On Fathers
As I said earlier, suggesting that Vigarde abused Lyon as a means of explaining Lyon’s actions doesn’t sit well with me for a number of reasons. After reading a recently posted FE8 'fic, I have a little more clarity on why I feel this way, beyond the reason I already gave
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That's actually my take on it-- a good man and great ruler with a fatally insecure child. But I do want to make allowance for the argument that yeah, Vigarde might've been cold, or dodgy, or what have you. Might have been. He also might have been the sterling character his generals make him out to be.
The more I consider Lyon, the more I loathe the little creeper.
But simply being in the shadow of a successful ruler can breed all kinds of issues-- criminy, how about Marcus Aurelius and his son? Or Akbar the Great and his successor, or...
Mind you, I suspect the offspring of several FE protagonists will have issues with their own "good-and-great" parental units. Marth's kids in particular have an impossible act to follow, and IMO the success of Celice's heirs entirely hinges on his choice of a wife/consort.
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At the same time, the resurrection of Vigarde is basically the one act Lyon commits that you can't attribute to the DK, and I just can't buy that it was all "daddy issues". It's before any of the possession business, and it really feels, to me at least, like he knew what he was playing with on that front, and he really didn't seem to care whether or not there was any soul or anything, so long as the corpse-puppet could keep being emperor so he wouldn't have to.
It's pretty messed up. and this is why I like writing him.
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And yet, ironically, zombie Vigarde on the throne is a glimpse of what Lyon would have been like as emperor?
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I do really think that a Grado under Lyon's rule (without any of the DK business, I mean) would not be a very nice place - if only because the chances of him not being overwhelmed by one power-hungry guy or another, or just outright assassinated, seem pretty slim.
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Children turning out the way they do as a result of their parents' greatness is actually really fascinating to me. I mean, imagine what Ephraim's kids would be like. (Eirika's kids, though? Probably more... "Normal".)
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I mean, imagine what Ephraim's kids would be like.
Depends on which princess Ephraim marries, I think. Eph/L'Arachel offspring with the whole Renais-Grado-Rausten mess to manage, a busy father and a "special" mother, might actually come off worse than the offspring of an Eph/Tana marriage.
Also, IMO it depends on whether we're talking EirRoute!Ephraim or EphRoute!Ephraim, as I take the two to be mutually exclusive.
Eirika's kids, though? Probably more... "Normal".
Agreed. Eirika has a more stable center, IMO.
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I'm not so sure about Ephraim's children by L'Arachel being worse off than if he married Tana; there's pros and cons to each scenario. (If he marries L'Arachel, I see their kids being raised largely by Dozla, essentially, to whatever extent he's able. If he takes Tana as his wife--which I also don't see as an exactly as a perfectly happy and functional relationship--I can kind of see, in a way, Innes taking "great interest" in his sister's children's upbringing. Though this is all based on headcanon--and an admitted bias toward Innes--so. :P)
Agreed on the routes, though. I've only really played Eirika's route, so I'm not as in-tune with all the dealings of Ephraim's route as I'd like to be. :P
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If he marries L'Arachel, I see their kids being raised largely by Dozla, essentially, to whatever extent he's able
My worry there is that Dozla's getting on in years, by FE standards, and the paired ending implies that Eph and L'Ara don't get married right away. And "Uncle Rennac" is just not good news for anyone.
I can kind of see, in a way, Innes taking "great interest" in his sister's children's upbringing
Word.
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Re:Vigarde and Lyon, I think a lot of it was Vigarde being a pretty good ruler, all things considered, though he probably didn't have the greatest ethics (that is, I also kind of think that Knoll could be an illegitimate son, or something). His "abuse" of Lyon is, I think, neglect, due to Mrs. Vigarde passing away at an early age and Vigarde himself being unsure of how to treat Lyon after that.
FE father syndrome seems to go hand-in-hand with bad parental and questionable morals syndrome. :P
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That may be why they all end up dead!
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I think I made my opinion on Vigarde pretty clear in my various meta posts about him (and my fics); he does neglect Lyon a bit - partially because of reasons that have to do with his wife (which is entirely headcanon), which result in him being very awkward around Lyon and partially because he has barely time for anything. Lyon himself says in one flashback that Vigarde 1. is a workaholic, 2. has barely enough time to sleep and eat. I don't think there is really much time left for Lyon. I do think that Vigarde would be a good dad if there weren't said issues.
The whole zombie business is creepy in general. Personally I do believe that at that point the DK already had influence on Lyon, but by far not enough that one could say it was the DK who made Lyon resurrect Viggy. I think the DK only lend power and maybe stirred him into the direction ( ... )
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I do think that Vigarde would be a good dad if there weren't said issues.
And he might be a bad emperor if not for said issues. IDK. I'm not saying he was the Bestest Dad on Magvel or anything, but if we're going to, for hypothetical purposes, embrace these hero-founded monarchies as a good form of government, then actually fulfilling that social obligation matters. To me, anyway.
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Wait, maybe I'm not 100% able to process English at the moment, but I don't completely get what you want to say with your second paragraph oO Apart from that Lyon doesn't fill out the role he was born in.
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