(no subject)

[bonnefois]

FE6 spoilers.



y'know I played FE6 but I still can't tell you wtf was Zephiel's deal. "My dad was mean to me, so I'm emo and want everyone dead, also I'm a scalie now."

It must've been even more incomprehensible in FE6 before FE7 was released because FE7 really had his backstory. So in FE6 you just get Guinevere telling you his dad was mean and it caused him to try and kill all of humanity.

Indunn is an interesting antagonist, don't get me wrong. But Zephiel really just leaves me going ":|....?" Probably one of my least favorite enemies in the series, though I did like FE6 a lot.

A lot of it is how many FE characters went through so much worse than "my parents really should divorce, and my dad is awful."

(This is not to downplay abuse, mind you, but "I'm going to kill the entire world with dragons because I was abused" is not an admirable reaction.)

Comments

[sarajayechan]

I don't really believe in "other characters went through worse and they didn't do the thing", too reminiscent of real life misery poker and "I did it so why can't you???". And Desmond was human garbage who should have died in FE7.

That said, Zephiel did make the choice to become a scalie and try to ruin the world and murder people, and he's a pain in the ass to fight because of FE6's ridiculous throne bonuses. So even if his FE7 self was a precious woobie who deserved better I never had the "oh no, why???" reaction to his death like I had for Lyon's in FE8 or Ishtar in FE4.

[bonnefois]

Unlike many other characters in FE history, Zephiel had Guinevere and presumably other people outside his horrible parents. His dad was awful, but he could've just...left. That was an option. Hell, Lewyn did it and there's plenty of other FE characters who just went "Fuck this shit, I'm out." He could've gotten himself a dragon waifu and settled down somewhere. Desmond wanted him gone anyways. The more I look at his character the less sense his actions make.

He just doesn't work as an enemy for me. Maybe if some remake made him fallen or corrupted by Jahn or something.

[sarajayechan]

But the damage from the abuse would've still been there, and the situation in Bern was more complicated than "why didn't he just leave". Zephiel had Guinevere, yeah, but Desmond and Hellene strove to keep them apart.

(On the other hand he had Murdock and given Murdock's stats in FE6 he probably could've offed Desmond and made it look like an accident lol)

I think it's because I played FE7 first and then read FE6's script, so I'm like "wow, that hopeful ending to the Bern Royals Arc sure amounted to nothing".

Corrupted by Jahn would be interesting due to corrupted heroes often being so because the greater force preyed on their darker thoughts. (i.e. Hardin)