Character Death Headcanon, 2

[mark_asphodel]

It's hard to come down on specifics for Magvel. Part of it is that I'm OK with so many of the different pairings that I find different scenarios equally plausible. Kyle goes to Frelia and marries Syrene? OK! Kyle stays in Renais with Lute? OK! Sometimes I see multiple scenarios as possible in the same timeline.  Ephraim/Tana/Cormag?  Seth/Eirika/Saleh?  Tethys/Gerik/Marisa?  Vanessa/Innes/L'Arachel?  Pile it on, baby.


There are some possibilities that stand out particularly strongly for me:


Forde: I see him as the longest-lived of Renais's mounted warriors, especially in scenarios where he becomes a painter.  Maybe I've met too many old dudes with gray ponytails...


Franz: Gives off those squishy vibes that tend to make me suspect characters don't make it into middle age.  Hard to explain.


Kyle: Marries Lute, remains a knight, gets killed in the line of duty, probably protecting Ephraim.


Lute: I see her as eventually suffering lethal side-effects from her own weird experiments, kind of like Madame Curie.  


Seth: I'm in the camp that says the lingering effects of Valter's icky lance do him in.


Marisa: People who don't read other people well and who kill other people for a living are probably going to misread a situation and end up rather dead.  IMO.


Tethys: Something about her, OTOH, says "consummate survivor."  May well be the last one standing of Gerik's little crew.


Joshua: I dunno, man.  I have this nutty idea that he has a falling out with his own heir (like King Arthur) and dies in battle or gets murdered because of it.


Myrrh: Does not.  Commit.  Suicide.  Because of Ephraim.  Or other humans.  Do you hear me, fanfiction world?


Rennac:  Not sure if he overreaches and gets himself killed, or doesn't slip up and laughs all the way to the bank, forever.


Innes: Agreed with raphiael that he's the kind of guy who just goes on, and on, and on, defying the expectations and plots of everyone who'd rather see him dead, and in the end respected but not exactly loved.


Tana: Seems a more tragic figure than Innes, somehow (death quote?) and predeceases him no matter how things play out.


Hayden: Does not drop dead immediately after the war, kthx.  Rules peacefully for some time thereafter, kthx.  <3 Hayden.


L'Arachel: As silly as it is, FE8 definitely puts across the idea that the gods are indeed looking out for her.  Skates merrily along the thin ice of life for many, many decades.


Gilliam and Syrene: Marry and enjoy a long and happy life together.


Vanessa: Just doesn't seem as... durable... as Syrene, for some reason.  IDK.


Ephraim: Taking EphRoute into account, he seems like another candidate for early burnout.  Given the number of 'fics by multiple authors that have Ephraim kicking it at fortyish, this appears to be a common perception, and I see no reason to argue with it.


Eirika: I find her to be the more resilient twin, and my preferred ending for her takes her out of Renais and into the arguably more healthful setting of Caer Pelyn.  Even if she keeps to one royal court or another, I see her maturing into a graceful older lady, wiser but not necessarily sadder for it, and quite likely a skilled diplomat in the bargain.  And if we opt for the "twins together forever" ending, I think she's the one actually governing the country while Ephraim runs around trying to put out fires all over the continent.  

Comments

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

Franz is doomed. I have posted, many times, about the tendency of the game to go out of its way to kill him regardless of the RNG or any type of logical strategy.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. So, you agree with Raphi that he doesn't even survive the war, eh?

I've never had a problem with Franz, FWIW.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

The way my FE8 treats him, I don't think he even gets through the first sentence of his intro.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Heh. On a serious note, I think gameplay experience definitely factors into things. FE11!Marth, frex, triggered that Game Over screen more often than any Lord of my acquaintance.

[hooves.livejournal.com]

He can't even recruit Amelia without dying!

[raphiael]

Myrrh: Does not. Commit. Suicide. Because of Ephraim. Or other humans. Do you hear me, fanfiction world?

THIS
Seriously. I mean, Ephraim's a pretty cool guy and all, but there's no way he'd define the existence of someone who's already 1200 years old when they meet. Really.

Honestly, I always imagine Hayden abdicating rather than dying. The exact reasoning is something I'm woring on, aha, but I really think it just feels right somehow.

I now I've said it before, but I really agree on Eirika. I don't see her at all as downtrodden or worn out by what hits her. I mean, it would probably take a while, normal grieving and all that, but she's not going to angst forever or anything like that.

(And for what it's worth, Franz is usually one of my best units XD It's probably working on TTN that's gotten the dead-Franz thing so set in my head.)

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I always imagine Hayden abdicating rather than dying.

I like this one, too. The man deserves a retirement.

And for what it's worth, Franz is usually one of my best units

I never have problems with Franz in gameplay. It's the little-boy, "too good for this cruel world" feel to him.

[raphiael]

Hayden just strikes me as remarkably good at dealing with things. Decidedly down to earth.
It's a bit of a stretch, but I can see him outliving Ephraim, even, in more than a few possible scenarios.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Ooh. Wow, that would be an... interesting scenario. Especially in the case of Eph/Tana or Eirika/Innes offspring.

[raphiael]

It really would be; I'm quite fond of it. Have been toying with for an Eirika/Innes. . . thing, but given my rate of project completion lately, ahahahaha. . . yeah.

[amielleon]

Myrrh, suicide. Wait, where is this fic.

Actually, do I want to know?

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3101471/1/The_Only_One_Who_Made_Her_Smile

This. There's another one where Myrrh gets tired of existence and takes a dirt nap for a while, but I quite liked that one and it felt appropriate. This one didn't.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

These all sound solid to me (although my Franz has turned out fine in both playthroughs; more durable than his brother, anyway). I like what you've got for Joshua especially. It seems to fit that he would miscalculate something like that. and dawww at Gilliam and Syrene. :)

[hooves.livejournal.com]

GOD

I love these.

Some might even become my own headcanon. They're that awesome.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks. :D

[writerawakened.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Agreed that one day Marisa might bite off more than she could chew...and it wouldn't end well for her, sadly :(

Dunno about Joshua though...I think he has enough handle on things that he wouldn't let his kid pull a, well, a Joshua and run out of there. I don't doubt there would be some friction there between them, though.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

If his marriage to Natasha doesn't work out, I bet the kid sides with Mom instead of Dad. And if Joshua gets with Marisa and has a kid with her... perspective... then I don't think normal parenting will work.

He might also overcompensate in an attempt to keep the kid from running away and end up driving him/her away. :/

[writerawakened.livejournal.com]

true :)

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

Marisa always dies early in headcanon-land for me, regardless of who I pair her with. And, conversely, Tethys outlives most of the mercenary band, if not most of the playable FE8 characters, too. I swear I'm not biased.

You know, despite not really liking in-game Eirika, I really do love the idea of aged/dowager!Eirika being in charge of Renias. It just... fits, somehow.

[crimsonmorgan.livejournal.com]

Hayden <3 My headcanon says that he gets pretty old and goes blind at about 60ish, maybe a bit earlier. Which is the reason why he steps back and lets Innes become king.

Daw, Gilliam/Syrene~

[shining-valor.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I should bother to write my head-canon out for this sometime. Since it would be interesting to figure out where I stand on some of these...

On Vanessa and Innes - I suspect that Vanessa not surviving is in part one of those things that ensures that Innes keeps on ticking. (As in she takes a blade to the back to keep him safe...)

Seth: I'm in the camp that says the lingering effects of Valter's icky lance do him in. I'm waffling back and forth on this one. If he does die early, it is the icky lance thing. But my head-canon suspects that he survives quite a bit longer than anyone would think. He did keep ticking all the way to the border and beyond, all the way to the Demon King... and that was a good long way of battle and evil magic to boot.

On Tana - If she doesn't marry and settle down with kids, she gets whacked on some insane adventure to find Cormag.

Agree that Eirika probably outlives her brother.

Myrrh - Nope, no suicide. She outlives the cast by several generations.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

He did keep ticking all the way to the border and beyond, all the way to the Demon King... and that was a good long way of battle and evil magic to boot.

My personal beliefs on light and dark/evil magic is that they cause cellular damage, so-- like the effects of a radiation burn-- it might be years before the actual impact of an tainted wound is discovered.

She outlives the cast by several generations.

Generations? I expect her to be around for a few millennia.

[shining-valor.livejournal.com]

Generations? I expect her to be around for a few millennia. Provided no one comes hunting her, the way that they hunted her foster father. And personally, I have a feeling that the DK finds his way out of the crystal again, but has to spend his time inhabiting humans...

My personal beliefs on light and dark/evil magic is that they cause cellular damage, so-- like the effects of a radiation burn-- it might be years before the actual impact of an tainted wound is discovered. Light magic - like focused sunlight, it burns you. Dark magic - seems more like binding and dragging down into a void. This is just my opinion based from the animations in game. Though since Valter seems to have a evil/cursed weapon, I see it as more along the lines of a curse where if the person who received the wound doesn't have the willpower, the curse does him in. So yes, I foresee that he would be fighting it for some time (possibly to the end of his days).

What you propose sounds like mutated cellular structure where the body couldn't regenerate from it. Or I could be misinterpreting what you stated here. If so, my bad.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

What you propose sounds like mutated cellular structure where the body couldn't regenerate from it.

Yeah, I think that's one possibility.