Why Is Corrin Leading the Army? (Spoilers)

[Rezzy]

Revelations is the only route where it sort of makes sense. The other two routes are complete nonsense in this regard.

1. Kamui spent the majority of his life under house arrest and is the naivest member of his siblings.

2. Kamui has 2 older siblings on either side and Takumi and Leo probably have more battlefield experience as well.

3. In Nohr, the leadership is out to get him and in Hoshido he's practically a foreigner. Neither faction should be putting him in a position of authority.

Every excuse I've heard for the above just opens even more jarring plot holes.

Yeah, pretty much my idea for posing the question in the first place. Garon being a slime monster who just wants to make Corrin cry without regard to actually succeeding militarily is a flimsy reason, but better than anything else I can think of.

[Ryas]

What exactly is so flimsy and absurd about Garon putting Corrin in charge of the invasion force when Corrin has been bringing consistent miraculous successes, and it aligns with his own personal goal of making Corrin suffer?

[Rezzy]

What exactly is so flimsy and absurd about Garon putting Corrin in charge of the invasion force when Corrin has been bringing consistent miraculous successes, and it aligns with his own personal goal of making Corrin suffer?

Corrin seems to succeed by sheer dumb luck and there's Xander, Leo, and even Camilla who seem to be more logical choices.

It seems like there would be less convoluted ways to make Corrin suffer.

[Raguna]

What exactly is so flimsy and absurd about Garon putting Corrin in charge of the invasion force when Corrin has been bringing consistent miraculous successes, and it aligns with his own personal goal of making Corrin suffer?

Not exactly, Garon wants Kamui to suffer or get seriously injured because the plot demands a vessel for a dragon so him bringing the guy sucess is more of a bonus that Garon can't refute. The only reason he does well is because the story gives him allies when in reality he had to do all of his stuff alone. When he got allies, that was actually a perfectly good excuse to sentence him to some torture with Garon's characterization but then your siblings come in and Garon just doesn't care in that moment so he goes free.

Like Rezzy said above, the man leading when he's naive to a fault doesn't make a satisfactory commander after an army gets bigger. Its just wants us to feel special with a bland generic dude or dudette disguised in shonen style hair and seinen art style.

[Ryas]

This is what Garon says when he orders Iago to torment Corrin, which is a mission that Iago takes to heart for the entire rest of the campaign:

Garon: "[Corrin] must fight those he doesn't wish to fight... kill those he doesn't wish to kill. His sorrow will feed the darkness in his soul. And his suffering will make him a worthy sacrifice upon the altar of Anankos."

Well, what better way to achieve the above than force Corrin to take command in the invasion of his supposed birth land? To force Corrin to fight against his own "blood" siblings?

Corrin's army is also a very small part of the actual invasion force, and the royal siblings, while extremely strong and useful, are still nothing more than pawns to Garon.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Ryas

[Raguna]

This is what Garon says when he orders Iago to torment Corrin, which is a mission that Iago takes to heart for the entire rest of the campaign:

Garon: "[Corrin] must fight those he doesn't wish to fight... kill those he doesn't wish to kill. His sorrow will feed the darkness in his soul. And his suffering will make him a worthy sacrifice upon the altar of Anankos."

Well, what better way to achieve the above than force Corrin to take command in the invasion of his supposed birth land? To force Corrin to fight against his own "blood" siblings?

Corrin's army is also a very small part of the actual invasion force, and the royal siblings, while extremely strong and useful, are still nothing more than pawns to Garon.

A good theory yes, but the problem lies in the fact that Kamui basically spent all around two days in Hoshido before the split occurs. Maybe Kamui is one of those people who gets emotional easily, but as part of the narrative as a whole, I don't think Kamui would suffer as much in contrast to killing his Nohrian siblings which were around for the majority of his childhood and teenagehood and treated him pretty fantastic if Leo ended up with an inferiority complex for it.

Also, another issue crops up because even if he was just a small part of the invasion force they basically do everything the larger army should have been doing. Garon's army doesn't even really arrive until you take the wall and he does nothing with them. Also, Xander, Camilla and Leo end up with Kamui and not on different fronts of the war where they could lead which would have made your point make more sense in that area.

If Xander was the commander and he razed Hoshido to ashes, and Kamui watched I think it'd pretty much have a more direct impact since Kamui's characterization in Conquest is that of a massive whiner which isn't exactly an attractive feature for an invasion leader. Kamui wouldn't be able to do it. His/Her purity stops him/her.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Raguna

[Dark Sage]

It would probably make more sense if Corrin was placed under the command of someone else, like Hans, Iago, or Xander, who are all quite willing to perform atrocities for Garon. But since Corrin's not in command, and she consistently sits on her hands when it comes to stopping atrocities, I think she'd suffer a lot more that way and Garon would have less chance of his invasion plans fucking up.

If Xander was the commander performing said atrocities, Corrin would probably suffer the most because it would hit harder that someone she loves and admires is doing it instead of some douche she doesn't know.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Dark Sage

[RedRob]

Got this from TvTropes

• Throughout the entire game, Garon is pretty much as Obviously Evil as one could possibly get. However, if one takes into account the fact that Anankos is actually controlling his corpse, it can also explain why he acts so obviously cruel. For one thing, Garon is already mentioned as turning bitter due to the horrific infighting between his concubines, so there are already some explainable reasons for his shift in personality. Furthermore, Anankos is a dragon that has gone totally insane, due to the mental degeneration that dragons experience when they live for too long, and it's also strongly implied that the familiar possessing Garon's corpse was created around the time his insanity really started taking over. Due to this, and his extreme hatred for humanity due to his experience with humans turning on him, it can be safe to say that the reason he acts so clearly villainous is because the being controlling him doesn't think about being subtle, because he literally can't.
  • Another justification comes from how the Puppet-Garon acts in general. Puppet-Garon has all of Garon's memories, and during the last few years of his life Garon became paranoid and much more bitter as a result of his wives killing each other and his kids. Puppet-Garon seems to genuinely think he's the real Garon, until anything forces him to reveal his true form, as hinted by Revelation when Puppet-Garon thinks he'll be a vessel for Anankos. Puppet-Garon in all likelihood viewed those memories of Garon's life and acted on it, but since it was not there to feel the emotions he had, it likely assumed Garon was a terrible person or was evil for what he did. After all, if Anankos is insane, then he'd be unable to discern happiness from anger.

Conclusion: Maybe Anankos and Gooron are too insane to plan properly.

[Dark Sage]

Got this from TvTropes

• Throughout the entire game, Garon is pretty much as Obviously Evil as one could possibly get. However, if one takes into account the fact that Anankos is actually controlling his corpse, it can also explain why he acts so obviously cruel. For one thing, Garon is already mentioned as turning bitter due to the horrific infighting between his concubines, so there are already some explainable reasons for his shift in personality. Furthermore, Anankos is a dragon that has gone totally insane, due to the mental degeneration that dragons experience when they live for too long, and it's also strongly implied that the familiar possessing Garon's corpse was created around the time his insanity really started taking over. Due to this, and his extreme hatred for humanity due to his experience with humans turning on him, it can be safe to say that the reason he acts so clearly villainous is because the being controlling him doesn't think about being subtle, because he literally can't.
  • Another justification comes from how the Puppet-Garon acts in general. Puppet-Garon has all of Garon's memories, and during the last few years of his life Garon became paranoid and much more bitter as a result of his wives killing each other and his kids. Puppet-Garon seems to genuinely think he's the real Garon, until anything forces him to reveal his true form, as hinted by Revelation when Puppet-Garon thinks he'll be a vessel for Anankos. Puppet-Garon in all likelihood viewed those memories of Garon's life and acted on it, but since it was not there to feel the emotions he had, it likely assumed Garon was a terrible person or was evil for what he did. After all, if Anankos is insane, then he'd be unable to discern happiness from anger.

Conclusion: Maybe Anankos and Gooron are too insane to plan properly.

That is such a lazy explanation and copout that it shouldn't be worth mentioning

Like, it's Capcom tier villain motivation. Why does this villain have the planning skills and intellectual capacity of a monkey with a severe head injury? Durrrr he's insane!

[RedRob]

That is such a lazy explanation and copout that it shouldn't be worth mentioning

This is the same story which had the copout of not being blood-related to the Hoshidians so players could marry them. It's pretty clear the writers have no standards and/or are incompetent, so the explanation being true wouldn't be that surprising. It's lazy, yes, but the same could be said for most of Fates' plot.

[Ryas]

Garon is sound of mind and clearly capable of planning in both Birthright and Conquest, it's only in Revelation that he goes insane to the point of incompetence.

[NekoKnight]

Well, what better way to achieve the above than force Corrin to take command in the invasion of his supposed birth land? To force Corrin to fight against his own "blood" siblings?

Corrin's army is also a very small part of the actual invasion force, and the royal siblings, while extremely strong and useful, are still nothing more than pawns to Garon.

Kamui doesn't need to be in charge for him to be present in the invasion. If Garon wants to make Kamui suffer, he should put him in an army company that forces him to do evil. Kamui being in charge makes it so he can choose his own methods. Kamui spends most of the campaign trying to avoid fighting the Hoshidans and when he does, he spares them as often as he can. Garon didn't think this through.

Despite Garon's alleged plan to sacrifice Kamui to Anankos, it's never brought up again. It's a plot thread that doesn't go anywhere and just looks like pettiness (slipping into suicidal idiocy) by the Trinity of Evil.