Genocide and pretty lights

[Jotari]

Just to clarify a few things:

The opening of FE6 says that the humans started the war. The opening of FE7 started that the humans started the war. That's hardly nothing.

And after the war, there were no longer dragons in the known world. What else is needed to call it a genocide?

That is not genocide. Genocide is the systematic and intentional destruction of a race or society. Starting the war does not mean they wanted to destroy all dragons. Wars start for very many reasons. Genocide is very rarely one of this reasons.

We also don't know what the Divine Generals thought about the whole thing. What we do know, is that they lead a war that was ended by killing the entire opposition. And yes, that's including non-combatants.

We know at least Hartmut felt dragons had a right to exist as he didn't kill Idoun even though she had the ability to literally spawn more dragons. The fact that Athos didn't burn Archadia to to the ground suggests he wasn't a genocidal monster.

The term non-combatants can only be stretched so far when every single member of the races can transform into a giant Fire Breathing dragon. We have seen in many games that even a child divine dragon is an insane powerhouse, Fa proves Elibe games are no exception.

And there are actually a lot of things suggest that humans wanted to see every last human dead.

The biggest point is this on: There are no dragons in the known world anymore.

No dragon managed to survive outside of Arcadia. Except for Jahn and Idoun, who were lying under the rubble of the temple.

If they didn't want them all death, then why didn't any dragons manage to live open among humans? Why was there no one left to live in their own nation?

Because it was an extremely large scale war. Both parties were extremely desperate. Defeat meant the destruction of all willing fighters on the losing side. And they might not exist in the known world so to speak but enough dragons refused to fight and as a result survived the war.

And remember Nergal's wife? Aenir? The dragon?

She was killed even though she was merely going with her family through the Dragon Gate. She was a non-combatant. But that didn't save her.

Haven't played that chapter to be honest but civilian casualties are to be expected in war whether it be genocide or not. And as I've already mentioned even if she wasn't part of an army the fact that she was a dragon meant she was more than a capable fighter.

But when you are saying that they definitely were Heroes, then you aren't doing anything different then I do when I say that they are all genocidal bastards: You are simply filling the blanks.

I can't prove that the Divine Generals were evil bastards and stuff. Because I don't know what's in those blanks. But neither can you.

I can prove that at least two of them believed dragons as a species had the right to exist.

The answer is not the point. The point is that the answer does not exist.

Because it's a question that needs an answer. Because of the things that we do know.

Both games open by telling us that humans started a war that drove dragons from the known world. Starting a war is a very bad thing. Wiping an entire race from the map is so as well.

Sure, there can be reasons for why those things happened. Good reasons.

But if reasons exist, they need to be brought up.

How can we look up to these people like the story excepts us to, when all we know is that they contributed to Genocide?

But we aren't told any reasons.

It's just repeated over and over that they were good, brave, noble and stuff. But these are just adjectives.

Adjectives applied from a generation that knows them for only one thing: Defeating the dragons. Adjectives applied from a generation that is a millennium away from the truth.

We are forced to judge the Generals with no information whatsoever because the game never talks about it.

-Even when the villain is a man who lost his wife through that war.

-Even when two main characters are two dragon kids who lost their parents.

-Even when we are supposed to shed tears for one of them.

So in the end we have two stories, that idealizes people either despite their contribution to the extermination of an intelligent humanoid species...

...or specifically because they exterminated an intelligent humanoid species.

And the only reason we have to assume the latter is blind faith that the writers couldn't possibly meant it that way.

To that I can only stress that it was not an intended, systematic, extermination. If it was Hartmut certainly would have killed Idoun since she can literally make more dragons. An awful thing happened during the scouring and the dragons became lost as a species but there is no evidence to support that this was the humans initial or desired intention and that makes a big difference.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Jotari

[Paper Jam]

And remember Nergal's wife? Aenir? The dragon?

She was killed even though she was merely going with her family through the Dragon Gate. She was a non-combatant. But that didn't save her.

We don't know what happened to Aenir, except that "some bad men" abducted her. I would venture a guess, though, that it couldn't have been worse than what Jahn did to Idoun.

[Baldrick]

Indeed nothing in universe suggests it was a genocide. Everything points towards a fight for survival.The battle went on so long that birthrates gave humans an edge. That means generations of soldiers fought. No humans by the end of that war was involved with it's out break. The Divine Generals weren't maniacs wanted to see all dragons dead. They were heroes who put an end to a long and agonizing war. We know the Divine Generals weren't genocidal maniacs because we see Athos first hand and Idoun's entire story is based on the fact that Hartmut was too merciful to kill her. Nothing suggests that any human wanted to see every last dragon dead.

Put it more elegantly than I've been able to. The only point I'd add to that is that based on events in the game, I believe all the dragon civilians had left by the time the Ending Winter happened, so the killing of the dragons left may even have been forced.