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Some thoughts on the logistics of Lehran's Medallion, and the incident with Greil
This is a thing that occurred to me some time ago and seemed like quite a possibility. But it's not something that the game gives you cause to think about.
Your father was one of the preeminent
swordsmen of his generation. That day,
after he touched the medallion...
Twenty soldiers had come for him.
Twenty highly trained killers. Your father
barely broke a sweat cutting them down.
- Volke, Ch 19 PoR postscript.
Volke goes on to say that after this, he killed his friends/neighbors/wife. I doubt Greil waited around for the killers to show up. Isn't that a little convenient, that he accidentally touched the medallion right when the assassins came?
I suggest a different version of events: Greil saw the signs of his attackers. Greil thought hard about the options he had to defeat them and defend his family. He recalled faint legends about the medallion granting power. Perhaps he knew the bit about madness, and had the hubris to think that he could control it. Perhaps he had no idea about the extent of the madness. Perhaps seeing Elena bearing it safely had to do with this view. There is nothing to suggest that the effects of touching the medallion were well-known. In any case, he took the medallion of his own will. The results of that were far from intended.
---
I suppose there are scenarios, accidental ones, which account for the above. Perhaps Greil drew Elena closer to him in protection and that was how he ended up having contact with the medallion.
But there is one other logistic that must be taken into account:
He slew they one by one, until your mother
rushed in... thinking only to save her husband
from himself.
It was over in an instant.
Your mother grabbed the medallion from
his hand and stepped away from him...
They say she smiled as she pulled his sword
from her breast and forgave him as her
life's blood spilled into the street.
Greil's rampage was as long as it was because he maintained contact with the medallion. He stopped his rampage and passed out shortly after. How shortly? Well, shortly enough not to kill Ike, who was watching the whole thing.
The amount of contact required, however, is somewhat questionable....
Ashnard
Ah! It's found its way back to my hands at long last. Unwrap it! Quickly! Unwrap it and show it to me...
Petrine
V-very well--
Ashnard
Do be careful not to touch it, Petrine. It wouldn't do to have you go mad...I'd hate to have to kill you! Aha ha ha!
[ . . . ]
Ashnard
You... Me... Even this very castle itself...We all radiate various forms of chaotic energy, and the dark god is pure chaos! The light you see is that energy calling out to the chaos around us. That is why some scholars refer to it as the Fire Emblem.
Petrine
...
Ashnard
Heee! Heee har har! Look how you tremble! This light has the power to bewitch the human soul, you know? It calls to our chaotic impulses--like the urge to slaughter every living thing in sight... Do you feel its invitation? The permission to act on any base emotion that resides in your heart, no matter how unspeakable?
It is possible that, like touching a live wire, the chaotic influence dooms the person by having them seize the medallion as well. Or perhaps we should take Volke's metaphor, "The medallion is like a strong poison," more literally. Perhaps a touch stays in the system for some time until the body gets rid of it, varying from person to person depending on their balance. (Petrine has a lot of inner turmoil. I wouldn't be surprised if, under this model, a touch would make her go crazy for an hour or two.)
---
Personally I like the idea that Greil touched the medallion of his own volition, thinking that it would be a way to save his family. In any case, the berserking effect of Lehran's Medallion leaves quite a few loose ends. Plenty of room for interpretation.
Your father was one of the preeminent
swordsmen of his generation. That day,
after he touched the medallion...
Twenty soldiers had come for him.
Twenty highly trained killers. Your father
barely broke a sweat cutting them down.
- Volke, Ch 19 PoR postscript.
Volke goes on to say that after this, he killed his friends/neighbors/wife. I doubt Greil waited around for the killers to show up. Isn't that a little convenient, that he accidentally touched the medallion right when the assassins came?
I suggest a different version of events: Greil saw the signs of his attackers. Greil thought hard about the options he had to defeat them and defend his family. He recalled faint legends about the medallion granting power. Perhaps he knew the bit about madness, and had the hubris to think that he could control it. Perhaps he had no idea about the extent of the madness. Perhaps seeing Elena bearing it safely had to do with this view. There is nothing to suggest that the effects of touching the medallion were well-known. In any case, he took the medallion of his own will. The results of that were far from intended.
---
I suppose there are scenarios, accidental ones, which account for the above. Perhaps Greil drew Elena closer to him in protection and that was how he ended up having contact with the medallion.
But there is one other logistic that must be taken into account:
He slew they one by one, until your mother
rushed in... thinking only to save her husband
from himself.
It was over in an instant.
Your mother grabbed the medallion from
his hand and stepped away from him...
They say she smiled as she pulled his sword
from her breast and forgave him as her
life's blood spilled into the street.
Greil's rampage was as long as it was because he maintained contact with the medallion. He stopped his rampage and passed out shortly after. How shortly? Well, shortly enough not to kill Ike, who was watching the whole thing.
The amount of contact required, however, is somewhat questionable....
Ashnard
Ah! It's found its way back to my hands at long last. Unwrap it! Quickly! Unwrap it and show it to me...
Petrine
V-very well--
Ashnard
Do be careful not to touch it, Petrine. It wouldn't do to have you go mad...I'd hate to have to kill you! Aha ha ha!
[ . . . ]
Ashnard
You... Me... Even this very castle itself...We all radiate various forms of chaotic energy, and the dark god is pure chaos! The light you see is that energy calling out to the chaos around us. That is why some scholars refer to it as the Fire Emblem.
Petrine
...
Ashnard
Heee! Heee har har! Look how you tremble! This light has the power to bewitch the human soul, you know? It calls to our chaotic impulses--like the urge to slaughter every living thing in sight... Do you feel its invitation? The permission to act on any base emotion that resides in your heart, no matter how unspeakable?
It is possible that, like touching a live wire, the chaotic influence dooms the person by having them seize the medallion as well. Or perhaps we should take Volke's metaphor, "The medallion is like a strong poison," more literally. Perhaps a touch stays in the system for some time until the body gets rid of it, varying from person to person depending on their balance. (Petrine has a lot of inner turmoil. I wouldn't be surprised if, under this model, a touch would make her go crazy for an hour or two.)
---
Personally I like the idea that Greil touched the medallion of his own volition, thinking that it would be a way to save his family. In any case, the berserking effect of Lehran's Medallion leaves quite a few loose ends. Plenty of room for interpretation.