Speculation on the next story chapter

[Sunwoo]

I honestly hope that the GHB is not Hans or Iago one of Garon's goons. I don't have an issue with the concept of GHBs, but I will get cranky when characters that very few people like get in because they're villains when actually popular characters are still missing. I know one person who likes Iago (I don't know if they're still on SF), but she's like the only one I know of and I've not found anyone who legit likes Hans.

[NobodiePichu]

either it will be the finale of book II and surtur will meet his end due to lokis influence well loki helicopter spins in the distance to set up future plots, or surtur will bullshit his way out of it once more and extend the book II length a little bit more. Either way i wouldnt count on it being particularly satisfying.

i just want my wolfguard babies ; _ ;

[Humanoid]

Assuming it's not some elaborate prank, it looks like this site has the next banner lead hero right there in plain sight. (Spoilers obviously)

It is Flora. And she's red. Presumably red dagger, but the dagger part is just speculation of course.

[Drakhis]

2 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

I honestly hope that the GHB is not Hans or Iago one of Garon's goons. I don't have an issue with the concept of GHBs, but I will get cranky when characters that very few people like get in because they're villains when actually popular characters are still missing. I know one person who likes Iago (I don't know if they're still on SF), but she's like the only one I know of and I've not found anyone who legit likes Hans.

I HATE Hans. Really. If he get in the game then i will be happy for those who like him, but I want Iago, Garon or Kilma GHB. Kilma as a  blue mage could be really cool.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Drakhis

[Humanoid]

I like Hans. Gotta respect his dedication to his work, which I think is better than the flim-flam Camus archetype we're supposed to admire because reasons. I mean, he's obviously not great, but out of Fates' entire villain pool, I think he comes off the best. I'd also take him over someone like Linus anyday.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Humanoid

[Vaximillian]

Yeah. Hans does what he does best, and he does it with a goal in mind: to win the war, become a noble, and get a title. He isn’t just evil for the sake of being evil.

Hans is not that bad. Garon and Iago are lethally boring.

[Drakhis]

1 minute ago, Vaximillian said:

Yeah. Hans does what he does best, and he does it with a goal in mind: to win the war, become a noble, and get a title. He isn’t just evil for the sake of being evil.

Hans is not that bad. Garon and Iago are lethally boring.

Manga Iago is really cool. And I prefer someone like Iago (with a brain) over Hans who steal and murder because he like himself and the other can die. He is pure evil, where Garon is possessed and was a great king. Kilma is a "villain" but have no choice, and is sympathetic (and the father of Flora and Felica)

[Vaximillian]

7 minutes ago, Drakhis said:

Manga Iago is really cool. And I prefer someone like Iago (with a brain) over Hans who steal and murder because he like himself and the other can die. He is pure evil, where Garon is possessed and was a great king. Kilma is a "villain" but have no choice, and is sympathetic (and the father of Flora and Felica)

Manga and other external material doesn’t count. Not my fault they didn’t bother to explore his character in the game itself. Iago with a brain? Please.
Possession is never a positive in a character assessment because it’s not your character anymore if you get possessed. Lyon and Julius are bad for this reason too.
Kilma is a one-note, one-chapter literally who.

[Drakhis]

49 minutes ago, Vaximillian said:

Manga and other external material doesn’t count. Not my fault they didn’t bother to explore his character in the game itself. Iago with a brain? Please.
Possession is never a positive in a character assessment because it’s not your character anymore if you get possessed. Lyon and Julius are bad for this reason too.
Kilma is a one-note, one-chapter literally who.

Possession is not a bad thing. It's not your personality anymore, but where the problem? It's better than being a heartless monster for no reason (Like Surtr) in my opinion. Hans has a reason but he can reach the same status without being pure evil, just to get noticed on the battlefield like some noble's retainers. He's just searching a reason to kill cause he like that. Lyon is a particular case because he fought to be himself and failed. I don't know for Julius.

For the popularity, in the cyl 1:

• Garon 296
• Iago 349
• Julius 409
• Hans 458

For the popularity, in the cyl 2:

• Julius 243
• Garon 318
• Iago 406
• Hans 634

Hans is not very liked (And Kilma wasn't in the poll)

I don't think we're going to get Hans before we get Iago

Edited September 10, 2018 by Drakhis

[Humanoid]

Hans is essentially Garon's retainer, what do you expect him to do? Anything other than what he does would probably just get him executed. Post-arrest and rehabilitation, he is simply an ambitious soldier who does what someone in his position would normally be expected to do. Sure, he enjoys his work whereas another in his place might not, but that's just a bonus. Maybe if he had the good fortune to be assigned as Xander's retainer in place of Peri...

That said, I also like villains who are evil under their own steam. Not in a completely one-dimensional way like Surtr, sure, but in the same way actual evil people exist in the real world. I won't say we shouldn't ever have possession-based villains in a fantasy world, but FE leans on it way too much for my liking. I feel it should be the exception, not the norm.

[Punished Dayni]

Either way, if we get Iago GHB I'm tempted to have him support Jaffar because the joke is right there and I can react with the obvious clip for the infernal difficulty.

Sometimes the jokes are too obvious but whatever.

So, aside from Flora, who is most likely? I'd suspect other neutrals like Silas, Mozu, Midori or maybe even Shura ends up as the GHB and we're wrong on Iago.

[redlight]

I hope Silas isn't a dewote candidate if we get him. We already have so many red units in the 4* pool. Another green or colorless is much appreciated

[Thane]

The two characters I want the most from Fates are Flora and Ophelia, so I'm pretty happy with this. I had planned on finally trying to get that F!Grima but Flame Shuriken Flora seems like something that'd be too awesome to pass up. 

Really hoping she shares Felicia's artist, as Felicia has one of my very favorite artstyles in the game. 

Oh, and I'll predict either Benny/Charlotte or Mozu/Silas to accompany the banner. Just hope Flora isn't the GHB. 

[redlight]

Flora being the icon is strange. Usually it's an alt. Just because it's one character from Fates doesn't mean we should think it's Fates. There have been cross-game banners before. Just keep an open-mind to what might come

[Etrurian emperor]

10 hours ago, Anacybele said:

So is Heroes only going to get new Jugdral and 3DS characters from now on and no more from other games (we've gone from 3DS to Jugdral to 3DS to Jugdral now since the banner with horse Chrom and the Morgans)? If so, that's lame and boring imo. I do want Silas, but I've also been waiting forever for Tellius to get more of its massive cast, much of which is still missing. FE6 has yet to have a single banner as well, and Magvel hasn't had one in quite some time either. It's also been VERY long since Archanea or Echoes last had one.

I think I've said this before but the problem with FE6 and Archenea is that they blew their load to early. Archenea's huge starting roster means that just about everyone that's worth adding is already in the game. We got the most popular villains, the main lord + his core retainers and love interests, various archtype starters, the heavy hitters like Minerva and Hardin, and even the blank slates have some representation.  Ever since Hardin's addition anyone that's vital for the Archanean roster is already present. 

For quite some time I thought this went for FE6 as well. We already got Roy and his love interest, we got the most recognizable villains, we got some popular additions like Raigh and Shanna, and some important side characters like Cecilia and Fae. However, with other games getting more and more additions and FE6 having gotten nothing since launch I think they deserve a new banner. Looking back their number of characters also isn't as big as I originally thought. 

FE4 getting so much more attention is more acceptable because they started with nothing and could only increase their representation to a dripfeed of content. Huge gaps in representation is more easily spotted when practically no one is present. In hindsight this might have worked for the game's favor. A lot of Archaneans, Fateslandians and Elibians who entered Heroes in great numbers haven't aged very well while many characters from Jugdral have a little bit of powercreep in them. I think more love and attention goes their way too if I look at some Jugdral designs and compare them with characters like Jagen or Raigh. Aside from the disturbing lack of Azelle I'd say Geneology has grown to have a very acceptable representation. 

I can sorta get why Stones doesn't get a lot of attention since its a little bit of a sidegame. But Tellius constantly getting shafted is just weird. So far we only got a small chunk of the Greil's, Elincia and some Crimeans, BK, and the main Dawn brigade duo. Huge gaps still remain in their roster. Their representation could easily get higher even if they wouldn't add Laguz. 

Quote

 

Yeah. Hans does what he does best, and he does it with a goal in mind: to win the war, become a noble, and get a title. He isn’t just evil for the sake of being evil.

Hans is not that bad. Garon and Iago are lethally boring.

 

In comparison with the rest of team Garon Hans indeed doesn't come off too shabby. 

But Hans has a pretty big problem and that's that Caellach already exists. Everything that gives Hans the upper hand over his fellow loser villains can also be found in Caellach. The Tiger eye shares the ruthless nature, criminal past and grand ambitions but unlike Hans Caellach manages to have his own personality, his own unique design and ties to other character while Hans is just a glorified prologue bandit with more screentime. 

So why waste a slot with Hans when you can just use that slot for Caellach and get a character that's actually good on his own merits. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Etrurian emperor

[Drakhis]

50 minutes ago, silveraura25 said:

Flora being the icon is strange. Usually it's an alt. Just because it's one character from Fates doesn't mean we should think it's Fates. There have been cross-game banners before. Just keep an open-mind to what might come

Yes, you're right! But I really want Ophelia/Lilith/Orochi/Nyx or beast units (it will not happen this time). This time we're getting 4 unit for forging bonds so I think it will be 4 characters who know each other.

[Michelaar]

I love Flora, IS isn't nice to my secret orb dungeon.

[Icelerate]

9 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

I honestly hope that the GHB is not Hans or Iago one of Garon's goons. I don't have an issue with the concept of GHBs, but I will get cranky when characters that very few people like get in because they're villains when actually popular characters are still missing. I know one person who likes Iago (I don't know if they're still on SF), but she's like the only one I know of and I've not found anyone who legit likes Hans.

I think adding more obscure characters alongside more popular characters is better than just adding all the popular characters because some popular characters should be saved for later banners or else you'll come to a situation where only unpopular characters remain and banners are no longer profitable. Also, people who like more obscure characters get screwed as they no longer have a chance of getting added. 

Iago isn't that much more unpopular than Tormod and I'm sure you wouldn't be pissed if he made it into the game even though there are characters more popular than him not in Heroes. Iago is more popular than certain characters already in Heroes according to CYL1/CYL2 votes so I don't think he should be excluded due to lack of popularity. 

Also, I would eventually like to have Tauroneo in Heroes despite him only having 224 votes in CYL2 which is worse than Iago's 428. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by Icelerate

[Othin]

6 hours ago, Humanoid said:

Assuming it's not some elaborate prank, it looks like this site has the next banner lead hero right there in plain sight. (Spoilers obviously)

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It is Flora. And she's red. Presumably red dagger, but the dagger part is just speculation of course.

 

Interesting. Based on this:

Banners have been avoiding color overlap, so anyone else is probably not red. If we get Silas, he's probably blue.

Green is probably Rinkah or Charlotte. If they go for a Nohr theme, probably Charlotte.

Colorless is harder. Could be Lilith or Forrest, I guess? Nina is also a possibility. If it's not just Nohr, Mikoto could work, but she seems like she'd be the face of a banner containing her, and Flora has that spot.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I can sorta get why Stones doesn't get a lot of attention since its a little bit of a sidegame.

It also has a playable roster of only 33 characters, less than any game other than Gaiden (SoV has 34), and the generations of FE4 if counted separately and of those presently in, we have all the royals, which comprise most of the more visible characters of SS. A few holes exist, Gerik, Cormag, Ross and Ewan (they've really burnt through the females here, only Vanessa, Neimi, Natasha, Tethys, and Syrene remain unincluded) are all characters I'd think to have popularity, but overall it's a solid group. 13 non-alt characters, 11 playable, plus Lyon and Valter. Exactly or roughly a third.

 

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

But Tellius constantly getting shafted is just weird. So far we only got a small chunk of the Greil's, Elincia and some Crimeans, BK, and the main Dawn brigade duo. Huge gaps still remain in their roster. Their representation could easily get higher even if they wouldn't add Laguz. 

Radiant Dawn has a roster of 72 characters sans BK and Sephiran. Laguz comprise about one third of those 72, 25 to be exact, leaves behind 47 (48 with Largo) Beorc. That is four more than Blazing, and one less than Awakening when you count Robin and Morgan only once.

 

36 minutes ago, Icelerate said:

Iago is more popular than certain characters already in Heroes according to CYL1/CYL2 votes so I don't think he should be excluded due to lack of popularity. 

This might be popularity, the unwashed masses not being as critical as us elect elite of Fates's plot, or it might be recency- a bad villain in a recent game is still better off than a good villain in an old game. Or a combination of both.

 

6 hours ago, Vaximillian said:

Possession is never a positive in a character assessment because it’s not your character anymore if you get possessed. Lyon and Julius are bad for this reason too.

We never do see the real Julius true. Lyon on Eirika's route however is allowed by the DK to have moments of himself coming through, plus we have the plentiful flashbacks. Ephraim Lyon is the one we perhaps see less of actually, since the possession there is more blurred, which overall I like more than Eiri!Lyon, it just makes it hard to be certain how much of the true Lyon you see at certain points.

Does Lyon lose his agency? Yes. But he still had more agency than Nergal, who for all intents and purposes died more than a century before FE7 began.

[Solaris998]

7 hours ago, Drakhis said:

 

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand but where did you find/get that art of younger Garon :0?

[Drakhis]

14 minutes ago, Solaris998 said:

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand but where did you find/get that art of younger Garon :0?

It's a fan art made by Magiquasar based on this cipher art and the interviews of Yusuke Kozaki.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Drakhis

[Tolvir]

4 hours ago, silveraura25 said:

Flora being the icon is strange. Usually it's an alt. Just because it's one character from Fates doesn't mean we should think it's Fates. There have been cross-game banners before. Just keep an open-mind to what might come

Its very possible we dont even get an alt this banner, considering its Flora on the front.

Her being red is intriguing. I was hoping if this banner was Nohr based Nyx might be in, but with Flora being a possible red dagger that screws with her chances. They havent been doing much same colors on banners lately. Still holding out a bit of hope though.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Tolvir

[Solaris998]

1 hour ago, Drakhis said:

It's a fan art made by Magiquasar based on this cipher art and the interviews of Yusuke Kozaki.

Ah alrighty thanks, knew it was based on the Cipher design just wasn't sure if it was official or fan art. Looks really dang good.

Anyway to post something related to the topic I've been waiting for Flora to make it in so I'm happy to see her, and her being a red dagger would be very interesting, just wish she came at a time when I had more orbs. I do hope GHB is Garon as opposed to Hans or Iago, been waiting to see what they would do with him and I'd rather not repeat the Warriors experience of Iago getting in over Garon.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Solaris998

[Anacybele]

I like Flora's design, so I wouldn't mind having her, but I do hope she has a good enough weapon and nice skills to make me want to pull for her badly enough to dump orbs, especially if Silas is also on this.