FE12: Elice in Blunderland

[mark_asphodel]

FE12 spoilers and language under the cut.  If you aren't interested in Elice and her brother, you can skip this one.

So, this scene translation from the FE12 Prologue has caused a fair amount of consternation from the fanbase.  The overall reaction from the fans has been, "Elice is a stone-cold bitch."  That was not MY reaction to it, but since it's the common one, let's discuss this first.  If the point of this scene is that Elice is a nogoodnik who doesn't show sufficient love or respect for the younger brother who adores her, what would the intent of such a scene be?  To sap the player's sympathy for Elice so that her kidnapping and metaphorical rape by Gharnef has less impact?  To make her sudden turnabout with Merric (to whom she was beyond doubt condescending in FE11) more of a redemption-- bad sister Elice has been thoroughly broken and properly reclaimed by Merric, in whose care she will leave off her ice-bitch ways and fulfill a woman's true role in life?  It's not unheard-of in fiction, though such a device is certainly repellent.  But I don't think that is the point of the scene, so I'll leave that line of thought with this reductio ad yukky.

Others are more concerned about the identity of the person to whom Elice reveals such sensitive information regarding her brother (I'll get to those details soon enough).  If Elice is disclosing her brother's psychological issues to random young recruits in the Altean Army (this is Prologue 4-- "Chris" isn't even a knight yet), she's being awfully... incautious.  If the info-bomb had been dropped in a conversation with Jagen, or one of the veteran knights like Cain-- or to Merric!-- it wouldn't come across as quite so heartless on Elice's part.  Given the cadet pool turns out to have a traitorous assassin in the ranks, Elice is being incredibly careless.  And that does reflect poorly on her judgment and character.

So, what exactly does Elice say that's so awful?

Well, first off, she warns MyUnit (Chris), in response to some of his fanboyism for the "Hero King," that "the true Marth is a fragile, easily hurt child."  OK.  Pretty standard JRPG stuff, I think, not to mention a throwback to Marth's pure-hearted characterization in FE3.  Also, this meshes with the visual overhaul he got for this installment of the series.

Unfortunately, Elice elaborates, and here we get into a mess.  "That child faced Medeus in the last battle, and won.  That child has grand ideals and a strong will to hold onto those ideals.  However, as you know, you can't save anyone in the real world with just ideals."  [The translator assures us that Elice is in full-on maternal mode with the "child" comments and is not being sarcastic.]

Then we go off the deep end.

"As we speak, people may be losing their lives right now in places we could seldom imagine... Marth cannot save them."

Well, no shit.  He's not god.  Even Chris understands that much-- "As a human, there's a limit to what he can do."

"Indeed, that's how it is. Usually, people take note of reality and make compromises between that reality and their ideals. However, that child cannot do this... he wants to save everyone, from the bottom of his heart. In the war, if even one of his companions fall... that's very hard for him to stand. He controls it with his powerful will, but his heart is hurt and bleeds as result."

Ow.  Ow.  Let's unpick this.

"Usually, people take note of reality..."

Sane people.  It's one of the basic dividing lines between sane and certifiable.

"However, that child cannot do this... he wants to save everyone, from the bottom of his heart"

Really?  Chapter 13 of Shadow Dragon sure indicated otherwise.  Unless "bad people" don't count as people?  

"In the war, if even one of his companions fall... that's very hard for him to stand."

I guess we'll take that on faith, given the lack of reaction shots to anything other than the decoy fiasco in FE11.  And the decoy thing was presented as very much a lesson to be absorbed and dealt with.

"He controls it with his powerful will, but his heart is hurt and bleeds as result"

I can only guess that she's referring to the sort of behavior we see at the end of Chapter 17 and in the finale of FE11, both scenes that set off my alarm bells at the time.  These are the scenes where he's shutting his emotions-- first grief for his dead mother, then his love for Caeda-- down for the sake of duty.
 
"It's very difficult for that child to keep holding those ideals in this harsh world... MU, if you're to become a knight... please, protect that child. Protect his ideals..."

Hold onto that though re: Chris and let's talk about Marth and his issues.

I never liked Marth's characterization in FE3-- all pure heart and merciful goodness and not a lot of education, common sense, or anything else.  He was a total "holy innocent," a character type also termed "holy fool" for a reason.  FE11 appeared to throw all of this out the window, giving us a Marth who was clued in to the history and culture of the continent, was up-to-date on current events, entertained thoughts of hatred for and revenge upon his enemies, and possessed a somewhat snarky sense of humor-- all things noticeably lacking from FE3.  He was also quite rational and pragmatic, making (usually) sensible decisions with the information at hand.  Emotionally-- especially when it came to romance-- he was definitely an awkward kid.  I've long pondered how IS would get the characterizations to jibe, given that Marth's pure-hearted goodness is actually integral to FE3.  I guess a psychotic break is as plausible a means as any of making the elements fit.  Because, seriously, the person described by Elice in this dialogue is, at best, emotionally damaged to the point of severe dysfunction (a traumatized child in an adult body) and, at worst, psychotic (not capable of dealing with reality).  But it's a JRPG, so that's OK!  To make sure those precious ideals remain intact, Big Sis Elice is going to surround her little brother with people who will prop him up.  

And so we have Chris, serving as a glorified babysitter, a minder/psychotherapist.  Chris is there for all the key conversations, is consulted before every battle, is the go-between by which which other army members (even Merric!) can access Marth, and is the deciding factor in HUGE decisions like "let's allow Julian to save Lena."  Never mind that Chris is, as both penandpaper71  and sailorvfan10  have noted, flat-out ignorant of the War of Darkness and the general situation.  Chris is the man running interference, carrying the water, getting his hands dirty, and stepping back into the shadows so Marth gets the glory.  And you, the player, are of course "Chris."  Don't you feel special?

[Note: Chris is of course derived from "Christopher" or "Bearer of Christ"-- the man who carried the messiah on his shoulders.  I suspect that's intentional.]

Elice loves her brother-- her final quote in the game is "I hope you can now find happiness."  She loves him so much she helps construct a show-box to keep him in.  This is all very creepy and disturbing, but not hateful and Elice is not being a bitch.  Indiscreet, yes.  Icy bitch, I don't think so.  She looks at her brother and sees a wounded and deeply unhappy child (I guess the war just really fucked him up) and does what she can to protect him.  And given the role that MyUnit plays, I think we're intended to take Elice's statement at face value.  

Don't shoot the messenger.  Just cringe at the message.

PS: I keep saying that Archanea is fucked up, but DAMN it just gets worse.  And I don't even want to think about how Caeda fits into all this.  Yuk.  Double yuk.

Comments

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Hey, man, you called it. I'm pretty sure you said he was bound to crack.

Unfortunately, this is not a particularly interesting brand of cracked, and doesn't even seem to be in-character for FE11!Marth. Though I can kind of see why the "saving people thing" (as they say in Harry Potter circles) might develop, given that he wasn't able to save his own mother.

We can make some sense out of this one. But damn, I don't like it.