Dead or Alive

[mark_asphodel]

OK.  So I was looking over AceNoctali's translation of the FE4 epilogue to help with a scene in "While You Were Sleeping." I hadn't looked over that translation in rather a long time and this time around something leapt out at me.

Well, for a start, the fan-translation implies that Azel's dead, which was kind of an issue for my story. But that's what fanfic is for, so never mind. But it also confirmed two other Gen 1 characters as pushing up daises: Ayra and Raquesis. The former was not much of a surprise, given that Larcei's stubborn insistence that her mother wasn't dead seemed like more of a character flaw on Larcei's part, one not shared by her twin.  I've always figured she was dead anyway.  The latter is, uh, explicitly contradicted in FE5.  

From Chapter 20:

Delmud:
I haven't given up, Nanna. Lord Levin said that our mother is still alive. We can go look for her together once this war is over. So don't cry...

There ya go.  Can't get more unequivocal than that.  May I add that Lewyn is standing right there in the FE4 scene wherein Raquesis is being discussed in the past tense?

Well, just in case some nuance was lost in translation, I ran these snippets by everyone's favorite FE translation tumblr, and Ammie came back with confirmation that yeah, Ayra and Raquie are dead as doornails per FE4.  Azel, maybe not.  Now, keep in mind that Raquesis, Angel of the Prison Camp and Sleeping Beauty Azel are stuff from Kaga's scribbly headcanon notes.  The FE4 game text is, uh, canon.  I mean, it's the god-damned published game, and the people actually playing the game on their Super Famicoms would have actually seen it, unlike those of us playing on glitchy emulators that crash during that particular scene.

So, in addition to every other fricking thing that got changed between FE4 and FE5, Raquesis went from being "definitely totally dead" to "not dead and everybody and their brother pledges to find her!"

I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore.  I guess I'm so used to FE's trademark ambiguity and heavy use of implications that I am indeed surprised that dead!Raquie was so explicit to start with.  (Again, not surprised about Ayra... and if she was intended as Mareeta's bio-mom she's still dead per FE5.)

That J!fandom website maintainer who spoke of FE4 as the "Sigurdverse" or however she put it was onto something.

Comments

[samuraiter]

:-( Ace, my man. A good friend. I wish I knew where he went. One of those sudden Internet disappearances that disturb me greatly.

[mark_asphodel]

So he really did disappear without warning?

[samuraiter]

One day, he was posting pics of stuff he'd found in Japan (e.g. pics of FE4 figurines), then, after that, gone without a trace. No warning, no ominous predictions, no slide into inactivity, nothing. Just gone.

At least Fire Lizard kind of petered out before disappearing entirely.

[mark_asphodel]

Yikes.

I didn't realize it was that abrupt. That is scary.

[samuraiter]

It's one of those things that happens when you know somebody on the Internet, sadly. It happened to several of my acquaintances back in Sailor Moon fandom, too.

[amielleon]

If you have any IPs or personal info I can try stalking him down.

[samuraiter]

I wish I knew, but there's only a handful of fandom friends whose personal info I actually know, and he's not one of them, unfortunately.

[amielleon]

In hindsight "Sigurd's arc" is more accurate, but I want "Sigurdverse" in the fandom lexicon anyway.

Also fwiw, these people referring to dead ones may not have a lot of evidence for their beliefs -- in the end, what they say only reflects what they believe. Though in the intentional sense, one might think the author would have the epilogue reflect the real state of things, in the absence of a "well maybe she's out there".

Kaga sure likes changing his mind though.

Tellius wins the award for best continuity between games, hands down. :P

[mark_asphodel]

Also fwiw, these people referring to dead ones may not have a lot of evidence for their beliefs -- in the end, what they say only reflects what they believe.

Yes, but at the same time, Mr. Omniscient God-dude Avatar is right there. If the writers wanted to introduce doubt, all they'd need is for Lewyn to say, "Now, don't be hasty" or "Don't give up hope" or whatever.

If Seliph is saying Ayra's dead in the course of official King Seliph business, that's pretty convincing to me. The statements made by the Raquie-kids are easier to circumvent. (Except in the sense that FE4!Delmud doesn't agree with FE5!Delmud, whoops.]

Tellius wins the award for best continuity between games, hands down. :P

I'd hope so, given that FE9's setup indicates it was always meant as a two-parter. :P

Though really, given FE1 was not intended as a two-parter, Archanea canon is pretty sound until the remakes happened.