I find the disparate reactions of Ephraim and Eirika to be... interesting. That and the fact that Ephraim has the potential to bond closely with Myrrh via supports and Eirika doesn't. You could argue that points to a deficiency in Eirika's character (though Saleh sure doesn't see it, and you'd think he'd be sensitive about that sort of thing), but I think the most charitable way to interpret the difference is that Ephraim's, uh, Ephraim-ness allows him to take the whole "winged critter BFF" in stride. If there's any cognitive dissonance going on, he's ignoring it. Whereas the more contemplative Eirika does have a moment or three of WTF about it all.
I think the main sticking point with Ike is that the prejudice against laguz is so normalized and constant just about everywhere else, so it's a little hard to swallow.
I felt that way about him too initially, but... eh. Like I said, that's why he's the hero. And, after thinking it over, I think FE11!Marth's behavior re: dragons is a little more strange-- seriously, given the backstory, you'd expect Altea to be the regional equivalent of Daein in its attitude toward dragons. Though the designers' notes go out of their way to dump the blame for race-poison on Archanea kingdom, indicating that Grust was a nicely integrated place before King Cartas interfered, that kind of thing. Altea really could've been the "Crimea" of the continent-- less progressive than Grust, but not outright enforcing racist policies like the mainland kingdoms.
I actually like that Tellius doesn't universally equate racism with "bad guys"
As much as I dislike outright species conflicts being used as ham-handed racial metaphors, I did appreciate this.
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Date: 2012-01-28 02:41 pm (UTC)I find the disparate reactions of Ephraim and Eirika to be... interesting. That and the fact that Ephraim has the potential to bond closely with Myrrh via supports and Eirika doesn't. You could argue that points to a deficiency in Eirika's character (though Saleh sure doesn't see it, and you'd think he'd be sensitive about that sort of thing), but I think the most charitable way to interpret the difference is that Ephraim's, uh, Ephraim-ness allows him to take the whole "winged critter BFF" in stride. If there's any cognitive dissonance going on, he's ignoring it. Whereas the more contemplative Eirika does have a moment or three of WTF about it all.
I think the main sticking point with Ike is that the prejudice against laguz is so normalized and constant just about everywhere else, so it's a little hard to swallow.
I felt that way about him too initially, but... eh. Like I said, that's why he's the hero. And, after thinking it over, I think FE11!Marth's behavior re: dragons is a little more strange-- seriously, given the backstory, you'd expect Altea to be the regional equivalent of Daein in its attitude toward dragons. Though the designers' notes go out of their way to dump the blame for race-poison on Archanea kingdom, indicating that Grust was a nicely integrated place before King Cartas interfered, that kind of thing. Altea really could've been the "Crimea" of the continent-- less progressive than Grust, but not outright enforcing racist policies like the mainland kingdoms.
I actually like that Tellius doesn't universally equate racism with "bad guys"
As much as I dislike outright species conflicts being used as ham-handed racial metaphors, I did appreciate this.