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mark_asphodelOK. I've meant to do this for a while, but kyusil 's remark on her latest meme-post on how Hector ran Ostia into the ground spurred me to get on with it.
One thing I like-- LOVE-- about Fire Emblem is how the seeds of conflict aren't all random and supernatural, except in Magvel, whose world-building sandbox is more like a shallow, crapped-in catbox.I love you anyway, FE8. People do venal, short-sighted, careless, or malicious things, and their kids and their kingdoms pay the penalty long after they're dead.
Take one of Judgral's leading players in the first generation-- Cuan, Prince of Lenster. Handsome, charismatic, a loving husband, valiant warrior, magnanimous lord, and the father of two darling children.
Also a guy who jacked things up real good. Or real bad, rather.
Now, it's easy to miss this in the games, 'cause a lot of information presented about Cuan comes from hiscaddy bitches cheerleading squad. And a lot of the posthumous glories heaped upon Cuan seem to be there to, well, guilt-trip Cuan's son Leaf into not sucking. Kid's got a destiny to fulfill and stuff. But, hang on a minute-- why is poor little Leaf in such a pickle all the time? Oh, right. Cuan failed.
Unfair? Not really. Let's take a look, shall we?
Cuan enters the scene in FE4's Prologue. We learn the following about him right away-- he's super-confident. Indulgent towards his wife Ethlin. Loyal to his friends. And... well, there's a kind of devil-may-care attitude leaking in right from the get-go. Lenster's in a vulnerable position because of Thracia (more on that later), so Cuan leaves his father[*] in charge of the army and rushes into war accompanied by said wife and a single fifteen-year-old squire. Uh... okay, Cuan. This isn't even a case where we pretend that three gameplay units equate to an unseen army of thirty warriors.And Ethlin calls Sigurd reckless.
* Remember, kids-- this is Fire Emblem, and old people + battle = fail.
But things seem OK for a few chapters. Compared to his best-buddy foils Sigurd and Eltoshan, Cuan arguably comes off as the most mature and capable leader (for a start, he's not mooning over strange chicks from the Spirit Forest OR doing weird things with his own sister). But then the arrogance starts show through the shine.
Chapter Three: Ethlin gives Cuan the Gae Bolg, and Mister Major Nova Blood Holy Knight dismisses its curse as "just a legend." O RLY? After what you've already seen, dude?
Come Chapter Four, Cuan rounds up the wife (who is presumably preggers with baby #2) and the sidekick and goes back to Lenster for the reinforcements he promised Sigurd. So far, so good. Unfortunately, those reinforcements don't ever arrive and everything goes to hell in Chapter Five:
Cuan takes half the army this time, leaving the other half under the command of his sidekick Finn in case Thracia launches a surprise attack. Not a terrible plan, given Finn's not fifteen years old anymore. Cuan's dad, who approves of this plan, is stated to be very ill by this point (bad sign #1). Cuan does not anticipate that his half of the force might get ambushed when they're bogged down in the sand (bad sign #2). Cuan has Ethlin along again... and Ethlin's brought their daughter on the trip, like it's picnic time (bad sign #3), and Ethlin and ickle Altenna don't turn around when Cuan tells them to go home (bad sign #4). Basically, when you get down to it, a three-year-old's tantrums govern how this family behaves. Cuan, buddy... i hope you run your city-state better than you run your household. Oh wait, you don't.
Ambush, massacre, kidnapping, blah blah... and that's it for Prince Cuan of Lenster. But that's not the end of his mistakes, oh no. The real sketchy material arrives via infodump in Lenster's Fall, the introductory backstory for Thracia 776.
Year 761 of the Jugdral calendar.
The prince of Lenster, Cuan, after learning that Sigurd of Chalphy, his wife’s elder brother and his best friend, had been branded a rebel and was fighting, took with him the elite of Lenster’s army – the Lanzeritter – and passed through the Yied Desert in order to take part in the battle.
Knowing this, King Trabant, who had been looking for a chance to pay back for the repeated disgraceful invasions from the Manster district, at Northern Thracia, launched a rear attack and annihilated them.
Repeated... disgraceful... invasions... from Cuan's allies in the north of the Thracian peninsula, huh? Do tell, infodump.
The four countries of the Manster district, Lenster, Alster, Manster and Conote, kept a military alliance. However, the king of Lenster didn’t stop Prince Cuan when the other three countries opposed his actions, and, as a result, heavy losses were suffered, and the leading power of the Manster District fell from glory.
Oh? So, Cuan was kind of the rogue element in this alliance, huh? Well, Cuan's dream was unifying all Thracia... which technically speaking would entail cutting the other three houses and Trabant's line out of the action and ruling the place by himself. Sounds like Cuan didn't play too nice with allies who weren't old school buddies.
By the time the depleted army of Lenster goes to battle under the command of Cuan's (miraculously recovered?) father[**], even Cuan's mother knows her son screwed up bad. Says Queen Alfiona as she makes arrangements to ensure her lone remaining grandchild's survival:
“Then, little Nanna… take care of Leaf, okay? Watch out for him so doesn’t do rash things like Cuan did.”
**They die horribly.
The moral of the story, kiddies? Don't treat your strategic allies like shit while pulling out all the stops to help your bros is a good place to start. Cuan's loyalists don't GET that part of it, though-- witness Dorias telling Alster's Princess Miranda what a lousy king her father was in FE5. Um, hello, who gave you guys shelter after Lenster's castle burned to the ground? Who suffered horribly in the wake of that botched assassination attempt that you guys plotted? There is a lot of jackassery done in Cuan's name long after the man's hyena food. Dorias gets his own comeuppance in the end, of course, but the one who has to pick up the pieces is still poor little long-suffering, guilt-ridden Leaf.
Who, despite being raised on a diet of "Cuan was the bestest thing ever" propaganda, manages not to be a jackass. I guess Nanna did a good job of watching out for him, then When all else fails, give a month-old baby the task!
PS: Also somewhere in FE5, IIRC, is some tidbit about how Trabant hated Lenster because of some embargo placed against him by Cuan's dad. What goes around comes around, man. Just like Nyna's father and Michalis in FE1/3.
kyusil 's remark on her latest meme-post on how Hector ran Ostia into the ground spurred me to get on with it.One thing I like-- LOVE-- about Fire Emblem is how the seeds of conflict aren't all random and supernatural, except in Magvel, whose world-building sandbox is more like a shallow, crapped-in catbox.
Take one of Judgral's leading players in the first generation-- Cuan, Prince of Lenster. Handsome, charismatic, a loving husband, valiant warrior, magnanimous lord, and the father of two darling children.
Also a guy who jacked things up real good. Or real bad, rather.
Now, it's easy to miss this in the games, 'cause a lot of information presented about Cuan comes from his
Unfair? Not really. Let's take a look, shall we?
Cuan enters the scene in FE4's Prologue. We learn the following about him right away-- he's super-confident. Indulgent towards his wife Ethlin. Loyal to his friends. And... well, there's a kind of devil-may-care attitude leaking in right from the get-go. Lenster's in a vulnerable position because of Thracia (more on that later), so Cuan leaves his father[*] in charge of the army and rushes into war accompanied by said wife and a single fifteen-year-old squire. Uh... okay, Cuan. This isn't even a case where we pretend that three gameplay units equate to an unseen army of thirty warriors.
* Remember, kids-- this is Fire Emblem, and old people + battle = fail.
But things seem OK for a few chapters. Compared to his best-buddy foils Sigurd and Eltoshan, Cuan arguably comes off as the most mature and capable leader (for a start, he's not mooning over strange chicks from the Spirit Forest OR doing weird things with his own sister). But then the arrogance starts show through the shine.
Chapter Three: Ethlin gives Cuan the Gae Bolg, and Mister Major Nova Blood Holy Knight dismisses its curse as "just a legend." O RLY? After what you've already seen, dude?
Come Chapter Four, Cuan rounds up the wife (who is presumably preggers with baby #2) and the sidekick and goes back to Lenster for the reinforcements he promised Sigurd. So far, so good. Unfortunately, those reinforcements don't ever arrive and everything goes to hell in Chapter Five:
Cuan takes half the army this time, leaving the other half under the command of his sidekick Finn in case Thracia launches a surprise attack. Not a terrible plan, given Finn's not fifteen years old anymore. Cuan's dad, who approves of this plan, is stated to be very ill by this point (bad sign #1). Cuan does not anticipate that his half of the force might get ambushed when they're bogged down in the sand (bad sign #2). Cuan has Ethlin along again... and Ethlin's brought their daughter on the trip, like it's picnic time (bad sign #3), and Ethlin and ickle Altenna don't turn around when Cuan tells them to go home (bad sign #4). Basically, when you get down to it, a three-year-old's tantrums govern how this family behaves. Cuan, buddy... i hope you run your city-state better than you run your household. Oh wait, you don't.
Ambush, massacre, kidnapping, blah blah... and that's it for Prince Cuan of Lenster. But that's not the end of his mistakes, oh no. The real sketchy material arrives via infodump in Lenster's Fall, the introductory backstory for Thracia 776.
Year 761 of the Jugdral calendar.
The prince of Lenster, Cuan, after learning that Sigurd of Chalphy, his wife’s elder brother and his best friend, had been branded a rebel and was fighting, took with him the elite of Lenster’s army – the Lanzeritter – and passed through the Yied Desert in order to take part in the battle.
Knowing this, King Trabant, who had been looking for a chance to pay back for the repeated disgraceful invasions from the Manster district, at Northern Thracia, launched a rear attack and annihilated them.
Repeated... disgraceful... invasions... from Cuan's allies in the north of the Thracian peninsula, huh? Do tell, infodump.
The four countries of the Manster district, Lenster, Alster, Manster and Conote, kept a military alliance. However, the king of Lenster didn’t stop Prince Cuan when the other three countries opposed his actions, and, as a result, heavy losses were suffered, and the leading power of the Manster District fell from glory.
Oh? So, Cuan was kind of the rogue element in this alliance, huh? Well, Cuan's dream was unifying all Thracia... which technically speaking would entail cutting the other three houses and Trabant's line out of the action and ruling the place by himself. Sounds like Cuan didn't play too nice with allies who weren't old school buddies.
By the time the depleted army of Lenster goes to battle under the command of Cuan's (miraculously recovered?) father[**], even Cuan's mother knows her son screwed up bad. Says Queen Alfiona as she makes arrangements to ensure her lone remaining grandchild's survival:
“Then, little Nanna… take care of Leaf, okay? Watch out for him so doesn’t do rash things like Cuan did.”
**They die horribly.
The moral of the story, kiddies? Don't treat your strategic allies like shit while pulling out all the stops to help your bros is a good place to start. Cuan's loyalists don't GET that part of it, though-- witness Dorias telling Alster's Princess Miranda what a lousy king her father was in FE5. Um, hello, who gave you guys shelter after Lenster's castle burned to the ground? Who suffered horribly in the wake of that botched assassination attempt that you guys plotted? There is a lot of jackassery done in Cuan's name long after the man's hyena food. Dorias gets his own comeuppance in the end, of course, but the one who has to pick up the pieces is still poor little long-suffering, guilt-ridden Leaf.
Who, despite being raised on a diet of "Cuan was the bestest thing ever" propaganda, manages not to be a jackass. I guess Nanna did a good job of watching out for him, then When all else fails, give a month-old baby the task!
PS: Also somewhere in FE5, IIRC, is some tidbit about how Trabant hated Lenster because of some embargo placed against him by Cuan's dad. What goes around comes around, man. Just like Nyna's father and Michalis in FE1/3.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 03:31 am (UTC)Anyway:
People do venal, short-sighted, careless, or malicious things, and their kids and their kingdoms pay the penalty long after they're dead.
In Tellius they live to pay the cost. By dying. :D?
Anyway, very interesting indictment of Cuan. I hadn't really given the matter that much thought, but it does indeed look like he was kind of a fail... and deliberately so.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 04:14 am (UTC)Thanks. I was doing half-assed copypaste before running to the gym.
In Tellius they live to pay the cost. By dying. :D?
Hah!
but it does indeed look like he was kind of a fail... and deliberately so.
I didn't give it too much thought until I read the short story, which just spells out his failures in plain text. The games looked a little different in hindsight after that.
But, yeah. Leaf may have benefited from having Cuan as this shiny idealized figure he never knew.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 08:21 am (UTC)I agree with your analysis, but... the thing about taking Altenna with them on the campaign sounds SO stupid that it feels like it's completely plot-motivated. I mean, even Cuan doesn't seem to be so stupid to think that that would be a great place for a defenceless three-year-old. If they were just travelling, okay, but they're riding for battle. That's more than reckless and more brainless.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 12:54 pm (UTC)I think Cuan bought into his own legend by the end of things. -_-
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 01:19 pm (UTC)Which is a pretty interesting character flaw, isn't it 8D
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 01:26 pm (UTC)Oh yeah. The five "failed heroes" from FE4 (Sigurd, Cuan, Eltoshan, Alvis, Trabant) all have individual character flaws. Cuan's is definitely, but definitely, pride. Arrogance, hubris... yeah, that's his flaw. He thought he was The Shit. He convinced other people that he was indeed The Shit. And the miracle is that his son turned out all right in spite of being raised by Cuan's #1 fanboy.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 12:08 pm (UTC)This isn't even a case where we pretend that three gameplay units equate to an unseen army of thirty warriors.
You know why I love the Langrisser games? You get those thirty warriors.
And, frequently, they die hard for the team, haha. Every map!no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 12:58 pm (UTC)Thanks. I freely admit that the Thracia plotline is the part of Jugdral that interests me above all. Verdane? IDGIAF. Grandbell? Whatever. Silesia... I love the Silesian characters, but don't especially care about the politics there. But Thracia, with the Cuan vs Trabant feud plus the other noble houses plus the Freege people mucking around... fascinates me.
You get those thirty warriors
Heheh. Cool.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 09:28 pm (UTC)Not sure I have much else to add on Cuan aside from what's been said, but this is a really interesting angle! I didn't really catch onto it when I first looked, because he really did seem like the "mature" one at first, but it does all fit together nicely.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-01 09:45 pm (UTC)because he really did seem like the "mature" one at first, but it does all fit together nicely.
Well, it was all the crap in "Lenster's Fall" that made me re-evaulate... a lot of things. But FE5, despite aaaaaall the Cuan worship and general viewing of the script through Heroic Cuan Goggles, does point a few unpleasant things out... and it was really Dorias and his general dickery that kind of pointed the way to "Hey, these people landed deep in shit for a reason." The Lenster crew generally just views the other states of Northern Thracia with such contempt that it's no wonder the "unification" deal had to wait until almost everyone was dead.
August is a skeevy fucker, but honestly I'd take him as my tactician over Dorias any day.