Thirty(?) Days of Fire Emblem
Dec. 24th, 2011 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mark_asphodel I was going to take a stab at this meme, but then the latest round of LJ fail happened and I got distracted.
Except thirty-day memes are kind of boring. Let's start with Day Four!
Your favorite character:
My favorite male FE character is, hands down, Innes from FE8. I bet you thought I was going to say Marth, right? Well, no. Marth's characterization is such a damn mess that he takes a lot of contemplation and prodding and work. Everything I like about Innes is right there in the game. One game. No extra sources necessary. No retcons, either.
So, why Innes? Because he's the kind of character I admire and sympathize with IRL-- here in our world, where magical plot devices don't come along and save your bacon when you're in over your head and competence (or lack thereof) matters. Yeah, he's prickly. He's not going to get any Mr. Sunshine awards. But he's not a one-dimensional comical jerk; his conversations with Gerik in particular show Innes at his best, and even if the joke's on Innes during his interactions with Joshua, he's both willing to learn new facets of the world around him and willing to pay the penalty for his own failings (in this case, letting Joshua keep the money). Innes, in fact, is very much about facing consequences-- that's why Gerik warms up to him in the first place. Intelligent and perceptive (with some blind spots), cool-headed (but hot-betting), rational (but far from heartless), and honorable (but not "to a fault")-- yeah, I like him.
And he's the major reason I stuck it out playing FE8 EirRoute when the Seth&Eirika show was boring me to death.
My favorite female character, on the other hand, is definitely Caeda. Hang on, you say, don't all the criticisms about Marth re: inconsistencies and retconning apply to Caeda as well? Not so much, actually. Her character in FE1 was pretty well-defined; even then, she was the charming and savvy recruiter for the cause. FE3 actually cut her down a bit by taking out some of her recruiting hijinks (Jake and Roger) and by giving her not much of anything to do in Book Two except to be selflessly noble. FE11 at least restored said hijinks, which did open Caeda to accusations of promiscuity from certain portions of the fanbase, but oh well. And then FE12 came along and seems to have expanded on her good traits-- charisma, competence, tolerance, and a marked lack of "amusing" jealousy when faced with self-proclaimed romantic rivals.
And Marth never has to rescue this particular princess once. In Archanea, land of noble ladies in peril, that's a pretty good track record. He has to rescue her parents, yeah, but she's right there in the fighting, not to mention she signs up for an perilous adventure overseas when she could've stayed home in Talys.
And, finally-- critically, IMO, when dealing with a "warrior princess"-- Caeda never loses sight of the mission. The end of FE3 made that one clear, as does her conversation with Ogma in FE11. It's not about her, it's about saving Archanea/the world, and the key to that particular mission just happens to be the guy she fancies. And if exposing herself to danger to keep him safe is what it takes to get the mission accomplished, so be it-- she'll give up her own happily-ever-after to give the rest of the world that opportunity. Hardcore Caeda is hardcore, and I adore her.
Don't know what I'll pick next; it'll be a surprise.
Except thirty-day memes are kind of boring. Let's start with Day Four!
Your favorite character:
My favorite male FE character is, hands down, Innes from FE8. I bet you thought I was going to say Marth, right? Well, no. Marth's characterization is such a damn mess that he takes a lot of contemplation and prodding and work. Everything I like about Innes is right there in the game. One game. No extra sources necessary. No retcons, either.
So, why Innes? Because he's the kind of character I admire and sympathize with IRL-- here in our world, where magical plot devices don't come along and save your bacon when you're in over your head and competence (or lack thereof) matters. Yeah, he's prickly. He's not going to get any Mr. Sunshine awards. But he's not a one-dimensional comical jerk; his conversations with Gerik in particular show Innes at his best, and even if the joke's on Innes during his interactions with Joshua, he's both willing to learn new facets of the world around him and willing to pay the penalty for his own failings (in this case, letting Joshua keep the money). Innes, in fact, is very much about facing consequences-- that's why Gerik warms up to him in the first place. Intelligent and perceptive (with some blind spots), cool-headed (but hot-betting), rational (but far from heartless), and honorable (but not "to a fault")-- yeah, I like him.
And he's the major reason I stuck it out playing FE8 EirRoute when the Seth&Eirika show was boring me to death.
My favorite female character, on the other hand, is definitely Caeda. Hang on, you say, don't all the criticisms about Marth re: inconsistencies and retconning apply to Caeda as well? Not so much, actually. Her character in FE1 was pretty well-defined; even then, she was the charming and savvy recruiter for the cause. FE3 actually cut her down a bit by taking out some of her recruiting hijinks (Jake and Roger) and by giving her not much of anything to do in Book Two except to be selflessly noble. FE11 at least restored said hijinks, which did open Caeda to accusations of promiscuity from certain portions of the fanbase, but oh well. And then FE12 came along and seems to have expanded on her good traits-- charisma, competence, tolerance, and a marked lack of "amusing" jealousy when faced with self-proclaimed romantic rivals.
And Marth never has to rescue this particular princess once. In Archanea, land of noble ladies in peril, that's a pretty good track record. He has to rescue her parents, yeah, but she's right there in the fighting, not to mention she signs up for an perilous adventure overseas when she could've stayed home in Talys.
And, finally-- critically, IMO, when dealing with a "warrior princess"-- Caeda never loses sight of the mission. The end of FE3 made that one clear, as does her conversation with Ogma in FE11. It's not about her, it's about saving Archanea/the world, and the key to that particular mission just happens to be the guy she fancies. And if exposing herself to danger to keep him safe is what it takes to get the mission accomplished, so be it-- she'll give up her own happily-ever-after to give the rest of the world that opportunity. Hardcore Caeda is hardcore, and I adore her.
Don't know what I'll pick next; it'll be a surprise.
