#then willy gives her a poptart and she thinks maybe they're not so bad and can lead fodlan

[randomnameless]

Since I'm neck-deep in this nonsensical mess of the half-lizard Lycaon AU :

In VW's infodumps, Rhea says this :

I was never able to forgive those who proudly wielded weapons crafted from the corpses of my brethren.

Which might explain her, uh, drive to hunt the Elites, even after Nemesis kicked the bucket.

From this we can have a sort of timeline : Nemesis dies, then Daphnel joins him and "zealots" aka, the Empire soldiers, are after the head of the Elite writing this (Maurice?). The author wonders why Seiros despises them so much.

And we know Rhea stopped hunting Maurice - when her drive for revenge was all that, supposedly, motivated her, when she will "never be able to forgive" those who wielded weapons crafted from dead nabateans who were in Zanado -

Not when Cethleann fell in a coma (that's heavily inferred to have happened post Tailtean), not when Cichol left, not when Macuil "died" during Tailtean, even without her relatives (brothers?) Rhea still pushed on to avenge her dead family members and kill the Elites -

The War of Heroes - thus Seiros's hunt for the Elites - stops when Lycaon dies.

We can suppose Rhea, who had no allies left anymore (the Saints left, the Empire is in turmoil) couldn't pursue the Elites... but they also had no one left with them, their clans already joined the Empire so they're just 10ish dudes running away from a very long lived, and furious, dragon : if revenge was the only thing on her mind, Rhea would have finished the job and killed Maurice.

And yet, even if the job was unfinished... Rhea stopped, and built Garreg Mach.

We went from a "revenge for dead family members" Seiros to a "only Sothis can guide and lead the world" Rhea.

Rhea could have switched and realised Adrestia would never be able to guide the people of Fodlan when Lycaon "was k-died" - if Adrestia becomes a viper's nest the second Wilhelm leaves the throne, then it cannot guide the people of Fodlan.

Yes, but what about Muriel, the Nabatean turned into Blutgang? Who gives a crap about what humans are doing or what will be the "state of the world" when one of Rhea's precious kin is still held by a bastard she will "never be able to forgive" ? Why should she bother about Fodlan now when one of her siblings is still missing?

If revenge was everything on her mind, why the frick did she stop and let Maurice run away?

But if Lycaon was her own kid - when he dies it's not only Adrestia's possibility to be something else than a viper's nest and to guide Fodlan who dies, but also the current possibility of having Nabateans live with humans -

There's no point in continuing to hunt Maurice, since whatever she does, there will still be a human out for Nabatean bones, willing to kill to gain power and that is something Seiros cannot prevent - Seiros + humans cannot build a world where Humans and Nabateans can coexist.

Who is the only person who can?

I also like this theory because it's a perfect parallel to FE16!Dimitri, with even more "crueler" result : being blinded with revenge doesn't kill her and all of her friends, but it has her survive everyone again - by wanting and focusing on the past, Seiros loses her present and her future (a future Adrestia where people would be able to live happily, a Fodlan where "might makes right" isn't the iron rule?). But instead of learning the "live for the present" lesson Dimitri ultimately does, Rhea... believes she is not the one able to protect the present+future, but Sothis is.

Sure, it'd feel kind of meh that Rhea doesn't turn to Sothis when Cethleann sleeps, Cichol leaves and, in general, 10k random humans die in the war, but when it's her kid who dies, she wants to bring back Sothis -

But in a way, Lycaon kicking the bucket after the War - after everyone fought and died to attain peace - is more impactful : they were in the "and they live happily ever after" part of the book, and he dies, meaning there is no "happily ever after" at all, rather, it never existed and will never exist !

Seiros the Warrior can warrior her way to get rid of Nemesis, but she cannot create a world where people - humans and nabateans alike - can live "happily ever after".

This realisation makes her break from "Seiros the Warrior" to become "The Archbishop" whose only goal is to bring back the Creator, so the Land can finally know peace.

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Granted, this realisation could also happen if Lycaon wasn't a half-lizard but 100% human : if he was the golden heir picked by Willy, I suppose she supported his choice to inherit the Adrestia they both created, his "accidental death" could really have hit her like a truck, in the sense that she might have thought this human - just like Willy - was a human able to steer Fodlan in the right direction and it was alright to trust humanity again...

Only for him to be "accidently dead" 7 years after his investiture, and his successor pulling the "might makes right" rule to ensure the throne is still hers after a stupid "duel".

Humanity is fucked -> even if she recovers Muriel's bones Fodlan will still stuck because no one can guide it humans just proved it -> Sothis has to return.