A man who has lived a thousand years bows to the next generation. All in all, Deghinsea doesn't seem like all that bad a fellow, but his actions have well and truly carved a dark path for his people to follow. But first, of course, his boss conversations:
Fools! By denying your judgment, you merely rush to your death.
Ike: Dheginsea, Dragon King. I can see you have no intention of letting us pass.
Dheginsea: I follow my goddess’ decrees. My will is unwavering.
Ike: I have no choice, then. Be on your guard.
Dheginsea: Very well, beorc general. Our blessings may be equal and opposite, but your strength is a mere fraction of mine. Show me your best!
Ike having a bit of an upset and not actually being all that much of a taster for his deeper philosophies, nor is Ike particularly badass in his return fire. 3-8 makes up for it a little bit, and it does help that Deghinsea keeps a lid on the thing that would make Ike angriest, but still.
Dheginsea: You… you’re one of the parentless…
Micaiah: You know me?
Dheginsea: Yes. I knew the first of your kind. I have been alive for a very long time… Perhaps too long. But soon it will all be over.
Perhaps Micaiah, as a Branded herself, was the better pick to be the taste test on philosophy. Soren and Stefan don't have quotes and part of me feels like they should.
Dheginsea: In my eyes, the mightiest of you looks no different than an infant. Can you hope to stand a chance?
Sanaki: Of… of course. I am Sanaki, 37th empress of Begnion. It is my duty to save my people. Even the world’s mightiest dragon will not dissuade me from that calling.
Dheginsea: All right, then, child. Fulfil your duty.
Sanaki isn't a famed fighter like everyone else lying around, but put an obstacle in her path and she'll stop at nothing to tear it down. And if it means throwing flames at the dragon king itself...
Kurthnaga: Father! Please think about what you’re doing.
Dheginsea: The time for words has passed. The only option remaining is to stop you with brute force.
Kurthnaga: Why? Father, why?
Dheginsea: That is enough! No more snivelling! You, Kurthnaga, were to rule the dragon tribe in years to come. Show me that you would have been capable!
Kurthnaga: But— Yes, sir… I’ll show you.
For a culture of neutrality, Deghinsea is insistent that his son prove his physical strength to him. I think "not much of a meritocracy" is the least of my concerns. Deghinsea will not attack Kurth and Ena either, but Mantle's Nihil negates Dragonfoe, so you have to hope they can punch Deg's skin.
Ena: Your Majesty…
Dheginsea: Come now, Ena. Fight.
Ena: I’m sorry, I can’t. I may have turned my back on my king and left my own country, but I still belong to the dragon tribe. I wouldn’t dare attack my own king. I couldn’t.
Dheginsea: Then as your king, I order you. I order you to fight for Kurthnaga’s life.
Ena: My king!
Dheginsea: You and he need each other. You are different from other dragons.
Ena: …Very well, Your Majesty.
Deghinsea recognising that Kurth and Ena will become better people for Tellius than he ever was. Key point being "will become". They're not quite there yet...
Caineghis: King Dheginsea, I owe you an apology. You warned me often of the danger of open war, but I did not listen. I want you to know how truly sorry I am for the strife that has once again engulfed our world, and my part in it. However… I will not meekly accept judgement by the goddess. Regardless of my duty to her, the petrified people must be saved.
Dheginsea: Caineghis, king of beasts. I regret that we must stand on opposing sides. Now we must determine which one of us is in the right.
Caineghis was the King who cared the most about obeying Deghinsea's edicts about not having war. Technically, he didn't even start this war, but helped Tibarn, and that's enough for him to feel bad about it in front of Deghinsea.
Tibarn: I never would have believed that one day I’d be facing off against you. Life sure is funny, sometimes.
Dheginsea: Even you, Tibarn? Don’t make me kill you. You haven’t got a chance.
Tibarn: Don’t be so sure about that. You just might be surprised. Besides, you’ve got a lot to answer for, Dheginsea. You’ll finally pay the price for all those years of inaction and indifference as your kin were butchered and enslaved.
Dheginsea: You shortsighted fool, you still don’t understand… All right, I’m waiting. Show me what you’ve got.
Tibarn, meanwhile, is pumped that he gets a powerful opponent to fight, and also gets to rub Deghinsea's face in all the people his inaction has harmed. Well, not quite that, that would continue to hurt those people.
Dheginsea: Naesala, you dare challenge me?
Naesala: Heh. It’s funny you should ask that… I’m not deluded enough to think that I can beat you. The goddess herself would hesitate to fight you. But my people are frozen solid, and I have to delude myself enough to think that I can help save them.
Dheginsea: You are a true king, Naesala. I am ready when you are.
Naesala: I’ll be thrilled if I land even a single blow. I’m much better at fleeing than fighting.
Naesala has always been a man for his people, and now his people lie behind the Dragon King himself. He's just really hoping something will lend him a hand, because he knows his limits. Naesala probably could start chipping away at Deg's hit rate, but it would take a lot of investment to get enough Avoid to reasonably expect a dodge.
Dheginsea: You… are of the wolf people?
Nailah: Yes. After the floods, we built our country to the east of the great desert.
Dheginsea: …So we weren’t the only ones to survive…
Nailah: Until we met Rafiel, we too thought ours were the only people left.
Dheginsea: In your country, are there only people of the wolf tribe?
Nailah: No, beorc live there, as well. There are also a number of what you call the “parentless.” Children born of both laguz and beorc parents are still relatively few.. but they live normally among us.
Dheginsea: Is that so?
Nailah: That’s probably enough chatting. Do you still intend to block our path?
Dheginsea: …I will not deny my goddess.
Nailah: And I won’t deny my conscience. I will revive those turned to stone, and you cannot stop me.
This is also still, like, 70% of the information we ever get about what Hatary is like. Free real estate!
Dheginsea: You, too, deign to oppose the goddess Ashera?
Elincia: I will do whatever is required to rescue those who were petrified. I beg of you, Dragon King, please reconsider what Prince Kurthnaga has told you.
Dheginsea: It is too late. People, in our weakness, betray the goddess, and are meant to be punished for it.
Elincia: I cannot believe that. People are capable of both terrible and wonderful things. To describe them so simply and cynically does them a disservice.
Dheginsea: If I am defeated today, that may convince me that I am wrong. Come… I’m waiting.
Elincia, of course, is still well prepared with a speech to try and bring war to a close early, while being stone-walled by her opponent's insistence on their ways. I feel like Nihil would probably negate Mercy.
Reyson: King Dheginsea, you are more powerful than any being alive… Use that power to help us save the people.
Dheginsea: You are not the first to make such a request. But my answer is the same now as it was before. I will not change my mind. I have no choice but to follow the will of the goddess.
Deghinsea thinking of the person we see in the Memory just before his death. 600 years later and he hasn't reconsidered his answer.
Dheginsea: Hello, Princess Leanne. You can’t fight me… I advise you to stand down.
Leanne: (Sadness… Your heart is filled with such sadness. What’s wrong? Can’t we talk about it?)
Dheginsea: I have nothing more to say to you. This is the way it has to be. My feelings do not matter.
I think a transformed Leanne can theoretically do damage with a Daemon Card, except Cards are not Blessed and blocked by Mantle. But Leanne does figure Deg's not entirely into this decision of his.
Rafiel: King Dheginsea, I don’t understand… Why? Why must we fight? I just can’t… I… I… I can’t take it. Fighting only causes more pain and suffering. Why do this?
Dheginsea: …You remind me of a friend from long ago. He was the kindest soul I’ve known, but he was so terribly weak. You’ve moved me more than you’ll ever know… But I will not budge. I await my judgment.
...Is he talking about his friend from the Memory? That's... that's not something I expected out of him. Damn. That's harsh.
Dheginsea: Have at you, follower of Yune.
Sothe: I won’t live as long as you have, and I’ll never be as powerful. Things like saving the world and fighting goddesses are just beyond me. They’re out of my reach. That’s why I’ve always chosen to fight for the smaller things in life and the people close to me. If that means I have to fight you to protect them, then so be it.
Sothe knows he has no business being here, but so long as he is, he shall contribute all the same.
Well, that's Deghinsea done... and his secret hasn't entirely come out. Well, before E-4, there's a Base conversation that goes into the nuts and bolts of what Deghinsea has done... and I think it's critically important to the analysis if I put it here. The title is "Ancient History".
Now that Kurthnaga is King, he is entitled to learn the secrets in the special folder.
It's an ancient legend only the King knows. And apparently Gareth.
And for some reason, Micaiah is here too.
Nasir comments on this fact.
After today, this will not stay a secret. I wonder who else is listening.
Let's begin.
Right after the Covenant was forged, laguz and beorc lived in harmony in Tellius, or as it was known at the time, "the Kingdom of Begnion".
Altina wound up being queen (if she's anything like Misaha, this was probably a fantastic decision), and Lehran, the secret "Fourth Hero", became her husband. Thus started the tradition of "Begnion is ruled by a woman" that continues to this day.
Lehran is a laguz, by the way.
That doesn't seem to have stopped them.
It seems like it worked out for them at the time.
OK, saying "Tellius was just Begnion" is a bit misleading. Goldoa was off in the corner being neutral even back then. Deghinsea hasn't changed his spots in 780 years.
And now there is a child of beorc and laguz heritage on the way.
The very first of its kind, in fact!
Such a promising outcome, wouldn't you say? The beorc/laguz conflict is over at last!
Beorc and laguz can live in harmony!
And here's where the worst possible outcome had to come in.
(Lehran is a Heron tribe laguz, specifically).
Just when the conflict was over, we got to see that beorc are, quite literally, the dominant gene. Not only does being a beorc overwrite being a laguz in the child, but it overwrites the spouse being a laguz.
The disaster drove Lehran mad.
And... most people. But yeah, uh... I can see where he's coming from, here.
Deghinsea is also, fairly reasonably, pretty terrified too.
Oh yeah, how's the kid during all of this? That whole "herald of the end of laguz" thing is definitely going to paint a massive target on her back.
...Of all things, why would hearing the goddess's voice help him out here? I'm fairly sure the goddess's reaction would be "...I dunno, you sound screwed."
Lehran has to make a very tough call about how to handle this situation with dignity and respect.
Fake his death and pretend it never happened.
...Why are you looking at me like that? It's foolproof!
True to his word, his death, or lack thereof, was added to the pages of history.
And Altina eventually found some other poor sap to become the father of their child, and pretend all was well, despite the fact they clearly just chickened out of having a beorc/laguz union.
Oh boy, and now it's taboo. Fair enough, but the "crime against the goddess" thing? That's just asking for trouble.
You declare something taboo, people do it. That's human nature.
The people figured things out on their own. And thus, everything worked out just fine for the man who just faked his death, right?
Well, too late for them, now.
That was way too optimistic.
And by "several generations", they meant "two", because Altina's granddaughter was the first Apostle.
Good news: The Brands themselves can be disguised! Bad news: that longevity is the worst thing they possibly could've got.
The Branded, wisely, decided the best response to this would be getting the hell out of dodge. Many of these Branded would come to find themselves forming a new life in Stefan's village- well, presumably it wasn't his at the time, although maybe he really is that old. I doubt it, though.
That didn't stop the description of the Branded from making it into the public consciousness, though. The grapevine is a powerful tool... and a dangerous enemy.
The laguz, as expected, considered Branded to be a herald of the extinction of the laguz and made a show of how that wasn't going to be the case.
Yeah, I don't think I need to put it any other way.
Deghinsea's reaction to this mess was, as per usual, to take it on the chin.
Staying mum about the Branded was the wrong call and Tellius is a worse place because of it.
It'd still be disastrous and probably taken badly, but the people's rage wouldn't be as focused on the Branded as it is now.
Countless lives were created, ruined, and cut short by the short sightedness of Deghinsea and Lehran.
And Deghinsea has kept this under wraps. The whole time.
And then it got even worse for him.
Deghinsea was forced, directly, to choose between his family and the secret, and made the call that the secret had rotten too badly to be let out of the bag now.
And directly because he chose the secret over Almedha, he lost Rajaion, when he made the call to help Almedha himself. And lost his life in the attempt.
Deghinsea knew by this point he, to use the technical term, fucked up big time.
And so Deghinsea did the only thing he felt he could do: nothing.
He had destroyed so many lives, created a Tellius so despicable, that there was no way the Goddess was going to judge it to be worth saving if she woke up. So, by remaining stubbornly neutral, Deghinsea was giving Tellius all the time it could to either become better or to live life to the fullest before being killed off.
And Kurthnaga went right against that. Honestly, kid, probably a good thing to deny.
So can Kurth stand against the goddess?
Well, he's got to, don't he?
And that is the story of King Deghinsea. As the longest lived of the Three Heroes, it was his responsibility to set up a Tellius that could live up to the vow he and his companions made to the goddess. And he failed miserably. As plans go, "give up and hope for a miracle" isn't the worst one he had, but he still represents a grave error in Tellius's history and fresh blood was long since required. I will say one thing, though: the hand he was dealt was spectacularly terrible. There's no positive way to read "beorc/laguz interbreeding results in both spouse and child losing their laguz heritage" when you attempt to use this as a racial metaphor. The fact that Tellius is primarily considered to be about racism means you've got a massively problematic message right in the ending. I don't deny that the beorc/laguz tensions definitely drew upon racial parallels, but I feel like the conflict and message they were going for wasn't purely about race... and that trying to throw this idea into the pot really was asking for trouble. The places they take Branded aren't bad ideas in isolation. They just... don't work holistically.
3H comparison time? This one's a big one. Deghinsea is represented by the formation and continuation of the Church of Seiros. Like Deghinsea, Rhea had a bad situation to pave over to ensure that peace would be met after a long war (fortunately, she didn't have anything resembling the Covenant), did something that made sense at the time, fucked up big time, and doubled down on her mistakes because she had more faith in the goddess than she did in herself. In contrast to Deghinsea, Rhea tried to wake up her goddess instead of keep her asleep, but the idea is still the same. Rhea also chose to rewrite historical characters as villains in order to make sure that things went their way, a decision that also backfires in both of their faces when someone uses the lie to launch a war that directly attacks the goal of lying in the first place. The writers seem to like having the dragons that try to control humanity's direction have things go spectacularly poorly for them- SoV's Mila and Duma say hi.
To add insult to injury, Deghinsea and Seteth evoke the same poses in their official artwork.
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