Jump to content

Let's talk about Chrommunism in Fates


chromaticsakura
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

   For a while now I've been making "Chrommunism" jokes about Fates. This all started when I'd been joking around and making a bunch of Chrom puns with a friend. Surprisingly enough, there are a decent number of connections between Communism/revolutionaries throughout history and the Fire Emblem Series. 

     First, we have Sakamoto Ryōma. Ryōma is recognized as one of the most influential figures in Japanese history. This is because of the revolution that he led to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period. 

     Secondly, there is Karl Marx. He is known for his Communist Manifesto and Marxism-- which refers to his social, economic, and political theories. Interpretations of Marx's theories have been debated and many controversies surround them. These controversies may have been a cause for the name change from Marx to Xander in the localization of Fates.

     The final revolutionary I will be discussing is Leon Trotsky. Trotsky developed his own form of Marxism known as Trotskyism. Trotsky called for "permanent revolution." He was also a leader of the Russian Revolution.

     So we have Ryōma, Marx, and Leon. Are they Chrommunists? You decide. All I ask is that you don't take any of this too seriously. It came from a pun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I knew about the Marx and Leon thing, but I didn't know there was a communist or revolutionary named Ryoma. I learned something today.

Edited by Dragoncat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, chromaticsakura said:

All I ask is that you don't take any of this too seriously. It came from a pun.

Man, if you've been a part of this fanbase for as long as I have, you'd know that it's a tall order to ask FE fans to not take something seriously.  And of course, your name just had to have "Chrom" in it too, didn't it?

I know a lot of the Hoshidan characters are named after Imperial Japanese warships.  I think a lot of the names are mostly supposed to be referential to figures of war and conflict, likely to exacerbate such themes.

On a related note, I made a picture of Oboro's face plastered onto the end of a Japanese warship that was known by the same name.

nVOjzlz.png

Because I had nothing better to do, I guess.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

 

nVOjzlz.png

 

That's GLORIOUS. She looks like she has bad gas lol. Which would make the ship go faster...

Saizo is named after an actual Japanese ninja. And Kaze is just named after wind. HIs name is literally "wind" in Japanese.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Dragoncat said:

Saizo is named after an actual Japanese ninja.

And so is Master of Punji and Ninja Dens of Evil- Kotaro. I know this b/c Samurai Warriors has a Kotaro (who is quite cool as the "Evil" Ninja to Hanzo's "Good" as SW fictionally casts them to be), which also has a Yukimura.

And Takumi's name happens to be shared with one of the two lead writers of the Ace Attorney series. 

I'm a little surprised Fates had no one named Hachi/Hachiman, the Japanese God of War would be good to reference in a game with fighting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. I had no idea there was a revolutionary by the name Ryoma in Japan. You learn something new everyday.
I have also dug up some name origins, if anyone cares:

Mikoto is a title given to the highest of gods in Shintoism (ex. Izanami-no-Mikoto)

Hayato's name is Tsukiyomi in the original version, which is the Shinto god of the moon and brother to Amaterasu and Susano, who are in turn the children of Izanami and Izanagi.

Orochi is named after the Yamata-no-Orochi, an eight-headed serpent that was slain by Susano, similar to the story of Hercules and the Hydra.

IIRC, Kazahana (Hana's original name) was also the name of a Japanese war ship, while the name Hana by itself means "flower" or "nose" depending on the Kanji used to write it out. Kazahana is also a poetic word for snowflake, I believe.

Nyx is a Greek goddess of the night, wife to Erebus (Darkness) and mother to Thanatos (Death) and Hypnos (Sleep).

Joker (Jakob) is an iconic comic book villain's name.

Ophelia's name first came up in Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', which fits the character's love for dramatic acting.

Elise is short for Elisabeth, who is a well known saint in Germany.

Xander could be short of Alexander, after Alexander the Great, who was also a war-monger and tyrant (they knew what they were doing, didn't they?).

A possible origin for Camilla's name is quite interesting. Have a read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camilla_(mythology)

And that's all I can Chrom up with for the moment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess since we're now talking about character name etymologies...

I know that "Oboro" also means "moonlight", which is symbolized in her bad omens with moonless nights (her parents were killed on a moonless night and she makes her trademark nasty face whenever there is one).

Midori's Japanese name means green from what I've been told, and it was supposed to be further played on with her having green hair, but since Midori can have many different hair colors, the greenness is typically only ever represented in her canon class outfits (or those of her father).  Reclass her to something entirely different, and you might forget she was even supposed to be represented by that color.

Then there's the obvious ones, like Aqua (Azura) referring to... well, water, Sakura referring to a type of tree that grows in Japan, Soleil referring to the sun (as in, she's got a bright smile), and Crimson/Scarlet being the color of her armor.

Another thing; Selkie's Japanese name, Kinu, is actually what we named my childhood dog.  I don't know the etymology of that name, but it does remind me of my dog.  Strange that the character herself also has a tendency to remind me of my dogs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I knew of Orochi because of Okami, and I also knew Midori means green. Knew of Ophelia and Nyx's origin as well and of course Jakob.

Xander being named after Alexander the Great though, I'm picturing him conquering a bunch of Hoshidan cities and naming them all Xandria. Because his apparent namesake would do that all the time and there's a funny joke about it.

"I shall name this city Alexandria."

"Oh I believe I will conquer this city too. Name it Alexandria."

"Don't you think you should use more than one name for all your cities?"

"..."

"Alexandria."

Camilla's apparent Roman origin is indeed interesting! Virgin huntress though? Pff no way Camilla still has her V card. She had to have seduced someone sometime. And then of course if you marry her off to one of the guys, the existence of a kid debunks that too.

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

 

Another thing; Selkie's Japanese name, Kinu, is actually what we named my childhood dog.  I don't know the etymology of that name, but it does remind me of my dog.  Strange that the character herself also has a tendency to remind me of my dogs.

Yeah the fox girl would remind anyone of a dog, not strange at all. Why'd your dog have that name though? I've never seen it before. But honestly when I see "selkie" I think more of my favorite Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles race. I'm a bigger fan of that than Fates. Selkies kick butt. In mythology they were seal shapeshifters and they're not in FFCC, but I still headcanon a seal association in there, mainly affectionately referring to their kids as "pups" like the term for a young seal. And they eat a lot of fish and live by water too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...