How I imagine a Fire Emblem 4 remake

[Tetragrammaton]

48 minutes ago, Metal Flash said:

Unless you`re Reptor and just break the Magic cap (apparently he was a Sage in the prototype, which has a Magic cap of 30, but despite changing his class to Baron, they kept his magic at 30).

I think they better make him a Master Knight with 30 magic because his Gelben Ritter are mainly Mage Knights.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

I'd kind of love to see that happen just to see how the fandom handles three playable characters called Eve, Eva and Alva.

Really curious whether any or all of the Lachesis lackeys will be hit by the "girlification ray" in the sequel. Eve and Eva are pretty clearly female names, and the absence of any female Cross Knights is pretty unfortunate. Also, they'll need to figure something out re: Alva. He inexplicably shares his name with Thracia 776's Abel incarnation. Also also, I wanna say one of them (Eve?) is canonically the father of Tristan and Jeanne, so making such a character playable could complicate things.

6 hours ago, Metal Flash said:

Unless you`re Reptor and just break the Magic cap (apparently he was a Sage in the prototype, which has a Magic cap of 30, but despite changing his class to Baron, they kept his magic at 30). 

Broke: Being a boss with an interesting and rare class that relates to your weapon of choice.

Woke: Being another goddamn Baron, because that's the only enemy boss class that's allowed I guess.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Really curious whether any or all of the Lachesis lackeys will be hit by the "girlification ray" in the sequel. Eve and Eva are pretty clearly female names, and the absence of any female Cross Knights is pretty unfortunate. Also, they'll need to figure something out re: Alva. He inexplicably shares his name with Thracia 776's Abel incarnation. Also also, I wanna say one of them (Eve?) is canonically the father of Tristan and Jeanne, so making such a character playable could complicate things.

You saying Eve, Eva and Alva aren't the most masculine of names XD Reminds me of the fan translations that had Deirdre's ancestor names Maria despite being a man. I think it's since been localized as something else, but I'd be cool with Maria. Guys with inexplicable girl names are fun.

[Acacia Sgt]

49 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You saying Eve, Eva and Alva aren't the most masculine of names XD Reminds me of the fan translations that had Deirdre's ancestor names Maria despite being a man. I think it's since been localized as something else, but I'd be cool with Maria. Guys with inexplicable girl names are fun.

Who made that mistake? Since it's マイラ (Maira), not マリア (Maria).

Localization changed it to Maera (or perhaps that was the intended name to begin with), which is the name of several Greek mythological figures... all female. Honestly, with so many times FE does the opposite, it'd be refreshing to see another "man with a female name" instead of the other way around, or just plain TG'ed.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

28 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Who made that mistake? Since it's マイラ (Maira), not マリア (Maria).

I don't know, but looking at those two names I can't discount the possibility that I just plain misread it.

28 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Localization changed it to Maera (or perhaps that was the intended name to begin with), which is the name of several Greek mythological figures... all female. Honestly, with so many times FE does the opposite, it'd be refreshing to see another "man with a female name" instead of the other way around, or just plain TG'ed.

How often does Fire Emblem do the opposite? Nothing immediate springs to mind.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

How often does Fire Emblem do the opposite? Nothing immediate springs to mind.

Admittedly, I'm probably just separating the two when it shouldn't, since every example I can think of is "male mythological figure TG'ed into a woman" instead of "woman with a man's name."

Or perhaps... I suppose Ullír could count. Since that's a male Norse god of archery, yet the Jugdrali Crusader named after him is a woman.

[Emperor Hardin]

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Yeah they all have 5 mov. Barons do have one notable disadvantage relative to High Priests: a lower Magic cap (22 vs. 27). So they won't be able to cast status staves against quite as many enemies.

In Binary, they also maded Siege Tomes available to player units and Barons were perfect for them.

That and the Baron/Master Knight cap was raised to 25 from what I remember. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Iron Mage?

High range abilities make up for many of the disadvantages of having low move, though they're still not at the level of Sage, Wyvern Lord and Master Knights, which are the the most OP classes in FE4 in my personal opinion.

14 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Unless you`re Reptor and just break the Magic cap (apparently he was a Sage in the prototype, which has a Magic cap of 30, but despite changing his class to Baron, they kept his magic at 30). 

I'd consider the higher weapon caps a worthy trade for the Baron.

High Priests can only use C Rank anima magic. Actually I'd also argue Bishops in FE4 are also better than High Priests, as whilst they have 2 lower magic, they have B rank anima magic meaning they can use weapons beyond just the three Fire, thunder, and Wind tomes.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

How often does Fire Emblem do the opposite? Nothing immediate springs to mind.

Quite often for generic bosses, whom are always male unless its FE4.

Like Gail the pirate or Larissa the general.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Emperor Hardin

[Metal Flash]

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Broke: Being a boss with an interesting and rare class that relates to your weapon of choice.

Woke: Being another goddamn Baron, because that's the only enemy boss class that's allowed I guess.

At least Androey is a Arch Knight, but yes, Gen 1 LOVES Baron bosses for some reason.

6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Really curious whether any or all of the Lachesis lackeys will be hit by the "girlification ray" in the sequel. Eve and Eva are pretty clearly female names, and the absence of any female Cross Knights is pretty unfortunate. Also, they'll need to figure something out re: Alva. He inexplicably shares his name with Thracia 776's Abel incarnation. Also also, I wanna say one of them (Eve?) is canonically the father of Tristan and Jeanne, so making such a character playable could complicate things.

Reminds me of a user who suggested to genderswap Eva and make her the mother of two of the substitutes. I could see one of them being made female and be given a more distinct design.

[Acacia Sgt]

Yeah, honestly, I just don't see it.

FE has only genderswapped once* during a remake (unless I'm forgetting someone else), and that was Nuibaba. Even then it can be argued that they could get away with it because Gaiden was very paltry in details, they were still effectively creating Nuibaba for the first time all things considered. However, for Genealogy I feel like it's too late. If you want a female Cross Knight, it works better as a new creation than to genderswap someone who already exists.

* I'm aware of the whole Naga thing, but it's hard to say how deliberate it was. Due to how gender-neutral pronouns/nouns are in Japan and that the only actual depiction of Naga as male is from a human-created mural and thus open to artistic liberty (the "orbs" on the shield were definitely not orbs). Or I don't know...

Edited March 25, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

30 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Yeah, honestly, I just don't see it.

FE has only genderswapped once during a remake (unless I'm forgetting someone else), and that was Nuibaba. Even then it can be argued that they could get away with it because Gaiden was very paltry in details, they were still effectively creating Nuibaba for the first time all things considered. However, by Genealogy I feel like it's too late. If you want a female Cross Knight, it works better as a new creation than to genderswap someone who already exists.

Well, Naga was referred to as male in FE3, but apparently swapped to a female representation in FE4. There was still a lot of weirdness with them being known as the "Divine Dragon King", until Awakening formally showed them off as female. Of course, being a god/dess, their gender may be interpreted as more malleable and up for interpretation than most mortal characters.

I dunno, I feel basically nothing toward Lachesis' lackeys, and keeping them in the game while also adding a new female Cross Knight might come across as character bloat. But who knows? I don't want to tread on the toes of Eva superfans.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Well, Naga was referred to as male in FE3, but apparently swapped to a female representation in FE4. There was still a lot of weirdness with them being known as the "Divine Dragon King", until Awakening formally showed them off as female. Of course, being a god/dess, their gender may be interpreted as more malleable and up for interpretation than most mortal characters.

I dunno, I feel basically nothing toward Lachesis' lackeys, and keeping them in the game while also adding a new female Cross Knight might come across as character bloat. But who knows? I don't want to tread on the toes of Eva superfans.

Don't know if you saw my edit, but Naga has always(?) been referred to with gender-neutral terms in Japan, Genealogy being the first time we got any actual mention of gender (that being female). The only time Naga was absolutely male was with the in-game mural depiction in MotE's intro (forgot of which book), so how accurate it is meant to be is unknown.

Localization for Shadow Dragon went with using male pronouns and terms since that's what the gender-neutral terms translate to (but used in a gender-neutral way in Japan), which is something the fan-translations also went with years before. Which is why this confusion arises to begin with.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

40 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Yeah, honestly, I just don't see it.

FE has only genderswapped once* during a remake (unless I'm forgetting someone else), and that was Nuibaba. Even then it can be argued that they could get away with it because Gaiden was very paltry in details, they were still effectively creating Nuibaba for the first time all things considered. However, for Genealogy I feel like it's too late. If you want a female Cross Knight, it works better as a new creation than to genderswap someone who already exists.

* I'm aware of the whole Naga thing, but it's hard to say how deliberate it was. Due to how gender-neutral pronouns/nouns are in Japan and that the only actual depiction of Naga as male is from a human-created mural and thus open to artistic liberty (the "orbs" on the shield were definitely not orbs). Or I don't know...

They gender swapped Marth and then renamed him Lucina...kind of.

[Emperor Hardin]

1 hour ago, Metal Flash said:

At least Androey is a Arch Knight, but yes, Gen 1 LOVES Baron bosses for some reason.

Well the FE4 prototype info isn't confirmed, just speculated so far.

That said, the game engine love Baron bosses because Baron has a incredibly powerful class skill, "Pavise/Big Shield" , thats very annoying for players, whilst annoying not being too annoying like an offensive skill like Luna or Astra would be. Unlike player units, enemy units aren't almost always on the defensive and rarely have personal skills.

The  generic enemies and many minor bosses like Lewyn's Uncles and Chagall, can't even have luck, holy blood, or personal skills, so class skills are all they can have. This is also probably why Lewyn's uncles and Chagall lack holy blood.

Reptor isn't a minor boss and does have holy blood, whilst having the ability to have a luck stat or a personal skill even if he doesn't use them. That said, they may have felt it wasn't worth the effort and pavise would be a more intimidating skill for Reptor than Baron.

Long reply, I know.

43 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Yeah, honestly, I just don't see it.

FE has only genderswapped once* during a remake (unless I'm forgetting someone else), and that was Nuibaba. Even then it can be argued that they could get away with it because Gaiden was very paltry in details, they were still effectively creating Nuibaba for the first time all things considered. However, for Genealogy I feel like it's too late. If you want a female Cross Knight, it works better as a new creation than to genderswap someone who already exists.

I'd like to see Larissa, a gaiden boss from Shadow Dragon, gender swapped to match his name, but unlike Nuibaba, keeping his ugly/evil features. Female Larissa could look like Cylene from Pokemon Legends.

5 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Don't know if you saw my edit, but Naga has always(?) been referred to with gender-neutral terms in Japan, Genealogy being the first time we got any actual mention of gender (that being female). The only time Naga was absolutely male was with the in-game mural depiction in MotE's intro (forgot of which book), so how accurate it is meant to be is unknown.

Localization for Shadow Dragon went with using male pronouns and terms since that's what the gender-neutral terms translate to (but used in a gender-neutral way in Japan), which is something the fan-translations also went with years before. Which is why this confusion arises to begin with.

Nope, thats false as revealed here.

Naga is referred to with distinctly masculine terms in FE1, FE3 and even FE4.

The fan translation of FE12 referring to Naga as explicitly female is artistic liberty.

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

They gender swapped Marth and then renamed him Lucina...kind of.

Lucina is nothing like Marth and doesn't even know much about him.

9 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Well, Naga was referred to as male in FE3, but apparently swapped to a female representation in FE4. There was still a lot of weirdness with them being known as the "Divine Dragon King", until Awakening formally showed them off as female. Of course, being a god/dess, their gender may be interpreted as more malleable and up for interpretation than most mortal characters.

I dunno, I feel basically nothing toward Lachesis' lackeys, and keeping them in the game while also adding a new female Cross Knight might come across as character bloat. But who knows? I don't want to tread on the toes of Eva superfans.

It should be noted, Naga's "god" status  is hard to translate into english. 

In Japan, Naga is referred to as a minor guardian deity, which is also used to refer to the spirits in tomes, the things summoned by Ashera in FE10, and the unused Guardian enemies in FE3 among other things.

But basically, they don't mean god like how Ashera, Yune and Ashunera are gods.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Emperor Hardin

[Jotari]

4 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Lucina is nothing like Marth and doesn't even know much about him.

Yeahhh. I just felt like saying something, because they did at least play with the idea. It was either that or pointing out the uncertainty as to whether Nuibaba even was gender swapped given how monstrous her original design was and that the association with Medusa was already there. On the other hand she was an arcanist before and not a witch, even though her abode is on witch mountain.

4 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

 

The  generic enemies and many minor bosses like Lewyn's Uncles and Chagall, can't even have luck, holy blood, or personal skills, so class skills are all they can have. This is also probably why Lewyn's uncles and Chagall lack holy blood.

Reptor isn't a minor boss and does have holy blood, whilst having the ability to have a luck stat or a personal skill even if he doesn't use them. That said, they may have felt it wasn't worth the effort and pavise would be a more intimidating skill for Reptor than Baron.

 

I don't get this. What is stopping Lewyn's uncles from having Holy Blood?

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jotari

[Emperor Hardin]

Just now, Jotari said:

Yeahhh. I just felt like saying something, because they did at least play with the idea. It was either that or pointing out the uncertainty as to whether Nuibaba even was gender swapped given how monstrous her original design was and that the association with Medusa was already there. On the other hand she was an arcanist before and not a witch, even though her abode is on witch mountain.

Any opinion on gender swapping Larissa from Shadow Dragon? 

Here's a page on him

Unlike Nuibaba, female Larissa would still be a minor character with the same "ugly" features like narrow cheekbones and prominent forehead, kinda like Cyllene from Pokemon Legends?

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Nope, thats false as revealed here.

Naga is referred to with distinctly masculine terms in FE1, FE3 and even FE4.

The fan translation of FE12 referring to Naga as explicitly female is artistic liberty.

Nope.

ちなみに性別は作中で言及されておらず、チキの親とは言うが父親なのか母親なのかは定かではない。
"Incidentally, her gender is not mentioned in the work, and although she is said to be Chiki's parent, it is not certain whether she is her father or mother."

Again, a kanji like 王 may mean "King", but in Japan it can be used in a gender-neutral way, despite King being masculine to us. This is because it can also mean gender-neutral terms like "ruler, sovereign, monarch, etc." but people default to King when translating.

[Jotari]

13 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Nope, thats false as revealed here.

Naga is referred to with distinctly masculine terms in FE1, FE3 and even FE4.

The fan translation of FE12 referring to Naga as explicitly female is artistic liberty.

I'd love for them to include OP Male Naga in Heroes just to further all the confusion. While I've accepted Naga as female as that seems to be the direction they want to take the character, I've always found the idea of a gender bending dragon god more interesting than a generic benevolent mother goddess.

7 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

Any opinion on gender swapping Larissa from Shadow Dragon? 

Here's a page on him

Unlike Nuibaba, female Larissa would still be a minor character with the same "ugly" features like narrow cheekbones and prominent forehead, kinda like Cyllene from Pokemon Legends?

Can we keep the mustache?

5 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Nope.

ちなみに性別は作中で言及されておらず、チキの親とは言うが父親なのか母親なのかは定かではない。
"Incidentally, her gender is not mentioned in the work, and although she is said to be Chiki's parent, it is not certain whether she is her father or mother."

Again, a kanji like 王 may mean "King", but in Japan it can be used in a gender-neutral way, despite King being masculine to us. This is because it can also mean gender-neutral terms like "ruler, sovereign, monarch, etc." but people default to King when translating.

The Japanese text (google translated, so accuracy beware) there does note how it's king and not queen, so it seems there is some linguistic expectation there. Or, in other words, if they wanted to make it clear she was female with her title they could have, but they went the ambiguous route. There existence of this matter being discussed in Japanese shows that it has always been a point of confusion, not just for the English community. Of course that should have kind of been evident with the first visual depiction of Naga being as a man. Humans having a different perception of history to the dragons is mentioned, but beyond not wanting to be worshipped, the story doesn't go to any effort to actually discredit that depiction. It seems anyone playing Old Mystery, in isolation, would come away with the perception that Naga is a male.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jotari

[Emperor Hardin]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Nope.

ちなみに性別は作中で言及されておらず、チキの親とは言うが父親なのか母親なのかは定かではない。
"Incidentally, her gender is not mentioned in the work, and although she is said to be Chiki's parent, it is not certain whether she is her father or mother."

Again, a kanji like 王 may mean "King", but in Japan it can be used in a gender-neutral way, despite King being masculine to us. This is because it can also mean gender-neutral terms like "ruler, sovereign, monarch, etc." but people default to King when translating.

ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。

cause he is called the God Dragon King instead of the God Dragon Queen, it is highly likely that he is a father. 

8 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I don't get this. What is stopping Lewyn's uncles from having Holy Blood?

Missed this. 

What is stopping Lewyn's uncle from having holy blood is that they're not complete units like how Arvis and the playable characters are. Too save on data, generic enemies and minor enemies have incomplete data like FE3 enemies, which means they cannot have luck, personal skills or holy blood, essentially working off different rules.

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I'd love for them to include OP Male Naga in Heroes just to further all the confusion. While I've accepted Naga as female as that seems to be the direction they want to take the character, I've always found the idea of a gender bending dragon god more interesting than a generic benevolent mother goddess.

Can we keep the mustache?

I think Kaga meant Naga's gender to be ambiguous rather than clear cut.

Awakening's time travel joking dragon is definitely very far from the concept of Naga portrayed earlier, I feel.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Emperor Hardin

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。

cause he is called the God Dragon King instead of the God Dragon Queen, it is highly likely that he is a father. 

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The Japanese text (google translated, so accuracy beware) there does note how it's king and not queen, so it seems there is some linguistic expectation there. Or, in other words, if they wanted to make it clear she was female with her title they could have, but they went the ambiguous route. There existence of this matter being discussed in Japanese shows that it has always been a point of confusion, not just for the English community. Of course that should have kind of been evident with the first visual depiction of Naga being as a man. Humans having a different perception of history to the dragons is mentioned, but beyond not wanting to be worshipped, the story doesn't go to any effort to actually discredit that depiction. It seems anyone playing Old Mystery, in isolation, would come away with the perception that Naga is a male.

Full text:

ちなみに性別は作中で言及されておらず、チキの親とは言うが父親なのか母親なのかは定かではない。
ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。
しかしナーガの姿に初めて言及した聖戦では人間体は幼い少女の姿になっていたし、直接登場した覚醒でも女性の姿だったので女性の可能性も高い。
そしてヒーローズにて紋章ナーガと覚醒ナーガが同一人物となったので、女性でありチキの母親であったことが確定となった。

Incidentally, his gender is not mentioned in the work, and although he says he is Tiki's parent, it is not certain whether he is her father or mother.
However, in the crest, the figure in the OP is a man, and he is called the divine dragon king, not the divine dragon queen, so there is a strong possibility that he is the father.
However, in the crusade where Naga's appearance is first mentioned, her human body was in the form of a young girl, and in the Awakening where she appeared directly, she was also in female form, so there is a strong possibility that she is female.
And in Heroes, since the Monk Naga and the Awakened Naga were the same person, it was confirmed that she was a woman and Tiki's mother.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Emperor Hardin]

Just now, Acacia Sgt said:

Full text:

ちなみに性別は作中で言及されておらず、チキの親とは言うが父親なのか母親なのかは定かではない。
ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。
しかしナーガの姿に初めて言及した聖戦では人間体は幼い少女の姿になっていたし、直接登場した覚醒でも女性の姿だったので女性の可能性も高い。
そしてヒーローズにて紋章ナーガと覚醒ナーガが同一人物となったので、女性でありチキの母親であったことが確定となった。

Incidentally, his gender is not mentioned in the work, and although he says he is Tiki's parent, it is not certain whether he is her father or mother.
However, in the crest, the figure in the OP is a man, and he is called the divine dragon king, not the divine dragon queen, so there is a strong possibility that he is the father.
However, in the crusade where Naga's appearance is first mentioned, her human body was in the form of a young girl, and in the Awakening where she appeared directly, she was also in female form, so there is a strong possibility that she is female.
And in Heroes, since the Monk Naga and the Awakened Naga were the same person, it was confirmed that she was a woman and Tiki's mother.

ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。

It specifically mentions Naga is referred to by the masculine term for ruler in the test I posted.

We aren't talking about later work like Heroes, remember Awakening is in no way accurate how Archanea or its characters were meant to be. Later writers made Naga explicitly female, but Kaga made it ambiguous by having Naga referred to by a masculine term, but once described as appearing as a girl, albeit in a tone making it unclear if it was their true form or not.

Remember there's tons of inconsistencies in how Naga is written in the 3DS games compared to Kaga's.

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Emperor Hardin said:

ただ紋章ではOPに出てくる姿が男な事と、神竜女王ではなく神竜王と呼ばれているので、父親の可能性が高いというくらいか。

It specifically mentions Naga is referred to by the masculine term for ruler in the test I posted.

We aren't talking about later work like Heroes, remember Awakening is in no way accurate how Archanea or its characters were meant to be. Later writers made Naga explicitly female, but Kaga made it ambiguous by having Naga referred to by a masculine term, but once described as appearing as a girl, albeit in a tone making it unclear if it was their true form or not.

Remember there's tons of inconsistencies in how Naga is written in the 3DS games compared to Kaga's.

Ultimately, the point is that Naga was meant to be gender ambiguous, so just because they settled on one after Kaga left doesn't mean Naga was subjected to gender bending, which was my point of not counting Naga while mentioning Nuibaba as the only one (again, barring me not remembering).

Also, they call the shots. So unless Kaga himself tells us what were his plans with Naga, then the people currently in charge of IS have the final word on the matter.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Emperor Hardin]

1 minute ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ultimately, the point is that Naga was meant to be gender ambiguous, so just because they settled on one after Kaga left doesn't mean Naga was subjected to gender bending, which was my point of not counting Naga while mentioning Nuibaba as the only one (again, barring me not remembering).

Also, they call the shots. So unless Kaga himself tells us what were his plans with Naga, then the people currently in charge of IS call the shots.

My point is Naga was referred to with masculine terms in early games and combined with also being described as appearing as a little girl, I think its clear, Kaga intended Naga to be genderly ambiguous rather than explicitly male or female. So I'm not big on Xane explicitly calling Naga female in FE12's translation, as in the Japanese version, the terms  in the Japanese script used either had no gender or were a lil masculine in the case of the ruler titles.

Honestly the bigger deal with Nuibaba, was how they made the character, beautiful.

[Jotari]

There is really three possibilities regarding Naga's gender.

*Naga was always intended to be female and they just did a really poor job conveying that fact in Old Mystery (this I find to be the least likely).

*Naga was originally conceived as male and then they later regendered her in Genealogy or Awakening (thus we have two characters in the series who were regendered)

*Naga's gender was deliberately meant to be ambiguous in Kaga's games and then Awakening just decided to confirm the character as female because they wanted to depict her on screen.

It's possible literally no one, even among the writing staff at IS, can confirm which of these is actually the truth of the matter. Unless in the future they decided to take the ambiguous route again.

Also obligatory note since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Nagi exists too. Which is, kind of sort of related to Naga's gender as a pre Awakening pseudo depiction.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Jotari

[Emperor Hardin]

5 minutes ago, Jotari said:

There is really three possibilities regarding Naga's gender.

*Naga was always intended to be female and they just did a really poor job conveying that fact in Old Mystery (this I find to be the least likely).

*Naga was originally conceived as male and then they later regendered her in Genealogy or Awakening (thus we have two characters in the series who were regendered)

*Naga's gender was deliberately meant to be ambiguous in Kaga's games and then Awakening just decided to confirm the character as female because they wanted to depict her on screen.

It's possible literally no one, even among the writing staff at IS, can confirm which of these is actually the truth of the matter. Unless in the future they decided to take the ambiguous route again.

Also obligatory note since it hasn't been mentioned yet, Nagi exists too. Which is, kind of sort of related to Naga's gender as a pre Awakening pseudo depiction.

I'm inclined to say point 3 is the choice. Even in Genealogy, Kaga makes it vague if Naga and Salamander's forms were their true humanoid forms, only saying that was how they appeared to the crusaders. Than there's Forseti not using female terms for Naga either.

Naga in Awakening was written way differently than how the character originally was. 

I don't think Naga was meant to be definitively male, but I think Kaga wanted it to be ambiguous at least.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Emperor Hardin

[Jotari]

1 minute ago, Emperor Hardin said:

I'm inclined to say point 3 is the choice. Even in Genealogy, Kaga makes it vague if Naga and Salamander's forms were their true humanoid forms, only saying that was how they appeared to the crusaders.

Naga in Awakening was written way differently than how the character originally was. 

I don't think Naga was meant to be definitively male, but I think Kaga wanted it to be ambiguous at least.

That's how I'd lean to, but it also took him a whole game to given Naga any hint of female aspects, so it's also possibly Kaga just outright changed his mind. Regardless if they do remake Genealogy and inset more Naga into it, it'll almost certainly be the Naga established in Awakening given Genealogy is where the first hints of a female identity came from.

Coming to think of it, something I've somehow never considered before, but if Naga isn't meant to be some asexual transcended gendered being and was just a powerful female dragon, then who is Tiki's father? That's somethin that, to my knowledge, none of the games ever hint at, but it should kind of be a big deal. All of Naga's big battles were kind of finished by the time Tiki was around, so whomever sired her should still be around in some form? Unless dragons in Archanea are meant to just be able to reproduce asexually (that would be one explanation for the White Dragons in Duma's lair that don't fit into any established tribe in Archanea's lore. They're Duma's children).