Notes for "Brave Ascent"

[mark_asphodel]

 So, the Michalis story is up on fe_contest .  As two of this challenge's entries have the underlying theme of "all your base are belong to Marth," I may as well explain mine.  Spoilers for the 'fic and FE3 follow.

"Brave Ascent" began as part of a series of FE 'ficlets which were, in essence, The Archanea Gang Jacks Up And Dies, set to the tune of "Who By Fire" by Leonard Cohen.  Some of them were really quite good, IMO-- in "Common Trial," Rickard screwed up one time too many, and "By His Lady's Command" was my only real attempt to date at writing Ogma.  But I got bored, and the increasing darkness/horror factor made it un-fun to write as I got to the finale of "In Mortal Chains" and "In Power," so I shelved the lot.  But "Brave Ascent" kept coming back to me.  With the prompt, and some urging from myaru , it was actually completed. 


Anyway, I wrote this in part to answer a couple of nagging questions:

#1 Since Gharnef is immune to weapons, how did lance-using Michalis fight him at all?

I decided that Michalis, as Mr. Bad-Ass Dragon Rider, would be capable of attacking Gharnef without weapons-- in this case, by strangling him bare-handed.

#2 How long was Michalis hiding out after Gharnef mortally wounded him?

Left vague.  Days, maybe weeks.

#3 How did Michalis survive that long, anyway?

I took a page from LoZ and had Michalis hang out in a healing spring temple-thingy.  That's where they get anti-magical Holy Water/Pure Water from.  Yeah.

#4  Oh, yeah-- what are the effects of the Imhullu spell on a human body?

I thought this was kind of cool.  Since "dark magic" never gets a real explanation in Archanea, I've decided Imhullu is a reality-shredder.  It's turning Michalis's world into something like TV snow, and since he's never seen a television, he doesn't have a frame of reference for it.  But it's also screwed up all his sensory abilities-- hot/cold, pressure/pain, and such.  Basically, it's excruciating, mentally and physically.

#5  So, he was just in this random village in the wastes of Macedon and Marth just happens to find him in time?

Michalis's dragon leads Marth to the village.  In between the healing spring and the magic dragon, things did get kind of fairy-tale, especially the baptism/anointing scene.  But I did rather like that part.

I did NOT take this opportunity to answer another question, that being "Why does Michalis dislike Marth so much on a personal level?"  The game never says why, and I frankly don't care.  Not every psychological twist requires some deep and arcane explanation.  Regarding Marth's characterization in this, it's FE3!Marth aaaaaall the way, so of course a competent adult like Michalis would find that annoying.  ;P
(I even resort to certain fangirl tropes regarding cute little, sweet little Marth, things I usually avoid like the fandom plague they are.  Readers of my works will notice what's different here, because it's NOT in, say, "Another Piece of Blue.") 

I also touched on what I think is a plausible take on Michalis's "I don't believe in gods" stance (he acknowledges they exist, he just doesn't find them essentially benevolent toward mankind); Michalis as the would-be Superman will have to wait for another day, I'm afraid.  Regarding the "yield" prompt, I think this 'fic meets the prompt on at least two and maybe three points.

Finally, yes I know that "Xanthos" is probably a poor name for a female dragon, but I'd already picked the name for mythological reasons and decided at the last minute to make it a girl!dragon.  FE gendermucks names all the time.

Comments

[myaru.livejournal.com]

Seeing Michalis launch himself at Gharnef was very satisfying. XD Determination like that deserves a reward that isn't a combination of slow-acting poison and Imhullu. Alas, canon, you hate me.

Speaking of which, your interpretation of Imhullu was also really cool.

Hm. From a common sense point of view, Marth isn't very likable. It's not a stretch of the imagination that Michalis would find him annoying at best. Or-- is this my prejudice against heroes rearing its ugly head again? FE3 Marth is kind of sickening, anyway.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Determination like that deserves a reward that isn't a combination of slow-acting poison and Imhullu.

No kidding. Hey, there's always the Aum staff....

Seriously, though, I'm glad the Gharnef-throttling was satisfactory. It was pleasing to write, to be sure. So was contemplation of a half-wet Michalis.

Speaking of which, your interpretation of Imhullu was also really cool.

Thanks! As the "good" bishops and sages in Archanean by and large use the same horrifying anima spells as teh bad guyz, it really took some contemplation to settle on what could possibly make Imhullu so very bad and even "forbidden." I did think of the possibility that maybe it erased its victims from the timeline, like balefire in The Wheel of Time, but that was a little too horrible.

From a common sense point of view, Marth isn't very likable.

Well, the games suggest he doesn't entirely like himself, either! But from the perspective of Michalis-- to stake so much on your own plan to save your country (and family) from disaster to the point at which you're willing to damn yourself through parricide-- and then to FAIL, and to have this little kid waltz through and clean everything up... no sir, that doesn't require an in-depth examination of Michalis's psyche. "I don't like that boy" stands well enough on its own.

That reminds me... back when you wrote your FE3 reaction post, I had something to say re: Hardin that I never got around to. I'll post on that one later.

FE3 Marth is kind of sickening, anyway.

Only "kind of"? I could handle the sweetness and the "innocence" if he weren't so bloody ignorant in the bargain. His best moments in FE3 verge on out-of-character, really. Holy foolsinnocents make better martyrs than rulers in my book.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

^_^ I sense that you might be getting my vote for this round.

On the subject of gender, I still find it amusing that Eirika is technically 'Eirik' in the original script, but I suppose that is what happens when one pulls names from various branches of mythology.