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Fire Emblem and the Heart of Mankind
"There is but one thing to be said.
That is, if there ever comes a time when mankind once more grows arrogant in its pride,
the flames of conflict shall once more scorch the land.
All will be lost, or so it is said.
A most terrible and unseemly end.
That, perhaps, is what shall live on within the hearts of men."
- Fire Emblem: Gaiden, Epilogue.
Oh, Fire Emblem, you so want to be a dark brooding badass about the nature of evil. You want to be all Tales of Phantasia: "If there is evil in the world, it lies in the heart of mankind." You want to say, it's really all our fault. It's not about the gods, it's on us!
That's... exactly why the suggested solution is to hit the god with a sword?
Type A: 1/3/4/6/7/8/11/12) There are evil dragons awakened, but the real problem is the nobles they corrupt. The potential was all along in humankind! Don't focus your hate on individuals!
Resolution: Hit all the corrupted overlords with swords, and take in their cute squishy kids. Then hit the evil dragon with a sword. World peace!!
Type B: 2/9/10) Balance falls out of order between two gods with conflicting ideals; gods go to sleep and things are momentarily okay until someone is convinced that they need to wake one up to create their ideal militaristic society.
Resolution: Epic journeys ensue, some gods are hit by divine swords and agree to piss off. (Temporary) world peace!!
Type WTF Thracia: 5) Your country is ruled by evil dudes worshipping an evil god!
Resolution: Take your country back, then play the previous game!!
(... Right, how about we ignore Thracia for just a moment, it's pretty weird.)
Kaga, and all of his successors at IS, seem to love presenting the problem as complex. It's not the Absolute Evil, that's just a metaphor. It's humankind. It's the heart of darkness.
And yet, for what this complexity grant us, what does his intended solution suggest? What is the real-world analogue to hitting a god with a sword?
Genocide? The series seems to suggest that genocide is never justified... although curiously pre-Tellius the persecuted people (if present) were always somehow a potential danger and would become a menace to you by the time of the game: Dragons, Loptians, Thracians, Dragons.(Even in FE7, where your girlfriend is a dragon, you have no choice but to kill some dragons completely arbitrarily the moment they pass through the gate, because obviously they're about to destroy the world. I give FE7 the Worst Racial Morality Award.) The Absolute Evil was generally their boss in some way.
So, if we just wiped out all the dangerous people, obviously whatever evil is in mankind that's left is just like, bandits and shit and we can handle that. Right? Right.
My, Fire Emblem. My.
Or maybe they don't intend to suggest a solution beyond the metaphorical idea that we should fight it. Maybe they recognize that this has been a problem for ages, but they want a nice clincher for their story. (And if we're in Type B, they throw us some more shades of gray and say it's a temporary solution.)
"Dunno. There's this problem. It's hard. I don't really know how to do anything about this and make a satisfying story, so..."
"Here. Hit some gods with a sword."
That is, if there ever comes a time when mankind once more grows arrogant in its pride,
the flames of conflict shall once more scorch the land.
All will be lost, or so it is said.
A most terrible and unseemly end.
That, perhaps, is what shall live on within the hearts of men."
- Fire Emblem: Gaiden, Epilogue.
Oh, Fire Emblem, you so want to be a dark brooding badass about the nature of evil. You want to be all Tales of Phantasia: "If there is evil in the world, it lies in the heart of mankind." You want to say, it's really all our fault. It's not about the gods, it's on us!
That's... exactly why the suggested solution is to hit the god with a sword?
Type A: 1/3/4/6/7/8/11/12) There are evil dragons awakened, but the real problem is the nobles they corrupt. The potential was all along in humankind! Don't focus your hate on individuals!
Resolution: Hit all the corrupted overlords with swords, and take in their cute squishy kids. Then hit the evil dragon with a sword. World peace!!
Type B: 2/9/10) Balance falls out of order between two gods with conflicting ideals; gods go to sleep and things are momentarily okay until someone is convinced that they need to wake one up to create their ideal militaristic society.
Resolution: Epic journeys ensue, some gods are hit by divine swords and agree to piss off. (Temporary) world peace!!
Type WTF Thracia: 5) Your country is ruled by evil dudes worshipping an evil god!
Resolution: Take your country back, then play the previous game!!
(... Right, how about we ignore Thracia for just a moment, it's pretty weird.)
Kaga, and all of his successors at IS, seem to love presenting the problem as complex. It's not the Absolute Evil, that's just a metaphor. It's humankind. It's the heart of darkness.
And yet, for what this complexity grant us, what does his intended solution suggest? What is the real-world analogue to hitting a god with a sword?
Genocide? The series seems to suggest that genocide is never justified... although curiously pre-Tellius the persecuted people (if present) were always somehow a potential danger and would become a menace to you by the time of the game: Dragons, Loptians, Thracians, Dragons.
So, if we just wiped out all the dangerous people, obviously whatever evil is in mankind that's left is just like, bandits and shit and we can handle that. Right? Right.
My, Fire Emblem. My.
Or maybe they don't intend to suggest a solution beyond the metaphorical idea that we should fight it. Maybe they recognize that this has been a problem for ages, but they want a nice clincher for their story. (And if we're in Type B, they throw us some more shades of gray and say it's a temporary solution.)
"Dunno. There's this problem. It's hard. I don't really know how to do anything about this and make a satisfying story, so..."
"Here. Hit some gods with a sword."