#i have put way too much thought into validar

[ro-botany]

To hell with it. If I can wring essayposts out of Validar and Groom Robin, I can lay out some extended thoughts about my favourite Fire Emblem character’s new alt: Young Frederick. It would be weirder if I didn't. Buckle up for disorganized unedited blorbo opinions.

Under the cut, though, because this got longer than I was expecting.

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The inclusion of the pebbles thing is just kind of par for the course with Frederick. It's been The Fred joke since his debut. It was a joke in Awakening, it's present in all three of his heroes units, and they even made a joke weapon about it in Fates. I wonder at what point they'll decide they've worn it out already. It's been 12 years, man.

But it is interesting that they're implying he picked up the pebble-clearing neuroticism so young.

My friend Ana (@/cannibal-lesbian) made a connection a while ago between the fact that Emmeryn had stones thrown at her in the early years of her rule, and Fred's insistence on clearing debris—rocks in particular—from the routes he knows that people he cares about will be taking. I think that's a pretty compelling connection to make.

Young Fred is already so damn worried about the royals all the time, and him overreacting to threats to their safety constitutes so much of his screen time... If he were present for any of the times that stone-throwing happened, if he was there when Emm got hurt badly enough by a thrown rock for it to scar long term, I can absolutely buy him deciding that no one in walking distance of his charges is allowed to have access to chuckable rocks ever again.

It also doesn't help that Chrom, at least when he's older, is known to overwork himself so much he's tripping on random shit from exhaustion. Young Chrom in Heroes is already pretty obsessed with protecting people, so maybe that sort of thing has already started.

As tired as I am of the pebble collection as manifestation of him being a big worrywart, the pouch o rocks in his art is such a cute detail that it's really hard to be mad about it. Look at him. Look at him with his lil rock bag.

---

Some of the most positive things I can say about Young Fred’s dialogue in Heroes actually apply to his part in the paralogue that came with the release of the baby Awakening units, Double Vision. Young Fred is flustered trying to take care of little baby Lissa, and then when she runs off anyway, he’s absolutely beside himself with worry. When she’s found and the kids all get to wondering about meeting older versions of themselves, he starts off anxious about the possibilities... then promptly gets lost daydreaming about how cool it would be to be a knight. The best knight, even.

Very often we see Fred’s overzealous devotion to the Ylissean royals; but it’s not very often that we get to directly confront the undercurrent of worry and perfectionism that in part drives that devotion. Perhaps the most acknowledgement Awakening itself gives us that Frederick’s stoicism is armour over staggering amounts of anxiety is in the spotpass chapter with Emmeryn. I’m happy to now have an example of this that isn’t also heart-breaking!

Besides that, it’s just cute. This little dude has his work cut out for him trying to babysit these chaos kids, and he has such big dreams too! He’s doing his best. I love him.

His profile voice lines continue this characterization trend. He’s earnest. He’s dedicated to his training. He gets all embarrassed that he’s not being a perfect knight yet. He’s being a bit of a dork, honestly, with the line about him dragging around too many pebbles for him to reasonably carry.

I love that so much of the dialogue associated with him is willing to put these personality traits out in the open like this. This Fred is still young and he hasn’t had time to build up that emotional armour yet. He's not had the time to build up his combat skills or figure out how he can best take care of the royals, and he's tripping a bit, and nervous, and throwing himself into it all the way.

I like it a lot. This was a good direction to take a younger Frederick. :]

His level 40 dialogue... dang it, okay, it’s just so cute, I need to gush about it. Fred’s fretting over the comfort of the royals again and decides to hand-knit a wall tapestry for their room, and now he’s come to ask Kiran their opinion of it, and you can tell he’s kinda nervous about it. Kiran looks at his art project and goes “You need to move this somewhere everyone can see. The world must be able to view it.” And listen ok that is my reaction too, Kiran, 100%.

Knitting a fucking tapestry. Generally you don’t... that’s not a knitting project, that’s more of a weaving project. But knitting is the fibercrafting skill that Frederick is familiar with, and he’s allergic to asking for help because he wants so badly to prove himself, so he just puts 150% effort into knitting a whole ass tapestry anyway. It’s perfect. This is a perfect level 40 conversation.

This is how you call back to obscure facts about characters. This exactly is how you do it. You show it off in a natural conversational way.

---

And unfortunately, my emphasis on that is a segue into the part where I have to get more critical.

Castle dialogue is usually some of my favourite to read in Heroes. I enjoy going to my home screen and checking up on all my little guys, seeing what they’re up to. It feels very much like Awakening’s barracks conversations.

I’m not sure if this is the result of an English localization issue, or if it’s also present in the original Japanese (which I cannot read), but the majority of Young Fred’s castle dialogue reads very much like.... someone was just ticking boxes. Like they ran out of enthusiasm after all the stuff above and just slapped some basic lines in to finish up the unit.

To illustrate what I mean, I’m going to pull some example lines off of some other characters first. Just tapping on the characters hanging around my home screen as I write this, I get lines like:

Chrom: I was practicing my swing and wound up smashing a pot. Forgive me, Kiran. Chrom: Back home, my Shepherds deal with outlaws and monsters. It’s strange that here we battle against Heroes. m!Robin: Do you have a moment to go over some tactical options? I’d love to hear your thoughts. m!Robin: Back home, I was always checking on everyone, too. It helps me relax, knowing they’re safe and well. Lissa: Sharena seems nice. I wonder if we could have a “princess chat” sometime... Lissa: I’ll put the frog here and... AH, Kiran?! Awww, you caught me before I pulled the BEST prank! Sully: I know you don’t fight, but I’ll teach you to defend yourself. Don’t worry. I won’t hurt ya too bad! Sully: Your commander seems strict—bet I could learn a lot from her. Maybe I’ll join the Order of Heroes... m!Morgan: Your white robe is too cool! But I’d expect nothing less from the tactician of the Order of Heroes. Say, can we... Swap robes? Just for a moment?!

With all of these lines, you get the sense that the characters are interacting with the world of Askr. They’re thinking about other characters like Anna and Sharena. They’re commenting on what it’s like to be in Askr. They’re talking to Kiran like we’re seeing one half of a conversation—Robin notices how you’re going around checking up on all the heroes on the home screen and talks to you about it, Chrom gets all embarrassed about training mishaps, Sully offers to train you, you bump into Lissa trying to pull a prank and spoil her fun...

All these characters are written to be really integrated into the daily life here in the Order of Heroes. We’re giving them tiny scenarios that let them show off their personalities splendidly.

...And then there’s Young Frederick’s castle dialogue. :|

Lord Chrom deserves only the most well-trained, battle-tested guardian. I hone my skills that I may fulfill that role. Lady Emmeryn accepted the role of exalt quite young. My lord Chrom shares her noble blood. My hobbies? I do enjoy foraging for mushrooms. When I happen upon a rare one, I nearly shake with glee! I fear no man or beast! Well...except perhaps that mountain wolf. Those memories are best left buried... Please, be silent... I am honing my concentration by focusing on this candle's flame until it dies out.

It’s all written in Fred’s voice, they did well at that... but... do you notice how much less lively this all feels, compared to the other characters’ lines above?

Pretty much every unit I’ve encountered in this game has at least a few castle lines where they’re just Saying A Fact about themselves or their backstory or something. But most of them also have conversational lines like the ones I highlighted, and... this Fred just... doesn’t! He just doesn’t.

They hit on a bunch of references to his dialogue in Awakening; even some really obscure ones, ones that you would miss if you didn’t do the right supports or encounter specific Barracks conversations. But they didn’t write them in a way that feels like natural conversation. They wrote them just to be references.

Look, look! We saw the Panne supports, guys! Look we’re calling back to the wolf backstory!! ...But they’re just making him say it outright. He’s listing off a fact about himself, not acting like a human person. Why tell and not show in this instance? Why not call back to that by, for example, having him react to the idea of meeting some of the beast units running around Askr? Make it conversational and make it reference the fact that that line came from a support with a beast unit. Perhaps something like: “Those shapeshifting Heroes... they don’t go around in animal form ALL the time, do they? ...N-not that I’m afraid or anything! I fear no man or beast!”

Ooo you remember how he likes fire? Yeeeaaah, we read his bio, we read that one barracks line! ...But you also chose to include this fact by... making him stand around staring very hard at a candle. This is just such a nothing burger of a line.

Hey guys! You remember the barracks line about mushrooms?! We did! Look, he likes mushrooms!!! ...Sure, and I genuinely am happy that the callback exists. It’s even kind of fun that we’re using the same scenario that was the context for learning this in Awakening, where we’ve asked Fred about his hobbies. But it’s not working for me here because we already have enough lines where he just says a fact about himself. Why would you not, say, have us encounter Fred while he’s hunting for mushrooms in the courtyard? Or perhaps we bump into him when he’s just coming back from foraging with some rare mushrooms he’s excited to tell us about? Or maybe he asks us if the royal library has any field guides on Askran mushrooms?

Just, something! Give me some kind of acting! Natural conversation! I’m happy that someone cared enough to dig up the obscure references, trust me, I am. But this execution is stiff as hell.

---

In the end I can’t really complain too much. New official Frederick content in the year 2024 was a complete shock and I’m delighted to have him around.

I’m at least a little disappointed we got no real opinions or clarifications on his backstory, or many things to speculate about; though I understand you can only do so much with minor characters while adhering to canon. And I wish they didn’t stumble so hard on the castle dialogue, because imo it’s some of the most important dialogue a Heroes unit has.

But the majority of his characterization and individual lines are well-executed. I’m quite pleased. The Frederick fans are eating well. :]

#fire emblem #fe heroes #frederick #meta #sort of??? it's more opinion-y. but eh #maybe i can't speculate about many interesting things with this unit #but i can sure as hell subject you all to more rambling about my blorbo >:] #give me an inch and i'll write you 1700 words

[iturbide]

same anon as the not exaggerated joke but not joke about robbing plegia. God I love awakening, I really love chrom and robin and all that. But I am also facinated by Gangrel and Validar (and to a lesser extent Henry and Tharja (and also Mustafa and to an even lesser extent the various plegian officers you fight) Like there could have easily been an interesting exploration of any of those characters. Gangrel's a much less subtle example of how an ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE affected him. He went mad and is lashing out at those who both caused and did not take accountability. Like there's a lot there to unpack and look at, especially when you consider his general dismissal of the grimleal cult. Validar is one I really wish we saw more of (Validad wishful thinking in my brain). He was likely a part of the grimleal since before the war, being a failed vessel; how did he view the genocide, was he moved by what happened to other plegians, did that give him conviction, did he care at all? Did he see grima, or his own child as a means of retribution or even as a saviour for his people. There is so much that could have been done there. Also maybe Tharja and Henry should have more to say about their country being brutalised in 3 whole wars. Also also, please just acknowledge Mustafa he was so fucking cool and deserved a larger role in the story, I'd love them as a continuous antagonist/anti-hero who RIGHTLY points out the hypocricy of the ylisseans while still showing himself to be an empathetic and just leader. Fuck it make him in charge, put him on a council with Validar. Can you imagine the political debates between those two?

Anyway I'm gonna start reading Affectionately Yours to stimulate the part of my brain that awakening didn't

Look, I am deeply and utterly fascinated by Plegia. I have been for a long time. Roughly half my Awakening works on AO3 hinge on some extensive Plegian worldbuilding because Awakening really didn't bother with it and I'm too fascinated to leave it alone.

I have a lot of thoughts about Gangrel. I have a lot of thoughts about Validar. I have a lot of thoughts about who they could have been in different situations, and why they turned out the way they did. I honestly think that Gangrel could have been handled better in Awakening canon: I think his mother was killed by bandits when he was young according to canon? But imagine how much more potent his role in the story becomes if he lost his mother in the attempted genocide -- he was a direct victim, and that unaddressed trauma festered and turned him into the Mad King. (I have a whole post of backstory headcanons about that.) And I think that Validar is underexplored as a character, especially considering that he outright admits he's a failed attempt at creating a vessel for Grima, and what something like that would do to a person. (I have yet another post of backstory headcanons for him.)

Henry...Henry not really having something to say doesn't surprise me. Henry was a victim of basically every system he'd ever been part of. He doesn't have a stake in society, but he's culturally Plegian because it's how he was generally brought up. Tharja, though -- she I think should have things to say about the situation, because even if she does adopt a measure of disinterest in the general situation, that's her home. She's lived through these nightmares and been a witness to their aftermath. The fact that her being Plegian and how that's affected her was entirely squandered is an absolute crime.

and don't get me started on Mustafa. I love Mustafa so much. Mustafa gets a role in basically all my fics, I love him so much. He's in Affectionately Yours. He's in Cursed Fate. He's in both Crown of Shadows and Shrouded Throne. He's in my works in progress, he's in my backburner stories, he's everywhere. I absolutely adore General Mustafa and what he says about Plegia as a country, even though the game tries to pretend that people like him don't exist as soon as we finish out Chapter 11.

I have a lot of Plegia thoughts okay. And a lot of Plegia stories.

also please let me know if you have any issues getting into the fics, I locked them as a precaution against AI data scraping but I am 100% willing to unlock them if you want to read but don't have an account

#answered #anonymous #fire emblem: awakening #this doesn't even touch on all my grimleal cultural headcanons #also fun fact: future built part 2 will also feature mustafa #in an extremely important role #he may end up leading plegia at the very end of the story #guiding it toward a democracy after the wars are over #plegia maintains its independence #and begins to forge a new and brighter future for itself #someday i swear i'll get back to fic writing #damn burnout

[yukiwrites]

Robin, Submitting

Thanks for the support as usual, @xpegasusuniverse! I got carried away and wrote a bit more, but it was so funny I couldn't stop it x'D I hope you like it!

Summary: Robin thought that the whole titspetacle was behind him. They were deep into the war between Good and Evil, Grima and Naga; Fell Dragon and Divine Dragon. Now was not the time to be reminded of his dark past. And yet, there were people interested in his bountiful bosom even down in Plegia...

Commission info HERE and HERE!

______________________________

Fate beckoned. After each passing moment, Lucina’s ruined future descended upon them like a crashing wave.

With the Fire Emblem stolen and Validar supposedly in possession of all five Gemstones, it was only a matter of time before Grima was called forth to bring destruction upon the land once more.

The skies darkened as purple clouds swirled above the place called The Dragon’s Table, which was located in the middle of the desert, east of Plegia’s royal castle. The Shepherds had to fight their way through the Grimleal that swarmed the desert like fanatics, while trying not to harm the innocent villagers who seemed drawn by the Table like moths to a flame.

They fought their way against Aversa and her Twelve Deadlords, but there was still a vast desert between them and their goal — and the Grimleal’s numbers were not diminishing.

Morale was at an all-time low after the loss of the Fire Emblem, especially since the one who had delivered it to the enemy had been none other than Robin. Sure, their inner circle understood that Robin had been possessed and tried to appease the foot soldiers’ minds each in their own way, but with the impending doom of the world happening right in front of their eyes, there wasn’t much that could be done to encourage them.

Taking all that into consideration, the Shepherds had a summit regarding their advance.

Speed was imperative, seeing as the very ground they stood on shook with the waves of power that emanated from the table; however, the soldiers would not be able to fight through the hordes of Grimleal scattered all over the place between them and their goal.

Ergo, a proposal was set up.

Why not capitalize on Robin’s resemblance to the Hierophant and have him lead the Shepherds right through the Grimleal’s camps? Since the fanatics were scattered around the desert and not present at the Table, they would probably be too far down in the chain of command to be able to assert the Hierophant’s true whereabouts.

Robin was skeptical about it all, but, as pressed for time as they were, reluctantly acquiesced after Chrom persuaded him.

“It’s worth a shot, Robin. The men are in no condition to fight. I don’t want any more needless sacrifices,” the prince — no, the Exalt — said so, placing one hand on Robin’s shoulder.

“Still, it’s too risky,” the tactician advised against it, but Chrom was adamant.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go armed to the teeth. If things go south, we can always fight our way through,” he repeated the same words he had said a few months ago, before they agreed to a summit with King Validar. The circumstances were slightly different, but the course of action would mostly be the same.

Go in, speak a few words, and pass through.

“I just don’t want our people’s lives to be treated like fodder for us to walk over,” he finished, putting the last nail on Robin’s coffin.

Sighing, the tactician nodded. “Alright, but I’m not confident in my acting skills.”

“Worry not, O Father of mine!” Owain flapped the entrance of the tent dramatically as he struck a pose once inside. “I, Owain Dark, the one most versed in the art of histrionics, will be with you!”

Stunned by the sudden appearance of his son, Robin exchanged glances with Chrom and Lucina before sighing. The moment he opened his mouth to retort, however, Lissa appeared right behind the loud young man.

“The art of tomfoolery, you mean, right, darling?” Lissa pulled Owain’s ear. “Don’t get in the way while the adults are talking okay, dear?”

“Owowow- But Mooom! I’m not a kid anymore— ouch!”

“No ‘buts’, c’mon, let’s get out of here and prepare. Sorry ‘bout that, Robin, Brother.” Lissa winked, exiting the tent while pulling Owain by the ear, his screams of pain still loud enough to echo minutes after she left.

“Well, that was that,” Chrom shrugged with a smile as Robin scratched his ear in embarrassment. 

“Yeah, uh,” Robin took a short breath, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “We need to secure a Sorcerer outfit. Do you think Henry has a few spares?”

“It’s worth asking,” Chrom nodded, then glanced at Frederick.

“I shall confirm,” the knight bowed, competent as ever, and left.

While waiting for Frederick’s return, Chrom and Robin smoothed out the details of the operation. Even if Henry did not have a spare Sorcerer outfit, procuring one wouldn’t be hard, considering their location at the moment.

Thankfully, however, Frederick returned with the smiley plegian mage, bearing good news.

“I heard you needed a change of clothes, nyaha! Boy, aren’t you glad I keep lots of spares since they keep getting stained with blood?” Henry giggled airily, setting absolutely no one off.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks, Henry,” Robin nodded, receiving the outfit with a slight bow.

“Buuut are you sure it’s gonna fit?” Henry wriggled his eyebrows as Robin unfolded the robe. “I mean, we’re pretty much the same in height, but I don’t think I’m… abreast of the situation as you are, nyahaha!”

Chrom sputtered. Robin froze in place as he closely analyzed the outfit.

It was transparent.

It was transparent right around the chest area. It was a dark transparency, but still, one could see everything there! Oh no.

Oh, that wasn’t good at all.

Was it too late to pull back from that deal?

Robin snapped his head at Chrom, desperation so woven into his face he looked almost pitiful. Still, Chrom shook his head silently, hearing Robin’s innermost pleas but deciding against them. As the mirth that came suddenly left just as quickly, Chrom’s gaze reminded Robin of the gravity of the situation they were in.

“Think of the soldiers, Robin.” Chrom said in a deep voice, though the sight of the giggling Henry in the tent made it very hard for the Exalt to keep a straight face.

“Chrom, I can’t do that again. I’m not strong enough,” Robin almost sobbed, but the more pitiful he looked, the harder it was for Chrom to stifle his laughter.

“Robin,” he said simply, ending the discussion.

With a sigh, the tactician moved towards the exit, holding the outfit with both hands.

Frederick stepped in front of him, preventing him from leaving. “And where do you think you’re going? My lord has made it clear that—”

“I’m not changing in the same room as you two demons!” Robin shrieked, very much traumatized by the day he was forced to be a model for a painting he would rather pretend that it did not exist.

“Oooh, juicy!” Henry clapped from the side as Chrom put one hand in front of his face to stop himself from laughing and Frederick grimaced at the slander towards his lord.

Regardless, Robin still dragged his feet to his own tent to change, exiting it after fully covering himself with the outfit’s long cloak. If he tied the knot really closely, the cloak would hide all the transparency underneath it, so it wasn’t all so bad in the end.

Honestly, that had been such a huge weight of his mind that he actually managed to walk into a plegian encampment with the straightest face in the world. Chrom, Frederick, Henry, Tharja, Owain and Gregor were part of his immediate entourage as the others guarded their own camp further south.

If they were granted safe passage, Owain would ride back and bring the others through, so it was imperative to be as inconspicuous as possible in their acting.

However, perhaps all that preparation and heart-steeling had been for naught, for the moment the camp’s commander landed his eyes on Robin, he cracked a big smile.

“Master Robin! When the forward scouts told me of your arrival, I could scarcely believe it!” He opened his arms in a warm welcome, though kneeled until his forehead brushed on the sand, kissed the hem of Robin’s robe and got up before continuing. “To think that our lord Grima would be so magnanimous as sending the Hierophant himself to check on us lowly servants before the feast! I am deeply humbled.”

“That was the setting?” Owain murmured behind Robin, receiving a well-deserved elbow to the ribs in response.

“... Indeed, Lord Grima is magnanimous,” Robin forced a smile, opening his arms as if he were a Bishop ready to start preaching. “However, although He is all-seeing and all-knowing, I am but one man, and a quite busy one at that,” he said, his voice somehow charismatic enough to captivate the audience. He truly looked like Owain’s father for a moment there. The crowd of Grimleal around them only grew as he spoke, all nodding as if in deep understanding. “Because of this, my stay here must be brief as I have many other encampments to visit.”

“Oh, Master Robin…” The Grimleal sniffed as if either pitying or envying him. “We understand,” the commander spoke up amidst the crying fanatics,” however, before you go, could you please listen to our plea?”

Robin sneaked a glance at Chrom, who narrowed his eyes under the full-face helmet he wore to hide his Exalt-blue hair. They both nodded, the entire entourage ready to take up arms at a moment’s notice.

“Let’s hear it,” Robin nodded and the man’s expression was coated in such pure delight it looked as though Robin had just saved his entire family and future generations or something.

“Oh, Master Robin,” the man murmured, and a few others behind him followed. Soon they swarmed around Robin, their eyes glowing in greed mixed with elation. “Master Robin, Master Robin,” they all chanted under their breaths.

“Please, allow us to rest our heads on your bountiful bosom!” The commander spoke up, his face flushed and his gaze unfocused.

“Please!”

“Please!”

The fanatics behind him shared his plea and expression, all of them looking, frankly, like a bunch of perverts.

The request was so unexpected that Robin’s brain stopped working for a moment.

He didn’t even react. He just stood there, his eyes glazed over as his mind went out of service for a few seconds.

Taking his silence as a negative, the men started to explain their petition. “It is told that Master Robin, under Lord Grima’s ever magnanimous graces, gives blessings to the most devout of our faith at the castle. As we’re stationed so far from the Table, we will probably never have another chance like this! We beg of you, O, Master Hierophant, please, bless us with your bounty!”

“Pfft—” Chrom choked behind him, but a swift kick to the chin from Frederick made it all seem like it had been the wind. Gregor and Henry laughed openly behind them, patting Robin on the back.

“Nyahaha, what a way to BLOSSOMING — get it, blessing and bosom? Nyaha! — the relationships between devouts, huh?” Henry said as Gregor nodded, crossing his arms.

“Robin’s bosom is much bountiful, yes. Won in many competitions, it did.”

“Truly, a work of art!” The commander gasped in awe, turning back to Robin, his eyes even more dangerously pervert-like than before.

This was a nightmare. It had to be.

Robin had finally managed to get over — or mostly get over — everything that had happened with Lord Bellom and whatever it was that he had going with body-building and male bosom and tits— chests…

He was almost able to change in front of Chrom andd Frederick again, but now… What was going on? Why was this happening to him?

Was submitting to Grima the better choice, after all?

“Master Robin!” The soldiers urged.

No… No, submitting to Grima would warrant more of such nonsense, by complete strangers.

Robin had had enough of people fondling him and painting his bosom for a lifetime, thank you very much.

“I, uh,” Robin’s eyes swirled in panic as he looked back for support from his comrades. Chrom was stifling a laughter, Gregor and Henry were asking soldiers about the blessings and what they entailed; Tharja and Frederick wore varying shades of purple and blue on their faces, each mortified or surprised by the situation in their own ways.

And Owain… He was uncharacteristically quiet, which in retrospect should have been a red flag for Robin at the time. However, the return of the tactitcian on the table… or Dragon’s Table, was enough to shock Robin out of his skin.

Still, he had to protect his chastity! At least in a foreign country where no one knew him… Or at least knew this version of him— oh, by Naga, if they all knew his face and knew the other Robin handed out such blessings… then, nowhere was safe!

Robin would be plagued by tit—chest! By talks about his chest no matter where he went!

Nowhere was safe, oh, by Naga, nowhere was safe.

Desperation rising the bile in his stomach, Robin managed to croak out, “I’m afraid we are too busy to be able to bless everyone so… warmly. Forgive me, soldier, but know that Lord Grima is watching and sending out blessings to us all,” Robin made a sign with his hands that signified the Grimleal seal, receiving varying murmurs of disappointment from the fanatics.

“Oh, that is a shame—” the commander sagged his shoulders in defeat, but then… A step.

No, a stomp.

No, an explosion? 

To Robin, all of his senses were basically short-circuiting, so any small noise seemed to be multiplied by a hundred fold.

“Fear not, O wretched lambs! For I, Owai— Odin Dark, scion of Master Robin, yours truly, and true descendant of the Immortal, Perfectly-Toned, Wisest and Most Charismatic Hierophant Robin! Behold!” Owain reached for his collar, immediately ripping his shirt off to reveal his male bosom.

His skin almost glistened in the darkness, making all fanatics stand in awe.

Betrayal!! Betrayal by my own flesh and blood! Robin bellowed in his mind as the devouts swarmed closer to Owain’s Divine— or rather, Damned bosom.

Robin inadvertently held the cloak closer to his body, though he felt a looming presence approaching behind him — it was Frederick.

Oh no.

No, not again.

Robin looked up in horror as he saw only the shadows of Frederick’s face.

“Betrayed by my comrades once again? Once again I am thrown into the pits of despair?” Robin trembled in his boots, though the enemy commander’s shift in emotion made him ground himself in reality.

“But… is this young man truly your son, Master Robin? The bosom speaks for itself, but for a man of your complexion to father a young man of that age?”

“I keep a very strict skin care routine,” Robin blurted out. Chrom almost laughed again, but managed to keep it in this time.

“Truly, Lord Grima’s blessings know no bounds.” The man held his hands in prayer.

Still, Robin feared that Owain’s antitcs might be the end of them, so he opted to sacrifice himself.

Much like how he had decided the fate of thousands, the fate of the previous Exalt and his own fate not to die by Lucina’s blade, Robin had made a decision.

He would throw himself into the wolves.

“If you do not believe us even so, then…” he glanced at Frederick behind him, who was ready to force him to ‘bless’ the soldiers, and took a step forward himself, stripping down the cloak.

He revealed the transparent bosom he had been hiding himself, his face so red his entire upper body shook in shame. 

“See for yourself, how these,” he put his hands akimbo, protruding his chest, “run in the family.”

If it had been Vaike there, he would have put both hands behind his head and wiggled his tits—breasts! — for a bit of fanservice, but Robin still had some shame left in him.

“Father!” Owain’s eyes lit up. He ran to Robin’s side, crossing arms with him so their chests were almost touching. “Behold, our family’s treasure!”

“Kill me… Kill me… Kill me…” Robin said under his breath as the soldiers all let out ‘oohh’s and ‘aaah’s of amusement as they rested their heads on both Father and Son’s bosoms.

That’s it.

Submit to Grima. Robin would submit to Grima and allow the darkness to take over his consciousness. He couldn’t handle being alive anymore.

Now it wasn’t just one man fondling his breasts, but dozens — nay, hundreds! — of fanatics rubbing their faces all over his chest! They were even blushing!

Some looked up at him like he was their mother or something. 

It was so disgusting Robin would have nightmares about this for years after the war had ended — it would scar him even more than realizing he actually could submit to Grima due to his bloodline, but that was a story for another time… For now, Robin was stuck in a never ending loop of perverts, nay, fanatics, nay, batshit crazy people rubbing their faces on him.

He was gonna die. Physically, mentally; whichever way one called it. He was gonna die.

#robin fire emblem #owain fire emblem #chrom fire emblem #fire emblem awakening #fea #my writings #yuki's commissions

[fayesdiary]

I posted 1,682 times in 2021

408 posts created (24%)

1274 posts reblogged (76%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.1 posts.

I added 4,576 tags in 2021

#fire emblem - 1512 posts

#reblog - 1219 posts

#queuerealm gate - 651 posts

#fire emblem echoes - 198 posts

#fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia - 194 posts

#fe15 - 190 posts

#my rambles - 174 posts

#fire emblem fates - 168 posts

#fe14 - 152 posts

#fire emblem heroes - 118 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i mean in the real world absolutely because her clan would devolve into a corporate dystopian monopoly and we all know how lovely real world

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Gangrel: “Before we begin the Exalt’s public execution, I want to thank our sponsor NohrVPN”

88 notes • Posted 2021-04-29 13:51:04 GMT

#4

See the full post

91 notes • Posted 2021-06-24 18:42:32 GMT

#3

Sure, many final bosses in gaming are epic, but are they “you’re facing a possessed version of yourself while on top of a colossus-sized dragon soaring the seas and fighting to save not only the world, but metaphorically the franchise itself, all the while an emotionally charged arrangement of your theme constantly plays as you decide to put the world over yourself” kind of epic?

94 notes • Posted 2021-05-01 19:25:45 GMT

#2

Id (Dilemma): The weird and ironic relationship between Robin, Grima, and you

Topic overanalyzing something that the creators probably never even thought about my beloved

Disclaimer: This is an essay analyzing Robin and Awakening in a metanarrative sense when it was clearly never meant to. This is not the kind of series or game to ever truly lean on or break the fourth wall, and the player doesn't exist as an entity in the FEverse beyond the avatar. But bearing this in mind, I'm gonna throw authorial intent out of the window for this whole post to even have a point. Hope you have fun and don't get too much of a headache from my incoherent rambling!

So, you all know the third arc of Awakening: Validar does shenanigans to revive Grima and T-pose over the world but dies like a scrub while complaining about his script being wrong, you find out Robin is an avatar of Grima themselves while future Grima revives the current Grima and goes chilling evilly over the ocean, you chase them, beat them up and tell them to go to sleep. Temporarily or permanently, that's your only choice that actually matters. Anyway, you saved the world and everyone lived happily ever after, until you play Apotheosis and regret everything you've ever done and start hating this series like a true fan.

But jokes aside, one idea that gets reinforced over and over during the arc is that while Robin is the Avatar of Grima and there is a significant overlap between the two of them (to the point where some people interpret it as Robin being an amnesiac Grima), ultimately they are two different people, which is confirmed in the ending where Robin deals the final blow: Grima dies, but Robin lives.

Except, there's something deeply ironic about all of this, especially when you take Awakening's theme of destiny not being written and everyone being able to make their own choices.

Which is, Robin isn't an avatar of just Grima. They're also an avatar of you, the player.

sorry, graphic design is not exactly my talent

Fire Emblem avatars are weird.

They are usually two types:

1) The older one, they are you entirely, but there's nothing about them. No personality, no dialogue, no design, they're not even playable well Kiran is now but ehhh. They are entirely meant to be you, other characters in fact face the screen when talking to them, and you can remove them entirely from the story and the plot still functions perfectly. No really, you can in Blazing Blade! 2) The second one is a fully customizable and playable unit, with their own broken stats and personality and design. Kris was the first one of these, while Robin is the second.

So, you can interpret it two ways: either Robin is an extension of the player or Robin is controlled by you. Both of them are used in the fandom, sometimes interchangeably, and both have... interesting implications.

And you wonder how much of it was intended. After all, Robin's themes are call Id.

Robin as the player (or an extension of them)

This is the first interpretation, and the most common I feel for most players at first, since that's the case for most avatars and customizable characters.

After all, an avatar is meant to represent you, right?

That's how you are meant to see Robin, especially now that marriage mechanics are back in the series, and sure enough, there's plenty you can customize about them from the first screen.

But at the same time, there's plenty that's unique to them, but not you:

Their "canon" name and appearance. In every other appearance, Robin has a distinct look and name taken from their default settings, and the only thing that betrays their former status as an avatar is that they have a male and female variant.

Their backstory. While the amnesia plot is a convenient device to introduce the player to the world and its people, what little we know about it isn't what I'd call relatable, and this is something that gets even more exaggerated with Corrin, the next avatar.

And most important, their personality. This isn't an RPG with dialogue options, and Robin is not a silent protagonist. They're the one who talk, befriend and potentially fall in love with the Shepherds, and most of the choices they make in the plot are completely unprompted. You didn't come up with the idea to set half of your fleet on fire to defeat the Valmese army. Robin did.

So, while there is a significant overlap between the player and Robin, at the end of the day Robin has a significant degree of autonomy of free will (well, in the way a fictional character can at least), which is the same argument the game itself makes with Robin and Grima.

Robin is controlled by the player

But at the same time, in a game that preaches free will and destiny not being set in stone, it's kinda morbid to think about how much control you have over Robin, who we've already established is their own person, despite their link to both you and Grima.

Just stop and think about it for a second how much you can influence them:

You can change their name, appearance and gender, not to mention their proficiencies. You're determining their entire body and physical capabilities just in the first screen.

Likewise, while you can't change how they interact with people, you can decide if they interact at all outside of the plot. Think about all the supports Robin has: you're the one allowing them to happen in the first place.

Going even deeper, you have control over who they fall in love with or if they fall in love at all. You're literally deciding a person's entire love life and if they have a family at all.

Even their final choice, while it's intended to be the final "fuck you" to fate with it being the only choice that actually matters in the plot, if you view the player as an existing entity you can easily twist it into the opposite sense. You're deciding if Robin gets to live or "die" along with Grima, all while making believe they're acting of their own free will.

If you want to get real trippy, since this game is a work of fiction, the irony of it saying fate is not scripted while the story itself is an actual script can be tasted, like mustard of existential crisis.

See the full post

98 notes • Posted 2021-08-07 20:46:14 GMT

#1

Okay, Berkut confronting his fallen self has a lot of tragic and growth potential, but consider:

See the full post

178 notes • Posted 2021-05-02 19:28:40 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #not fire emblem #resharing this because i'm a dumdum and didn't notice the share button on the top right #so here you go the proper post

[woahhiperson]

Making a new au so here we go:

The ‘idk wot to call it yet au’

So Naga and Grima both have religions connected to them, but what if the Cult of Grima disbanded after Grimas defeat by the first exalt? So people stopped believing in Grima. Grima became another myth, another scary story to tell in the woods to unnerve people.

So Robin is born, but he has the same parents as canon. So he ends up with the right lineage and genes to be

The vessel for Grima!

But no one knows that.

Robin grows up as a tiny bean (his mom IS around and validar isnt a meanie because haha no grima to make all those issues and because i need robin to be happy this au might end up really angsty) and then he turns five or somethin and Robin begins to hear a voice in his head. At this age it is very faint, much like a whisper, and he tells someone, but they just tell him ‘thats your thinking voice’. Robin goes with that for quite awhile until he line 9 or 10 and he’s like ‘this aint my thinking voice’, cause 1: he has a thinking voice and this one is very different, and 2: this one doesnt even have his personality. So Robin once again tries to tell everyone and they deny it again (possibly trying to pass it off as an imaginary friend??).

Robin is frusterated but goes along with it. Time passes, and Robin is now a teenager. the voice gets louder and meaner and he still has no idea what it is. Then he turns eighteen. The voice is pretty much equal in volume to his own thinking voice, and its finally able to tell him “I am the Fell Dragon, Grima.” Now of course Robin is just like ‘what???’ So Robin tries to do some research. Robin is able to find one source, in a very old book. Robin reads of how Grima was ‘the god of destruction’ and how ‘he killed many people’. Robin is well, disturbed, and tries to ask the voice if it really is Grima. The voice tells him one thing: “I am the Wings of Despair, I am the Breath of Ruin, I am the Fell Dragon, Grima.” Robin is like: ok this thing might actually be in my head for some reason?? But he is also internally laughing because wile the voice was threatening, it was still quite funny to hear it almost repeat itself. Robin reads the rest of the small amount of information on Grima, and finds out Plegians used to worship him. Robin gets v e r y nervous. He IS plegian afterall. So Robin puts the book away and sits with this information for a while.

Grima continues to say the same thing, it seems only capable of saying that for now even though it used to berate Robin at almost every turn. Robin gets more nervous and tries to tell someone. Whoever it is, they laugh. They tell Robin that Grima is just a myth. ‘Its just a voice in your head. Don’t even worry about it.’ Robin is well, frusterated. He’s even a little bit scared. ‘The voice only keeps getting louder. What if it can take control?’ Robin begins to get paranoid. He tries talking to other people but they all don’t believe him, saying similar lines of ‘its a myth’. Robin feels a need to get to the bottom of this, and he is technically an adult now, so he ventures off with a small amount of gold to go find more information on The Fell Dragon.

He ventures around Plegia, but is unable to find much more information in the places accessible to him. And he even snuck in some places. He finds some buildings with Grima-like markings but they all seem run down and the few markings left were practically unreadable. All the places seemed destroyed on purpose, but destroyed long ago. (They were destroyed by the cult of grima for one reason or another, but robin dont know that) So since Plegia was lacking info, Robin decides to venture to Ylisse, because it seemed that Grima and Naga were connected somehow.

Robin is sttill unable to really find anything, and the people of Ylisse also denied Grima’s existence. Robin thinks there must be information somewhere, so he settles down in a tiny three room shack (he aint got that much money and hes currently more worried about Grima) with a kitchen, bathroom, and empty room. Robin sets up a bedroom in one half of the empty room, and uses the other half for research. He is able to get his hands on quitw a few books and tries to connect the information together. It takes a long time, and he gets little information from it. Robin starts to think that he’s going to need the more valuable history books and scripts for this.

So one day he is on his way the capitol, and is walking through a field. He is almost to the town when he stumbles and falls into the dirt. People find him and one person (yall all know where this is going) offers a hand. Robin takes it and is introduced to Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick. He learns that they are out all patrol and that Chrom and Lissa are royalty. Now this sparks a plan in Robin. He could try to see if they’d let him into the rarest history documents. So he asks and is shot down by Frederick, who is suspicious of someone just wanting access to such important documents. Chrom is like ‘Robin asked nicely so we should let him’ Frederick scolds Chrom for being too trusting. (honestly robin is kinda suspicious rn..) So they part ways.

Robin continues his search, and every once in a while, he’d find another small snippet of information. He begins to gain a reputation of ‘The guy with a weird obsession with Grima who believes the Fell Dragon lives in his mind’ and so people are a l i t t l e reluctant to give information. Robin is able to still get money through small jobs and stuff. Robin gets a little more disheveled as time goes by and Grima only gets louder. He meets Chrom on multiple occasions, and they eventually bechrom friends. Robin gets a ton of information written down and connected. But it still isnt enough.

Chrom can see how Robin is getting more frantic, and begins to worry. Robin brushes him off as he bechroms more secluded. Grima gets louder and is able to once again berate Robin. Grima begins telling Robin how no one will ever believe him and help him, how he’ll never be able to figure it out.

And so Robin goes to Chrom. The thing is, Robin liked having Chrom as a friend, so he never told Chrom about any of it. Chrom only knew he was researching something. So Robin sits him down for a chat. He starts off simple “I think the Fell Dragon, Grima, lives in my mind. Of course, Chrom laughs about it, but he stops upon seeing Robins face fall. Robin tries to tell him about it all, but unfortunately, like everybody else, Chrom was raised to believe Grima was a myth. Chrom is worried, thinking maybe Robin had been alone for too long. Chrom still wants to help, but he doesn’t believe Grima is the issue. Robin gets frusterated and attempts to politely leave, but is a little rude.

Chrom is very worried, and tells Lissa and Frederick. They also worry. Chrom wants to be a helpful bean but this information begins to spread like wildfire. If Robin wasn’t known before, he was now. This ain’t a good thing either. People make fun of Robin, and Robin begins to get more bitter and cold due to bearing constant mockery from Grima and others. Grima is at a shouting volume in Robin’s head, and is able to give Robin a headache everytime he speaks. Things are not going well, but Robin is still too paranoid to go back home.

Then Robin is sitting alone one night, looking over his information. There’s a knock on the door. He gets up to see who it is. Then he collapses. In his head is a low rumble, one that slowly rises in volume until Robin wants to shout at it to go away. His vision blurs, gaining a red tint. In the panic and pain Robin remembers something. It’s his twentieth birthday. He was born some time in the early night. The rumble stops. There’s a dead silence. Then a cold laughter begins to ring in his ears. It morphs into a sentence,”My patience has been tested.. And I won.” Robin is confused as the pain stops, and his eyes focus again. Then its as if a force slams down on him, shoving him down into his own body. His vision blurs again and he goes numb. He tries to turn his head, only to see black. He turns around in every direction. Its all a pitch black void. Everywhere but where his eyes last looked. Then the view changes, as if he’s stood up. A voice comes, slightly muffled,”Robin are you okay in there?!” It was Chrom. The laugh starts again. Its not in his head. Robins hand is brought to his face, sparking with electricity, before being moved away. He ‘walks’ and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Robin reels back as he now has six glowing red eyes, six black wings, and horns on his head. The Robin in the mirror smiles before going to open the door. Robin realizes what has happened. Grima took over. Was there a way to take control again!? Robin is quite frantic, but the void is, well, a void. No end, the only thing in there was the vision. The door is opened and Chrom is obviously taken aback, asking what had happened. Grima laughs and his hand begins to fizzle again. Luckily Chrom notices and backs away before being stabbed with a spear of electricity. Grima begins launching an attack on ‘that wretched Naga spawn’. Robin could now hear Grima’s thoughts. They really had switched places. Robin could only watch as Chrom drew his sword and the two began to fight. Both are hurt, but Robin does live in a town, and people begin to notice. Robin hears multiple gasps of ‘is that really grima??’ And similar lines. Some try to help, but they are kind of useless.

The fight chromtinues. Then Grima charges another spear, and drives it through his stomach. Robin screams. Grima laughs about that. Chrom falls unconscious, but still breathing. Grima rises into the air on his wings and continues to laugh. “You all didn’t believe the vessel, but now you can see, I have returned after so long. I am not a myth, but I am the Fell Dragon, Grima!” And Grima begins to attack the town. After a while he stops and thinks ‘can a revert to my dragon form?’ He tries, only for it to fail. Grima is furious and goes back to end Chrom for good out of rage, only to find the prince gone. Robin by now has found out that Grima cannot hear him unless he actually speaks, so he is able to internally sigh with relief as Chrom might be okay. Grima goes on a rampage and guards try to stop him, only to fail. Grima is not back to full power, but he is still extremely dangerous.

So he goes and begins to try and take over Plegia, and remake his cult. He attacks and stuff and finds Robin’s parents. They are of course freaked out and pained to know that Robin was telling the truth. Grima is able to take about half of Plegia for himself. Soon the Shepherds return and want to defeat Grima. (Haha soon... this is probably like three or four years later) Chrom is luckily alive and is quite angy about Grima taking his ‘friend’. They fight and have to retreat. They join with the Plegians that have been trapped in Grima’s controlled land and use the next 1-2 years to form a full rebellion. Grima has made the dragon’s table his home. He is finally able to conjure his dragon form, but only can keep it for about a day before needing another day’s rest. But his human form is powerful enough gor him to not need the dragon form very often. The rebellion makes its way to the Dragon’s Table, a force of about 2,000 people. Grima has countless Risen guarding and controlling his land, but the rebellion is able to get to Grima.

Grima transforms into his dragon form to end the rebellion for good, but Chrom and a few others are able to make it to him and end up on his back once transformed. They fight the summoned risen and make it to the human form. Chrom once again fights Grima. Robin, still stuck inside his own mind, feels hope. A feeling he truely hadn’t felt in years, but the only way he could think of that would get rid of Grima, was his own death. And he accepted it. Chrom and Grima both were able to go unharmed for quite a long time. Risen kept the others from helping. Then there was a loud hiss from Falchion as it sliced through the palm of his hand. It burned unlike any injury had before. Even the other cuts from Falchion on their first fight hadn’t felt like this. Grima’s vision blurred as he was partially shoved back into Robin’s mind. The dragon almost fell, quickly stabling itself. Robin stood, speechless, as he had regained partial control of his own body. He was distracted, and Falchion was able to leave a deep gash in Robin’s arm as he began to flee. Grima shouts and takes back control. But Robin isn’t completely locked away again. Where he has been cut, his hand and forearm, he could feel a small amount of control. Grima kept trying to fire magic at Chrom, but if it was cast by the right arm, Robin could mess up his aim. Grima figured this out and Robin was rendered almost useless. Robin tried to still help as both Grima and Chrom began to sustain more injuries. Robin was able to mess up Grima’s attacks and dodging. Every wound gave him more control. Soon Grima was barely able to fight, as Robin forced him to be hurt. But Chrom was also starting to struggle, as he has been sustaining multiple injuries as well. Chrom wasn’t aware of Robin’s help. He thought Robin was gone. So he went to try and slash Grima’s neck, convinced that his ‘friend’ was gone forever. Robin had gotten Grima to fall. But Robin couldn’t help but flinch, holding his right hand over his neck. The blade connected and sliced through the glowing mark that stained the hand. A great tremor shook through the dragon. Grima screamed in utter fury and agony as Robin could feel his presence fade away. The numbness turned into a sensation of wind and scales. Grima’s roar died down, his gritty voice gone. Robin felt something he had almost never felt. Emptyness. But.. It was good! Grima was.. completely gone. He couldn’t feel the god’s presence at all. His eyes began to burn. But then he saw a wrathful blade swing at him, and he had to dodge. Finally meeting eyes with Chrom after all these years. Chrom kept trying to attack him but Robin shouted,”It’s me! Grima’s gone!” Chrom only got angrier, believing Grima was just taunting him. Robin kept trying to convince him that Grima was truely gone. Then he decided to tell him,”No one ever believed me before. Please, believe me just this one time..” Chrom stopped and stared at Robin. Stumbling to Robin with wide eyes and dropping Falchion, he focused on his face. Noticing they were brown after being red for so many years. “..Robin...” Robin could only give a smile, as the now dead dragon began to drop from the sky. All the people on the back rushed to the pegasi and flew down. Once making it down to the ground safely, a cloud of dust forming and dieing down from the dragon’s impact, the Risen all fell, dead once more. The rebellion tried to attack Robin, but understood that Grima had no control over him anymore. Chrom once again turned to Robin and enveloped him in a hug as both began to shed tears, but for different reasons. Robin was still in disbelief that he was alive and free from Grima’s grasp, and Chrom could only choke out one whisper into Robin’s ear,”I love you..” Robin froze but nodded, agreeing. “I thought I lost you.” “Me too.”

(Woah that made a big space) And so they go back to Ylisse and make a cross-country announcement about Grima’s defeat and Robin’s return. They get married. But Grima did start another cult. Not everyone who was in Grima’s controlled land was in the rebellion. And upon learning of Grima’s defeat, they wanted him back. So.. is it truely over?

#fire emblem #fire emblem awakening #robin #chrom #grima talky in head au #idk ill find a better name and tag it xD #lissa #frederick #validar #grima #robins mom

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Another AU that nobody asked for because I literally dreamed up. 

I had a dream the other night where Robin and Lucina were discussing what they could do about Chrom who had become possessed by the Fell Dragon, and he had the bright glowing blue eyes like this. I woke up figuring that the “Fell Dragon” in question was Grima, and then as the day went on I thought about how I would expand this concept while consciously awake, and I was like “Hey, what if it was Naga who was the Fell Dragon?”

And now I have a bunch of thoughts on this AU that I, again, literally dreamed up.

It’s not a straight swap like Grima/Plegia good, Naga/Ylisse evil. Grima’s basically amoral, and while he’d like humanity to stick around, he doesn’t care how many of them might die fighting Naga as long as at the end, Grima has won. Naga is straight up the Fell Dragon whose only goal is the destruction of everything.

Validar is still a bastard whose purpose in awakening Grima is to destroy Ylisse - to destroy Naga before Naga can destroy the entire world. He puts his and the Grimleal’s strength behind Gangrel’s warmongering because he figures that if Gangrel can end the Exalt’s bloodline in the process, then that prevents Naga from finding a vessel. Emmeryn is the same kind of leader as she is canonically - striving for a path of peace and to make up for her father’s legacy. Her father, meanwhile, was exactly what the Grimleal expect a servant of Naga to be.

Lucina has still been sent to the past by Naga. She’s in a situation very much like Morgan in The Future Past - manipulated by the fell dragon whose vessel is their beloved parent. Naga makes the claim that Grima and the Grimleal started the war and this destruction, which isn’t exactly wrong, but Naga would still cause far more destruction had she awoken first. Lucina travels through time with the mission of stopping Grima’s revival, with the secret hope in her heart that if she can do so, then Naga will never need a vessel, and Lucina will get to keep her father, rather than simply knowing his body as the puppet of a dragon-god.

The story goes much the same as canon does, with the Grimleal and Naga’s true motivations just out of sight, up until one of the final confrontations with Validar, where he makes the attempt to tell Robin and Chrom the truth of things, as he’s learned from Grima, who using Robin as a vessel traveled back in time chasing down Lucina.

Naga finally at this moment gathers enough power to take control of Chrom’s body and attempt to kill Robin. 

In the original timeline, he did succeed in striking what would’ve been a fatal blow on her - but Validar had already gotten control over her, and being possessed by Grima allowed her to survive. 

In this timeline, the Grima from the future steps in and knocks aside the blow, saving Robin. 

Grima-Robin explains what happened in the future - that after awakening, Naga laid waste to her own people before turning on Ferox and Plegia, with the goal of turning the whole world to ash. The fact that Grima in return did not hold back, and was willing to make whatever sacrifices of her own army and citizens, and those of Ylisse, didn’t make Grima look all that good either, and because Lucina was young when the war broke out and didn’t remember who put Ylisstol to ash around her, Naga was able to tell her that it was Grima, and that sealing Grima away and leaving Naga would be the best outcome for the world. When Naga sent Lucina and the other children back in time, Grima followed, and hoped to find Robin to use her as a vessel and regain her full power, but as in canon, she just ruined Robin’s memory and staggered off, weakened.

Lucina refuses to believe this, but Chrom, wresting control of his body back from Naga, agrees that they can’t trust Naga and have to find a way to seal her away. Grima offers up the easiest solution: kill Chrom. Robin refuses to step aside and allow her to do this, insisting that she will have the same faith in Chrom that Chrom had in her when Validar used her to steal the Fire Emblem, and that they will find another way to save both him and the world. Grima angrily tells her not to put one man before the world and reminds her that she shares Robin’s heart - she loves Chrom too. But she knows the future, and that Naga will in time manage to fully take over Chrom’s body, and the destruction that will come from this. Grima has Robin’s heart, and hesitated, even after Chrom nearly killed her, and see what has happened, and Grima will not hesitate again.

But Grima also knows that if Robin kills her, or vice versa, they both die. She can’t just kill Robin to get to Chrom, and she doesn’t want to kill Lucina to get to Chrom - she has Robin’s heart. Lucina is her daughter, tragically mislead by Naga, and now defending Naga’s vessel that will destroy the world, and Grima may be ruthless but Robin’s heart is powerful, too.

I’ve not decided how it ends, yet, whether they just have to fight against Chrom who is possessed and split Naga from him, or whether future Naga using Chrom’s body also returns from the future for a final fight. There being two separate versions of him too would work best for the image I have in mind of Robin and Lucina trying to stop Chrom from striking down Naga, but him doing so anyway and turning to his wife and daughter to tell them that he trusts Ylisse will be safe in their hands before fading away. It’s later Robin and Lissa who find Chrom passed out in a field. (”There’s better places for taking a nap than on the ground, you know.” “How long have you wanted to turn that one back on me?”)

#-flicks lights on and off- hell hell hell i'm in hell and i'm never going to be free of angsty chrobin premises #all i can do is inflict my dream visions on the rest of you as well #generic drawing tag #fire emblem chatter tag #i need to make a 'fire emblem aus that nobody asked for' tag just to cover everything #robin's supposed to be wearing the grandmaster armor btw bc i fucking hate drawing her stupid robe

[sammim91]

Chrobin Week Day Six Prompt- Head to Heart

My second to last prompt upload for Chrobin Week 2019. Its been a great challenge for me to do, and i look forward to participating next year if i can. 

Day six prompt- Head and Heart

Pairing- Chrom and Robin(F)

The first time a nightmare had taken hold, when she had woken, screaming, panting, sweating and with tear rolling down her face, Chrom had been there. He had wrapped his arms around her, instinctively pulled her close and held her until her sobs subsided, till her breathing slowed, and until she was calm enough to talk about it all.

Her head over his heart.

And that was how it always was from that moment on

When 'Marth' had been revealled to be their daugher from the future, Robin had grabbed the blue haired girl, held her as she sobbed, and comforted her in the exact way her husband comforted her. Head to heart.

And so began the family tradition.

When Morgan was found his mother had laid his head on her heart in relief that he was ok. And when he had struggled to recall his father, and broken down in tears, Chrom had mirrored Robin's actions, comforting his son as he had cried.

When Lucina had come to Robin, conflicted as to whether to end her own mothers life to save her fathers, to erase Morgan from existence or run the risk of Robin losing control to her fathers mind games, Robin had smiled sadly, pulling her daughter to her, laying her head on her heart, telling her no matter what she chose, she would always love her.

Lucina had comforted her brother in the same way, when he discovered the choice she almost made, his eyes welling with tears at the thought that she didn't love him and she was willing to risk his existence like that.

A family comforted, head to heart.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robin jerked awake, another nightmare still firmly in the forefront of her mind, She gasped, sitting up, Chrom's arm falling from its place across her chest. She furiously willed her heart to stop beating erratically, wiping tears away from her eyes.

It was the same dream as she always had, ever since she had learned of her heritage. She would succumb to Grima's influence, turn on all her friends and family. Then stabb Chrom through the heart. The last thing she would see before she awoke was her hand, covered in her own husbands blood, being too weak willed to stop her body as it moved on its own.

She knew it was silly to get so upset over a dream. But everytime it had become more realistic. Even with her husband beside her, she was still inconsoleable.

"Robin?" Chrom's voice murmured from the darkness, his arms snaking round her tightly. He sat up, his face worried as he took in her distressed face, her inablility to control the gasps wracking her body, the tears streaming down her face. "Hey, it's Okay, I'm here," he instinctively pulled her to him, her head resting on his heart as she shook, the front of his sleep shirt becoming damp with tears.

It wasn't until Robin could hear the soft thump of his heart that her body started to relax. She breathed deep, the smell of him a comfort. After a few minutes her body stopped shaking, the tears stopped and she sighed, snuggling closer.

"Thank you," she breathed out when she felt sure she could talk again.

"You don't need to thank me," Chrom's breath tickled the top of her hair as he pressed a kiss atop her head."It's what I'm here for. I made a vow to love you through every hardship you face." His hand began to comb through her soft brown hair as he continued to comfort her. "Do you want to talk about it?" he broached this gently. He knew his wife didn't like to worry him, knew she had a stubborn habit of keeping things from him as a result. "Y-you don't have too, I just want you to know that I will listen for as long as you need."

"It's silly..." Robin sighed.

"Nothing is ever silly," he countered. "Now come on Robin, tell me what your nightmare was about."

He felt her shuffle awkwardly, and he was about to drop the subject, realizing that she really didn't want to talk about it, when she finally spoke up.

"I lose control," she whispered. She moved her head finally, turning to look at Chrom. Her brown eyes were read and puffy from crying, her skin was paler that usual with a sheen of sweat still across her forehead. She looked haggard and exhausted, and Chrom's heart sank seeing her like that. "I give in to my fathers influence," he felt her shudder, and he knew she hated admitting her familial ties to that man. "I become Grima... And I kill you." Her voice breaks on the last word, her lip quivvering as she tries to hold back the tears. "I try to stop myself, Naga knows I try, but I kill you, every single time." She looked distressed so Chrom held her again.

"Robin..." he spoke softly, as if she were a child. "It was only a dream. You more than anyone believe we aren't pawns of a scripted fate."

"But his influence over me has been proven before," Robin's voice was muffled against his chest. "I stole the Fire Emblem from you, and gave it straight to him." She sobbed once. "Maybe I should have let Lucina kill me. Or at the very least I should maybe kill myself, before I become a danger to everyone."

"No!" Chrom crushed her close to his chest. "Don't talk like that Robin. I wont let you." His voice broke. He sniffled as he thought of a life without his wife in it. Without her, he would be broken. And to hear her talk like that, it broke his heart.

"I'd rather die than hurt you!"

"Listen to me Robin," Chrom pulled her to arms length and she looked shocked at his sudden outburst. "You can't let him win like that. He wants us divided, he wants us to turn on you. But I won't give on you, I never will. I choose to put my faith in you, and I always will. Validar wont change that. He may be your father, but he is only that in title alone. He doesn't know you, not like I do. He doesn't see the smart, funny and kind person that you are. He doesn't see Robin the wife, Robin the mother. All he see's is Robin the Vessel for Grima. And he underestimates you. He will continue to underestimate you."

Robin looked at her husband, mouth agape. She could feel tear fall from her eyes, but they werent of sadness. She was happy, happier than she had been in days. To know that Chrom had that much faith in her, that he believed in her that much, made her happier than anything in the world.

"Chrom..." she placed a hand on his face. In the two years since the last war his features had become more angular, his skin rougher. She took comfort in the small amount of stubble on his chin, in the small scar on his chin. He was watching her with his beautiful straightforward eyes, currently shining with emotion. "I'm sorry my love." She kissed his cheek. "I didn't mean to make you upset. I thought by not telling you I would worry you less, but I realize that was silly of me. I only made you worry more. I promise I wont keep things from you anymore, no matter how painful it is to talk about."

"I love you Robin, more than anything, I hope you know that." Chrom smiled at her warmly.

"I know that, I love you too."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chrom moved to kiss her, their mouths an inch apart, when a voice outside called to them.

"Mother? Father?," Lucina's voice could be heard just outside their tent. "Are you awake? I'm sorry to disturb you,"

Chrom sighed. "So much for that," he climbed out of bed and went over to the tent flap. "Hello Luci," Robin smiled at their nickname for their future version of their daughter. "Oh and Morgan is here with you too." He stepped aside and let their children in. Morgan ran straight to the bed, jumping on it and hugging Robin, his head instinctively finding her heart.

"Mother," he seemed upset. "I had a nightmare." He snuggled close, as if he was frightened whatever he had dreamt about was going to come true.

Robin's own fears instantly left her. She shuffled on the cot, bringing her arms round her son. She kissed his blue hair softly.

"It's Okay baby," she cooed. "Mother's here."

"I d-dreamt I-I was all alone a-again..." he cried.

"Oh Morgan," Robin felt tears in her eyes. Her son was so like her, even down to having the occasional nightmare. "Your safe, I'm here, your Father is here, Luci is here. We aren't going to leave you, ever."

"Y-you promise?"

"Of course I promise." Robin shot a look at Chrom and Lucina, who came back towards the bed.

"I heard Morgan scream so I went to see if he was Okay," Lucina explained. "He wouldn't settle down till he made sure you were both Okay. I'm sorry we intruded."

"Don't apologise Luci," Chrom smiled. He came and sat the other side of his son, taking the small boy into his arm's, holding him close as his son clung to him.

"Y-you promise n-not to leave me don't y-you F-father," he sobbed.

"I'm not leaving anyone Morgan," Chrom said. He glanced at his daughter. "I promise." Lucina stood wavering, looking as though she wanted to join them all on the bed.

"Come here my darling," Robin, always good at reading her daughters face, held out her arms, gesturing for her to come close. Lucina hesitated briefly, but when her Mother smiled she gave in, curling her long legs up onto the bed, snuggling her mother the same way her brother snuggled their father.

Chrom glanced at Robin over their children's heads. He smiled at her, his eyes warm, and Robin knew exactly what was going through his mind, because she was thinking the same thing. She couldn't believe that this was her life. That she had such amazing children, or would do, honestly time travel was a weird concept, and such an amazing husband, really was a blessing. And she knew that she would do anything to protect them from the man who called himself her Father and her alternate self.

"We should get some rest," she eventually said. "We all need to be sharp tomorrow."

"Your Mother is right," Chrom looked down at Morgan, who had already started to doze off.

"Wanna stay here," he mumbled.

"Morgan, you can't sleep here," Lucina tried her hardest to be the responsible older sister yet her head was still over her Mother's heart, and she also showed no sign of moving.

"Sure I can..."

Robin laughed. "Okay Morgan, just for tonight, you can stay here," She shot Chrom a look, and he smiled in response. He shifted, pulling Morgan with him as he settled down on the bed, his son flush to his chest. "What about you Luci?"

"Luci, you need to stay too!" Morgan looked distressed at the thought of his sister going anywhere.

"C-can I?" Lucina looked at Robin, who nodded.

"Of course you can, come on."

So the four of them settled down on the bed again, Morgan soon asleep on Chrom's chest, his fist still clutching his shirt. Robin and Lucina snuggled close to the pair, mirroring how the were laid, so Robin and Chrom were on the outside of their two children. Lucina soon fell asleep along side her brother. Robin smiled down at her daughter. When asleep the stresses of the task she had given herself melted away from her face, and she looked younger, more like the 18 year old that she was. Robin scoffed, It really was weird having a daughter only a year younger than her.

"Morgan is laying right over my arm," Chrom's voice broke the silence.

Robin laughed. "So is Lucina. Yet I don't have the heart to move her."

"Me neither." Chrom moved his untrapped arm and brushed his hand through his sons hair. "He looks exactly like you when he sleeps."

"You think?"

Chrom chuckled. "He even drools like you do."

"Your lucky my arm is trapped and I don't want to wake Lucina, or I would slap you." She glanced down at her daughter who sighed in her sleep, pawed at her eyes with a fisted hand, then stilled again. "I don't think I've seen her relax once since she met us."

"Me neither," Chrom kissed Robin's head. "She's been so strong for so long. I know it was a different us who left her, but I can't help but still feel responsible, you know?"

"I know what you mean," Robin moved her hand to clasp his, securing their children in their embrace. "I don't want to let them down. I want to give them the future they deserve. They don't deserve this. War and more war. I just want them to be happy. I want baby Lucina back at the castle to grow up without the heartbreak her future counterpart has had to endure. And I want to secure a future for Morgan, whenever he makes his appearance in this timeline too."

"We will, I promise," Chrom yawned. "I guess we should try to sleep. I love you Robin."

"And I love you Chrom."

Later on, when Chrom had also fallen asleep, Robin went back to thinking about how she could save them all, how she could protect her families future. And she saw only one way to do that. But she knew Chrom wouldn't let her do it if he ever found out.

I only hope you forgive me... one day

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19815820/chapters/47091472

#chrobinweek2019 #Fchrobin

[warriorrat]

My amazing friend @jokesonjess sent me this Chrobin angst at 2am, so guess why I'm not sleeping tonight? 😂

No Rest For The Possessed

This was the worst part about waking up again.

It was the same damn hall. The darkness, the blue flames, the purple hues that seem to seep into your blood like poison…

But it was him. It was always him. Lying in thousands across the cobblestone floor, in various, frozen positions of absolute terror, and atrocities that only I could accomplish.

Impaled by lightning, burnt on the battlefield, hundreds of swords being thrust through his heart; everything was here to remind me of what terrible things I had done. A stain on my soul that can never be removed until my mission is set in stone.

Others that have fallen at my hand don’t lie here, it’s just him. The only man that could ever hold my heart, to tame me, to make me believe I was more than just a monster, would always be my downfall, the reason I continued to fight in this ever looping purgatory.

I sat in the throng of bodies, unable to help the salty tears run down my cheeks as I held my latest attempt in my arms, some unreasonable part of me hoping, praying Naga would free me from this Hell. But the attempts are always fruitless, she can never hear me from the clutches of this realm’s devil.

“Why so sad? Shouldn’t you be used to this already?” That voice, so unmistakably familiar, always succeeds in running a terrified shiver down my spine, freezing my blood solid so that I cannot run, cannot flee from its tyranny.

“Please…” I beg, already aware that my weakness will get me nowhere, that it will fall upon deaf ears, but I must try. I must do anything not to go through it again. “Please, stop this…”

“Why? We’re having so much fun!”

“I’m tired,” I whimpered, drawing him close to my chest, the blood from his latest fatal injury beginning to stain my clothes. “I just want it to end. I don’t care what happens to me, just, please, let him live.”

“You’ve proved well enough that you don’t much care about yourself. How many times have you given your life for him, and it still ended in tragedy?”

“Please!” I screamed. “I don’t know what you want! You always win!”

“And that’s where the fun lies!” The voice laughed, as if my pain was nothing more than a mere joke to it.

There was no real reason why it was still doing this to me, why it continued to make me suffer. In all timelines, he exists. In all scenarios, he wins. Despite my best efforts, despite everything I work for to keep him alive, he always ends up here, in my arms.

“When will it end?” It’s a pointless question. It will never end, not while it has a hold over me. Not while everything works against me. Not while he still owns my heart.

“Oh, come now. Don’t you want to try again?” The voice, though always sinister, makes me realise that it has something else in play. I look to my mirror image standing before me, dark red eyes that can bury its way down deep into anyone’s soul. Those are the eyes that no one can forget, the eyes of eternal hatred; the eyes of a God of Destruction. “One last try, go on!”

I’m pushed to the centre of the room, my feet tumbling unsteadily. The darkness swirls and I have no chance in determining which way is up. All of him disappears, and I know in a moment my memory will be put into a blender for me to never recover again, until the next time I fail. I know that I will wake up in a sunlit field, the smell of flowers drowning out any sign of suffrage. That he will stand above me, help me up, and fill me with purpose once again.

And for a moment, my heart lifts at the possibility of ignorant bliss. Anything to hold him, alive, in my arms once again.

Of course, this is not the case.

“What? It’s you! How did you get in here?” My whole body stiffens at his voice, the previous tears frozen in place. I slowly look to my right, only to find that it is actually him. Same hall, same ambiance, same scenario. Validar. It hasn’t given me this scene in a long time.

The large, double doors at the other end of the hallway burst open with a bang, and my head whips to the left. He stands there, the sweat beginning to glisten on his forehead from the battle he would have fought through, and the length of the castle he had to run through just to get here. All this way, only to die.

“Robin! There you are, I thought I had lost you along the way,” he was smiling. How was he smiling? How can one smile at a time like this? I had tried everything to stop it, to avoid it, to dodge every single conundrum that appeared and still he was cursed to fall at my hand. I wanted to scream at him, tell him to leave, to run the other way, that I can take on Validar myself and win. But there was no chance he would listen to me, the oaf.

“Robin, look out!” His smile immediately fell as he sprinted forwards. I could hear the crackle of lightning behind me, but I have no motivation to dodge from Validar’s attacks. He is nowhere near me to aid me, so the lightning imbeds itself in my right side, shooting me across the room and into a stone pillar. I slump to the floor, in pain but mostly winded.

“Robin, snap out of it!” He’s right in front of me, strong arms lifting me to my feet. I see Falchion shining in his hand, but any requests for salvation will end in his inability to listen during a fight. “We have a battle to win!”

He races forwards, ready to attack. Sword and magic clash together in an endless rain of sparks as they battle, misfires and dodged swings making the hall rumble. Without his stability, my legs shake before buckling beneath me, making me collapse to the ground.

“Robin, what’s wrong with you? Why won’t you fight?”

“There’s no helping her!”

“What have you done?!” They exchange words like they’ve never fought this battle a hundred times before. It’s too soon, however, all of this is too soon. I remember too much, fought too early, lost too soon.

I look up, only to witness Validar gain the upper hand, throwing him back a few metres. I can see the exhaustion in his eyes, the wounds afflicting his swordsmanship to strongly come into play. He’s losing this battle.

There is really, nothing more motivating than trying to protect one’s heart. Maybe there’s something I’ve missed, maybe there’s hope for him yet. I can’t give up, I can’t surrender to it yet. It cannot have the last laugh, not again. At the sight of Validar’s incoming attack, I rise from the ground, determination making the fire in my eyes burn.

Using the Elthunder tome, I summon a ball of golden, sparkling power before throwing it directly at Validar’s own attack, both shattering into a rain of gold and purple sparkles that drizzle onto the ground around us. I stand in his way, summoning spell after spell to push the Plegian leader back.

Chrom zooms past me, that same determination burning as he raises Falchion before him, swinging it into an arch across the sorcerer’s chest. With a final, brilliant call of lightning, I seep my power through his wounds to end the battle once and for all. The power I took and the adrenaline seem to drain me of my ability to stand, and I would have fallen to the ground if he hadn’t rushed to my side, arms wrapped around me to keep me steady.

“I never lost hope,” his voice is close to bringing tears to my eyes, but I embrace his warm hold, relishing in the few moments I will have with him. Over his shoulder, I bear witness to Validar’s smoking remains, and I know I only have a short while left.

“Chrom,” I whimper, unable to believe the next request ready to come out of my mouth. He pulls back, the relief on his face falling almost immediately. It’s as if he can spot everything I’m thinking, reading my mind like a book.

Even before I can get the words out, Validar’s ashen body rises from the floor for that one last, fatal attack. He screams some terrible omen I’m half aware of before my instincts kick in. I push Chrom as far out of the attack’s reach as I can, his grip on me slipping and his face transforming into one of absolute panic. I take the full blow, sending me halfway across the hallway, but, of course, it’s never enough to dispatch of me entirely.

“Ready?” It’s back in my head, immediately drawing my worst fear to the surface. Not again, it can’t happen again. I can’t let it.

Chrom is at my side, a slight smile on his face as he congratulates me for taking the day, for granting Ylisse the freedom it had been fighting for. But even before he’s helped me stand on my feet, I’m prepared to fall again. The blood is pumping through my veins, all I can see is a red hue darkening my surroundings. I can feel it crawling around my mind, desperate to let the building power take flight and remove the one good thing from this world forever.

“Chrom,” I cry, falling onto him, hands gripping his armour tightly. His face has returned to that look of fear, his voice desperate to figure out what’s wrong. “Chrom… kill me…”

His eyes almost immediately darken. He’s confused, I can see that. It’s a heavy request to fulfil, I know this, but it’s one he must take in order for him to stay alive. If only he would just listen to me. “Robin, what are you talking about?”

“I know what comes next and I can bear it no longer. Please, Chrom, I beg of you, kill me, before it’s too late. Before I become it,” surely he can see the fear in my eyes, the power ready to burst through my skin. Surely he can see, and understand, what I am asking of him. It takes everything I have not to run Falchion through me myself. It doesn’t work like that. I need to fall by his hand for a change.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Listen!” I scream, my legs regaining their strength only to take his clothes in my hands and push back against him, his loose grip on Falchion making the famed sword clatter to the ground. “It’s the only way you can stay alive. You need to kill me, please, that’s all I ask. Please, Chrom, I’m begging you, just kill me.”

“Robin,” Chrom moves through my waning grip, enough to wrap his arms around me. The amount of tears pooling in my eyes makes it difficult to see but his thumbs brush them away as he attempts to calm me down. My hands fall to their places as he speaks, the place it intends them to be. “You know I can never lift my sword against you, I would die along with you. Please, don’t say these things, you’re scaring me.”

“Chrom–”

“You’re tired, and you need rest. Let me help you.”

“Please,” my voice is drowned out by my sobs. Why won’t he listen to me? Why won’t he do as I ask? He can’t seem to understand the pure gravity of the loop we are both in, this circle of suffering that has entrapped us for all eternity. But now I can feel it, the sparkle of energy dancing on my fingertips and I know I’m too late.

My eyes close as his breath hitches in his throat, the lightning bolt imbedding itself through him, right between a set of ribs on his left side. I’m afraid to open my eyes, to watch the horror before me with the memory of countless others. But his expression appears in my minds’ eye and I am forced to open them once again. I can’t conjure a scream, or a cry for help. All I can do, is watch the pain in his face as his blood rolls down his Shephard uniform.

“This is not y-your fault,” he whispers and my head slowly shakes at him as he struggles to keep standing. “P-Promise me, you’ll escape from this place.”

I catch him before he collapses to the ground, cradling him close to my chest. There’s really nothing I can say or do in this moment, only watch as the life drains from his storm-grey eyes. A weak cough escapes his lips, but it doesn’t stop his adamant need to get me away from here. “G-go…”

“I can’t leave you,” I whisper, brushing a few loose strands of blue hair from his eyes. “I can never leave you, no matter what I do. I’ve tried everything, Chrom, everything to ensure you live. And every time, you fall by my hands.”

“This is not your fault.”

“But it is. It all is. Every time. There’s no stopping it. I will always fall in love you, and I will always be your undoing,” I explain, taking his cheek into my palm and holding him close. Amidst all his pain, all our suffering, he still managed a weak smile.

“I love you, too,” he manages out before the last of his strength leaves him, and he falls limp into my arms. I have only a few seconds remaining before the hall returns and I will see my failures again. I let loose a scream to hopefully deafen Grima before diving for Falchion.

Against everything I know to happen next, I still drive it through the broken space between my lungs.

I can smell flowers all around me and feel sunlight warming my skin. It’s a peaceful surrounding, one that seems to sap away the anxiety that had suddenly built into my chest. My memory swims in my head, images I cannot decipher appearing before me as they disappear entirely, like a dream one forgets immediately as one wakes. Two voices draw me from slumber, encouraging my energy to open my eyes.

“Chrom, we have to do something!” A girl speaks, voice chiming and ringing with naivety and a gentle heart.

“What do you propose we do?” A man speaks, voice warm and comfortable, commanding loyalty and leadership. A voice I’ve heard before…

“I-I don’t know!” My eyes open to two figures standing above me, and my sight grabs their attention, making them smile down at me. To my right is the owner of the female voice, her blonde hair set in pigtails and her outfit shining with good fortune. To my right stands the man, blue hair making his storm-grey eyes shine with unending kindness.

“There are better places to take a nap, than on the ground, you know? Give me your hand,” he extends his hand out towards me and although I’m cautious of these strangers that spark with familiarity, I take it and let him help me from the ground. He lifts me into the air with ease and I’m almost thrown off balance by his strength. I would have fallen into him if he hadn’t caught me with the same amount of ease.

My mind can barely remember the odd, six-eyed symbol on the back of my right hand as I stare at this blue-haired man. He smiles warmly at me, his hand gripping mine just that little harder, but I feel as though there’s something I cannot see, some emotion that makes my heart both sink and soar. I can’t help but hold his hand tighter, too, as if it’ll be one of the last few times I’ll be able to do it. A name is conjured deep within my memory as the last of it seems to crumble.

Chrom…

#chrobin #angst #fe:a #fire emblem awakening #robin #chrom #submission

[admiral-migu-blog]

Day 2: Lucina's Judgement Remix

The field was silent, with the exception of the grass blowing in the wind, which suited Robin just fine. It let him focus on what was really important, Lucina holding a very sharp sword to his throat. This was pathetic, to think that he, the genius tactician that led Chrom's Shepherds to victory, would die at the hands of one of his closest allies.

Robin had met Lucina over a year ago...

At first he'd written her off as being another one of Chrom's fangirls. However, that all changed when he noticed the mark in her eye. After that he assumed she was a mysterious bastard child. He hadn't expected time-travel.

Lucina literally worming her way into his life had left him with a new perspective. Even still, sometimes he felt like Ichigo Kurosaki, down to the girl living in his closet, Only instead of hunting hollows he was looking for time-travelers and beating up cultists.

"Lucina please, just put the sword down. Let's talk about this..."

"After getting to know you I didn't want to believe it, but in the back of my mind I knew. Robin, you're the man who kills my father!"

"Bullshit!"

"You know it's true!"

"Lucina, I'm not going to kill Chrom!"

"You won't have a choice!" Shit. She had him there.

The Shepherds had gone to rescue Emmeryn and retrieve Sable from Plegia only to learn a chilling truth: Robin's father was the head of the evil Grimleal Cult, he could control Robin like a puppet, and Robin was the Felldragon's current Avatar. They'd been forced to flee with their tails between their legs after he'd manipulated Robin into giving him the Fire Emblem.

Honestly, Chrom's words were the only reason Robin wasn't dead right now. However, that would likely change once his father caught wind of the news.

"I won't lose my father again; we've already lost the Fire Emblem!"

He was tired of this, "Dammit, use your head here idiot! Killing me now accomplishes nothing! In case you forget, Chrom doesn't know you're his daughter from the future! He thinks you're just a fangirl who wants to bed him!"

Lucina flinched as Robin laid the truth bare. She'd was well aware just what her father thought of her. However, she couldn't falter! She had to avoid the bad ending! She'd promised her friends, swore on her parent's graves, she couldn't-!

"What's going on here?!" A booming voice demanded. Robin and Lucina both turned to the owner of said voice in horror, Chrom was glaring at the time-traveler with barely contained fury, and the duo gave him their best dear caught in the headlights impression's.

"Chrom?!"

"W-what are you doing here?!"

"Oh, you know, I was just wandering around and noticed you threatening my best friend!"

Lucina flinched at the venom behind his words and dropped her sword in shock. She tried to speak up, defend herself, anything! However, she was at a loss for words.

Dammit! This wasn't fair.

Thankfully, Robin came to her rescue.

"Relax, we're roleplaying."

"Roleplaying." Chrom asked, clearly not believing him. "In an empty field." He motioned to the field around them, "Alone. After what happened in Plegia? With a knock-off Falchion no less?!"

Robin looked at Lucina, then at Chrom. He looked his best friend straight in the eyes and answered, "Yes."

"Why?!"

"Authenticity?" Lucina chimed in. Robin chocked down a laugh. She'd come so far from the girl with no sense of humor!

"And we felt like everyone could use some cheering up." Robin added.

Chrom still looked skeptical, "So you're planning to put on a play huh, what's it called?"

"Roberella." A new voice chimed in from behind Lucina, who let out a horrified yelp before backing away. What was with everyone sneaking up on her today! Her cry caused the other two to jump and they glared at the newcomer.

"Tharja," Chrom muttered "You're involved with this farce too?"

"It's no farce Capitain. I've been planning it for months."

"Prove it."

"Are you calling me a liar? I'll curse the shit out of you! You'll have blue balls forever! Just think about how poor Olivia will feel, knowing that you'll never be able to give her the son she's always wanted?"

Chrom let out a frustrated sigh and Robin began to feel guilty. He didn't like lying to his friend.

But Lucina was an idiot, so it was a necessary evil. If it wasn't for him she would have dug her own grave months ago. He just hoped she'd hear him out. They could figure this out together. At the very least, he wanted to save Emmeryn.

"I'm sorry for doubting you two. Just, be careful okay? I know everyone's still reeling over the loss of the Fire Emblem but we can't let that ruin what we have!"

"Ah, that reminds me." Tharja spoke up and pulled out a sack. She tossed it to Chrom, who opened it, and he gaped like an idiot at what was inside, "I switched the gems with fakes a few days ago and forgot to tell anyone, sorry."

Chrom starred at Tharja.

Lucina starred at Tharja.

Robin starred at Tharja and asked what everyone was thinking, "Why?"

"I was curious." She answered, as if that answered everything.

Chrom laughed "Well, looks like we haven't completely lost. Good, without all five gems the Fire Emblem won't work. Seems Tharja's quirks saved us, thanks. I'm looking forward to that play you three." Chrom said, patting Tharja on the shoulder much to her annoyance, and laughing as he left the scene.

He'd completely forgotten why he'd come here in the first place.

The trio stood in silence for a good minute, watching him go, before Tharja spoke up.

"It's so nice that you've finally decided to help me with my masterpiece Robin~"

"Wait, you were serious?!"

"R-Roberella, it's real?!"

"Naturally, and now that you used it to ward off the captain I believe you're out of options."

Robin glared at the girl in front of him, "You planned this."

"No, I merely took advantage of the situation. I'll see you two at my room bright and early tomorrow." Tharja was lying through her teeth, truth was she'd known about The Dragon's Table incident for a while now, courtesy of Noire. Tharja would gladly exploit the girls lack of backbone if it meant she could keep Robin safe; besides it wasn't like the future hadn't already been changed. Whether she chose Validar's hope of Robin's Hope was irrelevant at this point. The multiverse was always moving so fate was always changing.

A pity so few of those time-travelers understood that.

Lucina began to cry.

"Hey, none of that. So what if Alter Validar made the Robin from your timeline kill Chrom. We'll figure something out." Robin said, picking up the Parallel Falchion and holding it out for the crying girl. Tharja looked on in disgust. "So get up, wipe those tears of yours and go to bed. We can discuss how we'll deal with this after dealing Tharja's stupid play."

"How rude." Tharja muttered from the side, she felt like the third wheel to the stupidest love story ever told.

Lucina nodded, Robin was right, together they could do the impossible. She'd forgotten that. She just had to believe, believe that by working together the future could be changed!

Meanwhile, at the Second Dragons Table...

Validar had just finished preforming the awakening ritual. However,

Nothing happened.

"I said awaken! Awaken! Awaken! Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!"

Nothing changed.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh! Robin!"

"Yes?" his super-duper genius school girl daughter asked.

"Not you, be gone whelp!" Validar demanded, pulling out a squirt bottle and spraying his daughter with it. He grabbed the Fire Emblem and threw it at her. She caught it after it bounced off her pigtailed head. The fake gems fell off too, in such a way that, it was a miracle Validar didn't notice the four were fakes earlier.

After all, they were cardboard cutouts.

"This is your fault, fix it!" Validar demanded before walking away fabulously.

Robin watched her father leave. She glanced down at the shield of seals, then at the direction her father had gone, then back at the shield. It only had one gem on it: Sable.

He expected her to retrieve the other four gems from a group of skilled Naga Zealots? Warriors who would happily gut her like a fish? Fighters that included her brother, his weirdo girlfriend, and their creepy stalker? Then bring the completed shield home?

Robin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The people of Ylisse weren't known for treating those who didn't worship their god with kindness.

"I knew there was a reason I killed him first." A hooded man muttered to himself after watching the scene play out from the shadows.

His sister would fail.

The Shepherds would regain the Fire Emblem, the final gem along with it, and preform the Awakening ritual.

Ylisse would once again pillage Plegia and the cycle would continue.

Grima sighed.

How boring.

A story where the outcome was already known wasn't fun at all. Ah well, in the end he'd never truly loose. His only bane was himself after all.

However, Lucina's face suddenly flashed across his mind. Unlike the majority of her allies that brat hadn't acted in a way he hadn't expected. Allying herself with his weaker self wasn't something he'd seen coming. He'd assume she'd antagonize him, like the rest of her bloodline had ultimately done in his timeline, yet instead they'd pushed him back at every turn.

Grima wondered if, perhaps, there was some worth in this timeline after all.

#robcina-week #robin #lucina #au

[dailyawakening]

Do you ever think Lucina struggles to come to grips with the fact that she's a decedent of Grima? I know she would never blame her mother for that fact, but I think Lucina learning she herself is half-Grimleal has so much character potential.

This is a fantastic question to which the short answer is yes, I think she really does.  

The long answer is significantly more involved and you know what I feel like writing a novel so let’s talk about Lucina and her parents. 

I think one of my favorite things about this family is the fact that all of them share a common note of character conflict: your blood does not define you.  I think both Chrom and Robin struggle with this in different ways through the Lucina’s timeline: Chrom fears that he inherited too much of his father’s nature and that he won’t be able to live up to his sister’s ideals, while Robin lives in terror of the destiny supposedly written into her blood and evidenced by the six-eyed mark on her right hand.  And it’s through this shared conflict that they come together: Chrom reassures Robin that her blood and her brand do not define her, because if it did, then his father would have been a good man (and he decidedly was not, given that he led a crusade against Plegia that nearly destroyed both nations and likely led to Gangrel’s rise), where she’s put her very life on the line to help complete strangers; and she in turn reassures him that while he might resemble his father, it’s what he does that truly defines him, and from everything she’s seen of him, he always does the very best he can for everyone – not just his own people, but even strangers he happens to find lying in the fields.  

The support and reassurance they offer one another over this mutual fear helps bring them together.  It’s something so deeply personal, something that gets to the core of their vulnerabilities, and by sharing it and helping each other through those anxieties, they bond and fall in love.  From that love comes Lucina and eventually Morgan before everything goes wrong, with Validar manipulating Robin into murdering Chrom and thereby raising Grima.  

Now, there are a few key points that I personally believe (these are headcanons rather than facts, but they inform how I approach things so they’re important here): first, Lucina was in her early teens when everything went awry, probably somewhere around 14/15 (it gives her a reasonable time to hone her sword skills under her father’s tutelage before she’s thrust into a war against undead monsters); second, Lucina might not have been aware of her mother’s fellblood heritage, but she probably grew up with quite a few Plegian traditions, whether she knew them as such or not (they were her mother’s traditions, and that’s how she likely thinks of them); and third, Lucina loves her mom.  The game sadly does a meager job with a lot of the kids’ relationships, since most of them have default dialogues with their fathers and Lucina does with her mother, but I honestly believe that Lucina’s relationship with Robin is as strong as her relationship with Chrom.  Her mother taught her to read, trained her to use magic, and through games with the Justice Cabal showed her the power of strategy.  They’re skills she made good use of in the years between her father’s death and her return to the past, and Lucina’s admiration for Robin rivals her admiration for Chrom.  The reason why she’s so protective of her father, and why she frames him as her goal, is because his death is the event that leads to Grima’s resurrection.  It’s not any lack of love for her mother, it’s simply the only known she has to work with. 

So when Lucina finds out that Robin is Grima’s vessel – that in fact her mother is her father’s murderer – it’s something she has a really hard time accepting.  It means that she, too, has fellblood in her, and knowing what that blood wrought in her own timeline…she struggles with it.  She’s terrified of that part of herself, and worries that there might be evil in her because of it.  And when she’s at her most fearful, she even thinks she hates that part of herself – but that thought just hurts her more, because if she hates the part of her that’s fellblood, it means that she loathes the part of her that came from her mother, one of the people she most loves in all the world.  I think this internal conflict really comes to a head before the battle at the Dragon’s Table, when Lucina attempts to take Robin’s life in order to ensure her father’s survival – and realizes that she can’t do it.  She can’t bring herself to kill her mother, and begs both her parents’ forgiveness for what she tried to do. 

Of course Chrom and Robin are there for her.  Of course they’re willing to forgive her.  But more than that, they’re both there to support her through this struggle, just as they’ve supported one another all this time: Robin’s amnesia may have wiped away her memories of her supposed destiny, but a part of her has always feared that Frederick might be right about her, that she might well be Chrom’s enemy – fears he has done his all to reassure, because her actions have proven the truth of who she is at heart; and while Chrom’s burden is familiar, so too is Robin’s comfort and encouragement as he faces the challenges left in the wake of his sister’s passing.  They both listen to Lucina when she comes to them with the burden of her fears – and they both take them to heart, and offer what advice they can.  

Chrom is the first to explain that there’s a difference between hating her blood and hating a particular ancestor.  He could easily hate the blood he got from his father, but that would mean that the hatred is spread to Emmeryn (who he still holds in his heart as a beacon of hope and peace), because she shares that same blood in equal measure.  It is not Lucina’s blood that defines her, not her heritage, not her ancestors: she alone determines her course, her fate, her destiny – just look how far she’s come, returning through time to change things for the better.  Robin adds that it’s alright to be afraid, to be angry, but she can’t let that control her, because when it does there’s every chance we could become what we most fear or hate.  It’s most important to remain true to herself, because they both know that she is a wonderful young woman, strong and dedicated and just as passionate as her parents – and they are both so proud of her and the person she’s become. 

There are still times that Lucina’s scared of Grima’s power and the potential that she could be manipulated by the fell dragon’s influence.  But especially after the Endgame, she knows that her fellblood heritage does not define her: she is the daughter of the two most incredible, admirable people she’s ever met, and she will carry on with her head held high in their honor. 

#fire emblem: awakening #fanart #headcanon #lucina #f!robin #chrom #knightofiris #i love lucina so much #she's my baby girl and i just want her to be happy more than anything #she deserves a peaceful world #thank you so much for asking this question #and giving me an opportunity to gush about her #i hope you enjoy this long-winded answer ;v; #ada answers

[fatefled-aa]

Headcanon ramblings: Robin’s self-confidence

I haven’t touched on this in much length before but I heavily headcanon that Robin is really self-conscious- at times even having a really low opinion of herself. Regardless of who she marries, if she does marry at all, her view regarding herself (especially after she begins to learn the truth of her lineage) is rather low. However, Robin does not speak much of this, which is evident in canon material as lines suggesting this are rather spread out.

but me being me I read through the entire awakening chapters scripts, heroes lines, and drama cd script to find lines that prove my point.

This kinda long so I am putting it under read more

Awakening-

I heavily headcanon that while Robin’s confidence in herself has never been that great, majority of her issues with her view of herself do not spark until the second half of the game. “I'm not even sure I want to know the truth of my past anymore...” It isn’t a far stretch to say that Robin was never sure if she wanted to know her past or not, after all she’d built a new life for herself but I do HC that it was always something in the back of her mind. For her to change her mind after Validar’s revelation and decide that she doesn’t want to know is something. Additionally, despite having led the shepherds in battle for years now upon being forced to steal the fire emblem she not only doesn’t feel fit to travel with them, but insists on being left behind. Saying that she can’t be trusted and they’re putting too much faith into her.

This distrust in herself only grows, as later she asks Chrom to kill her if Validar does gain control again. “But therein lies the favor... If Validar somehow does gain control over me... Promise me... Promise me you'll cut me down.”  Additionally, even with having no relation to Lucina after the judgment scene she says “I do forgive you, Lucina. You needn't speak of it again." She’s prepared to die if it means the other’s get out of this alive. This is shown again upon seeing Validar again. “No! Never! I'll die first!” “We do agree on one thing: my life so far has all been in preparation for this moment... When I kill you or die trying!”

It’s also clear Robin put a lot of thought into killing Grima, as it appears as though she already guessed when asking Naga that if she was to land the final hit it would kill her as well. That thought doesn’t seem to scare her at all either, as she even says she’s ready.

“Robin: The other me claimed the dragon and I were the same, yes? If I strike the final blow, he'd be killed by his own hand...

Chrom: Robin! Ingenious! Naga? Will it work? Naga: ...Perhaps. But there would be consequences. Grima's heart and Robin's are inexorably linked. Dragon and man/woman can no longer be separated. Therefore, slaying Grima would also cause the end of Robin's life. Robin ...I realize that. I am ready”

Additionally in the final battle if Robin does land the final blow she flat out says she’s glad she and Grima are the same as it means she can give her life to protect everyone else, along with saying they she shares blame in the evils Grima has/would cause.

Drama CD-

Oh boy I can rant for ages on how self-sacrificial Female Robin is in the drama cd. For those who haven’t watched this I’ll give some background info. Once Emmeryn falls Robin does her best to lead the very distraught group out and to an abandoned village, despite the fact it’s shown her breathing is getting progressively more labored. Eventually she collapses, the group noticing she’s come down with a fever. The group learns she’s caught a local epidemic disease that will take her life if a certain herb is not found. Robin is against them searching for this herb, insisting that she is fine and they need to return to Ylisse but of course no one is having and eventually the group looks for it while leaving Lissa and Virion to watch over Robin as she’s in and out of consciousness. Now they’re still in Plegian territory and even with Robin as sick as she is she realized soldiers will find them. She repetitively insists her life isn’t worth them risking theirs, that they should forget about her and run- knowing full well that she will die. Even telling Lissa and Virion to lie and tell Chrom she gave into cowardness and ran.

Robin: If they have that much time… they should be preparing… to return swiftly to Ylisse… Everyone… is waiting… for them to return… Lissa: Ah… Robin… Robin: [breathing is labored; it takes her a moment to start talking again] I don’t want… to put everyone… in any more danger… on my account… Lissa: B-but! [Robin doesn’t answer, but is still breathing heavily] Virion: She seems to have lost consciousness again. Robin: Plegian soldiers… are approaching, aren’t they?

Lissa: Um... well…Virion: No, those footsteps belong to the villagers coming to visit.  It’s fine, Robin.  We’ll go talk to them.

Robin: [small laugh that turns into ragged breathing] Virion… you’re quite skilled at lying.  But… thank you.  I know.  You’ve done enough.

Virion: Robin…Robin: Lissa… Virion… leave me… and run.

Lissa: Huh?Virion: [muffled noise of surprise] What are you saying?

Robin: The enemy is approaching.  You can’t bring me along.  I’ll only be a burden.

Lissa: [gasps] No!Virion: [gravely] Are those your orders as tactician?

Robin: Ah… [laughs breathlessly] It’s nothing that grand.  I just… don’t want to… cause you all any more sorrow.

Lissa: [small voice] S-sorrow?Robin: [breathing hard, about to cry] Lady Emmeryn has died.  If I die as well… You are all too kind.  You will be overcome with sorrow.

Lissa: [about to cry] Robin…

Robin: I don’t want to burden... Chrom and the others… with any more sadness.  So… so… please pretend that I… a person without memories… who doesn’t even know her past… never existed to begin with. [breathing hard] Please… forget about me.

Lissa: [gasps, shouts] Don’t say that, Robin!

Robin: Lissa… this is where we part ways.  Please tell Chrom… I escaped alone… and concealed my whereabouts. [swallows] “She fled from battle.  She gave in to fear and departed the battlefield.” [gasping for breath] And then… everyone will immediately forget about me.  I think… I think that’s for the best

.Lissa: [crying] No!  I don’t want to!

Virion: Robin… you…Robin: I’m a hindrance… so forget about me… and run away, quickly…

Lissa: [screaming] No!  I’m staying right here!  I’ll protect you until the end, Robin!

Robin: Lissa… [small laugh] T-that is a problem…

Fire Emblem Heroes-

Now I am not as familiar with this game since to be honest I play it super casually but even from what I have seen Robin still doesn’t seem to have much confidence in herself. She doesn’t see herself as a hero at all. “I don't feel any different here than back home, so what makes me a Hero in this world?”

IN SUMMARY- Robin is very self-conscious, self-sacrificial, and greatly puts everyone else's life above her own.

  - now disclaimer obviously this can be applied to any gender or Robin but as I was analyzing this more so for my own character analysis to be applied to my Robin blog that is why she/her pronouns are used.

#♟| to forge anew ❞ ( head canon )

[grimahearted]

below the cut is a 1.6k-word meta turned drabble about the first timeline. PLEASE be mindful of the trigger warnings listed in the tags--i don’t think it’s too graphic, but i do name certain actions and it might be disturbing. everything has either been drawn directly from canon, has been plotted with another mun, or involves a muse who i have not interacted with.

this is canon to my blog

ruya is a lot less trusting and a lot less forgiving in the first timeline. her past is...painful, shall we say, between being on the run, losing their mother, being forcibly teleported away on the brink of being captured, and suffering from abuse/assault at the hands of previous employers, because in ylisse no one in a court of law is gonna believe the brown girl over the white man--especially when the charge is rape. moreover, she’s faced a lot of racism (both in terms of microaggressions and in overt stuff). 

she joins the shepherds out of necessity. she’s running out of money, and sure, she’s not exactly leaping at the chance to be employed by the crown, it’s money and a place to stay, and she figures she’ll leave them within a couple of months anyway. she doesn’t trust the shepherds any farther than she can throw them, and she can’t throw ‘em very far because she’s not the physically strongest person around. also, she’s less likely to forgive someone for a slight, especially if she perceives it to be racial. of course, she doesn’t do much outwardly because she’s clearly the outsider in the shepherds, and doing so wouldn’t be safe (in her mind, anyway). 

it’s also harder for people to excuse her lack of social skills. as an amnesiac, there’s a clear explanation. but when she refuses to talk about her past and clearly has some odd mannerisms, people tend to keep their distance. not everyone, of course, but some. 

so, fast forward to them reaching regna ferox. she’s not too happy with chrom’s comment about the plegians being sent to cause trouble at the border (even if she understands his frustration), and the only shepherd she feels like is maybe a friend is lissa, because lissa feels the safest out of the shepherds and also being mean to lissa would feel like kicking a puppy, and ruya’s not one to kick puppies. 

she does sort of get along with virion, and is one of the first shepherds to realize he’s from roseanne (though even she doesn’t know he’s the duke), and once she tells him to buzz off on the flirting and they discover a mutual interest in chess, they’re at least...somewhere on the way to becoming friends.

by the time they’ve rescued maribelle, ruya’s friend list consists of lissa, virion, chrom (who managed to make amends after some serious conversation), and sumia (whom she bonded with over books). it’s just enough to give her some ties to the shepherds, and with aversa and gangrel knowing exactly where she is, she figures it’s better to stay put. 

then the assassination happens. chrom is severely wounded in an attempt on his life, which will leave him with a permanent injury on his leg and prevents him from rushing to emmeryn’s aid once the main force arrives. ruya does her best to cobble together a defense, but she has to get chrom medical attention first. they run into gaius on their way, and the candies that fall out of chrom’s pockets while ruya is trying and failing to soldier carry chrom plus gaius’ own misgivings about the assassination thing. it’s a good thing she does, because gaius can carry chrom better than she can, and he gives her a vital piece of news: rajya is among the assassins, looking for her.

by the time ruya manages to rejoin the fray, gaius in tow, the shepherds are in a bit of disarray, seeing as they basically ran over after hearing the explosion, and there are holes in their defenses even after ruya starts giving orders because ruya doesn’t know the layout of the castle. she manages to recruit rajya, who was all too happy to defect from the other side to join her under the name raven, and a taguel named panne, who claims to owe the exalted line a debt.

it’s not enough. assassins use the secret passages known to only a select few to run right around their defenses, and by the time ruya realizes and scrambles to catch up, emmeryn is lying in a pool of her own blood, and the fire emblem is gone.

it’s not her fault, chrom tells her. but she feels like it is, and what’s more, most people (including many of the shepherds) blame her. it’s bad enough that she’s a plegian who’s tightlipped about her past, worse still that she recruited two of the enemy, and worst of all they find out that validar is her father--something even she didn’t know. chrom is hastily crowned exalt and puts his foot down, promising ruya a place in the shepherds if she wishes it, no matter what uproar the nobility might create.

with the few friends she has in the shepherds suffering from wounds both physical and mental, ruya decides to stay. chrom is grateful, and several of the shepherds relieved. others, not so. rumors begin to swirl, stories of blame twisting into stories of collusion--she was a spy all along, planted to ensure that the assassination runs smooth. 

with chrom on her side, she finally has the safety to fight back. she no longer just takes the cruel words and snide laughter, nor the thinly veiled accusations or slights that go beyond just words. but it doesn’t matter. she can insist all she wants, gaius and rajya can corroborate all they want, but the specter of guilt hangs steadily over her shoulders. still, she stays.

the war with plegia is long and grueling, with them facing the full might of the plegian army with their smaller force and low morale. but they see it through.  with gangrel’s head lopped off in the desert sands and the fire emblem back in their grasp, they return home, weary but triumphant. chrom makes her his formal advisor and grants rajya a place to stay, should she wish it. 

her new position only fuels the anger held by many in the court, and the slights increase to even a poisoned drink. deliberate snubs and rumors of an enchanted exalt, beguiled by plegian magic, begin to swirl. ( if ruya marries chrom, it is only worse)

luckily, she won’t have to put up with them for long. valm attacks port ferox, and the shepherds ride again after just shy of a year of peace, and ruya’s relationship with a majority of the shepherds is as rocky as ever. none amongst them doubt her loyalty any longer, years of fighting erasing that doubt. but they aren’t exactly close, either. ruya holds many of them at arms’ length, save for the precious few whom she trusts. but things are better, and she’s happy to call each and every shepherd a friend, or at least a friendly acquaintance.

the war with valm proceeds more or less the way it did in the second timeline, save for the occasional complication made by chrom’s leg. say’ri and tiki join their party, and while ruya takes to both of them, she’s left chilled by tiki’s occasional musings on their own similarities, and the knowledge that the manakete brings--the grimleal are trying to revive their fallen god, and the only way to safeguard against it is to collect the remaining gemstone and complete the rite of awakening.

plegia has sable. in hindsight, it is just too convenient that they extend an invitation. but alas, validar had been careful to keep distance between himself and his most devout followers, and even rajya does not realize that it’s a trap before it’s too late.

ruya seizes the emblem under validar’s command, bound to his will by the rite performed on her as an infant, and rajya launches an assault on the prince, validar’s aim to end as much of the exalted bloodline as he can. chrom does not want to fight rajya, but frederick cannot simply stand by as his liege is attacked. 

frederick’s lance pierces rajya, and the surge of emotion it wells within ruya is enough to break the last of validar’s grip on her mind. she breaks free just in time to cradle her twin sister as she dies. fearing what else they might lose, the shepherds flee castle plegia, rajya’s body left behind.

ruya rounds on frederick in her grief. validar’s control left rajya wide open to attack, her sorcerer’s robes no match for the strength of a lance, but ruya doesn’t know that. she blames frederick, only to find herself facing the business end of his lance, still red with rajya’s blood. he delivers his judgement: she is a threat to chrom, and she must die.

chrom intervenes, placing himself between frederick and ruya as he professes his complete faith in her. frederick reluctantly agrees not to harm ruya without provocation, but it means little to her emotionally, even though she can concede that she understands. 

fragile trust grows even more strained in the wake of her forced betrayal, and no matter how much her closest friends try, ruya’s perception of the shepherds is irrevocably soured--in no small part due to grima whispering in her ear. 

ruya knows little about the rituals required to revive the fell dragon, but she has ammi’s stories of an altar deep in the desert, where grima supposedly slumbers. if grima will be awakened anywhere, it will be there.

and so they go, grima’s influence on ruya’s thoughts and feelings growing as he takes firm root in her psyche. they enter the dragon’s table to find validar ready for his rite, but the presence of the gemstones has grima so awakened in her that she can barely think straight. still, she leads the shepherds to victory...but alas. the lives lost during the battle--including some of her friends’--at the altar are enough to feed grima just enough, and he takes control for only a moment--driving thoron through chrom’s chest. 

“this was not your fault...promise me...you’ll get away from this place.” but it is, and there’s no going back from what she’s just done. chrom’s pretty words of peace and goodwill are nothing, for she has seen that nothing changes that she is plegian and they ylissean. their differences cannot overcome the bonds that she’s made.

the fell dragon calls to her, and she gives in.

#°❀•°: even with ashes in my mouth i was still born to breathe ( headcanon. ) #murder cw / #manipulation cw / #abuse cw / #assault cw / #racism cw / #rape cw / #attempted murder cw / #oh i guess ot3 would actually change some stuff but not in the overall narrative hmm #god i hope this readmore works on mobile if not i'm sorry

[iturbide]

Is it weird that I kinda wanna know more about Validar or rather seem more stories with him since there are no doubt so many f-ed up things he could do to poor Robin. I somehow see him as someone who just touched Robin like overly so. Soft strokes, but there's something off about it. It's possessive and "slimey". I wonder how he even got to the point of siring robin in the first place. Was it consensual? Would he ever drop down to that level of abuse if he had Robin from the start?

Oh hey it’s one of my favorite thought experiments 8D 

So I have put an inordinate amount of thought into understanding Validar and how he ended up the way he did.  History is important: if even one thing had changed in Validar’s life before a certain point, it’s very likely that he could have ended up an entirely different person, someone with more capacity for kindness, someone even capable of truly loving another person. 

But that’s not what happened. 

I have a lot of thoughts about how the Plegian system of government works – namely the fact that the king and the hierophant of the Grimleal are not necessarily the same person.  It’s a bit weird and complicated owing entirely to the fact that Grima’s not involved directly anymore, since as a theocracy, Plegia looks to their divine dragon as the one true ruler.  In Grima’s absence, and lacking any proven proxy, they have instead turned to a system based on divination of their fallen divine’s will.  Whenever a king dies, the six most powerful diviners in Plegia (one for each of Grima’s eyes) are called forth to select the next ruler by interpreting Grima’s will through their chosen medium; in order to keep things relatively simple and ensure the nation can keep running, the diviners limit their selections among the heads of the Grimleal faith and the members of the former king’s council, since those two groups have existing experience.  

Now, while there should logically be an equal chance of a Grimleal priest being selected as a former council member, for the past several centuries, the diviners’ selections have almost always been members of the king’s council; this heavy bias has coincided with the increasing corruption within the upper echelons of the church and the worrisome zealotry that’s gone with it.  In particular, Validar’s family has very long-standing ties with the church, and have held the rank of hierophant for countless decades, and they have been some of the foremost perpetrators behind this horrific spiral.  Which brings us to Validar’s father. 

Validar’s father was not a kind man.  He was not a caring man.  He had no time and patience for things like family: his sole interest was in restoring Grima to the world.  Initially, his goal had been to secure power over the nation in order to hasten that very goal; however, when the Plegian king died and the diviners were called, he was passed over for a member of the king’s council.  Irritated but not deterred, he proceeded to make arrangements and married a woman who boasted a very prominent bloodline, hoping that the child created from such a union would at last herald the fell dragon’s return; unfortunately, Validar did not bear the Brand, and his father never forgave him for that.  In his eyes, that absent mark proved his son a failure, and no matter how hard Validar tried, no matter how great his accomplishments or how prodigious his talents and genius, he was still worthless by his father’s single-minded estimation.  

As a child, Validar attempted to win his father’s favor with scholastic accomplishments.  When this failed, he began searching for other ways to change his father’s view, becoming an adept strategist and politician.  When this, too, did not bear the desired results, he turned to increasingly dangerous means of proving himself, researching dangerous, ancient magics and becoming one of the foremost sorcerers in the nation at a very young age.  And none of it had any effect.  Bitter, jaded, and hell-bent on proving his worth regardless of the cost, Validar shed any trace of ethics or morality he might have harbored up to that point, and turned his eyes on a new goal: bringing Grima back into the world – not just the one marked as the fell dragon’s proxy by the Brand, but the fell dragon himself, a feat that he knew would be possible thanks to a formidable ritual he’d uncovered in his research that, with suitable modifications, he was certain would call Grima’s own soul into the Branded vessel that bore the fell dragon’s blood. 

Shortly thereafter, the reigning Exalt in Ylisse launched his crusade against the ‘heathen’ Plegians, striking out across the border and laying waste to any settlement he came across.  Many of the villages in the eastern desert evacuated, and the refugees flocked to the capital for protection; among them was a young woman who, despite being a refugee herself, put all her time and effort toward helping others in whatever way she could.  She came to Validar’s attention less from her altruism, more for the raw, volatile magic she demonstrated in her attempts at administering first aid through magic: knowing that powerful arcane talents often implied a strong connection to Grima’s blood, Validar reached out to her, using his impressive speechcraft and manipulative nature to try and gain her favor before proposing to her. 

This woman, however, was well aware of who Validar was – as the son of the present hierophant, it was impossible not to know – and knew equally that he had no real interest in her.  But she accepted regardless, because she had no real interest in him, either: she knew that marrying into a family with such strong connections to the Grimleal hierarchy would give her immeasurably more opportunities to reach out and help the people of Plegia, from the refugees fleeing the warfront to the individuals fallen on hard times in need of aid and kindness.  In spite of the ongoing war, she still spent her days in the capital rather than cloistered safely away (much to the consternation of her guard), providing food and medicine to the masses huddled in the capital and awaiting the conflict’s end. 

Though they led separate lives that only led to their occasional meeting, Validar’s primary interest was in siring a child that might act as a suitable vessel, and they shared a bed regularly for this purpose.  In time, his wife became pregnant, and for months Validar bided his time, waiting for the birth, outwardly confident even as he prayed for success in his endeavor.  And, much to his delight (and relief), when the child was born, he did in fact bear Grima’s Mark. 

For the first time in Validar’s life, his father looked on him with approval.  And so he sought to push forward with his goal, believing fully that he was on the right track. 

AUs are great things, and depending on the situation, this can go a lot of different ways.  For a canon-type situation, where his wife escapes his control, Validar’s intention was actually to remove her from the picture entirely so that he could have full control over the child’s upbringing.  Though he is capable of extreme violence, Validar much prefers not to bloody his hands, instead preferring methods that cannot be tied back to him: he fully intended to murder his wife through use of a virulent poison, a plot which she uncovered along with the knowledge of what he intended to do with their child.  Desperate to protect her baby, she took Robin and fled Plegia – and with the loss of the Branded child, Validar’s father once more looked on him with contempt, berating him that he did one thing right in all his life, and then he ruined that, as well.  This cold dismissal is the last straw for Validar, whose yearning for the man’s approval twists fully into hateful loathing: he bides his time for several more years, kidnapping Aversa and training her to act as his right hand in the interim…and when the time is right, Validar sends her to murder his father in cold blood, staging it as a political assassination rather than a calculated crime of passion. 

In other situations, where Robin does remain closer for whatever reason (either with his wife still present or with her gone), Validar’s methods remain ultimately non-violent.  He prefers manipulation and mental or emotional abuse to physical methods in most cases, saving touch as a form of praise – but the way he uses it feels like an abuse of its own: often his preferred form of such praise is stroking his son’s hair, which seems more like a man petting a dog than a father engaging with his child.  And that’s very much because Validar doesn’t see Robin as his child, or even a child at all: he’s nothing more than the vessel Validar intends to draw Grima into, and he has no interest in anything beyond preparing that vessel to the fullest so that when Grima enters it, the might and magic at the fell dragon’s disposal will be unmatched. 

tl;dr hi yes i think about validar too much and it generally ends with me hating him more

#answered #jayswing96 #fire emblem: awakening #headcanon #validar #i have put way too much thought into validar #honestly he could be a much better person if things had been different #maybe not a great person #kind of like gangrel is never going to be a phenomenal person no matter what #but certainly better than how he ended up in awakening #also i say that most of the time validar prefers non-violent methods #the exception is when he gets frustrated to his breaking point #he won't hesitate to turn violence against anyone when he's in his foulest moods #and this includes robin #which is actually a core component of the speaker for the dead au #which remains probably one of my darkest awakening aus

[hippomanblog]

My Fire Emblem Rankings

I’ve had a few questions about my legitimate Fire Emblem opinions and thoughts, so I figured I’d write this up while I’m waiting for some things to process. This is all just personal opinion, no shade is meant to be being thrown, and this probably won’t interest you too much.  But, hey, here it is.  I’ll list the Fire Emblems going from favorite to least favorite, and explain a little bit about why I feel that way. Note that I won’t be including 1-5.  I’m considering the remakes the “definitive” versions of 1/2/3, and I haven’t actually played the Jugdral games.  I’m also not counting Heroes because it’s kinda hard to “judge”, but I do like it a lot and play on a pretty regular basis. THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR EACH GAME!

#1. Awakening

Awakening is a game that gets a few things wrong but most things right.  What don’t I like about it?  I preferred the art style of the Tellius games.  The maps aren’t very creative.  Pair Up is a thematically cool mechanic that really doesn’t hold up to scrutiny and trivializes many encounters.  The story is simple, with the exception of a couple twists, and Validar is a dull villain. I like pretty much everything else.  Awakening managed to be accessible to new fans and still provide a nice challenge for series veterans.  There’s a diverse selection of characters who are all pretty viable, meaning you can use your favorites.  Most characters have a lot of personality and depth to their lines, like with how they turned Frederick from a typical stoic Jagen-type into this goofy obsessive pyromaniac without making him a complete joke character.   The SpotPass characters are also a lovely addition if you adore the series like I do, and there’s just so much to do in this game, so it feels like a celebration of the franchise as a whole.  If I’m trying to get someone into Fire Emblem, I will tell them to play Awakening. Favorite Character: Gregor or Owain. Least Favorite Character: Yarne #2. New Mystery Of The Emblem

This is bias, yes, but I love New Mystery.  I was really excited for this game, because I was pretty new to the fanbase when it was announced, and couldn’t wait for an English release.  I waited, and waited, and waited, and... Once I finished playing my JP copy I just lamented that we didn’t get to play this game here.  I think that while Awakening reinvents Fire Emblem, New Mystery is sort of the pinnacle of “classic” FE.  The game is just fun, the maps are diverse and challenging, and the combination of reclass and the sheer amount of playable characters gives it immense replay value. The plot is nothing to really write home about, but after the vast wasteland of Shadow Dragon Plot, I really liked what was there.  It’s nothing that’ll blow your mind, but there are some nice moments.  I know a lot of people hate Kris, but I don’t mind them.  I won’t go to bat for them being any kind of great character or vital addition to the story, but as a sounding board to give other Archanea characters a little personality, and a way to customize your own unit and give them all sorts of terrible hats, they work just fine.  I also like the idea of Marth as a bit of a shell-shocked, reluctant king who relies on his friends to rise to greatness.  It prevents him from being “too perfect”, like RD Ike.  But I can see where people have problems with this. I wish this were a more accessible entry in the series, because I think it has a little bit of something for every Fire Emblem fan. Favorite Character: Honestly?  I like Caeda and Ogma, they’re cool people. Least Favorite Character: matthis is creepy and I hate him 3. Blazing Sword

Like a lot of people, Blazing Sword was my first exposure to the series (through an LP on Youtube for me), and it does a great job.  You could honestly probably swap these first three around in any order, to be frank. The balance in this one is a little wonky, and it goes on a little too long.  But I like what it does with its extra time.  You get some clever gaidens that mix up the formula, have room to use lots of units, and the sprite animations are just wonderful to watch.  The three lords all bring something to the table, even though you’re honestly probably just going to play Hector Mode once you’ve unlocked it.  Lyn has a story about claiming your birthright and using nobility to help people, Hector’s brash and boorish nature is offset as he learns how to be a better person on his journey (That scene with Matthew on the Dread Isle is great.), and Eliwood...exists. With maps ranging from cramped and objective based to sprawling battlefields, there’s a lot of variety in gameplay and room for different units to shine.  It’s also got some of the best supports in the series.  It’s a must-play for any Fire Emblem fan. Favorite: Hector is a good boy and a friend.  Legault is also a surprisingly involved side-character with some great lines and dialogue with almost every Morph in the final map! Least Favorite: Jaffar, because it’s hard to tell if I hate him more for killing Leila or ramming his face into the paladin in Battle Before Dawn and getting slaughtered so many times.

4. Path Of Radiance

I guess only the top 3 are getting thumbnails, sorry.  PoR sticks with me because it tries a lot of new things and most of them work out.  The bonus experience is a good system, I think this game does support unlocks better than any other, Laguz units are fun to use, and the conversion to pseudo-3D maps feels smooth and never gets in the way of gameplay. There are issues, though.  I’m not a fan of the way the full-body portraits look in the cutscenes of this game, biorhythm is silly, and that Bridge Map sure does Exist.  The reason this isn’t breaking Top 3, though, is that I just never really got attached to the cast.  Characters are a big part of Fire Emblem for me, and while there are some great ones in PoR, there are also several that feel very forgettable.  The plot is also a little...iffy, because it’s all FANTASY RACISM and it feels like it’s trying to punch above its pay grade sometimes.  Like, be honest, did you give a shit that you had to kill Jill’s dad?  That character who showed up maybe once?  The maps also tend to blend together, with a few notable exceptions (because they’re annoying, mostly).   In Minor Nitpick Town, the 3D cutscenes are hilariously goofy and the Trial characters have really awful unlock conditions. Still, PoR is a very solid entry and I’d give it a hearty recommendation. Favorite: Ranulf, probably. Least Favorite: makalov shouldn’t have been recruitable

5. Sacred Stones I balked a little at putting this one this low, like “Really?  This is FIFTH?”  But I guess that’s just a testament to how much I enjoy all these games.  Like with the top three, you could probably swap this with PoR. Sacred Stones gets a lot of shit for being “too easy”, and I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong, but I also don’t think it’s that big a deal.  This game takes risks, but they’re good risks that frequently pay off.  This was the ideal game for the Trainee classes to come in, because you can actually feasibly use them!  The monsters add variation to the types of enemies you encounter!  Split promotions are interesting tactical decisions that give the player more control over their personal experience! There’s just...not a ton of substance to SS, though.  The monsters, at heart, aren’t really interesting to fight.  The game’s plot often feels like it’s on fast forward, and it ends before any real tension builds.  The villains are, with the exception of Lyon, who’s great, mostly just cardboard cutouts of bad guy stereotypes.  The postgame is mostly just grindy and once you’ve beaten the Tower or Ruins once, you’ll probably say “okay, I’m done!”  Well, you aren’t, not if you want 100%!  Get back in there and kill more Dracozombies to unlock your underleveled Druid! If you really crave that “challenge” as an essential part of your FE experience, although I think SS is often made out to be easier than it really is, you can probably skip it.  But for most fans, it’s not to be passed up. Favorite: L’Arachel, of course. Least Favorite: I usually forget Syrene is in the game until she appears. 6. Fates: Conquest Yes, I’m dividing Fates into three games.  Sue me.  Conquest feels like the best of the Fates routes, because it’s creative.  In... a lot of ways.  The maps are creative.  While some just amount to gimmicks, several are, in my opinion, series standouts.  Chapter 9 is a Defense map that actually feels like a Defense map.  You’ve got anti-siege weapons, you’re scrambling to keep the Hoshidans from flooding in, and when Takumi drains the water the whole dynamic of the map suddenly changes.  It rules.  To me, that map encompasses all the best parts of Conquest. It’s too bad it’s still in Fates, though.  Let’s get it out of the way: Plot Bad.  But, unique to Conquest, I think, is a plot so utterly ridiculous and convoluted that it actually becomes actively enjoyable.  This is a story where your cousin puts on a different colored costume to COMPLETELY FOOL your adoptive dad, who she reveals is actually a jelly monster, but cannot tell anyone else because of a terrible curse inflicted by the King Of The Jelly Monsters, so you organize an invasion of an entire country to unmask Jelly Dad by making him sit on the Super Special Chair that will reveal his gelatinous form.  I love it, to be honest. Otherwise my issues are mostly just the standard Fates Problems.  The game tries to take what worked in Awakening and amp it up to 11, which ruins most of it.  The child characters are unmemorable and the plot explanation is bafflingly nonsensical (BABY DIMENSIONS), the characters often feel like they’re just gimmicks that smash into eachother and then get married for some reason, and the game tries to be so many things at once that most of them feel half-assed or over-complicated. Jelly King Dad though. Favorite: Arthur cracks me up. Least Favorite: Peri Peri Peri peri peri p e r i   p  e  r  i 7. Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia

Confession time.  I still haven’t finished this one all the way.  I’ve seen the ending, though. Let’s get the problems out of the way first.  The gameplay is not very fun.  The map design delights in sticking you in poisonous swamps, slow and dreary deserts, or Nuibaba’s Abode, which I would personally say is the worst map in the series.  While some of Awakening and Birthright’s maps feel lazy, most maps in this game feel like they were designed either just to frustrate you or with a series of random dice rolls that somehow plant a single Cavalier at the ass-end of nowhere and extend the map for three turns with zero rhyme or reason.  Class balance is all over the place and you basically just want all the Dread Fighters possible, with a Cleric to summon more Dread Fighters.  The dungeon crawling doesn’t add much, most of the game mechanics go woefully underexplained, and the voiced supports feel minimalist and shallow. But when Echoes works?  It really, really works.  I don’t like playing it, but watching someone play Echoes is a treat.  The game is bursting with personality thanks to some phenomenal voice acting, which leaves the story with some unforgettable moments, both comic (the boey scream) and dramatic (Berkut Loses His Shit).  Even though the characters don’t have a lot of explicit backstory, their voices and conversations are so expressive that it’s easy to sort of form your own ideas about their personalities and lives.  The art is some of the best in the series, and each portrait is expressive and well done.  It’s clear that this remake had a lot of care put into it, and it produced some of the series best lords and a wonderful new villain in the sinister Berkut. 8. Radiant Dawn

A lot of good things from Path Of Radiance carry over to Radiant Dawn.  Namely, the stuff I mentioned earlier, I won’t go into it all again.  All of that is good, but the new additions and changes often don’t work. The multiple viewpoints has a few cool moments, like facing down Ike and friends in 3-13 (with the greatest faceless NPC of all time on your side), but often just contributes to making the game way too long and making the characters often appear outright stupid or contradictory for the sake of moving the plot along.  Remember when Micaiah, who spared one of the most vile people in FE history in Part 1, dumped flaming oil on a 13 year old girl and her guards in Part 3?  Remember when Ranulf just walks up and tells you who the Black Knight is, ending a mystery that had been developed since the previous game with the dialogue equivalent of showing you a spoiler on the internet?  Remember blood pacts? The massive split in characters also makes some of them completely worthless.  Never forget the sad case of Vika, who suddenly disappears and doesn’t return until almost the final chapter, still at her Part 1 level.  Yikes. I do enjoy the Finale maps a lot, however, and the final boss encounter is fairly memorable, though it does carry its own problem with Ike being basically hero worshipped by the entire cast, to the point where only he can strike down Ashera.  I like Ike, but RD kind of feels like it’s forcing him down your throat sometimes. Favorite: Out of the new characters, Nolan, probably? Least Favorite: surprise it’s still makalov 9. Shadow Dragon I’m sure this is bottoming out a lot of people’s lists, but let me make my case. 1. Reclass is cool and they introduced it in this.

2. Hardin’s turban.

3. The Prologue, where IS got to make new stuff, is a lot of fun and has personality.

4.

Okay, so Shadow Dragon is disappointing.  It’s a remake that did not change enough, and if the FE games were yogurt flavors, Shadow Dragon would be the batch they just forgot to put flavoring in.  Everything, down to the graphics, is covered in this thin veneer of blandness, and it’s sort of a muddy march to the finale, so you can finally take down a villain who literally gets about four lines in the whole game. The Gaiden chapters also feel like a rude prank.  If you want to get at the fun maps with the interesting characters with good dialogue, you have to slaughter all of your friends on purpose!  At least it’s in Shadow Dragon so you probably won’t like most of them anyway! Favorite: The guy who calls Gordin “Gaggles”. Least Favorite: surprise it’s still makalovmatthis 10. Binding Blade I admit that this is bizarre placement.  I just...don’t like Binding Blade.  It’s mostly due to stat distribution in gameplay, honestly.  The skill/luck formula in this one results in a lot of boss fights that are just two 40% characters whiffing on eachother for ages.  Several of the maps are giant slogs, especially 14, but I don’t remember any in particular that I really enjoyed.  The plot is okay, but not memorable.  Idunn is a bit of a letdown encounter.  Hector deserved better.  To summarize, I guess I just don’t think this is a game that does anything that Blazing Sword didn’t do better.  So I’m gonna play that one instead. Favorite: Bors because of a terrible stupid inside joke I have with a friend. Least Favorite: I don’t remember anyone I cared enough to dislike, really.  Let’s go with Cath for having the worst recruitment for a Worse Chad. 11. Fates: Birthright Remember all those cool things Conquest did?  What if they didn’t? Birthright! While the story is still bad, it’s not nearly as funny-bad, although I do have to give props to the scene where Flora sets herself on fire and Jakob spends about a solid minute screaming out how pointless this is, echoing the player’s thoughts perfectly.  The maps are mostly just stat-checks and open fields, and the answer to your problems often isn’t “make a better plan”, it’s “go grind a bit and then just roll through it”, especially on some late-game maps.  Iago’s comes to mind, with the whole Entrap into Berzerker combo?  Screw that. Favorite: Azama is a treasure.  On the NPC (in this route) side, Elise is a beacon of rationality and kindness.  I sure hope nothing happens to h-Oh. Least Favorite: I remember literally nothing about the personalities of Hana and Hinata so them, I guess.

12. Fates: Revelations Do you remember when I said Shadow Dragon was like unflavored yogurt?  What if all the flavorings got mixed into one batch?  And then you add chocolate and cherries and sprinkles and nuts and caramel and parsley and cinnamon and more cherries and shaved ice and spaghetti and then you tell it to explain the plot of Fates.  That’ll be 20 dollars. Revelations actively harms the other two routes of the game by being the obvious “true route”, where nobody has to get hurt (except the best characters, r.i.p. Scarlet and Izana) and everything turns out just fine, negating any sort of moral ambiguity present!  Anankos is a non-entity and a dull villain, and to add insult to injury, you don’t get to learn shit about him unless you buy the other DLC for this DLC that also decides to crib from Awakening and mess with some of the characters from that one.  Almost every map has a bizarre gimmick that’s just weirdly cumbersome, and the amount of plot twists the game shoves at you in an attempt to explain EVERYTHING is just exhausting.  You can play as any character in the Fates package (almost, double r.i.p. Izana) but the balance is tossed out the window to the point where once Niles and Odin come crawling in, they’re nigh-unusable in their joining chapter. It doesn’t feel like any part of it really comes together. Favorite: not this Least Favorite: Thinking about what else I could have bought with those 20 dollars. Well, that took about two hours, but this is my list.  If you have any questions, I’m open.  Sorry if I dissed your favorite, but if it helps, know that I can see why someone would enjoy any game in the series, even my least favorites.  Also, know that I’m an idiot on the internet and that my opinion doesn’t have to impact what you enjoy!  Just love the games you love, I’ll stick with mine, and we’re cool! I’m going to stop typing now.

#fire emblem #hippoman #ranking #opinion #awakening #favorites #spoilers

[khytal]

I’m such an idiot I didn’t know what “4, 8, 12...” mea...

.......wait a damn second that’s in FE Warriors too

but it’s against Validar in History Mode-

........anyway I beat Echoes never realizing those numbers referred to the turns during which Jedah could be fought, because it wasn’t ever necessary to fight him to finish the map so I assumed he was an exception...

in my defense I don’t think the villager specifically said “on turn 4, 8, 12...” like in Gaiden (which I did not play, hence my ignorance and the reason I’ve just now learned this)? He only said “Four, eight, twelve-” and then got poofed or something

although if I’m not remembering that correctly then I’m just blind

more but with spoilers below:

there’s also a number of other things I probably didn’t know about/didn’t do?

I wanted to avoid using a guide (the only exception being what to promote the villagers to), and I chose to do Normal/Classic ‘cause I have just enough faith in my strategizing ability, although I did have to use the Turnwheel more frequently in Duma’s Tower/Temple. Specifically, I think it was the second challenge battle for Celica’s group in the tower? I kept screwing up and putting Genny in the line of fire when I thought she’d survive and I went from 11 uses to 2 in that one battle alone. Somehow the other battles past it were easier, thankfully.

I had to use it a few times whenever a witch warped next to an armored unit and killed them, which actually happened in the final battle. I put Mycen in front of Valbar and the witch actually targeted him instead, which is..kinda dumb on her part...’cause I would’ve needed a 2-unit barrier if she’d...anyway.

I did not promote the Whitewings during the course of the story. Mostly because I was trying to bring Est’s level up, and the other two were just kinda at 11 for...the rest of the game. And I was too lazy to make my way back to a Mila statue in a dungeon filled with monsters I didn’t want to fight.

I didn’t realize Duma Tower was kind of a point of no return for Celica’s army so I mostly brought units that could be promoted soon (Est). But by the time they were ready to be promoted, I was already almost at the top and didn’t want to go back down fighting respawned enemies just to get to the statue and then fight my way back up a second time. ...In hindsight that’s likely why I had so much trouble in that one fight.

I also didn’t want to spoil the difficulty by using DLC (even Mila’s Bounty...all of which I accidentally gave to Alm’s army and didn’t touch). But now I’ve beaten the game, so I’m giving myself permission to buy the exp/gold/treasure maps and maybe the overclass promotions.

And I sincerely hoped that Fernand and Berkut (and maybe Rinea) were going to join my group, so you can imagine my despair when they uh. died.

Especially Berkut.

I have him in Heroes so I thought he was a playable character. Sigh.

Anyway I just got into Act 6 and I’m making my way to Archanea...is there anything I should know about the post-endgame before I attempt to tackle the Thabes Labyrinth? Preparations n such?

#fire emblem #fire emblem echoes #khytal.ks

[spiritgriffon]

Rachael’s Favorite FE Characters

Well, since I posted my favorite Pokemon... everything a while ago, I figured I’d post my favorite FE characters class-by-class as well! I’ll also post my least favorites.

The games I own are Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Shadow Dragon, New Mystery on an emulator, Awakening, Heroes, all 3 Fates & Echoes. I’ve played a bit of FE4 too but I’m not far enough into it to pick favorite characters.

Favorite Lord:

Male- Chrom (He’s pretty vanilla but I still love me my Blueberry Dorklord)

Female- Erika (Who is not NEARLY as foolish as recent entries would have you believe. She’s quite a bit better than Celica at any rate- there’s no way she’d fall for fkn JEDAH)

Least Favorite- Ephraim (He’s such a... warmonger. There is no point in the entirety of SS where I go “Yes, he’ll make a good king!”)

Favorite Avatar

Robin! Robin’s the best. Robin has the best coat. Do I need to say more?

Well, I guess I’ll say too that Robin’s personality is quite a bit like my own, which is why I prefer Fem!Robin. I too, would relentlessly pelt Lon’qu with figs and, when faced with unwinnable odds would, just resort to a Big Fire™

Least favorite goes to... IDK, I want to say Kiran but Kiran can marry Navarre so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Favorite Cavalier/Paladin/Great Knight

Seth wins, but Xander and Berkut are close seconds. Seth/Erika is my ultimate FE OTP- they’re the only ones in the whole series I can’t even bear to pair with anyone else for a playthrough to get their supports. I like Xander/Corrin and Xander/Sakura quite a bit, but neither come anywhere close honestly. And Berkut is my angry garbage son~

Least favorite goes to Jagan. You honestly think I’m going to kill Frey who arguably has better stat growths than both Cain and Abel and keep you? Screw canon, off you go, old man!

Favorite Myrmidon/Swordsmaster/Trueblade

Joushua, obviously!

...

I mean, Navarre doesn’t really count because he’s my favorite FE character PERIOD. Besides Navarre, I like Joshua.

Least favorite is Marissa. Not that crazy about Mia either, but Marissa is just so inferior to Josh stats wise and while he’s tons of fun, she’s no fun at all. If she were in another game it’d different but Joshua makes her look really bad in comparison. Plus she took his spot in Awakening AND I’M STILL SALTY 4 YEARS LATER

Favorite Mercenary/Hero/Dreadfighter

Navarre in FE1

Ike!... Yes, I’m counting him here... Oh fine, Ogma then. They’re both big gay softies that are 40% pure iron muscle and 60% heart. I bet they give the best hugs!

(And no, I don’t believe Ogma’s “feelings” for Caeda are in any way romantic bc he met her when she was like 5 and he was probably 20. He probably feels like her big brother or father- which is equally impossible for him to express due to his lot in life. Plus, Marth never gets jealous around him, while he practically turns green around any of the other characters interested in her.)

(Oh, and I consider Soren to be the more canon partner for Ike over Sothe and Ranulf bc Priam is a thing and I’m like 70% sure Soren is supposed to be trans. And yes, there is a canon lesbian whose name is currently escaping me & Sothe is canonically bi, they just went with the “heavy implied to the point of being basically irrefutable” route instead of outright stating it, so it is VERY possible Soren is trans. I like all 3 ships tho)

Least favorite is... The dude from SS. I can’t even remember his name. He’s the only freaking mercenary in SS and his personality doesn’t do anything for me.

Favorite Knight/General/Baron

The Black Knight of course! His writing is bit... a lot of a mess, but you can’t deny how badass he is.

On a less villainous note, Forsythe is pretty cool too.

Least favorite is... IDK, was there one in Awakening? I thought there was one on the cover but he’s so forgettable...

Favorite Archer/Sniper/Ballistician/Bow Knight/Hunter

Tacomeme :)

Leon is also pretty cool, but he’s not nearly as useful in-game. I like Niles too! But I’d be lying if I said a good part of that wasn’t bc of Takehito Koyasu and his sexy voice rip

Least favorite is Faye in Heroes Python’s inability to hit the broad side of a barn Zero’s stupid name change to Niles Innes. His stats are nice but his personality rubs me the wrong way.

Favorite Pegasus/Falcon Knight/Sky/Kinshi Knight

Probably Claire! I didn’t expect to like her much (I got Maribelle vibes at first), but she really grew on me throughout the game and her supports. I love the way her friendship with Alm was written- if it had evolved into a romance I would have found it believable, but it’s one of the VERY, VERY few times I think IntSys has handled a one sided crush on the main character well.

Least favorite is... Probably Cordelia. Like I said, VERY few times. (Vanessa, Sumia, Syrene, Palla, Catria, Est, Hinoka, Subaki, Tanith and Sigrun all tie for second to last. This is... not my favorite class.)

Favorite Dracoknight/Wyvern Rider/Wyvern Lord

Hmmm... I would say Camilla, but my headcanon version of her is quite a bit different from the way she actually is in canon lol. So... Probably promoted Caeda. Minerva is utterly useless on the battlefield, unfortunately, and I like Caeda about the same as Clare so I put her here.

I guess I like Haar, Jill, Cormag, Gwin, and Valter (As a villain, not as a person) somewhat too.

Least favorite has to go to Beruka. I find her... bland.

Favorite Villager/Recruit

AMELIA THE GENERAL IS COMING THROUGH! MAKE WAY, MORTALS

Do I need to say who my least favorite is? Do I really need to?

It’s Faye. Because... she’s Faye.

Favorite Thief/Trickster/Assassin/Rogue/Ninja

That has to go to Julian! He’s very similar to Gaius, but instead of candy, his thing is puns. Fun fact: I have a blood sugar condition similar to diabetes IRL that makes me unable to eat sugar, so Gaius just made me crave sweets I can’t have most of the time :/

Second place goes to Gangrel or Rennac. Gangrel is actually my second favorite character to romance in Awakening due to his great redemption arc in his supports with both Robins & his talks with Em in the DLC, and IMO he makes the second best dad to Morgan (And yes, I have ALL of male Morgan’s supports with his fathers, yes, it was boring, repetitive, and took hours, and yes, the only one I like better is Chrom), and Rennac is just... so hilariously cranky. They also both go in the “They deserved better in their endings” bin- Rennac can’t marry L’rachel despite their great chemistry and Gangrel flat-out dies if you don’t marry him.

Least favorite... I guess Nina. I never found her very funny.

Favorite Cleric/Troubadour/Valkyrie/Bishop/War monk

Elise! She is... one of two healers I like. In the entire series.

The other is L’rachel.

And Sakura, Lissa, Natasha, and Rena I... don’t particularly dislike.

I don’t like any others. Tat/iana is the worst of the bunch. Tat/iana is actually my least favorite character in the series

Favorite Fighter/Pirate/Warrior/Barbarian

Maybe... Vaike or Ross? Or Boyd? Basilio? Wow, there aren’t any I really like a lot. Guess this is my least favorite class.

My least favorite of all HAS to be Arthur though.

Favorite Mage/Monk/Dark Knight/Sage

Soren! He’s really well written. At first he comes off as a racist asshole, but as the game goes on & you get his supports, he proves himself to be a really great, three-dimensional character. And he’s so gay for Ike. Like, so, so gay.

Least favorite is all of the little red-headed boys that are clones of each other. Except maybe Ewan, because he’s actually useful in-game. Most of the others aren’t.

Favorite Dark Mage/Sorcerer/Summoner/Necromancer/Druid/Witch/Cantor

LYON!!!! Oh man, I don’t want to spoil exactly what happens but suffice to say that he is my FAVORITE antagonist in the series.

My least favorite is either Validar or Iago... I don’t know which to pick. They are how NOT to do a decent sorcerer villain in FE. But all of the Cantors in Echoes also get a special mention for being FREAKING ANNOYING.

Favorite Manakete/Dragon Laguz

Tiki- particularly young Tiki! She’s so sweet... and badass!

Least favorite... ugh, I have to say Myrrh. I do like her, but her uses of Dragonstone are so limited that you can barely use her and while she’s just as cute as Tiki, she’s not nearly as tough. She also has a lot sadder story than Tiki- she’s a really good character, but she just doesn’t make me feel bubbly and happy when I see her the way Tiki does.

Favorite Beast Laguz/Bird Laguz/Taguel/Wolfskin/Kitsune

All hail King Naesala! He’s another character that brings a smile to my face when I see him-and that’s saying quite a bit, since he has a pretty serious story. This man oozes personality- He shows up on screen and you know he’s there to kick the world and rule the ass. And no, that’s not backwards.

Honorable mention to Reyson- every time these two are on screen together you know that Reyson is about three seconds from punching Naesala right in the nose, never mind the fact he’d probably break every bone in his tiny, fragile fist. The fact that Naesala’s only paired ending is with Reyson’s sister is just hilarious to me.

I guess my least favorite is Lyre... She sort of feels like she’s just there to have one more playable character to me, since she has so little bearing on the story.

Favorite Dancer/Singer

In terms of personality, supports, and gameplay, Feena is far and away my favorite. However... I’m honestly not a huge fan of her design, so in terms of appearance, Azura, who I personally think has one of the best designs in the series, takes the cake. The fact she has such a catchy theme song is a huge bonus too!

Tethys gets the last spot because she’s completely useless in battle. I’ve heard Ninian can’t fight either but she boosts your stats- why did they give Tethys the shaft so badly?

Favorite Lancer/Soldier

And finally... ending this on a weird one. See, neither Nephenee nor Oboro do anything for me- I don’t dislike them, but I don’t particularly like them either. So, I guess this one goes to Azura!

#fire emblem #Personal #OK to Reblog! #I hope somebody sees this it took 3 hours #And no I didn't really forget Kellam's name