Fic Update and Notes: "Icon"

[mark_asphodel]

The roots of this 'fic go back to the summer of 1998.  I'd just arrived in Rome, and after tossing a coin in the Trevi Fountain and buying myself a gelato, I went into a souvenir shop.  A small statue caught my attention-- a miniature copy of the Augustus of Prima Porta.  The shop had quite a lot of them for sale, and seeing so grand a statue reduced to near-toy status really stuck with me.  Caesar Augustus, with his youthful face and fringe of hair, looked more like Peter Pan in an allegorical cuirass.  Such is fame-- in the year 98 BC, you rule the world; two thousand years later, you're bric-a-brac.  But hey, people still remember your face.  Augustus is remembered exactly as he wanted to be-- calm, composed, an idealized hero.  Almost a god.  The Caesar formerly known as Octavian had the PR machine to ensure that there wouldn't be any portraits showing Augustus as a man past his prime.  Peter Pan indeed.

 

Skip forward to Detroit in 2012.  The current DIA exhibit, Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus, is all about the dilemma faced by an artist in portraying a human god.  Rembrandt started off painting the requisite "Christ as Northern European," tall and splendid, with chestnut hair and a perfect body.  Rembrandt's early Christ was a dynamic, explosive figure-- raising the dead with a gesture, casting the riff-raff out of the temple in a fury.  But Rembrandt's later prints and paintings often show a different Christ, the compassionate teacher, a figure of contemplation.  And, in quite a few paintings, a Jewish Christ, with dark hair and dark eyes and an unmistakable humanity.   

 

Given that Fire Emblem is my current obsession, and I'd been wanting to do something more with Forde and Eirika, things tumbled together in the usual way.

 

Eirika Route, Carcino.  Kyle, on the hunt for wooden figurines (x-ref Syrene supports), picks up a little copy of an ancient statue from "the mountains."  Forde disputes the given identification of the statue, because it doesn't match the standard iconography of any of the Five Heroes of the war against Fomortiis.  And, without really intending it, Forde embarks on an artistic quest that occupies the rest of his life. 

 

The Restoration Portrait is the one referred to in Forde's paired ending with Eirika.  The first, controversial, portrait of Ephraim is based off this piece of official art, while the later sculpture that becomes the standard ideal of Ephraim-ness is based off this artwork. (Ephraim = sexiest male!Lord ever, no arguments plz).  I could squee all day about how this particular piece of OA makes me feel, but I won't.  Not today, anyway. 

 

The "crooked" picture of Eirika is inspired by this piece of official art.  As for the headless statue... let's just say that the identification as "Jehan" is dead wrong, and the ID as "Siegmund with the Thunder Blade" was Carcinese flattery.  Forde's instincts say the statue is a relic of a vanished world, something that predates the Demon King's first romp over Magvel.  I leave it to the reader to decide.

 

But do keep in mind that that this all began with ruminations over a cheap knock-off of a statue two thousand years old

 

I've now written 'fics incorporating requited Seth/Eirika, Saleh/Eirika, Innes/Eirika, and Forde/Eirika.  Grand slam, baby.

Comments

[amielleon]

I'd been inclined to tag it as hypothetical "Sieglinde", to complete the Renaitian twin duo standing side by side in the palace, but now that you put it that way I'm almost inclined to think of Nada Kuya, a hero independent of all this five hero ruckus. And I suppose it'd be just like you to have Nada Kuya stand next to Ephraim. ♥

[raphiael]

Yeah, Nada Kuya was my first thought as well. But I like that it was ambiguous enough that it could have been a lot of things.

[mark_asphodel]

But I like that it was ambiguous enough that it could have been a lot of things

Yay.

Originally I had two hints that defused the ambiguity, but it came across as too heavy-handed so I cut them out. I'm glad the less direct approach worked.

[mark_asphodel]

And I suppose it'd be just like you to have Nada Kuya stand next to Ephraim.

:D