Some Thoughts on "Dragonstones"

 I've long contemplated writing a "Wars of Liberation" story featuring Anri, Cartas, and Artemis.  Haven't done it, in part, because I can't get a handle on Anri.  Even an attempt to portray him through the eyes of an adoring younger brother didn't work, as Anri's character is so purely mythical that there's no way in to him for me.  The lone hero striding across the desert, climbing in solitude through the icy wastelands, reigning for nearly four decades without the consolations of a lover-- it'd make for decent cinema, maybe, but it's really alienating to put into words.  I couldn't make him remotely sympathetic.  In the end, I couldn't escape the feeling that there was something weird about the guy.

I also had severe suspicions of the Aura tome after finding out the "Aura" used in FE2 is black magic in their white magic/black magic system.  Now, I was off-base there, as it turns out all "anima" tomes (Thunder, Fire, Excalibur) are black magic under the FE2 system.  But at the time, it really threw me-- why classify the greatest Light tome in the early games as something on par with the magic used by dark creatures? 

Now, allow me to quote from the newly translated FE4 designers' notes:

( Spoilers for FE4 lie herein.... )