Plotbunnies and fe_contest

[mark_asphodel]

Back when fe_contest  first started, I had a challenge prompt all picked out in the bizarro event that I won anything.  Well, I decided not to use it and submitted something else to the mods instead-- something for which I have no preconceptions and no plotbunnies kicking around.  I'll probably sit this round out, anyway, unless participation is really sparse.

My weekend abroad was pretty restorative in a general sense, but it also gave me some ideas to retool and "unstick" my original novel-in-progress that has been stuck in park for a year now.  That novel is very tied to a sense of place, and returning to California helped me get back into the atmosphere of it.  Even the sunlight looks a little different at that latitude than it does from where I now live. 

I got no actual writing done on the plane, but I did have large chunks for a new 'fic materialize in my brain and I have been feverishly jotting them down since my return home.  It stars... Nyna.  Yes, Nyna, my perennial punching bag.  Specifically, Nyna after FE3, when she goes off to Valencia chasing "Sirius" and presumably finds Zeke instead.  Now, this is dangerous territory, given that shimizu_hitomi  will finish "Through a Glass Darkly" one of these years (please?).  While the second installment of her story will undoubtedly be better than my attempt, mine at least will be different.   For one, I can pretty much guarantee that Hitomi won't feature Marth to the extent that mine does-- I find the whole dynamic between Nyna and Marth fascinating in terms of text, subtext, and context... far more than I ought to, I suppose.

Why the sudden interest in a character I have such issues with?  Well, just because Nyna makes mistake upon mistake doesn't mean I don't feel a certain amount of sympathy for her.  She's conflicted and flawed and very human, and her mistakes aren't inexplicable "idiot plot" mistakes.  FE11 presents her as a woman who could have been a good queen (x-ref Horace) but who has some critical blind spots when it comes to what her duty is.  Her position in society makes a fatal flaw out of her kindness.

[The FE11 ending is one of those "comedy turned tragic by context" dealies-- from the way FE3 presents it, peace begins to unravel from the moment Nyna takes it upon herself to hook up a pair of tongue-tied teenagers.  And the fact that the script is sending up red flags through that scene doesn't help Nyna any.] 

Nyna is, in a sense, fortunate.  Governed by desire (or lack thereof), she is set free of her obligations to society to pursue that desire-- pursue it clear across the ocean.  The question then becomes whether having is any better than wanting.

Comments

[shimizu-hitomi.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahaha. Yeah... one of these years. XD

Sounds like you plan on covering the aftermath more than I'm planning to though; I actually keep changing my mind about exactly where to take the ending because I really dislike the "chasing Zeke across the ocean" thing given their final in-game exchange* and kind of just want closure for those two already, dangit. But more or less I'm not taking it all that far beyond the end of the war and Nyna's abdication.

* Though pretty much all the exchanges in that final save-the-princesses chapter annoy the heck out of me aside from Minerva/Maria. The Elice/Merric exchange CREEPS ME OUT in particular.

Aside from that, I'd like to think Nyna learned SOMETHING from her mistakes across both wars -- so I try to tweak her endgame choices to suit me. :P (If it were up to me, she'd have set herself up as supreme ruler of the world at least the main continent after FE3, for better or for worse -- because clearly the male rulers not named Marth in this universe are incompetent/warmongering crazies. And also because it still amuses me to imagine what a world without Marth would look like -- all of a sudden all these princesses figure much more heavily into the grand scheme of things.... but oh well.)

Though having vs. wanting.... ooooh. Sounds right down my alley.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

because I really dislike the "chasing Zeke across the ocean" thing given their final in-game exchange

Well, it's a really a bait-and-switch... as are Hardin's last words to Marth. Whatever he meant by "Take care of Nyna," I doubt he meant a one-way ticket to Valencia! But that's part of why Nyna frustrates me so greatly-- so much is expended to restore her to the throne, and it all comes to nothing.

The Elice/Merric exchange CREEPS ME OUT in particular.

Word.

so I try to tweak her endgame choices to suit me.

Well, color me intrigued.

If it were up to me, she'd have set herself up as supreme ruler of the main continent after FE3

Huh. Well, again, she has the potential to be a good queen if she really did learn anything from the second war. Her primary advisor would be dead, but that might be a good thing. And there's a real shortage of eligible men with more than two brain cells to their credit... but George is around, and he's loyal to her. Yeah.

I dunno. An effective ruler of post-war Archanea would have to NOT be a candyass, and all the non-candyasses are pretty much dead (or, in the case of Sheema and Samson, want nuthin' to do with guvmint). I suppose it takes about as many mental gyrations to make Nyna a decent queen as are necessary to make Marth a plausible king/emperor/demigod.

So, yeah, color me intrigued by these... tweaked choices.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

As always, I look forward to this. :-)

This does precipitate a question that has been nagging at the corners of my mind, though: What exactly is the Curse of Artemis, anyway, and why does it ruin Nyna so thoroughly? The more Archanea stuff I read, the more curious I become.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Re: Curse of Artemis-- well, if I read FE3 correctly, there are two possible explanations. It's kind of a story within a story. A LONG story.

Year -10 (600 years before FE11):

Some thief goes into a super-holy shrine, steals the jewels off this shield thingy, uses the jewels to buy himself some uber-weapons, and becomes the baddest dude around. He goes down in the history books as Adrah, King of Archanea.

Year 500-ish (100 years before FE11):
Princess Artemis of Archanea gives this shield-shaped emblem thingy to this Cartas dude who is the leader of the resistance forces against the evil dragon invasion. Artemis marries Cartas, even though she is actually in love with Anri, a provincial lad who went off on a solo mission to the Temple of the Ice Dragons and came back with a holy sword that kills dragons dead. This is good enough to make Anri the King of Altea, but not good enough to let Artemis marry him. Artemis places a curse on the emblem that makes it screw up the love life of anyone who carries it, especially if they palm it off on someone else. Artemis dies in childbirth, Anri sulks the rest of his life, and Cartas has a grand time being King.

Years 604-9:
Princess Nyna of Archanea gives this shield-shaped emblem thingy to this Marth kid and makes him the leader of resistance forces against the evil dragon invasion. Since Marth is also the descendant of Anri, this would seem to make him Nyna's ideal boyfriend, but it turns out Nyna is in love with this Camus guy fighting on the opposite side. Camus dies (sort of), which in Nyna's view is the Curse of Artemis kicking in. That goes double if Marth's little girlfriend dies in the war as well. Marth gives the emblem back to Nyna in any event.

Then Nyna's advisors explain to her that she has the following marriage options:

1) Marth (duh)
2) Hardin, another resistance leader dude who is also (a) a grown-up and (b) madly in love with Nyna.

Nyna goes for Option #2 but kind of doesn't explain to Hardin that she doesn't, uh, love him back. Hardin ends up having a meltdown and takes it out on Marth, Marth's entire country, and the rest of the continent. Nyna sends the emblem back to Marth as a distress signal, Marth goes on a treasure hunt to collect some magical jewels (killing Hardin in the process). The magical jewels meld with the emblem to re-create that special shield that Nyna's ancestor trashed back in Year -10. Marth gets the holy sword, the restored shield, all the uber-weapons, the entire continent, AND his girlfriend if she didn't die this time around. Nyna gets to go chase after Camus, who turns out not to be dead after all. Hardin gets to be worm food. And Camus gets a double dose of woman trouble, we presume.

OK. So, what's the curse?

Explanation #1: Artemis cursed the thing around year 500. Curse is lifted if Marth and Caeda live happily ever after. Otherwise, Caeda gets to be one of its final victims, along with Hardin.

Explanation #2: The emblem and the whole royal family were already cursed thanks to that temple-trashing incident back in -10. Curse lifted when Marth restores the shield and Nyna skips town. Hardin is collateral damage.

I lean toward option #2, in part because the FE3 script (via a comment of Marth's that goes unchallenged) backs it up.

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

I do believe that explains it all. Thank you for taking the time. :-) It will be a major boost to my Archanea productivity.

And here I go adding Marth / Nyna to the list of pairings I want to write for Marth.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

Marth/Nyna is a great terrible pairing. There's a reason I kicked off my FE-writing jaunt with the two of 'em. I couldn't understand why no one else on the Pit O' Voles had even attempted it.

Not that he loves her. Not that she loves him. Not that it's what either of them even want. But it's there in the margins, and it just makes so much sense in the worst ways.

[penandpaper71.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm actually more surprised that you've never tried to tackle Nyna seriously before then that you are thinking about doing so now. I can't remember who said this (perhaps it was even you at some point, but I remember at some point someone writing that fanfiction was a fantastic way to work out issues with a number of things, characters being included on the list (I know that I've used fanfiction in that way before myself a few times and I quite agree with the statement personally). And since you do seem to like to tackle things that bother you in your work (unless I'm misreading something, which is always an option), I'd think Nyna would be somewhere on the list almost by default.

Anyway, it sounds interesting. There's certainly plenty to explore in that particular area.

And congratulations on your win at the writing contest. It's an excellent story. ^_^

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm actually more surprised that you've never tried to tackle Nyna seriously before then that you are thinking about doing so now.

I've made a few short-form stabs at dealing with her, but nothing's really clicked with me so far. In part, I think I was overwhelmed from reading Hitomi's take on her and was waiting for that one to be finished, but my obsession with the Marth/Nyna pairing-that-isn't kept shoving things off in my own weird direction. And it wasn't until recently that I figured I could actually get under Nyna's skin and write from her own POV... I think defending her (in a sense) to Myaru actually helped develop that.

I'd think Nyna would be somewhere on the list almost by default.

True. She was waiting her turn beneath the Palla/Abel/Est disaster, assorted post-FE3 politicking, the Yumina story, the Michalis story, assorted musings on Tiki, and various bits of darkfic. :D

I do gravitate toward the "exorcism" of topics and characters that bother me. As long as I'm sufficiently irked by the source material, the ideas will keep coming....

Thanks!