#embla feh

[rosymaraschino]

Posted on Reddit and posting here too 😝

[apollo-just-ice]

BRIDAL EMBLA

Suddenly I’m insane again!!!

Please please please can Askr be on the banner too… or can Embla at least mention him… can we get some crumbs at least…

Can my fave married divorced couple get remarried… pleaseeeee

[cherry-flavoured-thot]

So now that Embla has dropped, is it cool if I ask for Embla and summoner headcanons, platonic or not?

Embla:

-Embla is difficult to find. She hides among shadows and only appears when she knows she is needed for battle. If Summoner actively seeks her out, she ignores them for quite some time.

-"I have no interest in speaking with you mortal. Approach another." She'll tell them from the shadows, her presence disappearing as quickly as it approached. And she's quite adamant of this fact. "I am here to fight your battles, not appease your misplaced desire for companionship."

-She'll eventually come around. It's slow and subtle when she does. First she becomes easier to find, she'll let her place in the dark be known but won't outright come out until Summoner grows closer with her. "I don't understand why you continue to pester me, we have nothing to speak of." But still, if they do have something to say she does listen, however, she's scowling the whole time.

-When tolerance turns to fondness, she frets. Refusing to allow herself to fall victim to the loss of another mortal, she'll return to the dark, ignoring them outright if they search for her. They can still feel her watching and following behind them in the night.

-The day she comes around is abrupt. Appearing before Summoner at random. "I forbid you to die. If that foolish child of Askr asks you an impossible task, refuse." She isn't joking, she will turn around and tell Alfonse no for them. Maybe throw in a threat or two.

-Being friends with Embla is strange because sometimes Summoner forgets they're even friends to begin with. She's protective to the point of being insulting if she thinks they're about to do something dangerous. "If you wish to die Summoner, merely ask me and I will save us both some pain." She wouldn't actually... okay maybe.

-"I have no need for offerings but since these are from you, I will accept them." Any gifts from them are labelled as offerings, but unlike offerings she does actually treasure most of the things they've given her. Even if she considers them silly mortal trinkets.

[kplays]

The fear of being known

[yeyayeya]

This is the only good thing about this banner for not giving us NY! Ranulf

[evostrashbin]

chibi Embla for a twitter milestone event thing 🦇

[xander-wolk]

Embla❤️

[reuska]

Fire Emblem Pin PREORDERS!

It's that time of the year again. I rise from the dead to introduce a new pin campaign :D

This time we're going big with Fire Emblem Heroes! The long promised and teased Bruno and Veronica are finally here and with them a brand new Special Heroes slot has been introduced! The first Special Heroes to join the Nine Realms pin set are kid Chrom and Robin! And the characters for the next wave will be decided by my members!

MORE INFO ON MY KO-FI

And some examples ♥

[littleclairvoyant]

*sips* 🍵

[hulloitsdani]

What do u think Kiran is

How do u think the order sees kiran

*slowly sits up in my chair*

I think Kiran is a very normal person. This is someone you and I have met before. Be that from the other side of grocery store cashier, waiting in the same elevator, or walking by on a crosswalk. Kiran is a civilian from our world trying to roll with the punches of being warped somewhere completely alien. And you can see it in how they conduct themselves.

I always have a lot of fun writing Kiran’s dialogue because their casual modern speech almost feels like a dialect in comparison to the more formal fantasy tone everyone else speaks with. An “ain’t” will never exit Alfonse’s mouth, you know? And there’s a difference in “Do you have gold?” vs “You got gold?” To me, this gives Kiran an air of unfamiliarity to anyone they interact with. Let’s use Grima as an example, because it doesn’t sound like this grammatical change would make much of difference until Kiran has the audacity to hit Grima with a bro mid sentence. But that’s just how they talk. And as sweet and friendly as they are, there’s always moments like that to remind that no one has the cultural context to fully understand Kiran. Except for the audience, who can realize that Kiran let the customer service voice drop to talk to Grima like he’s an actual person.

And that’s just about how they talk! This view is only emphasized by every other thing about them! They’re a lovable goof, which is normal chill person behavior in the audience’s eyes but feels REALLY ODD to the characters of FE’s medieval fantasy war setting. There is this air of unknown about them that the more socially perceptive will pick up on and will try to come to a conclusion about. Example, I imagine Soren would interpret a lot of this as a dangerous and deeply annoying lack of intelligence from someone he has the displeasure of sharing a tactics table with. Or looping back to the Grima example, he would totally think Kiran has greedy ulterior motives behind that pleasant facade. It takes a lot of work for those types to realize that the discrepancy present isn’t really any of those things. But I also wouldn’t be too surprised if Kiran doesn’t try to directly prove any of those assumptions wrong unless they have to.

Why? Well now it’s time for the implications! Oh how we love the implications.

Because the Summoner is a different story. No one has any fucking clue what that is.

I can tell you what Kiran has pieced together so far. Summoning people from across time and space is apparently not easy. It’s not some school of magical study that some mage could pull off with enough time and research. Trust, Eitri tried. It’s a lot of complex moving parts. For example, the contracts. The contracts Kiran automatically binds their summoned to don’t even compare to the ones Veronica used in book 1. They are far more intense and infinitely harder to break. The only way out of them is if Kiran wills it so. Not even death is an option, because Kiran can come in for the revive. If they had to guess, it’s an older, more completed version of the art. Something lost to time. But no matter the case, Kiran has the ability to take full control of whoever they manage to summon. From a lowly farmer to the divine. And their power only grows.

In a similar vein, if there was any character to canonically see the hud, I think it would be Kiran. It’s genuinely part of their power set. I have previously described Kiran as the party mage until Veronica shows up to be the actual mage, but it would be way more accurate to call them a mystic/seer. They see the map, everyone’s stats, and is doing a fast amount of math to give the combat forecast. Then, upon processing all this information their enemies couldn’t dream of having at their disposal, Kiran can telepathically communicate any change in plans to anyone under contract. Kiran is not inherently some great tactician the moment they touch ground in Askr; they simply can do things no one else can. They’re learning the actual tactics part on the fly. This makes them simultaneously the largest ace up the Order’s sleeve and potentially its biggest liability. If they fall, it could cause a whole system cascade. By that same token, some of the biggest threats the Order has faced are the ones who do their research and rightfully target Kiran.

Now. Thinking critically about all that. That’s downright terrifying. A ridiculous amount of power has been dropped callously into Kiran’s lap and they have to work extremely hard to be moral with it. It’s terrifyingly easy not to be. It would actively take less effort to ‘take the reins’ as it were. But in order to be able to sleep at night ever again, they go the extra mile to not invalidate the will of their summoned. To take over like that. To make a colony of worker bees out of people. Because oh dear god they just summoned a child and the fact that they could easily force them to fight and die for them, only to be revived and do it all over again, is HAUNTING. No. No the Order has an in house orphanage now. This kid is getting adopted and cared for god damnit or Kiran might just pop a blood vessel. And sure that child is going to be a child and there will never be a world where they get along with everyone else, but that’s just going to need be a problem they address when they get there and not an excuse to use Hubris; the power set. Now replace the word child with everyone they ever summoned and you have the wider philosophy they apply to the entire Order.

They’re hyper aware of the power imbalance. They hate it with every bone in their body. They work really hard to correct it in whatever way they can.

So Kiran might not jump on the opportunity to correct those who think lesser of them. It’s… oddly comforting to know someone is keeping a critical eye on them. Holding them accountable. Especially since so much of the order just thinks of them as this quirky yet well meaning host. And, really, what can they even do about that? They have gone over the contract with every hero they summon and despite that they still choose to stay. So, what, do they try to inspire more mistrust? The problem with that they would have to actually do acts that intentionally inspire mistrust. And even if that was successful they can’t just waste the extra man power because every other month there’s some new divine asshole who wants them all dead. And if they fail that means they have to start their life from square one and god they can’t do that again so—

Just breathe Kiran.

It’s fine. You’re fine. Just breathe.

You have work to do.

[rosymaraschino]

I think I’m probably one of the very few people in the Feh fandom who genuinely hates Embla. And even more rare, I happen to be an extremely devoted fan to Askr in addition (usually Askr lovers and Embla lovers go hand in hand, from what I’ve noticed). That got me thinking. I should write about why I am like this. Everything under the cut will be an article in a series about my issues with Embla, and why she is arguably one of the least sympathetic villains in the Fire Emblem Heroes universe. So, please skip if you don’t want to read. But if you do, go right ahead! :)

It will be separated into multiple parts. Now, I don’t want to shame anyone for liking her! We all have problematic faves. These are just my thoughts :)

And if I am wrong on anything lore-wise, I do appreciate corrections!

After being a Feh player for a while, I have played Book VI and did not develop the same adoration for the Goddess of Closure that many other fans held. Her story left me disgusted and angered. I felt no desire to give her love and mercy. I was not amused by the “divorced” dynamic with Askr. And for a while, I thought this was a me problem, and how my complex upbringing gave me triggers to characters displaying certain traits. Though accurate to an extent, replaying the story only confirmed and deepened my sentiments. In the story she debuts in combined with the bits of lore embedded in her units, the Goddess of Closure is a horrific individual and miserable excuse for a “sympathetic” villain. She represents the major failings of supreme beings: apathy/hatred towards those less fortunate, a concern for herself and her feelings alone, and a laundry list of war crimes that would make real life dictators blush.

Now the characters in Fire Emblem Heroes are often poorly written. But Embla is one of the few who received substantial coverage in her story, and it unfortunately cannot be so easily covered under this excuse. Does it hamper a few of her characteristics? Sure. But it cannot whitewash her entire character. The pieces of her life create the puzzle of an unfailingly cruel woman with an intense victim complex who is guided by the privilege she wields. And this can be an interesting character to handle! Unfortunately, the writers attempted to present her as a dumbed down villain who deserves our sympathy. My post explains why this is undeserved and how the intricacies of Book VI make her look worse than intended

Point #1: Embla’s Backstory

She cared so very deeply about mortals once.

This quote given by Askr in Chapter 10-1 of Book VI. Askr himself is part of the problem in the whitewashing of Embla, but we’ll get to that later. For now, I’ll concern just the past of Embla.

So, Embla and her love of mortals. When we see the backstory in the final chapter, I am sure many of us expected to see Askr’s words be true. Yet what we see is a woman whose position of power makes her ignorant to mortals’ plights, regarding them with disdain, and it is just a single action that drives her to persecute every single one who dared to commit the crime of existing in her presence.

Chapter 13-1 is the beginning of the long awaited backstory. We witness a scene of Askr and Embla, with the former trying to convince Embla to come with him to the world of Midgard.

“Shall we, Embla? The mortals are waiting for us. Come now…” This is the very first sentence we see.

And what is Embla’s very first response?

“What does it matter. Their lives will come to an end soon anyway. They have such short lives…”

Interesting. Now what could this be about? We learn during the scene, as explained by Askr, that Midgard is suffering from famine. And as we know, Midgard comprises the two kingdoms of Askr and Embla. Askr desires to help them survive, as “many of the mortals are now starving.” Yet Embla says that his methods “make no sense. But fine. Do not let me stop you. Do as you please.” From these scenes so far, we learn a couple of things.

1. The mortals’ lack of privilege fuels Embla’s lack of care for them.

2. Despite needing to be the guardian of her realm, Embla would rather hoist the burden of helping the mortals stave off starvation upon Askr.

Ultimately, this part ends with Askr being able to convince Embla to come with him, but she is extremely reluctant, and only does so for his sake. Because human beings dying from famine isn’t a good enough excuse apparently. Oh, and the picture above is the last thing we see in this scene. This shows she intends not to help the humans, but simply follows Askr. And truly, we do not know whether or not she holds to this. For as much as we know, we can realistically assume she only watched Askr helped and did nothing, because apparently her worthy presence should be enough.

After the mini battle, we get a short glimpse into the aftermath where Embla has received gifts from the mortals. She calls this display of affection “Foolish.” Askr nevertheless is happy for her and her supposed connection with the mortals. Embla remains unimpressed, even questioning Askr why “the happiness of others” pleases him so deeply. However, she later admits his interest in mortals is not as much as a mystery to her, yet she is vague, and does not openly appreciate them. The ending of Chapter 13-1 consists of Askr thinking she is thanking him for helping her to see the potential of mortals, though she denies it. While this is meant to make her endearing, it doesn’t really do that, at least for me. Why is she so hateful towards mortals? Why does she continue to remain at a distance, when all they have done so far are give her gifts? This only gives us more questions than answers.

Chapter 13-2

Here is where we witness an attempted assassination of Embla. Elm, her retainer, makes sure she is alright. Embla appears disturbed and shocked by the encounter, though she managed to kill her would be murderer. This mortal who attempted to kill her “came to me, smiling, wishing to make a tribute…Why then…did he come at me with a fearsome look in his eye?”

This is meant to be the crux of her despising of mortals. But when we look at this scene, it really is a very poor reflection of Embla’s character. Let’s look at the timeline we are given of Embla’s character thus far:

Chapter 13-1: Embla does not care about mortals and is alright with them dying from famine. Later, she is somewhat less indifferent, but only after they give her gifts.

Chapter 13-2: A single mortal tries to kill her. She kills him, and with Elm’s prodding, is easily convinced that all mortals are evil and power hungry.

That…does not make Embla truly sympathetic. In fact, it just shows us unfavorable facets of Embla’s character. Her opinion of mortals, who were plainly stated to be giving her gifts just one section ago, is instantly lowered because of the actions of one.

But with her disdain made clear in Chapter 13-1, there is an interesting case to be made for the assassin. Think about it. Already, she is implied to be an established Goddess with an existing kingdom. And yet, she was willing to let them perish. How many other times has she let the woes of reality plague her people without lifting a single finger? Could more people have died because of her inaction in the past, whether during the famine or before. Could this assassin have been acting in revenge because of her not intervening in helping him or his family, perhaps? While seemingly an out of left field assumption, it isn’t wholly nonsensical, as Embla is shown from the beginning to care little about mortals. So what the story apparently presents as a greedy mortal trying to take advantage of a goddess could very feasibly be another story; that of an underprivileged man who potentially experienced suffering, and is taking it out on a person of privilege. And this particular person of privilege had the power to help him and others, yet did not. Is this not a familiar circumstance in real life?

Chapter 13-3 has Embla consider Askr, and that he will be betrayed by the mortals. Admittedly, it appears to show she cares for him. Yet as we navigate the rest of her character and story, this is not as wholesome or loving as we would like to believe. There is a contract to getting her care, and it can easily be broken. She decides the mortals should all be killed, and even Elm tries to dissuade her from doing this, surprisingly. Yet she holds steadfast to her new goal.

Chapter 13-4 has Embla meet with Askr. One thing I’d like to add is that Askr says her meeting him is a rare occurrence. This says a lot about her. One of the few times she visits him, it has something to do with what she wants, something fueled by her beliefs alone. Because she wants him to follow her, without any concern for his own experiences. This just adds to how her love for him is conditional. It is not a strong showing of her love, not when she wants to get something out of him. And not when she instantly cuts him off when he simply disagrees. She claims he gives too much of himself to the mortals and they will only hurt him in the end. Askr assumes she says this out of concern for him and thanks her, but affirms his love for mortals and that he wants “to believe in them.”

Note at this point, Embla does not once mention the assassination attempt. So here, she apparently expects Askr to blindly follow her, yet accuses his devotion to mortals being blind. That is hypocritical of her. She cannot fault him for following the mortals endlessly but desire him to follow her without a single question or critical thought. This expands her selfish nature; she is to be listened to regardless of her lack of sense, while mere mortals are not to be granted this privilege. Instead of explaining herself, Embla instead decided Askr is not worthy of her care. She writes him off as being too different from her and leaves.

Chapter 13-5 has Askr confront Embla. He chastises her for her actions. He questions why she has taken “the precious lives of mortals…and to take control over their bodies, and possess them so…” He adds that the survivors of her realm escaped and came to him for aid. Embla yells at him to cease his talking, but Askr continues and says “you must speak with them, explain yourself.” This part made me pretty mad at Askr, despite me loving him deeply. He lists these terrifying actions Embla has committed, yet sees that a fitting consequence is for her to explain herself? Embla is no different from a tyrannical dictator. She has tortured people, brainwashed people, murdering any dissidents within her reach. She should be considered beyond explaining herself. Embla denies him and his offer of help, and even doubles down on her disdain for mortals by calling them “worthless”.

Now this is a very weird part in the story. Apparently, Embla’s disgusting actions towards humanity are an extension of her “pain”, according to Askr. We see him try to paint her as someone who actually loves mortals, and that she “may have a deeper love for them than I.” But what has she done or expressed in the story to aid Askr’s belief? Never once has she openly admitted she cared about them. Nor has she ever done anything onscreen to depict her helping them. But we are expected to believe Askr with no proof whatsoever. Now Askr’s claims make her even more angry. She childishly demands him to leave her alone and claims “if the mortals love you so, then so be it!” This is meant to show how hurt she is by the mortals, but it is incredibly disrespectful to them to act as if they as a whole are at fault for Embla’s descent into villainy. Yeah, how dare those evil humans try to protect themselves? How dare they try to avoid being tortured, brainwashed, and murdered? And all because one, one mortal, tried to kill her once. She condemns him and the mortals, and the cutscene comes to a close.

So what have we learned about Embla’s backstory? She was always a standoffish individual who is shown to have done little to nothing to help mortals, even before the assassination. And after the attempt, she goes overboard in hurting them.

And think about the demographics. She is hurting mortals regardless of circumstances. Old, young. People of all backgrounds. The sick and healthy. Families and single individuals. No one is spared from her cruel and senseless rage. She is fueled by a deep seated bigotry that flares up to the surface the moment that one person does not live up to her ridiculous standards of basic decency. One person essentially doomed humanity, and this is a completely unfair burden to place upon one single mortal. No, Embla cannot be seen as a victim. It is impossible for me. She is surrounded by love, between a devoted friend in the form of Askr, as well as the other mortals who we know for a fact gave her presents despite her aforementioned apathy towards them. She is a woman of privilege, a goddess of great power. She has wanted for nothing, never subjected to the cruelty of worldly suffering. If humanity can survive against all odds, if there are people who do good despite being hurt time and time again, why is it so easy for her to break down when suddenly one thing goes wrong? Embla is undoubtedly a bigot, spoiled by her gifts, and unwilling to shed her pride for the sake of others. Yet she is unable to think of others, what they go through. The world revolves around her.

Against Askr’s opinion, Embla does not live up to his picture of her life. She is a discriminatory person who persecuted an underprivileged population because of a single person, painting them all under the same brush. She is cruel, uncaring, and puts her feelings above all others.

I will publish a Part #2 of how she fails to be sympathetic, and this will concern her actions in the present story.

[apollo-just-ice]

So that latest tempest trials ending!!!

I can’t believe they did this…

One of the best tempest trials everrrr

Elm being so emotional and happy for Embla is so touching bc to most people he is a lot more rude

Ik it’s already been well enough emphasized that he is loyal to Embla above all else, but this was really nice and sweet to show how he genuinely cares about her…

And yes!! Mother-son moment!! To me!!!

I love how it’s so hardly a stretch to say that when Ash and Elm are like each other’s equals on the opposite sides and Askr considers Ash a daughter… just Embla isn’t gonna so easily say something like that as he would

Added to the implication that he had a hand in the making of her dress… oh my god like!!

Elm is happy to see her happy, that she’s actually participating in the festival and enjoying herself awahhhhh

Also loved the stuff with Askr too!!

All you are wanted here, let’s spend time together like old times… they are so divorced hello. Love them.

And Ash will join them shortly so they can all enjoy the festival together?? 🥹

The whole family is gonna spend some time together eeeee I love it.

[inqua]

PLEASE askr bringing his ex-wife and their bickering kids to the new years party means EVERYTHING to me-

[vaicupcakes]

She...

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Askr's insistence on helping Embla is because that's his domain. Embla is the Goddess of Closure and shuts out everyone else. Askr is the God of Openings and refuses to give up on people

If Askr gives up on Embla, he proves her right. He would prove that everyone, even the God of Bonds, is ultimately selfish in the end. He would prove that her isolation is valid

By continuing to care about her despite everything, Askr forces Embla to confront the flaws in her mindset. If he's capable of seeing the good in her, why can't she do that with others? Does that mean it's her own fault if she can only see the worst in them? Did she have more of choice, but was willfully blind to it?

Askr has to care about Embla to make their conflict of ideals work. He proves that even if he has to oppose her, he'd never shut her out, and her attempts to crush his ideals have never and will never work on him

If Askr makes an exception for Embla as someone he wouldn't show kindness towards, he'd be compromising everything he's supposed to represent in his kingdom which is why he won't

.

[rainbowdonkee]

Full art for Bridal Embla - Closed Off Bride!

Artist: Vir