#except for like. grima for obvious reasons

[iturbide]

Do you think that the entire "Ylisse being white and Plegia being black" is baked into the premise or a nuance lost in what's clear a cut-down game for budget? (Chrom's Awakening Ceremony comes to mind on "this was clearly initially written with a cutscene in mind." Nevermind how poorly foreshadowed the Valm arc is.) I ask this because they do have some basic foundations for what seems like preparation for nuance that never followed through for some reason.

Honestly...yes, I do think that the black-and-white good and evil is baked directly into the premise.

Because they flaunt it straight out in the skin tone.

With the sole exceptions of Basilio and Flavia (who are Feroxi), all of our main characters, recruitable non-SpotPass units, and allies are pale-skinned. Our major foes and those most closely aligned with the Fell Dragon -- basically, Plegians -- are uniformly dark-skinned. Gangrel, while his skin tone is lighter, is clearly not white (honestly he looks deathly ashen to me, it's always been unnerving); Aversa, Validar's right-hand agent, is is dark-skinned; and Validar, the major antagonist we deal with prior to Grima's full resurrection, has the darkest skin-tone of anyone we meet in the game.

And this is insane to me, considering that we have three white Plegians in our ranks, including one directly related to Validar.

Awakening wasn't even subtle about it, honestly. The fact that the only good Plegians are pale-skinned and all the evil Plegians are dark-skinned paints a very clear picture: anyone who worships Grima is evil and it taints their skin, while those who worship Naga (or at least don't ally themselves with the Fell Dragon) are good and it shows in their pale skin.

And there's an argument to be made about not wanting the surprise reveal with Robin's parentage, and having them be dark-skinned like Validar would make it too obvious too early. It's not a good argument, but it's there. And I'm willing to let Henry slide as a possible albino, because that concept tickles me (he does have the right eye color for it, when you see it). But they have no fucking excuse for Tharja, who was born and raised in a desert nation.

Awakening absolutely had the opportunity to do something more nuanced with its story and themes. It laid some excellent groundwork for it! But that was not the story they ended up telling, and based on the character designs, I do think that the black and white aspects -- particularly in Plegia being evil -- were intentional from the outset.

#answered #anonymous #fire emblem: awakening #this is why i go insane over fanart of robin with dark skin #because it just makes sense #and it fixes awakening's frankly shitty messaging #that as a rule only the bad people have dark skin

[felikatze]

every potential for morgan's backstory is so fucked up in different ways.

the way they only remember robin. that has to be on purpose, right? because robin's our other amnesiac of the game, and that one was an accident. they remember nothing.

and yet robin's very memory loss confirms grima's power can erase memories. what does this mean for morgan.

add in grima's last words in future past, the world morgan is from....

it's obvious fp robin changed. we can tell as much from fp robin's, well, everything, but also from morgan's dialogue.

"But I cannot strike down the kind and gentle parent I once knew... Forgive me, Master Grima. I must withdraw... I remain your servant and am ready to accept any punishment you see fit."

'I once knew' implies that Grima isn't kind and gentle anymore. Yet Morgan still recognizes Grima as their parent, without doubt. And even then, if Morgan kept all their memories of Robin, then why not these memories, too?

"...At last...I can rest... ...No one else...will suffer... ...because of me... ...Thank...you... ...I hope your lives are...filled... ...with...joy... ...... ...... ...Morgan...please forgive me... ...I put you through...so...much..."

From one line alone, it's obvious that Morgan's remaining love for Robin is reciprocated, no matter how twisted Robin has become. So. This is a world where either no time travel exists, or Lucina failed to change the past. Either way, the future Shepherds have no reason to return to the past, or no means to. After all, Naga is dead.

The only entity left with the power and reason to travel through time is Robin.

We have two options here.

1. After failing to kill player Robin, Morgan fled to the past.

Presuming somebody erased Morgan's memory on purpose, which I presume because of the specificity of their amnesia, Morgan did it themself here. And they intentionally left in memories of the kind and gentle parent, because that's what they wanted to remember. Even if they said they were willing to kill their friends and forsake everything for Grima, it becomes obvious rather quickly that there are some lines they're not willing to cross.

In this case, they wanted to forget that pain and conflict, of choosing between sides, and opted to cherry pick the best of both.

The version I believe in more strongly, though there's concrete evidence for neither, is option 2.

2. Grima erased Morgan's memory and sent them back in time after they failed to kill the future Shepherds.

After all, if Morgan says they're willing to accept whatever punishment Grima deems fit, why would they run away? And why would they be absent from the final confrontation between Grima and the Shepherds if Robin entering the battlefield at all made them worry?

Fp Grima is. A lot. But as said before, they still loved Morgan- even if they did not express it properly. Even if they were more master and servant than parent and child, in their final moments, Grima wanted Morgan to be happy. To forgive Grima for all the suffering they've put Morgan through.

If Grima saw Morgan's conflict when they returned to report their failure, there's an easy out Morgan could give them- send them to a time where they won't have to choose at all. And if Morgan's memories are erased, they will carry no guilt for a failure Grima doesn't fault them for.

Except... if you've seen me talk about Grima, you know a trait I like to play up. Their desire for Robin to be remembered fondly. Why else hide their face from Lucina and Co in FP? Why else give Robin the option to die a matyr in Awakening? And, why else erase Morgan's memories of Grima, but leave everything about Robin intact?

i just. they loved each other, despite everything. despite the apocalypse. except it's hard to raise a child when you've gone mad with grief and power. both of them remember the good times, and try to play a facsimile of family. but it doesn't work. it's harmful and broken. it was good, once.

man. fucking. grima still loved morgan, okay. despite everything. they still loved their kid. and sometimes loving someone means letting go.

#feli speaks #WRAGRH. IT'S 1AM. #(chanting under my breath) i NEED to continue plusquam #so so so normal about this very average dynamic #GRIMA LOVED MORGAN. I'LL DIE ON THIS HILL #past me was too busy being ten years old when fea came out but i sure am catching up now #what'd i even play when i was 10. sounds about the time pmd changed me forever. #also when i read warriors.

[2goldensnitches]

please rant about awakening and fates fixits 👁️👁️👂

AHDFGVSA ANON MY PETTY MIND IS SCREAMING FOR ME TO MAKE THIS LONG BUT FOR THE SAKE OF MY FINGERS I’LL HAVE TO CONDENSE IT LMAOOO

They’re the “analysis videos” of the fandom made by people who, barring a few exceptions, have zero originality when it comes to the concept because they just apply the cinemasins approach, aka “this thing may or may not be an actual plot hole or bad part of the games, and it may or may not be detrimental to the narrative, but I’ll treat minor mistakes and nitpicks as major story breaking flaws so you’ll get my 300 chapter treatise on why my New and Improved version addresses every single one of those issues AND expands on the game AND adds Depth™ and adds Twists and Action and it’s totally a huge improvement!!1!!”

They’re basically ship of Theseus-ing the damn games to the point where we have to ask if they’re really writing fix-it/retellings, but more often than not it’s just them trying to pretend they wish they’d played the versions in their minds instead of what we actually got. And what they’re trying to shill to us is actually evidence that they don’t seem to care much for fatesawakening except trying to push their intellect (“intellect”) on readers.

This is particularly glaring when it comes to characters like Robin, Grima, Anankos, Corrin, Takumi, and Marx…Robin in particular. For all the complaints I’ve been forced to endure about Byleth and how much the fandom hates them and calls them cardboard, it sure says something that so many authors project this very specific image onto Robin of a stone-cold tactical Tom Clancy-style badass who’s super awesome and tough and a genius whose intellect surpasses every human limit, and, because of course this mostly happens with mRobin, he also happens to be a harem king who pulls all the bitches and waifus in his orbit. In reality, both Robins are fairly mild-mannered (often playing the straight man (lol) to the rest of the cast) but have their weird moments (especially fRobin but gd forbid fans let women be fun), and are basically nothing like the fantasy projected onto [mRobin].

They’ve also tried to inject very weird and incorrect headcanons into the narrative, treat them like actual canon, and then get mad when others point out they’re not canon—the best example I can remember rn is the claim that actually Naga is lowkey responsible for all the bad stuff that happened in awakening, she’s a bad mother to Tiki, and that Grima is actually a poor sad lonely boy with a hurt, misunderstood soul. Feh sure didn’t help things either lmao and I know the hcs thing happens in every fandom, but this is just something so glaringly obvious in these types of fics that it really just hammers home that they’re less fanfic and more essay that goes on for too damn long

3h fics are also plagued by “fix-its/retellings” (especially for drek like muh golden route even though people absolutely lambast revelations for existing, so what is the truth, fandom?), but thankfully they’re not as proportionally dominant like in fatesawakening due to 1) the sheer volume of 3h fic compared to every other fe title combined and 2) there is also greater focus on the smaller cast members and interpersonal relationships instead of general plot (for better or for worse). Unfortunately for fatesawakening the fact that so many “fix-its/retellings” exist also squeezed out smaller fics unless they were shippy

It would also be remiss of me to omit just how much of these fics’ bloat and bad writing is also due to the fact that the authors just fucking invented things out of thin air and then inserted them into the story (beyond hcs), and like. You can’t call your fic a retelling if you just completely ignore key parts of the games and replace them with something else entirely, and you can’t call that a fix-it unless you set up a reasonable justification for why z has to replace x—remember my comments about the essay and ship of Theseus? Here they are again!! This happened way too much to shit like Corrin and the bottomless canyon scene, how Garon became dragon puppet slime, robin’s backstory, what was up with the grimleal and valla and…yeah

I SWEAR THIS IS THE CONDENSED VERSION LMAO but thanks for asking anon, this gave me memory whiplash to remember looool

#asks #fe #fandom fuckery

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

Regarding fictional religions:   All of the discussion I was just in regarding the Galactic Horde...  Yeah, that’s how you do a religion in fiction.  You get one that’s interesting enough for people to talk about!  One that has enough parallels to one or more real life Eath-religions for the audience to understand it, but enough little tweaks to make it its own thing.    I feel spoiled with this in She-Ra, like it’s one bit of worldbuilding they actually got right.  Spop doesn’t have much worldbuilding at all - it’s more character-focused and there are a lot of loose threads (where’s my minotaur-princess, Light Hope?  Where is she?!!!) but the Galactic Horde sketched out as a cult - it’s done “just enough.”  It’s not very worldbuilt as we do not know specific details about it, such as where Horde Prime even came from or whether or not they have an afterlife-concept (it is common fanon that they do not, since it is never mentioned).  It’s never called a religion, per se, but It’s just...incredibly obvious.  And that’s what makes it scary - this is not a standard army.  The Horde is on a Holy Mission.  I compare and contrast this to some other religions I’ve seen in fiction that are... lacking?  Like, not long ago, I was re-playing The Legend of Zelda: Age of Calamity - the real-time tactics war-game based after Breath of the Wild.  There was a cutscene telling the story of the villain of that, Astor, showing the...Ganon cult? that Astor was in, worship the Malice-infected gear from the corrupted Terrako.  All they were into were “The future has been foretold!  Destruction to Hyrule!” and I was all... “Okay, I wish to learn more about this cult.”  And it’s like... we didn’t get any more.  The Malice killed all of the cult-members except for Astor, who decided that he was “chosen” and that was it.  He just went off and eviled all over the place, harvesting souls from dead Yiga to feed to Ganon and trying to kill Link and all of that.  No explanation.  I was left with WHY are you worshipping Ganon?  It was just “standard evil cult” and there was no reason why.   And I’ve played Fire Emblem: Awakening.  (Please, no questions in this in my askbox, Vezouta, if you are reading this.  I’ve already discussed to Hell and back about this game with you and I’m not really interested right now in the ins and outs of the other religions in other FE games and the origins of the mutual Ylisse / Plegia persecutions or whatever).  In the context of the game, we’re given very little explanation as to just why the Plegians are all gung-ho in giving their souls to Grima and trying to raise Grima, other than maybe revenge on Ylisse.  But, it’s like.. “Why do you see Grima as the Divine Dragon when you know they just bring death and destruction?”   And I just want to see more from cults that worship destruction, you know?  Is there something in it for the followers, like escaping destruction?  Being an elite few?  Being on a holy mission to civilize the cosmos? Is destruction a part of the destruction-rebirth cycle?  I mean, in Fallout, I really like the Children of the Atom - if you mosey up to Confessor Cromwell in Fallout 3, he explains the religion and the weirdest thing is that, to me, it actually *makes sense.*  It makes sense to me that some shocked and awed survivors of nuclear devastation *would* develop a religion around that destructive power and decide that all of the devastation split people’s atoms to give birth to countless new universes.  In Fallout 4 (where they are less harmless weirdos and become actually militant) it is explained that their worship comes from the concept of change and the change that Atom brings via destruction and mutation.  It’s all very fascinating and also a great way to do a cult in fiction, I think.  A bit of old Biblical-language there, too.  “Behold!  He is coming with the clouds!”   And I tend to think of the Galactic Horde as being like that.  Broad-brushed a bit, few details, but they don’t just say “Here’s an evil cult and they’re doing evil for evil’s sake” but, instead, actually have a basis to it.  It makes at least as much sense as Fallout’s Atom-cult.   It’s a fresh breath from seeing stuff like the Ganon-cult in Zelda (Why)?  

#horde prime #horde clones #spacebats #the galactic horde #the galactic horde religion

[samalion]

Fire Emblem Awakening: The intended couples After all these years of regularly posting ships I came to realize I never posted my final conclusions for Fire Emblem Awakening. I’ll try to go in depth for each couple/child and why I think these were supposed to be the default couples. These couples are based upon their story, not on their best possible stats. In case you are curious: spoilers ahead! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chrom & Sumia This an obvious one, they are the poster couple, the true default and the easiest attainable. Sumia is already crushing on Chrom beforehand, plus she is somewhat featured in the story early on as opposed to other love interests. The only competition to Sumia would have been Olivia and Robin. If you are playing female Robin, I would recommend her with Chrom and Sumia with Frederick. Olivia doesn’t make sense because Inigo (Laslow) flirts with DLC Lucina in Fire Emblem Fates. This would be creepy if they were considered siblings. Sumia also makes a lot of sense for Lucina as a mother, because their support is mainly about fashion, Sully wouldn’t make sense here. Chrom is also a good dad for Cynthia as he might be the biggest hero of them all. Lucina and Cynthia as siblings are also a reflection of Chrom and Lissa themselves. Cynthia has a similar hairstyle and is a bit tomboy-ish, like her aunt.

Robin & Lucina Since male Robin is the default option, I’ll use him for this example. Robin is really difficult to find the fight pair for, especially with the DLC characters added. Walhart and Aversa both offered unique skills and white hair, which would be nice for Morgan. But since Morgan’s default class is Tactician, it makes sense that their parent is also someone who makes sure they get that passed down. Lucina ultimately wins over these candidates, simply because her confession image is the ONLY one with a different background. Marrying her to Robin also gives them unique dialogue options down the road during the story. It’s also interesting that the blood of the exalt and the blood of Grima are both in Morgan. Additionally if you keep your characters their base class and play the paralogue at level 20 (which I use for every child unit) Morgan will have Aether and will learn Ignis later on, having both unique offensive skills. And finally, because the pairing of Robin and Lucina is so complex, the third timeline Morgan comes from makes more sense.

 Lissa & Vaike

Lissa was a difficult one to pair because she matches well with almost anyone and Owain doesn’t really reveal any traits. It was either Vaike or Henry. Lissa and Vaike are both laid back and bond with their admiration of Chrom. Vaike yells several catchphrases into battle, which is probably what Owain adopted, though a bit over the top. He gets his blonde hair from Vaike, to match Lissa’s hair color, similar to how Lucina looks like her father. Owain and Vaike both aspire to become great heroes and he would definitely take an arrow for Owain. Vaike’s default class also gives Owain Zeal, which gives him extra critical hit points. A nice treat for a myrmidon.

 Sully & Stahl

I try to avoid same-classes as couples because those seem really obvious. Sully and Stahl are an exception though. They’re often used side-by-side, which helps to grow their supports. It might also be fanservice for people who shipped Cain and Abel. Stahl scores good points because he is one of a few characters with an affinity for food. It makes sense for him to be able to cook for Kjelle, but also to have tested Sully’s food. On top of that, by having two cavalier parents, Kjelle will have both cavalier skills on top of her knight skills, making her a two-in-one.

 Miriel & Kellam

Miriel was the hardest character to pair someone with, since Laurent gives of no hint of his father’s dna at all. But that’s where the clue lies. Kellam’s undetectability also works for his genes, creating a Miriel clone in the process. It doesn’t seem out of place for him to tickle Laurent to loosen him up. The Indoor Fighter skill is also very much an introvert skill. Miriel’s ending also mentions how she made history, which works incredible with Kellam’s: “her husband’s name has been lost to history”

 Maribelle & Donnel

It’s either him or Vaike. They both have an accent, which Brady inherited, they are both commoners which is a nice contrast next to her and they both help her develop as a character. Donnel’s Underdog skill on Brady makes sense and Donnel doesn’t exactly seem like the person to take a moment for tea, but would rather keep working. Maribelle ending up living with Donnel’s mom also is a hysterical ending.

 Panne & Henry

Henry already likes her for being part animal. He’s also the reason she went to safe the exalt. There isn’t anyone else that works with Panne the way Henry does. He loves animals so it makes sense for him to get an animal-like child. Panne claims she might be the only one to be able to change Henry, which is probably why he turned out a good father. Henry’s starting chapter is 13, which is also Yarne’s paralogue number. And who wouldn’t be a scared mess with a father like Henry?

 Cordelia & Gregor

One of the easiest ones. Gregor makes it obvious in their A-support that he is into Cordelia, so it’s canon regardless who you pair them up with. Gregor also makes sense why Severa acts so spoiled, but also caused her to work hard for what she wants. She also became a mercenary like him, avoiding pegasi that remind her of her mom. I’ve always wished I could pair up Cordelia with Chrom though…

 Nowi & Ricken

The oldest with the youngest. Ricken is statistically the partner who would stick around the longest with Nowi. Her old but childish nature matches very well with Ricken’s young but maturing nature. Nah really reflects that Ricken energy, trying to prove her worth to others and acting more mature than they are. Nah really had to grow up fast, having two children for parents. And that she gets a serious skill like Focus, just confirms this only more.

 Tharja & Gaius

Their support is a good lead-up to a romance. I don’t think him liking bad girls was part of the curse. They’re both not the nicest people, though their intentions aren’t too bad. They couldn’t care less about their odd couple ending. Gaius is the perfect person to steal Tharja’s equipment to protect Noire. Having an archer with extra movement is nice too, especially considering it’s our meek Noire.

 Olivia & Virion

The entire reason my couple hunt started. Olivia says in their A-support that she find Virion dreamy, so once again it’s a canon attraction regardless their pairings. Olivia obviously taught what she learned from Virion to Inigo, which is why he acts and looks like him so much. He has a similar way of speaking as him and even his hair looks somewhat like a shorter version of his. Virion’s default archer class also offers Inigo Prescience, which works well with his already existing Patience skill, giving him permanent +10 on dodging.

 Cherche & Lon’qu

Every female support Lon’qu has, helps him ease his fear. But Cherche really takes the cake with that. She helps him learn the truth of his past and overcome his trauma. Her knitting him warm clothes in the cold Regna Ferox is a neat detail in their ending. His aloof nature is passed onto Gerome and them being distant towards each other makes a lot of sense. And Gerome with vantage makes wyverns even scarier.

#fire emblem #fire emblem awakening #Fire Emblem OTP #fire emblem couples #chrom #lucina #robin #nintendo #3ds #ship #couple #love #chromxsumia #robinxlucina #lissaxvaike #sullyxstahl #mirielxkellam #maribellexdonnel #pannexhenry #cordeliaxgregor #nowixricken #tharjaxgaius #oliviaxvirion #cherchexlon'qu #relationship #couples #ships

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

In your version of LotR, how long have Grima and Eomer known each other for? Grima has obviously been in Edoras for some time. Has he known Eomer since the latter was a child? What was their first meeting like? I have this image of Eomer being a surly teenage shit, giving Grima buckets of 'fuck you' attitude, and Grima giving him attitude back, but secretly thinking 'yeah, I kinda like this one, might try and make him King'.

I’m so sorry! I saw your asks under that one post and meant to reply then I got swamped and it got buried so now we are here. Thank you for asking again! :D :D

This became a MONSTROSITY of a response. It’s so long. I make minimal apologies.

-

In Swimming Through Fire (STF) I have it that Grima has been in Edoras for around seventeen years (there’s a bit in a recent chapter when he says that and Theoden is like “never say that again, it makes me feel old” and Grima is like “I understand” and Theoden is like “you’re forty one, you’re not old, calm down”) - he and Eomer and Eowyn all washed ashore in Meduseld around the same time or within a year of each other. Depending on when they all arrived.

So yeah - Eomer has known Grima since he was eleven-ish and Grima was around twenty-four.

When Grima first showed up, he had no title, no land, no connections, no anything save his wits and some approximation of an education (Grima can speak Westron which in Rohan definitely constitutes a sign of an education of some sort. Like I’m not sure Eothain can speak Westron—at least, he never does it in view of the reader). Truly, in LOTR, Grima is one of the few “self made men” we see since Tolkien loved his nobility and The Right Bloodline shit—even in the hobbits who are supposed to be more the “every day” person (i.e. the audience, to a certain respect), it’s all upper class, posh, rich as Cressus gentle-hobbits with the exception of Sam.

Grima and Sam, working class people unite.

Anyway.

When Grima arrived, I have it that he was taken under the wing of Theoden’s seneschal and therefore yes, he was part of the king’s household, but he wasn’t anyone in particular within it. Therefore, I don’t think he had much to do with the royal family until he was older and gained notice for being good with languages, clever, having a knack for legalese, and scathing sarcasm. (Theoden: these are the most valuable assets you have. Grima: thank you. they’re also, coincidentally, the only assets I have.)

In general, I assume he was probably in his early thirties when he started shifting from lower-non-important member of the king’s household into that advisor/law-speaker-adjacent sort of position.

(Grima’s position in the court, beyond “advisor,” is so flipping ambiguous because he’s such an Unferth figure…for obvious reasons of literally being based on Unferth.)

Therefore! I don’t think Grima and Eomer really were aware of each other in any sort of meaningful capacity until Grima was somewhere between thirty and thirty-five and Eomer sitting at seventeen to twenty-one.

Eomer also would have been shadowing his cousin, or someone like Erkenbrand, as a page/squire figure to learn how to run his marshalate and Be A Lord for much of this time. At least until his uncle deemed him old enough to step into his inheritance in a proper way. Therefore he would have been absent for large swaths of time from eleven to twenty (or whenever Theoden decided Eomer was of-age enough to take over as Third Marshal).

So! All of this said.

Technically their First Meeting:

Grima, twenty-four, no idea what he’s doing: Who are the sprogs?

Yrmenlaf, Theoden’s senechal: the king’s nephew and niece.

Grima: disgusting.

Yrmenlaf: ??

Grima: children in general. Gross concept. I’ll keep out of their way.

Yrmenlaf: maybe don’t say that in front of the king.

Grima: I can’t help it that anything under the age of fifteen is a disease carrying vector that secretes many fluids and is sticky. That isn’t my fault.

Yrmenlaf: I’m not introducing you to my grandchildren.

Grima: thank you. I don’t want to meet them until they’re properly adjacent to adulthood.

[...]

Eomer, eleven, confused about life: Who’s this?

Yrmenlaf: my new assistant. Don’t talk to him. He’s mean.

Grima: /hiss/

Eomer: …. K

[...]

Eomer, seventeen, visiting his uncle: why is your new advisor so…wet?

Theoden: he’s just born that way, don’t judge him.

Eomer: like a drowned rat.

Theoden: be nice.

Eomer: a small, drowned rat.

Theoden: he’s six foot two or three, sister-son. He’s not small.

Eomer: so tiny.

Eomer: miniscule.

Eomer: I’m seventeen and could probably bench press him.

Grima: No you’re seventeen and going to budge up at the table because the adults need to talk about important things. Scoot, ya wee scag.

Eomer: HEY.

Grima: Is for horses, now go.

Eomer:

Eomer: I hate that I actually think that’s kind of funny.

-

But in all reality, I think Eomer is probably more in his late teens and early twenties, figuring out his marshalate and what it means to be a good lord, when he comes to notice Grima in any sort of meaningful capacity beyond just “some guy who works for my uncle”.

Like, it’d be at this point where Grima as advisor/law speaker/whatever else he does, has an impact and a role to play in Eomer’s life. From figuring out alignment of policies and strategies for things like food savings for winter, how to address issues like coin clipping (if they have coin in Rohan, could be a non-monetary society), guild/craft oversight, weights and measures, customs/trade, court/legal jurisdictions etc. etc. on through to things like the day-today politicking of court.

Though, I don’t see Eomer particularly involving himself in the schemes and skullduggery of court Politicks. He’d remain aloof a) from a moral and ethical standpoint and b) he’s just not that interested in it.

Grima’s going on about some scheme or other and Eomer is like “I just…don’t care. Also I mean, it’s morally dubious at best. But mostly, I just…find this very boring.”

-

I can see Eomer, when he is a young marshal, not particularly liking Grima but having respect for his capabilities and his work. Which is something I was trying to get at in early days of STF where Eomer comments on how he thinks it a real loss and a damn shame, to put it lightly, that Grima has switched sides because he is so good at his job.

It’s that weird sort of fundamental respect when it comes to their work that I think allows something of a relationship to build later. Because Eomer is like, “yeah you’re a slimy git and an oathbreaker to boot, but you are phenomenally good at your job and are hard working and have an actual talent for management” and Grima also is like “I think you’re a brash, headstrong, testy, tructulant sort of man but you are smart and see more than you let and are more capable than people might first assume” — so they have this weird sort of quasi-respect for each other.

I can see, in pre-oathbreaking and treason years, someone coming to Eomer being like “here’s this really complex situation and problem, how do we fix it?” and Eomer being like, “I hate it, but we should tag Grima in on this. He’ll have some good insight/ideas.” I don’t know that Eomer entirely trusted him, but not from a thought that Grima’s selling them all out, but more form a thought that Grima is out for himself and will sell you to Satan for two corn-chips if it would advance him up the political ladder in any shape or form. And Eomer isn’t wrong. But that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t work with the guy when he had to.

For STF, I think Grima started noticing Eomer’s capacity for potential king-ship more recently. Like three or four years before the fics take place. Because by that point, Eomer’s more at home in his role as Third Marshal, he’s taking a lot of things on as his uncle ages and Theodred is distracted by various court and family issues. Grima also knows everyone’s sins and little secrets - so he knows Theodred is a skirt chaser and likes his dice and his cards, which is all fine, but his head isn’t as in the game as it should be. Eomer’s sins and little secrets are less concerning because Eomer has a much stronger sense of duty to his people and his role as lord. Trying to live up to a dead war-hero father will do that to a person.

-

Aside from STF, I dooooo have a fic that’s on the back burner where it’s like Summer 3018, so six to eight months before Feb/March of 3019 when Helm’s Deep et al happens, and Eomer and Grima have to work together on something or other and Grima keeps thinking it’s a damn shame Eomer isn’t the one in line for the throne. He makes occasional comments on this and Eomer is like “nope, going to stop you right there.”

(Grima: it’s a hypothetical, my lord. They’re fine. I think through hypotheticals all the time. Hypothetically, if my older brother died tragically, what would I do. Hypothetically, if I were a king of a hypothetical country, how would I rule it, how good would I look with the crown on…

Eomer: I’m really getting a sense of who you are in this conversation.

Through the course of their working together Eomer does get firm, undeniable proof of Grima’s treason and blackmails him back to the light side with it.

Denethor: FINALLY someone thinking strategically.

Eomer: I felt dirty the entire time I did that.

Denethor: Welcome to being the necessary ruler people need. Not everything is about having Honour and Nobility and suchlike. Sometimes, you have to do things that aren’t great, but they’re required.)

At some point, Eomer does start thinking that his cousin might not be the best fit for king and has a LOT of conflicting emotions about this and questioning who his ultimate loyalty is to: his family or his people. Grima is sitting there with a pina colada going: don't mind me. I'm just here.

Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m doing with Theodred in that fic, but there is a lot of Grima going ‘hmmm Eomer would make a Great king’ which quickly devolves into less high minded thoughts.

-

Anyway, thank you so so so much for the ask! If you made it this far down lol, you’re a real winner. I definitely had a blast answering and just…really love talking about these two. <3 <3

#LOTR #ask #reply #lord of the rings #eomer #grima wormtongue #griomer #by proxy honestly because that's inevitable if I'm talking about the two of them #grima hates children on a fundamental level

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

If Fates' child mechanics could be improved, story wise, what would you do? Because I do genuinely love the kids as characters but they were done DIRTY by the excuse plot and reasons for them to be there.

That reminds me of something else I’ve meant to say about how the Fates child mechanics really really doesn’t work. Actually several things, one big one and a bunch of other little ones.

It’s obvious that the thought process was “well, people liked Awakening and Awakening had XYZ, so let’s add it in again!” without taking into account that Awakening built its story around time travel. Even if you didn’t get any S-supports, Lucina is still there. It’s a major plot point. Grima is still there, also having time-traveled. You can’t separate the time travel from the main plot, so from there it’s natural that Lucina would have some friends who came back with her, and thus you get the kids.

We’ve discussed how Fates’ baby dimension is silly. Yeah hang on let’s all just have kids during a war and throw them into an Outrealm pocket dimension where they’ll grow up real quick and we can have more soldiers for our army. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody’s around to hear it - if a situation so fantastical happens that it couldn’t have been written about in any human rights documentation, is it still a war crime? Several other issues I have with it before I get into the big one I wanted to talk about:

Even if we presume that the ladies are spending the duration of their pregnancy also in a pocket dimension where time passes differently in relation to the outside world, that’s still the equivalent of nine months that they are experiencing. That’s (equivalent to) several months that they’re not going to be able to train when the pregnancy is far along or when they’re recovering. Even if it seems like just a few days passed outside, they’re physically going to be lagging behind where they were when they entered the outrealm. 

Azura and fCorrin would do that twice.

After they yeet the first of their female friends into a pocket dimension off the astral plane so that she can time-lapse her pregnancy, you would think that someone in the army would figure out some sort of birth control spell/concoction/herb/something so that they don’t have to worry about this again. That’s just good common sense, something we know Corrin lacks, but somebody else surely would suggest it. I feel like Camilla would have that under control - not to insinuate like that she’s a slut or something, but I mean that her older sister vibes tell me that she has the knowledge and supplies to dump on her three younger siblings to inform them how to have relationships safely without fear of unwanted children “and if anyone tries to pressure you otherwise, tell me and I’ll cut their head off” ;3c. She’s like that, I think.

And then the other big and uncomfortable problem with this setup is: some of the character ages.

Like, in Awakening, you’ve got Donnel, Ricken, and Lissa who seem the youngest. Depending on Robin’s gender and how the pairings fall, I think you could end up with two unmarried guys, so you could just have Donnel and Ricken not have children, but if you want to get every character you’ve got to have Lissa get married. I put her at 16/18 during the two parts of the game. Not a great age to have a kid at - but the thing about Awakening’s time travel is that she’s not having a kid at that age. Owain’s from the future, and the only child born during the events of the game is Lucina. It still felt a little weird to see those younger ones getting married, Lissa might be getting a ring now from someone just as young as she is (in the middle of a war) but kids are still years off. That...somewhat lessens the discomfort.

And then. sigh. then there’s Fates. Where no pocket dimensions and strange flow-of-time can get around the fact of character ages, because their children might be growing up fast but they are not from the future. Those kids are born during the course of the game. And like! Elise and Sakura! They’re my baby sisters! I don’t want my baby sisters to be teen moms during a war! That’s just weird and gross and uncomfortable! They’re my baby sisters. I want to find my siblings good partners but I’m not going to matchmake for my baby sisters if that’s the result.

So looping all the way back around to your question - I have no idea, honestly. Anything except time travel/coming from an entirely alternate timeline in the future has all of the above problems baked in, and then future-kids is just an Awakening rehash. Like I was about to suggest that it’d be interesting if for Birthright/Conquest, the kids came from an alternate timeline of the other path, where their side lost the war, but firstly that’s just Awakening rehashed again, secondly Corrin spares as many people as possible so we don’t have dead parents, and honestly it’s not even a dark dire future in Awakening. Like for Nohr in Birthright, Leo gets crowned king of Nohr, his kid is going to have no drive to come back and change the past because it’s fine, there’s holes in the family where Aunt Elise and Uncle Xander are missing, but this is not dire enough to need to find a way to change fate. And thirdly, for the few characters who do die - since we’re using Birthright as the example, Elise and Xander - that would mean that their kids were born before the end of the route, which runs into that same Elise problem! If you wanted “the kids as refugees from a dire timeline” it’d have to be one where Garon won and then again, just play Awakening for that plot. 

Conceptually I think it’s interesting to draw the kids in from a different timeline where Corrin made the other choice - “Roddy what about Revelation?” I don’t fucking know man - and see how they react to Corrin being on that side, fighting for their country, with their parents, but... then that runs into the problem of spoiling the other route. Like if you played Conquest first and Xander’s kid says he died before they were born, well, that’s awkward. And again, Elise - in Conquest you could pair her with like, Kaze, who was with Corrin the whole time, always on Corrin’s side no matter what, and then that creates a plot hole of it having been literally impossible for that kid to have come from a Birthright-esque timeline because they couldn’t have existed then because Kaze could’ve even died before Corrin reunites with Elise. No, that concept can’t work. Too much potential for plot holes and stretching too weirdly to try and cover it.

I don’t know. I don’t know if you can fix it without becoming an Awakening rehash or turning Fates into something entirely different...which, it’s Fates. Might not be a bad thing to do that.

#fire emblem chatter tag #jakeun-kangajii

[hithelleth]

Do LOTR; I know it's obvious, but I don't think we've discussed all of those aspects. Also, I'm slowly progressing through Black Sails, so do Black Sails as well, please. :D

o_O, thank you! :D

Haha, that’s true, we haven’t discussed all those aspects of LOTR:

top 3 favorite characters: Frodo, Aragorn, and it’s a tie between Faramir, Sam, and Gollum (I love Gollum, ‘mkay?)

top 3 least favorite characters: Saruman, Grima, Denethor (we don’t count the obvious evil ones like Sauron & co.)

top 3 otps: Arwen/Aragorn, Eowyn/Faramir, and Aragorn/Eowyn (because I can multiship like a pro.)

top 3 notps: *scowls*, I’m a bit of a Tolkien purist, so while I’m all for anyone to ship whatever they want, personally Frodo/Sam, Legolas/Gimli, Aragorn/Faramir etc. make me shudder (I may have glimpsed the existence of those in various fic exchanges, brrr.) But whatever floats other people’s boats, I don’t judge. 

top 3 brotps: Frodo and Sam, Legolas and Gimli, Aragorn and Eomer

top 3 favorite episodes/chapters/scenes/games in series: Uh, this is hard, because everything is my favourite. The scene where Gollum battles with himself and then almost caresses sleeping Frodo, looking almost like just a battered old hobbit. Ouch. Faramir and Eowyn on the wall. Aragorn telling the hobbits the story of Luthien. 

top 3 other things u think ppl who like this thing should watch/read/play: I don’t know, can anything ever compare? Except The Silmarillion and The Hobbit and stuff, of course. Although for some reason, The Last Legion (2007) comes across my mind. And various things based on the Volsung Saga, like Ring of the Nibelungs (2004) was a good movie. 

my rating of this media out of 3, with 0 being lowest and 3 being highest: 3, obviously.

Black Sails:

top 3 favorite characters: Vane (which I’m sure comes as a big surprise ;)), Max, Anne Bonny

top 3 least favorite characters: Rogers, Dufresne, Berringer (I think that was that other read coat fucker’s last name), I’m giving Billy a pass because of the first three seasons, but barely.

top 3 otps: Flint/Thomas, Vane/Eleanor, Max/Anne/Jack

top 3 notps: Rogers/Eleanor, 

top 3 brotps: Vane and Jack, Flint and Eleanor, Flint and Silver

top 3 favorite episodes/chapters/scenes/games in series: Flint’s last scene (since you’re not there yet, I’m not telling you. But that one. OMG.) The reunion between Anne and Jack (I’m not sure if you’re there yet, so IDK if I should tell you where.) Vane’s speech in Charlestown (I think you might have seen that already, yes?)

top 3 other things u think ppl who like this thing should watch/read/play: Apparently Taboo, but IDK, I watched an episode and it just wasn’t for me. Lost in Space, although it has nothing in common with BS except Toby Stephens, but it’s such a good show! Maybe The Last Ship, but only the first two seasons (I rage-quit after that because of whom the fucking writers killed off.) Also, Vikings, I guess (OMG, I’m so behind.) 

my rating of this media out of 3, with 0 being lowest and 3 being highest: 3.

Sorry, this took me longer than I’d thought due to those top 3 fave scenes/other things to watch/read. 

( Top 3 media ask. )

#lglorien #ask #answered #LOTR #Black Sails #here there might be unpopular opinions but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[the-werdna]

Fire Emblem Awakening Theory: The Truth about A Future Past

Hey guys, it been a awhile since I’ve done a post discussing Fire Emblem, so I figured it would be fun to directly talk about my favorite Fire Emblem Awakening theory. While I am sure this is old news to a lot of you, I still think it is valuable to talk about it in detail here given how often I allude to it.

This theory, is as the title suggests, explores how the Future Past timeline featured in the DLC of the same name fits into the overall narrative of the game. While the timeline at first glance simply seems to be the doomed future Lucina and all the other 2ed gens come from, there are some very large differences between that timeline and the one seen in the DLC. But more importantly, there are some details that hint at the deeper connection between this DLC and the main game, in particular how it may shed some light on the origins of the most mysterious of the time traveling children.

As alluded to above, while a Future Past seems to simply be a retelling of the doomed future, there are a lot of details that don’t match the account of events the 2ed gens give in the main game. In fact, during the DLC our versions of those very characters make note of how this timeline isn’t right, how events seem to be playing out quite different from how they remembered it.

Of note, the following things are different in A Future Past

The mission to recover the gemstones was met with far more resistance, where in the original future timeline the groups managed to recover the gemstones and return to Ylisstol without too much difficulty. It almost seems as though Grima knew exactly where the future kids would be and when, sending large forces to intercept and trap them

One of the gemstones was not lost forever.

Tiki is still alive. We know in the original future timeline Lucina never met Tiki in the future, as she only meets in her after traveling to the past. Yet here she seems to know Tiki quite well, indicating that Tiki survived for far longer into this timeline.

Grima appears to be stronger in this timeline, being able to have killed Naga, something that was said to be impossible

Future Past Robin is able to resist and fight against Grima’s control, something we never see happen with the Future Robin encountered as an enemy in the main game. Something about this Robin is different.

Morgan, regardless of who their parent is, appears in this timeline.

On top of those details, there is one other big piece of evidence to bring up. But before I do that, for reasons that will soon become very apparent, I would like to discuss a moment in one of the other DLCs. That being the conversation F!Morgan and Cynthia have during the Hotspring Scramble DLC map.

For those who don’t know, the conversation in question basically follows Morgan and Cynthia trying to come up with a plan to prank everyone following being scolded for having a splash fight in one of the hotsprings. While amusing, most of this conversation is unimportant for our discussion. What is important, however, is the specific detail where Morgan has two identical copies of Robin’s favorite annotated book on tactics, with her possessing no memory of having acquired the second copy. Now, the obvious explanation would be that the game’s Robin simply gave her his copy after she came to the past, and she didn’t remember having already been given a copy from the Robin of her own timeline. This would work, except for one issue. Robin couldn’t have given her that copy, as he already gave it away... in A Future Past.

See, during A Future Past, Robin can talk to Future Past Morgan. During this conversation Robin, feeling something familiar about her, will give Morgan his copy of that very same book. After he leaves, Morgan notes how she already has that same book, the Robin of her timeline having already given it to her lone ago.

So we have two Morgans, both with two identical copies of Robin’s favorite book on tactics, down to the dog ears and annotations. We have a Morgan in our game who regardless of who her parents are, always comes from a third timeline. A Morgan who, if they have a sibling, has their sibling mention that it is likely they come from a different future. A Morgan who non of the other future characters seem to know, with most treating them with outright suspicion. On the other hand we have a Morgan who, regardless of who their parents are, shows up in A Future Past. even if their parents are a time travel themselves.

All of this leads to a startling conclusion: these aren’t two separate Morgans. They are in fact the same Morgan. A Future Past is the timeline the Morgan we meet in the game comes from. She has two copies of that book because our Robin gave her his during the Future Past DLC, an event she doesn’t recall because of her amnesia. The other 2ed gens don’t recognize her because she wasn’t part of their timeline, let alone their group.

This however, raises another question. If the Morgan we meet in the main game comes from this timeline, then what if Morgan’s mother/father is a 2ed gen? Well, as it turns out, the answer to this question is where we come to the crux of this theory. I believe that A Future Past isn’t simply a version of the doomed future: it is essentially the bad ending for the timeline we play during Awakening itself.

Basically put, A Future Past is what happens when Lucina and the other future kids travel to the past... and Grima ends up winning regardless. In this timeline Grima ends up taking control of Robin one again, with all of the time travelers being killed along with the 1st gens, leaving only their younger selves alive. This not only allows for all of Morgan’s possible parents to work for this timeline, but it also explains all of the differences in this timeline.

The reason the groups trying to recover the gemstones have so much more trouble? Grima has already been through these events once before, so he knows exactly where they will be and when, sending his forces to kill them this time around. The gemstone not being destroyed? The meddling of the time travelers shifted events enough so that all five gemstones where still around. Tiki being still alive? Same with the previous detail: the time travelers still changed events enough to prevent Tiki from dying earlier like she did in their own timeline. Grima being stronger? A combination of having some of his power from his original timeline merge with the Grima of this timeline. Robin resisting? This Robin is like the game’s Robin, where he had amnesia and thus forged stronger bonds with his friends. As a result this Robin hasn’t been completely broken like the Future Robin has, and is thus still resisting Grima.

So in summery, this results in there being four interconnected timelines making up the narrative of Fire Emblem Awakening, which go as follows.

Timeline 1: Bad future timeline. Lucina and other 2ed gens travel to the past, ending up in Timeline 2.

Timeline 2: A Future Past. 2ed gens arrive from Timeline 1. Events are changed, but Grima ends up winning in the end. Morgan is born in this timeline, and eventually encounters the Robin from Timeline 4 before traveling to Timeline 4 herself.

Timeline 3: Bad future timeline. Identical to Timeline 1, only here the 2ed gens end up in Timeline 4. These are the 2ed gens we encounter in the main game

Timeline 4: The game’s timeline. We meet the 2ed gens from Timeline 3 and the Morgan from Timeline 2.

So that’s about it. I hope you enjoyed this exploration of my favorite theory for Fire Emblem Awakening. I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts on this and would be thrilled to discuss this theory more with anyone.

Oh, before I go, one last thing. If you liked this theory and want to know more, then I would like to take the opportunity to shamelessly promote my fanfiction, A Future Disowned, which is a retelling of the A Future Past DLC that explores this theory in more detail.  There, shameless plug done. Take care everyone!

#Fire Emblem Theories #Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Awakening #A Future Past #Morgan

[riderinesse]

Inesse Talks About Lucina’s Mask

Alright so @jayplay and I sometimes do some Critical Analysis™ of Fire Emblem stuff simply because it’s fun and we can and so I decided to share my thoughts here because wow Jay that was quality conversation right there 10/10 would do it again.

Very long Awakening rant under the cut.

So, first of all, this conversation came up because we were talking about the design for Lucina’s mask. No, not the butterfly shape, that specific symbolism is obvious and has probably been done so I’m just going to leave it. We were talking about the eyes, specifically.

Now, obviously, the fact that the mask hides the eyes instead of having the eyes opened for visibility or something is important for multiple reasons. In terms of the plot, it’s to hide the Brand of the Exalt in her eye, which would identify her as Chrom’s daughter from the future. However, the fact that the eyes are hidden is actually integral to her character arc in the game, which has a lot to do with trust.

Her debut in the game - as badass as it was - was deliberately ominous for a lot of reasons, and it’s not helped by the fact that you can’t read her expression at all, because it’s blocking the eyes. The eyes are probably the most expressive part of the face, the windows to the soul and whatnot, and the most unsettling people are the ones you can’t read very well. Her later actions at Arena Ferox, while eventually explained, serve to confuse the player even more because why is this person fighting against you now? Whatever happened to warning us about the great calamity and everything?

So, in these first chapters, she might even come across as a character who is not all that trustworthy. Her mask serves that purpose - she has something to hide. Alotofthingsactually.

However, this also goes the other way. The mask keeps you from seeing her face. The mask keeps her from seeing the world.

By the time of her debut, Lucina has lost trust in the entire world. She’s not unjustified in these feelings - she has seen the world go to hell, she has seen her family and their friends die, she knows that there’s some grand betrayal coming for her father. However, look at how her debut turns out. She’s overly cryptic, and in her cautiousness in dealing with a world and with people she doesn’t fully trust, she actually ends up making herself look suspicious. Trust is often a two-way street, after all.

Over the course of the Plegian War arc, you learn little bits and pieces of the calamity she’s trying to avert, and how she plans to avert it. In this way she opens up a little to the main cast, and in doing so she also gains a little more of the characters’ trust, as well as the players’. This all comes to a head in chapter 13, where she finally removes the metaphorical mask and reveals who she actually is, seemingly putting her full trust in the cast and then joining them.

But wait, I skipped something.

Her physical mask, cut off in chapter 6 where it’s officially confirmed that she’s female. It gets cut off way before the chapter 13 reveal, what about that?

That’s also important. It’s almost like foreshadowing.

After all, what are the circumstances of her mask being removed? It’s forcibly cut off while she’s trying to protect Chrom, and then comes a revelation about her. It’s very early in the game for the obviously-very-important masked figure to suddenly be unmasked - it’s chapter freakin 6 out of over 20 chapters. She’s clearly not ready for her mask to come off either. It’s mirroring the circumstances to chapter 13; she finds she’s forced to reveal herself long before she’s ready to after trying to protect Chrom, except in chapter 13, it’s when she involuntarily shouts “father” instead of having her mask cut off.

The fact that she’s not ready is one of the most important parts of these scenes. Because she never would be ready. Not on her terms. She’s come to rely on the mask and on hiding things she shouldn’t hide (even after chapter 13) so much that she has to be forced to take it off when it needs to come off. So that’s what the story does for her character arc: continually cuts off her metaphorical mask whenever she puts it back on, by forcing Lucina into situations where she has to open up and grant her trust to others. And the story continues to cut her mask off until the final chapters - with Grima’s resurrection and Lucina’s judgement - when she finally learns that fully trusting her allies and the bonds between them is the only way she’ll get anywhere. By then, she doesn’t need her mask anymore.

This more than likely wasn't intentional and I'm reading into something that isn't there, but screw it, I can do that if I want to. Feel free to leave your thoughts or something, I can talk about this stuff all day :D

#can you tell Nessie likes literature classes? #and literary analysis? #because she does #this was written late at night so it's probably bad and confusing #but whatever #I need sleep #random musings #nessie speaks #awakening analysis #lulu

[row-writes]

FE Echoes: My travel into Thabes (Spoilers)

I documented my progress into the Echoes post-game because a few friends were very interested in my reaction and thoughts, so here we go!

The fact that Fire Emblem Echoes turned out to have post-game content made this game in the series even more lovable to me, and a good friend of mine really wanted me to document the journey as I go, hence why I’m writing down my experience for the very first time. So without further ado, let’s head off into the oceans to Archanea and drop off this old lady. I just want to note how AWESOME I think it is that we’re heading to Archanea? In the past I often considered how cool it would be for the people of one continent to visit another, so the idea is very exciting to me especially because it’s one of my favorite FE continents. Combined with the ties to Archanea that some of the characters in Echoes have, I’m glad they decided to go for it. And I’m not even on shore yet, haha. Alright, so I’m a doofus and hardly made any screencaps of the first few battles on sea, but they were pretty straightforward to me. Except for the last one with the Blue Dragons, and the other terrors constantly pouring in as reinforcements. My attacking units were fine, but it was Genny and Tatiana that were often targeted by the reinforcements because there’s so little ‘safe’ spaces on this boat. You’re literally always surrounded in the first few turns.

So after restarting a couple of times, in which I also put the game down for a while to get a fresh view on it- I finally managed to get through. Though I have the help of Mila’s Turnwheel to thank the victory to. With the dragons and terrors now gone from our route, we finally reach the Archanean coast and arrive at the continent in a small village. There we drop off the old lady, who is the reason we’re here in the first place (though my responsibility for accepting, haha) We get our reward, and what do we do next? Well, after forging and upgrading some weapons, we don’t head back to Valentia- we go straight ahead into Archanean territory. Because there’s one last place we haven’t been yet, and that’s the Tabes Labyrinth. While I know something great awaits me there, it doesn’t ease down my excitement to explore just one bit. In fact, just entering the place and reading the content on the gravestone ahead of me multiplies it even more.

So Thabes originally housed an alchemist called Forneus? Praised for his intelligence, but eventually feared by all. Sounds like the classic ‘knowledge leads to power, power leads to corruption’. Fantastic. I spend another moment in the room just looking at my surroundings. The old dragon statues, which probably aren’t there just for decoration but perhaps hint at something? I sure hope so. I descend the stairs, eager for what is to come. The floor is straightforward. Not much to mention aside bandits, maybe some treasure here and there, but then I reach a room where we need to jump down in order to progress. I get brief Silent Hill 2 vibes before I decide to do so, landing in a room where I’m presented with another stone tablet. So there’s more than one? This continues on each new floor? Somehow this fills me with a sense of dread.

Alright. Sounds like he was utterly committed to his work. Which isn’t anything new, but upon remembering what the first tablet said, I don’t get good vibes in the slightest. With thirst for more of Forneus’s story, I progress on until I reach the next tablet. Wake the dead and controlling them as his army? Oh... that’s... not good.

I think we all know what happens when mankind tries to create a perfect creature. Don’t we? Holy shit, I now get a better imagination of the state many floors down below me.

Well... I’m not surprised. The guy’s absolutely obsessed and mad at this point in his research. Probably used them for his experiments, whatever that might contain for those poor messengers. Maybe he controlled the ‘dead’ messengers as his own soldiers to take out the ones the Council sent? Because I doubt a single Alchemist can take on a bunch of soldiers on his own.

I guess if dragging the Alchemist off doesn’t work, they decided to just keep him locked up forever? While I disagree that it’s the best decision, I understand why they did so. I mean, you gotta do something to keep an obvious madman, who has potential to create a disaster- in check, right?

Oh boy... dragons. Something is beyond here, I just know it.

Is that... the Fire Emblem? That dragon was sure doing me a favor by guarding it to try and keep me out. This confuses me, because it seems to be the one from the Archanea series. So imagine if it is, then... Forneus was locked up after the events of the two games? If not, they’d have to snatch the Emblem off this sealed door to use in their wars and allow Forneus to escape. Anyway, no time for speculation just yet, but... I don’t like the idea of taking the ‘seal’ off this door, because I’m sure shit’s gonna hit the fan as soon as I continue on. At this point, I retreat from the dungeon and get some extra training in for some of my units. Also because I didn’t want to get defeated and lose all of the progress I made so far. So after a while of recollecting myself, I went back in until I reached this door once more and take the Fire Emblem, which turns out to be called the Sage’s Shield- a shield that held something in Thabes at Bay. Oh boy.

A little further ahead, I find another tablet. So we’re only heading into the actual workshop of Forneus NOW? Heaven’s sake, what enemies could be awaiting for me there if everyone before that was considered to be just the base of the cake, so to say.

Descending down to the next floor, I realize soon enough that things have indeed changed. The halls are darker, a really eerie and disturbing yet beautiful tune is now playing. The enemies are different too, much tougher, and carry a lot of annoying poison. I try my best to maneuver around them without getting spotted, but I get ambushed really badly three times. Luckily I managed to make it out of the battles quite OK.

Are the Death Masks what the enemies were wearing on this floor? So the actual components of the masks are mere insects that awaken the dead when introduced to a dead body? So practically they are parasites, hosting themselves in a body and living through them. Very... interesting, but very disturbing to say the least.

UHHH. The last thing this mad genius needs is the blood of a divine dragon?? This relates to his pursuit of creating a singular perfect being, I assume?

OK, so I’m a bit confused. Because it doesn’t make sense that the Senate would grant Forneus what he needs for his experiments after going to such lengths to make to get rid of him in any way possible.

Is Forneus instead hinting at the messengers and soldiers the senators sent? Does he consider them the gifts he needed to ‘craft life anew’? Using their bodies to test the thanatophages on? Considering Forneus has lost it pretty badly, I can see this being a possibility? At this point I’m convinced that the first successful members of his ‘undead’ army were indeed the poor messengers and soldiers that never returned. Either way, he succeeded obtaining one of the two matters that consumed him- the undead soldiers. Not good, man. Now he’s halfway of what he wants, and now has the confidence of knowing that he indeed can pull this off, and that’s what a madman like him shouldn’t get.

Wait. WAIT. Did he give his blood to a thanatophage? I’m going to assume he also gave the thing the blood of the divine dragon that he obtained, or did he have an actual divine dragon locked up from which he tapped the blood? Because I don’t see the Senate donating either of those to Forneus, ever. Really, all I can do is speculate right now. I’ll have to discuss this with other friends after I complete post-game for sure.

Well, you did feed it your own blood, which is part of yourself. If it can get access to Forneus’s mind just via his blood, who is to say that he couldn’t obtain other parts of Forneus, such as his intelligence and madness? And the fact that this thing began to grow.... well, crap. The text is cut off, so is this where Forneus succumbs to either his own madness or the ‘thing’s’ influence, or did it even get control over him? I wouldn’t be surprised if Forneus turned himself into one of his undead soldiers either. Unfortunate that the text cuts off, because I’m going to assume this is the last tablet I’ll find judging by that...

Also, it’s QUIET HERE. The unnerving music is somehow already being missed. At this point my heart is racing, and I feel just like I felt when I first made my way through Mt. Silver in Pokemon Silver as a little girl, which is an amazing thrilling feeling I’ve ever hardly felt since then.

WELL. We all know who that symbol belongs to. This is where Grima originated?? Was Grima the matter  that consumed his mind that Forneus ended up creating? GRIMA IS MAN-MADE?? BY ALCHEMY AND BY ONE MAN??? WHAT.

Oh my God. There he is. I can only allow myself to quietly and slowly approach up the stairs, watching every movement of the beast with great and yet fearful intrigue. 

The beast roars an unearthly sound at me, summoning Dead masked summons on the field. But I have no eye for them, the only thing I can see is this dark beast and the very apparent Grimleal brand painted(?) on the floor? (I do doubt that was just paint, just saying)

The first thing I notice on the lower status screen is his title: The Creation. I guess in a sense, that’s all he was before anyone found him and worshiped him as a God. Yet, amusingly enough, the status ‘God’ is already present. This thing was created to be as powerful as a god by Forneus, what else could you possibly call a perfect singular being? But he was already a fell dragon, because he came from the inspiration of a great mastermind who fell as soon as he decided to pursue his insane and uncomprehending ideals. AND THE TRACK USED FOR THIS? It’s Forbidden Sanctuary from New Mystery of the Emblem. I don’t even need to look it up, it’s one of my favorite tracks from the game and I listen to it a LOT while I go for walks and while drawing. I used to go to church a lot back in the day, but the Pipe Organ has always been such an intriguing instrument there to me, hence why I love this track so much. The fight itself was as expected: lots of random summoned units after taking them out one by one. Baiting The Creation into battle made me notice another thing; He’s small, much smaller than we’ve seen him in... future visions, so to say. Now you can argue this is because it’s the battle model, but it makes sense with the lore we’ve been presented. The Creation obviously would continue to grow until it reached godly size. (And did the Creation always have such a bloated belly?)

After much trouble, I allow Kamui to finish the beast off with a lovely critical hit. I mean, he doesn’t like dragons, right? Especially necrodragons. Well, I figured: Kamui, feast your eyes on this beautiful beast.

Joking aside; after the battle there’s a quote; “The horror has passed. Yet still a foul air lingers, filling this place with a sense of dread...” Upon proceeding, I obtain a Rusted Ring. Immediately, I like to imagine this belonged to Forneus. Before me remains the almost glowingly red mark of the Grimleal on the floor. It, together with the quote after beating the creation makes it more than clear that the beast and Forneus’ intentions are not gone. Just into slumber, or waiting once more. I think we all know that.

Further ahead a new glowing mark presents itself; the familiar brand of the Exalt. While I understand the reference and the ties it represent, it confuses me. Why is it here? And I’ve yet to come up with anything to explain it’s presence. Standing on it, it teleports me out of the labyrinth, and away from the horrors and tainted creature I’ve witnessed there. Almost like nothing happened in the rest of the continent while we’ve been exploring down there. Almost unsettling so, because nobody does know of the beast’s existence except for the select group of people who confronted it. I’m sure the Senate expected horrible things to come from this madman, but if only they actually knew what was hiding down here, many and MANY floors underneath the desert sand. Probably growing in silence, growing stronger gradually. And the sheer power of this creature in the far future, judging by the events of Awakening. Or they were more than aware, and then the decision of locking Forneus up in his workplace might’ve not been just for the sake of the man, but rather for whatever the man would spawn in his tainted experiments. That said. Holy. Shit. THIS.... answers questions I’ve had involving Grima ever since Awakening. And holy crap, I did NOT expect this kind of lore to be behind him. To be created by one man and to grow into one of the most feared Dragons in Fire Emblem tales? That’s literally unheard of in FE lore, up until this point. My opinion? I loved the HECK out of this! Many people ask why they even included Grima’s backstory in a game that’s not revolving around the events of Awakening- but I LOVE that they did this, because you didn’t expect this at all? I love that they did postgame content like this to begin with, because I don’t think they did it before like this, ever??? And if you think about it, MORE things about the FE lore could be explained like this. I LOVED Echoes as it is, but I think with this... it might just have to be my favorite Fire Emblem game of all time. As much as PoR and RD will forever be personal favorites, I just have to acknowledge that Echoes is currently my absolute favorite FE game. What a FREAKING journey. Wow! Also, just a personal note that I found incredibly amusing and coincidental: Back in October 2016, I wanted to draw some FE Final dragon bosses for the Inktober challenge. Out of ALL the dragons I had to pick from, and picking a few was rather tough because I wanted to draw them all- I decided to go only with Duma, and Grima. ...Both Duma and Grima are in Echoes. A game I never knew I’d play as I was drawing these dragons, but while drawing Duma I so badly wished there’d be a remake of Gaiden, but realized it probably wasn’t ever going to happen. Yet, here we are. A friend of mine made a joke; “Row, you subconsciously predicted both final bosses of the game.” Not just that: as mentioned earlier, the track Forbidden Sanctuary is one of my all time favorite FE tracks, so I listen to it a lot. I also listened to it whilst drawing Grima back in October, because that’s when I just moved the entire OST to my mp3 and couldn’t wait to listen to it. That’s WHEN I realized how much I loved this track. Seriously though. What are the odds of that? It’s almost... weird. Fire Emblem is great.

#My adventures in Echoes #Fire Emblem #Echoes #The Creation #Spoilers

[piercedfrombehind]

Who would you ship Zero with? Any ships you're for/against?

OH BOY WHO DON’T I SHIP-

Ahem.

Concerning my muse, I obviously have some preferred ships and others I’ve not really thought about but nothing is set. In various fandoms I’ve had threads with characters I outright disliked in canon but ended up loving thanks to that mun’s portrayal of them, so I’m always open to considering new dynamics and following from that, ships. Essentially, I’ll ship Zero with pretty much anyone as long as we build up to it. I can make exceptions depending on the context such as is an AU with multiple people involved, especially if child muses are important in the context.

If Zero ends up having really interesting chemistry with another muse, chances are I’ve considered what if this develops into a ship but just don’t normally say anything unless I suspect the other mun is thinking the same.

In terms of OTPs, Leo/Zero to the point I’ve probably read every fic involving that pair on ao3. Also, Zero/Corrin regardless of which gender. For the former, I love their relationship regardless of if it’s platonic or romantic or one sided - their dynamic just feels really unique and I enjoy seeing it explored, Zerrin I know that’s not a ship name I’m just using Zero because you did is fun as well. The prince(ss) who’s seen barely any of the world and the outlaw who’s seen too much. I see Zero as being very protective of those he comes to care for, even if he doesn’t show it in obvious ways and I feel Corrin would be good at getting him to open up and making him honestly feel loved?

General ships I have so many. To name a few: Nyx, Charlotte and Tsubaki are big ones for me. Admittedly Nyx was sort of to do with the fact I found the censorship hex hilarious. And how she basically went “talk dirty to me” by the end. Though I can see them working well for meaningful reasons as well. Charlotte I like any where the guy sees through her right away tbh and Tsubaki...I may have a thing for hateships. You don’t want to know how excited I get at Chrom/Grima alright. I mean at least with Tsubaki it would stop being antagonist later on.

I won’t go into details for all of them because the dash will hate me for how long this will become and I’m sleepy anyway. But yeah they’re the big ones. Camilla/Zero is also growing on me to an extent their Nina would be terrifying and I feel I’d be more fond of Beruka with him if I actually saw more of her supports-

ok I’ll shut up now.

Ships I’m against? Out of the possible game ones, Setsuna/Zero grates on me? Like he even says that she’s the exact kind of person he would hate and I don’t really see anything in their supports that would change his opinion. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I don’t really know her character well beyond the gimmick but unless there’s something big about her I’m missing, Zero should still find her irritating since she seemingly hasn’t got a care in the world.

Any other ships would just be characters I honestly dislike in general which I’m not going to go into detail because that’s getting into treacherous territory, especially since I know one will be a really unpopular opinion.

In terms of rping, if you’re one of the unnamed characters I dislike, just remember that I said above that portrayals have made me change my mind before. And with the specific one I named, if I interact with a Setsuna and they have actually chemistry and Zero’s given a reason to like her, I might do the ship.

I’M SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG I LOVE MY SHIPS OK. But yeah. Even if a character isn’t named above, I may still ship them - I just have too many so gave some examples that stood out.

#`I'M SORRY FOR THE LENGTH #YOU GOT ME STARTED #I could have kept going ahaha.. #Anonymous

[canoncompanions]

The Best of Canon Companions Tracks 45-55

1. "Don't Tell Me" by Avril Lavigne Works represented: Total Drama Characters represented: Gwen While the song is only partly relevant to Gwen's situation, specifically her early relationship with Trent, it's a really good song in its own right, and since Gwen is one of the most prominent characters on the show, as well as one of the best ones, this song made it on without much trouble. 2. "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers Works represented: The Simpsons Characters represented: Smithers about Mr. Burns This is again one of the more relevant Smithers songs, especially for the episodes where Mr. Burns gets crushes on women, especially on those rare occasions where it seems mutual.  It's also a classic song, and of course representing Smithers is a plus in and of itself. 3. "Zombie Ninjas" by Songs to Wear Pants To Works represented: Total Drama Characters represented: Shawn I love this song and it's obvious from the title that it's at least partially relevant to Shawn.  In fact, the song is more-or-less relevant, with the exception of the ninja motif.  Its relative relevancy was a big part of what made it on, along with how good the song itself is. 4. "Black and White People" by Matchbox Twenty Works represented: Fire Emblem Tellius Series Characters represented: Ike The biggest relevance issue with this song is that it's a little too literal.  While Rob Thomas has stated that he meant "black-and-white" as in "greyscale", the application was meant to be metaphorical, and not necessarily for characters turning into stone.  However, given the fact that Ike is my second favorite character in my favorite game/work, and that this is a great song, it makes sense that it makes it on. 5. "Amnesia" by Chumbawamba Works represented: Tales of Symphonia; Fire Emblem Awakening Characters represented: Emil; Robin Much like "Black and White People", the biggest relevance issue is that it's too literal--in this case, that the song was meant to be used in the macro, and instead, the works use it in the micro.  However, because it's extremely plot-important in both, I love both games, the song is catchy in general, and it's mostly relevant, it's clear for Best Of. 6. "One by One" by Chumbawamba Works represented: Fire Emblem Tellius Series; Grimm; Tales of Symphonia Characters represented: Ike (and Ranulf) to Micaiah; Nick to Renard; Lloyd to Kratos The biggest verse throughline is "Whose side are you on?" and it exemplifies how in all three cases, there's a heroic character, and a character who seems like they should be heroic and yet is doing villainous things (or in the case of Lloyd and Kratos, a character who seems like he should be villainous but repeatedly does heroic things).  Though the song is actually about hypocritical union leaders, it works well in these cases as well.  In addition to being a fabulous song, it's also very plot important in every single case, covers both my favorite video game/work and my favorite live-action show, addresses one of my favorite characters in one case and is narrated by another in another case, it's no big surprise it made it on. 7. "Supreme Girl" by the Sterns Works represented: Total Drama Characters represented: Emma It's worth noting that I did actually have a song specifically about a law-school girl who was sort of insufferably knowledgeable but still able to be a hopeless romantic in ways, so honestly the only reason that this song is so low is because of the graduate and previous job aspects (and the competition).  I love Total Drama the Ridonculous Race, I love Emma (as did the show), and I love this song.  High marks in all categories. 8. "Violence Fetish" by Disturbed Works represented: Fire Emblem Awakening Characters represented: Henry You can probably tell from just the title that this would be a good song for Henry, right?  But unfortunately, the song isn't quite as relevant as the title, but it is close, representing Henry's creepy obsessions with violence and considering it a game.  It's not particularly plot-important nor do I care about Henry that much except compared to most of the other Disturbed narrators (with the exceptions of Judy Hopps and Nino, whose own songs were not very relevant), but I do like the song and Fire Emblem Awakening well enough as well as considering this song very relevant. 9. "The Last Sunrise" by Aiden Works represented: Fire Emblem Awakening Characters represented: Robin This is a very plot-important song for when Robin is still working with Chrom's army after learning the truth about Grima, specifically around the time of fighting Aversa.  While Robin is a more meh character for me, I really love this song, and the theme of staying with a group despite the presence of a "nightmare" really works for their relationship with Chrom and the Shepherds in general. 10. "I Should Be Allowed to Think" by They Might Be Giants Works represented: Lord of the Flies Characters represented: Piggy While like many They Might Be Giants songs, this one has plenty of extraneous details, it also perfectly encapsulates the frustration of a smart, practical person surrounded by a group of impressionable hotheads.  In addition to being a fantastic song, it's about a fantastic character from a fantastic book.  And on top of that, since its his main theme and he's one of the main characters, it's very plot-important as well. 11. "Everything Back but You" by Avril Lavigne Works represented: Cheers Characters represented: Diane This song represents the pilot of the show wherein Diane is abandoned by her fiance, who left her for someone else.  While the song is full of extraneous details, the main theme does a good job of explaining how she got to Cheers in the first place.  It's a good song, it's about a good character on a good show, and it's plot-important.  This song definitely deserves its position.

#the best of Canon Companions

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

16, 24, 35

:D yay more LOTR asks!!!

16. Rivendell or Lothlorien

I'm going to go for Rivendell. Lothlorien is like my step-mom's grandma's house with the white couches and untouched dining room that no one eats in except on Special Occasions. It's beautiful but it gives me anxiety.

Rivendell is like a normal place where I wouldn't feel all ... weird if I touched something. Last Homely House and all! Everything there feels warm and familial. Which makes sense, as it is Elrond's home and he is family-focused in a way that reads slightly more human than some of the other elves.

Also Elrond is my original LOTR main man so, have to give preference to him.

24. Have you watched any of the animated films?

I have. I have seen all three of them. My step dad had them saved on VHS from the 80s and it was 2001, I was on a LOTR kick for obvious reasons, and discovered them in the back of the vhs collection and was like "oh cool! I'll watch these." And my step-dad looked at me and said, "At your own risk."

He wasn't wrong.

I don't think my soul will ever recover from seeing just how short Aragorn and Boromir's tunics were. Gollum still haunts me.

35. Do you have a favourite movie/book?

It is a tie between Fellowship and Two Towers! For both books and movies. I love them both for different reasons. I like how FOTR starts off with strong elements of traditional fairy tales/parochial stories then slowly morphs into a Heroic Epic a la Song of Roland.

(And for the book, the Barrow Wights I adore. I understand why Jackson took them out, but I love how creepy they are and the nod to old anglo saxon myths [Bombadil is rather fae-ish in his nature and has control/power over the Wights. Barrows and the dead, in some, anglo-saxon and scandanavian legends, are heavily associated with the fae. So much so that in some places, it was thought that spirits of the dead became fae/elves. Not drawing any strong conclusions here, just simply appreciate the allusions].)

For both book and film, Boromir is obviously the best. I love him.

Two Towers has all my favourite people in it, aside from Boromir. Though it does have the Lament, in the books. For the films, Two Towers has my favourite scenes (Sam's Speech about Hope; Grima's Oh No I Miscalculated face; Eomer's Arrival at Helm's Deep; the musical score during the ent's destruction of Isengard).

-

Thank you!! :D

lotr ask meme

#lotr #lord of the rings #ask #reply #ask meme #lotr ask meme