Defeating Duma only in the final map

[MidoriPuru]

I wanted to see if killing Duma only would have change anything like Sonya's relatives living or the followers of Duma. I was able to have Alm defeat Duma without killing any of the villains with a unique character portrait besides the Mogalls but everything still played out the same way.

 

An excerpt from the Fire Emblem wikia for witches,

"In Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the Witch class is given a background. According to Lukas and Saber, Witches are women whose souls have been offered to Duma, either willingly or by force. While the Witch gains unrivaled magical powers their souls are ripped from their bodies, becoming nothing more than hollow husks with the sole purpose of serving Duma. The process of becoming a Witch seems to have various degrees as Delthea was brainwashed and nearly turned into a Witch, but was able to return to normal once Tatarrah was killed. However, once a woman has fully become a Witch, there is no possible means to restore them other than to kill them. In their deaths, it seems that their soul temporarily returns to their bodies before they expire."

 

I guess story wise the followers of Duma would have still fought for revenge but wouldn't killing Duma release the souls of those who were offered to himself? Were the souls bound to him or killing him wouldn't have an effect at all? If there were no effects then Sonya's ending would have made sense. I just don't understand how offering your soul to him makes sense. 

[VincentASM]

Story-wise, I assume the villains just gave up or were imprisoned by Alm and company. Anyway, there's not much they could do with Duma gone.

I think after a soul is offered, it is "digested" by Duma so it's gone forever.

Celica is a special case. I guess because she's Branded, part of her soul remained or was protected by Mila/the Falchion. So she wasn't completely gone.

[joshcja]

The real question is how Sonya becomes a witch after Duma's death.

Witches have no souls in Echo's but they apparently can still think and act to their own desires to an extent (Sonya's sisters last map dialogue, Ceilica's silly everything) so the reason to go witch is "power at any cost" or in Ceilica's case "Deeeerp".

Edited June 5, 2017 by joshcja

[TheTrueKnight]

26 minutes ago, joshcja said:

The real question is how Sonya becomes a witch after Duma's death.

Well, the game never says she becomes a witch. That's the highly likely thing, but it's not 100% confirmed.

Edited June 5, 2017 by TheTrueKnight
"confirmated" doesn't exit lel

[VincentASM]

51 minutes ago, joshcja said:

The real question is how Sonya becomes a witch after Duma's death.

Witches have no souls in Echo's but they apparently can still think and act to their own desires to an extent (Sonya's sisters last map dialogue, Ceilica's silly everything) so the reason to go witch is "power at any cost" or in Ceilica's case "Deeeerp".

Experiments can often have unexpected results.

Maybe she offered her soul to another dragon? There's bound to be plenty around, like Grima even.

Or maybe she invented the Witch's Mark : P

[TheTrueKnight]

I don't think she would have sold her soul since she wanted to be free, not like her sisters. It would make no sense!

[VincentASM]

21 minutes ago, TheTrueKnight said:

I don't think she would have sold her soul since she wanted to be free, not like her sisters. It would make no sense!

If true, it was probably an accident.

Most likely she was trying to find a cure for Witches and may have--in desperation--tried to replicate the process and accidentally turned into a Witch.

Like how in real life (or stories), doctors try to find cures for viral illnesses by purposely or accidentally contracting a virus.

[Tsak]

It's possible Sonya made a pact (like Nuibaba did) and became a witch that way
though who she might of made a pact with would be unclear, my bet would be on Medusa since she took up residence at the Manor

[Interdimensional Observer]

Not all witches who make pacts, or dark magic practitioners in general, succumb to darkness. Bayonetta anyone?

More serious and relevant to FE, even pacts with good dragons aren't guaranteed to not end in self-sacrifice- the heroic Naga and Forseti were being possessive over in Jugdral of their respective Crusaders, though the other Crusaders were spared such a fate for some reason.

And of course, we have Tellius where Spirit Charmers exist, and they make pacts with lesser elemental spirits (and Charmers like Dark Magic- even though the only Spirits we see come in Anima flavors- probably because of whom the ones we see serve). It's possible Sonya just formed a pact with such a lesser entity and gained power that way, whilst not giving over so much of herself, maybe just a little taste of her body and spirit, but not her free will.

And don't forget the one true master of darkness Bramimond! Or Niime- she's certainly delved into darkness all her long life and hasn't died or gone mad. And it took Nergal centuries before he dove head first into the abyss of darkness's corruption.