Yune decides to exposit because she's bored. Because expositions are how you entertain people!
"Well, except you, Kurth, your dad is pretty old."
Some nice listening music. The world starting with nothing but water is also a motif of Three Houses's goddess. The writers seem fond of this origin of all life. It works that water is the most essential thing for the genesis of life, after all.
We have an outright creationist god on our hands.
Tibarn: “The story of the grand creation? Heard it. Wake me when it’s over.”
Tibarn, of course, has better things to do with his time. Like play "I spy" with miracles that can overwhelm the senses.
And yet... this is not Ashera and Yune we are talking about.
The goddess had created so much new life, but none of them felt like new friends. I think the idea is she created life forms like birds and such, despite the CG. The wolves are the animals that come closest to understanding her.
Especially when it takes thousands of years for circumstances to change.
And from the lowly fish grew the mighty man.
The Zunanma, the first life form capable of sapience.
Ancestors to all.
Which is not the same as commonly educated. Sothe brought up "Zunanma are beorc ancestors" in 1-4's extended script, and even the INT fans saw it in action back in PoR 15.
Naesala: “I’m sure there was some selfish reason why the senators would teach that. Probably helps justify laguz slaves…”
Interesting that it's Naesala who comments on this connection. Surely some other laguz could chip in for it.
Somebody's been writing their own version of history.
And I mean, they got a point. She literally created life.
The fact that this game is titled "Radiant Dawn" might hint that this is an important title. And indeed it is. In Japan, this goddess has the title 暁の女神... which is outright the title of the game.
Yes, this line is a Title Drop. Fire Emblem doesn't have a ton of those, since its titles are rarely concepts that come up in in-game conversation.
The Zunanma didn't stop evolving at sapience. They kept on going from there, spreading across the known world.
...And where there is difference, there is conflict.
The precise cause of this conflict goes unmentioned. It doesn't really matter to Tellius who was at fault here.
I can only imagine. Doesn't seem like the greatest of ideas.
An event caused directly by Yune.
And attributed to the Goddess of Dawn herself.
The end of all conflict, brought about by the oceans that created it.
Ike asks the goddess who was there if she's got her story straight.
Hatary has its own versions of the creation myth. Interesting. I wonder when they got separated from everybody else.
Caineghis: “That’s why we have always been so adamant that the dark god must not be released from the medallion. Laguz rulers have been taught this for generations, though it was particularly stressed in times of war.”
Caineghis ties in to this point about how this alternative history has caused all the strife with the medallion.
And the beorc have it even weaker. Their historians didn't seem to care much about why the goddess did what she did.
So, at some point in history, we have had the pages rewritten.
And there are people on this continent who lived to see the goddess walk among man.
Hello, King Deghinsea.
So yeah, we've also got to fight the bastard.
...Somehow.
Yune has a plan.
She wasn't entirely on board with this idea, but with Deghinsea on the opposite side... it may just be a necessary one.
It's time for us to receive an equal and opposite blessing to that of our enemies.
The divine race being immune to conventional weaponry is a common thread in Fire Emblem lore. Sometimes it's outright the case, while other times you can brute-force it. For RD, it's outright.
This is the only in-game artwork of Altina and Soan. The idea of a woman being so badass she could wield Ragnell and Alondite at once allowed Altina a second life in Fire Emblem Cipher, and later Fire Emblem Heroes. Soan was not so lucky.
And that is also quietly the story of where Ragnell and Alondite came from.
But if Ashera can do it, Yune can do it too.
This is a gameplay-affecting thing, and the game is nice and polite and allows you to prepare for it. She means it: equip your best weapons.
There's also some Base Conversations here, which is why this part of why this update is in two.
Three Base Conversations, to be precise. Yes, I know, I can see five. Rafiel and Reyson's alts aren't interesting enough to go over individually, and they're literally interchangeable because you get one heron per Tower run.
Micaiah's Base Conversation is exclusive to having an A Support with Sothe. It was either get this or have the Fiona Support. I think I chose correctly, despite not ultimately even bringing Fiona to Endgame.
Micaiah has been mothering Sothe. Also these two are a romantic pairing.
Seems a bad time to bring that point up when we're talking about this.
Ike pops up at either the worst or the best time.
Sothe jumps, but Micaiah is perfectly OK with starting a new conversation.
This is an Elixir that you get if you get this conversation in-game. We're not going to get it, but since it does come up in the conversation...
Sothe gets the hell out of dodge, as if this conversation was still interested in Micaiah/Sothe.
Ike wonders about the nature of Micaiah/Sothe, too. Considering how he knew Sothe, seemed an interesting question to him.
That is indeed a long time.
Say hello to baby Sothe and... wow, that is a big Micaiah. Micaiah is likely to have been 13 when this scene happened, judging by what I know about Micaiah's past, and with the artbook's age in mind, Sothe is probably... ~7.
Sothe seemed attracted to Micaiah at first sight.
And Micaiah more or less adopted him on the spot.
"All over the continent", she says. Despite her identity as a Daein impacting so much of her development. Perhaps this means she's not watching as Daein does the worst of its crimes.
それからはずっと……
あちこちを旅しながら
２人で支え合うようにして
生きてきたんです。
I don't think the JP version mentions the breadth of their travels.
Despite how close Micaiah claims to be to Sothe, Ike points out he found him without her.
And he puts it into words that the family he was looking for was indeed Micaiah.
Micaiah tried to abandon Sothe around this point. Roughly seven years after their meeting, Sothe had gotten to be Micaiah's starting age, but Micaiah still looked the same, considering Micaiah kinda still looks like she does in the CG.
And regretted it immediately because of her phenomenonally bad timing.
Probably the best place to keep coming back to to reunite with one another. The odds of them finding one another were pretty bad.
Not... really? Sothe went to Begnion > Daein > Crimea, and so did Micaiah.
That must've been quite the shock for him when it happened.
That's a lot of feelings to feel all at once.
Micaiah just didn't want to doom Sothe to a lifetime of being persecuted for associating with a Branded.
Ike knows Micaiah's one.
Soren told him, of course. Presumably, he figured it out somehow even if they didn't get any boss conversations with one another.
This is, I believe, the only explicit instance of the word "Branded" being used as a slur in the INT version. Ike is of the opinion that race doesn't matter, but I feel like it might be at least a little helpful to come up with something other than "Branded" to use if we don't like it?
Micaiah has never actually been on Ike's side long enough to see his philosophy in action. All she's had to go on is Sothe's mad ravings about Ike, and her reaction has honestly been "like hell a man like that could ever exist."
Ike comes out with a fairly classic, and blunt, "racism is bad" sort of quote. Honestly, I think it's less "racism" the writers are looking at overall and more the environment that racial violence fosters. Distinction without a difference, I know, but not nothing.
And Micaiah finally understands where Sothe is coming from when he talks about what Ike has to say.
Ike doesn't realise Micaiah was thinking anything over. This isn't an "Ike being dense" thing, Micaiah wasn't really hinting at it. Unless I'm the dense one.
Micaiah was thinking about running off again. To be fair, this whole "being the Face of Daein" thing is going to cause problems when she doesn't age fast enough.
But with people like Ike and Sothe around to fight the persecution of the Branded, Micaiah feels that she has nothing to fear staying in Tellius after all.
...I'm sure it is. Although I'm not entirely sure how this thought connects with the one immediately preceding. I'll trust Ike knows what he's talking about.
And our theoretical "not splitting apart Micaiah and Sothe" selves get an Elixir.
Sanaki, meanwhile, is analysing the "Black Knight = Zelgius" reveal from her perspective. Even if Ike and Ranulf shared it with others in their Armies, Sanaki was in neither, and this is her time for the in-character reveal.
Sanaki knew Zelgius well and personally, so for him to turn out to be leading a double life is a huge blow to her worldview. There's a reason I say Endgame is gunning for Sanaki specifically.
Sanaki was really fond of having Zelgius around. The usual fandom interpretation is that Sephiran and Zelgius were like her two gay dads, but I'm not really sure I entirely get that impression from this line.
(Yes, Sanaki has both Sephiran/Zelgius as dads and Sigrun/Tanith as mums.)
Zelgius was working for Daein. And Sanaki had no idea. Ignore the emotional betrayal of the reveal, Sanaki's probably wondering what else she never spotted.
Ike's immediate thought is to wonder what Sephiran has gotten up to.
Sanaki knows Sephiran is out there. He's just way too awesome a fellow to not be.
Apparently, Sephiran is the best mage around. Ilyana could kick his ass if she wasn't being held back by her caps.
Ike has been thinking. Always a bad sign.
I don't think she actually makes this face, but this is the best expression she could've come out with.
No matter how Zelgius has acted, Sanaki knows Sephiran is a good guy!
...You know, the oaf makes a good point.
...Well, yeah, we have a dragon to take out, let's ignore that thought.
Oh, and Sanaki has an item for Ike!
And then she gets all bashful about it.
Sanaki knows how to protect her investments.
These two do get along, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Another one of these to throw around, if I can find the space.
[Micaiah, have you ever seen one of these?]
Leanne found a shiny and wants to show it off.
It seems like a good shiny, at least. I'd reserve judgement.
[I found it inside the tower. Do you think I can use it?]
...You mean the tower has random items scattered around? There's no hidden items like in the rest of the game, but apparently Leanne picked one up.
This is actually nice and reflected mechanically: the reward for this conversation is very bad for Leanne.
[…I’m only kidding. Here, you can have it.]
At least she was self aware about it.
[Please do!]
Well, you see, the thing is...
...Even if I didn't already have two, I don't really want to be leaving people adjacent to their Support partners (the few pairings I have) in these upcoming kinds of battles. The positioning is always too valuable.
Rafiel: Ike, take a look at this.
Ike: Hey now… Where’d you stumble across it?
Rafiel: Inside the tower. I thought of using it myself, but…
Ike: Yeah, I don’t think that it’s right for you.
Rafiel: …Indeed. That’s why I brought it here for you to use.
Ike: Thanks. It’s a very rare item. I’m in your debt.
Rafiel: It’s the least I could do.
Reyson: Ike, take a look at this.
Ike: Hey now… Where’d you stumble across it?
Reyson: Lying around inside the tower. It seemed like the sort of thing I should bring to your attention.
Ike: That’s very nice of you, but you didn’t have to. Do whatever you want with it.
Reyson: Really? Do you think I’d be able to use it?
Ike: Well, don’t get hasty. I don’t think it’s right for you.
Reyson: …I know. I’m just kidding, Ike.
Ike: Thanks. It’s a very rare item. I’ll cherish it.
Reyson: Please do.
Micaiah talks to Leanne mostly because she can understand her. Even Rafiel thinks he can get use out of Guard.
So, it's time to think about our Blessings. Every beorc character must choose one weapon to be blessed by Yune. It must be something they can equip (so Sothe can't bless a tome for us) and it also can't be a Staff (the Fortify Staff weeps), but otherwise, it can be anything. But you don't want to bless a Steel Blade or anything. Ideally, your Blessings should have one of three qualities:
- Powerful enough to be worth using in boss combat.
- Fragile enough that it would be really good if you could use it more than its uses suggest- something like a siege tome.
- 1-2 range.
Ike is actually forced to use Ragnell for the job. I don't think I can edit Skills here, so I'll have to switch him back to Stillness later.
If you can Bless an SS tome, you should. These tomes are awesome and fit all three criteria. Bringing Calill to Endgame is competition because now you have to bless something else with the other mage. This is where a Siege tome or Nosferatu should be used.
(By the way, that guy in 3-2 with the Bolting tome? Legit only opportunity to nick it on Easy.)
Laguz, of course, can only equip and Bless their Strikes. No real loss.
Jill takes Urvan for herself for Blessing. I also clean out a lot of Jill's inventory: She has no need of anything that Urvan does better.
Ilyana will, of course, take Rexbolt.
This is a bit of an odd decision from the usual standpoint, but I actually like Blessing Amiti. If you're at a premium for beorc slots, maybe consider using Elincia's Sword Bless on something else, but if your Elincia kicks ass like mine, Amiti is plenty fine.
Nephenee will be doing the Wishblade for us. I think it's normally Marcia doing it for me.
Astrid takes the Double Bow at last. Astrid needs nothing but the Double Bow.
The Wyrmslayer is the one generic weapon worth Blessing. Especially if you brought enough pegasi to Triangle Attack.
Never Bless Alondite. It's not worth, it's plenty good at everything it does.
Although Florete as an alternative choice is... strange. The idea is that Meg gives up her boss combat and uses Alondite, while Mist has Florete for ranged combat and Vague Katti for bosses. This also implies Mist is fighting bosses.
I tried to sneak a second Wyrmslayer Bless in to show it off, but there's outright dialogue if you try to Bless something that isn't Ragnell on Ike.
You won't be given the chance to go back and Bless whatever Ike was trying to do on someone else, though.
The laguz clearly need to be transformed to get the buffs in-universe.
It is time.
And Yune needs to go sit down for a while. She wasn't prepared for how much that was going to do to her.
Wow, even Micaiah is exhausted.
That, I think we can handle.
Let's see what's behind door number 3.
Time to say hello to Kurth's dad. And also Nasir and Gareth.
At this point, there are three things Deghinsea can say in response to the presence of the three main Laguz Kings. I'm going to assume he doesn't say all of them if you brought all three, but I wouldn't put it past him.
Dheginsea: “Caineghis, the great lion king… How many times have I said it now? How many times have I warned against starting another war?”
Caineghis: “I know, old friend. I know…”Dheginsea: “Tibarn, the great hawk king… How many times have I said it now? How many times have I warned against starting another war?”
Tibarn: “Don’t you dare preach to me, you dried-up old fool.”Dheginsea: “Naesala, the great raven king… How many times have I said it now? How many times have I warned against starting another war?”
Naesala: “And since when have I ever listened to the likes of you?”
...OK, I guess not. I hope he doesn't repeat himself.
Deghinsea abmonishes the fact that all this fighting just kept going on against the express wishes of Ashera.
Ashera has made her judgement, and we should accept it thus.
Micaiah tries our one weapon: The fact that Yune was entitled to be allowed to the Judgment.
Deghinsea no-sells it.
And, well...
If we don't like it, he's more than willing to enforce it.
...That is rather a lot of dragon. Tibarn was right to be confused when he saw Kurthnaga flying around- no way one could confuse him for this guy.
Little late for talking things out when Deghinsea is massive and glowing and really, really angry.
Quite the badass, are we?
Well, picking up some Supports. That Lyre/Ena one is really not going to help me any, but Nephenee/Meg is the whole reason they came.
Proof that Ike's blessed Ragnell and not his Wyrmslayer. That goes back on someone else.
Micaiah is pretty much done with her stats now.
Leanne takes up BEXP to get her own Strength cap.
Here is a Leanne with all seven of her visible stats glowing. Sadly, no HP cap.
Anyway, it's time to talk Blessing. Rexflame, obviously, is now Blue and Glowing, and there is no longer an indicator of how close it is to broken. Blessing a weapon makes it infinite durability and able to fight the final bosses. It doesn't affect its stats in any way, though.
By now, you've probably noticed the +5 to everything Sanaki and Leanne have. That's a thing in Easy Mode: That is also the Goddess's Blessing at work. It's a nice little advantage, and also a huge buff for Sanaki in particular since it can shore up her Strength, but it does a lot of work later on. We'll discuss that then.
I was really hopeful I didn't have to double-update Endgame, but the Blessings and all those Base conversations really pushed it.
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