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A few weeks ago, a role swap of Genichiro and Emma occurred to me in passing, then the idea proceeded to lodge itself directly into my brain stem and refused to leave me alone. I put the explanation under a cut because it’s characteristically long winded

Around the time of Isshin’s rebellion, when they’re children, Genichiro is adopted by Dogen while Emma is adopted by Isshin.

After Genichiro is found and taken in by the Ashina soldiers, as Dogen keeps an eye on him to ensure he’s healthy, he decides to adopt Genichiro before the point Isshin considers taking him as his heir. Genichiro can be fiery and wild, difficult to manage, but Dogen has a undeniably deep instinct to look after children, and Genichiro is in such a vulnerable position that Dogen can’t bring himself to leave him.

Dogen becomes Genichiro’s father as well as mentor. The war was a sharp reminder that Ashina could always use more doctors.

Isshin doesn’t interfere with Dogen’s intentions even after it occurs to him that Genichiro could make a good heir. Dogen is an old friend and he would never do something so selfish as that. It does, however, bring the idea to the forefront of his mind.

Isshin finds Emma when he fights with Orangutan in the aftermath of the rebellion, after he brings him to heel by cutting off his arm. She’s very timid and plainly traumatized, but when he can bring her around, Isshin can see that she’s tenacious and clever and determined to never suffer such pain again. He sees qualities that could serve Ashina well. Emma is attached to Orangutan, but the shinobi himself wants her in better care than his own, so they eventually convince her to go with Isshin and join the Ashina clan.

Isshin and Dogen both settle into Ashina Castle now that they’ve finally freed the land from Tamura’s clutches and work to get their respective children used to their new lives.

At first, Dogen struggles to occupy Genichiro’s level of energy with medical training. Teaching him the groundwork he needs isn’t very physically engaging and Genichiro has trouble sitting still when his lessons drag on. He certainly has a sharp enough mind to learn, but he clearly wants something to do with the rest of his body as well. Dogen eventually tasks him with gathering herbs, which at least allows him to dash around in the undergrowth.

It turns out to be quite the productive arrangement since Genichiro actually enjoys entrenching himself in the brambles to hunt and Dogen enjoys sparing his back from the labor. He ambles slowly down the paths, organizing whatever Genichiro collects while venturing out into the forest. He takes the initiative to search beyond Dogen’s old, reliable spots, discovering many new patches of valuable herbs.

And as Dogen suspected, once he’s given this more active task, Genichiro proves very good at memorizing and recognizing the plants they need. This becomes the gateway that gradually leads Genichiro to become invested in the rest of Dogen’s teachings. Watching Dogen use the herbs he picked feels far more immediate, and he starts to take his lessons more and more seriously. With time, Genichiro finds his own interest and motivation in taking up his father’s work.

On the whole, Genichiro ends up better adjusted because of this upbringing. He doesn’t have to try to figure out how to shoulder the weight of the whole country as he grows up, nor contend with the pressure of Isshin’s heavy expectations for him. He’s not under the expansive shadow of Isshin’s peerless prowess and accomplishments, trying to live up to the Sword Saint’s unreachable legacy. He doesn’t develop the same intense fear of failure and inadequacy that originally drives him to take drastic and objectionable measures.

However, rooted in his experiences during the rebellion, Genichiro still has a deep fear of loss, and working as a doctor does exacerbate his inclination to take a personal responsibility for everyone’s wellbeing. It can wear on him. He’s too stubborn to give up on anyone or to stay uninvolved if he knows someone’s in danger- he has to step in. He feels a duty to go to every length he can to save someone, ignoring any toll or risk for himself.

Early on, when she’s still adjusting to her new situation, Emma is resistant to Isshin’s intentions to teach her to fight. She associates warfare with destruction and madness which caused so much of her loss and she wants nothing to do with it. Given enough time, that fear could fade and she might change her mind and come to terms with training through her own volition. However, Ashina has always attracted many threats and Isshin doesn’t think they have that time. If Emma is to be as strong as she needs to be to lead Ashina, she needs to start young.

So Isshin makes use of her fear of Shura to motivate her, arguing that strength can protect her and those dear to her from the danger, offering his victory over Orangutan as proof. It does convince Emma to pick up a training sword and go along with the lessons, an arrangement she eventually takes in stride. She discovers a talent for swordplay that lends her a satisfaction and confidence she didn’t know before.

Nonetheless, it’s a questionable compromise. Isshin’s method plays upon her fear of Shura and leads her to believe that brute strength is all she can rely on to overcome one, and her pursuit of prowess becomes a coping mechanism. While she scorns war, she grows to covet martial strength. The Shura becomes something of a fixation for her- when she’s old enough to take command, she puts down any conflict with severity, constantly conscious of the monsters bloodshed can create. She only trusts herself to drive such evil from Ashina and prevent the tragedy she remembers.

While Emma still learns to fight from Isshin, Genichiro also still learns from Tomoe. He feels a mounting urge to learn in his early teenage years. His training to be a doctor had felt more important than fighting, killing felt contradictory to saving lives, but over time he considered how else he could protect people from danger. He decides he wants, at the very least, to be able to defend himself well enough that no one will suffer trying to protect him because he’s defenseless. Isshin offers to train him, but the Ashina style doesn’t suit Genichiro, so Tomoe finally yields to his requests for her guidance.

I’ve gone back and forth about the lightning of Tomoe in this scenario. I imagine that Genichiro still learns to use it, which he does far more sparingly, and Emma doesn’t learn from Tomoe. I want Emma to learn some other, equivalent kind of power to serve a similar notion that she’s reaching for power beyond what’s deemed acceptable out of desperate ambition, but I haven’t thought of a specific ability that I like. I could just swap the lightning powers, but they feel ingrained in Genichiro’s character and I’d like Emma to have something unique. The concept is there, but still incomplete.

As for the two of them, Genichiro and Emma of course grow up together. They’re close; they’re near in age and Isshin and Dogen’s friendship often brings them into proximity. They get along well, and in particular, the similar things they went through during the war and how that led them to Ashina castle is a point of close connection. They understand each other and mean a great deal to each other. They both squabble as kids do, but in serious matters, they always defend one another.

As teenagers, when Genichiro’s protectiveness is settling in and he’s learned more about healing, he repeatedly tries to interfere when he thinks Isshin is pushing Emma too far, when he sees her with an unhealthy amount of work and an unhealthy lack of rest. He insists that she gets a break which Emma always resents, hating any implication that she’s not as strong as she should be. She yells at him for it, but they’re young and Genichiro thinks it’s the right thing to do to stand up for his friend, while Emma instead starts trying to hide any of her struggles from him.

Years later, when Genichiro is more mature and recognizes the effect he’s having, he lets up on interfering. He apologizes and tries to correct course so that Emma will at least feel safe coming to him for aid if she’s ailing, even when she refuses to back down or let anyone else know. It does help to repair that point of contention, but part of the damage is immutable. Emma trusts Genichiro more than anyone else, but not utterly, not with everything.

Nearing the time of game, a rift has formed between them. The Interior Ministry is bearing down on Ashina and Emma is wrapped in paranoia and desperate to prove herself, to overcome her past memories of being a helpless child, just a powerless victim of tragedy. She still doesn’t want to harm people, but she’s convinced that power is the only thing that can truly protect them, and that she must strive for more. Her more vile choices continue to actively grieve her. Emma is smart, and though her fear of Shura leads her astray, she’s also aware that she too could become one, and that keeps her guilty conscious at the front of her mind.

Genichiro keeps trying to get through to Emma with no avail. He’s still stubbornly determined to save everyone he can, but he’s not so attached to Ashina as a country that he’s responsible for, instead focusing on its people. He sees the sense in fleeing instead of clinging to the sinking ship that is Ashina. When Kuro tries to escape, he balks at Isshin’s plan to help him and his shinobi at risk to Emma, but he can’t find any alternative, thus setting off the canon plotline.

I find this a great AU for Genichiro/Wolf because it puts them into proximity a lot more. Genichiro is already quite fond of Kuro from his time looking after him in the castle, and he’s very curious about the shinobi he speaks so highly of. He patches him up and watches keenly once he’s back on his feet. He’s impressed by his resilience, not just of body, but of spirit too, now that he can see it.

Wolf is reserved, but equally intrigued by Genichiro- loomingly tall, powerfully built, and stern faced, and yet he’s a doctor. His scarred and calloused fingers touch careful and precise as he examines his discolored skin. Their cooperation to treat the surge of Dragon Rot brings them closer, drawing more conversation from Wolf than he ever planned for. They’re unexpectedly similar and they both like the time spent together.

Even so, Genichiro is conflicted over his care for Emma. When Wolf is close to the castle, at the risk of losing his very fresh and fragile trust, Genichiro has to request, if it’s at all possible, that Wolf spare Emma’s life. It does indeed earn Wolf’s suspicion and rattle their burgeoning bond, but he ultimately says that he’ll try.

Of course, nothing’s that simple, and Wolf sees no way to win without killing her when they fight on the balcony, and the grief in Genichiro’s eyes sparks guilt. But his broken promise proves a moot point when Emma resurrects. Wolf had feared Genichiro’s request meant he would side with Emma at Kuro’s expense, but watching his desperate pleas for her to leave her path of destruction dispels his distrust. He recognizes the earnest desire to save someone dear. Surprisingly, it even makes the unfamiliar affection in him grow.

Genichiro continues to help him after the duel. It’s increasingly clear how agitated and distressed he is that he can’t do more when everything is falling apart. Wolf’s steady presence is soothing and Genichiro takes heart in all he accomplishes on their mission for Severance. His tender relationship with Kuro endears him, even while it makes their uncertain future even heavier.

Genichiro is incredibly conflicted upon finding the alternate form of Immortal Severance that demands Wolf’s life instead of Kuro’s. It goes so horribly against the grain for him to pick between one life or another and simply accept the loss. He feels like a child again, losing everyone he loves all at once. He doesn’t know how to hand over the information he learned, especially since he knows what Wolf will choose. The thought of losing him is strikingly unbearable after their short time together. It doesn’t help that all this reminds him of the pain of losing Tomoe to the same fate.

Wolf has to pressure him for it, but Genichiro does eventually tell him the truth. Withholding it would be a betrayal Wolf would never forgive. And despite the pain, Genichiro won’t step back and make him go through it alone.

There’s a lot of different ways it can go from this point and I like all of them. It can follow the structure of any of the canon endings- the Shura ending is the most compelling to me. It would have such a bitter irony from Genichiro’s perspective, that all his best intentions and attempts to interfere amounted to this. He sees that Emma was right, and it’s his last desperate bid to rectify this disaster by fighting the monster Emma was trying to keep at bay all the while. The man he trusted over her, the man he led here. And he can’t defeat him. The tragedy is so good.

I also have a half formed idea for a kind of “better end” version where Emma survives and stops opposing Kuro, and not everyone in Ashina dies. I think the changes Genichiro and Emma would cause in their roles would open up that possibility in interesting ways. Namely, Genichiro insistence on actively fighting to make a difference and making an effort on Emma’s behalf, caring for her even at the bitter end. And Emma having more patience and awareness of the wretched consequences of her actions that remains even through her blinding conviction to reach for more power. It would follow the return ending, but the details aren't refined and I’ve already rambled plenty already. Fix its are hard with Sekiro considering how fucked up everything is from the outset :’)

#sekiro #sekiro shadows die twice #sekiro wolf #sekiro emma #genichiro #genichiro ashina #genikiro #fromsoftware #my art #my writing #i had so much fun drawing these #like holy shit itd been too long #and im really pleased with them too c:#in my mind the fix it would prob end with wolf/genichiro/emma bc i love them together lol

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