Possible Lore Explanation for Nowi's Outfit?

[sirmola]

On 5/11/2018 at 8:01 PM, Interdimensional Observer said:

However, Nowi's situation seems to remind me of a certain someone else and her daughter. 

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All three were more or less born and raised into slavery it seems IRRC. The difference is that the former duo are Dancers, a class accepted to be of a lower moral dress code. Nowi also looks younger than even Lene. Perhaps Silvia and Lene are more socially normalized as well, and they both like dancing even knowing it was probably forced on them.

There is another major difference as well: FE4 has a MUCH darker tone than awakening. In a setting containing incest, mass murder, rape, and child hunts, being kidnaped and forced into a career as a sex worker fits right in.  Awakening on the other hand, has a much lighter tone. Sure, there are dark elements, but they are generaly much less dark than in fe4. As such, anything at that level of "dark" needs to be implied, or else there would be a massive tonal clash.

 

THe part about sylvia being forced to dance and then continuing because she likes it is supported by the infamous conversation in chapter 4 of fe4 , which is most famous for implying that that syvia and claude are siblings, and then immediatly having them confess feelings for each other (also note the explicit reference to child abuse. Somehow, I doubt awakening would include a line like that):

Quote

Sylvia:

“Hello, Reverend Claude!”

Claude:
“Hm? And who might you be?”

Sylvia:
“I’m Sylvia.”

Claude:
“Miss Sylvia? What seems to be the problem? Did you run across some bandits, perhaps?”

Sylvia:
“…What?”

Claude:
“Well, it’s just that… I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’re in your underwear.”

Sylvia:
“Huh!? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a dancer before! This is my dancin’ outfit. It’s jus’ like you wearin’ a robe.”

Claude:
“Is that so? But, you must be awfully cold.”

Sylvia:
“Not at all. I’m burnin’ up in this. You see, my heart is on fire!”

Claude:
“Dancing is that enjoyable, is it?”

Sylvia:
“Yes! I want to do it for the rest of my life!!” (emphasis added)

Claude:
“Really? How do your parents feel about that?”

Sylvia:
“I’m an orphan. This man took me in when I was real little, an’ raised me to be a dancer. But he was really mean! He would hit me when I didn’t even do anythin’. Anyway, I had enough, and I left him last year for good!” (emphasis added)

Claude:
“That’s horrible! I feel for you.  You see, I have a younger sister. If she’s still alive, she’d be around your age.”

Sylvia:
“You have a sister?”

Claude:
“Yes. But she was abducted when she was just a baby. I’ve been searching for her all these years, but still no sign of her.”

Sylvia:
“Ohhh! I bet your sister is real elegant an’ beautiful an’ all. Nothin’ like me.”

Claude:
“That’s not true! I find you very attractive, and you have a grace all of your own.”

Sylvia:
“Really!?”

Claude:
“Of course. I’d never tell a lie.”

Sylvia:
“Wow! No one’s ever said anythin’ so nice to me! Er.. I feel funny inside… You are… so kind!”

 

[Jotari]

On 6/26/2018 at 8:42 AM, SuperDK said:

The best way to go about this is to start considering the facts. So correct me if I'm wrong, but we know that Nowi was kidnapped and used for "entertainment." She was also kidnapped when she from birth, so all she would have known was life in captivity. We also know that she is about 1000 years old, so she would have been in said captivity for that long. This time in captivity would make her more naive to the outside world, a la Corrin in Fates. Her childlike attitude could be chalked up to her being a manakete. The general scale would 100 manakete years= 1 human year, so it is not inconceivable that she would be mentally around 10 years old. With all of these factors to consider, it is certainly feasible for her to become comfortable in her attire and probably not want to change. Furthermore, we have characters like Tharja and Olivia to support the fact the outfits like Nowi's are not an uncommon thing. She also spends a lot of time in dragon form so her outfit would not be that big of a deal. We also don't see what the characters look like during their down time (remember they are an army, they have leave). Her outfit may just be her "combat uniform." When she is not in the manakete class she wears the generic uniform for that class. This leads me to believe that she goes to fight in said outfit, but when she isn't doing a job for Chrom's army, she wears different clothes.

The implication that Nowi was enslaved for a thousand years without drawing the attention of some kind of king, good Samaritan or older Manakete is utterly ridiculous. She might age slowly, but a thousand years is a ridiculously long time to maintain a status quo like that.

[Soleater]

On 8/23/2018 at 5:29 AM, Jotari said:

The implication that Nowi was enslaved for a thousand years without drawing the attention of some kind of king, good Samaritan or older Manakete is utterly ridiculous. She might age slowly, but a thousand years is a ridiculously long time to maintain a status quo like that.

It is?  But in the time of Awakening, almost all Manaketes have either moved from the continent or gone extinct (i.e., Chrom's surprise when he actually saw Nowi transform)

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Soleater said:

It is?  But in the time of Awakening, almost all Manaketes have either moved from the continent or gone extinct (i.e., Chrom's surprise when he actually saw Nowi transform)

Consider how long a thousand years is. How many different countries rise and fall. How many people live and die. The fact that Nowi consistently managed to remain enslaved for centuries upon centuries at a time begs belief imo. It basically means the element of chance was completely removed from her situation. She never happened to get or remain free in a thousand years. To add to it she flew completely under the radar all this time. If Manaketes really are rare then she should have become rather famous if she's always been under the power of humans. But her imprisonment is treated as something secluded done by disreputable people. That state of affairs just couldn't last for that long of a time. A thousand years might mean little to a manakete's aging, but it's still a really freaking long time for the rest of the world.