Good lord
fe_contest: Not that I voted on the last two rounds (first round cause I found the theme uninspiring, I have to admit; and second round because I ran out of time to read them all properly hurr hurr), but dood. ELEVEN ENTRIES, ten not including my own. How am I supposed to chooooooose when there was so much good stuff this time around? D:
- - -
So yeah notes, "briefly" (although my entry was for FE6, I don't really consider it a part of the "War is Kind" canon, just a possible offshoot, so not gonna post it over there although most of this analysis is probably going to make it over there in some form or other eventually):
Seriously, the moment I saw the "Yield" theme I knew the exact interpretation of the theme that I wanted to play with, but I couldn't really decide on who to subject it to. I also considered going with a more romantic theme, but felt that a story of that nature would take TOO MUCH TIME and subtlety.
So then I just kind of left it alone until the entries started pouring in, and I was like, man these are seriously awesome. I want in on the fun! But I figured I didn't have enough time, and the weekend was terrible for writing, so... then Monday evening I was listening to American Pie on repeat and the basic image hit me and a bunch of things fell into place, and I thought, hmmm, I wonder what the word count/deadline was again?
... XD;
Kay notes for real.
1. The basic conflict re: the differing definitions of a "kingdom" is one of the main things that grabbed me in FE6. Douglas and Percival fall pretty firmly on one side, while Cecilia is on the other. Based on his supports, I think Mildain ultimately falls more on Cecilia's side as well (at least, post-assassination attempt). Curiously for FE though, this remains thematically unresolved.
2. Okay and Junni Kokki/The Twelve Kingdoms has been on my mind lately -- and that whole series is essentially analyzing what happens when you take ancient Chinese political theory to its natural extremes, and it has a lot of really interesting things to say about governance and rulership. In particular the idea that even the best ruler will eventually lose his/her way...
3. Following along similar lines, one of the recurring themes of Chinese history I think that resonates with me is the figure of the exiled ruler. That and the proud leader who takes a fall (and stands up stronger for it afterward). And the idea that a king's true strength lies in the people he surrounds himself with (and in his ability to recognize talent and use people well). And unrewarded patriotism. So Mildain's story arc already really hits a lot of my personal kinks and it was natural for me to want to make it play out in this particular direction.
4. Something really irritates me about FE's apparent worship of monarchies. (Okay well most fantasy follows weirdly conservative political philosophy, i.e. the kind that upholds the status quo, but yeah FE tends to deconstruct and romanticize the monarchical system at the same time.) It doesn't bug me THAT MUCH, per se, but I find something inexplicably... fascinating about the FE6 ending, in which basically every nation sans the Western Isles, and uhh, Sacae, turns into a monarchy (and it is implied that this is a Good Thing or at least an improvement over the previous state of things), with the entire continent ultimately becoming One Big United Kingdom in future generations. Wat
*deconstruction hat ON*
5. But see, I really love what they do with the Western Isles and their screwy relationship with Etruria.
6. Speaking of Etruria... post-game political situation is so weird. Actually, this is something I only started really noting after spending a lot of time thinking about Guinevere and Bern -- but when you look back carefully on in-game developments, Etruria's got their sticky little fingers in just about everything. (What continues to boggle me: Roy is the hero of the game, yes. But the "Lycian Alliance Army" he starts out leading... turns into the "Etrurian Army" halfway through game. And the game lampshades this as a deliberate choice Roy makes. And Roy is no dummy, as irritatingly inexperienced as he is.) The Western Isles debacle? ALL THEIR FAULT. The rebellion at Ostia? Is "fixed" only thanks to Cecilia. Guinevere's political support? Mostly Roy... and the Church in Etruria. (Speaking of the Church: Saul and Dorothy are sent on a mission -- to uncover the titular Fire Emblem.) And the coup d'etat in Etruria itself is a main driving force of the overall plot. And Etruria is the country that dismantles Bern's government and sets up Guinevere as the new queen post game.
But Roy is the hero (Roy is the hero!) and the one who is remembered in the end (and he's not even the one who unites the Lycian Alliance into a kingdom, that's Lilina), while Mildain apparently is remembered mostly for his role in aiding him during the war (mostly because it makes for a romantic story, I guess).
Wait... what?
7. On pre-assassination Mildain: Yeah so the official artwork depicts him as this girly gentle "wouldn't-hurt-a-fly" nature-loving dude, and his personality in game is genuinely very kind and gentle, but he has a very subtle playful sense of humor lurking throughout all of his supports, and IMO it's very telling that the schemers at court found him urgent enough of a threat to actually try to off him instead of using him as a puppet like his father (they are oh-so-fond of using puppets and working behind the scenes). This and the presumably recent (given their ages) and quick succession of promotions of Percy, Cecilia, and most recently Klein, not to mention the apparent attempts to keep Cecilia and Klein faaaar away from the capital -- seems to me Mildain had already started making drastic reforms on his own in preparation for his eventual takeover (i.e. replacing his father's people with his own people), and perhaps pissed off one too many important figures in the process. :/ (If he'd been more subtle about it, or at least signaled his intentions less obviously, he might have been spared that assassination attempt. But well... at the same time, if he hadn't gone through all that, he wouldn't have realized the situation on the Western Isles before it was too late, I think.)
(Also, the "deceased" Mildain is described as brilliant in game => the implication being that he must have really stood out. And he clearly has brains/cunning; he serves as the tactician not only for the rebellion on the Isles, but ultimately for Roy as well.)
This is one of the few things I adooooored about the manga tie-in Hasha no Tsurugi -- Mildain's depiction there is kind but steely. (Given typical shounen manga standards about what constitutes "badass", I was pleasantly surprised.)
8. He's not actually completely blind in game. According to Douglas/Elphin supports, after several months of blindness, his eyes recover somewhat to the point where it only happens on occasion. That said, I'm not inclined to think he gets better, especially with age. This may or may not be one of the reasons the people don't think he's fit to rule anymore.
9. So yeah I ship Percival/Cecilia haaard, but my OT3 is really Percy/Cecilia/Mildain and this colors everything I write about them.
(That is, the distinct lack of a wife/heir was deliberate.)
10. "the dragons whose blood is rumored to taint his line" -- wrt the title, I originally wanted to imply that Percy and Cecilia died in some important incident, but ultimately decided that complicated the story too much for me to finish within the time I had left. The implication now hopefully is that he simply outlived them, which does fit much better with the bloodless nature of the story I think. Whether or not he really has (very distant) dragon blood in him is debatable, but Elimine and her descendants in my 'verse really ARE particularly long-lived. (Mordred looks more like Mildain's grandfather! o_O you can argue that grief aged him but...) For humans, anyway. Half-dragons like Sophia will still outlive them in the end.
Does that cover everything? SHEESH IT BETTER. I think my notes are longer than the actual fic... as usual. -_-;
- - -
So yeah notes, "briefly" (although my entry was for FE6, I don't really consider it a part of the "War is Kind" canon, just a possible offshoot, so not gonna post it over there although most of this analysis is probably going to make it over there in some form or other eventually):
Seriously, the moment I saw the "Yield" theme I knew the exact interpretation of the theme that I wanted to play with, but I couldn't really decide on who to subject it to. I also considered going with a more romantic theme, but felt that a story of that nature would take TOO MUCH TIME and subtlety.
So then I just kind of left it alone until the entries started pouring in, and I was like, man these are seriously awesome. I want in on the fun! But I figured I didn't have enough time, and the weekend was terrible for writing, so... then Monday evening I was listening to American Pie on repeat and the basic image hit me and a bunch of things fell into place, and I thought, hmmm, I wonder what the word count/deadline was again?
... XD;
Kay notes for real.
1. The basic conflict re: the differing definitions of a "kingdom" is one of the main things that grabbed me in FE6. Douglas and Percival fall pretty firmly on one side, while Cecilia is on the other. Based on his supports, I think Mildain ultimately falls more on Cecilia's side as well (at least, post-assassination attempt). Curiously for FE though, this remains thematically unresolved.
2. Okay and Junni Kokki/The Twelve Kingdoms has been on my mind lately -- and that whole series is essentially analyzing what happens when you take ancient Chinese political theory to its natural extremes, and it has a lot of really interesting things to say about governance and rulership. In particular the idea that even the best ruler will eventually lose his/her way...
3. Following along similar lines, one of the recurring themes of Chinese history I think that resonates with me is the figure of the exiled ruler. That and the proud leader who takes a fall (and stands up stronger for it afterward). And the idea that a king's true strength lies in the people he surrounds himself with (and in his ability to recognize talent and use people well). And unrewarded patriotism. So Mildain's story arc already really hits a lot of my personal kinks and it was natural for me to want to make it play out in this particular direction.
4. Something really irritates me about FE's apparent worship of monarchies. (Okay well most fantasy follows weirdly conservative political philosophy, i.e. the kind that upholds the status quo, but yeah FE tends to deconstruct and romanticize the monarchical system at the same time.) It doesn't bug me THAT MUCH, per se, but I find something inexplicably... fascinating about the FE6 ending, in which basically every nation sans the Western Isles, and uhh, Sacae, turns into a monarchy (and it is implied that this is a Good Thing or at least an improvement over the previous state of things), with the entire continent ultimately becoming One Big United Kingdom in future generations. Wat
*deconstruction hat ON*
5. But see, I really love what they do with the Western Isles and their screwy relationship with Etruria.
6. Speaking of Etruria... post-game political situation is so weird. Actually, this is something I only started really noting after spending a lot of time thinking about Guinevere and Bern -- but when you look back carefully on in-game developments, Etruria's got their sticky little fingers in just about everything. (What continues to boggle me: Roy is the hero of the game, yes. But the "Lycian Alliance Army" he starts out leading... turns into the "Etrurian Army" halfway through game. And the game lampshades this as a deliberate choice Roy makes. And Roy is no dummy, as irritatingly inexperienced as he is.) The Western Isles debacle? ALL THEIR FAULT. The rebellion at Ostia? Is "fixed" only thanks to Cecilia. Guinevere's political support? Mostly Roy... and the Church in Etruria. (Speaking of the Church: Saul and Dorothy are sent on a mission -- to uncover the titular Fire Emblem.) And the coup d'etat in Etruria itself is a main driving force of the overall plot. And Etruria is the country that dismantles Bern's government and sets up Guinevere as the new queen post game.
But Roy is the hero (Roy is the hero!) and the one who is remembered in the end (and he's not even the one who unites the Lycian Alliance into a kingdom, that's Lilina), while Mildain apparently is remembered mostly for his role in aiding him during the war (mostly because it makes for a romantic story, I guess).
Wait... what?
7. On pre-assassination Mildain: Yeah so the official artwork depicts him as this girly gentle "wouldn't-hurt-a-fly" nature-loving dude, and his personality in game is genuinely very kind and gentle, but he has a very subtle playful sense of humor lurking throughout all of his supports, and IMO it's very telling that the schemers at court found him urgent enough of a threat to actually try to off him instead of using him as a puppet like his father (they are oh-so-fond of using puppets and working behind the scenes). This and the presumably recent (given their ages) and quick succession of promotions of Percy, Cecilia, and most recently Klein, not to mention the apparent attempts to keep Cecilia and Klein faaaar away from the capital -- seems to me Mildain had already started making drastic reforms on his own in preparation for his eventual takeover (i.e. replacing his father's people with his own people), and perhaps pissed off one too many important figures in the process. :/ (If he'd been more subtle about it, or at least signaled his intentions less obviously, he might have been spared that assassination attempt. But well... at the same time, if he hadn't gone through all that, he wouldn't have realized the situation on the Western Isles before it was too late, I think.)
(Also, the "deceased" Mildain is described as brilliant in game => the implication being that he must have really stood out. And he clearly has brains/cunning; he serves as the tactician not only for the rebellion on the Isles, but ultimately for Roy as well.)
This is one of the few things I adooooored about the manga tie-in Hasha no Tsurugi -- Mildain's depiction there is kind but steely. (Given typical shounen manga standards about what constitutes "badass", I was pleasantly surprised.)
8. He's not actually completely blind in game. According to Douglas/Elphin supports, after several months of blindness, his eyes recover somewhat to the point where it only happens on occasion. That said, I'm not inclined to think he gets better, especially with age. This may or may not be one of the reasons the people don't think he's fit to rule anymore.
9. So yeah I ship Percival/Cecilia haaard, but my OT3 is really Percy/Cecilia/Mildain and this colors everything I write about them.
(That is, the distinct lack of a wife/heir was deliberate.)
10. "the dragons whose blood is rumored to taint his line" -- wrt the title, I originally wanted to imply that Percy and Cecilia died in some important incident, but ultimately decided that complicated the story too much for me to finish within the time I had left. The implication now hopefully is that he simply outlived them, which does fit much better with the bloodless nature of the story I think. Whether or not he really has (very distant) dragon blood in him is debatable, but Elimine and her descendants in my 'verse really ARE particularly long-lived. (Mordred looks more like Mildain's grandfather! o_O you can argue that grief aged him but...) For humans, anyway. Half-dragons like Sophia will still outlive them in the end.
Does that cover everything? SHEESH IT BETTER. I think my notes are longer than the actual fic... as usual. -_-;