A Jewel Without Price: Princess L'Arachel

L'Arachel is my favourite character in Sacred Stones, and a candidate for my favourite overall across Fire Emblem. Her enthusiasm is infectious, she's beautiful, and she loves to become an amazingly gifted unit to use on the battlefield. It would be easy to stop there and say she's one of Fire Emblem's greats from that alone, but underneath the surface lurks a very vulnerable girl.

Childhood

L'Arachel is a noble of some description in the theocracy of Rausten, although I have heard that the Japanese translation of her ending suggests she may not be a Queen like Eirika, Innes and Joshua will be. It's a little tricky to figure out what she is without understanding the politics or religion of Rausten and how a Pontifex differs from a monarch, something the game doesn't care to touch on in any depth. One thing that does occur as a result, though, is the fact that she is unknown to her noble peers. As a matter of fact, it appears that L'Arachel is unknown to any peers. Her particular brand of eccentricity speaks volumes of a woman who has never interacted with anyone her age, but rather her babysitter-in-chief Dozla and, if he had the time, her uncle Mansel. Dozla also entertained her with quick, easy solutions like allowing her to tug on his beard, leaving a woman whose identity is largely dominated by her inability to comprehend the word 'no'- in the shadow of her parents deaths, her remaining figures of authority decided not to deny any of her wishes.

Identity

L'Arachel's life ambition is to be remembered. All she remembers about her parents are the stories the people of Rausten shared with her, and she is keenly aware that one day, the stories people write about her will be the only things people will remember her by in the future. She is inflamed by Saaga's stories, setting out to ensure that her legacy will match those of legendary heroes of old such that they shall be recorded for all time. And yet there are gaps in her understanding. She understands that "anonymous quests for justice" are good, but doesn't understand what makes them so compelling- nor does she get that you don't get the credit for a memorable saga in life. She wants to be remembered, but she doesn't have a plan for how- or even for what.

Ego

L'Arachel's ego is massive, as befitting this socially isolated soul. This manifests in her pride for her country of Rausten, as well as her confidence that she has the moral and general superiority in any situation. This ego drives her to Do Justice, and her capacity to approach matters with any sort of nuance or even complexity eludes her. She bases her entire worldview on her home situation with Mansel and Dozla, where her whims are the centre of the universe- things outside her home environment confuse her, and people who do not devote their entire existences to her are foolish and quickly corrected. This doesn't make it impossible for her to get along with other people, but it does somewhat limit her options to people she respects as equal nobles. Not that there's many of those- Ephraim, Innes and Joshua may be competent in their respective fields, but they are far from "respectable" and struggle with finding compatible ground with her.

Homosexuality

L'Arachel is attracted to women. There's no real denying that. She saw Eirika and she went head over heels, immediately divulging her deepest personal secrets (well, waiting until B Support for those, but divulging things she plans to be secret without thought). The tricky part about pinning down her identity, however, is looking at how she interacts with men. And we have quite the sample- despite not having an ending with her, Eirika is L'Arachel's only female Support. Dozla is right out, being more of a father figure, and despite Joshua's forwardness with Natasha, there is no romantic bend to their chain, leaving us with Ephraim, Innes and Rennac. L'Arachel seems to see Rennac as an extension of Dozla, Innes a rival to be challenged about the superiority of Rausten, and Ephraim as... well, it's very clear she doesn't want to be around Ephraim. From the way she talks about Ephraim, it seems L'Arachel's sheltered life has put her immediately on the defensive around men, knowing that "men are bad news" without understanding why. It is no surprise, perhaps, that she sees no problem immediately latching onto the women of the group, but the question remains: Does L'Arachel want to like men? I'm leaning towards no, although there's the very faintest of wiggle rooms around Ephraim's bulging muscles. Either she's into them or she's been traumatised by them through stories intended to keep her innocent- successful in the literal, and catastrophic in the intended meaning. I will stand by the idea that Dozla is well aware of L'Arachel's interest in women, though, seeing as he doesn't gender her future spouse and is all on board the L'Arachel/Myrrh ship without batting an eye.

In all, L'Arachel is a character that it's easy to fall in love with, and easier to want to hug even more after the fact. Her righteous bravado is just clueless enough that you realise something's amiss from the word go, and deep down the girl she wants to be is the girl she should have been all along- she just doesn't realise how she could be that girl. She's got an uncomfortable amount of worship of the system of nobility, but raised in an environment where she's the centre of the universe, it makes sense. Probably not an easy fix, though- you've seen the way she treats Rennac.

I'd like to say the Support I'd want to see for her most is Natasha. Another girl (and as much as this would suck for Natasha, another angle to L'Arachel's homosexuality other than just Eirika), and both Natasha and L'Arachel are fiercely devoted to Magvel's religion. Except L'Arachel understands maybe a quarter of what it means to be such. Natasha would look up to Rausten's religious practices, but be horrified at what L'Arachel is making of them in practice. She'd also make an excellent blind-leading-the-blind with Ewan, you might get something decent about being a normal girl with Neimi or Amelia, and in an alternate universe where canon pairings were allowed to be more fleshed out, L'Arachel and Tana could bond over being the anchors to the twins. The Support system is still in its infancy here on the GBA, and seeing how newer games have played with its rules shows off the potential it has not yet reached.