105 | in which I talk briefly about Captive Prince, & less briefly about Fire Emblem Awakening

[straightforwardly]

► So, I got the Captive Prince trilogy for Christmas. Yesterday, after posting my Yuletide recs, I started the first book. And then I read it, and the second one, and the third one, because at some point in the first book (near the end, to be precise), I realized that I couldn’t put it down. Funnily enough, I actually didn’t like the first book that much throughout most of it? Slave kink is not my thing, which is why I never read these books before— I remember it was heavily recommended to me back during its LJ days, and that I even opened up the first chapter to read several times, but. Slaves. I mostly stuck with the first book because the politics and characters intrigued me, and I really wanted to see when/how Laurent and Damen team up, but all the slave-related stuff really threw me off. I only started really getting into it when Damen saved Laurent’s life, and Laurent reciprocated, and the groundwork for a partnership was laid— and then the book ended.

So, of course, I had to start the second book to see how them working together works out, and ended up completely hooked. Seriously, the second and third book were so, so good. One thousand times better than the first one (though I do wonder if I’ll like it more the second time around, now knowing what I know about Laurent/all the things going on in the background). I really loved the progression of Laurent and Damen’s relationship, and am definitely shipping them. Tbh, all I want from this fandom now are 100K+ epics about post-canon or canon-divergent politics* with a side of Damen/Laurent, which. It’s still a Yuletide-sized canon, so I doubt that I’ll be getting that, haha.

*Though not of the Auguste-lives variety; sorry, but I think that would just change too much about Laurent’s character, unless it also involved Peggy Sue-style time travel

► Now for something I’ve been wanting to post for ages! I started playing Fire Emblem Awakening in September, and (with a few long pauses in between), finally beat it in November. And now I’m actually talking about it in December (and questioning myself about just how much I’ve forgotten in the meantime, ugh, I have such a terrible memory.)

This was actually the first Fire Emblem game I've ever played, despite me loving both JRPGs and tactical RPGS. My overall impression: I really enjoyed it! And I'll probably be replaying it at least a few times.

I’ve spent some time thinking about how I’m going to talk about this game/characters, and I think that I’m going to do it by first talking about who I married to whom, vaguely in the order in which I decided on said marriages, and use that as a jumping ground to talk about the characters in general and their children. Sounds good? Let’s go.

Chrom/f!Robin
Okay, I ship it. I ship it really, really hard, and did from the moment of their first meeting. I do plan to replay this game without marrying Chrom, but, I have to say, it’s hard to picture what that game might look like simply because of how powerful I found the bond between Chrom and Robin to be. I’m definitely curious of how the later game would play out in that other context, because, again, it fit in pretty perfectly with Chrom/Robin.

Also, I’m pretty much in love with Robin’s relationship with Lucina-as-her-daughter? I’m not referring to the supports, but the other moments, like when Lucina is determined to kill her. Chrom’s relationship with Lucina is also pretty excellent. (Honestly, Lucina’s relationship with almost everyone was pretty excellent? When I went through the second gen’s supports, most of the romantic supports made me cringe, but Lucina had chemistry with like, almost everyone? Which is not to say that I shipped her with everyone, but I could definitely see reasons for why one would.)

I also delighted in the supports between Lucina and Morgan, and the bond between them. (And Morgan calling Falchion “the royal fruit knife”. Though I was at first baffled by his not being suited to wield it, because he had already used it to cut fruit… and then Chrom came in after they’d left, and it turned out, oh, yes, he was actually suited to it.)

I really do love the whole family unit that comes out of this, though. Chrom’s not actually a favorite character, but, like I said, I like his relationship with Robin, and I do adore Robin. Brilliant tactician, yesss. And then there’s Lucina. Oh, Lucina. She’s easily one of my top two favorite of the next-gen kids, and one of my favorite characters overall in this game. I adore her.

I will say, though: I didn’t marry off any of the next-gen kids before I beat the game, and, in Lucina’s case, I really regret that, because I hated her ending slide when she’s alone. She deserves better than just to isolate herself and disappear. ._. Hopefully at least one of her romance slides will be better.

Lon’qu/Lissa

Lissa was simultaneously difficult and easy to choose for. Easy, because I decided on her marrying Lon’qu almost immediately after I got him. Difficult, because she had so much chemistry with so many characters (Libra, Vaike, and [as I discovered after I’d already married both of them off] Virion, to name a few) that I found myself second-guessing that decision for ages. But, well, I’m a sucker for a good bodyguard/princess romance. And when Owain showed up, well. I have to admit that I was already cackling in sadistic delight at the thought of Lon’qu having to deal with him, and their supports did not disappoint.

I feel like I don’t have too much more to say about them? I do love Lissa, which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that knows my taste in characters. Owain was also a delight; I found myself particularly interested in his relationship with Lucina, though not really in the romantic sense, and also loved his relationship with Lissa. That was really sweet.

Miriel/Virion

I feel myself torn between regret and pleasure at my pairing these two up. Let me explain. My initial reaction to Virion was instant, visceral dislike; I have had a soft spot for flirtatious characters in the past, but his attitude towards Sully in his introduction rubbed me completely in the wrong way. I knew vaguely from osmosis that one should marry off all of your characters in this game, so I immediately set out on finding an option for him that wouldn’t annoy me. I settled on Miriel, because I figured that she would be able to handle him, and their supports together seemed to agree with me. They were the second couple I S-Ranked, after Chrom/Robin.

Then I started exploring more of Virion’s supports (well, more of everyone’s, but his along the way), and was startled to find that I actually enjoyed them— and that I enjoyed him. Quite a bit, actually— I would say that he’s easily one of my top five favorite characters. Maybe even top three. And more than that, I… actually shipped him with a lot of characters? Robin, Lissa, and Libra are the first three to come to mind, but, honestly, I liked more of his supports than I disliked. In fact, I liked most of his supports much more than I liked his relationship with Miriel. Hence the regret.

But. But. Then Laurent showed up. I have to admit, I’m not particularly interested in Laurent’s character in general. But his supports with Virion? So good. Virion is such a good father, omg. Like, I don’t think I’ll ever be pairing Virion up with Miriel ever again, but it honestly makes me sad to think about him not being Laurent’s father; that’s how much I liked that relationship.

Libra/Olivia

I also like these two a lot! Maybe they’re not in my top five favorite characters, but definitely in the top ten. This was a pretty easy pairing to settle on— my only hesitation was when I considered whether or not I should partner-switch them with Lon’qu/Lissa, but then I decided that I’ll do that on another playthrough. I really love how...soft and quiet the romance between them is? I probably like Olivia a bit more than Libra, which surprised me— I usually don’t really like shy and blushing female characters, and I’ve been super into “healer monk with an axe” since I saw my big brother’s character on Fable II, but she somehow really worked for me. (I also have a lot of Olivia pairings, whoops.)

And, on a more shallow note, I like how Inigo looks with blond hair. ♥ And also: INIGO. ♥ You know how I said with Lucina, that she’s one of my two favorite next-gen characters? Inigo is the other one. Omg, I am so into Inigo. I love his love of dancing, and how embarrassed he gets by it, and how that’s contrasted by the brash confidence he shows off the rest of the time. I really, really loved his relationship with Olivia (and how shippy their initial meeting was); I was also drawn to his supports with Libra, and how Libra struggled to understand him.

Frederick/Panne

I don’t really have too much to say about these two. I paired them together because I didn’t dislike their supports, and while I like them both well-enough as characters, I also don’t really have strong feelings about them. I do like Panne more than I do Frederick, though.

I also really liked Yarne! Which surprised me, but he really was one of my favorites from the next-gen kids, and it bothered me how his supports with them (with the exception of Lucina) were them beating him down about his fear of dying/making his species extinct.

Henry/Tharja

See my first two sentences under Libra/Olivia, and apply them here as well. I do ship them both with a lot of other people as well, but went with this pairing because Dark Mage Power Couple, and it delighted me to see them cursing people together.

That being said, Noire… actually decreased my interest in this pairing? I mean, I do still like it, pre-kid era, but her supports with Henry, and what they said about how his relationship with Tharja ended up, lost me some enthusiasm. (Though I do love the image of Tharja going in full-blown revenge mode after he died.)

I also didn’t really like Noire much— her character gimmick really, really didn’t work for me.

Stahl/Cordelia

I’ve even less to say about this than Frederick/Panne, I think. I have literally no opinion on these two. I don’t think I ever even really got a good grasp on what their characters are like. Their supports were cute, though, which is why I went for it.

Severa was great, though. Not a favorite, but still pretty great.

Nowi/Ricken

Again, not much to say. (I think I have discovered a problem in my listing these vaguely in the order I decided on them— most of the ones I had strong opinions on ended up near the top of the list!) My criteria for Nowi was basically ‘find a pairing that doesn’t squick’ me, and, well. Ricken ended up being my answer.

Though, I will say that I was surprised that I didn’t dislike Ricken, seeing as he too, falls into a character-type I tend to dislike. I didn’t end up adoring him like I did Olivia, but he was a nice kid.

As for their child: I was originally neutral/cautiously intrigued by Nah, until most of her supports with the next-gen (particularly Laurent and Inigo) turned that into dislike. Though her supports with Morgan were cute, I suppose.

Gregor/Cherche

I did not expect to like this pairing as much as I did! I’m not going to searching out fic for them anytime soon, but I really liked how Gregor seemed to really understand both Cherche and Minerva, and their importance to one another.

Also, Gerome was the best. (Well, not the best, considering how much I like Inigo and Lucina, but close.) I loved how he had a different perspective on the time-travel as the other kids, and how he came back not for his parents, but to help Minerva. His Minerva, that is. That really worked for me.

Sully/Vaike

Again, not much to say about this one! I went with Vaike for Sully because I disliked most of the options for her, and I did like their dynamic together, though I’m not sure if I was sold on them as a romantic couple.

Didn’t really have much of an opinion on Kjelle, outside of my disliking pretty much all of her romantic supports.

Maribelle/Donnel

I tried out their supports because I was intrigued by what the dynamics could be, considering Maribelle’s personality, and was surprised by how much I liked it. I’m not really interested in either character, but I did like how Maribelle went out of her way to show him kindness, in her own way.

And Donnel being the father does explain a lot about Brady, haha. (Who probably tied with Laurent with being my least favorite of the second-gen, except he didn’t have the advantage that Laurent did with the excellent Laurent & Virion supports. Sorry, Brady.)

I didn’t like the Maribelle/Donnel ending slide, though. I know that it said that they were “happy”, but I have a hard time believing that Maribelle would really be content just being a farmer’s wife.



I didn’t marry Sumia to anyone. I NOTP’d her and Chrom pretty hard, and wasn’t particularly intrigued by her relationship any of the initial marriage options, and by the time I got around to marrying the people whose partners I hadn’t immediately decided on, I realized that whoops, I’d accidentally married off every single person who could have conceivably been married to her. So I have no idea who her kid is, or what said kid’s relationships with the other characters are either. Whoops.

I also accidentally killed off one of the other characters (the thief, I think he was?), because I hadn’t yet figured out how to recruit those who first show up as enemies in the battlefield. I also accidentally killed off Tharja the first round through, but at that point I actually had internet so that I could google what I did wrong, and then went, screw it, I’ll just do the battle again. And so she was recruited, to my delight.


I also wanted to get into some of my thoughts/problems with the actual plot of the game (especially the aspects involving Robin), but, well, this entry has gotten long enough. Maybe another time. Right now, I'm mostly relieved that I managed to get this much written up.

Comments

[samuraiter]

Ah, Awakening. I've written ... a fair bit of 'fic for that, actually. Not my favorite Fire Emblem (because that will always be The Blazing Sword), but I enjoyed it. It definitely generates strong opinions in the fan base, though.

I married Lucina to Inigo in my game. That felt completely and totally right, IMO.

[straightforwardly]

Yeah, I've definitely caught...snippets of said strong opinions as a part of my fannish osmosis.

Inigo is definitely a top contender, if for no reason other than that I love them both dearly.