#she's a way better fetishy character imo than Tharja by miles

[opendoorlorien]

What are your thoughts on Camilla?

Camilla is, without much doubt, the most controversial and infamous character in all of Fates, mostly because of her design lol. It’s clear that the creator’s intention for her was to make her the ultimate FE waifu fetish character. I mean she’s got it all, doesn’t she? Big boobs, long hair, curvaceous figure, goth aesthetic, extreme devotion to the MC (you), a cool battle class with axes and magic,  softcore familial implications for…… those kinds of people. As far as appealing to the consumer’s fetishes is concerned, she is the perfect storm. And because of this she garners quite lot of love and hate from both sides. And maybe it’s because of my natural impulse to want to stick up for something that gets hate on a lot, but…….. I love Camilla LOL.

This isn’t ALWAYS the case but generally when I see a character getting hate on a lot, it makes me want to defend them or like them (that impulse kicks in for Faye as well, who has a few of the characteristics that Camilla does). But of course this isn’t the only reason why I like Camilla. I just… do. And I have since she was first revealed.

And I actually like Camilla a lot more than her spiritual predecessor Tharja for a few reasons. One being Camilla is actually a good mom, and her devotion for MU makes sense considering she sees you as family, while Tharja just came off as a creepy child abusing stalker. lolbye.

Character wise, well, much like the other royal sisters on both sides, Camilla gets hardcore side lined and disregarded generally in favor of development for the male characters. And this is honestly a shame because I see Camilla as a character with a lot of interesting potential that is never really attempted to be reached. Especially in Birthright (since all the royal fam members got their most shocking or interesting development in their opposite route. Like Xander gets his good end in Conquest but his most memorable character stuff is in Birthright. The same is true with Leo, and Ryoma and Takumi in Conquest (while they didnt do much of anything in BR)).

And the same can also be said for Camilla in Birthright, where the worst possible thing that could happen to her, happens to her. She loses Corrin (and the rest of her family (sans Leo)).

I actually would have liked to know more about Camilla’s past, even in just supports you know. (When in reality it’s only very vaguely touched on in a few unsatisfying ways. We just know the incredibly vague and unhelpful “it wasn’t gud lol” yeah but like HOW) I kind of want to know more about why she’s so obsessive and what her life was like before the game started (sure the implications are there but I kind of want it to be actually talked about so when you say stuff about her past it’s more than just REACHING). 

Because we know so little about where she’s coming from, when any sort of character development or arc is attempted with her in BR it falls kinda flat. Now of course this isn’t the only reason why her “character arc” doesn’t work out. The other one being, of course, bad writing. Now I think all of us know by now that the reason why Fates ultimately fell apart in the end was because the creators bit off WAYYYY more than they could chew. I think they thought a three route game sounded much better on paper than it did when they were actually making the thing (at least we got good gameplay). When you play Fates, the corner cutting littered throughout all three routes in varying measures is APPARENT. And character development for our female characters is one of those instances.

Now, this is japan. When the question is posed “hey we dont have enough time to give all eight of these characters decent arcs and development” and you can only give it to either the brothers or the sisters, the sisters unfortunately are going to get the short end of the stick here. Camilla and Elise are only a few steps above Hinoka and Sakura in terms of story involvement or their own personal character arcs. They don’t have a lot, but there’s something at least. (Or at least where you compared it to Hinoka and Sakura who got, like, NOTHING).

Camilla’s arc in Birthright is hardly anything to talk about. It had interesting potential if you think about it a bit, but the second it tries to take a step it just falls flat on its face. Camilla’s initial reaction to Corrin defecting to Hoshido makes sense. Because if you think about it a little bit, the Nohr family’s situation in Birthright is kind of really tragic. The Nohr family have become used to Corrin being a part of their family after all of these years. The Hoshifam lost Corrin YEARS ago, and while the wound of that loss is still there of course, when you see them in game in Conquest you can tell that they’re still holding it together. They’ve spent years feeling that loss, coping with it, and moving on from it. Sure they still want Corrin to be part of their family, but if Corrin is gone again its not going to destroy them (Takumi is kind of an exception, and it was more than just the loss of Corrin which sent him off the deep end). The Nohr family is a bit of a different case here because Corrin has become a kind of linchpin for them. Keeping in mind Nohr is a shitplace with a shitking who abuses his children and such, we know full well Xander and the others have not had much of a good time growing up. I think their one small light in that darkness WAS Corrin for them. And in Birthright when that light disappears it makes their family fall apart. Elise even says so, and we get to see the full effects of it when running in to each Nohr family member in turn.

NOW ABOUT CAMILLA, of course, since she’s so obsessed with Corrin, she’s going to be feeling this loss hard too. So her acting a little crazy, looney and malicious in Birthright is uh… to be expected. Chapter 13 in BR is kind of a good chapter for her actually. I don’t mind her craziness, and having her attempt to slaughter you all makes for an interesting battle set up if anything. The main problem with this chapter I have is how it ends. Because it ends kind of well. After you beat Camilla, Corrin tries to talk to her and explain Garon tried to kill you in Hoshido and has set all this shit up. And uh Camilla seems for a moment like she’s willing to listen to you. And we get the impression she WOULD have maybe listened to you and maybe even become your ally in some way if Leo and Ryoma hadn’t shown up.

Which is why Camilla’s utter refusal to listen to you or Elise in her return in chapter 23 is just eye rolling to me. I know she’s regressed further into her crazy, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for her to do that when she seemed totally willing to listen and compromise with me at the end of chapter 13. Just reeks of bad writing for a character they didnt have the time or effort to devote any work into. Because of this (and her throwing meteors in my face) chapter 23 just ends up being really eye rolling and annoying to me, and I don’t feel much of anything when Camilla just passes out at the end of the fight to remain subsequently sidelined and uninvolved in what’s going on for the rest of the route. 

Also in the BR ending she seems a bit too okay with everything that happened. She’s like “ohoho congrats on the coronation lolol corrin u are so happi with ur hoshido fambil lol” and everything BUT YO. YOU KNOW SHE IS NOT OK. SHE JUST LOST LIKE HER ENTIRE GD FAMILY. YOU KNOW SHE’S GOING TO GO HOME AND KERMIT. SHE’S NOT OKAY

I’ve also seen a few people bring up the hypothetical of Camilla becoming Queen of Nohr at the end of BR instead of Leo. This is a nice idea in theory, but considering Camilla’s character, it just doesnt hold any water to me. Don’t get me wrong, I get the appeal, but Camilla never wanted to be involved in royal affairs and the like in the first place. In fact I get the impression she only stayed in Nohr with the others bc she loved her family so much. She just doesn’t have the makings of a queen in her. She’s a maternal figure. (Besides Leo is the perfect set up for king of nohr after Xander)

SO while any character arc or development she had was kind of swept aside, I actually do like what character she has. I like her air of maturity, her maternal side, her capable big sister vibes, and YA I even like her sadistic, cold blooded ruthless side (I kind of have a thing for female yanderes somehow LOL). Honestly I hope she kills me. TBH, I welcome it.

She’s really fun to read about in her supports tbh, how she seems professional and in control of almost every situation and never really loses hold of her emotions or composure. I just really like the way she is. Which I guess is why all of her fetish stuff doesnt bother me at all. I hardly even notice it. 

NOW ABOUT THAT CHARACTER DESIGN.k I put off talking about this till the end bc its the thing you ALWAYS hear people saying about Camilla, that she has a stupid, unpractical and fetishy design. AND YOU KNOW WHAT. YA SHE DOES. BUT YOU ALSO KNOW WHAT. IT DOESNT BOTHER ME IN THE SLIGHTEST. 

I know there are some people who have a lot of strong opinions on Camilla’s design, and will use that as a sole reason to completely disregard and knock down everything about her. Personally, I think those people are taking things a bit too seriously. Like, its FAN SERVICE. As far as I’m concerned, not all fan service is bad. Having some titties out every now and then doesnt make the character a trashy 1 dimensional piece of shit. Like I’d be more bothered if almost every girl in this game had the titties out. But they dont so if some titties are out??? I dont mind TBH. Sometimes some titties need to be out.

I think the reason why this doesnt bother me is because it’s kind of what she’s going for? Yes I know she’s a fictional character who doesnt have autonomy and was designed with the ‘male gaze’ in mind and w/e. But she is just another in the “seductress” FE archetype. Much like Aversa in Awakening or Sonia in FE7, she’s designed to look and be a temptress. The only difference here is that Camilla isn’t entirely a villain. But her design doesnt bother me I suppose because it fits her personality and the archetype (while for example Effie’s god awful god forsaken boob plate and Nyx showing an unsettling amount of skin bother me more bc??? what business do they have looking like that? Effie is a heman who only cares about Elise and getting stronger for Elise. What is with the boob plate? Nyx is anti social and hates people? Wouldn’t she want to cover herself in a huge cloak or something???) 

but as far as Camilla is concerned, I DONT MIND THE TITTIES OUT. ID ONT MIND THE BOOB STRAP, I DONT MIND THE THONG AND OPEN THIGHS. I DONT MIND ANY OF IT. IN FACT, I LOVE IT. I THINK HER DESIGN IS GREAT AND I THINK SHE LOOKS GREAT. THAT’S ALL. THAT’S IT.

If anything, the only problems I do have is that weird… leg curtain… thing??? hanging off her hips??? Like it just makes me wonder how she’s supposed to sit on a wyvern with that in the way (some people bring up her wearing no pants is stupid when she’s riding a wyvern, but idk dudes maybe she has a padded saddle you dont know) and her weird knee pad things. They look really weird on her legs I’m not sure wtf is going on there. ALSO. Her armor proportions are kind of weird and it makes it hard to judge her proportions and stature. Her design if anything is kind of a bit cluttered and busy, though at the same time I wouldn’t really call her over designed, just she probably couldnt hurt to lose a few weird accessories.

But on the flip side I really love her hair design and horns are my aesthetic so I think her tiara looks really cool!!

All in all, I do love Camilla. I theoretically like Elise more, but tbh I fucking love the Nohr family in their entirety and I would die for each one of them 100x over so they may hate her all they want but I will ALWAYS LOVE MY BIG SIS.