Fire Emblem Everyone Plays Fire Emblem - Week of April 30th, 2021 |
- Everyone Plays Fire Emblem - Week of April 30th, 2021
- [OC] [FE3H] Painted Byleth
- The 'Fallen Angel' (Drawing)
- The Real Reason Why Bernadetta Doesn’t Like to Leave Her Room (art by @borzoieyes for Three Courses FE3H Cookbook Fanzine)
- [OC] Dandelion Gang's Dance, featured in Another Turn Vol. II!
- Leo art I made around a week ago
- [Original Art] Lara's Dance Practice, for Another Turn Vol II
- Corn Pillow (OC)
- Arvis, Emperor of Flame: An examination of who he really is
- Tharja dressed as Android 21
- Comparing Deirdre in Folklore and in FE4
- Step 19: Obtain the shiny plot rocks
- Ice Cream Date (OC)
- Here's some Myrrh fanart (OC)
- Should weapon triangle come back
- Who is your favourite FE character of all time and why?
- Can I just say, anyone who thinks ballistas and fog of war is a good idea needs to jump in front of a train.
- Step 20: Harness true power
- FE9 Redux Tier List Round 4: Rhys and Soren
- Why do so many people misunderstand Eirika character?
| Everyone Plays Fire Emblem - Week of April 30th, 2021 Posted: 30 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT
Welcome to the next installment of EPFE! This is a casual space for discussing any ongoing Fire Emblem (or related games) playthroughs. Screenshots, impressions, frustrations... gameplay stuff that would otherwise be removed as a standalone post under Rule 8 can be shared here. While you can of course ask for advice here, specific questions might get faster responses in the General Question Thread here. As always, remember to tag your spoilers, and have fun! Last week's thread can be found here. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 May 2021 07:35 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 May 2021 06:09 PM PDT
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| Posted: 01 May 2021 06:45 AM PDT
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| [OC] Dandelion Gang's Dance, featured in Another Turn Vol. II! Posted: 01 May 2021 06:10 PM PDT
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| Leo art I made around a week ago Posted: 01 May 2021 06:35 PM PDT
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| [Original Art] Lara's Dance Practice, for Another Turn Vol II Posted: 01 May 2021 08:31 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 May 2021 10:18 AM PDT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arvis, Emperor of Flame: An examination of who he really is Posted: 01 May 2021 09:00 AM PDT Arvis: who is he? He's the oft-misunderstood antagonist of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. Some know him simply as the funny fire man, while others know him as the villain who actually tried to do good. However, Arvis is more complex than this: there are a lot of details to Arvis' character which are usually not caught by players on their first playthrough. In this essay, we will go through Arvis' life chronologically to get a sense of who he really is and how he became the person that he is. As always, major FE4 spoilers are ahead. ------ Arvis was born as the son of Victor, the Duke of Velthomer, and his wife Sigyn. Through Victor he inherited major Fjalar blood which would enable him to use his family House Velthomer's heirloom, Valflame. Also important to Arvis is what he inherited from his mother: minor Loptous blood. Sigyn was a descendant of Maira, a member of the Loptyrian royal family who was exiled in 535 for preaching a variant of Loptyrianism that called for respect for other religions. (Maira himself would later come to be revered and even had an influence on Bragi, the crusader who founded the Church of Edda.) Sigyn initially lived in the Spirit Forest, but for some unclear reason left and married Victor with Arvis being the product of that marriage. Arvis' family life was not happy at all. His father Victor was abusive towards his mother and the other women he knew; Victor was also notoriously unfaithful, fathering many illegitimate children. In particular at one point, Victor in a drunken stupor fathered a child with a servant whom Arvis had liked; after learning of her pregnancy, he beat the maid. Arvis' family life would take a nosedive when he was 7 years of age. It came out that his mother was having an affair with Kurth, the crown prince of Grannvale. When this news broke, Sigyn disappeared and Victor committed suicide, leaving Arvis to be an orphan at a young age. At this point, Arvis was forced to become the Duke of Velthomer on his own, even though he was a child. Arvis was talented at governing and was able to set Velthomer's affairs in order, but he was still a child; it was only through the influence of the very same Kurth that he was even allowed to govern in the first place. Arvis was frightening to everyone around him even as a child, and disliked all of the gossip around his mother; he also expelled all of the illegitimate children that Victor had fathered and their mothers. There was one exception though: Arvis allowed the maid and her son, Azelle, to stay. He would help the maid raise Azelle (his half-brother) up until her death ten years later. After that he would continue to raise Azelle, serving as a sort of father figure to him. One last thing in Arvis' backstory is that he seemed to distance himself from women and avoid romantic relationships with them after his parents' death. It's unclear why this is the case, but apparently Arvis was never seen around women after the death of Azelle's mother. Of course, this comes with one exception. At some point about 8 years before the events of FE4 Generation 1, he had relations with a general of Velthomer named Aida; by him, she would conceive of a child named Saias and go on to raise him in secret. Saias' existence is secret enough at the least to where it is never mentioned outside of FE4 (disregarding the fact that his existence is a retcon); he does however inherit Arvis' major Fjalar blood, which is vital to explaining the holy blood of his later children. ------ Much of the previous section is only told in developer's notes. Part of Arvis' backstory detailing his orphaning at a young age is told to Sigurd in Chapter 2 by Filat, but it does not cover the entirety of Arvis' childhood which includes his terrible father. At this point in our journey is where we pick up at the beginning of FE4 itself. Arvis is introduced in the introduction as being the Duke of Velthomer who leads the Royal Guard; despite his status as a power player, he is said to be someone who is distanced from the political antics that occur in Belhalla. Arvis shows up physically after Yngvi is seized as he was sent by King Azmur to observe Sigurd's battle. He scoffs at Sigurd for struggling against the Verdanians which shows already that he has a sort of self-righteous attitude. In gameplay, Arvis is an allied unit who is armed with the Valflame tome. This combined with Arvis killing several bandits without breaking a sweat shows the player how formidable Arvis is, and it foreshadows what will happen later in the game. Eventually, Arvis will speak to Sigurd and present to him a gift on behalf of Azmur, that being a silver sword. The more important part of this conversation is when Arvis asks Sigurd if his brother Azelle had actually joined Sigurd. When Sigurd tells Arvis that this is the case, he agrees to allow Azelle to stay but asks Sigurd to keep him safe since Azelle is his "only brother" (Arvis clearly wants to forget that he had illegitimate siblings). Arvis' response if Azelle died is revealing of his attitude towards his brother:
Arvis grieves over Azelle if he dies. This shows Arvis' emotion over his loved ones; he may not have many, but the loved ones he does have (in this case, Azelle) mean a lot to him. To lose them would be a massive blow to him, and we see this again later on. Arvis and Azelle's relationship is an unusual relationship. We already saw that Arvis loves his brother - he had saved him from being expelled, served as a sort of father figure to him, and truly grieves over Azelle if he dies. But Arvis at times is cold to Azelle; Azelle says as much in a few of his conversations. This is especially evident from Azelle being amazed by Sigurd's kind attitude in their Prologue conversation (which contrasts against Arvis' attitude) and by this line in Azelle's C5 conversation:
He loves Azelle, but he didn't express it that well. In many respects, he frightened his brother in the way he carries himself as a ruthless ruler. The façade of someone who has no qualms with sacrificing others for his own goals is a jarring contrast to the figure of a loving older brother which he shows to Azelle, and this disconnect scares his younger brother. In some respects it shows that Arvis lacks some awareness, which will come back to haunt him. ------ Arvis' next physical appearance is in Chapter 5, but he is actually mentioned beforehand in Chapter 4. Sometime before Chapter 4, Arvis discovered an amnesiac girl named Deirdre somewhere in the grounds of Belhalla castle. He nursed her back to health and they fell in love with each other despite Arvis' previous aversion to women. (Developer materials say that this is because of her uncanny resemblance to Arvis' mother.) Deirdre also turned out to bear the mark of Naga: in other words, she is a long-lost daughter of Kurth who inherited his major Naga blood. Deirdre's discovery and subsequent marriage to Arvis is a momentous occasion; Lahna, the Queen of Silesse, found time to mention it to Sigurd during Chapter 4. During Chapter 5, Arvis tends to a bedridden Azmur. In this conversation, Arvis explains the alleged conspiracy of Byron having killed Kurth (something which the player knows is not true as Kurth was actually killed by Lombard and Reptor) and assures him that Sigurd will be chased down. This shows that Arvis is sticking to the "official story" implicating Sigurd as a traitor. Later on in the conversation, Arvis is asked by Azmur to be regent over Grannvale until Arvis' future son is an adult; this is foreshadowing to later events. However, Arvis still has to consolidate his own power before he becomes a regent. He does this by coming up with the masterful plan of playing the other powers of Grannvale against each other. He has Lombard and Reptor defend Grannvale against Sigurd's assault, but he knows very well that Sigurd will defeat them.; not only that, but he even orders his forces to turn on Reptor and help Sigurd defeat him when the time comes so that Reptor and Lombard's children can replace them and serve as stooges. As for Sigurd, he is the last obstacle to Arvis' ascent to power; we see in Arvis' conversation with Manfroy, the Archbishop of the Loptyrian Order, that Arvis is planning on sacrificing Sigurd. Arvis' quote in the conversation stands out:
This quote sums up Arvis in Generation 1: He seeks to build a new world, his world, through whatever means he has available to him. Even if it results in playing people against each other and sacrificing his own friend. This conversation also showed Manfroy telling Arvis that he needs to "make the proof of his love" with Deirdre. This is supposed to be creepy, and it foreshadows the second generation. ------ We all know what happens in the scene at the end of Chapter 5. Arvis dramatically sentences Sigurd to death for treason, mocking him for his naivete for thinking that Arvis would actually treat him to a banquet. The moment that hits the hardest is just before Arvis murders Sigurd, when he summons Deirdre to introduce her to Sigurd. Sigurd of course recognizes her as his wife and tries to get her to remember her memory of that, but he's unable to and she is brought back inside before he can say it out loud. Usually this scene is interpreted as Arvis bringing Deirdre out to taunt Sigurd as he knew that Deirdre was in fact formerly Sigurd's wife. However, I must point to a few things that show that this is not the case. Firstly, Arvis' reaction to Sigurd trying to tell Deirdre the truth is as follows:
He's not showing any sympathy for Sigurd, but he also is not showing any signs of trying to mock Sigurd or taunt him either; if anything, he seems somewhat disturbed by Sigurd's reaction. Secondly, the FE4 Player's Guide states that Arvis did this as a sort of test to investigate something. Arvis had noticed that sometimes Deirdre had seemed to be in a trance as if she had previously lived another life; he had also heard that Sigurd's wife had gone missing. For some reason, Arvis came up with the idea that Deirdre may be Sigurd's lost wife, so he decided to bring Deirdre in front of Sigurd to see if his theory was correct. According to the Player's Guide, Arvis was struck by deep sorrow when it turned out that Deirdre was Sigurd's wife. This story is also corroborated by Manfroy having taunted Arvis previously by pointing out that "he fears that [Deirdre's] memory will return;" Arvis for his part insisted that he was truly in love with her. One other tidbit from the same source is that later on, Arvis investigated Deirdre's past by traveling to the Spirit Forest in Verdane where she was raised. There, he learned that Sigyn was Deirdre's mother - meaning that Arvis and Deirdre were half-siblings. Apparently though Arvis still loved Deirdre (although he tried to hide the truth from her, showing that he has the idea that he is supposed to be a "protector" of Deirdre rather than equal) and she still loved him. In any case, the discovery of this truth was too late since he already conceived two children by Deirdre, that being Julia and Julius. Julia would bear Deirdre's major Naga blood, while Julius would bear major Loptous blood, becoming the first bearer of that holy blood since the last Loptyrian Emperor. ------ Arvis is mentioned briefly in the opening to Chapter 6; this is a good place to discuss Arvis' political ambitions some more. We saw earlier that Arvis had masterfully played the other powers of Grannvale against each other so he could consolidate power. He continued to consolidate power by expanding Grannvale's borders out, and by the time of the second generation's beginning Grannvale ruled over all of Jugdral except for the Kingdom of Thracia. Arvis' rule was a double-edged sword at first. On the one hand, he had popular support when he became Emperor and his reign was initially seen as a "golden age," especially with the enactment of anti-discrimination provisions. On the other hand, Arvis installed despotic rulers in periphery countries such as Dannan and Raydrik who stole from the people. To sum up Arvis' rule, it was good for people who were ethnically Grannvalian and had no relation to Sigurd's army; for people who were residents of countries like Isaach and Agustria, it was hell. We see Arvis in person for the first time in Chapter 10. He's 20 years older and certainly looks the part given that he has many wrinkles and a fat chin now. The conversation begins with Arvis ordering Ishtar to release captive children (we know by now that the Empire has been hunting down children); however, Julius interrupts him and orders him to go to Chalphy and defend there. This conversation also reveals that Arvis had at one point tried to banish Julius but was unable to:
This conversation makes more sense in the context (revealed later in this chapter) that Julius had killed Deirdre several years before this after touching the Book of Loptous for the first time. Julius became so out of control that Arvis tried to banish him, only for the efforts to fail because of Julius' power and the power that the Loptyrians had over Arvis. Arvis' feelings on this predicament are revealed in his conversation with Julia, his daughter, towards the end of the chapter:
Arvis is at his lowest point. He is an Emperor in name only, having lost even the semblance of power to Julius. His wife is dead, his son is possessed by the equivalent of Satan, his dream of equality has become a replica of the Loptyrian Empire, and his daughter is forced to bear the repercussions of his poor choices. We saw earlier that Arvis made masterful choices in manipulating other people to claw his way to the top. Here though, we see that he was being manipulated the entire time by Manfroy and the Loptyrian Order; the effects of allowing them to be in his blind spot have caught up to him. ------ But Arvis is not done yet; he has plans to avenge his wife and help Seliph purge Loptous. He gives a circlet to Julia that has a key hidden within it; little does Julia (or the player) know that the key opens a vault in Velthomer that contains the Book of Naga, the weapon which Julia can wield to defeat Julius. But not only did Arvis help Julia out by doing this, he also helps Seliph out by giving the Tyrfing to Palmarch. He implicitly encourages Palmarch to give Seliph the Tyrfing which will allow Seliph to reach his full potential and not only get the resistance to survive all of the status staves in the Endgame chapter but also give him the power to avenge his father. And of course, Arvis stays in Chalphy. He could try to get forgiveness from Seliph and try to join Seliph's army, but he chooses not to. Instead, he remains at Chalphy and stays the course to serve as an adversary to Seliph. Even though we saw that he gave Seliph the tool to kill him, he shows no sign of wavering in his boss conversation with Seliph:
In a sense, Arvis's ending is similar to Travant's. He deliberately becomes a villain because he knows that it would be best if he were purged; he sacrifices himself not only as penance for his mistakes so Seliph (and Julia) can replace him and new blood can truly be injected into Grannvale. And this is Arvis' greatest moment. And we see just what his priorities are in his death quote:
This quote will stand alone to show what Arvis had in mind when he did these things at the end of the chapter. ------ At this point, we have reviewed Arvis' full character arc. He began as the son of a philanderer who is orphaned at a young age and forced to grow up faster than any boy should. He grows up to become an ambitious ruler who masterfully plays the politics to consolidate power. He reaches a new height after not only becoming Emperor of Grannvale and unifying Jugdral under his dream of a better world but also marrying his beloved and starting a family. But there were already hints of things not being as good as they seemed from his wife's backstory; things would come crashing down when Julius was possessed by Loptous, with the disappearance of his wife and the loss of his power. But Arvis would end his story on a high note by helping Seliph and Julia defeat Julius, even if it came at the cost of sacrificing himself. This leaves the question: Who is Arvis? What defines him? From the outside he seems to be a coldhearted villain who craved nothing more than power. But from Arvis' side, he did not outright have malicious intent. He is not as moral-bound as a true protagonist - we see this with his willingness to sacrifice Sigurd among others who are in the way of his goals - but he does not just crave power for the sake of power; he has a goal to accomplish. No, Arvis is not a coldhearted, cunning villain; to the contrary, he begins as a fool who let himself get carried away by his ambitions and desires to help other people. Chapter 5 is a microcosm of the young Arvis, as we see his ambitions, his love for Deirdre, and the foreshadowing of Manfroy taking advantage of him. On the other hand, Chapter 10 shows the older, defeated Arvis: the Arvis that suffers from his younger self's mistakes, yet still does everything within his power to help his daughter and allow her to fight to preserve her world. That action - the action of giving Julia the key to Naga and sacrificing himself so Seliph and Julia can succeed him and create a new world - that action is who Arvis truly is. The man who Julia insists was a good father all the way until the end, a man who at heart loves his family and his people. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 May 2021 01:43 PM PDT
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| Comparing Deirdre in Folklore and in FE4 Posted: 01 May 2021 09:59 AM PDT Dia daoibh, a chairde, agus tá fáilte romhaibh ar fad arÃs (Hello friends, and welcome to you all again)! I was in the middle of putting together a comprehensive list of the Irish mythology references in Genealogy of the Holy War (as you do), but I realised that I had far too much to say about one character in particular to stick it all in that post. The story of Derdriu of the Sorrows (technically called The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu, but Derdriu's definitely the main focus) is one of my absolute favourites from Irish mythology, so I wanted to give it a little more time in the spotlight by drawing parallels and contrasts between it and the story of FE4's Deirdre. For context: The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu is a story in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. It's set only a few years before the events of the Irish epic called Táin Bó Cuailnge, features characters from that story, and even provides a bit of backstory for it. The story is largely independent of Táin Bó, however, and can be read on its own without any issue. It tells the story of Derdriu's elopement with the warrior Noisiu and the tragic end to their love brought about by the king of Ulster, Conchobor. For the purposes of this post, the character from Irish mythology will be called Derdriu (her name in Old Irish) while the Deirdre from FE4 will be called Deirdre (her name in Modern Irish). CW: Mentions of suicide, sexual assault, and dubious consent in a relationship. The story of Derdriu an Bhróin (Derdriu of the Sorrows)The story of Derdriu an Bhróin begins in the home of the poet Fedlimid. He is giving a performance to his guests, including the high king of Ulster Conchobor, when a horrific scream erupts from the womb of his pregnant wife. The druid Cathbad is called. He predicts that their child, who will be named Derdriu, will grow up to become the most beautiful woman in Ireland, but also that her beauty will bring bloodshed and ruin to the province of Ulster. Fergus mac Róich and the sons of Uisliu will be exiled and Ulster will lose thousands of its greatest warriors. The warriors of Ulster demand that the child be killed to prevent this chaos. Conchobor decides that Derdriu will be taken away to be raised by a foster family until she is old enough to marry, at which point he will take her as his wife. And so, Derdriu is raised in a court separate from the wider world. The only ones allowed to see her are her foster parents and her nurse Leborcham, who was allowed in solely because she refused to be kept out. One snowy winter evening, Derdriu comes across a grisly sight: her foster-father skinning a calf as a crow feasts on its remains lying in the snow. She realises in that moment that the love of her life will have those same features: hair as dark as crow feathers, skin as white as snow, and cheeks as red as blood. Leborcham informs her that such a man lives close by at Emain Macha: Noisiu, son of Uisliu. Soon afterwards, Derdriu sneaks out and approaches Noisiu whom she finds playing the harp and singing near Emain. Noisiu, like all of Irish mythology's nonpareil warriors, is a master of the arts, and his musical talent is such that his powerful tenor crashes like a wave on all those who hear it. Derdriu immediately falls for him and the feeling soon proves to be mutual. After a quick bout of flirtation, Noisiu ultimately rejects Derdriu's advances on account of Cathbad's prophecy. She is, after all, soon to be the king's wife. In a morally dubious move, Derdriu takes Noisiu by the ears and places him under a geis, binding him to take her away from Conchobor with him. Now for a brief lesson on Irish mythology (within your lesson on Irish mythology): A geis is a kind of spell in Irish mythology. It essentially acts as a magical contract, binding its target to perform an action or to avoid performing an action lest they suffer a blow to their spiritual strength or experience a horrible change in their fortune. For example, Cú Chulainn was under multiple geasa, two of which were to never eat meat from a dog and to never refuse food offered by a woman. This proved problematic when he was offered dog meat by an old woman. He accepted the food and the next day he died a warrior's death in battle. Geasa pop up in modern media occasionally. Hell, Code Geass is literally named after them. One is mentioned in FE5 as the reason for how Brigid survived the Battle of Belhalla, and Lewyn has a contract with Forseti similar to a geis during the second generation of FE4. Noisiu and Derdriu travel around Ireland for a time with Noisiu's brothers, Ardán and Anle, as well as fifty warriors and 150 women. They are pursued all this time and are eventually forced to escape to Alba (which is now Scotland). Some versions of the story say that Derdriu and Noisiu have children (a son named Gaiar and a daughter named AÃbgréne) while in hiding whom they give to Manannán mac Lir to be fostered. After a number of years of being unable to retrieve Derdriu, Conchobor devises a plan. He sends a messenger to their home, offering them forgiveness and safety if they would return to Ireland. They agree so long as Fergus mac Róich will be there as a pledge of safety. Conchobor's plan will fail if Fergus is there to intervene, so he has a number of people offer to bring Fergus out to drink the night before Derdriu and Noisiu are to return. Fergus (who is under a geis to never refuse such an offer) is absolutely legless by the time they arrive. His son Fiacha is sent in his stead. Derdriu, Noisiu, Ardán, Anle, and Fiacha all arrive safely at Emain Macha eager to dig into a grand feast. However, they are ambushed by Eogan mac Durthacht, an ally of Conchobor's, who kills Noisiu with a thrust of his spear through Fiacha's stomach, skewering the two of them and killing them both. As slaughter and bloodshed erupt around her, Derdriu is captured and brought to Conchobor. Ardán and Anle fight bravely but are finished off in short time. Fergus mac Róich burns Emain Macha down in fury at Conchobor's actions and exiles himself to Connacht along with 3,000 other Ulstermen. Derdriu stays a year with Conchobor. In all that time she never smiles nor eats, having fallen into a grave depression from the loss of her lover and her newfound family. Whenever Conchobor attempts to comfort her with musicians or to make her his wife, she is enraged at his tactlessness and reaffirms her love for Noisiu. After a year of this, Conchobor becomes enraged and asks her who it is she hates the most in the world. She immediately says that it is he himself that she most deeply and utterly hates, and if she hates anyone nearly as much it could only be Eogan mac Durthacht, Noisiu's murderer. Conchobor brings her to live with Eogan, intending on letting him keep her for a year. The next day, the two men bring Derdriu to the fair of Macha together. Derdriu is forced to sit between Eogan and Conchobor, and the latter comments: "This is good, Derdriu. Between me and Eogan you are a sheep eyeing two rams." Derdriu, distraught that she is at the mercy of these two cruel men whom she despises above all, takes matters into her own hands. She throws herself from the chariot, dashing her head against the rocks and dying almost instantly. And so ends the tale of Derdriu an Bhróin, Derdriu of the Sorrows. So you can see why the Irish are such cheerful and positive people. Name spellings and quote lifted from: Thomas Kinsella, The Táin (Oxford University Press, 1970), p.19. Name guide: Note: "ck" represents the guttural "ch" phoneme. AÃbgréne: eev-gray-ne Ardán: ar-dawn Anle: an-le Cathbad: kah-vad Conchobor: kon-ckov-or/kon-ckor Cú Chulainn: koo ckull-in Derdriu: dare-dr(y)uh//an Bhróin: on vr-oh-in; modern Deirdre: deer-dre/dare-dre Emain Macha: ev-in mah-cka Eog(h)an mac Durthacht: oh-un mak der-huck-t Fedlimid: fed-lim-id/fe-lim-ee Fergus mac Róich: fur-gus mak r-oh-ick Fiacha: fee-ah-cka Gaiar: g-eye-ear Geis: gesh//Geasa: (g)yass-ah Leborcham: le-vor-ckam Manannán mac Lir: man-an-awn mak leer Noisiu: noy-sh(y)uh; modern Naoise: neesh-a Táin Bó Cuailnge: toyn b-oh coo-al-nyeh Uisliu: ish-l(y)uh ComparisonThe main parallels to draw between these two characters' storylines are:
1. Isolation: Both Derdriu and Deirdre are isolated from the wider world from childhood as they would bring ruin if they were to venture out. Derdriu is kept isolated to prevent men from fighting over her and starting a bloody conflict which would tear Ulster apart from the inside. In Deirdre's case, if she leaves the Spirit Forest, she may be caught by the Loptr cult and her blood may be used to revive Dragon Satan. It is noteworthy that both of these characters are kept apart from the world to prevent them from being used by other people (effectively being stripped of any choice in the matter), and that it is by their own volition that they leave this isolation for good. They both make a choice to risk setting a prophecy in motion to escape from the small world they've been forced to live in. 2. Destiny and action: Despite the grim destinies set out before these two characters, they both end up taking it upon themselves to leave isolation for the sake of love. This is carried out slightly differently in both cases, however: Derdriu seeks out her love and forces him to save her from her isolation. Deirdre, however, takes it upon herself to accompany Sigurd if he finds her while Sandima is still alive. In this way, both characters set the wheels of fate in motion by their own agency. This is slightly mitigated in Deirdre's case, however, because if Sandima is already dead when she joins, she explains that she was ordered to never mingle with men and is reassured by Sigurd that he will protect her from all harm. In this instance, Deirdre does not take action herself and is portrayed as much more tentative to poke the sleeping dragon of fate. Regardless, the result is the same: love drives both women to take the risk and leave the places in which they've been stuck all their lives. 3. The love stories: Noisiu (the mythological one) and Sigurd are the objects of both women's affections. Both of these men are archetypal heroic figures with whom the women fall in love at first sight. They travel the land for a time, live together happily, and even have children together. However, their love turns tragic when both Noisiu and Sigurd are betrayed and killed. This throws Derdriu into a deep depression buoyed only by her hatred of Conchobor and Eogan mac Durthacht. Meanwhile, the amnesiac Deirdre is unaware for years that her husband had even died, and when she finds out she must struggle to reconcile her love for Arvis with her memories of loving Sigurd. Both are essentially the same form of tragedy, but Deirdre has some extra elements thrown in just to really pile on the emotions. 4. The "other man": In both stories there is another man who disrupts the romantic love story by betraying the object of Derdriu's/Deirdre's affections. In the mythological story, it is Conchobor. In FE4, it is Arvis. It is through the actions of these other men (specifically, those stemming from their desire to marry the heroine of the story) that the fates which Derdriu and Deirdre were hoping to avoid come to pass. In both cases, it is done unwittingly: Arvis does not know that he is being used to revive Loptous until it's too late, and Conchobor is unable to foresee the ramifications his betrayal of Noisiu and Derdriu will have. Both women are captured by this other man and made to live with them in some sort of domestic capacity. However, there is an interesting difference in that Derdriu is fully aware that Conchobor killed her lover, hates his guts for it, and resists his advances at every turn, while Deirdre loses her memory, falls in love with Arvis, and lives with him in relative happiness. 5. The children: Both Derdriu and Deirdre have children with their lovers. Derdriu has children with Noisiu that she hands over to Manannán mac Lir to be fostered, which allows them to avoid the tragedy which befalls their parents. Likewise, Deirdre has a child with Sigurd shortly before she is kidnapped who lives to avenge both of his parents after they are killed. While Derdriu's children are quite unimportant to the story (so much so that they often are excluded from retellings), Deirdre's child with Sigurd is the main character of the intergenerational story of FE4. 6. The tragedy: Derdriu and Deirdre both meet a prolonged and tragic end. Derdriu suffers from a year-long bout of depression, punctuated with fury and despair over being forced to live with the man she hates the most. Her end is her own decision, having been driven to the absolute brink by Conchobor's cruelty and the loss of her partner and protectors. Deirdre is also cursed with a long period of suffering before her death. She remembers that she was once married to Sigurd but is unable to let go of her love for Arvis. She meets her end at the hands of her own possessed son and she uses the last of her strength in her dying moments to prevent her daughter from suffering the same fate. Conclusion:There are obvious narrative parallels between the mythological Derdriu and her FE4 counterpart, Deirdre. They are both heroines who defy the isolation imposed on them for the sake of love, and this sets a horrible destiny in motion and leads to the tragic death of both the heroine and her love. However, there are differences in their characters. The Derdriu of myth is assertive, defined by how she wrests control from the men in her life who attempt to impose their wills (or their bodies) on her. The Deirdre of FE4, by comparison, can come across as less in control of the situations she finds herself in. Derdriu falls into a depressive episode after her beloved dies which ends in her suicide. That's already awful, but Deirdre goes through the wringer before and after Sigurd dies. She's captured; she has her memory erased so she's unaware that she's fallen in love with her brother; said brother kills her husband and the father of her child and she doesn't even realise; she has children with said brother and unknowingly dooms the world; she discovers that she was married to Sigurd before he died and grapples with the inner turmoil that that creates with her love for Arvis; and finally, she sees her son get possessed by Satan and then gets killed by said possessed son, but not before using the last of her strength to save her daughter. The sheer barrage of horrible trauma that Deirdre gets bombarded with in comparison with Derdriu contributes, I think, to the impression that she has less agency in her story. However, I would argue that's untrue. Deirdre displays a very strong proactive streak before her capture which reflects Derdriu's attitude before she falls into depression quite nicely. Just look at how she gets captured; she refuses to stand idly by while Sigurd is in danger and she rushes to his aid. The events in both stories don't match up perfectly, but the emotions and broad strokes of the characters are mirrored quite well. One can also argue that the point of Deirdre is not to mirror the mythological Derdriu exactly, but rather to set the audience up for the eventual tragedy she'll face. If you name a character in your game after someone with the epithet "Derdriu of the Sorrows", you're generally signalling that something bad is going to happen to that character. Hell, the same game includes Sigurd, who (as u/CaelestisAmadeus has written about extensively) is also named to evoke a legend featuring lots of tragedy. So Deirdre doesn't have to copy Derdriu 1:1 and, in fact, becomes far more interesting due to the differences between them. For example, Derdriu's final act is choosing to kill herself rather than being treated like an object by the two men she hates the most for the rest of her life. Deirdre, meanwhile, uses her last living moments to save her daughter's life. Derdriu killed herself because she had nothing left to lose; Deirdre had something left that she felt compelled to save in her final breaths. It's less a matter of "which one is better" or "which one is more active in their narrative" and more a matter of "which one makes the greatest impact on you". Kaga didn't Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu into FE4, but I think he did a good job creating parallels between them that highlight their differences by drawing attention to their similarities. Bhuel, sin é! I realise that I rambled a bit here, but I really wanted to share this story that I love and perhaps also spread some information that helps people to better appreciate a character from a game they love. I'm also swamped with university work right now so I wanted whatever I wrote next to be fairly quick and simple. I'm glad I chose to do this because I ended up appreciating both Derdriu and Deirdre so much more than I had before. I would really love to do something like this again after I'm done with my assignments as well as my comprehensive list of Irish mythology references in the Jugdral games. I'm thinking of analysing the games' representations of Irish mythological weapons first, but I'd love to hear if there's anything else you're curious about! Go raibh maith agaibh as ucht bhur gcuid ama! I'll leave you now with a message from my people: "Ba é muirnÃn an Chú Chulainn é Ferdiad agus nà féidir libh m'intinn a athrú". Slán libh! 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| Step 19: Obtain the shiny plot rocks Posted: 01 May 2021 07:16 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 May 2021 09:29 AM PDT
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| Posted: 01 May 2021 10:01 AM PDT
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| Should weapon triangle come back Posted: 01 May 2021 12:30 PM PDT Weapon triangle was a staple of the series since Geneaology but the 2 most recent games, Echoes and Three Houses, didn't have the mechanic. Echoes is understandable as the game didn't have any playable axe users and axes disappear after act 2 so if the game did have weapon triangle it would've been very biast towards lances. Three Houses works pretty good without it and breaker skills exist. This makes me wonder if the weapon triangle should return. There are a lot of arguments against it: it never actually matters/ only matters early game, it's always in your favour, it's not strategic, it's way too simple for a strategy game, it makes certain classes too overpowered, it's bonuses are low etc. So I wonder if there is any need for it to return other than because it's a staple. In my opinion it should come back but have a bit more impact on the gameplay (make bonuses matter more) [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Who is your favourite FE character of all time and why? Posted: 01 May 2021 04:26 AM PDT After being on Reddit for a whole year I wanted to hear everyone's favourite fire emblem characters as there are so many wonderful characters in the series. Please feel free to share your favourite characters and why you like them. Big ask I know since there's so many to choose from! Feel free to go as in-depth as you like. Me? I find it difficult to narrow down to just 1. Soren, Ninian, Lyon and Edelgard are all contenders though and I adore them all. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 May 2021 05:24 PM PDT This is specifically about 24b in FE7, but man is it stupid to be attacked from a place you can't see, by a range you don't know, for a number you don't know. You'll be doing well and then get hit by 2 sources for 20 attack and take 30 damage on a single unit, instakilling anyone who isn't full health. And you can even know where not to stand because you can't view ranges of units you can't see. Sorry, just annoyed because I've been stuck on this chapter for a couple days now and lost a good 20-30 runs to a ballista killing me from seemingly nowhere. Edit: meant to say combining the two isn't fine. Individually they're annoying but not too bad, but together it's stupid. [link] [comments] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 May 2021 08:14 PM PDT
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| FE9 Redux Tier List Round 4: Rhys and Soren Posted: 01 May 2021 11:51 AM PDT
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| Why do so many people misunderstand Eirika character? Posted: 01 May 2021 11:00 AM PDT This is something that I never understood and still see you this day. I don't understand how so many people gets Eirika character wrong. People say that she too trusting but always forget the the prior context that make her trust in others makes sense and how she highly take responsibility for it. People say she dumb but she managed to escape a constant pursuit through 3 kingdoms. Lastly she isn't into her brother, it's more clear that guys are intimidated by her brother as he such a mans mans that they feel the need to be better than him. It's rather confusing how people reached the conclusion of these things about Eirika. [link] [comments] |
![[OC] [FE3H] Painted Byleth](https://preview.redd.it/0eikh543siw61.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=a6695fcc53f90fb8a8531d5dea33c94ef3858ec5 "[OC] [FE3H] Painted Byleth")
![[OC] Dandelion Gang's Dance, featured in Another Turn Vol. II!](https://preview.redd.it/g7szs8jvxlw61.png?width=320&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=ededdb9c6b46a5adeea5e3abf1a3c3f6724fd386 "[OC] Dandelion Gang's Dance, featured in Another Turn Vol. II!")
![[Original Art] Lara's Dance Practice, for Another Turn Vol II](https://preview.redd.it/cp0z7q6e2jw61.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=45a72e442f50bb09445a68b2d2728f8e2c810e67 "[Original Art] Lara's Dance Practice, for Another Turn Vol II")
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