#i want to believe chrom is trying to do emm proud

[iturbide]

Do you have thoughts on Chrom initially refusing to ask Plegia for help? On the one hand, I can kinda(?) understand the knee-jerk emotional reaction but on the other hand, most of Gangrel's army abandoned him because of Emmeryn, and he's dead now. (tho Chrom did change his mind pretty quick so who knows, maybe he did think of this) (but then because this is vidya gaem and Plegia is Da Bad Guys, we then meet Validar, who tried to kill Emm, get risen attacked, and more after the Valm war. :T)

There's a part of me that wants to think Chrom's refusal was at least an attempt to follow in Emm's footsteps and treat Plegia with compassion. Despite the fact that Gangrel was clearly forcing compliance from his people (something we hear directly from Mustafa before Gangrel's army deserts him on the battlefield), not to mention the whole unaddressed crusade and attempted genocide by the Exalt before Emmeryn, Plegia was forced to pay Ylisse and Regna Ferox both at the end of the war. They were absolutely taken advantage of in the aftermath of Gangrel's defeat, and Chrom may have balked at the idea of pressing them to fund and supply the resistance against Valm, because Emm likely would have.

The more likely answer, though, is prejudice. I love Chrom, but he's a product of his culture, and Ylisse is heavily biased against their western neighbor. He may not be as overt about it as Frederick is, but those prejudices are still there, and he may well have been balking at the idea of begging aid from Ylisse's historic enemies.

(And honestly, from a narrative standpoint, it's because Plegia is 100% coded as the Epitome of Evil and you're taking your life into your own hands if you go knocking at the devil's door. Chrom's got a kid now and no interest in risking his neck like that.)