awakening gave us Virion, who ran away from his home to seek help, and is welcomed... not with flowers when he returns to Rosanne. Virion feels like he failed his people, and his people don’t like him. He doesn’t just fig off somewhere else with his wife of choice, nope. Virion has a duty to his people.

Still, FE Echoes came with the “Alm is nobilty” controversy. To be fair, I never understood it as, apparently, fandom did, the point wasn’t to reveal Alm is secretly a noble so all the game speeches about nobles being inherently better than peasants is suddenly tap water, but Alm, despite his magical blood, was raised as a peasant. 

Nobility in FE15 isn’t about blood, it’s a social class. Fernand, Clive and Berkut belong to that class, but they never do anything “noble” - which should be their alley, because they are “nobles”. Clive the Knight and leader of Zofia’s hopes doesn’t go to rescue a small girl kidnapped and brainwashed by blue people. Alm does. Alm isn’t a noble because he has shiny brand or because he is Rudy’s kid, Alm is a noble because he has a noble heart, even if he was raised as a peasant.

(then he becomes king and defeats Duma because while I’d like to read a story about Bob the Baker who is super kind and gives bread to everyone, I don’t think Bob’s plot would be pleasant enough to warrant a game)

Berkut “silence Woman” hunts peasants for sport - there’s nothing noble about him bar his title. 

It all comes down to the line @garlandgerard​ translated in their Hanneman post, in the Jp!Version, Hanneman defines what it means to be a “noble” to him, it isn’t about being born in a specific line or having magic blood, nope. It’s all about what you want to do. Or at least it used to be (willy’s era?), but no matter what, Hanneman still strives to be a “noble”.

But given what NoA came up with and shoehorned in their support “That is one of the reasons I decided to leave that nonsense behind, and dedicate myself to the study of Crests” I am not surprised how “nobility bad” became a trend.

And here comes our man, Lorenz.

For sure, he acts like a loser in his first supports, and everyone pushes the “nobility bad” act on him. And yet, through his supports, Lorenz finally makes his POV known, it is not that he is a stuffy noble, but acts like he thinks a “good noble” should act - he has to protect commoners, so he shouldn’t be their friend (Raph support). Lorenz also believes nobles are far more important than randoms, because nobles have a duty and responsability to their people, they must be held accountable if something bad happens (Catherine support iirc). In his Leonie support? Lorenz explains he has to help “commoners” because it is his duty as a noble, and oh, all those taxes he and his dad are levying?

They were used to pay Jeralt (who most likely spent everything in a pub).

“It is a noble's duty to give to the commonfolk. In return, the commoner need only pay respect.” / “Yes, the commonfolk give the fruits of their labor— willingly I might add—as a token of that respect”.

Lorenz believes in some sort idealised... contract... with a hierarchy and people having to do something in exchange of something else. Hm. Offering protection to someone in exchange for their “respect”? Where did I hear this? Hommage? Feudalism? No, it can’t be.

Leonie, one of the few commoners with no background and presumable no money in the playable cast, says “Turns out, he just has this grand idea of nobility he's trying to live up to...” + “You weren't wrong about nobles and commoners each having their own role”.

Nobility isn’t bad - Lorenz is trying to adopt the standard of what he thinks is a “noble”... Just like Hanneman.

On a negative note, Dorothea’s views about nobility are never challenged.

Ferdie makes her understand he is not a “stuffy noble” because he can bake sweets and wasn’t oogling her back then but admiring her - but Ferdie doesn’t explain what is nobility, why it apparently sucks in Enbarr and what ideal he is chasing after. Lorenz? There are some perks in her support, but when the guy explains he has to find a woman of noble status to raise the position of his house in the Alliance, Dorothea doesn’t understand - thinks he could find a suitable wife with the masses and grows angry when he refuses because his house’s status in on the line. Dorothea even muses that Lorenz believes in the “lie” that is nobility, never giving him, or anyone else, the chance to explain that no, nobility is not a “lie”.

Just like Berkut might be a Prince but is no noble, the nobles who treated her like dirt are “nobles” but do not have noble qualities. Leonie understands that all nobles are “noble” and if every rich guy she met was a true noble, like Lorenz, the world would be a better place. Dorothea? She doesn’t.

Just like knights and “true knights” in a certain series, FE always tried to make a difference between “rich aristocrats who inherited a position and are asshats”, and “rich aristocrats who inherited a position but try to do the Right (tm) things with their powers and have responsabilities to the people they are lording over”.

Lorenz, just like apparently Hanneman, are “true nobles” because they want do do noble and heroic things. Randolph? Not so much.

Tl ; Dr : Nobility isn’t Bad - People are bad. 

All nobles aren’t bad, just like all commoners aren’t good. In a game which gave us Lorenz, I thought that point would have been more discussed, but apparently not because the guy has a silly haircut and the BE are very loved by the (localised?) fandom.