Book VI Discussion Thread

[ARMADS!!!]

11 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

The violin's grown on me too! I didn't think much of it at first, but that may just be because the trailer itself felt underwhelming to me. I liked Book IV's themes too actually, with the exception of the final boss: I get that Freyja's theme was meant to sound chaotic, but it was just two short chords looped over and over - that got old immediately.

Howling Gears (Book V's main theme) and the Ice & Flame theme are my current favorites at the moment. I still remember seeing jokes on r/FEH about people being blindsided by how good Nifl's boss theme is xD

 Oh, I like Freyja's theme (but I like it as a boss theme/OST only, not to listen it randomly on youtube as if it was an actual song), and book IV's map and boss themes. What annoys me the most is the Peony/Ljosálfar/whatever that was theme for (you know, that song that kinda looks like a circus music). Like, in book IV's trailer the song has a second part (when the Dokkálfar appear) that is actually pretty cool, but in the cutscsenes we only hear the first part, and its playing all the time, so it naturally gets to a point that I can't stand it anymore (idk why exactly, book III's sad song was also playing all the time in book III but I was never annoyed by that, but in book IV the theme got so annoying that I even muted the game during some cutscenes). Howling Gears and F&I themes are my favorites too! Along with Book III Boss theme (eng version), and I went crazy with how good Nifl theme was too when it got released, loved those reddit jokes, it was cool to see that I wasn't the one that got stunned with that.

 

  

[DefyingFates]

20 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I went crazy with how good Nifl theme was too when it got released, loved those reddit jokes, it was cool to see that I wasn't the one that got stunned with that.

Glad to hear it! And I think you're right about Freyja's theme working well in FEH but not as a YouTube video too; I should have thought of that myself.

As for the Book:

The opening is a lot more mundane that previous books, which I think fits the "back to basics" return to Embla. Hopefully it'll translate to some more depth in the story too? I liked that there were a lot of cutscenes in Chapter 1 for instance, though 2 sullied that. Ash also grew on me. I still feel like the trailer stuffed her full of anime cliches, but her excessive politeness is endearing and funny without being too excessive (for now, at least).

And as much as I would like to see a double twist where Letizia turns out to be a good person despite being suspicious... yeah, I highly doubt that's going to be the case. A shame, really - it was nice to know Veronica had more in her life than just Bruno (hopefully he shows up by Chapter 4 at the latest; he's bound to hear what's going on back home by then, right?) Explaining why Letizia wasn't still in her life was a nice touch, so that Book I's "Veronica is lonely" thing didn't fall apart immediately.

Edited December 7, 2021 by DefyingFates

[Mercakete]

Hmm weird. It feels like I'm not even needed anymore. Maybe I'm just tired.

Anyway, after playing through the chapters, I don't really get the previously discussed "sad" vibes from Elm's dialogue, though it could be more that he expresses his truer feelings through his expression rather than his words, and the character art only has so many variations. I do like how open he is with his feelings in his expression as depicted in the trailer, but that's not really able to be shown in the story dialogue, sadly. Anyway, I feel a bit like the trailer raised the hype too high for me and I wound up being kind of underwhelmed with the actual story. I know that Elm's words "having intentional barbs" is a character trait of his, but he just winds up coming across as a genetic "I'm so evil" guy, which is disappointing. I hope IS turns it around sometime with a good character twist, but I don't know how likely that is to happen. Anyway, we very well could be not seeing his true feelings/emotions, especially since he comes from a goddess who's all about barriers and broken bonds (which would explain Elm putting up relational/emotional barriers by lashing out at people instead of letting himself trust or whatever, as well as Ash being too open with others. A clever way of showing the traits of their masters, but one that requires a way to show that that's what's happening, which means contrast, especially in Elm's case. You need to be able to compare the outward expression with the inward truth, and that's hard to do in FEH's format.) But yeah, Elm hasn't really shown any particular hatred toward Askr or love for Embla yet. Just sort of scathing and violent interactions in general. Thinking back on it, it really feels like a front. Maybe he hasn't made up his mind about how he really feels about things yet and is just in the observation phase while he does his job. Maybe he doesn't actually care about any of this, and at most, finds Ash annoying. That's about all I'm getting from him so far.

As for Ash...yeah. She takes, like...the longest possible route, using the most possible words, to say anything. Her design is really good, and her concept has a lot of potential (cowbell maaaaaace) but... I mean, she's a marshmallow, but...like...I just want her to shut up. I'm a hypocrite since I often talk myself into the ground, too, and often because I'm so attentive to others' feelings and get really nervous, too, so I get it, but uuuuughh... Man, I feel bad for the people who have to deal with me. Yikes. Further, I feel like, with Miriel here too, now, that I realize I talk like a combination between her and Ash. Goodness, I guess I really can go on sometimes...but I don't think I'm quite as bad as Ash, so there's that... Urgh, I'm doing it again...

ANYWAY, yeah, that dialogue between unknown persons is very likely a coup put together by Veronica's surrogate big sister. She was saying things like "it's nice to see you" and "I see you still consider me your big sister," not things like "I enjoy your company" or "I see you as my little sister" (even though she did allegedly say this in a letter or something at one point in the past.) Subtle differences there. I think she may just be observing Veronica and pretending to be her friend. Plus, she was pretty quick to note where she is in line of succession when introducing herself to the Askrans. That said, it seemed a bit too obvious (not that Reginn being a princess was any different in terms of being obvious.) I don't think she'll be the big bad per se, though, since I think we'll see Askr and Embla themselves by the end of the book (making Embla the big bad, or maybe a possessed Bruno who maybe took Veronica's place or something) but if we don't, then she could very well be the big bad. But I don't know... If Elm wasn't here, I'd be more certain that she's the big bad, but he is. Having a mortal like her be the big bad when a supernatural being like him is clearly a lieutenant doesn't make much sense to me, even if they broker a deal or something. The lieutenants are always subservient to the big bad in these books. Bruno/Xander to Veronica in Book 1, Laevateinn/Laegjarn to Surtr in Book 2, Lif/Thrasir to Hel in Book 3, Triandra/Plumeria to Freyja in Book 4, and Otr/Fafnir to Eitri in Book 5 (though this one was a lot more complicated, as Fafnir was being strung along instead of a willing/conscious participant.) So, following this pattern, what makes the most sense is Elm and the lady whose name I can't remember being the lieutenants to Embla herself. Like, "I'll rule this kingdom the way you want and kill the Askr people, so give me power. Oh, thanks for sending Elm to help me." Plus, that talk of subterfuge and undermining Veronica's rule with the question mark people sure sounds like the kind of talk that Anna described the Curse people doing, and the surrogate sister is the leader of those guys.

So, even though I think the lady who's the 9th in line for the throne (for some reason this stands out more to me than the lady's name) is the one behind the Emblian coup (maybe as part of revenge for what Veronica's dad did to her family in addition to the power struggle in general -- man, I can just see the tragic backstory now...) I don't think she's the big bad of the book, but instead working for Embla herself. We may even see a color reversal since Embla's magic has always had a red hue, and Askr's has always had a blue hue (so, yeah, Askr will still have color advantage.)

Also, yes, this violinist is killing it. Vivaldi vibes.

On the topic of Nifl and Muspell, I almost feel like I have nothing to add. That said, those two strike me as less powerful than Askr and Embla. Sure, they have mastery over their elements, but that's it. Askr and Embla have dominion over other opposites besides mere element (wind and earth, respectively), extending to bonds and openness (Askr) and broken bonds and limits (Embla.) These feel like spiritual extensions of their respective elements, with the sky being a vast, open, transparent expanse, and the earth being basically nothing but one massive, opaque barrier. So, maybe because they are "more major" gods than Nifl and Muspell, they get more help/are able to create more help. (Ash did say, after all, that she was born of Askr's realm, as though his power was so vast that the ambient power in his realm formed her. This is also alluded to by Elm, who question's Askr's power since it "could only produce" such a "weak cow.") These two could even actually have only just been created recently, and for the purpose of helping their respective mortals.

Further, the topic of Henriette... Her coming along for the beginning and giving Alfonse a solemn warning -- especially a key clue passed down from his father -- and this early on makes me a bit more certain that she's going to die this book. Not because of any relation to Askr, though, since she's not actually from the Askran royal line. So, she wouldn't be Embla's direct target. More like collateral. She'd only be targeted in order to get to her kids. She may step in herself, though, and unleash that unstable magic of hers in order to protect her children at some other point in the book. After all, this book HEAVILY focuses on Askr and Embla, so if they're going to involve her, this is the book in which to do it.

But yeah, I wonder if Bruno knows anything about the sister lady. Maybe he uncovered a secret, and that's why he went on his quest to remove the curse in the first place. I mean, "curse" is actually in the name of the group the lady runs. Plus, there's the parentage thing. Bruno is only half-siblings with Veronica. I don't recall, but was that the case for this lady, too? Maybe I should go over Book 1 again...

Edit: But yeah, the focus on politics (like, Veronica was actually being careful about public opinion when dealing with the Askrans here, being all "let's avoid political trouble by staying on our own sides of the border") is pretty awesome in this book. It has a bit more of a touch of realism I'm appreciating, at least for now.

Also, I am actually looking forward to writing the Male-Only version of this book next year. Without Embla or Ash, but with Askr and Elm, it's really going to have some interesting dynamics, let alone missing the sister lady and Veronica, but including Bruno, especially since in the male-only version the assault on Askr from Embla never actually stopped... Yeah, it's going to be fun. ^_^

Edited December 7, 2021 by Mercakete

[Etrurian emperor]

So that bit about the nobles plotting treason? Is that a flashback or something that's happening in the present? They mentioned an emperor and we know that Veronica's father is dead. However they also mention the emperor and Veronica aren't related, which could refer to Veronica's stepmom who's apparently reigning for now. 

[Mercakete]

9 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

So that bit about the nobles plotting treason? Is that a flashback or something that's happening in the present? They mentioned an emperor and we know that Veronica's father is dead. However they also mention the emperor and Veronica aren't related, which could refer to Veronica's stepmom who's apparently reigning for now. 

Actually, I believe that Veronica is currently reigning. The plotting was against Veronica herself, and there hasn't been a move made against her yet, so it's probably set in the present or in the EXTREMELY RECENT past. (I'm talking a week at most.) This is especially because of the fiasco with Embla being overrun on Veronica's watch by Fafnir's forces relatively recently probably having a hand in the noble families suddenly being somewhat displeased with Veronica. Also, remember, the lady is like an older sister to Veronica. I don't think they're actually siblings. But I also have the fuzzy memory of them sharing a parent (or maybe that was Veronica's stepmom being shared -- I don't know.) Anyway, that family was removed from power due to a coup, as Veronica explained. Now, I'm not solid on whether it was in the past or the present, but you'd think Veronica wouldn't be in power right now if this coup actually worked. Could be that the coup failed which led to the family's power/land being stripped away... Actually, that's probably what happened. Oh yeah; Bruno's going to have a big role here since he's old enough to actually know what happened. (Sorry for the runny tangents.)

[DefyingFates]

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Hmm weird. It feels like I'm not even needed anymore. Maybe I'm just tired.

You must just be tired. No way would anyone think that about you!

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

I don't really get the previously discussed "sad" vibes from Elm's dialogue

This was from the intro trailer; I agree that he's much more composed in the story. If anything, he barely shows much emotion at all other than annoyance which I find is a neat quirk. It's a different method of being detached from things as Ash is, only he does the bare minimum when interacting while Ash overdoes it. I'm probably reading too much into it though.

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Edit: But yeah, the focus on politics (like, Veronica was actually being careful about public opinion when dealing with the Askrans here, being all "let's avoid political trouble by staying on our own sides of the border") is pretty awesome in this book. It has a bit more of a touch of realism I'm appreciating, at least for now.

Same, on top of the whole "Veronica is our friend even if she won't outright say it yet" thing.

22 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

But I also have the fuzzy memory of them sharing a parent (or maybe that was Veronica's stepmom being shared -- I don't know.)

I don't think there was anything about that myself. I assume Letizia is a distant cousin or something - or more likely next in line to whoever was deposed by Veronica's dad, with that being her villainous motive.

[Rinco]

From what I understood from the dialogues on Chapter 2, Letizia's family some time ago tried a coup against the ruling familiy (it was not Veronica's family ruling at the time) that didn't succed. Then Veronica's father took the oportunity and seized the power to himself, exiling Letizia's family for the failed coup. From that point on, Letizia and Veronica couldn't see each other anymore, as the former grew on a distant part of the kingdom.
That's why Veronica is now ruling and that's probably why Letizia will try to depose Veronica (to avenge her family and the shame of being exiled).

Letizia and Veronica are not blood related. They just grew togheter and Veronica saw Letizia as an older sister.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Rinco

[Mercakete]

10 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

You must just be tired. No way would anyone think that about you!

XD Aww, thanks! Though I meant it somewhat more in a "Dang. Everyone's popping off these great, well-founded and insightful theories, discussions, and such; what can I contribute here when everyone's already rocking?" kind of way. It's nice to know that I can still provide some discussion and insights, too, though!

Quote

This was from the intro trailer; I agree that he's much more composed in the story. If anything, he barely shows much emotion at all other than annoyance which I find is a neat quirk. It's a different method of being detached from things as Ash is, only he does the bare minimum when interacting while Ash overdoes it. I'm probably reading too much into it though.

Same, on top of the whole "Veronica is our friend even if she won't outright say it yet" thing.

Ahh, yeah, I see what you mean now.

Quote

I don't think there was anything about that myself. I assume Letizia is a distant cousin or something - or more likely next in line to whoever was deposed by Veronica's dad, with that being her villainous motive.

Hmm maybe I should play through that again at some point to double check the dialogue just to make sure I'm not missing anything. But yeah, I'm with you on the "I was supposed to be next!" being the motive thing, though she doesn't really need anything that specific if this family has had internal struggles like this for so long and she's the chief of this group of assassins and such.

@Rinco

Yeah, that tracks. Thanks! Though, they actually are related -- just distantly. Complicated family and all that, but I guess that's what happens when you have the blood of the dragon in charge of breaking bonds.

[DefyingFates]

3 minutes ago, Rinco said:

From what I understood from the dialogues on Chapter 2, Letizia's family some time ago tried a coup against the ruling familiy (it was not Veronica's family ruling at the time) that didn't succed. Then Veronica's father took the oportunity and seized the power to himself, exiling Letizia's family for the failed coup. From that point on, Letizia and Veronica couldn't see each other anymore, as the former grew on a distant part of the kingdom.
That's why Veronica is now ruling and that's probably why Letizia will try to depose Veronica (to avenge her family and the shame of being exiled).

Letizia and Veronica are not blood related. They just grew togheter and Veronica saw Letizia as an older sister.

Great, thanks for clearing that up, Rinco!

1 minute ago, Mercakete said:

XD Aww, thanks! Though I meant it somewhat more in a "Dang. Everyone's popping off these great, well-founded and insightful theories, discussions, and such; what can I contribute here when everyone's already rocking?" kind of way.

That's a relief to hear, yay!! And don't worry, you still contribute plenty, if your last post didn't make that clear enough already~

[ARMADS!!!]

4 hours ago, DefyingFates said:

Glad to hear it! And I think you're right about Freyja's theme working well in FEH but not as a YouTube video too; I should have thought of that myself.

As for the Book:

The opening is a lot more mundane that previous books, which I think fits the "back to basics" return to Embla. Hopefully it'll translate to some more depth in the story too? I liked that there were a lot of cutscenes in Chapter 1 for instance, though 2 sullied that. Ash also grew on me. I still feel like the trailer stuffed her full of anime cliches, but her excessive politeness is endearing and funny without being too excessive (for now, at least).

And as much as I would like to see a double twist where Letizia turns out to be a good person despite being suspicious... yeah, I highly doubt that's going to be the case. A shame, really - it was nice to know Veronica had more in her life than just Bruno (hopefully he shows up by Chapter 4 at the latest; he's bound to hear what's going on back home by then, right?) Explaining why Letizia wasn't still in her life was a nice touch, so that Book I's "Veronica is lonely" thing didn't fall apart immediately.

 I also felt this way about Ash. The trailer made it look that she was gonna be way more obinoxious and tropey, but in fact she is not even close to that? (I figured her to be kinda histeric, like those "OH NO! PLEASE SORRY!IMSOSORRYIMSOSORRYIMSOSORRY, SIR! ITS JUST THAT IM SOCLUMSYANDANNOYING..." type of anime girls, so having a calm character instead was a relief) Also the break of (the awful) expectations I had for her probably were a huge part of me kinda liking her now. I also like how overly polite she is without being annoying (yet), and how other people always unconsciously interrupt her because she mumbles too much, hope they won't make it too tropey or excessive because in the level it is now its fine. Also the way Ash is always trying to re explain herself multiple times to avoid inconveniencing anyone in the slightest reminds me of the way that kindergarten teachers speak (and now that I think about this... Kindergarten teachers probably do this to avoid the kids form braking down after hearing something that hurt them... I'm kinda proud of myself from finding this out by myself)

 

 And is Letizia actually Veronica's half sister or they're not directly related at all and just call each other sister because they were close/because the game mistranslated the whole "nee-san" thing? I liked to know more about Embla and Veronica's life too. About their whole order of "heroes" thing, about Veronica's father being dead (so her mother is probably the queen/empress of Embla now), etc. It just bugs me that in that conversation between those two unnamed characters they were saying that Veronica was going to be the queen/empress or something like this, right? But Bruno is her older brother! Then why is that? Its almost as if IS was saying "yeah, we'll kill Bruno" (or maybe its because he is not Veronica's mother child, so she happened to become the crown princess instead)

 

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Hmm weird. It feels like I'm not even needed anymore. Maybe I'm just tired.

Anyway, after playing through the chapters, I don't really get the previously discussed "sad" vibes from Elm's dialogue, though it could be more that he expresses his truer feelings through his expression rather than his words, and the character art only has so many variations. I do like how open he is with his feelings in his expression as depicted in the trailer, but that's not really able to be shown in the story dialogue, sadly. Anyway, I feel a bit like the trailer raised the hype too high for me and I wound up being kind of underwhelmed with the actual story. I know that Elm's words "having intentional barbs" is a character trait of his, but he just winds up coming across as a genetic "I'm so evil" guy, which is disappointing. I hope IS turns it around sometime with a good character twist, but I don't know how likely that is to happen. Anyway, we very well could be not seeing his true feelings/emotions, especially since he comes from a goddess who's all about barriers and broken bonds (which would explain Elm putting up relational/emotional barriers by lashing out at people instead of letting himself trust or whatever, as well as Ash being too open with others. A clever way of showing the traits of their masters, but one that requires a way to show that that's what's happening, which means contrast, especially in Elm's case. You need to be able to compare the outward expression with the inward truth, and that's hard to do in FEH's format.) But yeah, Elm hasn't really shown any particular hatred toward Askr or love for Embla yet. Just sort of scathing and violent interactions in general. Thinking back on it, it really feels like a front. Maybe he hasn't made up his mind about how he really feels about things yet and is just in the observation phase while he does his job. Maybe he doesn't actually care about any of this, and at most, finds Ash annoying. That's about all I'm getting from him so far.

 

 We are all tired my friend, we are all tired... (also I agree with DefyingFates, no one thinks that about you, dude) Ahem! Anyway...

 Elm is always talking about "his lady" and his death quote is even "Lady Embla" or something like this, so I guess that he cares about her? Maybe not love, but he is surely either devoted to her/scaried of her/at least sees her as someone that can save him or that is more favorable for him to be at her side. Who knows, maybe he really cares about her but she doesn't let him get emotionally close to her so he keeps it to himself. And depending on how he feels about Embla, he probably don't like Askr(because he is his lady's enemy)/don't give a fuck about him and is only his enemy because Embla "ordered him"/Or is scaried of Askr (and knows that Embla can protect him from him if he follows her orders). He could even be jealous of Ash because she was created by a God that cares about her while Embla might not give a fuck about him.

 I just know one this, Elm woke up and chose V I O L E N C E (I liked when he said "shut up" and his theme song started, swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag)

 

40 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

Actually, I believe that Veronica is currently reigning. The plotting was against Veronica herself, and there hasn't been a move made against her yet, so it's probably set in the present or in the EXTREMELY RECENT past. (I'm talking a week at most.) This is especially because of the fiasco with Embla being overrun on Veronica's watch by Fafnir's forces relatively recently probably having a hand in the noble families suddenly being somewhat displeased with Veronica. Also, remember, the lady is like an older sister to Veronica. I don't think they're actually siblings. But I also have the fuzzy memory of them sharing a parent (or maybe that was Veronica's stepmom being shared -- I don't know.) Anyway, that family was removed from power due to a coup, as Veronica explained. Now, I'm not solid on whether it was in the past or the present, but you'd think Veronica wouldn't be in power right now if this coup actually worked. Could be that the coup failed which led to the family's power/land being stripped away... Actually, that's probably what happened. Oh yeah; Bruno's going to have a big role here since he's old enough to actually know what happened. (Sorry for the runny tangents.)

  This whole thing makes me way too confused. idk know if I got correctly what happened there, but for me it sounded like Veronica and Letizia are half siblings and have the same mother (since Letizia calls Veronica her sister, idk if its literally or not but I'm going to assume it is, for now, and also she says that they don't have the same father, aaaand they look alike) and that Letizia's father was the emperor until the day that Veronica's father took the place for himself. Now he is dead, so Veronica's (and Letizia's) mother is probably the empress (I assume so, since they call Veronica "princess Veronica"). Well, idk, I would assume that Letizia wanted to take Veronica down so she would be the child left from their mother to rule Embla (since Bruno has another mother, so he is Veronica's half brother but not Letizia's), but then she says that she is the 9th in the sucession line. Why? Who would be in front in this line? I could guess that (after the Empress herself) its Veronica (because its her child), then maybe Bruno (since in case Veronica dies, theres no other royal childs soooo), then who? There still have to be 6 people before Letizia.

 

 EDIT:  

 I also liked thw wholw politic thing, andd how wild Embla (the kingdom) is.

Quote

@DefyingFates said "This was from the intro trailer; I agree that he's much more composed in the story. If anything, he barely shows much emotion at all other than annoyance which I find is a neat quirk. It's a different method of being detached from things as Ash is, only he does the bare minimum when interacting while Ash overdoes it. I'm probably reading too much into it though".

(thats the way I found to quote on edits I guess?)

  He is probably going to snap soon.

 

Quote

@Rinco said "From what I understood from the dialogues on Chapter 2, Letizia's family some time ago tried a coup against the ruling familiy (it was not Veronica's family ruling at the time) that didn't succed. Then Veronica's father took the oportunity and seized the power to himself, exiling Letizia's family for the failed coup. From that point on, Letizia and Veronica couldn't see each other anymore, as the former grew on a distant part of the kingdom.
That's why Veronica is now ruling and that's probably why Letizia will try to depose Veronica (to avenge her family and the shame of being exiled)."

  I agree with Mercakete that they're probably blood related (like... just look at their faces!), but aside from this, thanks for explaining (I didnt read all the comments yet when I was writing my reply... It was too much). I hadnt realised that it was like this, I thought that Letizia's family was rulling Embla and that Veronica's father did the coup and took the trone. Thanks for explaining it.

Edited December 7, 2021 by ARMADS!!!

[DefyingFates]

2 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

The trailer made it look that she was gonna be way more obinoxious and tropey, but in fact she is not even close to that? (I figured her to be kinda histeric, like those "OH NO! PLEASE SORRY!IMSOSORRYIMSOSORRYIMSOSORRY, SIR! ITS JUST THAT IM SOCLUMSYANDANNOYING..." type of anime girls, so having a calm character instead was a relief) Also the break of (the awful) expectations I had for her probably were a huge part of me kinda liking her now. I also like how overly polite she is without being annoying (yet)

Yeah. "Yet" being the keyword here.

2 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

And is Letizia actually Veronica's half sister or they're not directly related at all and just call each other sister because they were close/because the game mistranslated the whole "nee-san" thing?

Letizia was part of a noble family (maybe an offshoot of the royal one). She lived in or near the Palace until her family attempted a coup and was banished to the outskirts of the empire. At best the two of them are second cousins or something along those lines.

I know I've said it before, but while I doubt FEH would bother writing a subversion like this, it would be nice if Letizia seemed suspicious at first but turned out to be a good person in the end. Maybe it's because she reminds me of Ninguang from Genshin Impact?

7 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Elm is always talking about "his lady" and his death quote is even "Lady Embla" or something like this, so I guess that he cares about her?

He does sound devoted, but hopefully he isn't as... desperate as Otr wound up being.

[Etrurian emperor]

2 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

He does sound devoted, but hopefully he isn't as... desperate as Otr wound up being.

Veronica! If I kill you then...THEN! I shall be lady Embla's only remaining family! Muhahahaha!

[Mercakete]

9 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

And is Letizia actually Veronica's half sister or they're not directly related at all and just call each other sister because they were close/because the game mistranslated the whole "nee-san" thing? I liked to know more about Embla and Veronica's life too. About their whole order of "heroes" thing, about Veronica's father being dead (so her mother is probably the queen/empress of Embla now), etc. It just bugs me that in that conversation between those two unnamed characters they were saying that Veronica was going to be the queen/empress or something like this, right? But Bruno is her older brother! Then why is that? Its almost as if IS was saying "yeah, we'll kill Bruno" (or maybe its because he is not Veronica's mother child, so she happened to become the crown princess instead)

Since you took a while writing this, a lot of this has actually been cleared up in recent posts. But good thoughts all around all the same. BULLET POINT TIME! (Not that, by the time I finished, DefyingFates hadn't already posted a nice summary.)

- Veronica and Letizia are distantly related

- Veronica and Letizia have a sisterly relationship, but are not sisters

- Letizia's family lost land and power after a failed coup against the emperor of the time

- Veronica's father seized rulership after the failed coup presented the opportunity for him to

- Veronica is the current ruler of Embla

As I recall, Bruno didn't take rulership mainly because of political complications regarding his mother. He and Veronica share a father, but had different mothers. That said, I think I'll run through Book 1 again just to refresh my memory on all that, but his mother, Veronica's mother, and the previous emperor of Embla do get talked about at one point.

Quote

We are all tired my friend, we are all tired... (also I agree with DefyingFates, no one thinks that about you, dude) Ahem! Anyway...

Aww, thanks. 🙂

Quote

Elm is always talking about "his lady" and his death quote is even "Lady Embla" or something like this, so I guess that he cares about her? Maybe not love, but he is surely either devoted to her/scaried of her/at least sees her as someone that can save him or that is more favorable for him to be at her side. Who knows, maybe he really cares about her but she doesn't let him get emotionally close to her so he keeps it to himself. And depending on how he feels about Embla, he probably don't like Askr(because he is his lady's enemy)/don't give a fuck about him and is only his enemy because Embla "ordered him"/Or is scaried of Askr (and knows that Embla can protect him from him if he follows her orders). He could even be jealous of Ash because she was created by a God that cares about her while Embla might not give a fuck about him.

 I just know one this, Elm woke up and chose V I O L E N C E (I liked when he said "shut up" and his theme song started, swaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag)

Hehehe; yeah, he's one we'll have to get to know over time, but I meant that he doesn't seem personally invested. More like he's just doing a job (and attacking whomever he comes across, physically and verbally.) I detailed a bit more about by observations on his innerworkings and how he and Ash came to be somewhere around here, so more details on that topic there. I kind of like how Ash and Elm are so clearly not the same as mortals.

Quote

This whole thing makes me way too confused.

...

(I assume so, since they call Veronica "princess Veronica")

Sorry about that. I was sort of realizing things as I went. Good point about Veronica being called "princess" still, but she's been actively commanding Embla (the country) so... *shrug*

[Lemmy]

I still don’t think Veronica is head of state.

[Mercakete]

10 hours ago, Lemmy said:

Stumbled upon Hathor from egyptian mythology, egyptian cow based wind deity.

I meant to say this sooner, but good call. Given the prominence of cows in agriculture, I believe there are several cow deities scattered around many cultures, but the wind tie-in seems about right. I wonder if IS is thinking about going with Egyptian-based mythos after Alfador.

 

 

So, was this the "strangeness" Eitri warned us about? Seems pretty...normal. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I have a massive blue cat, a fox with red fin things, wolf-loving heron, and so on already in my barracks. (Oh, plus a summer goat.) What's a new cow and bat and disappearing towns in the grand scheme of things?

[Sentinel07]

To my knowledge, Veronica is not officially in charge, but she ended up essentially being in charge because the people support her over the current ruler since she's keeping their legacy of conquest going. I think even Feh in the Feh Channel implied Veronica is not officially ruling yet.

Ash is not bad so far, certainly not as obnoxious as the trailer implies her to be. Kind of a weird take to make her so tropey in the trailer and yet she's calm and composed (if socially awkward) in the actual story. I mean, the two portrayals of her so far aren't even in the same ballpark.

I'm very convinced that Embla will descend in the 2nd half of this and become the main villain of the book. We basically have 2 separate plots going on right now between Ash and Elm's fight and the Emblian Coup.

[Etrurian emperor]

I herd that people think Ash had a better introduction than they thought. But I still  have a beef with Ash. She seems a run of the milk waifu oc. I wasn't very amoosed with yet another female OC. I think its udderly disappointing that they refuse to do male oc's. Maybe IS thinks the financial steaks are too high to add a male oc. On the bright side Ash seems the nice and reliabull sort of gall. I think she'd be perfect for a forging bonds with Raphael about what Raphael does in the Calfeteria. 

Oho I could do this all day.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Aedan7479]

Has anyone else noticed this in the Book 6 poster:

I'm guessing this is Askr himself, given the likeness to Gustav and what I'm assuming are cow horns, which doesn't blend well with the wind deity theory. So will Embla also be a Bat? Will she sook like Letizia, or Veronica?

on another note, who is Embla's current Emperor? I was under the impression that after Veronica's father died, his second wife, who I thought was Bruno's mother, took the throne, and died after being imprisoned for sharing imperial secrets, (I've double checked book 1's script) leaving the throne empty until Veronica is old enough to take it. So is the current emperor a brother? like a Claudius/Scar situation without the murder (unless that's a plot twist)? they did say that Embla's royal family is a complex web of relations. Actually, are those imperial secrets how Henriette knew about Embla's power's, something else that'll be revealed later, or something that IS completely forgot about? (I know where all the bets are)

[DefyingFates]

20 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I herd that people think Ash had a better introduction than they thought. But I still  have a beef with Ash. She seems a run of the milk waifu oc. I wasn't very amoosed with yet another female OC. I think its udderly disappointing that they refuse to do male oc's. Maybe IS thinks the financial steaks are too high to add a male oc. On the bright side Ash seems the nice and reliabull sort of gall.

Oho I could do this all day.

This started fine. Then I hated it. Then I liked it again.

Well played.

1 hour ago, Sentinel07 said:

To my knowledge, Veronica is not officially in charge, but she ended up essentially being in charge because the people support her over the current ruler since she's keeping their legacy of conquest going. I think even Feh in the Feh Channel implied Veronica is not officially ruling yet.

This is my understanding too, though I keep forgetting who's actually in charge. The king wants peace, but his wife keeps choosing violence and the people like Veronica because she does the same, correct? (I may have the king and queen swapped around.)

Quote

(I know where all the bets are)

@Aedan7479

xD

Thanks for getting the Askr picture too, by the way! Mercakete mentioned it a while back, but it's nice to have a close-up to hand. We know he's a dragon, so maybe he just has small horns in human form (or his dragon form has some bovine features, like Corrin looking like a qilin)?

Edited December 7, 2021 by DefyingFates

[Etrurian emperor]

10 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

This started fine. Then I hated it. Then I liked it again.

Well played.

I guess you needed time to take stock of the situation. Though when you hated it then it could always have gone out of one ear and udder the other. 

I probably shouldn't do it moo much. Otherwise its too easy to repeat myself. Then people would just get a deja-moo.

The age difference between Ash and Elm is kinda interesting. You'd think Ash could drive the boy off by saying ''its pasture bedtime''

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[ARMADS!!!]

3 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I guess you needed time to take stock of the situation. Though when you hated it then it could always have gone out of one ear and udder the other. 

I probably shouldn't do it moo much. Otherwise its too easy to repeat myself. Then people would just get a deja-moo.

The age difference between Ash and Elm is kinda interesting. You'd think Ash could drive the boy off by saying ''its pasture bedtime''

 

 Or you meant "Its pasture your batime".

  But cowmon, Ash has moore cowmmoon sense than this, she wouldnt bAsh the guy. At moost she would askr how old is him because he resembla kid.

 

 Yeah, sorry, its just that I love cheap puns. The worse the better. Also kudos to you for the "pasture bedtime" one, this one was genius level, you should get an Oscar right now for this.

[Rinco]

All those puns and no one wondered why Ash doesn't have Sacred Cowl as her special yet. I'm disappointed.

[Dylan Corona]

4 hours ago, Aedan7479 said:

Has anyone else noticed this in the Book 6 poster:

I'm guessing this is Askr himself, given the likeness to Gustav and what I'm assuming are cow horns, which doesn't blend well with the wind deity theory. So will Embla also be a Bat? Will she sook like Letizia, or Veronica?

on another note, who is Embla's current Emperor? I was under the impression that after Veronica's father died, his second wife, who I thought was Bruno's mother, took the throne, and died after being imprisoned for sharing imperial secrets, (I've double checked book 1's script) leaving the throne empty until Veronica is old enough to take it. So is the current emperor a brother? like a Claudius/Scar situation without the murder (unless that's a plot twist)? they did say that Embla's royal family is a complex web of relations. Actually, are those imperial secrets how Henriette knew about Embla's power's, something else that'll be revealed later, or something that IS completely forgot about? (I know where all the bets are)

That could be Embla haha. Maybe she's not sexy, but buff.

[ARMADS!!!]

35 minutes ago, Rinco said:

All those puns and no one wondered why Ash doesn't have Sacred Cowl as her special yet. I'm disappointed.

OH!!!! I never realized that the name was Sacred Cowl in english!!! I play the game in portuguese and the word they used in the translation is more of a synonym to Cloak or Robe (so its like "Sacred cloak/robe" but in portuguese). But thats a pretty good one, now I'm considering giving Sacred Cowl for Ash just for the memes.

 

 Ok, just one more, I can't help it (since we're talking about specials): If someone attacks Ash with Bonfire what its left of her? Only the ashes.

 

 Kill me

[Kori]

Pleasantly surprised by Ash's personality so far, too. Very polite, a little awkward, a tendecy to overexplain things because she wants to give a correct and complete answer (like her level up quote where she points out that her opinion on her own performance is obviously biased), but not in an annoying way (so far). Overall, she's endearing. I think I'd like to see her and Eir talk.

Veronica seems so fond of her honorary big sis. It's really a shame things are most likely not going to turn out well on that front.