A Theory on Revival and Quintessence

[omegaxis1]

So in several Fire Emblem games, we have certain staves that have the power to actually revive dead units. Or in Gaiden/Echoes, a certain spring water that can revive fallen units and what Mila did in Echoes.

These staves are:

• Aum Staff
• Valkyrie Staff
• Bifröst

Now, because of how players generally try NOT to have any units die, these staves are generally falling under the category of being "too awesome to use" and are always just locked into storage. Shame really.

However, how does it work? Are there any limitations behind it? Or can it just revive anyone?

Well, let's take a step back all the way to Genealogy of the Holy War, the Holy Grail of Fire Emblem itself.

Our character Claud, the descendant of the Crusader Blaggi, attains the Holy Weapon, the Valkyrie Staff. He is accompanied by Tailtiu, and the two converse regarding the weapon:

Quote

Tiltyu: “Claude, c’mon! We gotta get movin’! Aren’t you done prayin’ yet? We can’t be messin’ ’round here. If pirates showed up, they’d kill us fer sure.”

Claude: “I’m coming. By praying to Lord Blagi I’ve learned the truth behind what’s been happening. It’s just as I thought it to be. I also found our family’s Sacred Relic. It’s been missing for some time. The Valkilli Staff. Have a look.”

Tiltyu: “Huh? This dirty ol’ stick?”

Claude: “Tiltyu! You had better watch what comes out of your mouth. This staff here? It’s magical and can return life to those who have passed on already. Only one descendant of Saint Blagi can use it, and that’s me.”

Tiltyu: “Hmm… So can it bring back my sweet grandma?”

Claude: “Well, no it can’t. You see it has certain limitations, so it won’t work on everyone. You see, we’re all born with this life force. It’s called ‘Aegir’ and…”

Tiltyu: “Huh? You lost me. You’re (yawn…) puttin’ me t’sleep. Anyway, we don’t got time for that stuff. We gotta get movin’!”

Keep in mind that the Valkyrie Staff was most definitely created by the power of a dragon. But even with that, the staff has limitations. This is also explained in regards to Mila in an Awakening DLC when we recruit Celica's Einherjar, and she explains that even Mila has limitations on whom she can revive.

These limitations are restricted to the life force within us called "Aegir", which if you are not aware, is the Japanese term for "Quintessence", the major plotpoint of FE7.

So even before FE7 came out, Kaga already put in the theory of quintessence into his work, but just never delved too deeply into it. FE7 also utilized it a lot, but didn't go too in depth about how it works.

However, put it simply, to talk about how revival works, I will have to talk about quintessence as well.

Quintessence is essentially the source of life, as without quintessence, we die. And when we die, the quintessence we have is released. No one is also born with the same amount of quintessence as someone else. It's all predetermined. Thus you will die in due course.

Dragons though have a LOT of quintessence in them, which makes sense since literally no one seemed to have died of old age. Bantu is still implied to be alive and kicking in Awakening, and he was a wizened old man in the Archanea series and now with 2000 more years onto his age.

Quintessence can also be used with magic, as by harnessing quintessence, you can extend your lifespan, heal from fatal injuries, and even create new life with it.

Even in Fates, you can actually understand that someone has accidentally dabbled in quintessence, being Nyx. She used magic by mistake that resulted in the deaths of everyone in her village, but in exchange, she was cursed with an inability to grow older. This isn't a young body, but in fact an extremely high lifespan, born from absorbing everyone's quintessence in her village. She actually will age, but it will require a lot of time, but she doesn't understand this yet because she hasn't lived at the point when growth actually will happen.

Anyways, so my theory is that I never actually thought of quintessence as the soul itself. But rather, quintessence is the energy that binds souls into the mortal plane. Souls normally should not exist in the mortal realm, but through the energy that is quintessence, the soul has a thread to bind it to it. So any living thing that has their quintessence run out, the soul no longer has a thread to the mortal realm and thus the soul leaves, causing the person to die.

So generally when the soul leaves, the body will remain dead. This is very much explained in this one particular DLC chapter in New Mystery of the Emblem.

Quote

Merric: Hmm? This magic circle... Apparently, the heretic bishops were planning to hold some sort of ritual here. Not only that, but this is Gharnef's... forbidden magic...

Elrean: Bah. Is that all you've noticed? Look at this offering and the pattern of the circle... I'm sure Master Wendell has taught you what they mean.

Merric: Ah! I see. This is... Dark magic to raise a dead body back to life... Were the heretic bishops trying to resurrect Gharnef's body?

Elrean: What fools. There's no point in resurrecting the body if the soul is no longer here. Although, had they succeeded in this ritual, they might have given birth to a monster taking Gharnef's appearance...

A soul that has left the body is gone forever, meaning that the soul no longer exists in the mortal plane, cannot be revived even if a new body is brought into place. But Gharnef here can be revived because his soul never left the mortal place, but was sealed inside the Darksphere, and was released, but still somehow lingered, possibly due to the Imhullu tome.

This actually explains a lot when you think about it. The morphs that we see in FE7 are just bodies created by quintessence, but had no true soul in them at first. It's possible that with time and such, a soul does form within it, or a soul is drawn to it.

However, what does this have to do with the Staves, the Mila Springs, and Mila herself in revivals and quintessence?

Sorry, I get off track at times.

Anyways, the point is that those people with enough quintessence, even after death, their soul has not fully left the mortal place. It's possible that the remaining quintessence allowed the soul to keep itself in the mortal realm, though not enough to allow the body to survive. However, using the staves and power of the gods, it was able to draw on the power of quintessence, and restore the quintessence in the soul and restore the body back to its original form, allowing the quintessence to sustain the soul once more, and thus allowing life to be brought back.

However, such a power is extremely great and something that cannot be used that well. This makes perfect sense as to why the Staves break after one use. Though the Valkyrie Staff can be repaired to use more times, it still seems there is a limit, as Kaga had in one of his note write this:

Quote

There had also been another miracle, where Claude had exchanged his own life to resurrect Tiltyu (27 years old at the time) who had been carefully buried in an icebox at Silesia by her brother, Blume (after this, the Valkyrie Staff never worked again).

Link Source: https://serenesforest.net/general/designers-notes/holy-war/shouzou-kagas-comments/

So it's saying that eventually the Valkyrie Staff has a set number of uses before the power of the dragon's quintessence that resided in the dragonstone, and possibly the quintessence in Claud's own body, was consumed, thus preventing the use ever again.

This theory on quintessence can also tie into why entities like Grima and Naga cannot die, the latter I mentioned here in this thread:

And there you go. This is my theory on how revival in Fire Emblem works, and how quintessence functions. Let me know about your thoughts and ideas. I would love to hear about them, and get into any debates about things as well.

[The Roger The Paladin]

I actually figured the alternative was some people can be brought back because their soul hadn't passed on due to having unfinished business in the world.
But then that wouldn't explain it as well as this because there are characters who don't seem to mind dying in their death quotes. Unless we assume they're putting on a brave face.

[omegaxis1]

1 minute ago, Mad-manakete said:

I actually figured the alternative was some people can be brought back because their soul hadn't passed on due to having unfinished business in the world.
But then that wouldn't explain it as well as this because there are characters who don't seem to mind dying in their death quotes. Unless we assume they're putting on a brave face.

I feel that many people in the armies make their peace with death honestly. But even so, that doesn't really mean they can still linger. Quintessence runs everything when it comes to life. Though I guess depending on their will, their quintessence might go with that as well. As my Naga posted went, Naga's power and will was so strong that she endured even after her physical death.

[Dayni]

I'm liking your theories, keep then up!

I think that BS is probably the title that has the most interesting points not mentioned (Endgame spoilers for those who haven't played BS, MotE, NMoTE, SoV and a possible spoiler for GotHW):

Spoiler

First, the Morphs that Nergal makes from the Black Fang. From the fights had it seems to suggest that some of their essence is still in the morphs and would prefer to move on. It's probably the closest we come to getting an idea of what happens after someone has died, if it can be interpreted that a soul might wish to move away from the mortal plane, tying into that point you made.

Second, Ninian's resurrection. It seems to suggest that someone can prepare a ceremony to resurrect someone in a setting that has no staff specifically made for that purpose. It also shows that a dragon attacked by a divine weapon is not unable to be resurrected, which (Along with Medeus and Grima being revivable) seems to say that unless it was used up that the quintessence can still be accessed in some form regardless of how.

Spoiler

If all that can be said, then Grima might be the most interesting part of this. Considering that Grima was not a living being but was created by Forneus, the question remains how its presence can be maintained. Did Grima gain quintessence after being created, or did Grima steal quintessence from others?

I have another thought in addition. If what you're saying about those with sufficient quintessence can still maintains some presence, you have to also assume that it fades over time. Remember, you can't resurrect anyone from G1 in G2 of GotHW, while Ninian could still be resurrected in story. However, the limit on that may also vary: after all, as you mention Claude in one version of the expanded material resurrects Tailtiu, who was frozen for what might be up to 17 (though it's more likely 7-10) years, so the endurance of quintessence is not something we can say much on as is.

[omegaxis1]

5 minutes ago, Dayni said:

I'm liking your theories, keep then up!

I think that BS is probably the title that has the most interesting points not mentioned (Endgame spoilers for those who haven't played BS, MotE, NMoTE, SoV and a possible spoiler for GotHW):

  Hide contents

First, the Morphs that Nergal makes from the Black Fang. From the fights had it seems to suggest that some of their essence is still in the morphs and would prefer to move on. It's probably the closest we come to getting an idea of what happens after someone has died, if it can be interpreted that a soul might wish to move away from the mortal plane, tying into that point you made.

Second, Ninian's resurrection. It seems to suggest that someone can prepare a ceremony to resurrect someone in a setting that has no staff specifically made for that purpose. It also shows that a dragon attacked by a divine weapon is not unable to be resurrected, which (Along with Medeus and Grima being revivable) seems to say that unless it was used up that the quintessence can still be accessed in some form regardless of how.

  Hide contents

If all that can be said, then Grima might be the most interesting part of this. Considering that Grima was not a living being but was created by Forneus, the question remains how its presence can be maintained. Did Grima gain quintessence after being created, or did Grima steal quintessence from others?

I have another thought in addition. If what you're saying about those with sufficient quintessence can still maintains some presence, you have to also assume that it fades over time. Remember, you can't resurrect anyone from G1 in G2 of GotHW, while Ninian could still be resurrected in story. However, the limit on that may also vary: after all, as you mention Claude in one version of the expanded material resurrects Tailtiu, who was frozen for what might be up to 17 (though it's more likely 7-10) years, so the endurance of quintessence is not something we can say much on as is.

Nice stuff here. 

Spoiler

Well, Morphs are bodies created from quintessence. If we could assume that souls, even small ones, can exist everywhere, then they may in fact enter a body. I mean, there are words saying that spirits or primitive gods exist everywhere, so if they end up finding a body that has no soul inside it, the quintessence would allow them to be bound into that body. And being small, they could end up growing more and more as they remain in the body, becoming fully sentient. 

Well, dragons are said to possess extremely high quintessence, so even with Ninian died by Durandal, her quintessence likely prevented her spirit from moving on for the time being. The case on Elibe Dragons not surviving could actually more be how the humans never actually fought Divine or Earth Dragons. There were no Earth Dragons in Elibe and Divine Dragons only had a single one, so its possible that had the Divine Dragons remained, they actually could have won the Scouring, but they were peaceful creatures in the end. But one single Divine Dragon turned Mage Dragon caused such havoc, so you can tell it's incredible. 

Spoiler

Well, it depends on how Grima was created. If a thanatophagus had been used as a base somehow and divine dragon blood, and some other things, its possible Grima simply has his quintessence merged into his spirit, unable to be removed by outside force. So Grima may in fact simply be incapable of moving on unless he destroys himself. We don't know the exact method of his creation.

Mhm. Quintessence can run out over time, but depending on circumstances, any quintessence that could have remained could be used. After all, one thing to note is that Tailtiu did not die at the end of Gen 1, but had survived years of suffering before she finally died. But if her quintessence hadn't faded by then, and her body was kept frozen, so it could restore her soul back into her body.

 

[Dragoncat]

Maybe there's a time limit on it? If somebody's been dead for years and years like Titlyu's grandma the revival won't work, but someone who more recently got killed in battle, it does work?

Or it only works if the person to be revived wants to come back to life/has unfinished business.

[omegaxis1]

1 minute ago, Dragoncat said:

Maybe there's a time limit on it? If somebody's been dead for years and years like Titlyu's grandma the revival won't work, but someone who more recently got killed in battle, it does work?

Or it only works if the person to be revived wants to come back to life/has unfinished business.

It all depends on the person. Like I mentioned, no one is born with the same quintessence as another. There's always a predetermined one, which means there's a limit to how long you'll live. When you die, quintessence is meant to leave you completely. But if your quintessence has not vanished, if it somehow still lingers, your soul still has that one small thread to hang on until the remaining quintessence vanishes.

[Dragoncat]

1 minute ago, omegaxis1 said:

It all depends on the person. Like I mentioned, no one is born with the same quintessence as another. There's always a predetermined one, which means there's a limit to how long you'll live. When you die, quintessence is meant to leave you completely. But if your quintessence has not vanished, if it somehow still lingers, your soul still has that one small thread to hang on until the remaining quintessence vanishes.

Reminds me of the Greek myth about the fates, who would make a piece of string for every life, and some people had longer strings than others. The longer the string was, the longer the person would live.

So if there's unfinished business then the quintessence will linger, I assume? And then...what of the body? If someone dies in battle and is revived, do they get their original body and the fatal wounds are gone? Does the body have to be present for a revival? Or can it just teleport out of the grave when the revival is done?

[omegaxis1]

3 minutes ago, Dragoncat said:

Reminds me of the Greek myth about the fates, who would make a piece of string for every life, and some people had longer strings than others. The longer the string was, the longer the person would live.

So if there's unfinished business then the quintessence will linger, I assume? And then...what of the body? If someone dies in battle and is revived, do they get their original body and the fatal wounds are gone? Does the body have to be present for a revival? Or can it just teleport out of the grave when the revival is done?

There's no telling. The unfinished business part could all be a matter of their own willpower. If their will is strong enough that their soul manages to still latch onto quintessence, they could either prolong their death or their soul just might not leave the world. 

Since the stave returns the person to life, naturally the quintessence used can also be used to reconstruct their body. Like I said, people can use quintessence to life longer, heal fatal injuries, or create living bodies. So those staves could heal, restore, or recreate the damaged body back to its former self. 

Interesting thing, in the Oosawa manga of Genealogy of the Holy War, Claud wanted to use the Valkyrie Staff on Sigurd when the time came that Sigurd would die. But Sigurd told him against that as it was better saved for someone else. Sigurd was turned to ash by Arvis' Valflame, but if the Staff was used, it would possibly have restored his body back to normal.

[Dragoncat]

Yeah I was about to say "what if the body was mangled too much or burnt to ashes". Interesting stuff.

[omegaxis1]

Just now, Dragoncat said:

Yeah I was about to say "what if the body was mangled too much or burnt to ashes". Interesting stuff.

The staves are clearly built with a LOT of quintessence, but after one use, the quintessence will clearly run out and then break apart. Even the Valkyrie Staff breaks from usage, but it can get reforged, but this is probably due to the dragonstone it has.

[Køkø]

Good read. Keep in mind that Elibe and wherever the hell Fates is potentially take place in different dimensions. Things could work differently between the games. 

 

[omegaxis1]

1 minute ago, Køkø said:

Good read. Keep in mind that Elibe and wherever the hell Fates is potentially take place in different dimensions. Things could work differently between the games. 

I think for Fates, I'll only stick with Nyx. Since that's the only thing that did make sense, while everything else was just a mess.

Elibe functions closely enough to Archanea, so its possible they do work the same way.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On Ninian:

Spoiler

I think Nergal actually kept her Quintessence after her death.

“The dragon girl… Ninian’s essence. Beautiful… Absolutely beautiful…… With this, I will be able to call dragons whenever I please.”

We don't know what happened to the "essence" afterwards. HEL doesn't say they took it from Nergal, nor Nils or Athos.

Bramimond was the one ultimately responsible for Ninian's resurrection, though Athos suggested it and together they ask everyone to bring together their strength and the Divine weapons. There is no explanation why everything was needed, presumably they just need a heckuva lot of power, and with Athos busy fetching Aureola and Sol Katti, Bramimond got tasked with amassing the needed power. 

On morphs:

Spoiler

Kishuna seems to have a soul.

Nils:
“But it was still a morph. When it died… I heard its voice call out… It called out a name… Nergal. Did you hear its voice? Sorrow… It was filled with a terrible sorrow.”

And then we have CanasxRenault. 

Canas: Bishop, I must ask you… Do you think these morphs have souls?
Renault: Souls?
Canas: Yes. I am dreadfully curious to know. The Elimineans say that all creatures possess souls… All those created by the gods, that is. But what of those created by man? And these manufactured beings… do they dream? Do they think–and suffer–as we do? Or must their emotions be…crafted…by another?
Renault: …… Well… That I do not know.

Renault: You asked me before… Whether or not morphs had a soul… What do you think?
Canas: …… Before…I would have said that I do not know… But now, perhaps I do… Morphs…do have souls… That is what I believe…

With Kishuna factored in, the peaceful faces that the Black Fang morphs have when they die, Sonia's vibrant personality, and even Limstella's

 

This said, the Sacred Springs of Valentia don't obviously appear to be overflowing with the sheer power need to revive. How do they work by the way? Chant a spell and think on the departed, maybe bring a memento and viola alive again? Or did Alm drag Forsythe's corpse into the heart of Fear Mountain and have it sip/bathe in the fountain?

I'll also mention how in FE1 and FE3 B1, the Aum Staff is only usable in the penultimate chapter, you can't use it inside Medeus's keep. I guess the Resurrectory is special, and the Dragon's Table is close enough in magical climatic conditions- makes sense when Medeus was resurrected via the maidens and he kept them around to keep himself alive.

 

On the topic of death and resurrection, I have two things to bring up from RD.

The first relates to the Blood Pact:

Spoiler

Apparently, the Daein Blood Pact was invalidated when Ashera cast her judgement. Lekain apparently died enough by being turned to stone cancel the pact. Now the BP is infamous for being unexplained, but might this say something about petrification in the series as whole? Ashera's petrify was very powerful and intended to kill everyone, other petrifications like a Gorgon's Stone spell might not be so powerful and hence not have the same "killing" effects. Did Lekain's soul depart when he was stoned, or was the simple outward cessation of life enough to end the Blood Pact? Does the same happen when Seth's Gorgon Egg smashing mission suddenly comes to an abrupt halt?

The second relates to a potential death later on, and I'm tossing in some talk of FE4 while on the topic:

Spoiler

On a second playthrough, Yune can let Sephiran die causing his soul and body disconnect enough to unseal the door to Ashera, but not to the point she can't reattach it quickly. Yune is a goddess, but I'd think that in practice this could be done by a very very skilled magic practitioner. (Of course, Lehran displays no fatal injuries on his body for some strange reason- I thought Caineghis broke every fragile heron bone in his body and ripped his left lung and liver out. But as long as the fatal wound isn't totally absolutely beyond the point of healing (although given the narrow timeframe to work this, I think even a beheading could be undone assuming the head was directly next to the body) this could work I guess.)

Maybe Forseti acted similarly fast with Lewyn's death? Canonically, Lewyn must have obtained Forseti in Chapter 4. At that point, Forseti, perhaps unaware of everything prior to mid-late Chapter 4 that was happening in Jugdral, started to become aware of the Loptyrian plot through Lewyn's eyes. He wanted to stop it again he decided, and via the soul link established by Lewyn using his tome, he did this. However, by the time he got his bearings, it was too late for him to stop Chapter 5's calamity and the immediate victory of Loptyr. The death of Lewyn wasn't necessary for him- Heim didn't die and yet Naga controlled him, it hurt and he had to undo it, which coincidentally made his possession more significant than it originally would have been? Of course, Julia gets five seconds of Naga possession without ever having seen the tome, but that it was only five seconds might say something of Naga's inability to do more because Julia never used the tome?

 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Interdimensional Observer

[omegaxis1]

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On Ninian:

  Hide contents

I think Nergal actually kept her Quintessence after her death.

“The dragon girl… Ninian’s essence. Beautiful… Absolutely beautiful…… With this, I will be able to call dragons whenever I please.”

We don't know what happened to the "essence" afterwards. HEL doesn't say they took it from Nergal, nor Nils or Athos.

Bramimond was the one ultimately responsible for Ninian's resurrection, though Athos suggested it and together they ask everyone to bring together their strength and the Divine weapons. There is no explanation why everything was needed, presumably they just need a heckuva lot of power, and with Athos busy fetching Aureola and Sol Katti, Bramimond got tasked with amassing the needed power. 

 

Well, Nils did mention that the atmosphere is so different now than before (due to the Ending Winter), that regardless of how much time passes, their power will not return. Could mean to signify that the constant absorption of quintessence and such has now rendered Ninian's life force crippled and no way of recovery. 

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On morphs:

  Hide contents

Kishuna seems to have a soul.

Nils:
“But it was still a morph. When it died… I heard its voice call out… It called out a name… Nergal. Did you hear its voice? Sorrow… It was filled with a terrible sorrow.”

And then we have CanasxRenault. 

Canas: Bishop, I must ask you… Do you think these morphs have souls?
Renault: Souls?
Canas: Yes. I am dreadfully curious to know. The Elimineans say that all creatures possess souls… All those created by the gods, that is. But what of those created by man? And these manufactured beings… do they dream? Do they think–and suffer–as we do? Or must their emotions be…crafted…by another?
Renault: …… Well… That I do not know.

Renault: You asked me before… Whether or not morphs had a soul… What do you think?
Canas: …… Before…I would have said that I do not know… But now, perhaps I do… Morphs…do have souls… That is what I believe…

With Kishuna factored in, the peaceful faces that the Black Fang morphs have when they die, Sonia's vibrant personality, and even Limstella's

 

Well, remember how they talk about how magic is the ability to commune and drawn power from the spirits that exists around them? Spirits are souls as well, correct? Well, if through quintessence, you create bodies, if they are but empty shells, odds are, a spirit could end up going inside it. And the morphs of the Black Fangs seem to imply that it really is the same person brought back to life through the morphs, but the bodies are made so the minds are subjugated.

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

This said, the Sacred Springs of Valentia don't obviously appear to be overflowing with the sheer power need to revive. How do they work by the way? Chant a spell and think on the departed, maybe bring a memento and viola alive again? Or did Alm drag Forsythe's corpse into the heart of Fear Mountain and have it sip/bathe in the fountain?

Well, depends on what they do with the bodies. Cremate them? Or store them somewhere? Maybe say that someone was killed, like Gray. Alm then hears this story about how there was legends about this spring that restores the dead to life. Alm takes Gray's body and and brings him to this spring. 

We actually DID see revivals as Mila restored Celica back to life. I believe that the reason the springs and such have a limit to them now is because Mila is sealed away and thus can no longer provide power to them. In Awakening's DLC when we recruit Celica, she mentions that Mila has the power to bring the dead back to life, but says that Mila cannot restore just anyone back. 

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'll also mention how in FE1 and FE3 B1, the Aum Staff is only usable in the penultimate chapter, you can't use it inside Medeus's keep. I guess the Resurrectory is special, and the Dragon's Table is close enough in magical climatic conditions- makes sense when Medeus was resurrected via the maidens and he kept them around to keep himself alive.

 Well, it could be the reason it isn't usable there is presumably because Medeus or such is absorbing quintessence, so if you die, your quintessence is going to be absorbed. So there's no way to revive you then.

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The first relates to the Blood Pact:

  Hide contents

Apparently, the Daein Blood Pact was invalidated when Ashera cast her judgement. Lekain apparently died enough by being turned to stone cancel the pact. Now the BP is infamous for being unexplained, but might this say something about petrification in the series as whole? Ashera's petrify was very powerful and intended to kill everyone, other petrifications like a Gorgon's Stone spell might not be so powerful and hence not have the same "killing" effects. Did Lekain's soul depart when he was stoned, or was the simple outward cessation of life enough to end the Blood Pact? Does the same happen when Seth's Gorgon Egg smashing mission suddenly comes to an abrupt halt?

The pact wasn't necessarily invalidated but rather it could not activate any longer because Ashera had petrified everyone. I do not believe that her petrification kills anyone, but rather renders them in a state of perfect balance and order, which is where they are now merely statues, a state where they cannot more, cannot think, cannot act, and cannot create chaos. 

In fact, the blood contract may in fact be related to quintessence. The curse that kills us is possibly the forced removal of the quintessence that are bound by the contract. But once they are petrified, their quintessence were trapped in place. So the curse could no longer activate.

That's just my guess though. 

13 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The second relates to a potential death later on, and I'm tossing in some talk of FE4 while on the topic:

  Hide contents

On a second playthrough, Yune can let Sephiran die causing his soul and body disconnect enough to unseal the door to Ashera, but not to the point she can't reattach it quickly. Yune is a goddess, but I'd think that in practice this could be done by a very very skilled magic practitioner. (Of course, Lehran displays no fatal injuries on his body for some strange reason- I thought Caineghis broke every fragile heron bone in his body and ripped his left lung and liver out. But as long as the fatal wound isn't totally absolutely beyond the point of healing (although given the narrow timeframe to work this, I think even a beheading could be undone assuming the head was directly next to the body) this could work I guess.)

Maybe Forseti acted similarly fast with Lewyn's death? Canonically, Lewyn must have obtained Forseti in Chapter 4. At that point, Forseti, perhaps unaware of everything prior to mid-late Chapter 4 that was happening in Jugdral, started to become aware of the Loptyrian plot through Lewyn's eyes. He wanted to stop it again he decided, and via the soul link established by Lewyn using his tome, he did this. However, by the time he got his bearings, it was too late for him to stop Chapter 5's calamity and the immediate victory of Loptyr. The death of Lewyn wasn't necessary for him- Heim didn't die and yet Naga controlled him, it hurt and he had to undo it, which coincidentally made his possession more significant than it originally would have been? Of course, Julia gets five seconds of Naga possession without ever having seen the tome, but that it was only five seconds might say something of Naga's inability to do more because Julia never used the tome?

 

Right. Yune did revive him, but only barely. I believe that in her incomplete state, Yune lacks the power to perform a full revival to control the quintessence enough. Or perhaps it could be seen that after so many years of despair, Lehran desired death so badly that when he did die, his quintessence was vanishing, abiding by his own will to die. But Yune managed to take hold of the essence before it could leave him and restore it back. Remember that Yune resided within Micaiah, who had the power Sacrifice, able to heal without a spell or incantation. It was an innate power. So with Sacrifice, Yune amplified that and perhaps linked their quintessence together to restore and heal Lehran's body and bring his soul back. 

As for Forseti, I cannot believe I forgot to mention him in this thread. 

In the opening demo of the game that you can only get after a shitton of replays, we see that Forseti somehow arrived and used the Valkyrie Staff to revive Lewyn. I at first took that scene as literal, but perhaps this was not the case. This in fact may have been just the use of gameplay mechanics to show that Forseti revived Lewyn, but in the actual story, Forseti resided within Lewyn and revived there. Cause think about it, how did Forseti arrive and just have the Valkyrie Staff on him? Makes no sense, but in the gameplay, that staff is the only way to revive units so it was used.

It was stated by Kaga that the moment that Lewyn took the Forseti tome, a part of Lewyn was already inside him. Upon his death, Forseti's will to protect the humans may have resonated and thus with that will's own power and the energy that existed within the tome itself, Lewyn's life was restored, but came at a price. His will was slowly being eroded by Forseti's own will, something that turned him into the Lewyn that see see in Gen 2, someone that is part Lewyn, part Forseti.