Mythology in FE: What do you want to see?

[Dragoncat]

So there's a lot of names of characters, weapons, places etc that come from various cultures' myths and legends. Would you like to see more of a certain type, maybe you want more to do with Egyptian mythology for example? Do you want something specific like...a character named after a Greek god? Etc etc etc.

I don't have something I would add, but something I would change. In the bible, Cain and Abel were brothers, and Cain murdered Abel. It would add so much more depth to Marth's tale if one of his loyal knights turned on his comrade for whatever reason, and then became a rogue knight/got exiled because of it. Then maybe he could be a boss later on. They wouldn't have to be brothers, just Cain killing Abel would be enough to make an effective nod to that bible story.

[Anacybele]

I was never really into mythology, but I liked how some names in FE were taken from old famous pieces of writing. Like Beowulf. I'd like to see more of this. Some of the names in Shakespeare's stories were interesting too. I even used one myself (Cato).

Edited October 4, 2014 by Anacybele

[Dragoncat]

I dont remember you having an OC named Cato...must be a minor character or boss in your Dawn of Darkness?

That works too. Greek mythology is the one I know the most about, since we studied it briefly in school, and because of the Percy Jackson books. It's interesting, but I wouldn't say I'm extremely into it either.

[Anacybele]

No, he's an ally character. In fact, he's Bryan's rival and takes the rivalry just about as seriously as Kieran takes his with Oscar. lol

Anyway, every now and then I will find a bit of mythology interesting (I mean, I like Pegasi and Centaurs lol), but not much. But I like that so many names in FE have a meaning or origin behind them.

[Snowy_One]

I would like to see some more Christian mythology. We get to see a lot of Norse, Greek/Roman, Egyptian, and even Shinto mythology now-a-days, but seem to only see Christian mythology/lore/whatever-you-want-to-call-it when they're the defined bad-guys outside of werewolves and vampires (and even that's questionable if that's actually 'Christian' or not).

[RJWalker]

Indian Mythology represent.

[Refa]

Wait till SMTxFE, you guys!

[Dragoncat]

I would like to see some more Christian mythology. We get to see a lot of Norse, Greek/Roman, Egyptian, and even Shinto mythology now-a-days, but seem to only see Christian mythology/lore/whatever-you-want-to-call-it when they're the defined bad-guys outside of werewolves and vampires (and even that's questionable if that's actually 'Christian' or not).

Somebody on an RP forum I was on awhile back made up a race called the rekudo, which were like manaketes only they were snakes. The name rekudo means "lie" in some language, forgot which one. That's a nod to Christian lore since the snake lied to Adam and Eve.

Closest thing we have to werewolves in FE is the wolf laguz. Vampires...nothing.

[EricaofRenais]

I would like to see more Celtic mythology, but since the Legend of Zelda has a lot of it I'm Ok with the little bit that is in Fire Emblem now. I would also like more Norse mythology because I read a bunch of Norse mythos as a teen and I have lots of fun seeing if I can spot references to the Norse in video games.

[Topazd]

Well, the mythological references in FE are almost exclusively limited to names only, so I don't mind as much as I would if SMT was the topic. But some representation of Slavic mythology could be nice.

[Kuru]

Maybe more mythological beasts and monsters that could serve as enemies, or as helping units to the good side.

[Etria]

I'd rather want them to develop their in-game mythology more :/ We have priests and nuns and clerics in pretty much all games, but have little to no idea what they believe in. I mean, i find the real world references kind of fun as well. But a bit more worldbuilding would be nice. I mean, they could do this in the supports! They already kinda did it with the Eirika/Saleh support.

[Topazd]

I'd rather want them to develop their in-game mythology more :/ We have priests and nuns and clerics in pretty much all games, but have little to no idea what they believe in. I mean, i find the real world references kind of fun as well. But a bit more worldbuilding would be nice. I mean, they could do this in the supports! They already kinda did it with the Eirika/Saleh support.

I think the St. Elimine Church was established comparatively well. But you're right, the games really don't go into these things most of the time.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Topazd255

[Etria]

I think the St. Elimine Church was established comparatively well. But you're right, the games really don't go into these things most of the time.

Hm, kinda. It's one of the better examples. But then you have Awakening, Sacred Stones, and maybe some of the older games where you get almost nothing. Even in PoR and RD, you get to hear almost nothing about the philosophy of the followers of Ashera (or do the people in Begnion even pray to Ashera? I think so). They don't have to go into details about rituals and stuff, but some general rules/beliefs could come up in supports.

And they should clear up if their religions are monotheistic or polytheistic. What's this nonsense with the Goddess (the priests/monks follow her) in FE8 and then theres talk about a war god in two supports? They make it sound like they have a monotheistic religion with the nameless goddess in-game so are those supports just some oversight?

[DomesticHausCat]

I'd rather they add more interesting monsters from mythology than just names. Fire Emblem has been mainly in the "warring kingdoms" sub genre of fantasy, so I get why most games don't have legions of zombies/monsters like 13 and 8. Nervertheless, all we really have for the most part are Dragons, and give or take the laguz and risen. I think it would be cool if we fought more unique monsters every once in awhile, and heck some could be bigger than 1 space on the map. They could have different types of attacks to spice things up also.

I'm thinking vampires, harpies, giant serpents, hydras, ect. Would be nice to fight special enemies rather than zombies and soldiers. Just every 4th chapter or so, nothing too formulaic breaking. Gotta keep that warring kingdoms vibe.

Edited October 5, 2014 by DomesticHausCat

[Dragoncat]

I'd rather they add more interesting monsters from mythology than just names. Fire Emblem has been mainly in the "warring kingdoms" sub genre of fantasy, so I get why most games don't have legions of zombies/monsters like 13 and 8. Nervertheless, all we really have for the most part are Dragons, and give or take the laguz and risen. I think it would be cool if we fought more unique monsters every once in awhile, and heck some could be bigger than 1 space on the map. They could have different types of attacks to spice things up also.

I'm thinking vampires, harpies, giant serpents, hydras, ect. Would be nice to fight special enemies rather than zombies and soldiers. Just every 4th chapter or so, nothing too formulaic breaking. Gotta keep that warring kingdoms vibe.

There could be a kingdom that finds out how to control the monsters and use them to smite their enemies. We have seen this very briefly in Awakening, when Gangrel has the risen archers kill the Ylissean pegasus knights. Also feral laguz in PoR, but they don't really count imo. They weren't monsters in the first place.

[sirmola]

I would like to see more Celtic mythology, but since the Legend of Zelda has a lot of it I'm Ok with the little bit that is in Fire Emblem now. I would also like more Norse mythology because I read a bunch of Norse mythos as a teen and I have lots of fun seeing if I can spot references to the Norse in video games.

Honestly, jugderal pretty much consists of an FE skeleton fleshed out almost entirely using celtic mythology (both names and plot fragments), to the point where there are probably as many celtic mythology references in the series as any other mythology. They are just concentrated into two games.

[Paper Jam]

I thought Judgral was more Norse (or Anglo-Saxon) than Celtic.

[AnonymousSpeed]

I would also like to see FE build its own mythology a bit, that stuff always interests me. The names from other mythos are usually just a set from one that the legendary weapons are from, nothing special or even that thematic.

For example: Do we know anything about any culture in the FE games? Other than some stuff about the Laguz and such and how it contrasts with humans, there doesn't seem to be much besides armor color and current ruler ever separating the nations, at least in my experience.

[Dragoncat]

For example: Do we know anything about any culture in the FE games? Other than some stuff about the Laguz and such and how it contrasts with humans, there doesn't seem to be much besides armor color and current ruler ever separating the nations, at least in my experience.

Awakening did this. Ferox is ruled by two khans, and has annual tournaments to determine which one will have authority over the other for that year. Everybody in Chon'sin has an apostrophe in their name. This is never said, but it's implied, and I'm willing to bet Lon'qu was originally from there. Ylisse worships the divine dragon Naga. Plegia doesn't, so they allow the fell dragon worshiping Grimleal cult to run amok in their land and do what they please.

And in the Elibe games we have the nomads of Sacae, who would obviously have a different culture than the Lycia league. There's also Ilia with its pegasus knight dependent culture.

[Rewjeo]

I thought Judgral was more Norse (or Anglo-Saxon) than Celtic.

Indeed, although there's no lack of Celtic stuff in there. Although all of that Celtic stuff is specifically Gaelic. The only Brythonic thing I can think of is the localization of Levin as Lewyn. Of course, there is the general issue of most people not having any clue how either Gaelic or Welsh orthography works.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I was never really into mythology, but I liked how some names in FE were taken from old famous pieces of writing. Like Beowulf. I'd like to see more of this. Some of the names in Shakespeare's stories were interesting too. I even used one myself (Cato).

The majority of the names you see pop up in FE that refer to mythology, are Norse.

Fun Fact: Laguz is actually the name of a rune. It refers to water, spirituality, dreams, fluidity. Its also the letter L in the Elder Futhark. Beorc is also a rune. (its traditionally called Berkano. It means "birch" as in birch tree.) That was often used as the letter B in the Elder Futhark. (that is the runic language/alphabet btw)

There are a lot of Shakespearian names like Cordelia, etc. If FE has a character named Coriolanus in the next installment, i will fucking gyrate with joy.

I thought Judgral was more Norse (or Anglo-Saxon) than Celtic.

oh and how. Mostly really funny translations like "Baldo" Pffffff... (thats supposed to be Baldr)

Loptyr or Lopt is actually one of Loki's names in Norse mythology. Once again, painting him as a bad guy...

All the names of the Sacred Twin Legendary items in Sacred Stones are all Norse references. The Sacred Twins of Renais (Siegmund and Sieglinde) refer to the old Der Ring des Nebelung by Richard Wagner. Its cool stuff.

Anyway, i kinda wanna see some Aztec mythology crop up. Yeah man! Egyptian would be neat too. Im also more interested in cohesive FE lore. Like the series' own mythos.

[Vashiane]

Awakening did this. Ferox is ruled by two khans, and has annual tournaments to determine which one will have authority over the other for that year. Everybody in Chon'sin has an apostrophe in their name. This is never said, but it's implied, and I'm willing to bet Lon'qu was originally from there. Ylisse worships the divine dragon Naga. Plegia doesn't, so they allow the fell dragon worshiping Grimleal cult to run amok in their land and do what they please.

And in the Elibe games we have the nomads of Sacae, who would obviously have a different culture than the Lycia league. There's also Ilia with its pegasus knight dependent culture.

Here's the thing.

If you can decscribe four different cultures in one three-line paragraph, there's a problem.

You can probably describe Tomodachi Life in one three-line paragraph, and that's a little tiny island in the middle of an ocean that's named after a random fruit.

Like look at Plegia alone. And I say Plegia because Plegia is argurably the most important country in the entire game.

• How did Grima's blood become infused with the Plegian populace? Was it gifted to him? Inherited? Was someone given Grima's blood and then it diluted through generations, before having to be rebuilt in order to produce a proper vessel?
• Does the Mark of Grima appear BECAUSE the Avatar's a vessel? Was it tattooed? Are you not allowed to tattoo the Mark because of this?
• Is there a correlation between the Grimleal religion and using dark magic? What purpose DOES dark magic serve for the Grimleal? Why do they almost exclusively all use it?

And that's just me being nitpicky let's get REALLY basic here:

• Are the Grimleal willingly giving themselves up to Grima for sacrifice or are they brainwashed?
• What is the Grima's Truth tome that Validar has? Does that have to do with the ritual?
• If they ARE brainwashed, is it possible to fight it? (Because Tharja and Henry - who both defect to your side, both state they're not religious.)
• How many people does it take to sate Grima's hunger anyway?

Seriously, I could go on and on.

And if you want to say this is WAY too much information and backstory for a game, I kindly direct you to the Codexes from Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

[MRDRHAWK]

Hell, there's mythology nods dating all the way back to Mesopotamia, what with Nergal being named after a Mesopotamian deity of the underworld, with his tome, Ereshkigal, being named for the goddess that controlled the underworld before Nergal did (and, in many myths, became his wife).

I think IS mainly just likes throwing these kind of references in as a "showing their work" type of deal, but maybe they're indicative of what type of culture the ancients of the various continents of the FE universe may have had.

Edited October 18, 2014 by Polydeuces

[AnonymousSpeed]

As Vashiane said, that is a very loose look a culture which I don't find is really what I was hoping for. A loose naming convention, type of ruler and stereotypical religion are certainly a place to start, but Fire Emblem never delves to deep into cultural differences. Comparing real world countries, they have vastly different pass times, languages (though that isn't something I'm complaining about being left out), dialects, foods, holidays, civil customs, things considered respectful or disrespectful, heck, even shared holidays can be celebrated in completely different ways. While I don't expect something like the Samirilion, and I know countries in FE are comparatively much closer and smaller, I myself would like to see such cultural differences creep up. It could make for some very interesting support conversations as well, which is a perfect place to mention some of these things.

If memory serves they did something like this with a few of Cherche's supports, or at least the one with Stahl.

There are a lot of Shakespearian names like Cordelia, etc. If FE has a character named Coriolanus in the next installment, i will fucking gyrate with joy.

While I'm not the bigger fan of Shakespeare, a character like Mercutio would be pretty sweet.