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mark_asphodelYou can't ever make everyone happy, but you sure can make everyone mad at you. The downside of performing any public service, especially one specifically on behalf of some group of people is that, people being people, a fair number of those you serve will be greedy ingrates. Their ingratitude ranges from the I-want-a-pony attitude of "You should have gotten me more!" to the truly aggravating "Feh. I didn't want that." Seriously. Part of the package we obtained includes Martin Luther King, Jr. day as a paid holiday, and the reaction from the Man In The Street is so derisive that one of my more idealistic subordinates asked aloud if our company weren't actually a front for the KKK. We got a new paid holiday-- a three day weekend-- something extremely rare among contracts in the last decade or so, and a fair percentage of the membership decides to spit on it because the day honors a black man (and, by extension, the struggles of Americans of color).
At that point, it's difficult not to succumb not merely to apathy but instead to a kind of vengeance, and to entertain ideas (however briefly) of screwing your ungrateful and bigoted constituency over.
And then one of your few African-American co-workers gives you a big hug and says you got her "everything she wanted" and you did a great job and you decided that maybe, just maybe, you can stave off Armageddon for a couple of weeks.
I tried to channel that rage into 'fic but instead got diverted on theory and meta, and so instead of 'fic I present the rankings of Most Awesome Endings for Fire Emblem Protagonists based on my current jaded 'n' jaundiced mindset.
@#$% the World Tier
Ike (FE10)-- Ike takes his BFF and up and leaves Tellius and all its damned problems. Forever. Good for you, Ike.
Lyn (FE7)-- Lyn skips out of Caelin and does as she pleases. This is not as cool as what Ike does because of that whole "war for her birthright" thing back in the beginning of FE7, but let's assume for the moment that the people of Caelin are a bunch of sorry bigots themselves.
I Love My Job Tier
Roy (FE6)-- He apparently does whatever he wants with his life while Lilina refashions Lycia. No chain and collar here. Not bad, Roy.
Alm and Cellica (FE2)-- They come out of the war relatively un-traumatized, are surrounded by friends and mentors, and have one another for companionship, guaranteed. When ruling a little island kingdom comes with perks on those lines, what's not to like?
Celice (FE4)-- He's set up so well as Emperor of Grandbell he can palm Chalphy off onto Oifey. His bestest buds rule just about everywhere else in Judgral, he gets to marryhis sister his choice of many fine ladies, and he doesn't have to be in a sequel. (FE5 is not a sequel)
Eirika (FE8)-- Short on detail but she is confirmed to be happy, which is more than we can say for many below on the list.
Meh Tier
Ephraim (FE8)-- Kind of the epitome of Generic Ending here, really. Went home, reconstructed continent, grand success, whatever.
Micaiah (FE10)-- With or without Sothe this chick creeps me out.
Ike (FE9)-- He'll live happily ever after with Elincia, right? PSYCH.
Leaf (FE5)-- Reunited with sister, scored with Nanna, rebuilt Thracia, and so on. Temporal discontinuities with FE4 aside, I get the impression that poor Leaf is a little more likely to be traumatized by his experiences than your average FE Lord.
Marth (FE1/11)-- Reunited with sister, scored with Caeda, rebuilt Altea... and yay, another war! ETA 8/26/10: Apparently WAS traumatized by his experiences in light of what Elice has to say in FE12.
Sucks to Be You Tier
Marth (FE3): The dead!Caeda ending is just appalling and the one where she's alive is only slightly less bleak. I mean, who wouldn't want to be the sole ruler of an utterly devastated, barbarian-infested archipelago, particularly one in which every other person with a clue as to how to run things either is dead, skips town, or just plain doesn't want to be helpful?
Eliwood (FE7)-- Hard to get around that whole dead father-dead wife-lingering illness trifecta of pain.
Hector (FE7)-- Same as above plus failure and bleeding to death. Plus never seeing the end of the war.
Sigurd (FE4)-- While some circles might consider being incinerated whilst screaming to be the most awesome ending of all, I think we can agree that the life and death of Sigurd of Chalphy can be summed up in Do Not Want, even if he does meet Diadora again in heaven
I have no reason for posting this besides that Ike's FE10 ending suddenly seems like an excellent idea.
At that point, it's difficult not to succumb not merely to apathy but instead to a kind of vengeance, and to entertain ideas (however briefly) of screwing your ungrateful and bigoted constituency over.
And then one of your few African-American co-workers gives you a big hug and says you got her "everything she wanted" and you did a great job and you decided that maybe, just maybe, you can stave off Armageddon for a couple of weeks.
I tried to channel that rage into 'fic but instead got diverted on theory and meta, and so instead of 'fic I present the rankings of Most Awesome Endings for Fire Emblem Protagonists based on my current jaded 'n' jaundiced mindset.
@#$% the World Tier
Ike (FE10)-- Ike takes his BFF and up and leaves Tellius and all its damned problems. Forever. Good for you, Ike.
Lyn (FE7)-- Lyn skips out of Caelin and does as she pleases. This is not as cool as what Ike does because of that whole "war for her birthright" thing back in the beginning of FE7, but let's assume for the moment that the people of Caelin are a bunch of sorry bigots themselves.
I Love My Job Tier
Roy (FE6)-- He apparently does whatever he wants with his life while Lilina refashions Lycia. No chain and collar here. Not bad, Roy.
Alm and Cellica (FE2)-- They come out of the war relatively un-traumatized, are surrounded by friends and mentors, and have one another for companionship, guaranteed. When ruling a little island kingdom comes with perks on those lines, what's not to like?
Celice (FE4)-- He's set up so well as Emperor of Grandbell he can palm Chalphy off onto Oifey. His bestest buds rule just about everywhere else in Judgral, he gets to marry
Eirika (FE8)-- Short on detail but she is confirmed to be happy, which is more than we can say for many below on the list.
Meh Tier
Ephraim (FE8)-- Kind of the epitome of Generic Ending here, really. Went home, reconstructed continent, grand success, whatever.
Micaiah (FE10)-- With or without Sothe this chick creeps me out.
Ike (FE9)-- He'll live happily ever after with Elincia, right? PSYCH.
Leaf (FE5)-- Reunited with sister, scored with Nanna, rebuilt Thracia, and so on. Temporal discontinuities with FE4 aside, I get the impression that poor Leaf is a little more likely to be traumatized by his experiences than your average FE Lord.
Marth (FE1/11)-- Reunited with sister, scored with Caeda, rebuilt Altea... and yay, another war! ETA 8/26/10: Apparently WAS traumatized by his experiences in light of what Elice has to say in FE12.
Sucks to Be You Tier
Marth (FE3): The dead!Caeda ending is just appalling and the one where she's alive is only slightly less bleak. I mean, who wouldn't want to be the sole ruler of an utterly devastated, barbarian-infested archipelago, particularly one in which every other person with a clue as to how to run things either is dead, skips town, or just plain doesn't want to be helpful?
Eliwood (FE7)-- Hard to get around that whole dead father-dead wife-lingering illness trifecta of pain.
Hector (FE7)-- Same as above plus failure and bleeding to death. Plus never seeing the end of the war.
Sigurd (FE4)-- While some circles might consider being incinerated whilst screaming to be the most awesome ending of all, I think we can agree that the life and death of Sigurd of Chalphy can be summed up in Do Not Want, even if he does meet Diadora again in heaven
I have no reason for posting this besides that Ike's FE10 ending suddenly seems like an excellent idea.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 12:57 am (UTC)OHHH ME ME PICK ME
Also, yeah...sucks to be Eliwood, Marth, Hector, or well... anyone, really.
It could be worse.
YOU COULD BE CANAS.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 01:51 am (UTC)In the great scheme of thing I think Alm and Cellica definitely have it best. As for the rest of them... it makes me laugh over in SSB-land whenever some 'fic writer has Roy/Ike/Marth/and sometimes Lyn committing suicide over a soured romance or something equally trivial. If they don't off themselves in the games, they're not reaching for the noose/poison/seppuku gear over being jilted or having a lover die. Not without a considerable amount of backstory that the angst-happy 'ficcer is unwilling to provide.
YOU COULD BE CANAS.
Hey, Canas and Mrs. Canas at least went out together, doing something heroic, with the knowledge that Grandma was going to look after little Hugh. Now, Nino? That is one horrible life.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 02:35 am (UTC)*ponders*
Leaf has arguably the worst ending because of that unheard voice hanging over his head: "Good job, Leaf. It will now be several console generations until there is a new Fire Emblem game. How does it feel to be unremembered?"
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 03:08 am (UTC)Ike (FE9)-- He'll live happily ever after with Elincia, right? PSYCH.
Having just watched a ship war based around Ike/Elincia and Geoffrey/Elinicia, this made me laugh. I thank you for that. I needed that laugh. ^_^
I've never thought of the endings in quite that way. In a lot of ways, FE10 Ike does seem to get one of the better endings. He gets to go explore new lands with someone that he likes if he has the necessary support and alone if he doesn't, leaving the mess in Tellius to the various rulers. Ike probably figured after the second war that enough was enough. :P It still annoys me though that he just seems to abandon everyone that he cares about, like Mist. Leaving the countries to their rulers is one thing, but abandoning your friends and family is another. :(
Alm and Cellica do seem to do pretty well for themselves.
As for the "Sucks to Be You Tier," I completely agree. But at least if Caeda's alive, Marth gets to be with the woman that he loves. That has to count for something (I'm very pro-romance today :P). And Caeda would probably make a pretty good queen in my opinion, so he has help. Plus he has the help of people like Jagen, Cain, Draug, and any other regional governors that he appoints to help with ruling. It does suck though that Marth appears to simply inherit everyone else's problems, plus his own.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 01:25 pm (UTC)Heh. Good.
Leaving the countries to their rulers is one thing, but abandoning your friends and family is another. :(
True. But I was looking at things from a totally selfish perspective. :)
That said, Mist will in the end grow up and have her own life, and Ike is just forcing her into it a little bit earlier. And after two wars, Mist wouldn't exactly be your average little girl, either.
But at least if Caeda's alive, Marth gets to be with the woman that he loves. That has to count for something (I'm very pro-romance today :P).
Oh, it does. Otherwise he would've been second-to-last. The only thing worse than the dead!Caeda ending is Crispy Critter Sigurd. At least with Hector and Eliwood we know they had some companionship and children to be proud of and all before everything started to crumble. Dead!Caeda ending offers NOTHING but an extended middle finger, courtesy of God. Well, I guess there's Tiki. But still....
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 07:21 am (UTC)That said, this is a post of truth and win. Marth just doesn't get a break, huh?
(And good lord, all the dead mothers in between FE7/6. Which is a total reversal from FE4 in which it was the ladies who survived and had happy reunions for the most part, although some like Tiltyu and Sylvia really got dealt a bad hand as well, depending on how "canon" one considers the notes.)
FE3 really takes the cake for crappy endings though... How many people actually end up incontrovertibly happy or with unarguably "positive" endings? Of those who had romantic connections, I can only think of Samson and Sheema. Maybe Navarre/Feena. Elice and Lena are out of the running because there is just no way they came out of their ordeal unscathed. And... uhh.
It's late though, I could be forgetting someone. (Not likely.)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 01:43 pm (UTC)Thanks. I'm still bitter today... I get to speak to another group of these people this afternoon, and if they get lippy I will have a hard time controlling myself.
Marth just doesn't get a break, huh?
I've done a 180 turn on the FE3 ending, because my initial reaction to it was "LOL wtf?" It took a couple of years before it really sunk in how craptastic that finale is... I think reading the FE2 script was what rammed it home to me. Sure, later games have more nuanced and hopeful endings than "Here's a broken world and it's your job to fix it," but to see a contemporary game filled with all that love and humor and friendship and to hold it up against FE3... ow. Double ow.
It will be very interesting to see what FE12 does with that material.
although some like Tiltyu and Sylvia really got dealt a bad hand as well
Doesn't Tiltyu get tortured to death by evil in-laws? Fury and Lachesis didn't get off too well, either, I think.
Of those who had romantic connections, I can only think of Samson and Sheema. Maybe Navarre/Feena.
Midia/Astram, I think. I'm pretty sure. And Tiki has a happy ending
until all of her friends die off.But, yeah. I was willing to dismiss the bleakness of FE3 as an artifact of its age until I saw what FE2 offered to its characters. No, it's a miserable fucked-up continent filled with unhappy people, and the misery appears to be intentional. And in the context of all the games, that seems to say something, but damned if I know what....
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Date: 2010-07-03 06:52 am (UTC)If we go by notes (I personally take the FE4 scenarios less seriously than the worldbuilding stuff, but), Tiltyu does eventually live through resurrection but yeah EVEN THEN she really got the crappiest lot imo. Her story is just constant out of the frying pan into the fire. Lachesis supposedly managed to survive and reunite with Finn & kids, and on the matter of Fury I'm kind of torn as I've always got the impression that she was ultimately at peace with how things turned out and that it was the kids who were projecting/had to work out their own issues with Levin.
(Ahahaha, totally forgot Midia/Astram!)
It's so odd looking at FE2 vs. FE3, really. I used to think FE4 was the darkest game of the franchise, but considering what an upbeat note it ends on, it's got nothing on the sheer negativity of FE3.
I'll bet FE12 softens a lot of that though. Though I hope to be proven wrong...
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 05:02 am (UTC)I feel like exploring this for some reason...
On the matter of Fury I'm kind of torn as I've always got the impression that she was ultimately at peace with how things turned out and that it was the kids who were projecting/had to work out their own issues with Levin.
That makes the most sense, really.
I'll bet FE12 softens a lot of that though. Though I hope to be proven wrong...
I kind of hope they go for broke, personally.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 08:22 pm (UTC)So that's how Sigurd dies, huh? That's kind of intimidating. I think Ike has the right idea-- but he usually does, because the cosmos favor him almost as much as they do Marth (in theory?) if you don't count the stupid pairing wars.
I like Caeda now, but Marth's creepy marriage to Nyna in your fic was more compelling.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 03:29 am (UTC)So that's how Sigurd dies, huh? That's kind of intimidating.
Intimidating?
Yeah. He gets toasted by an uber-Fire spell. I dislike his final words... "You dastard!" just isn't quite pithy enough for my tastes.
I like Caeda now, but Marth's creepy marriage to Nyna in your fic was more compelling.
FE11!Caeda redeemed her from many years of painful Adaptation Decay. But Marth/Nyna remains one of my favorite "great/terrible" pairings. :)