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Julius, Barker, and Reshe


KevinskyHaaz
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So I played  this game quite a while back, and I absolutely adored it! The story is amazing, but what really captivated me was the focus on side characters and their importance in the universe (instead of 1-2 characters being the focus of literally everything). 

I had a question though... I remember all of the cutscenes featuring Julius, Barker, and Reshe, the children of the Zoan emperor, and I remember their super cool plot to assassinate their own father. That was all extremely interesting! I wish Nintendo would follow Kaga and do more side-plots like that in the future. Anyway... I know their goal was to stop the war as quickly as possible since Emperor Bahanuke had expressed interest in conquering the entire continent. However, what was the reasoning behind Julius defending against Runan's army? I can't quite remember why Julius would not just team up with Runan... can anyone lend me a hand on this? Thanks!

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Glad to see somebody else who's enjoyed TRS! It's a rather hit-or-miss game, but when it hits, it really hits.

As for your question... It's a tragic misunderstanding, really. The Canaanite heirs didn't know what kind of man Runan was. Of course, Runan wanted to end the war peacefully and reconcile with Canaan (as he said in his speech after retaking Razelia), but they couldn't have known that. For all they knew, Runan might very well intend to utterly destroy Canaan as revenge for their conquest of his home. They feared that, if Runan took the Canaanhall, any negotiations that may be conducted would be between the conqueror and the conquered: completely one-sided, and resulting in the suffering of the Canaanite people.

To prevent that, Julius and Barker plotted to delay Runan as much as possible, to buy Sennet enough time to claim the Canaanhall. In doing so, they ensured that Sennet would be in an advantageous position to negotiate with Runan as an equal, to defend the rights of Canaan and her people. Again, it was not necessary, as Runan never intended to take revenge on Canaan at all, but they didn't know that.

There's also the fact that Julius was, at that point, deeply depressed and regretful. He despised himself for allowing the situation to escalate to that point, and so, he had little regard for his own life. Carla said it best, during her confrontation with Barker: "And Julius, who as we speak is destroying himself out of shame for his inaction". Had he been on his right mind, he might've been able to see Runan for the man he was and accepted his offer to surrender. But at that point, Julius was fully intending to die there and make way for Sennet and his new generation of Canaanite elites. He probably figured he had no place in the new Canaan, and decided to make his death count for something.

So yeah, in summary, Julius was suicidal and feared that, if allowed to take Canaan, Runan would give them a taste of what they'd done to his own home. Thus, he sacrificed his life, believing his death was well-deserved, and a small price to pay in exchange for a brighter future for Canaan.

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The Kaga Saga-ist above answered the question better than I could have. One must remember that the enemy can't see things from the player's perspective and the heroes, the enemies. Learning the personalities of each other requires in-person meetings, but if one side distrusts the other too much, then that can't happen save on the battlefield. Julius wasn't entirely wrong to assume the worst in Runan, but we the more-knowing player understand that that is sadly uncalled for.

 

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I didn't truly care for Barker or Julius and their underling officers. They weren't bad, but having them fight Runan, at least when things shifted to the 3rd split, seemed wrong. They deserved to die fighting or uniting with Sennet, who by this point at the very least was known to be the heir to Canaan.

I did appreciate the measure of nuance they had in that they did support Canaan itself, but with a measure of defiance. They didn't like Gerxel, they didn't want to conquer the world, they wished their father wasn't under Carla's influence. But, they did try to preserve the empire's gains, they did not fight tooth and nail for every meter of it, but they did have a defense stance with the intent of consolidating the empire's gains in Reeve, even if it meant surrendering the Salia possessions.

Their disobedience should've gotten them in trouble, but being the crown princes gave them enough clout to avert punishment. Gerxel took control of Canaan, but other than the Black Knights some ~15 years prior, the military they did not purge it appears. It seems "realistic", the same way Ashnard preserved the old Daein military (Bryce, Ena's sub-boss Kasatai, Tauroneo) while placing his new "meritocratic" one in effective control. Gerxel needed as many soldiers as possible for Empire, and I guess they saw value in keeping the old guard alive, as long as it didn't show too much chafing.

Although from a nitpick perspective, by the time they yield Razelia through leaving it largely to the Razelians to defend, I'm left wondering if that was too much defiance realistically speaking and that they should've punished the crown princes for it. An excuse to cover this exists though- four Yutona-marked maidens exist, all have their locations known, Gerxel's return is imminent, the Black Rain will reclaim the universe for their cause. Losing territory does nothing to help their cause, keeping it is more useful than not, but if the Gerxel Cult was absolutely assured in its belief that they would resurrect Gerxel in a matter of months, then they could brush it off. -The same can be said of any evil god-resurrecting cult and losing their physical empires.

 

Chapter Julius- whatever number it is, was... bizarre. I should want it erased from memory, it was a terribly meaningless fight, with what might be more realistic at times village visit reactions. Yet, I'll choose to preserve it. There is some value in it.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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Thanks to the both of you! I remember having to do a few re-reads of these scenes in the script back when I first played TRS, but yeah, I guess I still managed to forget exactly what their motivations were. So thank you both very much!

11 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Glad to see somebody else who's enjoyed TRS! It's a rather hit-or-miss game, but when it hits, it really hits.

Mm hm, you're correct in saying that it really really does it. To this day it is my favorite game, though Radiant Dawn is a close second. I can't wait to play Berwick Saga and Vestaria Saga later on!

I really wish the modern FE games would revert back to Kaga's methods of storytelling, dialogue, and character/world building. It just feels so much more realistic and meaningful! We had characters that were all equally important to the plot and all felt like real people... gosh where did the good days go? I still enjoy the new games but... this was really the best stuff. Now we get avatars who have the slightest bit of character whatsoever, and yet they receive all of the praise for the team's actions. And instead of grounded characters we have people who act in such an odd heightened reality, and they are often simply two sides of a coin: one personality trait or gimmick, but they are also shown to have "another side." But real people aren't just one gimmick and then "another side..." The Kaga Saga characters feel like real fluid people, and that is the most important part of his games to me. Long live the Kaga Saga!!!!

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19 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Kaga Saga-ist above answered the question better than I could have.

It feels wrong to be classified as such. I ain't no expert, just some guy who loves Kaga's games, nothing more.

11 hours ago, KevinskyHaaz said:

To this day it is my favorite game, though Radiant Dawn is a close second. I can't wait to play Berwick Saga and Vestaria Saga later on!

I cannot speak for Vestaria, but if your favourites are TRS and Radiant Dawn, I can tell that you're going to absolutely love Berwick Saga. It's, without a doubt, Kaga's magnum opus. You know how my profile says 12 is my favourite game in the series? Well, it's actually second-favourite. The site just doesn't let me input my actual favourite because undercover IntSys employees want to cover up Kaga's existance it's technically not FE.

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