Sacred Stones Epilogue: Ephraim Becomes the Good King

Thankfully, the epilogue for both routes is... more or less fully converged, since nearly everything that was route-dependent is no longer a factor. We do get one extended scene that differs, but I can squeeze it all in one update.

L'Arachel says this and believes this is enough. Just as she has the grandest ambitions of following in her ancestor's footsteps, so too does she have the smallest ambitions of stopping there.

Innes takes the exact opposite position: We destroyed the Demon King's body, a feat that I'm fairly sure the heroes did wind up doing, but Innes is confident that doing so was enough for the Demon King to be gone for good. I'd like to take him at his word, but I truthfully have no idea how that works out for him.

Whatever we did, we can directly thank everyone here. Except Seth. He knows what he did.

Ephraim's turn for praise.

We have their weapons, but nothing about this adventure has really "made" us Heroes like them. I wonder if they felt the same way.

Tana and L'Arachel will go down in history.

...Well, L'Arachel. Tana'll be a footnote about how Ephraim has descendants.

We get an appearance from the permakillable crew! There's a whole round of skits for every recruitable character, and I assume that if one of them dies, the whole skit isn't available.

Starting with our Frelians talking about how proud Hayden will be.

Tana's excited to tell him she was directly responsible for saving the world. It's probably the first time she's done something that Innes hasn't already done better, let's cut her a little slack.

Innes tells her he'll be just as proud if she takes it easy and tells him on her own time.

Poor Syrene. Didn't even get a substantive filler line.

(She's not even the one who's in love with him.)

Huh, Moulder actually acknowledged I benched him. Not actually dynamic, just a comment on how he's not a major character on the world stage. I think he raised Innes, so he has some substantial indirect credit, but we're not praising everyone with that degree of influence.

Poor Gilliam got even less than Syrene.

Innes: "I want you to work for me for a simple escort mission."
Gerik, four weeks later: "No one told me I'd be fighting the Demon King."

I'm not altogether certain if it's ever explicitly stated that he does follow up, but Innes is the sort of man who'd bother to make sure Gerik gets his due credit and raises his wages accordingly.

But for now, Innes's contract is up, and Gerik has a long overdue visit home.

Not even a little rest? Even with the hazard pay, I'm sure Gerik's going to need to do a lot of work to put food on the table.

...That is to say, if the mercenary network still works as advertised.

Hey, Joshua's your King now. He'll probably give the mercenary class the best protections.

I wonder how close these three really are off the clock. They have their weird love-triangle thing, but do they cohabitate?

This probably isn't part of Gerik's skit, but it is definitely intentional that it directly follows.

...Did you put whether you were going back home on a toss?

I suppose the real question is what he put on Tails.

Natasha set this whole thing in motion, escaping with the information MacGregor was unable to.

Amelia donned her freshly polished armour, joined the Grado army, defected in her first battle, and became part of the largest conflict the continent has faced for 800 years.

I'm sure she's got friends who'd never believe the escalation.

Not entirely sure how I feel about the Grado girls having a separate skit to the Grado men. Yeah, intuitively, Natasha and Amelia don't have as much to say about this upper-end stuff since they're citizens (or at least far lower on their respective chains of command), but it does kinda feel icky nonetheless when they come one after another.

These three have thoroughly earned their pessmism in the future of Grado. And I think only Knoll knows what's lying in wait for them.

Pessimism is one thing, but this is one thing that must be done. Grado's people must be saved.

For the people who tried what they could do so.

L'Arachel convenes with her lackeys.

Dozla is genuinely praising L'Arachel now. She has become a woman who has achievements to brag about, not just hot air.

Unfortunately, unlike Gerik, Rennac's contract has not expired.

L'Arachel will just keep moving the goalposts on that, I take it.

What a status quo to be stuck in. Ah well. L'Arachel's gotta settle down and start dating Eirika at some point.

...Line?

Are we sure sending Myrrh to Caer Pelyn will get her needs for human interaction met?

Your family, perhaps. Might be a bit insensitive to use that turn of phrase when Morva just died.

Oh, Ewan.

Garcia gives Ross a tousle on the head and praises him for his strength. It's what he'd want to hear.

And Ross is just really proud of his dad. Even a trained Garcia usually turns out Ross's inferior, in the end.

...

OK, you're the only person who could've opened the chest with the Elysian Whip that eventually promoted Tana, but you're such a smug little prick about it that I refuse to give you credit for that.

Neimi is a little more polite about it.

Yeah, let's pretend Neimi's going home with Amelia instead.

...Is this an actual prayer, or just enunciated as one? I can only imagine Artur saying this as one would recite a prayer.

Lute is geeking out over being able to defeat the Demon King.

Truly, they were one of the best units in their respective playthroughs.

Seth has failed to grow any additional personality.

Finally. Unless something else comes up? Renais is pretty high priority and it's about time we sat down and did something for it.

Forde wants a vacation.

Ephraim isn't paying him for that.

Forde got a personality, but Kyle is Ephraim's man through and through. I can't help but feel like, if Ephraim were to retire and go into mercenary work, Kyle would follow him.

The ending is over when the Lord pipes up.

This does differ based on route. Eirika is focused on the needs of her people, while Ephraim is reveling in the glory of success. And this isn't supposed to reflect on which one is the better Queen?

After the sound-off, we get a couple of scenes highlighting each nation on the way back, dropping off all our major characters. Grado doesn't get one, incidentally.

L'Arachel does not elaborate on what these might be. But clearly, they are important.

Once again, I am at a loss for how exactly this can be interpreted in a non-gay way.

Incidentally, Ephraim route does differ to also show L'Arachel expressing interest in him. Considering their Supports, she had to do so at some point to make it believable they have a paired ending.

Jehanna only appears on Eirika route, and then only if Joshua happens to be alive.

...It's impressive, how little this actually says when you take the sentence apart.

As good a starting point as any.

In Ephraim route, and I'm told Eirika runs where Joshua dies, the scene with the Jehannan characters takes place in Caer Pelyn and has Myrrh do the talking instead. Interestingly, Gerik's Mercenaries (and the Caer Pelyn characters themselves) appear in both scenes, despite not interestecting as much as you'd think considering Tethys and Ewan are siblings.

Regardless of Myrrh's decision to join Ephraim in Renais, she must make sure the Demon King's death is truly keeping everything nice and neat, and not causing any disaster dominoes.

Hopefully, this is something that won't break things too badly.

Despite being in Renais, this is the Frelian goodbye, as noted by the Frelian characters being shown instead of the Renais group.

The shot is the same in Ephraim route (although the twins have switched), I'm just including this to make it clear which falcoknight is supposed to be which. I'm surprised Vanessa is the nearer one and not Syrene, since Syrene is the higher-ranked one.

Renais has been ravaged by a cataclysm- a man-made one, but one nonetheless. Frelia demonstrates the altruism necessary to prove Lyon's quest wrong: Frelia will be glad to lend whatever hand is necessary to get Renais back on its feet.

Innes is probably the royal least open to altruism. This isn't so much cynicism as a general sense of paranoia: He sees everything as moves in the great game of politics, and doesn't like it when people play without regards to optimising their gains. He doesn't know what they're really planning.

Over in Ephraim route, on the other hand, he still has a lot of competitiveness to get through with Ephraim before he is satisfied. I'm somewhat intrigued by the fact we don't know why this is. The closest we come to finding out when it started was "during Tana's birthday", so it might actually be a protective big brother thing after all, but however it started, it can only snowball the further downhill it gets.

This scene is significantly different between routes. We start, as normal, with Eirika's.

Of course Eirika gets a vacation. Poor Forde.

They still have the Stone of Rausten, by the way. I imagine, if the infinitely complex lock that once held Renais's Stone is still active, this is probably the safest place on the continent to put it. Maybe this time they'll send the bracelets to opposite corners of the continent.

Eirika almost makes Lyon's mistake over again. It hurt Lyon's gentle heart, and it seems Eirika's heart possesses all the same weaknesses, ready for Fomortiis to exploit anew.

Ephraim can shake her out of it with no issues, thankfully.

This is the symbolic thesis to explain why Lyon is considered to have erred. Lyon did not believe in the future of himself and his people, and when confronted with the need for those things to work, he turned to the past for solutions. Chasing the past is a fool's errand: It is never quite as you remembered it.

So, what would the future look like to Lyon?

Aw, if it isn't Ephraim doing the thinking.

Not that he states much of his thesis. Lyon wanted to help people- that much is readily apparent- and in any society that builds itself on what Lyon has done, we must include that as our central pillar.

With or without the Sacred Stone, the twins of Renais will focus on helping the peoples of Renais and Grado.

That would be a happy ending.

Over on Ephraim route:

Ephraim is packing his bags and leaving as soon as he arrives.

It turns out there is something more important than the people of Renais for Ephraim to busy himself with!

Well, that's sooner than envisaged by Lyon. I thought we had ten years or so on that?

Lyon was worried about exactly this. And it has come to pass, with him too dead to do anything about it after all.

Ephraim is needed in Grado, he thinks.

Grado cannot be allowed to shoulder this on their own. We must do as Innes does, and offer our altruistic aid.

To Grado!

And, once again, Ephraim gets the chance to say something intelligent.

Seth's words in Chapter 16 have not eluded him entirely. Ephraim knows that to abandon Renais now will be to have learned nothing from Orson's misrule. And he chooses Eirika to shoulder that burden.

Eirika shoulders that burden without a second thought.

And then the message completely rockets past the writers. Ephraim is being painted as heroic for leaving his sister to fend for herself while he goes off on his own heroics so he can come back to glory and a great reign.

And the less said about the fact Ephraim is kinda doing an imperialism by lumping Grado under the same umbrella as Renais in his duties, the better.

Restoration Queen, despite being Eirika route, uses Ephraim route's ending, and exactly when Eirika says "I will wait here for your return, Brother", Ephraim says "no, you're Queen now, I'm formally abdicating." When I say it like this, it's remarkable how much stronger the ending becomes with a rather small change, all told. All that was needed was that Eirika be allowed to have "more" than Ephraim. Alas, he is the one born with the junk on the bottom half.

Time to roll the staff credits. No lyrics (it is a GBA game), but this is a remarkably emotional music track nonetheless.

A series of CG images appears interspersed throughout the credits, showing various scenes relating to the events of the story. This first one is either Ismaire's death or Vigarde's resurrection, depending on which route you play. It's the only route-dependent CG, incidentally.

Next up, we have L'Arachel fighting monsters with Dozla and Rennac. Rennac's all business when his life is in peril, at least, and there isn't a shred of doubt on that face. He may just find a silver lining in his time after all.

Valter unleashing his terror on some Renais knights, it looks. I'm not sure when, exactly, this scene is depicting: The initial invasion, Glen's murder, or the desert map. Probably the former.

Renais's knights in training. Seth doesn't look like he's at all in Forde and Kyle's league. And yet they give it their all regardless.

Tana trying to join in with Vanessa and Syrene's pegasus exercises. I wonder how much Innes knew about Tana training to be a pegasus knight before she actually went and did it.

Gerik's Mercenaries hanging out, with Saleh coming to accompany Ewan. It's unclear purely from the image whether Saleh is coming or going, and in which direction Ewan was accompanying him. Tethys doesn't seem all that concerned, and I've gotta say, I love how content Marisa looks. This sort of expression wouldn't really suit Byleth- and after all, Marisa was always a mundane version of Byleth.

The twins looking at one of the Sacred Stones. I imagine it's their own- it's the one that most fits this scene's setup. Looking at the various CGs depicting Stones here, it's startling how small they are. Like, yeah, the fact they are "Stones" and plot beats have hinged on characters concealed-carrying them tells you they're small, but look at that. It's the size of Ephraim's hand! Five of these rocks are all that stands between us and certain annihilation.

And lastly, a CG of Ephraim and Eirika using the friendship-infused Rausten Stone to rob the Demon King of his soul and leave him a lumbering hulk that could be taken out with weapons. The Demon King's lovely spritework in battle is such a close facsimile of his appearance in this higher-quality CG that it almost looks like they took the sprite and slapped it on there. It does kinda feel like his legs should go on a little longer than there's room for them to do so here, though.

Why these guys in particular? I admire the name "Wolfgang".

With the credits over, we get one last scene. The dialogue may be manually advanced, but it's set to the slowest speed.

We get to see the first meeting of Eirika, Ephraim and Lyon, untarnished by rose-tinted lenses from any of the three. Although the CG is plenty literally rose-tinted enough

Lyon... really didn't have any other friends to be spending this time with?

...

In the end, no matter how much agency Lyon had over what came next, there can only be one word that suits the outcome: Tragedy.

And on that note, we get the ending placards and the score. I don't like to track my time playing through the maps because the need to spend turns grinding Supports makes any such comparisons moot. Dawdling longer on a Tellius map is for EXP and WEXP alone, and has direct penalties because of the BEXP mechanics. Dawdling on a GBA map is because it's the only way you're getting character development on two thirds of the cast.

The ending credits are delivered in a set order, with exceptions given for paired endings (RD was an exception in the series, most games with paired endings have the couple share their endcard). Seth is listed first- there's a general sense that we're going in "recruitment order", but grouping like characters.

Seth himself seems to have gone home and continued doing what he was always doing. A man of his liege to the very end.

Franz, meanwhile, tags along like a puppy. An easy-to-love puppy, though. I feel Franz may have done more for the kingdom than Seth, on a macro scale.

Gilliam also hasn't changed. I certainly wouldn't want him glaring at me when I've disappointed him.

Moulder's endcard introduces us to something that goes unmentioned in the main story, but which is hinted at in endcards and pointed at in the postgame: Hayden isn't long for this world, and the reign of King Innes is soon to fall upon Frelia. In the postgame, ten characters who died during the events of the game may be recruited, and Hayden is included as one of them despite not having a death scene. It's also somewhat interesting that we never actually get hard proof Hayden is still alive outside the occasional C Support with Tana or somesuch. When did he die?

Interesting Vanessa is known for her beauty. Her determination, yeah, Vanessa is a model when it comes to loyalty and grace under pressure. But Vanessa has never been a character associated with physical appearance, except to point out that she is not at all like her sister. Even if her looks became part of her reputation, I'd call it her "handsomeness"- "beauty" evokes an image of Syrene that I feel Vanessa is never going to overlap.

As the first female character on the list (and the first character either run used to a great extent), her Battles/Wins/Losses are recorded above. You have to put them in order after the fact if you want to see the biggest contributor, but the linear progression of classic FE means the statistic doesn't have as much diversity as you'd like.

Forde’s love for Vanessa grew after the war, and although she loved him as well, she placed her duty to Frelia first. Undeterred, Forde moved to Frelia himself. Over time, the two were wed.

Sisters Syrene and Vanessa returned to Frelia after the war for a long-overdue talk. They talked of love and war, of friends now gone. Together, they renewed their bond as siblings and vowed never to let that bond fail.

Forde and Syrene's paired endings. Syrene gets something far more heartfelt, while Forde is very much just ticking some arbitrary box. To think, there are paired endings that go unresolved while random pairings get random endings.

Ross taking after his father and looking out for people at peace, but in the end, he is a man of action and action he shall take.

Don't worry, I'll be showing Ephraim route's scores too, Ross just had a paired ending and needed to appear separately anyway. Interestingly, Eirika route as played got no paired endings. This is less surprising and more sad when you realise that's because of a lack of F/F endings. The game has two (Vanessa/Syrene and Eirika/Tana), but this run got neither.

Ross's paired ending with his dad shows that, rather than just get stronger because that's what he wants to do, connects the two men and they both become stronger for the other's sake. I'm not sure what wars Garcia III is going to be proving himself in, but if his father's any indication, he's going to have a healthy peaceful life to go along with it.

Garcia himself decided he'd go back to the army after all. Or perhaps his position is more focused on educating and inspiring than actually leading. Again, not sure what he's leading his followers into.

At least he's doing something altruistic. He doesn't have a home of his own to go back to, so he uses his skills to help others.

"She never could resist a good cry" is a dark way of saying that the trauma of losing her village to bandits never left her. It's a sign that her crying was more of a character trait than informed by her circumstances on the writing end, and isn't exactly a good sign. Bernadetta was a significant improvement in all regards.

The childhood friends became lovers first, then husband and wife. Worried for Neimi’s well-being, Colm gave up his adventurer’s ways. Neimi passed on her grandfather’s skill in archery to her own son and daughter.

Neimi and Colm's ending. Not sure why Colm had to give up his ways, Neimi is clearly still a badass in her own right. Colm probably ended up as a porcupine a few nights while the kids were learning how to miss.

He lived in Renais. I think this is a mistranslation and he's moving to the capital as opposed to staying in his hometown. ...Although his ending does feel more like he's staying on the scale of his village.

Lute's happy to move on to exploring real experiences as well as textual ones, and she's having a lot of those.

Artur and Lute were married upon their return. Artur handled the housework, but otherwise, their lives were unchanged. When they had a son, Lute’s interests shifted from studying Artur to studying her son’s baffling habits.

Artur and Lute make an adorable couple, and their ending brings out the best of that dynamic.

After the war, Kyle and Lute were married in Renais. Kyle’s friends were disturbed by his choice of brides, but they could not deny his happiness. Before long, they had a son, and Kyle dedicated himself to his upbringing.

Kyle, on the other hand, is questionable at best. At least he puts his son first like a good man.

Joshua did learn a host of useful skills on this adventure. Thanks to being part of this quest, he probably got more than he bargained for on that front. With that said, I'm sure a King who loves to gamble is going to have a fun time explaining that to his treasurer.

He got Gerik as his right-hand man after all. I'm honestly surprised Joshua/Gerik got a paired ending- of all the M/M endings, these two?

When Joshua returned to Jehanna, he took Natasha as his bride and claimed the throne as its rightful heir. Natasha was the perfect companion, and together, they carried the mighty desert nation to great glory.

Joshua returned to Jehanna with Marisa, where she pledged service to the crown and became the top swordfighter in the land. Joshua still loved games of chance, but when it came to Marisa, she was ever the winner.

Joshua's M/F endings. Natasha's kindness and generosity would be a huge boon to a nation largely driven on mercenary commerce and having little, while Marisa just keeps her cool Crimson Flash persona and doesn't give him an inch. I think this is Marisa's better paired ending, but I prefer Natasha for Joshua. He needs someone responsible, and between her and Gerik, they should be able to finagle that.

Especially since Natasha is needed back in Grado to handle the ground floor of that great cataclysm. And also all the families of the people who followed Lyon into darkness.

Natasha returned to Renais with Seth, where the two were wed. The reconstruction of Renais kept them busy, but when all the work was done, they settled down to live their days in peace and happiness.

Considering the A Support, I'm not sure I'm happy for this one.

Be careful what you wish for. Forde learns the hard way that a hobby that becomes a job stops being fun. Deadlines are a harsh mistress.

Kyle, meanwhile, just becomes another Seth. I think we all expected as much.

Sometimes, the greatest friends also differ greatly in personality. When Kyle and Forde returned home, they were celebrated in song and story. They lived their days in happiness, as dearest friends and toughest rivals.

Kyle and Forde get a paired ending, although I think I prefer it when Forde gets to retire and focus on non-lethal jobs.

Dear friend Eirika, is that what we're calling it? Despite my affinity for Eirika/L'Arachel and Ephraim/Tana, there is room in my headcanon for Eirika/Tana: I suspect their respective relationships are open to Tana finding the things she doesn't get from Ephraim with the girls.

(Reminder that this is her Eirika route appearance- Ephraim route is a paired ending later.)

Following the war, Tana and Eirika remained the best of friends. They visited one another when time permitted, and as they grew older, their children shared a bond of friendship as close as Eirika and Tana themselves did.

Their paired ending does have them off with men off-screen (either that or L'Arachel found someone to adopt), but a good step forward. If this was their offering for the sole non-sibling F/F paired ending, though, perhaps it's for the best Eirika/L'Arachel got snubbed. Ike/Soren may have got off easy...

Cormag returned to Grado to assist in the reconstruction of his country. Shortly after, he left to wander on his own. Tana spent years looking for him. In time, she found him and knighted him in Frelia’s service.

Tana was true to her word and fished Cormag out of his misery spiral.

"As time went on" suggests Hayden may still be alive when the credits roll, although the endcard was always going to mention that he eventually becomes King anyway. Hayden was already sort of this spy-heavy king, and Innes has refined the craft.

At Innes’s request, Vanessa moved into Castle Frelia where she continued her duties as a knight of the realm. Thereafter, they had a child and lived happily with the blessing of all around them.

Doesn't actually marry Vanessa, huh? I imagine the relationship is above board, but it's notable that there's no mention of marriage.

Yeah, Syrene's the beautiful pegasus knight, Vanessa's the strong one. The alternative was she was remembered for being nurturing and motherly- Syrene is peak femininity on this continent.

Gilliam and Syrene returned to Frelia, where they were married. All agreed they were a perfect match, and their union was blessed by the crown and the order of knights. The two continued their unwavering service together.

After the war, Kyle visited Frelia, where he was greeted with a warm reception by Syrene. After the two retired, they were wed. They raised a daughter whose skill in martial arts and etiquette excelled.

Her marriage to Gilliam is basically business as usual, while Kyle gets mention of their kid. Any child of Syrene is both badass and refined, just as she is.

Amelia became a happy citizen of Grado, without the need to focus on joining the military to find her mother. Although what a story to tell...

Franz brought Amelia home with him to Renais. Amelia spent a short time in Renais’s army, but once she and Franz were married, she retired her commission. The two had a daughter who grew to be a great knight herself.

Housewife for Franz, eh... I mean, at least she's content off the battlefield?

Amelia traveled to Ross’s hometown, where she decided to remain. Over time, the two fell in love and were wed. Years later they had a son who grew into a warrior. As he grew in skill and strength, he surpassed even his father.

After the war, Ewan and Amelia set out, as promised, on a trip around the world. Their deeds along the way made small legends in the regions they visited. In time, Amelia gave birth to a daughter, and they settled down.

Ross and Ewan are a lot more supportive. Although it's funny Ross gets a son while Ewan and Franz get daughters. I suspect it's to tie in to the Ross/Garcia ending rather than anything specific on Amelia's end.

Upon their return to Grado, Duessel reunited Amelia with her mother. The two wept with joy, giving thanks to Duessel. Afterward, Amelia became the most trusted companion of the man once known as Obsidian.

And her ending with Duessel. This is, I believe, the only platonic ending between a man and a woman outside Ephraim, and because of the aforementioned air that "paired endings are romantic", mentioning this one gets some people uncomfortable. I feel without that baggage, this ending does just fine of not encroaching on uncomfortable territory. Shame that baggage is there.

Duessel maintained his business-like approach to Grado and combat. Someone else must've become King. I'm not sure who.

Knoll considers himself culpable for Lyon's dark turn, and is by far the most pessimistic about his future outcomes as a result. Fire Emblem Heroes supports the conclusion that his disappearance is either him turning himself in to continue his prison sentence, or taking the matter of his "never having been executed" into his own hands, as it were. At least the man did the atonement part, and isn't just punishing himself for the sake of punishing himself.

Knoll has no paired endings, so it is impossible to pull him back from this.

...I don't get the difference. Cormag seems to have taken a leaf out of Joshua's book on this wanderlust phase, though. Means whatever he did, he actually did make an effort to learn things while he was gone. That does change how the Tana ending plays, though.

Shame she doesn't get to go on as much of a rampage as she really deserves, because she starts as a staff unit. I find it notable she visits neighbouring countries often, though. Perhaps that means she can attend to her duties with minimal time spent in her actual home nation? Eirika/L'Arachel might not be as tough as I thought...

(This was in Innes's spot, but screw that, L'Arachel would never let herself be in any spot other than Eirika's.)

Sparks were certainly flying between the two, although those weren't necessarily romantic ones the whole time. I think you usually call that friction. Their romance takes lots of cues from it, though.

Dozla's personality continues to be L'Arachel. By this point, I imagine the thing that would make him happiest is knowing that the crying baby he's nurtured for most of his life turned out well after what happened to her parents. You can't deny she has.

L’Arachel was, in time, made queen of Rausten, with Dozla at her side, as always. Later, Dozla wept like a baby when L’Arachel was wed. His emotional outburst is remembered as much as, if not more than, the ceremony itself.

L'Arachel/Dozla have a paired ending, but it's basically just Dozla's ending, with L'Arachel getting married (to someone else). Poor L'Arachel's wife.

I'm told that added "he didn't try very hard" was a localisation addition, to soften the fact that Rennac taking what claimed to be a high-paying job didn't just ruin his life's direction into becoming the royal babysitter.

Unlike Knoll, Gerik's departure is intended to be an actual vacation. There'll always be more mercenaries to pick up the slack on the job offers.

Gerik and Tethys remained bound to no nation and beholden to no authority. They bought themselves a leisurely retirement. Gerik taught fencing to city youths, and Tethys found many stages on which to dance.

Gerik remained a mercenary, and Marisa became his company’s fencing instructor. Gerik returned the affection she gave him, although he was troubled to learn she was clumsy at everything but fighting.

The Gerik love triangle resolutions. Gerik/Tethys is by far the happier of the two- poor Gerik/Marisa never gets its shake. Byleth doesn't speak and somehow she's the better written "emotionless mercenary falls in love" character.

Tethys, meanwhile, parlays her dancing talent into something greater. Hopefully she's able to help young girls like she once was follow in her footsteps, rather literally.

I always like to imagine Ewan as going off to the new world, whatever landmasses exist outside of Magvel. What's out there? Who knows. Hopefully Ewan comes back so he can tell us.

Master and student returned to Caer Pelyn to study in peace. Ewan worked hard, and in time, his power grew to rival Saleh’s. As equals, the two continued their studies together and expanded their knowledge ever more.

Meanwhile, his ending with Saleh focuses on him expanding his knowledge and power. Hopefully he doesn't accidentally do anything Lyon did.

Marisa continues to be completely and utterly unflappable in the narrative. She has a job to do, and she's not going to let these nutters get in her way.

Caer Pelyn has stopped being an isolated village and has become a place tourists travel to. Hopefully the people are more amenable to that.

Reminder that her "long and full life" does continue after Ephraim and everyone else in the story is dead. Although perhaps not remembering that is the happier outcome.

After the war, Ephraim returned to Renais and Myrrh to Darkling Woods. They both turned their attention to their respective duties but never forgot one another. Though Myrrh never again left Darkling Woods, Ephraim often visited her.

Myrrh returned to Darkling Woods, but at Saleh’s request, she eventually moved to Caer Pelyn. In time, the townsfolk learned to treat her not as the Great Dragon but rather as a normal girl, and she was happy.

Her ending with Saleh ends a lot happier for her. Ephraim doesn't get anything permanent set up, and whether or not that's a bad thing depends on whether she's needed in Darkling.

The twins always take the last two spots, no matter who they marry. The twin whose route you picked is also the last one listed.

Ephraim oversaw restoration of the whole continent? Grado, I get, but Innes is doing just fine on his own, and what is he doing to help Jehanna and Rausten? And I also don't like him sticking his nose in Carcino, either. ...Since the Sacred Stones are gone, that also means nations need not continue as they are, too...

Huh, Innes does have something to say about Ephraim/Tana. Got shut down pretty quick, though. I do wish the ending was a little more about Tana than it is, although that's mostly because of all the imperialism stuff in Ephraim's endings (and the fact he'd like to not be royal at all) making this come off worse than it was intended.

Ephraim and L’Arachel each returned home after the war, but L’Arachel visited Renais often. Over time, the two were wed. Their marriage threw Rausten into turmoil, but L’Arachel’s self-centeredness carried the day.

What an ending for Ephraim and L'Arachel. This happened instead of Eirika/L'Arachel, by the way.

Eirika wound up unwed on both routes, mostly because of the lack of Eirika/L'Arachel. I imagine any groom of hers has big shoes to fill when it comes to standing where Lyon might have stood had things been different.

Upon their return to Renais, Eirika and Seth were wed, with the blessings of Ephraim and all of the Knights of Renais. The tale of the love that grew between a princess and her loyal knight became a beloved romance in Renais.

After the reconstruction of Renais, Innes challenged Ephraim to a duel. The match ended in a tie. After the fight, Eirika acknowledged her love for Innes, and the two were wed with Ephraim’s blessings.

After the war, Eirika and Forde returned to Renais. Eirika spent her days toiling in the reconstruction of Renais, and he was her faithful supporter. His portrait of Eirika captured the smile he had thought lost forever.

After the war, Eirika and Saleh returned to their respective homes. Eirika visited Caer Pelyn when she could. Eventually, she left Renais in the care of her brother and wed Saleh. Their daughter resembles the legendary Nada Kuya.

Eirika's various husbands. Forde is by far the best one of the heterosexual options, with Saleh edging Seth out for last place. The last thing Renais needs is for Eirika to go wandering off and leaving the place in Ephraim's hands.

Busy days awaited Eirika and Ephraim as they struggled to rebuild Renais. Their work gave new hope to those ravaged by the war, and with Eirika’s constant help, Ephraim grew to be a trusted and honorable king.

And, of course, Eirika and Ephraim's ending. JP offers no incestuous undertones not present here, but I think the ship has long since past on trying to tell people they're imagining things here.

And with that, the story of Magvel is over.