Meta Month, Day 26 B: Child Mortality

[mark_asphodel]

An obvious question in analyzing Fire Emblem is, “Where is everyone’s parents?”  We’ve discussed this before, so I’ll only touch on it in passing.  The next question that comes to mind, from a world-building perspective, is, “Where are all the other kids?”

We have an abundance of one-child and two-child families, and some three-child families, but off the top of my head I can’t think of a sibling group larger than that beyond Castor’s many impoverished brothers and sisters from FE3.  This is very odd, and three possible explanations come to mind.

1)FE women, aside from Castor’s super-fecund mother, just aren’t fertile.  Given the large number of continents involved, I think we can scrap this.
2)FE women are using some kind of fertility control to keep the family size down to an ideal one or two precious babies.  We’ll get back to that.
3)The other kids died.

And you say, “Stop going all grimdark Misery Ages on me, Mark.  This is a fantasy world.”  Nuh-uh-- as already established, these are fantasy worlds with a metric crapton of orphans and half-orphans running around.  Status and wealth are no protection from a premature demise in Fire Emblem.  And really, it’s the simplest explanation (we’ll come back to #2, I promise).  The other kids died.

I was doing some research on Roman birthing practices, and came across some interesting statistics-- even given that upper-class Romans had it very good compared to their Dark Ages descendants, and that some Roman medical texts offer surprisingly sound obstetrical guidance (and others didn’t), an estimated 5%-8% of Roman infants didn’t reach their first month-- they died at birth or shortly afterward.  Another text estimated that 28% of babies didn’t live out the first year.  Now, take that number and halve it via healing magic and customs that don’t involve snakes or hyena feet and the number’s still pretty bad.  

Canon doesn’t have a lot to tell us in this regard; Cellica in FE2 appears to have had some siblings (rather, half-siblings) who were murdered, and there might have been a reference to some dead children in Rigel’s imperial family as well.  But otherwise, all we’re left with are gaps.  Singleton sons-- and, potentially more interesting, only daughters.  Brother-sister pairings.  And the occasional three-sibling unit.  

Now, perhaps these tidy little families were planned, and mothers-- common, noble, and royal-- were using something like the legendary Silphium plant to regulate their, ah, cycles.  Though it does seem odd that so many land-holding families would be content tying their fortune to the life of one or two children-- especially if that one child is a girl (as stated before, some FE worlds are decidedly more sexist than others). Cultures across our world have it ingrained into society that lots of heirs, especially lots of male heirs, are a very good thing.  The kings of Archanea and Talys or the marquess of Deil or even a certain marquess of Ostia might accept and love the one daughter they get, but I doubt they’re overjoyed at the way things turned out.  There’s a difference between accepting your lot and desiring it.

So, the family-planning thing doesn’t really work across the board-- I can actually see this as more likely in the case of poorer families who don’t want as many mouths to feed.  And that leaves us, again, with limited options-- poor fertility, and kids we don’t see because they didn’t survive.  

Some cases seem easy to peg-- given what a mess Lyon is, I don’t think the possibility of siblings who were even less hardy would surprise anyone.  And then there are some age gaps to exploit-- the gulf between Minerva and Maria, for instance... or even the gap between Elice and Marth.  The time between the apparent marriages of Eliwood and Hector and the births of the kids we do meet also seems a little suspicious, though FE7’s ending sequence with the happy expectant mothers might dull one’s desire to speculate too much on that count.  (Gen 2 in FE4 is more easily explained by circumstances-- not a good time to be having large families.)

Now, if authors prefer to duck the issue entirely, I don’t blame them.  Introducing dead babies to the mix is about as manipulative as you can get in fiction.  But if authors do decide to confront it... well, it’s a fair thing to work with.  At least as fair as the assumption that Florina, Ninian, and everyone else’s mom died giving birth to our heroes... and possibly more so.

Comments

[amielleon]

So, the family-planning thing doesn’t really work across the board-- I can actually see this as more likely in the case of poorer families who don’t want as many mouths to feed.

From what I know, I doubt this. Whether because of lack of education or lack of resources, family planning isn't terribly well-controlled among impoverished peoples. Which I would say the peasants of half the countries of Fire Emblem qualify as. Even less so in a day and age when condoms were a rather fancy novelty, cycles were irregular from malnutrition, and sex ed didn't even exist.

The other bit -- my father's family popped eleven kids (six made it into adulthood) because more kids means more hands on the farm. True, they may be mouths to feed, but apparently the train of thought is that it's worth their help around the place. My mother's remarks always made me think that it was a pretty common mentality among peasants in China. I doubt it would be so different elsewhere. I seem to recall, although I can't pinpoint anything, large families being associated with people of the lower class in all sorts of fiction.


EDIT: EDITED FOR BEING CONSTRUCTIVE.

Oujay's (poor kid) family was also mentioned to be big, I believe! And Astrid (rich) apparently had a lot of sisters and brothers. The way Ashnard's narrative was framed made it sound like the Daein royal family was pretty immense -- quite unlike Crimea's in that regard. Goldoa's "royal family" is tiny and withering, but Gallia's seems to be thriving well enough to have some sort of branch family thing going on.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Whether because of lack of education or lack of resources, family planning isn't terribly well-controlled among impoverished peoples.

I wasn't thinking of the impoverished-- more like the sorts of families that Rebecca, Wil, Neimi, and such hailed from. Not dirt-poor like Castor and his massive family, but not noble and with no title to protect.

The other bit -- my father's family popped eleven kids (six made it into adulthood) because more kids means more hands on the farm.

This is true, but in a lot of cases we appear to be dealing with townspeople-- a sort of "fantasy middle class." Farm families definitely need the extra hands. Village healers and village mayors, not so much.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

While this all seems to hold up to canon pretty well, I would just as soon chalk it up to developers not feeling obligated to write in too many characters, or else multiple NPCs that fill essentially the same role. I assume that a lot of the non-noble characters have other siblings that just don't get mentioned. If there isn't a clear opportunity for a character to mention their family, I think it's safe to invent. I mean, I've got three siblings whom I love dearly and I don't mention them terribly often in day-to-day conversation. *shrug*

I wonder how the families would treat their deceased children, though. Would they be mourned, or would there be so many deaths that there just isn't time to?

As for other characters from larger families: Canas is the youngest of four (in Ilia, no less!) and IIRC Ward and/or Lot have a bunch of siblings.

[amielleon]

Haha, village mayors indeed. Thinking about it, we are dealing with some weird middle class in Fire Emblem. Royals, middle class, and mercenaries.

Ike isn't an exception, for once.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Canas! Yes, those three unfortunate brothers. Sounds like Elibe paints a slightly more realistic picture than some of the other worlds.

Would they be mourned, or would there be so many deaths that there just isn't time to?

I would say it depends on the family. While people in say, Renaissance Italy didn't have our current conceptions of child development or personhood, there are enough primary documents demonstrating grief over the loss of infants and newborns to show that many people were anything but indifferent or hardened to the loss. And, given that FE takes some liberties and fancy with period/setting, I'd say that FE families would be even more likely to grieve in terms we find familiar.

[sarajayechan.livejournal.com]

It IS a fantasy world but obviously even fantasy worlds still want to inject some realism and historical accuracy. *nods* I'd definitely chalk the small family sizes up to child mortality rates. But I also agree with Kyusil on the "writers didn't want to have too many characters" deal.

I don't buy the "Ninian and Florina both died in childbirth" explanation myself. They seem "frail" enough to, but I like to imagine they surprised everyone. And Ninian deserves SOME time with her boy before she kicks it anyway.

Gen 2 in FE4 is more easily explained by circumstances-- not a good time to be having large families.

PRETTY MUCH THIS. Though I actually like the idea of a Seisen couple having lost a third or even first-second child (maybe Lex and Ayra tried for another after the twins, or Sylvia and her hubby had a stillborn...depressing, but so is Jugdral).

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

don't buy the "Ninian and Florina both died in childbirth" explanation myself.

One or the other I can take, but not both in the same storyline. Another thing-- infant mortality outpaces maternal mortality. If that many female characters are dying in childbirth, then we ought to be contemplating more hypothetical dead kids.

I like to imagine they surprised everyone.

I prefer to keep her alive and single, myself. But, if we agree she married Hector... who says Lilina was always an only child, huh?

Though I actually like the idea of a Seisen couple having lost a third or even first-second child

Two kids per couple is a little too neat, yes. And yeah, this is Jugdral we're talking about. Though Archanea is so depressing we don't have a single canonical child of any playable character... unless we count Malice as Dice's daughter. ;P

[sarajayechan.livejournal.com]

I remember one of ribbon_scythe's fics, where Hector and Florina had one stillborn child before Lilina, and then with the second stillborn Florina also died. That makes sense to me...only of course my headcanon says Hector/Farina, but still.

re Seisen: I can deal with it in terms of game mechanics, makes sorting things easier. But in terms of story, I like the idea of some failed pregnancies or dead kids. I'm actually now attached to the idea of Sylvia and whoever she marries (my novelization headcanon says Levin *ducks tomatoes*) having a stillborn child between Leen and Corple. Or hey, even another LIVE kid for Edain if her husband was able to come back to her for a while before disappearing...she could have gotten pregnant and given birth just a few years before the start of Gen II, and the only reason we never see that kid is because they're too young to be fighting in a war.

[raphiael]

It definitely makes a lot of sense, really - and it is a shame that the fandom seems to be all about offing mothers in childbirth, but never mentioning the deaths of children (except for the typical use to show how bad the war is, or what have you.)

I think a lot of it could probably be chalked down to that "fantasy middle class" that was mentioned, too. At the same time, I don't think it's at all farfetched to think that perhaps Roy wasn't the first child Eliwood and his wife had, or anything along those lines.

Sorry if this is disjointed at all.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's at all farfetched to think that perhaps Roy wasn't the first child Eliwood and his wife had, or anything along those lines.

Right. And, as I said elsewhere-- statistically speaking, the child mortality rate outpaces the maternal mortality rate. To have every mother dying in childbirth yet leaving a healthy baby or two (or even a sickly baby, if we're talking about Roy) is the maternal-mortality equivalent of the beautiful dying cancer patient As Seen On TV.