What's the deal with Shez's mother? [Speculation and Discussion]

[DefyingFates]

Every time she's brought up, it's followed by Shez or someone else mentioning how weird she is: she lived in a random village in the middle of nowhere (a forest in Ordelia territory to be specific) but was literate, knew magic and was willing to adopt and raise an abandoned child. She was also a recluse, implying she had a messy past. But we never learn more of this in any route.

[MILD GOLDEN WILDFIRE SPOILERS]

Spoiler

Even when we go to Ordelia territory, Shez just says "I grew up near here" and nothing else comes out it.

So... what's the deal? It felt to me like all three routes had rushed endings, and with so many people repeatedly drawing attention to how weird she is I have to wonder if Shez's mother was intended to have a bigger role and was also cut from the final release. To compare her to Sitri: Sitri was mentioned off-hand a few times in Three Houses and we learned she had a complicated situation in Silver Snow, but that was treated as all there was to her - only for Cindered Shadows to explore her further, so having this maternal figure already wrapped in intrigue only to do nothing with it just feels... silly.

I'd like to think KT wasn't greedy enough to intentionally leave their stories unfinished so they could sell the answers as DLC later, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if we get a DLC campaign where Shez finally decides to dig into their own past for answers (I'd prefer a prequel to be honest, but won't hold my breath on that front). I have two theories at the moment; one based on Azure Gleam and the other on Three Hopes as a whole.

[AZURE GLEAM SPOILERS]

Spoiler

She's Anselma, Edelgard's mother and Dimitri's step-mother. Anselma was an educated woman (being the queen of two major nations and all) and if she fled Enbarr after the Tragedy of Duscur would have reason to be reclusive... and to seek refuge in Leicester after ruining things in both Adrestia and Faerghus. We don't know if Anselma could use magic, but considering her royal blood (and that she was friends with Cornelia), I wouldn't be surprised. Anselma's also someone who isn't accounted for when Azure Gleam concludes and I half-jokingly called that she'd be Shez's mother too in Golden Wildfire, but that didn't come to pass.

[GENERAL SPOILERS]

Spoiler

She's a defector from Shambhala. It's implied that Shez was a test-tube baby to cultivate something else entirely, so I wouldn't be surprised if she grew a conscience, stole the baby and ran - pretty much what Robin's mother did in FE13. Shez grew up right outside Shambhala's location, which is the one standout location from FE16 that never appeared here (and thus another reason I think we're going to get at least one DLC story pack), so there's further evidence to support this.

...though why Shez's mother wouldn't flee further than "right outside the place she was running from" eludes me.

So... what do you think? I went through each route twice, wondering if I'd missed something, but no: we get absolutely nothing about her. Given the rushed endings I'd like at least some of this stuff to be free to compensate, but either way, this is something that's been gnawing at me ever since Shez's mom was first mentioned and I got halfway through my second route without any answers about her. Thanks for reading my fevered rambles!

[ZanaLyrander]

Spoiler

I strongly suspect Shez's adoptive mother was an Agarthian defector in hiding as you suggest. She knew a lot about magic, and raised Shez as her own child. None of the other Agarthians recognized Shez initially, so its pretty clear none of them knew about Shez, or at very least they didn't know Shez was still alive. I have to wonder if the vague flooding in Shambala that Arval describes when talking to Epimenides might in fact have been caused by Shez's mother. Which would make her a fascinating parallel to Jeralt stealing away Byleth and using fire to cover his tracks, while Shez's mother used water to cover her tracks when she stole Shez away. But a lot of this is speculation.

Whatever the case, I strongly suspect that if/when this game gets DLC, they will expand on Shez's backstory further, and what their mother's deal was.

[Seazas]

They purposefully left it out for DLC to do some big mother expansion. The end of the Ashe support confirms it.

[DefyingFates]

44 minutes ago, ZanaLyrander said:

Spoiler

I have to wonder if the vague flooding in Shambala that Arval describes when talking to Epimenides might in fact have been caused by Shez's mother.

 

That's exactly what I think too. I didn't think of the parallel with Byleth, but considering the many other parallels between them and Shez, I love to see it.

Just now, Seazas said:

They purposefully left it out for DLC to do some big mother expansion. The end of the Ashe support confirms it.

Yeah... but the unashamedness really grates on me.

[Fabulously Olivier]

13 minutes ago, DefyingFates said:

That's exactly what I think too. I didn't think of the parallel with Byleth, but considering the many other parallels between them and Shez, I love to see it.

Yeah... but the unashamedness really grates on me.

Nothing wrong with leaving breadcrumbs for a potential dlc. Now, when you've clearly cut content to sell back to people (the NPCs in the original Fire Emblem Warriors), THAT'S shameless.

[DefyingFates]

13 minutes ago, Fabulously Olivier said:

Nothing wrong with leaving breadcrumbs for a potential dlc. Now, when you've clearly cut content to sell back to people (the NPCs in the original Fire Emblem Warriors), THAT'S shameless.

I suppose it depends on how they package it, I suppose. I admit I'd be much angrier if the paid DLC was "better endings for the three main routes".

Even if the "mother DLC" looked really fresh and unique, I'd still be irritated by how much they built her up to no effect in the main story though... but again: not as much as the above example. Hmm...

[Aedan7479]

The most we get is in Shez/Ashe's support conversations:

Ashe convinces Shez to send a letter to his village, to see if the Mayor knew anything, but the A conversation ends right when a reply arrives, so that makes me think they're trying to keep it a mystery. It does feel like they purposely left information out of the whole Epimenidies plot, especially with Arval's paralogue, which tells us next to nothing.

Honestly, no matter how or if the whole story is revealed, the fact it isn't already in the game is not ideal. Still, DLC is inevitable, so hopefully we do get answers.

[ZanaLyrander]

While I still enjoyed the story of Three Hopes quite a bit, I admit it does feel like Shez's own personal story doesn't really resolve properly. Right from the beginning, Shez is curious about Arval and their power, and the possible connection between them and Those Who Slither In The Dark. And yet, they never really learn all that much about that connection. They keep making a fuss about "oh, we get to fight TWSITD, this is my chance to learn more about myself", but they don't learn anything.

Spoiler

The chapter in Zahras and all the Epimenides stuff still leaves Shez with more questions than answers. They really don't learn all that much about their origins, who Epimenides was, what he was trying to accomplish, what role Shez themselves played in all this...

The story is still quite enjoyable, but Shez themselves feels very much like a dangling thread. Which is an unfortunate thing for a protagonist. This really wasn't Shez's story, it was Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude's story, Shez's story was more of an interruption that didn't get a proper resolution.

Edited July 12, 2022 by ZanaLyrander