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22 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

The Japanese version of that crit quote is apparently ''VERONICAAAA!'' as if she's lashing out at Veronica while she attacks. So I think her dub crit quite is either a mistranslation or in the vein off the attack being meant for Veronica. Not to help her....but to hit her. Preferably rather hard. 

Hard to say. From what you're reporting, it sounds like Letizia's Japanese quote's exact meaning is ambiguous. It could be that the Japanese version isn't mad at Veronica, but rather afraid for Veronica. (Extreme fear can sound like anger.) Or, perhaps it's a cry of zeal, which would kind of match the English "For Veronica." All I'm saying is that the direction they took here is interesting and might indicate an upcoming twist. I'm not saying anything definite since we don't actually have anything definite.

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15 hours ago, Red Dingo said:

I don't get something: If the shadow domes are just an extension of the Emblan ability to close gates by closing off pieces of the world, couldn't the Askrans just extend their ability to open gates to recover those closed off villages?

The problem is that the Emblian closing magic is augmented, which is what's allowing it to be used to close off the villages. The Askrans would need to similarly augment their "opening" ability to undo it. Basically, a candle in a snowstorm will be overwhelmed and snuffed out, just like how an ice cube in a volcano's going to be turning into vapor right quick. The opposing magic needs to be at least as strong as the magic present or it won't work.

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14 hours ago, Red Dingo said:

Where does it say that it's augmented?

Remember when they were talking about a forbidden tome that was stollen? And you know how this was very clearly identified as specifically Embla's power (as in the dragon deity)? There are a couple other signs, too, like Ash saying that she may be able to counteract it since she has access to Askr's power, but she's not sure if she can do it (showing that a greater version is needed), and it was shown via the characters reactions that closing off a part of your world is a lot more powerful than just opening or closing a gate to another world.

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On 2/19/2022 at 2:42 PM, Mercakete said:

Okay, so I just finished part 1 of the new chapter and...goodness. First, it's not like the content is that surprising. It's what you'd expect, as far as generalities go (though it does feel like the Askrans find out about Letizia's true colors kind of early, even if it's not in its entirety.) However, the character development/showcasing here is good. Letizia maintains having airs about her of being in control (for the most part.) At the very least, she has poise, even when troubled at the disappearance of Veronica. How she handles even foes -- even when getting a little bit "evil rant-y" is with a sense of being in a position of power. She never really loses it (which may change later -- she's kind of Berkut-esque in several ways, though with some key differences I'm not going to get into right now.) She can look at the things in front of her relationally and objectively, being able to tell that Anna was telling the truth about not knowing where Veronica is. Like, the way it's portrayed, you can tell she looked at what was said and how it was said closely and carefully in order to determine that. All this is in alignment with her position as the leader of the Curse Directive (I think that's what it was called.) So, that's great; it's all staying consistent so far.

Another interesting thing is how quick Alfonse was to worry about Veronica. It seems like the red flag went up more quickly than it usually would, indicating a sense of protectiveness. It could be that his bond with her has indeed gotten deeper over time, and she may have a special place in his heart, whether he realizes it or not. (This could be of virtually any nature, from platonic and friendly to romantic attraction.) Whatever the case, he seems a little more quick to suspect people of being threats to her than to some others. And, being a rational puzzle-solver, of course he tests his theory and finds out that there really is strong evidence to support the theory that Letizia is a threat to Veronica.

One other thing. As much as I like a calm and calculating villain (and I love Letizia's design on top of that), she made me fight my sweet child Gonzalez. As a result, she got an angry Gurgurant to the face thrice. I hope she learned her lesson.

I may have had more to say, but I think it's all pretty much summed up in what I've said before about Letizia trapping the Askrans in Embla intentionally by making the bridge impassable. Ah, and it was hinted that Elm's not the one causing all the black holes. As before (I think), my bet is that it's either Letizia or Embla herself. Or, Elm was only one person who was doing it, but that seems not to be his power. If he's like Ash, he's meant to assist Embla's children (Letizia, in this case) rather than be the one causing all the stuff. Plus, we know Letizia has recently stollen some ancient and forbidden tome, which lines up with when the black holes showed up. So, yeah.

Anyway, I do wonder if Letizia had some specific reason for trapping the Askrans. Like, maybe sacrificing a royal Askran in a specific ceremony (like perhaps the one we see in the opening movie, with all the green light?) will increase her power or something? Also, I just really like the level of decorum she has, even when talking about how she's going to murder people. Like, even reassuring the Askrans that they don't have to worry about a war breaking out and that no one will know how they died. It's like...kind of courteous? I'm finding that I really like this gal. Like, "Thank you; that's really nice of you. I mean, it's not ideal, but given the circumstances, it's actually not too bad."

Well, onto Part 2.

I forgot to mention it earlier, but another thing is that it's pretty clear what Letizia's weakness is. She's desperate to bring her plan to fruition, and any threat to that -- whether real or imagined -- gets her riled up and generally makes her reveal more about her position and goals than she otherwise would. When Alfonse bluffed about having Veronica with them, she bought right into it despite having just determined that, according to Anna's true testimony, they didn't actually know where she was. This lady is all about posturing when she feels threatened or insecure, usually with a few threats made good on in order to gain control of a situation.

Looks like Veronica really did jump off the cliff since she was found by the Askrans washed up on a river shore. And then, in Part 3, Letizia was back to her posturing. She's really good at coming up with reasonable arguments. Kudos to her and her writers. It was neat seeing her and Alfonse talking diplomatically. But, of course, having her plans threatened again caused her to, once again, say too much. She could've stopped at "those are Emblian internal affairs. It isn't prudent, given our countries' strained relationship, for me to share as delicate of information as the crimes of our nobility with you." She'd have a real position of strength there...but instead, she takes it a few steps too far because she wants everything to click into place and it's aggravating her that that's not how it's going. So, she uses force. Then, even when retreating with dignity, she says too much in her punishing of the Askrans for defying her. Dude, keep them guessing instead of basically saying "I'm using Embla's power to seal off villages in both Embla and Askr." The power play is backfiring. But, of course, as I said before, when she feels threatened, she postures, and barbs people with as much conceit, dignity, and spite as she can muster.

Not bad. The writing is solid, the characters are good... The only real issue here is that things are going way too fast for this style of story. Seriously, this story would make an awesome series, and what we've seen so far (in book 6) would be great for almost the completion of the first volume (as far as story progression goes.) Basically, it's the kind of thing that needs to unfold slowly, with a lot of development to get from plot point to plot point. It's just really rushed and bare-bones, but I guess it can't really be helped.

Well, time to go into Part 4.

Okay, that bit with Sharena and Veronica was just really sweet. Makes me want to see Sharena display her more nurturing, warm/gentle side more. She'd make a good mom, or a healer. Staff Sharena would be great, I think.

OH that's interesting. One of Letizia's crit quotes is "For Veronica." I wonder what that means. It's probably not part of her front (partially because she sounded really sincere when saying it, and partially because quotes like that transcend the timeline in the story, since it's part of the character even after they come summonable.) There's perhaps something much deeper at play here... Is she, perhaps, actually a double agent? Is she maybe actually on Veronica's side, but making it seem like she's not? Is Veronica's mom really the one behind this, or maybe someone close to Letizia whom we haven't met yet?

Huh. Okay, so, Alfonse understands the weight that comes with protecting Veronica, but he's still refusing to give her up, even though entire villages of his own people are in danger as a result. Yup. He's clearly got personal feelings interfering with rational judgement. Also, Letizia was all "I'll keep enclosing villages until you give me Veronica" and saying that they didn't have an alternative, but, like...the solution's heckin simple? Like, just evacuate the villages near to Embla and send in soldiers to attack because this is actually an act of war and Askr needs to protect its people. It's not actually that hard. The only issue is that the Askrans haven't been able to get back to Askr yet, but that just means that this is where their focus needs to be: getting back home so that they can tell Henriette about what's going on and she can pull a move like "I'm the ruler so I get to coordinate the people and the army and I guess we have Veronica here." So, there's that. And maybe there's an Askran relic back home that can undo the enclosures since Askr's whole shtick is openness and the sky (which makes sense in English but more sense in Japanese, given the kanji for "sky" can also mean "vacant.") I wonder if IS wrote themselves into a corner and just hoped that people wouldn't realize this...

"If she resists, break her legs." DANG. Well, okay then. Getting bold, I see, IS. And here I thought Fafnir's insane rant was a one-off...

Oh man, okay, the twist about Letizia demanding the Askrans to surrender took me off guard. Nicely done, IS. (Also, again, notice how calm and collected she is when things are going her way. Indeed, how you unbalance this lady is to throw interruptions to her plans. This is a lady of order, not chaos, indeed.) And Alfonse was right in this. Obviously, they have to stop Letizia, not be cowed (ironically, since I forgot Ash was there until she spoke up) by threats. That'll only embolden her. IS guided this pretty well into one of those "Askrans need to take down the baddie to make things okay again" situations. Anna's also right -- they can't just be afraid of bad people doing bad things and give in to demands. The overall consequences would be too severe, especially since they're royals. Don't trade in long-term success for short-term success, if you can help it.

...Aaaand Ash only JUST NOW says she can reopen the enclosures once she figures out how to do it. Man, for a chatterbox, she sure took her sweet time telling everyone that. What, can she not say anything when Veronica's around? Because that seems to be the only time when she doesn't talk. (Also, why doesn't Letizia acknowledge the cow in the room?) Maybe they just didn't have the text space to include all this, but it is kind of like "why isn't this being talked about?"

Well, anyway, not a bad chapter. A lot happened. I wonder if Elm will come back in the next one. Maybe we'll get to see a baddie to battie conversation somewhere in there.

One of the last books I've read lately that impressed me was Of Mice and Men. I found out about her at https://samploon.com/free-essays/of-mice-and-men/ where I read a few essays about her. I was so curious that I decided to read this book.

Thank you very much again!

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  • 2 weeks later...

@ZanderColeman

You're welcome, though I don't know where that "of mice and men" bit came from.

Anyway, onto talking about the latest story bit! It's kind of weird, but there's both a lot of hints but not much to talk about. Ash can dispel the darkness, but only by sacrificing the stuff that makes her up (and in the past, presumably alongside Lif (that is, Askr's first king), she used up a lot of her power in order to establish the country of Askr, such as making the land fertile.) It really does look like she (and probably Elm, too) is towards the end of her existence. This feels like a hint toward ragnarok, when the current way of things ends and a new cycle of the world begins.

As for Alfonse's gambit...I don't quite get it yet. He's making Letizia think he operates like she does, but it hasn't really been explained why he's doing that. It must've been hard for him to give a convincing act like that (which we can tell since Letizia bought it and she's the shrewd and watchful type, so if it wasn't convincing/it didn't match up with what she wanted to see, she would've seen through it.) The poor guy, talking about his dad as he did. I wonder if he expected the topic would come up, and had time to prepare for that, or if he had to adapt on the fly.

I also wonder if Bruno saw/heard all that and what he thinks of it. All he said when he showed up was that there was "never a dull moment" with Alfonse and Sharena (by which he may have just meant Sharena's crying and Alfonse trying to explain himself) before asking them to save Veronica (again.) It is kind of alarming that he was able to sneak up on them. If he could do that, so could an assassin. Askr needs to up their care. (Also, it was kind of an anticlimactic way to reintroduce him... I wonder if IS was trying to use levity to overturn some of the dour and serious tone they'd just gone through, but they really should have embraced it instead. It cheapens the whole thing the way they have it, but oh well.)

What I'm most interested in, however, is the conversation between Letizia and Elm. It confirms that they're working together in a similar manner to Ash and the Askrans. So, it seems that Embla favors Letizia over Veronica (after all, she sent Elm to help Letizia out.) The question is why. Also, how? My guess stands: that Letizia petitioned Embla herself, and Elm was sent in response, along with a mission. As is predictable, Embla tasked Letizia with killing Askr. Elm's own mission was talked about, too, but the details weren't quite stated (though, as I recall, we did get a vague list.) Another interesting point is the relationship between Letizia and Elm. Basically, it confirms what we already know based on just what Embla is the deity of: broken bonds. The two are cold toward one another, but still working in tandem towards the same goal. They're pretentious and prickly, but have a sort of mutual respect as well (at least, they're cordial, even if they do insult each other a little bit.) It's an interesting sort of balance they have, and it's nice to reconfirm this theme.

That's about it for this chapter. Looking forward to things being explained in the next one (since IS seems to like to quickly answer questions this way, usually answering anything set up in the previous chapter in the one which follows.)

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On 3/20/2022 at 3:03 PM, Mercakete said:

As for Alfonse's gambit...I don't quite get it yet. He's making Letizia think he operates like she does, but it hasn't really been explained why he's doing that. It must've been hard for him to give a convincing act like that (which we can tell since Letizia bought it and she's the shrewd and watchful type, so if it wasn't convincing/it didn't match up with what she wanted to see, she would've seen through it.) The poor guy, talking about his dad as he did. I wonder if he expected the topic would come up, and had time to prepare for that, or if he had to adapt on the fly.

We will have to see if this gambit will be relevant for the plot or not. Last time they did that in Book 3, when Alfonse challenged Hel while she was giving him the curse. In that time, it didn't make sense to me at all about Hel deciding not to give the curse. This time, it makes a little more sense.

On 3/20/2022 at 3:03 PM, Mercakete said:

So, it seems that Embla favors Letizia over Veronica (after all, she sent Elm to help Letizia out.) The question is why.

I will guess that Embla watched all the events that happened during previous Books, and noticed that the Kingdom of Askr and the Embla Empire are getting close to a point of not being in war anymore. That probably doesn't please Embla, so she decided to remove Veronica from the throne and saw Letizia as her opportunity to do that.

On 3/20/2022 at 3:03 PM, Mercakete said:

I also wonder if Bruno saw/heard all that and what he thinks of it. All he said when he showed up was that there was "never a dull moment" with Alfonse and Sharena (by which he may have just meant Sharena's crying and Alfonse trying to explain himself) before asking them to save Veronica (again.)

I interpreted the "never a dull moment with you two" as something he already was used to, from the time he was an Order of Heroes member under the name of Zacharias. As we know, he spent some time in Askr and became friend with the royals. I have to believe that a situation like that, with Sharena and Alfonse having some time of discussion, was something he saw a number of times during his Zacharias phase.

Edited by Diovani Bressan
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12 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

I interpreted the "never a dull moment with you two" as something he already was used to, from the time he was an Order of Heroes member under the name of Zacharias. As we know, he spent some time in Askr and became friend with the royals. I have to believe that a situation like that, with Sharena and Alfonse having some time of discussion, was something he saw a number of times during his Zacharias phase.

I figured that, too, but I guess I didn't state that clearly enough in my analysis. Thanks for clarifying it for others who wouldn't have understood it the way I put it. 🙂

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On 3/21/2022 at 1:43 PM, Diovani Bressan said:

We will have to see if this gambit will be relevant for the plot or not. Last time they ddi that in Book 3, when Alfonse challenged Hel while she was giving him the curse. In that time, it didn't make sense to me at all about Hel deciding not to give the curse. This time, it makes a little more sense.

I iwll guess that Embla watched all the events that happened during previous Books, and noticed that the Kingdom of Askr and the Embla Empire are getting close to a point of not being in war anymore. That probably doesn't please Embla, so she decided to remove Veronica from the throne and saw Letizia as her opportunity to do that.

I interpreted the "never a dull moment with you two" as something he already was used to, from the time he was an Order of Heroes member under the name of Zacharias. As we know, he spent some time in Askr and became friend with the royals. I have to believe that a situation like that, with Sharena and Alfonse having some time of discussion, was something he saw a number of times during his Zacharias phase.

Great thoughts, thanks for sharing. It helped me. Now I pay a lot of attention to reading books on study and fiction. Now I need to write a personal statement for medical fellowship in order to receive a scholarship. I turned for help to professional writers who will help me write this paper and increase my chances for a scholarship.

Edited by Darius Murphy
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  • 3 weeks later...

Ooookay, so, the new chapter is out and...there's not much to say, really. IS tried to cram way too much into way too small a narrative space. Bruno's around, and played a key role (in what I guess was reverse-disinformation?) while the Askrans basically just fought Letizia for a few days. Elm tried to point out that Letizia's methods weren't quite working, but that was about as helpful as he was willing to be to her. Letizia was a jerk and again, it was shown how much weight she puts into repute (whether good or bad.) Veronica was also shown to have suddenly developed as a character (before, she was only warming up to the Askrans and their way of thinking, but it was like she just totally jumped sides there.)

So, now, Letizia's on the run (presumably, since the Emblian people aren't super welcoming toward her right now) with what followers she still has (probably including Elm, who is probably laughing his head off at her failure.), Veronica's been rescued (and probably has food and water now), and Bruno might actually stick around for a change. Aaaaand oddly, Alfonse's ploy seems to have been swept under the rug. Letizia didn't even try to use his admission against Veronica's faith in the Askrans.

I hate to say it, but it was pretty cringey... Too much tension without the proper buildup just falls flat and looks needlessly dramatic. Nothing wrong with the circumstances or characters, but the presentation was terrible. This format is killing their writing. Again, this style of story is best told in the form of, at shortest, a novella. So, lots, lots more words than they let the chapters in this game have. It's really too bad because all the components are so good...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Playing through the new chapter now. So far, Bruno's basically just letting the Askrans know how things are. It's not super exciting, but it's nice to show that he fully understands what's going on (not only because he played a role to undermine Letizia recently, but because of what happened to him and his mother all those years ago, not that this book has touched upon that yet.) Also, Letizia being all "You'll be punished by the Curse Directive now!" randomly had Book 5 music there. I know the recent FB had a flashback to Eitri and Otr messing with the fake summon gun (something Bokkr which is funny because it's like "broken," though I know that's not actually what it means) but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

Okay, so, it looks like Bruno and Letizia had had plans to get married one day (unless I'm reading into this.) Sure, kids talk about that stuff without understanding it (and according to Bruno, they were pretty young at the time) but, like...aren't they already related? He seems to regret that those plans fell through, but it could just as easily be that he's sad that she was always a liar and not the kind person he'd thought she was (dang this sounds similar to Freyr and Freyja's deal, with "I swear she used to be kind and gentle but then became a terrible, twisted person along the way" and I really hope she doesn't get the "feel sorry for her because she's a girl and we want you to be sympathetic" treatment like others did...)

I was commenting along the way at first, then there was a fighting gap, then I just kind of let the story roll and now here we are! Okay, so, this wasn't a bad chapter. Veronica's lesson for Letizia wasn't forced nor too cliche (unlike the last chapter), and was in line with both where Veronica and Letizia were in their respective developments. It was nice seeing Veronica thinking about how Letizia got to be as she is, though I wonder if IS will go any deeper into that somewhere down the line. It'd be nice to see in more detail what pushed her over the edge (even though it's already been explained to the player.) Letizia seems to think that only cruel methods (whether bribery or blackmail) work on people, and believes this utterly, which is sad. If she really does get a redemption arc where she learns her lesson and turns around, it will probably only be just before she makes some sort of big sacrifice (i.e., dies for the sake of others.) It would be nice, actually, (provided it's a true seeing of the light) and things are lined up well for it.

As I went along and they were making a big deal out of Veronica's side winning if we won these next fights, it became pretty clear to me that we were about to start "phase 2." Sure enough, here we go, into Embla's closed-off world. Looking forward to meeting the lady and seeing what Askr does to intervene. Hopefully, he'll not stand for Embla swallowing up the descendants of Lif, the country which was named after him, and his cow servant. I wonder if Askr's power reserves are beginning to run dry if Ash's own are, too.

Anyway, not a bad chapter, and I'm excited to see where this next bit of the story takes us! Maybe we'll get to understand Elm a little more, too, since he's basically home now.

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I think the big flaw in the idea of having a story about political intrigue in Embla, is that neither Embla nor its politics are entities that functionally exist. And even when it wants to dabble in these concept then the story structure that Heroes insists on sticking with isn't equipped to make these concept exist. 

Embla never gets depicted as a real place where people actually live. Its just a name and an explanation about where Veronica gets her troops from. What Embla actually is never gets explored aside from it being vaguely more authoritarian than Askr. All this time Embla was represented almost solely by Veronica and her role as Alfonse's frenemy, but it was never anything more than that. So a big fight for the Emblian throne and which ruler would care the most for its subjects rings kinda hollow, because aside from Veronica(and I guess Letiza) no one actually lives in Embla. And the scheming of the nobility is undercut by the fact that there really isn't any nobility beyond Veronica and Letiza. Now at this late stage of FEH's story  Bruno gets to say a token line about ''the vassal houses of Embla'' debating on which side to back, and being only motivated by their own interests but that's all this nobility amounts to: Buzzwords and flavor dressing said to spice up a story that doesn't include any of these nobles or their politics.

The hyper simplistic way in which Heroes tells and presents its story isn't helping either. The opinions of Embla's citizens is kinda central in this conflict but these same Emblian citizens don't actually exists. Nothing in the game shows that people beyond the OC's exist. Even when Letiza speaks to soldiers, or when guards break Veronica from jails these people don't have any sprites, and in the main story, or side modes like Forging Bonds we never see Emblian villages, or have the Heroes interact with Embla. We don't get any base conversations, or Veronica talking with her subjects.

Admittingly I don't really know how to fix that. Heroes could get into detail about ''House Hergliez'' which handles Embla's military, or ''house Bevring' which handles finances, but that's rather hard when you're limited to only five stages each chapter, of which not even all have cutscenes. And while I think Embla not having any citizens makes the whole conflict ring a bit hollow I'm also rather critical if Heroes introduces pointless OC's like the snow siblings. 

They could also have made the civil war cause a split in Emba's Heroes and make those Heroes into proxy of the Embla's citizens. Have Arvis represent the scheming nobles vs Xander the stalward retainer. Have Lugh loudly insist Veronica is very nice deep down and stick by her while the Reed brothers fall for Letiza's fake news and once again get tricked into believing a good noble is an evil one they need to kill. The Greil mercenaries were canonically hired by Veronica way back in book 1. Have them represent the good mercenaries fighting for what's right while the likes of Saber and Caelach fall for Letiza's fat paycheck. Or have some Heroes fight for Letiza because she holds their loved ones hostage. But that of course runs into the problem that the playable Heroes aren't entities that functionally exist either. 

Not that I'm down on the story or anything. The whole civil war rings hollow, but its legitimately better and more interesting than yet another ''Tyrant of the week'' invading Askr. And while their competition for Embla's soul falls flat the personal rivalry between Veronica and Letiza is good enough.

 

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3 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Okay, so, it looks like Bruno and Letizia had had plans to get married one day (unless I'm reading into this.) Sure, kids talk about that stuff without understanding it (and according to Bruno, they were pretty young at the time) but, like...aren't they already related? He seems to regret that those plans fell through, but it could just as easily be that he's sad that she was always a liar and not the kind person he'd thought she was

That was my takeaway too. I know IS un-retconned [Revelation Spoilers]

Spoiler

Corrin and Azura into being cousins again

a while back, but something tells me they won't do something openly incestuous like give him actual feelings for her.

3 hours ago, Mercakete said:

I really hope she doesn't get the "feel sorry for her because she's a girl and we want you to be sympathetic" treatment like others did...

I hope not as well. On the other hand, Freyja had Triandra and Plumeria as morality pets (even if she only realized she cared for them at the end of Book IV) while Letizia has just been spiteful and manipulative from the very beginning. If they ARE going that route though, I hope they at least give her a redemption arc actually worth that treatment.

3 hours ago, Mercakete said:

Veronica's lesson for Letizia wasn't forced nor too cliche (unlike the last chapter), and was in line with both where Veronica and Letizia were in their respective developments.

Agreed. It's funny to think that Veronica used to think just as Letizia did back in Books 1 and 2 (even 3, to an extent). Also, it just hit me again that it's been five years since Book 1. Woah...

3 hours ago, Mercakete said:

As I went along and they were making a big deal out of Veronica's side winning if we won these next fights, it became pretty clear to me that we were about to start "phase 2."

You guessed right! It seems like we'll get a new trailer with the next chapter, and I fully look forward to seeing it!

Edited by DefyingFates
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So Embla may appear in the next Chapter and probably the Mid-Book trailer. I wonder if Askr will also appear in the trailer.

Also... Veronica or Bruno for the Mid-Book banner? Honestly, I hope so.

I don't expect Elm to become playable now. Letizia wouldn't be that surprising because if Embla appears, then Letizia loses her spot as main villain of the Book. They could put Letizia in the banner, as a Legendary Hero. I also don't expect Askr in the mid-book banner.

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7 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think the big flaw in the idea of having a story about political intrigue in Embla, is that neither Embla nor its politics are entities that functionally exist. And even when it wants to dabble in these concept then the story structure that Heroes insists on sticking with isn't equipped to make these concept exist. 

Embla never gets depicted as a real place where people actually live. Its just a name and an explanation about where Veronica gets her troops from. What Embla actually is never gets explored aside from it being vaguely more authoritarian than Askr. All this time Embla was represented almost solely by Veronica and her role as Alfonse's frenemy, but it was never anything more than that. So a big fight for the Emblian throne and which ruler would care the most for its subjects rings kinda hollow, because aside from Veronica(and I guess Letiza) no one actually lives in Embla. And the scheming of the nobility is undercut by the fact that there really isn't any nobility beyond Veronica and Letiza. Now at this late stage of FEH's story  Bruno gets to say a token line about ''the vassal houses of Embla'' debating on which side to back, and being only motivated by their own interests but that's all this nobility amounts to: Buzzwords and flavor dressing said to spice up a story that doesn't include any of these nobles or their politics.

The hyper simplistic way in which Heroes tells and presents its story isn't helping either. The opinions of Embla's citizens is kinda central in this conflict but these same Emblian citizens don't actually exists. Nothing in the game shows that people beyond the OC's exist. Even when Letiza speaks to soldiers, or when guards break Veronica from jails these people don't have any sprites, and in the main story, or side modes like Forging Bonds we never see Emblian villages, or have the Heroes interact with Embla. We don't get any base conversations, or Veronica talking with her subjects.

Admittingly I don't really know how to fix that. Heroes could get into detail about ''House Hergliez'' which handles Embla's military, or ''house Bevring' which handles finances, but that's rather hard when you're limited to only five stages each chapter, of which not even all have cutscenes. And while I think Embla not having any citizens makes the whole conflict ring a bit hollow I'm also rather critical if Heroes introduces pointless OC's like the snow siblings. 

They could also have made the civil war cause a split in Emba's Heroes and make those Heroes into proxy of the Embla's citizens. Have Arvis represent the scheming nobles vs Xander the stalward retainer. Have Lugh loudly insist Veronica is very nice deep down and stick by her while the Reed brothers fall for Letiza's fake news and once again get tricked into believing a good noble is an evil one they need to kill. The Greil mercenaries were canonically hired by Veronica way back in book 1. Have them represent the good mercenaries fighting for what's right while the likes of Saber and Caelach fall for Letiza's fat paycheck. Or have some Heroes fight for Letiza because she holds their loved ones hostage. But that of course runs into the problem that the playable Heroes aren't entities that functionally exist either. 

Not that I'm down on the story or anything. The whole civil war rings hollow, but its legitimately better and more interesting than yet another ''Tyrant of the week'' invading Askr. And while their competition for Embla's soul falls flat the personal rivalry between Veronica and Letiza is good enough.

 

It seems like for people to "exist" to you, they need to have visual representation. For me, (especially with the style in which the story is presented) it's good enough to just be told "this exists." It's a narrative style format, which is perfectly fine and suits the sparse way they tell the story well.

From what we've been told over time, Embla is an empire with a ruling family, which is supported by other noble families. Whoever has land and wealth has power, and power equates to sway in this system (like how the Begnian leaders had their own private armies if they were wealthy enough, and also had nobles of powerful standing scheming about their emperor with what means they had.) We know towns and villages filled with common folk exist, too. (Veronica was investigating Emblian villages disappearing when she met with the Askran group at the border.) The system kind of reminds me of medieval England. It wouldn't surprise me if surfs and the like existed in this system, too.

7 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

You guessed right! It seems like we'll get a new trailer with the next chapter, and I fully look forward to seeing it!

So am I! ^_^

5 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

So Embla may appear in the next Chapter and probably the Mid-Book trailer. I wonder if Askr will also appear in the trailer.

Also... Veronica or Bruno for the Mid-Book banner? Honestly, I hope so.

I don't expect Elm to become playable now. Letizia wouldn't be that surprising because if Embla appears, then Letizia loses her spot as main villain of the Book. They could put Letizia in the banner, as a Legendary Hero. I also don't expect Askr in the mid-book banner.

I think Elm will become playable eventually, but I don't think it'll be all that soon. Askr could, maybe, since his arch-nemesis is appearing and taking all his people, but I think it'll be some time before we even get to meet the guy, let alone get to summon him. We at least can guess a little about what he looks like, thanks to the Book 6 key art quite possibly having a bit of his smashed statue on it.

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18 hours ago, Mercakete said:

I think Elm will become playable eventually, but I don't think it'll be all that soon. Askr could, maybe, since his arch-nemesis is appearing and taking all his people, but I think it'll be some time before we even get to meet the guy, let alone get to summon him. We at least can guess a little about what he looks like, thanks to the Book 6 key art quite possibly having a bit of his smashed statue on it.

I think Elm could be a September/October Mythic Hero, since we usually get some of the generals in that time:

  • Leavatein, Laegjarn and Helbindi, in September 2018;
  • Thrasir, in September 2019;
  • Plumeria, in September 2020;
  • Ótr, in September 2021.

Then November's Banner being a Legendary & Mythic banner, just like last year, with Letizia and Embla on it.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, the Book 6 Mid-Point Cinematic has dropped! I posted my thoughts on it in the Feh Channel thread, but I'll put the things related to the story (which is most of what I talked about) here for the sake of keeping it easy to reference.

Quote

I may be tired but I watched the vid and want to give my takes while they're fresh! (I hope I remember everything I wanted to talk about!)

So, our new FEH character is Letizia. I thought it was possible, but I'm a little surprised seeing her drop out of the villain camp this early. It'll probably be one of those "I was turned on by my side so I'm joining yours to get at them," but it could also be that she was being a double agent or something. We'll see. Also, as expected, we get to meet Embla and Askr! I didn't pause for a good look at Askr, but Embla's a bat (I noticed her ears before they revealed her wings.) Kind of surprised since they're (Embla and Askr) canonically dragons, but they might be being retconned into being beasts? Looks like Askr's a bull, and both Ash and Elm were based more on their deities when they were created (by said deities) than I'd first thought (including their weapons.) (That said, it's weird that Askr generated a shield, since he's the god of openness while Embla's the goddess of barriers. I wonder how well thought through that was. It's not like you can't spin that into a plot point (both being unhealthy because they're using their opposite's "element") but I don't think that's the direction they're going in. Probably just wanting to show Embla to be aggressive and Askr as more even-keeled/ the "good guy.")

-- More banner stuff --

And now back to analyzing the story/trailer! First off, loving the music choice there. (Let me just watch that bit again so I can make sure my takes are up to date here.) Okay, so, I do absolutely LOVE Embla's design. The halo-looking thing behind her head, which resembles the Emblian headpiece Veronica wears, the lacy eyepatch (which would never stay in the right place perfectly like that in actuality, I'm sure), her FLIPPIN' WINGS... The way they designed the glow in her eyes is interesting, too. Makes me wonder if they just naturally glow like that or if that's an effect being caused by something else. (Like her going insane or something. IS likes to do that to long-lived characters.) And then there's Askr. He looks a lot younger than I expected with a...smoother face? I dunno, I expected more contour and muscle to his face for some reason. (Edit: Just checked and my suspicions were correct: I expected this because of the broken statue of him showing the top of his face in the FEH Book 6 key art, in which his eyebrow muscles (at least) are more defined than how they're depicted here.) (Also, I kind of wish they'd been more creative with his face shape, especially since his hairstyle is much more complicated than his face shape. The hair is neat, the face is plain. Sad.) Anyway, the smile he's wearing, despite the situation, is extremely carefree. I'm a little worried since he's giving me the impression that he's kind of...dumb. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a jolly airhead.

Now, onto some MORE trailer stuff! Alfonse was absorbed into the darkness, Embla was about to kill Ash, but then her jovial (and maybe flirtatious?) nemesis shows up and she drops her (literally) to put all her focus onto fighting him. Because all her focus is on Askr, Embla ejects Alfonse (who may also represent the entire mortal Askran side) from the darkness, and he has to fight Veronica (who seems to be being controlled/programmed by Embla.) Now, here's a neat thing: first, his fight with Veronica kind of mirrors the fight between their deities, as Alfonse mainly uses his shield and Veronica's on the offense. MORE interesting thing: Veronica has a tome with the same general construction (but different colors) as Letizia's tome (which is, presumably, the very dangerous tome which was reported stollen. Veronica was accused of stealing it, but it's much more likely that Letizia did, hence the weird tome she's always carrying around.) The tome Veronica is using is either the tome Letizia uses (but "awakened" and taken from Letizia (a la betrayal, to put it simply) by Embla/Elm and given to puppet Veronica) or the "true" tome (with the green version being more of a replica/weaker version while the real one was kept with Embla herself.) Another neat thing is that the magic the tome fires off is in the shape of the Emblian symbol (which may even be where the Emblian symbol came from in-world, as this tome was likely gifted to the original Thrasir (the Emblian human founder) by Embla when she and the other founders were fighting to, well, found their countries, as we know they had the help of their respective deities. (And history may repeat itself with the present-day royals getting the blessings of their deities in order to protect their countries from whatever fate Alfador is going to threaten them with in a future book, but I digress.)) Anyway, Alfonse, still valuing his connection with his Emblian buddies (Veronica and Bruno) very much does not want to fatally wound Veronica. So, he goes for nonleathal attacks and a LOT of defending for a while (such as his pommel strike to her gut.) It looks like it works for a sec, but then Embla controls her again. FADE TO BLACK.

Now, this fade to black could just be a dramatic transition. It could also, however, represent information that IS is not yet showing the players. It's implied that Alfonse realizes he can't save both Veronica and the rest of the world (he doesn't look up as he charges at her after she gets controlled again) and deals a fatal blow. The environment shifts dramatically in the next scene, though. This could just represent a shift in scene mood, or it can imply a larger passage of time than the viewer is yet aware of. Anyway, the implication is that Alfonse is grieved about what he had to do, but he did, indeed, kill Veronica. Also, Veronica sheds a tear as she falls (she's not smiling, though.) This has meaning, but there's not enough information here to draw conclusions on what it means. Also, the trailers don't always accurately represent the characters as they behave and feel in the story (nor even their actual roles, or how they fight. As an example, Ash turns into a cow and shoots a laser. She does not call lighting using her bell staff as shown in the Book 6 opening trailer.) Anyway, will Veronica die? She might, she might not. It's really a 50/50 chance, here. Bruno could become the next Emblian Emperor at the end of the book if IS killed her, so it's not like there's much of a story hurdle. That said, I don't know if IS wants to kill her since they like her so much and recognize how popular a character she is to the fanbase. So, *shrug.*

Oh, also, this Veronica (which may very well be Ascended Veronica as a flying tome unit) has short hair now. Her look's not bad.

I do wonder if we'll hear from Lif's anti-deity squad somewhere in/at the end of this book, though, since he's pretty bitter at the deities on the whole (at the top of which is Alfador.) I could see him making an appearance, especially if the story shows even Askr to be someone who cares little for people and a lot more for his own interests. Like, if he was all lighthearted about things that matter to Alfonse or whatever, and then Lif shows up and is all "Now you see what they're all like. Not even Askr, who granted power to our ancestor and helped found our country, cares about us. We live and we die and they couldn't care less. They fight and squabble, never resolving their petty disputes, and all at the cost of human lives." Or whatever. And then we join Lif's gang (which was started by Thorr, actually) and go to take on Alfador in the future (or, the goundwork for this gets set up, or Loki pops up and tries to get us to take on Lif's people in the next book, or whatever, but since Askr and Embla have been revealed, the Alfador Arc seems to only have a couple more books to go before it closes.)

Edit again: Oh, right. I knew I'd forget something! I love the detail they put into Alfonse's damaged model while he's fighting Veronica. In particular, the bruise/scuff on his cheek is reminiscent of his damaged art in-game.

In the above, I say "al la betrayal, to put it simply." I may as well expound upon that here.

Basically, it's entirely possible that Letizia's attempt to take over her country was convenient for Elm and Embla, and nothing more. So, even if they didn't do things the way Letizia hoped they would by accepting her into their ranks (being the enemies of her enemies, and, to her, seeming to be "the winning side"), they could easily "turn on her," and take the tome she's carrying. The thing is, though, she was a convenience (in this possible scenario I'm laying out) and was being used, never having really been accepted as one of them. It'd be a rude awakening for her, realizing that she was never in control or even favored. Her ambitions and striving was only convenient to Embla's ends, and so she let her do what she wanted, and perhaps even sent Elm along to help out, but only so that Embla's own goals would be realized. There was never an attachment, so it can't quite be called a betrayal...but it sure may feel like one to Letizia, who thought they'd allied with one another, but instead put all her efforts into basically being a tool, except a tool that was never even used so much as allowed to use itself. It makes sense, too, with Elm having never treated Letizia seriously, even when he was helping her (and even just sort of let Letizia fail.)

Letizia may be killed by Embla/Elm, sent to her death against the Askrans, or just sent away, and it could be that her tome is taken from her and transformed, or she realizes that she doesn't even have the book of legend that she thought she did. Whatever the case, Embla clearly sees value in Veronica since she's using her as a puppet, even if it's only for that purpose. That Veronica was "kept" and she was discarded must make it sting all the more for Letizia, too, since she sees (at least, it seems so, so far) Veronica as the one who got everything she (Letizia) always wanted/strove for, without even needing to work for it. Kind of sad, really... If Letizia dies alone and abandoned like that with that kind of salt in the wound, I mean. Sure, she's terrible, but I feel bad for this hypothetical Letizia, too.

These are what I meant in my little note in there, since it was too complicated to really put into a parenthetical statement there and needed its own exposition.

Edit: Actually, the more this sits in my brain, the more I'm looking forward to seeing Askr interact with Alfonse/Sharena and, if possible, Gustav. And, maybe Henriette (since we still know she has some sort of secret.)

Further, and along the same lines, Embla interacting with Elm, and either/both of them interacting with Veronica/Bruno and, to some extent, Letizia. That said, I'm not as excited about all this since we've already seen Elm interact with Letizia and we know Veronica gets mind-controlled/brainwashed, so eh.

I think it would be interesting to see Nidavellir's dragon pop up sometime, too, since it was hinted that said dragon isn't gone. (That may have just been talking about the dragon's power surviving in Reginn, though.) And, by extension, interactions between the various dragons. That is, Askr, Embla, Nifl, and Muspell. That said, though, I believe Nifl and Muspell kind of disappeared/died already at the end of their event (besides the ones we summon, of course) so...I don't know. No idea what kind of relations those guys all had with one another.

I can imagine it, though...

Askr: Heyyy, friiiieeeennnnds! =D

Embla: Friendship is a lie. >=(

Nifl: Both of you are insufferable.

Muspell: Oh, the ice goddess speaks!

Nifl: Leave me alone, scum.

Muspell: Oh, I'M the scum?! At least I can admit that I'm competitive!

Askr: Great idea, Muspell! Let's all play a game! =D

Nifl: You're giving me a migraine.

Muspell: If you hate me so much, then beat me!

Nifl: I will not encourage such behavior and have no desire to take part in it.

Askr: Aw, don't be like that! Let's all have some fun together!

Embla: She already said she doesn't want to. Antagonistic, imposing your will onto others as always, aren't you, Askr?

Askr: Huh? :3

Nifl: Stop that, Muspell!

Muspell: If you won't join in on your own, I'll make you!

Askr: Oh! Let me join in! Let me! =D

Nifl: Muspell! Askr! Get away from me!

Embla: All Askr cares about is satisfying his own desire to have fun, regardless of what anyone else wants, Muspell is so competitive that he even forces others into his ridiculous competitions, and Nifl just doesn't wish to bond with anyone... Indeed, true bonds do not exist...

Askr: Heyyyy, Embla! Things are getting spirited! Come on and join in!

Embla: Do not involve me in your pretenses!

And then they all destroyed a world and fled into an alternate reality (a la Askr's portals) before Alfador could get mad at them. The End.

Edited by Mercakete
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1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Well, the Book 6 Mid-Point Cinematic has dropped! I posted my thoughts on it in the Feh Channel thread, but I'll put the things related to the story (which is most of what I talked about) here for the sake of keeping it easy to reference.

In the above, I say "al la betrayal, to put it simply." I may as well expound upon that here.

Basically, it's entirely possible that Letizia's attempt to take over her country was convenient for Elm and Embla, and nothing more. So, even if they didn't do things the way Letizia hoped they would by accepting her into their ranks (being the enemies of her enemies, and, to her, seeming to be "the winning side"), they could easily "turn on her," and take the tome she's carrying. The thing is, though, she was a convenience (in this possible scenario I'm laying out) and was being used, never having really been accepted as one of them. It'd be a rude awakening for her, realizing that she was never in control or even favored. Her ambitions and striving was only convenient to Embla's ends, and so she let her do what she wanted, and perhaps even sent Elm along to help out, but only so that Embla's own goals would be realized. There was never an attachment, so it can't quite be called a betrayal...but it sure may feel like one to Letizia, who thought they'd allied with one another, but instead put all her efforts into basically being a tool, except a tool that was never even used so much as allowed to use itself. It makes sense, too, with Elm having never treated Letizia seriously, even when he was helping her (and even just sort of let Letizia fail.)

Letizia may be killed by Embla/Elm, sent to her death against the Askrans, or just sent away, and it could be that her tome is taken from her and transformed, or she realizes that she doesn't even have the book of legend that she thought she did. Whatever the case, Embla clearly sees value in Veronica since she's using her as a puppet, even if it's only for that purpose. That Veronica was "kept" and she was discarded must make it sting all the more for Letizia, too, since she sees (at least, it seems so, so far) Veronica as the one who got everything she (Letizia) always wanted/strove for, without even needing to work for it. Kind of sad, really... If Letizia dies alone and abandoned like that with that kind of salt in the wound, I mean. Sure, she's terrible, but I feel bad for this hypothetical Letizia, too.

These are what I meant in my little note in there, since it was too complicated to really put into a parenthetical statement there and needed its own exposition.

Edit: Actually, the more this sits in my brain, the more I'm looking forward to seeing Askr interact with Alfonse/Sharena and, if possible, Gustav. And, maybe Henriette (since we still know she has some sort of secret.)

Further, and along the same lines, Embla interacting with Elm, and either/both of them interacting with Veronica/Bruno and, to some extent, Letizia. That said, I'm not as excited about all this since we've already seen Elm interact with Letizia and we know Veronica gets mind-controlled/brainwashed, so eh.

I think it would be interesting to see Nidavellir's dragon pop up sometime, too, since it was hinted that said dragon isn't gone. (That may have just been talking about the dragon's power surviving in Reginn, though.) And, by extension, interactions between the various dragons. That is, Askr, Embla, Nifl, and Muspell. That said, though, I believe Nifl and Muspell kind of disappeared/died already at the end of their event (besides the ones we summon, of course) so...I don't know. No idea what kind of relations those guys all had with one another.

I can imagine it, though...

Askr: Heyyy, friiiieeeennnnds! =D

Embla: Friendship is a lie. >=(

Nifl: Both of you are insufferable.

Muspell: Oh, the ice goddess speaks!

Nifl: Leave me alone, scum.

Muspell: Oh, I'M the scum?! At least I can admit that I'm competitive!

Askr: Great idea, Muspell! Let's all play a game! =D

Nifl: You're giving me a migraine.

Muspell: If you hate me so much, then beat me!

Nifl: I will not encourage such behavior and have no desire to take part in it.

Askr: Aw, don't be like that! Let's all have some fun together!

Embla: She already said she doesn't want to. Antagonistic, imposing your will onto others as always, aren't you, Askr?

Askr: Huh? :3

Nifl: Stop that, Muspell!

Muspell: If you won't join in on your own, I'll make you!

Askr: Oh! Let me join in! Let me! =D

Nifl: Muspell! Askr! Get away from me!

Embla: All Askr cares about is satisfying his own desire to have fun, regardless of what anyone else wants, Muspell is so competitive that he even forces others into his ridiculous competitions, and Nifl just doesn't wish to bond with anyone... Indeed, true bonds do not exist...

Askr: Heyyyy, Embla! Things are getting spirited! Come on and join in!

Embla: Do not involve me in your pretenses!

And then they all destroyed a world and fled into an alternate reality (a la Askr's portals) before Alfador could get mad at them. The End.

I love it. If we ever get another chibi theater, this is exactly what they're going to do with these four xD

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16 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

I love it. If we ever get another chibi theater, this is exactly what they're going to do with these four xD

Thanks! XD Yeah, I was imagining them as they were before they separated/went crazy. They did help certain mortals found their countries and work together, so they probably had more benign versions of their character traits back then. (Like Muspell being competitive instead of sadistic, since if you look at how he spoke, he was treating his battle with Nifl like a competition.)

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The new chapter is out and I'm in the middle of playing it but OH MAN.

Okay, firstly, nice introduction to the world as Embla controls it. The party (plus Letizia)'s comments without music in the background do a good job of telling the player how things are and setting the tone. Then, a fight with Elm who's in a good mood. It was a really nice introduction to this new setting and gave us a little revisit to Elm (who is, indeed, not dead.) Also, bats. Lots of bats around now. That in and of itself shows a scene shift which is also nice.

Now, the objective is to go to the gate that leads to Askr's home (and also confirmed that yes, he is a dragon) and get him to help in the direct opposition of Embla. (What is he doing? Napping? You'd think he would have noticed all on his own if he was watching enough to send Ash to help the Askrans.)

Anyway, Letizia still acted prickly while Veronica was still gently asking her to join up with them (without being too pushy.) Letizia went off on her own and started talking to herself about the situation. Here, we learn that she really does wish that things could go back to how they once were, but feels like, after her long walk along the path of vengeance, that she is beyond redemption. (I do wish we got a bit more exposition/something a bit different than "well darn. Looks like the world is ending." to prompt this change of heart, but how the actual progression at this point is being handled is nice.) Then she happens upon THE WORST POSSIBLE PERSON she could have encountered and we get to see Embla possess someone (before we saw it kind of at a distance, but here, we see exactly how it works, which is nice.)

Also, Embla's ART, MAN. I love her design, but man she's so thin and spindly and creepy. Good golly they did a great job designing her to be pretty yet very off-putting. Love the gauntlets and how her skirt is made of her wings. And that shift in expression when she smiles... Dang, that's good.

Anyway, props to Letizia. That last move she pulled was impressive: using the grudge she's held onto for so long to trick Embla into letting her go so that she can rescue her relatives? Well played, lady. And so, destroying herself, her redemption arc (short as it was) is complete, and lands on a nice note. (VERY different from how much IS was begging us to pity Freyja.) That was done well. I just wish we had had more time for exploration of the characters in the previous half of the book. This could've been a masterpiece, but they're doing okay in this chapter.

AND THEN THE PART THAT MADE ME PAUSE MY GAMEPLAY TO WRITE THIS. Embla notes two characters who also carry her blood (besides Letizia), probably indicating Veronica and Bruno. BUT THEN.

Embla: And you are not alone... I sense two others here who carry my blood as well... How interesting...

Uh WHAT?! I haven't moved from that textbox yet, so I'm going to do some speculating.

The first question is how far away Embla can sense people. She might be groggy from being alone for so long, and it could be that currently she can only sense people with her blood if they're nearby. Or, groggy or not, this could always be a limitation of hers. In either case, it seems like she can only sense people who are close by. Like, within sight. This is because she has only noted (thus far) that people have her blood after she sees them, such as when she countered Letizia and after she'd already begin talking with Veronica. If Embla's power has swallowed up the castle, and if she can actually sense further, then she could be sensing any number of people with her blood (as Letizia, I believe, was 16th in line for the throne, showing that there are actually quite a few with Embla's blood.) But then she would have probably said a larger number than "two."

So, here's my guess before I continue in this chapter: Henriette carried Embla's blood and passed it on to her children, making Alfonse and Sharena Embla-Askr hybrids. (That, or Embla's making a mistake for some reason.) Henriette mentions off and on how her true power is dangerous. Maybe it has something to do with Embla? We'll see as we go on, I'm sure.

Now, onward I go!

So, there wasn't much left. Of course, people were shocked and Embla decided on who to take over next...but it wasn't revealed who that was. It'll be revealed at the beginning of the next chapter, I'm sure, but man, I'm curious! I know she eventually takes over Veronica, but it could be that that isn't who's next. What if it's Alfonse or Sharena? That'd throw everything into chaos. Also, there's a bit of an out there since those two also have Askr's blood (which I'm surprised Embla hasn't commented on yet) so he could force her out of whichever of the two of them she takes over, I'm sure. But, we may be jumping right to Veronica's possession, so who knows?

Overall, it was a good chapter this time around!

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2 hours ago, Mercakete said:

So, here's my guess before I continue in this chapter: Henriette carried Embla's blood and passed it on to her children, making Alfonse and Sharena Embla-Askr hybrids.

That's my guess too. They're really the only ones it can be too, logically speaking. I don't think they'll give Anna any development and the Summoner and Xander (assuming he's somewhere in the background) aren't even from Midgard. I didn't think of Henriette though; it'd be pretty interesting if she's a fairly close relative of the main Emblian royal family like Letizia was though it'd kill the Alfonse x Veronica ship that's taken off lately.

2 hours ago, Mercakete said:

So, there wasn't much left. Of course, people were shocked and Embla decided on who to take over next...but it wasn't revealed who that was. It'll be revealed at the beginning of the next chapter, I'm sure, but man, I'm curious! I know she eventually takes over Veronica, but it could be that that isn't who's next.

You make a good point about Veronica being the obvious endpoint, but I think that's all the more reason to just possess her right away. If Embla jumped to someone else I think it'd risk the Fafnir issue from Book V: showing he turns into a dragon in the midpoint trailer but not actually doing so until much later. I don't know, it just feels weird to me to give away a key moment of the story like that and not execute it right away.

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1 hour ago, DefyingFates said:

That's my guess too. They're really the only ones it can be too, logically speaking. I don't think they'll give Anna any development and the Summoner and Xander (assuming he's somewhere in the background) aren't even from Midgard. I didn't think of Henriette though; it'd be pretty interesting if she's a fairly close relative of the main Emblian royal family like Letizia was though it'd kill the Alfonse x Veronica ship that's taken off lately.

Shippers gonna ship, regardless of canon (since they get emotionally invested.)

Anyway, Henriette may be from an even weirder family line, given what hints we've seen. It wouldn't surprise me if she was Embla's actual daughter. (This would also make it so that Alfonse and Sharena aren't closely (at all) related to Veronica and Bruno since they're descendants of Thrasir, the first Empress of Embla, and Embla herself only bestowed her power to Thrasir, which I guess also gave them her blood? Yeah, it doesn't make sense but whatever -- that's what's been established.) She may even be the daughter of both Embla and Askr. Having parents who are deities of opposing concepts and elements could certainly grant a child an extreme amount of unstable power.

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Yeah, about that "I sense two others" part that Embla said. She said nothing of the sort in the Japanese script. Her translated text apparently goes something like this: 

"Even destroying the body I've possessed, I won't be damaged... And... You... and you, I can feel my blood from you. There are still two who carry my blood."

Bruno and Veronica also didn't say any words, both of their text was just a "......... !".

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