Special Heroes: May This Last

[Tybrosion]

1 hour ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Kinda funny that Lyon get a new alt with each passing your since his introduction while fellow GBA villain Nergal isn't even in the game.

Lyon also consistently places very well in CYL (more so in recent CYLs) while Nergal does not. Hell, Nergal has never placed above Idunn either despite her originating from an unlocalized game.

I don’t like Lyon at all, but I totally get why they push him. He straight up is the third most popular FE8 character.

[ARMADS!!!]

2 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Kinda funny that Lyon get a new alt with each passing your since his introduction while fellow GBA villain Nergal isn't even in the game.

As much as I want Nergal too, it doesn't feel strange for Lyon to have more alts, he has always been pretty popular, is young and handsome, used to hang out with the two lords, is a tragical villain, has a bunch of moments to flash him out, and I think that his first alts might have made him even more popular among the general fandom (then granting him more alts), also IS pushes all of the young royals of Magvel and Lyon is the most popular of them all after the lords.

 Nergal, while also the final boss (if we don't count the Fire Dragon but whatever) comes off as a saturday morning villain during your whole first playthrough, you have to play the game at least one whole time before you even have the CHANCE to see his backstory. Also he has been consumed by dark magic during all of his screen time (unlike Lyon), and was never close to being one of the fan favorites of FE7 before feh existed, people started to like Nergal more and more precisely because he never shows up in FEH. Sadly, being an ugly old dude doesn't do him any favors too.

11 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Is it me or has been IS playing it much safer with their seasonals than usual? This Christmas we already had a banner with just the Three Houses lords, now we have a Stones banner with only the main characters and Magvel's Altina. 

No minor character in sight and certainly not as the focus. 

I think the Valentines banners were always safe, Selena being here over Fado is what was a bit of a bold choice in my opinion (there were more obvious ways to feel the women quota here), but yeah the choices for seasonals have been a bit safe lately. Well, at least this year we got a neat FE5 banner and Alfonse won CYL so I won't complain yet.

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

Unless they make Morva a Fallen Unit and call it a day there. He doesn't have a non fallen Manakete design after all. Though they could give him Myrrh's, or something like this fan made pallete, which is awesome.

 

Though of those three banners one each needs to be a Grand Hero Battle unit and there's not a lot of perfect candidates there. Glen is a shoe in for one of them, but then what? Fado because he's the least saleable? Or, some of the non CYL bosses to try and push those 13 units up to 16 for banners. Carlyle at the very least feels like he could get in off of Ismarie's back. Gheb if the Japanese know about western memes. Aias is kind of memorable for being part of Caellach's arc. And Pablo is actually pretty important in terms of lore even if he lacks charisma. Mansel, L'Arachel's father, also exists. Sure we're scraping pretty low to the barrel with these suggestions, but it's a pretty exhausted barrel (though not as bad as Awakening yet, and in many practical terms SoV, because most of those CYL minor boss candidates are less than forgettable.

 

 If he had gotten a seasonal right now they wouldn't even have to make up a non fallen dragon form, could've just give him any weapon that not a dragonstone and called it a day.

7 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

With Vigarde present though, you might be able to put forward a fig leaf of justification for her?

All three of the old Gemstone generals admired Emperor Vigarde. Yet Selena is the one who willingly dies a Camus because of how much she loved the Emperor. She couldn't defect  to the heroes when Myrrh told her Vigarde's change was irreversible, because her devotion was such that she simply couldn't live without the Vigarde she once knew.

I considered it, still feels like they just wanted more women for the banner (cause if the lineup had Fado instead of Selena, then Eirika and Myrrh would be the only chicks out of the 6 characters) and came up with the first excuse they could. I don't hate it, just felt lazy. Perhaps it will be nice to see what Vigarde thinks of Selena though, since we already heard her talk about what she thinks of him,how he changed her life,how loyal she it to him,she interact with him while thinking he was alive, etc but never the opposite.

 

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

They don't commonly give us dragons as GHB units though. At least, the only one I can think of is Garon off the top of my head. And Fallen would make more sense for the character given what his only extant dragon design is. Course there's nothing stopping them making Morva both a fallen and a base version (still surprised they shut down that for Medeus by giving us a mix of both his appearance as a mythic, sure the character isn't popular, but a final boss like that is as good excuse as any for a premium dragon unit).

 

 I agree with @Othin, don't think they're against dragon GHBs, we had TT dragons so what could the reason against GHBs be? It's not F2P related for sure otherwise there wouldn't be TT dragons too, so I assume it was just coincidence that Garon is one of the few GHB dragons. I can't see the likes of Jhan and Morva being anything but GHBs too, maybe even Fallen Morva would be a GHB lol.

[Jotari]

26 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

As much as I want Nergal too, it doesn't feel strange for Lyon to have more alts, he has always been pretty popular, is young and handsome, used to hang out with the two lords, is a tragical villain, has a bunch of moments to flash him out, and I think that his first alts might have made him even more popular among the general fandom (then granting him more alts), also IS pushes all of the young royals of Magvel and Lyon is the most popular of them all after the lords.

 Nergal, while also the final boss (if we don't count the Fire Dragon but whatever) comes off as a saturday morning villain during your whole first playthrough, you have to play the game at least one whole time before you even have the CHANCE to see his backstory. Also he has been consumed by dark magic during all of his screen time (unlike Lyon), and was never close to being one of the fan favorites of FE7 before feh existed, people started to like Nergal more and more precisely because he never shows up in FEH. Sadly, being an ugly old dude doesn't do him any favors too.

I think the Valentines banners were always safe, Selena being here over Fado is what was a bit of a bold choice in my opinion (there were more obvious ways to feel the women quota here), but yeah the choices for seasonals have been a bit safe lately. Well, at least this year we got a neat FE5 banner and Alfonse won CYL so I won't complain yet.

 If he had gotten a seasonal right now they wouldn't even have to make up a non fallen dragon form, could've just give him any weapon that not a dragonstone and called it a day.

I considered it, still feels like they just wanted more women for the banner (cause if the lineup had Fado instead of Selena, then Eirika and Myrrh would be the only chicks out of the 6 characters) and came up with the first excuse they could. I don't hate it, just felt lazy. Perhaps it will be nice to see what Vigarde thinks of Selena though, since we already heard her talk about what she thinks of him,how he changed her life,how loyal she it to him,she interact with him while thinking he was alive, etc but never the opposite.

 

 I agree with @Othin, don't think they're against dragon GHBs, we had TT dragons so what could the reason against GHBs be? It's not F2P related for sure otherwise there wouldn't be TT dragons too, so I assume it was just coincidence that Garon is one of the few GHB dragons. I can't see the likes of Jhan and Morva being anything but GHBs too, maybe even Fallen Morva would be a GHB lol.

It sounds weird given how minor a character he is, but Morva could also be a mythic. He is the Great Dragon who helped defeat Fomortiis the first time... probably. That's pretty big in terms of lore. And Sacred Stones doesn't really have any other Mythics at all outside of Fomortiis himself. There's no Gotoh figure and even the five heroes of Magvel are hilariously undercooked. Morva, or another Myrrh is really their only option.

Edited February 6 by Jotari

[ARMADS!!!]

I haven't played the chapters yet (actually, I'm not even 100% sure if they're already playable of they'll just BE tomorrow, I didn't play the game today, but anyway), but someone mentioned how it was probably gonna end up being a dream in the end (since Lyon was dating Eirika and his dad was alright), I just realized that the name of the paralogue: "May this last", suggests that that's probably right. 

[Fire Emblem Fan]

5 hours ago, Tybrosion said:

Lyon also consistently places very well in CYL (more so in recent CYLs) while Nergal does not. Hell, Nergal has never placed above Idunn either despite her originating from an unlocalized game.

It's honestly a shame, I've personally always thought of Nergal as one of the stronger antagonists of the series.

[Othin]

6 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I haven't played the chapters yet (actually, I'm not even 100% sure if they're already playable of they'll just BE tomorrow, I didn't play the game today, but anyway), but someone mentioned how it was probably gonna end up being a dream in the end (since Lyon was dating Eirika and his dad was alright), I just realized that the name of the paralogue: "May this last", suggests that that's probably right. 

The chapter will become playable tomorrow.

The logic sounds plausible, but Heroes often acts as dream-like glimpses at better possibilities, so who knows.

[Sunwoo]

39 minutes ago, Fire Emblem Fan said:

It's honestly a shame, I've personally always thought of Nergal as one of the stronger antagonists of the series.

Yes, but he is a not conventionally attractive old man who bullies the cute dragon girl and has a backstory so difficult to learn that you need a guide to get that chapter. Without that extra bit of depth, he just comes off as a power hungry lunatic.

[Etria]

I love everyone's design, even though Vig's beard looks a bit painted on, if you know what I mean? I would've like to see Fado as well, but then Selena's art is on point. And it is cute that it's actually Ephraim trying to find a gift for Fado and not his sister.

[ARMADS!!!]

35 minutes ago, Etria said:

I love everyone's design, even though Vig's beard looks a bit painted on, if you know what I mean? I would've like to see Fado as well, but then Selena's art is on point. And it is cute that it's actually Ephraim trying to find a gift for Fado and not his sister.

 Oh I love Suzuki Rika's art (the person that made Selena's art), It never disappoints! Some of her works are among my favorites on the whole game (like Resplandescent Eldigan). As much as I'd rather see other people here instead of Selena (like Fador or Morva), I absolutely can't complain about her art one bit. I haven't seen Vigarde's art yet but I'm excited to. Nice to see that Ephraim is trying to get a gift for his dad too, wonder if they're trying to tease that Fado might get on the game someday or something and then never add him like everytime they tease a seasonal unit (Cough! bride Leanne! Cough! Pirate Leanne! Cough!)(but seriously, in this case I mean most likely teasing his OG alt, not a seasonal).

  I'm actually starting to suspect that they didn't add Fado on purpouse - on a place he'd be the obvious choice-  just to make us want him more, and then could add him on a FE8 banner (that doesn't have a lot of options yet to add) and everyone would be happy that here's there and it'd sell well. I'm starting to have the impression that they do some characters dirty on purpouse (like Fafnir, or how we were talking about Nergal here earlier) so people who didn't even liked them that much before will start to want them on the game only because they were done dirty.

[Mercakete]

On 2/6/2024 at 1:50 AM, Etrurian emperor said:

I don't think its weird. Selena just seems to be the equivalent of Altina or Igrene. The more mature ''middle aged'' lady they seem to find a reliable whale bait. In a banner as safe as this they wouldn't let such a favored archetype go.

I mean she's the only one in a different "friend group" to the rest of them. The best she has is her loyalty to Vigarde, though the focus is on Lyon and the twins being friends. Myrrh works since she and Ephraim have such a close bond, and Vigarde works since he's Lyon's dad, but Selena doesn't have especially close bonds with any of the focused characters.

[Jotari]

42 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

The best she has is her loyalty to Vigarde

Isn't that enough? I'd one of the goals is to show a living Vigarde, and that is a good goal, then showing the character with the biggest connection to Vigarde as he was, even bigger than Lyon's connection to him, makes sense. And considering Lyon is the lead unit, honestly Mrryh does seem out of place to me. It seems the one best suited for a banner with Lyon, Lyon's crush, Lyon's secret frenemy, Lyon's father and Lyon's wannabe step mother is Lyon's plucky side kick Knoll. Justice for Knoll who had his tome stolen by Eirika and hasn't shown off his summoning powers! But, of course, colourless dragon lolis and lords go *pew* *pew*.

[Tybrosion]

12 minutes ago, Jotari said:

But, of course, colourless dragon lolis and lords go *pew* *pew*.

Unless if your name is Nowi, then you just go ignored for literal years despite consistently placing better in CYL than other dragon lolis (like Myrrh, coincidentally).

IS even had the gall to have Nah tease the possibility of a Spring Nowi back in 2021, and absolutely nothing has come of that since then. They could commit to six straight years of Macedon spring alts (only the first Spring banner in 2017 did not have a Macedon character), but couldn't even have Nowi follow up Nah. That's honestly pathetic.

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, Tybrosion said:

Unless if your name is Nowi, then you just go ignored for literal years despite consistently placing better in CYL than other dragon lolis (like Myrrh, coincidentally).

IS even had the gall to have Nah tease the possibility of a Spring Nowi back in 2021, and absolutely nothing has come of that since then. They could commit to six straight years of Macedon spring alts (only the first Spring banner in 2017 did not have a Macedon character), but couldn't even have Nowi follow up Nah. That's honestly pathetic.

Maybe Halloween-basically-a-stripper-poll-Nowi did rub some people the wrong way to the extent that they've been scared off using the character. It is a bit weird now that you mention it given her cross sectional appeal of dragon loli and Awakening character.

[Tybrosion]

32 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Maybe Halloween-basically-a-stripper-poll-Nowi did rub some people the wrong way to the extent that they've been scared off using the character. It is a bit weird now that you mention it given her cross sectional appeal of dragon loli and Awakening character.

If that’s really their reasoning, then said reasoning straight up doesn’t work when you remember that Bride Sanaki is also an alt that they made.

And remember, that was also specifically Path of Radiance Sanaki just for that extra layer of squick. That still hasn’t stopped them from using Sanaki multiple times since that alt.

Oh, and there’s also the fact that Nowi dresses like a stripper by default (probably because that’s what she was literally made to do while she was enslaved).

[Othin]

5 hours ago, ARMADS!!! said:

I'm actually starting to suspect that they didn't add Fado on purpouse - on a place he'd be the obvious choice-  just to make us want him more, and then could add him on a FE8 banner (that doesn't have a lot of options yet to add) and everyone would be happy that here's there and it'd sell well. I'm starting to have the impression that they do some characters dirty on purpouse (like Fafnir, or how we were talking about Nergal here earlier) so people who didn't even liked them that much before will start to want them on the game only because they were done dirty.

I've had some similar thoughts. It seems like a viable strategy for getting people more excited for less popular characters when they do show up.

[ARMADS!!!]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Isn't that enough? I'd one of the goals is to show a living Vigarde, and that is a good goal, then showing the character with the biggest connection to Vigarde as he was, even bigger than Lyon's connection to him, makes sense. And considering Lyon is the lead unit, honestly Mrryh does seem out of place to me. It seems the one best suited for a banner with Lyon, Lyon's crush, Lyon's secret frenemy, Lyon's father and Lyon's wannabe step mother is Lyon's plucky side kick Knoll. Justice for Knoll who had his tome stolen by Eirika and hasn't shown off his summoning powers! But, of course, colourless dragon lolis and lords go *pew* *pew*.

I thought about Knoll too, it'd have been nice, I like him a lot (as the fan of young dark mage dudes- or dark mages in general- that I am) so it's a shame that he didn't get in now, or that doesn't have any alt and probably will never have. I guess Myrrh really is the one more out of place here, I figure they just didn't think of any other woman that could be related to Lyon to put on the banner so they added Myrrh instead of Knoll or another of the generals of Grado (who are all men) because they wanted to have more than just one woman on the banner.

[Mercakete]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

Isn't that enough? I'd one of the goals is to show a living Vigarde, and that is a good goal, then showing the character with the biggest connection to Vigarde as he was, even bigger than Lyon's connection to him, makes sense. And considering Lyon is the lead unit, honestly Mrryh does seem out of place to me. It seems the one best suited for a banner with Lyon, Lyon's crush, Lyon's secret frenemy, Lyon's father and Lyon's wannabe step mother is Lyon's plucky side kick Knoll. Justice for Knoll who had his tome stolen by Eirika and hasn't shown off his summoning powers! But, of course, colourless dragon lolis and lords go *pew* *pew*.

It's not about it being "enough" or not. I was explaining why she seems like the odd one out to me since the one I was replying to didn't understand where I was coming from. All the other relationships are "close friend" or "family" but then you have only 1 random vassal in there. She "fits the theme" of valentine's banners, but she doesn't fit with the other relationship types permeating this specific group of characters.

[ARMADS!!!]

19 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

It's not about it being "enough" or not. I was explaining why she seems like the odd one out to me since the one I was replying to didn't understand where I was coming from. All the other relationships are "close friend" or "family" but then you have only 1 random vassal in there. She "fits the theme" of valentine's banners, but she doesn't fit with the other relationship types permeating this specific group of characters.

Exactly, at least last year's Valentines banner had two retainers that weren't family (Sakura and Effie) even if they weren't retainers of the same person, or even from the same side/country, having two made each feel less out of place. Selena would feel a lot less out of place too if another general of Grado was there too (or Knoll, or even someone that is a general/knight/vassal but not from Grado, like Seth or other of the Renais' knights), but again... No option would be a woman so they just put Myrrh.

The problem was having both Myrrh and Selena here, because just Selena + one of the other options I said, or Myrrh + Morva would fit it better.

[Jotari]

54 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

It's not about it being "enough" or not. I was explaining why she seems like the odd one out to me since the one I was replying to didn't understand where I was coming from. All the other relationships are "close friend" or "family" but then you have only 1 random vassal in there. She "fits the theme" of valentine's banners, but she doesn't fit with the other relationship types permeating this specific group of characters.

Well if we centre things on the Renais twins. But centred on the Grado characters frams things differently, that's what I was trying to express. Selena's connection to Vigarde is as strong as Myrrh's to Ephraim's, if not stronger. She isn't just a vassal, she's a vassal who is genuinely in love with the Emperor.

[ARMADS!!!]

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well if we centre things on the Renais twins. But centred on the Grado characters frams things differently, that's what I was trying to express. Selena's connection to Vigarde is as strong as Myrrh's to Ephraim's, if not stronger. She isn't just a vassal, she's a vassal who is genuinely in love with the Emperor.

Wait, she's in love with him? I mean, is it actually said or just a possible interpretation? Cause I never saw it like that (and don't remember anyone stating she really loved Vigarde like that), not sure if I missed something now, cause if she's really in love with him then it does make a bit more off sense having her here.

[Interdimensional Observer]

15 minutes ago, ARMADS!!! said:

Wait, she's in love with him? I mean, is it actually said or just a possible interpretation? Cause I never saw it like that (and don't remember anyone stating she really loved Vigarde like that), not sure if I missed something now, cause if she's really in love with him then it does make a bit more off sense having her here.

To cite the block of text from the  Fluorspar's Oath where Selena explains her thoughts on Emperor Vigarde.:

Myrrh:
“Dame Selena… What’s that?”

Selena:
“It is a fluorspar… His Majesty presented it to me when I was promoted to general. This gemstone is proof of my commission. It’s one of Grado’s treasures… I received it years ago, but I remember that day like it was yesterday. His Majesty smiled so kindly. His voice was filled with dignity and affection…”

Myrrh:
“Dame Selena, you love your emperor, don’t you?”

Selena:
“What are you–“

Myrrh:
“I can see it. Dame Selena, I can see how much you treasure…”

Selena:
“…… His Majesty is most compassionate. You see, I’m a commoner. I was raised in a desolate, impoverished village. My family couldn’t afford our taxes. No one could. We were desperate. Some of us considered…horrible things to make enough money to survive winter. Then, supplies began to arrive. We were told they came from the emperor himself. He sent them to us, a poor frontier town who couldn’t even afford to pay taxes.”

Myrrh:
“……”

Selena:
“Neighboring kingdoms must have thought the emperor mad, I can only guess. But His Majesty did not care about his standing among kings. He cared for his people. He saved us.”

Myrrh:
“……”

Selena:
“That spring, I went to the capital and became a soldier, then a knight. I wanted to dedicate my life to the emperor who had saved it. I felt I understood his dream, I felt I shared his vision…”

 

Yes, there is there is very much a knightly devotion here.

And yet: Myrrh's asking of "you love your emperor", Selena's flustered reaction, her interruption of Myrrh's interruption. I can interpret this as Selena trying to define her feelings towards Vigarde purely as that of a deeply grateful subject to her magnanimous liege. To hurriedly bury the insinuation that what she feels towards him is amor. And if she's rushing to stamp out the notion, maybe it's actually true, but she won't admit it because she think it is improper for a knight to fall in romantic love with her lord.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

To cite the block of text from the  Fluorspar's Oath where Selena explains her thoughts on Emperor Vigarde.:

Myrrh:
“Dame Selena… What’s that?”

Selena:
“It is a fluorspar… His Majesty presented it to me when I was promoted to general. This gemstone is proof of my commission. It’s one of Grado’s treasures… I received it years ago, but I remember that day like it was yesterday. His Majesty smiled so kindly. His voice was filled with dignity and affection…”

Myrrh:
“Dame Selena, you love your emperor, don’t you?”

Selena:
“What are you–“

Myrrh:
“I can see it. Dame Selena, I can see how much you treasure…”

Selena:
“…… His Majesty is most compassionate. You see, I’m a commoner. I was raised in a desolate, impoverished village. My family couldn’t afford our taxes. No one could. We were desperate. Some of us considered…horrible things to make enough money to survive winter. Then, supplies began to arrive. We were told they came from the emperor himself. He sent them to us, a poor frontier town who couldn’t even afford to pay taxes.”

Myrrh:
“……”

Selena:
“Neighboring kingdoms must have thought the emperor mad, I can only guess. But His Majesty did not care about his standing among kings. He cared for his people. He saved us.”

Myrrh:
“……”

Selena:
“That spring, I went to the capital and became a soldier, then a knight. I wanted to dedicate my life to the emperor who had saved it. I felt I understood his dream, I felt I shared his vision…”

 

Yes, there is there is very much a knightly devotion here.

And yet: Myrrh's asking of "you love your emperor", Selena's flustered reaction, her interruption of Myrrh's interruption. I can interpret this as Selena trying to define her feelings towards Vigarde purely as that of a deeply grateful subject to her magnanimous liege. To hurriedly bury the insinuation that what she feels towards him is amor. And if she's rushing to stamp out the notion, maybe it's actually true, but she won't admit it because she think it is improper for a knight to fall in romantic love with her lord.

Now that I remember this exchange and Myrrh's role in the Selena chapter, the one starting to look like they don't belong on the banner is actually Ephraim XD

[Etrurian emperor]

I used to think pre combat damage wasn't that impressive. But then in the current banner you have characters who inflict up to 40+ pre combat damage. That's more HP then some of the frailer units even have. 

[Mercakete]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well if we centre things on the Renais twins. But centred on the Grado characters frams things differently, that's what I was trying to express. Selena's connection to Vigarde is as strong as Myrrh's to Ephraim's, if not stronger. She isn't just a vassal, she's a vassal who is genuinely in love with the Emperor.

It's obviously focused on Ephraim, Erika, and Lyon, rather than an issue of point of view, but yeah, what ARMADS said, really. She's the only vassal, no matter how you look at it. It's not about romance or how close a character is, it's about the kind of relationship that is had. That is, that was what I was clarifying as the basis for Selene feeling out of place to me. Not saying that it's the only way to look at it or anything. Again, all I was doing by the post you originally quoted was clarifying why she seemed out of place to me. After all, it's rather obvious that it was thought that I was measuring it by a different standard (how often IS puts "mature women" type characters on banners for salability.) It was clarification as to my point of view. Not a debate.

[Ice Dragon]

I've been busy for the past few days and hadn't had the time to take a look at this banner until now, so here are my later-than-usual translation notes:

 

The name of the banner, "May This Last", is "私たちはずっと" (watashi-tachi wa zutto), "We Will Always..."

Myrrh's epithet, "Adored Dragon", is "愛しの竜人さま" (itoshi no ryūjin-sama), "Beloved Lady Mamkute". "竜人" (ryūjin) literally translates as "dragon-person", which I'm translating here as the in-universe "mamkute". I refuse to acknowledge the existence of the officially localized terminology.

Loving Breath is "無垢なる愛のブレス" (muku-naru ai no buresu), "Breath of Innocent Love".

Def/Res Scowl is "守備魔防の竜眼" (shubi mabō no ryūgan), "Def/Res Dragon Eye".

Canny Fighter is "魔の守備隊形" (ma no shubi taikei), "Magical Defensive Formation". Compare with Weaving Fighter, "理の守備隊形" (ri no shubi taikei, "Physical Defensive Formation"), and Wary Fighter, "守備隊形" (shubi taikei, "Defensive Formation").

Darkling Dragon is "闇の樹海の竜神" (yami no jukai no ryūjin), "Dragon God of the Forest of Darkness". "闇の樹海" (yami no jukai), "forest of darkness" is the name of the Darkling Woods. "樹海" (jukai), here being translated as "forest", literally translates as "sea of trees".

Ephraim's epithet, "Ardent Prince", is "仁義に燃える王子" (jingi ni moeru ōji), "Prince Burning With Virtue". "仁義" (jingi), "benevolence and justice", are the first two of the five Confucian virtues and can be used to refer to "virtue" in general.

Righteous Lance is "強く気高き魂の槍" (tsuyoku kedakaki tamashii no yari), "Lance of a Strongly Noble Soul".

Earthfire Boost is "生命の業火大地" (seimei no gōka daichi), "Hellfire/Earth of Lifeblood". The Boost skills in Japanese use the same stat indicators as the Balm and Dance skills, but is the one skill series where the name of the series precedes the stat indicators.

Sunlit Bangle D is "華日の腕輪・護" (kajitsu no udewa: go), "Bracelet of Brilliant Sun: Protection". Compare with Solar Bangle, "太陽の腕輪" (taiyō no udewa, "Bracelet of Sun") and Sunlight Bangle, "華日の腕輪" (kajitsu no udewa), "Bracelet of Brilliant Sun".

Selena's epithet, "Admiring General" is "愛秘めし夜光の将" (ai-himeshi yakō no shō), "Love-Hiding General of Night Luminescence". "夜光" (yakō), "night luminescence", is a reference to her title "Fluorspar", which is "蛍石" (hotaruishi) in Japanese. "蛍石" (hotaruishi), "fluorite" or "fluorspar", literally translates as "firefly stone".

Devoted Basket is "愛の祭の花籠" (ai no matsuri no hanakago), "Flower Basket of the Festival of Love".

Lyon's epithet, "Esteemed Royals", is "穏やかな皇子王女" (odayaka na ōji ōjo), "Peaceful Prince and Princess". "皇子" (ōji) specifically refers to a prince of an empire, as opposed to the more common "王子" (ōji) with the same pronunciation, which refers to a prince of a kingdom.

Tender Vessel is "儚く優しい心の器" (hakanaku yasashii kokoro no utsuwa), "Vessel of the Ephemeral Kind Heart". ...That's depressing.

Gray Illusion is "鈍色の迷夢" (nibiiro no meimu), "Dark-Gray Illusion".

Incite Atk/Res is "攻撃魔防の奮激" (kōgeki mabō no fungeki), "Atk/Res Inspiration".

Vigarde's epithet, "Warmhearted Sire", is "慈愛の皇帝" (jiai no kōtei), "Emperor of Parental Love".

Axe of Devotion is "愛の祭の斧" (ai no matsuri no ono), "Axe of the Festival of Love".

Edited February 8 by Ice Dragon