[FE: Fates Manga News/Discussion Thread]

Do we have any word on Kibayashi's manga yet? Wasn't it supposed to release this month?

[FE: Fates Official Favorite Character Poll]

I hope Oboro places high again! It was awesome how well she did in the Famitsu poll. I'm voting for her everyday.

That pisses me off about the figmas, but I'd be okay just having a cute little Marx on my desk too.

[FE: Fates Official Favorite Character Poll]

Voting once from my computer, once from my roommate's computer and once from my phone. That's about 3 votes a day for Xander and Oboro.

I think they'll do well regardless, though.

[FE: Fates Official Favorite Character Poll]

The royals will own the top spots with Odin, Jakob, and Azura lingering with them. The rest of the characters will sadly get stomped.

Yeah I agree, we already had a Royal DLC, there should be a separate poll with no royals.

[FE: Fates Official Favorite Character Poll]

I really wish they would wait until the game's English release before doing these polls.... It doesn't seem fair that a huge audience of theirs is being shut out unless they go seeking out this poll.

Then, Marx would win in a landslide.

[FE: Fates Official Favorite Character Poll]

Marx and Lazward for guys

Oboro, Hinoka and Elise for girls.

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

So how about Aqua? There's kind of a doozy right there. Here's a little questionnaire:

1. Is Aqua/Azura extraneous to the story? Is she stealing Kamui's story away or can she be incorporated into the story, if written better?

2. If you think she has a place in the story, what would you do?

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

The only character I had a (non-Kamui related) problem with was Marx. His devotion to Garon seems misplaced and poorly justified so the showdown with him felt like forced drama. Fierce loyalty to a brutal king can work, but we need to hear the reasons for it.

I'm currently writing a character in an original fiction of mine who is in quite a similar situation to Marx and I'm trying to devise plausible reasons for his loyalty, so this question is quite interesting to me. What were you thinking about to "make it work?" To me, Marx has some personal attachments to Garon being his son and remembering him for the kind father he used to be. In a lot of ways I think Marx behaves similarly to the child of an alcoholic or abusive parent who despite the terrible behavior of their parent feels a sense of misplaced/confused loyalty and a need to "protect" or "save" the parent.

Also, if Nohr is in such disastrous straits Marx may feel Garon's brutality is justified in order to save the country; he sees it as disturbing, but pragmatic. A necessary evil so to speak.

I'm interested in hearing other reasons as well.

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

So has anyone actually put together outlines for their rewriting? I'd love to see them. So many good ideas going around!

[Most Attractive Fates Character]

Oh fuck me, he's beautiful. I love it.

Also I forgot to mention, Shinonome is pretty attractive himself.

I completely agree. That Rinka!Shinomone is just... a work of art.

[FE: Fates survey result will be revealed in this week's Famitsu]

ngl I'm pretty guilty of lobster thirst but I would not have minded if they didn't give me the option to S rank him (it would have definitely be better for the story to not be able to). I was prepared for not being able to S him and then... turns out you can.

RIP having principles, it was nice knowing you, now they gave us that option. Thanks game, thanks.

Hahaha! I feel the same way about Xander. I should never have had an option. ^{we are all disgusting sinners.}

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

Hey I like Ryouma's hair more longer is better for me

It's probably just reblogged off my blog, but if there's any actual art theft I'll keep an eye out!

Yeah, I can see that. I guess I'm a fan of mid-length hair. To be honest, they are both wonderful.

Anyway, back on topic. Is anyone making holy weapons for the sisters? I always thought it was such BS how the girls got completely skipped.

[FE: Fates survey result will be revealed in this week's Famitsu]

Im fight u w/ my lobster claws

but i'd rather those two just hit the hay

_{me too. make love not war right?}

^{new fourth path option when....}

^{"Help Hoshido defend their birthright."}

^{"Assist Nohr in their invasion."}

^{"Go to crazy upside down land."}

^{"Arrange a strategic marriage between two siblings on either side."}

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

http://prevolt.tumblr.com/post/123522691616/translation-fire-emblem-if-nohr-path

Nohr 18, where we find out that Ryouma is a little vain (between yeah "my face is better than urs" and "my hair is my pride" from amie, pls, lobster, pls)

it's more or less just me making bad crack comics in which, uh, certain butter-haired paladin and certain lobster-armored trueblade do the thing where you do to butter and lobsters.

please don't take this comic seriously.

That's hilarious! I wonder how it'll be localized. Oh Ryoma...^{thinking you can compare your hair to Marx's. now dearie what were you thinking.}

_{oh goodness... your comic is either going to end very badly or very, very well. also, I think I might have seen this before on tumblr, but not on your blog, make sure people aren't stealing it!}

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

I think we'd have to agree to disagree, then. I just don't see it as dirty.

And back to the discussion on portrayals of whether or not Marx would be villified by the game in return, I will still remind y'all that Marx was treated quite well by Nohr chapter 18.

my favorite chapter tbh because i can turn it into something beneficial to buttering the lobster in, ah, crack AUs.

What happens in chapter 18? I've only read summaries, haven't played the game.

^{_{crack AU? tell me more.}}

[FE: Fates survey result will be revealed in this week's Famitsu]

You know what, I thought he would be in the top spots across the board in terms of popularity and marriage. I know one poster was talking all about Marx's good looks, and yeah dat boy is smoking, but Ryoma brings a lot of sexy, too. If I ever played Hoshido, it would be for him alone (more or less).

I was (pleasantly) surprised by how much Nohr dominated, especially given the sales numbers.

Yeah, Ryoma would be my major motivation for buying Birthright because he's a cool guy x) but Xander is actually so, so much better fight me m8ys I'm not a huge fan of Awakening's maps. I'm not interested in having a similar experience.

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

Fates is its own biggest problem.

Sigh... Even reading through this thread my brain begins to hurt. Trying to fix Fates' plot holes feels like whack a mole.

[Most Attractive Fates Character]

Now we're on the topic of Anna, can someone answer this quickly: is she a playable character in Fates? I keep hearing contradicting reports.

My votes:

Men: Xander (no contest), Silas, Jakob, Ryoma, Tsubaki, Suzukaze, Shinomone & Leo

(I also threw in a vote for my son Siegbert because I feel partly responsible for his shitty haircut :P Clearly there weren't any decent barbers in the secluded lands).

Women: Female Corrin, Azura, Matoi, Kagerou (passes down a beautiful hair color to Shinomone), and obviously a certain revenant knight.

She's not that attractive to me but I can see her obvious appeal.

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

Wasn't Ryouma like, there

in his conversation with Crimson in IK he mentioned guilt over not being able to save kamui despite it happening in front of his eyes

wow ninja thanks internet

Okay, so there's direct proof of it happening...

and nothing happens for 10 years, as far as we know this conflict only got started again because Nohr's invading? I'm sorry, what? And why?

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

He was with his retainers, Kaze was there as well.

However, even the word of a retainer, no matter how trustworthy, means nothing next to the word of a king.

And no matter how obivious, you can't accuse a king of a crime without proof.

And I'll repeat, even if there was proof, that was not the time to go war, they just lost a king and a prince went missing.

Things in Hoshido were far to hetic for them to declare war.

I don't agree with you on the first point. Many wars in history have been waged on less than explicit proof. Richard III didn't say explicitly that he murdered the Tudor princes and buried them inside the tower, but England went to war over it anyway. I think Hoshido had more than enough proof without Garon having to admit he did it. And the key is that Garon probably would never admit it, and they know it too?

Your second point is more salient to me. I'm sure there must have been a scramble for power and influence and Mikoto had to focus on keeping the court in check. Still, you imagine something would have been done in ten damn years.

It's probably what Thane said, just shaky worldbuilding.

Also, can someone please explain why Garon would go to the trouble of letting Kamui live just to attempting to kill them a decade later? Is there any point in even asking, given how little thought was put into stringing this story together?

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

We know next to nothing about what happened in detail, much like the vast majority of events, places and characters in the game.

That's.... very, very frustrating.

This is a pivotal moment in the story's history,

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

Even if it is obvious, you can't accuse anyone, especially a king, of murder based on an assumption.

I'm pretty sure everyone knew Garon was behind his death, but without proof you really can't do anything.

Also, like I said before, they lost their king and a member of the royal family was kidnapped, that really wasn't the time to go war, especially not because of an assumption.

Sorry I'll try to be more obvious:

Was Sumeragi completely alone without any of his court? It was just Kamui and Sumeragi? No one survived that event at all? Hoshido didn't get any direct reports about the event from their own spies or retainers?

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

You can't just accuse a king of murder without any solid hard proof. You just can't.

And considering that Garon's a king, he could very easily cover it up.

And if there were witnesses, they were peasants, whose testimony means nothing next to the testimony of a king.

I think I don't fully understand. Can you tell me what happened in the game? I assumed Sumeragi was in Chevalier on some sort of visit with at least Kamui and his retainers. Garon shows up as we see in the flashback and just pokes him full of arrows. I haven't played the game yet, so correct me if I am wrong.

Was Sumeragi totally alone/in disguise or in some situation where he wouldn't have at least some retainers or court followers with him? I assumed Sumeragi's retainers/spies/whatever would notify Hoshido of the incident, provoking them to war. In that case, they wouldn't really ask Garon if he did it or not. It's not like kings are answerable to the other country's laws and they could put him on trial. War would follow instead.

Also, even if the retainers were killed, the king dying under mysterious circumstances while abroad in a hostile nation, all his retainers killed and his child gone missing would certainly be enough to provoke Hoshido to invade or at least engage in hostilities or hostile negotations with Nohr. I mean, really, who else beside Garon would have done that? Unless Hoshido doesn't have the manpower/army to engage Nohr in a war/invade in which case their hands are tied, since they're the weaker nation.

I wish there was more worldbuilding! Ugh.

[Fixing Fates story issues (spoilers)]

They lost a king under mysterious circumstances( there's no way to prove Garon killed him)

Would that surprise you?

Honestly though, I could easily see that as a lack of proof; how would they convince the entire nation of that? That said, I wish they'd actually talk about the assassination and the kidnapping in more detail. It's shocking how little of it we actually know about that...or well, anything at all really, but you you get what I mean.

Why is there a question of proof? Isn't it obvious? Garon shot him full of a bunch of arrows. I'm assuming multiple people saw this, unless Kamui was the only person present at that event? If so, why?

(I haven't played the game yet, but I'm open to being spoiled).

But even if there wasn't a full-out war, small skirmishes between the two countries must have happened.

There's also the fact the Hoshido and Nohr have been fighting for years now, so determining when exactly the war began can be a little difficult.

NekoKnight, that's a really good idea right there. Hoshido could have gone to war immediately after, but rather than being a year's worth of massive battles, it's been a decade-long, drawn-out series of skirmishes. A war of attrition on both sides.

Alternatively, perhaps Nohr is keeping Kamui as a hostage as a checkmate against Hoshido. That's what I first thought when I saw the trailer. Hoshido is reticent to invade because Kamui's life hangs in the balance.

[Siegbert's Hair Rescue Thread]

Hey all,

So Xander will be my Femui's nearest and dearest going forward, but...

but...

As wonderful as my Avatar's son is, he has stupid hair hair that's very hard to work with. While I can't do anything about those bangs, I can at least find a hair color that's halfway decent. Any ideas about what might look good or even okay?

I'm thinking either dark hair, dark red or blonde but despite this being Lannister Emblem I'd really rather not look like Xander's biological sister.