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Why are a lot of playable characters in FE so...beautiful?


Twiggy
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It's like most of them never really get to the "really freaking ugly" level. It does feel so weird knowing your party mostly consists of really handsome-looking guys, cute children, and pretty women.

I'm slightly weirded out, to be honest.

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heroes are beautiful. it's a thing that goes back like millions of years (give or take) in oh so many forms of literature.

this isn't unique to fire emblem by far.

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The older FE's definitely had their fair share of ugly ones, the portraits of FE1 Macellan/Dolph being forever burned into my retina.

I don't necessarily mind the majority of the characters being so good-looking, but some variety couldn't hurt. A playable character with the mug of Hollstadt every once in a while doesn't really mix up the roster that effectively.

Edited by Topazd255
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Gonzales makes it up for the entirety of the cast in the whole series.

All the Shadow Dragon/MotE portraits were kinda ugly as fuck I must say.

To be fair though it makes sense; they make the good guys look more appealing so that people will like them more. Common design decisions n'whatnot.

and then Oliver happened in RD holy shit what a majestic bastard

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The ancient Greeks called this concept 'καλοκαγαθία'. It means 'nobility' and is derived from the phrase 'καλὸς κἀγαθός' ('beautiful and noble'). 'Καλοκαγαθία' is the chivalrous ideal, uniting goodness of character and goodness of looks. It's a common story element, especially in mythological/medieval stories. With Fire Emblem's medieval inspirations, this isn't really surprising.

The older FE's definitely had their fair share of ugly ones, the portraits of FE1 Macellan/Dolph being forever burned into my retina.

Mishelan_Tomth.png: Why would you say that? *sniff*

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are you all saying that I am ugly?

yes

Dolph and Macellan are both hideous in FE1 though. A lot of people are in that one, tbh.

But here's my question: Why do none of the females (Mostly in the recent games, iirc) wear any pants?

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Ashera isn't ugly. Not all villains have to look like Gheb, and I don't really see her as a villain in the first place...she's just a goddess whose subjects disappointed her greatly so she decided to try to start over with the world. It's like the bible story about Noah's ark...kinda. Only difference is she wanted to start completely from scratch. No letting a few chosen ones live...but she did give them the benefit of the doubt and say "come to my lair if you want to prove yourself" This coming from someone who never completed RD, so...

I'm getting off topic. Ashnard, Jarod, Gangrel, Validar, Aversa...those are examples of villains who aren't so ugly they would be given a job application if they went into a haunted house, but they still look the part.

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are you all saying that I am ugly?

idgi

Honestly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Speaking personally, I'd prefer a shitton of rugged, strong-looking, handsome men and women rather than a bunch of creamy-skinned guys with huge eyes and blue hair. But I'll freely accept I'm in the minority here.

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I think Gonzales is kinda cute, and a lot of the "you can tell this person is a bad guy by their appearance (and it's not because they're the grandiose/well-dressed sort)" villains aren't even that bad

Part of it may just be the style. In animation (you know what I mean) it can be challenging to make a character look ugly to a truly foolproof extent, and not have it just be an informed thing ("Oh they're/I'm so ugly oh geez"- the guy with the statuesque physique and chin cut like marble)

But then just "largely unblemished skin and maybe hair that doesn't like it was ripped out in completely random places" can be enough to put you on the right side of my bread

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It's a pity that the average looking people are barely remembered, such as Ralph in FE5.

Gonzales is unique exactly because he does go against this stereotype, don't know why they don't do that more.

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Ralph also has like two lines

To be honest I barely remember anyone from Thracia because they all had like 2 lines and there were two or three characters who were notorious for having zero lines in the entire game (Kein and Alva are two of then).

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Because 99.9999% of all the fictional heroes existing are described as being good-looking.

A lot of historical heroes are described as good looking as well. History remembers the victors in a positive light.
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[spoiler=Relevant-ish Awkward Zombie comic strip]comic257.png

At least we're getting a bit closer with Awakening. Almost everyone looks at least decent. In that game, it's probably more "unique AND sexy" versus "generic". Mostly.

(Full disclosure: I like pretty protagonists.)

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Probably because Japan is obsessed with good looking people and if you're ugly, chances are you wont make it very far in the popularity polls.

Outside of that, it's meant to represent the fanasty of medival times. Would you want all of your lords to struggle with acne like they should be for their age?

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Would you want all of your lords to struggle with acne like they should be for their age?

Actually that would be hilarious.

They probably do, but they're royalty so they can afford expensive acne treatments. Ike...idk. Maybe he's just lucky xD

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