Why is there no Duma worship statues?

[urrutiap]

All night last night I was up playing and finished Fire Emblem Echoes.

 

Great game with a good story. But, i noticed that  the game had way too many Mila statues. Why werent there any Duma statues for people who wanted to just pray or whatever at a Duma statue?

[Ertrick36]

Difference of worship methods, maybe.  Perhaps it's more like bedside praying or being within a holy building.  Or maybe you need the assistance of a clergy to properly worship Duma.  Or you worship Duma simply through your way of life/deeds/actions rather than through prayer at a holy place/to a holy relic.

I'd also say that you might not notice any because none of the characters you play as worship Duma, only Mila or Naga (in the case of the Whitewing sisters).  So naturally, they wouldn't be going to places of worship for Duma for any reason other than simply passing through.

I don't remember a whole lot from the game.  At least, not stuff like this.

[AnonymousSpeed]

41 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

I'd also say that you might not notice any because none of the characters you play as worship Duma, only Mila or Naga (in the case of the Whitewing sisters).  So naturally, they wouldn't be going to places of worship for Duma for any reason other than simply passing through.

That's true, but most of the shrines you find are just there in places you go for totally unrelated reasons anyway.

***

This is actually an interesting question which I never thought about until this thread. The reason it was done that way by the developers in because Duma's a bad dude, and you can't give brownies to bad dudes, it's uncool, and they probably just wanted to put in the shrines you could actually use. It was originally an NES game, after all. There probably is no canonical reason, but a theological difference is a cool notion for why it might be so in-universe.

[SoulWeaver]

5 hours ago, urrutiap said:

All night last night I was up playing and finished Fire Emblem Echoes.

 

Great game with a good story. But, i noticed that  the game had way too many Mila statues. Why werent there any Duma statues for people who wanted to just pray or whatever at a Duma statue?

There are Duma statues, actually - at least two, one within the Fear Mountain Shrine(it's the statue you talk to and challenge to progress further into the mountain), and one busted up one within the Secret Shrine.

[Hawkwing]

There was a topic just like this one earlier this year:

And to save time, I shall quote myself:

On 1/12/2018 at 9:32 PM, Hawkwing said:

Quick answer: IS didn't want to waste time or resources building a completely new statue that may only be used once or twice, and it was easier to adjust an already present model.

The in-universe answer; by the time the game starts, the Duma Faithful went from a standard and possibly even benevolent religion to a fanatical cult filled with people who sacrificed their souls, wield dark magic, and raise the dead, so it makes since that general populace wouldn't put up shrines everywhere. Even in Zofia, Mila statues were only located in dungeons, many of which are shrines, and her Temple, so the rarity of Duma statues makes sense.

As for the Mila statues in Rigel:

• The one in fear mountain may be the work of a rebellious priest/cleric, or since the dungeon holds quite a few treasures and a resurrection shrine, Duma may have not been picky about who was up for the challenge and added the statue so a brave Zofian may be more willing to explore it. It may also have been a taunt against the Zofian's laziness while promoting Rigel's strength by essentially saying "Look at the Zofians! Barely halfway through, and already they need a break! The people of Rigel have barely broke a sweat, and scoff at their weakness!"
• The secret shrine is, well, secret, and small, so why waste time making a new model for it?
• Considering that he was kicked out by Jedah, Sage Halcyon may have set them up in the Lost Treescape to ask Mila, in vain, to help the Duma Faithful return to their previous state as a proper religion instead of a cult. (On a side note, Sage Halcyon really needed more screen time and a memory prism. It would have been very interesting to see what Rigel was like in it's prime, before Duma went mad.)
• As for the one in Duma's temple, I see two explanations: 1. It was set up by a rouge priest/cleric who pretended to worship Duma but secretly worshiped Mila, and when Duma found out, he ordered the statue broken, but didn't have the heart to destroy it. 2. It was set up by Duma himself as a memoir to pay respects to his sister despite their differences, but again, ordered it broken, but not destroyed.

Also, Mila may not be the one promoting your units, though that relates to the unexplained issue of why crests and seals give units better armour, a horse, and/or a new weapon to wield, so this question isn't limited to this game.

On 1/13/2018 at 11:19 AM, Hawkwing said:

No, [the only place where a Duma statue is present] was the Fear Mountain Shrine, where you challenged said statue to a difficult fight and gained Duma's Lance in return.

Now that I think about it, maybe Duma saw that the Mila allowed people to worship her indirectly through statues, while she could lazily stay in her temple, and vowed never to do that, instead wishing to be worshiped directly. Who knows, maybe he even walked among the general populace before he went mad. Again, it would have been interesting to see what the Duma Faithful was like before the events of the game.

Though if you think about it, there are only six places where Mila has a statue in Zofia, and of those, two of them are graves (the Deliverance Hideout and the Seabound Shrine), one has access to a resurrection shrine (Dragon Shrine), one is a repurposed dungeon (the Sylvan Shrine, which has corpses lying around and prison cells, so make of that what you will), one is a humble shrine (Thief Shrine), and one is located in her Temple, so it's not like they're in every single town and castle.

 

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

6 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

Now that I think about it, maybe Duma saw that the Mila allowed people to worship her indirectly through statues, while she could lazily stay in her temple, and vowed never to do that, instead wishing to be worshiped directly. Who knows, maybe he even walked among the general populace before he went mad. Again, it would have been interesting to see what the Duma Faithful was like before the events of the game.

considering the story of the two gods, i always thought there were no Duma statues because Duma himself wanted people to strive, mature and learn to rely on their own strength, rather than just worshipping a god while hoping for his blessings to come.

at least, that's how i see it.

[vanguard333]

On ‎2018‎-‎12‎-‎10 at 3:40 PM, Fenreir said:

considering the story of the two gods, i always thought there were no Duma statues because Duma himself wanted people to strive, mature and learn to rely on their own strength, rather than just worshipping a god while hoping for his blessings to come.

at least, that's how i see it.

I think this is the answer: their goals were different. Duma wanted humanity to be ruled by strength, lest they become corrupt. He wanted them to be tempered by the harsh landscapes and his even harsher teachings. It wouldn't make sense for there to be Duma worship statues. Statues dedicated to Duma, sure, but not statues that had any actual power. 

I think the game was trying to imply that the Duma Faithful weren't always receiving power from Duma; they've only been doing so in this recent century because of Duma's growing madness that has led Duma to become obsessed with power; forgetting that he wanted people to achieve it on their own. But the worldbuilding didn't do enough to convey that. But, it's worth noting that the one good (former) member of the Duma Faithful doesn't have any of the physical changes that come from absorbing some of Duma's power.

Edited December 16, 2018 by vanguard333

[Etrurian emperor]

As a god Duma has a very hands off approach. He doesn't spoil his children and wouldn't clean up their mess or give them blessings unless the prove themselves. As a result praying to Duma wouldn't achieve anything and people wouldn't feel the need for it.