#artbook stuff

Poor Joseph would have died during the Soldraga map, and Alain would have inherited his pony. Damn!

Hopefully Joseph's role in the scenario saved him, but I wonder if the Holonius!Alain thing in Albion - that still makes more sense than Sanatio ! - would have meant we would have had someone else play the role of the Lord (Virginia? Scarlett? Or Joseph himself?) or if Holonius would have hijacked Alain's body, but more Zenoiran stuff would have been appreciated (maybe Holonius would have told Galerius that, uh, that Baltro fuck was the loser who told us to sacrifice an unicorn which resulted in our doom, maybe we shouldn't work with him anymore?).

If Holonius hijacked Alain though, would that mean that he had no ring of the unicorn on him, or didn't put it on?

(Galerius needs the two rings to be exorcised out, but if Holonius is like Theodora when she borrowed Berengaria's body, the ring of the unicorn is enough to get rid of him?)

Alain was supposed to have been jailed in Bastorias, maybe we could have had more Reimann shenanigans, or maybe the devs wanted to cook something with the rat tribe? Given how Yunifi has a lot of concept illustrations, I wonder if she wasn't the "Scarlett" of that beta version, aka the "main girl pushed by the plot".

How is that angel vs human composition in Albion?

Bryce was ultimately reworked to be some sort of Robin Hood unit - we meet him first in Cornia unpromoted, then we recruit (or kill) him in Bastorias as a Hoplite, aka, a promoted unit!

Granted, his group of "thieves", the Rock Rats, are periodically heard about by several NPC (iirc in Drakengard too even if we don't meet them?) so yep, he's still around, stealing from Zenoira and trying to find a place to call home for his fellow thieves, after kicking out Nina from the gang when he learnt she still had a place to go (but then they make up, and in the cover of this artbook, she and her sister Mille are sitting on Bryce's shoulders!).

Bar that, Bryce apparently comes from Drakengard (was he a desert dweller?) and has an interesting recruitment dialogue, and even rapport conversation with Alain that totally does not hint at the final boss of this arc's identity nor his motivations at all - about how the ones who started from scratch and rose to a position of power are the most dangerous of them all, since they will do anything to conserve/keep the power they've reached, even if it means pissing on the person they used to be, or forgetting why they wanted that power in the first place.

Unit wise, he's a Hoplite, like Hodrick. Great physical tank who can protect allies but he dies to mages and breakers.

The only named playable bear in the game, Bertrand!

IDK about the "mafia/yakuza" boss, but the other bear units sort of smile, when Bertrand never does so maybe it was to highlight his taciturn disposition : when we meet him, he and Govil - a young and hotheaded werewolf - are arguing about what to do against Zenoira, Betrand doesn't want to mount another attack/counterinvasion because last time they failed, and iirc, it was during that last time that they had a lot of casualties, including his own son.

Govil apparently dgaf and wants to take a shot at Zenoira - in what seems to be a suicide mission with half of his people in shambles - and they argue, Alain can either decide to help Bertrand (thus making an enemy of Govil), Govil (so you don't recruit Bertrand), or to take them both on (and recruit the two!).

They agree to join, and ultimately make up, Bertrand will totes not become the guard of Govil's new tavern, and in the epilogue, they're bathing in a Bastorias hot spring together.

Maybe VW didn't want to have some "depression, the rapport convo" between him and Fodoquia talking about their respective dead sons, but I liked how Bertrand is still clearly in mourning and how the loss of his son and his forced "pacifism" are really at the core of his character, and not a thrown away line : war takes away people you hold dear, even if you're fighting for a cause, and it's a real toll that sucks, even (or rather, especially) when you're just someone who never asked for any of this shit to happen.

Imagine someone mourning for his dead family member in a game where some fraud tells you that "no biggie, we're all risking our lives out there, mine as I invade you, or you as you try to fend off my invasion!" - that game would suck, right?

Unit wise, Werebears are... a nightmare to face, especially if you don't have breakers, or magic users.

They are even more bulky than Hoplites (tfw higher HP even if their guard rate can be lower) and can actually hit and at times kill enemies (unlike Hoplites save for magic!Hodrick shenanigans). Tradeoff is that they cannot guard allies with their base skill set (unlike Hoplites) but their end of battle skill - a hit propotional to the amount of HP they have left - is completely stupid, since it doesn't take into account the enemy's def stat.

Alain by the end of Bastorias, even without his grandpa's shiny sword, should be a force to be reckoned with who only dies to magic or to RNG, well, mine died to a fucking bear who hammered him to oblivion with Life Blow. And they look cute as fuck, with their tiny shoes, huge chest armor and blood-stained hammers!

Sure they don't do that "tank" thing very reliably, but they're cute.

Govil, the unexpected popular maiden picked by the players!

I got the 80s' punk vibe lol, and where Bertrand became a forced pacifist after losing his son, Govil, character wise, is the hot headed youth who wants to attack/kill/get rid of Zenoirans in Bastorias... because they killed his grandparents and are still killing various people everyday, he wants revenge.

Fitting with the 80s' punk idea the devs had, after seeing reason y joining Alain and co, Govil, in his rapport convo, reveals that he isn't someone who loves to fight or who enjoys brawls, he wants to re-open the tavern his grandparents (not his bio ones, but randos who adopted him!!!) had, is quite self-conscious about his appearance but really doesn't want people to know that he cares about how he looks, and is a bit curious about humans, since Bastorias doesn't see a lot of them.

Unit wise...

Werebears are really units, after two runs, I can safely say I didnt' understand how they were supposed to be played, or what they were supposed to do.

They are good at finishing already damaged units, and have an AoE, but they don't hit quite hard and aren't very bulky so... I'd like to try using or building some unit composition around him one day, but I haven't really found a "way" to make him work :(

Eligor, the twist!

I've read some people's thoughts about how that twist revealing him to be a bestral under his mask was totes foreshadowed since he's the only one crouching - granted Belisarius does the same and after meeting Baltro in the previous arc I can't really be sure what a "humanoid" looks like - and he called Conrad, a minor boss, a "human" earlier in a map.

That was a lolcalisation goof, Eligor never calls anyone "human" before the reveal : aka when he backstabs Reimann.

Let it be in FE or in UO, no one really gives a fuck about magic and science discoveries when it involves brainwashing animal people :(

Now, Eligor's backstory and motivations are really one of the worst points of the Bastorias arc for me, to the point where I would have wondered if he didn't cook the entire thing, if not for the Encyclopedia revealing us that yep, rat bestrals exist (but not rabbit bestrals... despite them being our item shopkeepers...) and lived in hiding.

Through the campaign, we learned that Bastorias was always ruled by the Lion Clan/Tribe, and how it had a rigid hierarchy/structure : Lions were the rulers, Owls are the mayors/lorekeepers, Cats are fishers, Goats are innkeepers/merchants, etc etc. Per Eligor, the rats were shunned by the rest of Bastorias and lived in hiding.

However, what we see through the various quests is... well, Ramona, sheltering a young human (?) girl and an amnesiac lion on top of organising a resistance with NPC of different tribes, Goats, Owls and Wolves worrying about a young cat, an orphanage organised by a human who takes care of lost children, the Rock Rats (Bryce'n'pals) being welcomed in a city of bestrals and being able to settle in said city, Yunifi, a human (?) who manages to talk to every bestral out there, Ramona and Morard more than once saying Bastorias needs to stand united against Zenoira : but we see it united, or at least, tribes accepting to work with each other.

Is it something that only happened """thanks""" to Zenoira's invasion? Or because back when the Lion tribe was still around, they pissed on everyone who wasn't them (especially rats)? And yet, Morard's backstory revelas that the Lion King was so grateful that Morard tried to save his daughter that he saved his life with the Bastorais Blue, aka the mc guffin that turns humans in Bestrals (or Bestrals in humans!).

Eligor speaks of an oppression we don't see in-game, but I'll chalk it up to doylsit reasons here : lack of budget to properly cook Bastorias, even if it's still one of my favourite arcs.

Now, as for his motivations properly... being shunned for being a rat, he was captured by Gharn- I mean, Baltro, who killed all of his kin in gruesome experiments, leaving only him as the only survivor, with now, superpowers and a nice armor.

(Uh. That totes doesn't remind me of something.)

Then, grateful for finally having a chance to be something else than a mere "rat" with his new body, Eligor sides with the ones who experimented on him

(...at least Eligor isnt' calling himself the flame emperor?)

To reach his goal, become the King of Bastorias and leader of all bestrals, he, a mere rat.

To do so, Eligor works with Reimann (under, presumably, Baltro's orders) and IDK if he participated in the "kill every lion by taking their baby hostage" operation, but given how he gleefully mocks Morard who, berserked, turns his axe on his daughter-sister Yunifi and Ramona, the woman who sheltered them both by saying something like "not so proud anymore Lion!" I wouldn't put it behind him.

(which has all kinds of dark implications, because if you don't go to Bastorias, in the final Map, Reimann brings his enslaved Bestral army with him, including Morard and Ramona but not Yunifi, are we supposed to guess that a berserk!Morard or a berserk!Ramona killed her? :'( )

Much like Bryce teased, Eligor who, I suppose, at first wanted a place to live/exist in Bastorias, despite being a rat, now became someone obsessed with enslaving/berserking every other bestral to make sure he will become the leader of Bastorias - denying everyone else their place to live/exist.

No sad uwus for him, merely Morard calling him a moron because he is no lion, and they all wanted to make Bastorias a place where everyone could live, despite their race/tribe, but Eligor's dream became warped, he just wanted, even if it only lasted an instant, to be at the top, he a measly rat, no matter the cost.

In an era where AOT's ending exist, I'm glad UO didn't pull any punches by showing us what Eligor's dream meant for the entire Bastorian population that wasn't him, and unlike Alcina before him, there's no pity party for the dude, because saving the rest of the country and making sure their minds will never be enslaved/controlled/berserked again takes the priority.

Unit-wise, I found it very fitting how Eligor is supposed to be a dodge tank who sort of protects his allies but actually costs them points of action (or passive points), so he protects them or is their leader... by actively crippling them!

It fits with his arc, he wants to be come the King, even if it means enslaving his people, because what is important is not them, but him becoming king.

(which is why, as a post game playable unit, Eligor is a bit... uh... well.)

Interesting notes about Alain, especially the "he's trying to be a character he is not".

I've seen people complain that Alain is a goody-two shoes milquetoast protagonist, but it's implied in the game that his "princely" persona he's showing to everyone is something he and Jospeh cultivated, og/real Alain can be seen with Lex, Chloe, Joseph and sometimes with other characters too (crying in front of Virginia, wondering if people care about him as the Prince or him as Alain with Leah or being too enthusiasmed to help Morard in his theater play!).

It also plays with the different routes/choices the game gives to the player - Alain can do the princely thing, listen to Joseph and liberate the world before getting his revenge... or he can ignore everything (even Scarlett!) to charge at Galerius - ignoring Joseph's efforts to teach him and make him grow in "correct" prince - and actually, well... trigger a bad end lol.

The notes for Scarlett aren't anything remotely as interesting as Alain's.

Strong-willed or reliable wouldn't be the first characteristics I'd associate to her, given how late the Albion plot happens, and I wonder if they're mentionning the conversations she has with the angels, because the "i'm jealous other women are looking at Alain" schitck grows old very very fast.

I still found it wholesome how the devs thanks the staff for making her a character in this game lol

Lex's design was from a former game designed 15 years ago, I knew he had a "protag haircut" , perfect with the "shonen mc traits".

But making him in the sympathic and good-natured bro of the Lord who's struggling to deal with his "prince/real me" persona is nice, and I really like how Lex, for a random fisherman's son, has lines and small plot custcenes with nearly every important character, hell has rapport convos with a lot of people!

For the "Lord's childhood's best bro", he's really an interesting twist on similar characters who follow the same trope.

"I wanted to make her look brave and courageous, so I gave her the impression of a puppy"

I love this, it's the best description of a puppy I've seen in years lol

Chloe underestimates herself a lot, but as seen in the Ridiel paralogue, she's really someone interesting with her own outlook on the Liberation Army : even if she dies like fodder, her efforts won't be in vain because she knows the army will succeed she will have participated in that, or even inspire people around her.

NGL, her "Ganbatte" thing also made me smile lol, loldiers (her class) are pretty support oriented and it's nice that gameplay and narration wise, she does her best to support everyone!

Jeigan Joseph!

TBF, I always found that he reminded me of someone, even if I couldn't quite put it, I wonder what was the "spanish film" they're mentionning lol.

Given how Albion received less development and screentime than the other regions because of, I suppose, issues that had VW speed the release date, the characters from that place are memorable, even if they have, as said above, less screentime, and less rapport convos.

Raenys, despite sharing her name with what characters from a certain verse, is one of the feathered people, a captain of Albion's guard (or a soldier?) and she's introduced as someone who's leading a resistance force against Zenoira, but she's overnumbered, and the church (BaD) where her allies are recovering is under assault.

I can't say anything about her looking like a "mansion maid" or a "widow", but it sure makes her different and stand out from the other feathered.

Kuddos for Raenys to cheer up Sanation in their rapport convo, as in, she's one who tells him that despite the people of Albion hating him and thinking he colluded willfully with Zenoira, he actually had his hands tied : she understands it and tells him that in that situation, whatever he did had been for the best.

As a unit...

Feathered units can't kill things on their own (save with specific builds) but they are top tier support units and damn nuisances to fight against - Feather bows, like Raenys, can put a "blind" status on foes to make them miss their next strike, even if it was supposed to be a true strike. And given how that "blind status" is an AoE move, basically, if you don't have anti-blindness stuff slapped on your units, it's basically one free turn for them when your units are sitting ducks.

Ummels!

She's the same class as Ochlys, the feathered sword we got way back in Cornia.

I get the devs gave her "droopy" eyes and a rounder hairstyle to differentiate her from Ochlys, but imo that design was translated in the writing about this character : Ummels's droppy eyes can mean that she's looking down/is upset/depressed because, in the game, she fights for Zenoira since they took her younger brother hostage! And the "round" and soft hairstyle could serve as a contrast with how she used to be Scarlett's best friend back when they were kids and, in general, a soft/kind person (which makes Scarlett notice something's wrong with her supposed allegeance to Zenoira).

Unit wise, Feather Swords are less impressive than the other Feathered units, but they're the only ones who can reliably dish out damage, based on the number of bonuses they have.

Being a winged units means they have an advantage against ponies, and when they use their shields to parry, they don't die to the first truestrike arrow thrown in their direction.

Speaking about shields...

Feathershields!

We only have one playable and named unit in this class (but we can recruit generics!) and... I understand why lol.

They are basically a res tank who can deflect magic to return it against the casters (especially funny against witches who have their 'quick cast + blizzard' combo that is supposed to freeze your party at the start of battle), they have more def than other flying units, they can recover their passive points very easily and can even deflect status!

Thing is, they can't attack for shit, unlike the werebears.

I'd say the human version of the "shield unit", the Hoplite can protect a row of allies, is unkillable by physical units (save for breakers!) and can't kill anyone even if they try - the bestral version trades some defence and "protect allies" against reasonable (and ridiculous) damage - the feathered version, unlike the other two, laughs at magic and magic users, can protect allies (but not entire rows!) and has reasonable def, but much like the Hoplite, they can't kill anything.

As for Fodoquir (Fodoquia?) as an unit...

With the limited screentime he got, we learn, mostly in his paralogue, that he didn't accept the Zenoiran conquest and led his city in a resistance movement... only for his own people to be fed up with the fighting, because food shortages and, well, there was no end in sight, so to "convince" him to surrender, they "offered" Fodoquia's own son to the Zenoirans, and to kill his spirit, they were the ones who ultimately killed him.

As expected, Fodoquia abandonned the fight, and took his resentment on his people, basically telling Alain, who comes with his army in tow to "liberate" the city from Zenoira, that the people here don't want to be liberated - when we know it's not true anymore since, surprisingly, after killing a kid, Zenoirans still invaded the city and treated its people like shit.

Fodoquia wants to die to join his son wherever he is, but ultimately accepts to go on living again, and to help the Liberation Army.

As for the dev notes... I couldn't understand a thing lol, save for the fact they tried to make him different from the other male characters from the cast, but given how the feathershields are shaped (inverted triangles) I'd say that even with a less square face, Fodoquir'd still be unique enough.

Jerome is a knight, aka the same class as Clive, Renault and Adel.

Interestingly, he is the only named non Cornian knight we can recruit, and is apparently in charge of a city.

The devs designed him as a "what should I do, join the LA or continue siding with Zenoira, what about the people, maybe I should bake a pie" character which can look frivolous - and was mostly designed as such, to bring some comic relief to the otherwise heavy Albion arc.

However, given how the pies are baked for his people, who love him for this, maybe I'm pulling strings but Jerome's basically wondering what he should do, and settles on "doing things for my people/helping them", ultimately accepting his execution at Alain's hands... until one of his subordinates (Lotti iirc!) and the town's people he cares so much about, tell the LA that while Jerome has accepted the Zenoiran conquest, he did it quite fast, so Zenoira would have had no reason to bring the fight to the city/target the city and its people.

It's the... complete inverse of the situation Fodoquia was in, and I miss the lack of rapport convo between the two, or a convo between him and Clive.

His rapport convos have him be quite cautious, and in the Alain one, he basically keeps on worrying about his city.

Nigel and his dong armor!

(don't mind the flash)

Apparently the devs are happy to have designed his armor with fake pectoral muscles, and the armor was actually something Arant took from the Sanctuary and gave him when Zenoira invaded?

The timeline/actions of what happened in Albion is a bit muddy though, but at least it means Arant didn't gave up as I first thought and wanted to fight against Zenoira, before realising that he was going to lose (then he had Nigel in his black armor take Scarlett away?).

I've already wrote a bit about the Albion plot and the role both Nigel and Sanation play which feels, uh, really convoluted, especially regarding Scarlett's involvment, to make the party fight in Albion - but bar that, Nigel's mostly a serious knight who wants to protect the Orthodoxy, who's popular with the people of Albion (both knights and randoms).

Unlike Hermann who has the same play time as he does, Nigel, despite being a NPC, is inserted in the artbook with the playable characters, even if he doesn't have any rapport conversation.

Unit wise, Nigel's dark marquess' variant uses a lot of fire and inflicts burns as a status, but unlike Eligor, when he protects his allies, he doesn't penalise them, instead, he gets another free action.

Sanatio is the boss of the Albion arc, thanks to, again, what I feel is the most convoluted story arc written to "have a boss".

His class, feather staff, cannot resurrect people unlike human clerics, but he can heal a lot of HP and even "overheal", aka give more HP than an unit's HP bar. There are also fun stuff like "preventive healing", aka healing an unit before it takes any damage, but given how late he joins, I didn't have a lot of occasions to use him.

As a character, he wants to apologise and atone for having been deceived by Baltro and turned against Scarlett (even if, again, that plot was... something) and basically becomes the unit to reveal that Alain's the saviour (of Albion or of Fevrith?) which, again, brought the "chosen one" plot to a table that definitely didn't need it.

Lack of diversity in his rapport convos hurt him a lot, save for the Ochlys one where it basically becomes a "childish" contest and the random Melisandre one, it's often centered of him feeling like shit after the Albion arc, and wanting to atone.

Maybe because his most important relationship is with Nigel, who cannot have any rapports? IDK.

FWIW though, I really wanted to like using him, but poor character availability and too few interesting rapport convos at first made me meh, until I noticed some part of the fandom's vitriol against the guy which made me laugh a bit.

Baltro is UO's version of FE's "Gharnef archetype", aka an evil sorcerer who plots behind the "Red Emperor's" back to fulfill his own goals, even if, according to the devs, Baltro's movitations are "for the lols" + "for science" + "why not".

His role as a necromancer is only put to the forefront in the Elheim arc when he revives elves to have them fight for him, but imo, it was teased in the Cornian/Drakengard ones with the "mysterious plagues" he brought there.

(maybe they are the ones protecting him or attacking in his animations?)

I guess the reveal that he was going to betray Zenoira/Galvius was foreshadowed in Elheim when we first fight him, because he doesn't have Zenoira's banner! Much like Alcina, Baltro's in this situation for his own goals, he doesn't have any allegeance to Zenoira himself.

Exposed arms gives "wild" point?

Aubin being from the desert wasn't a definite point, but one that was cemented later on ? I really liked how he recruited/noticed Magellan wasn't himself lol, but as far as "axe guys" go, I really appreciated the fact that Aubin's "reliability" was depicted at first with him willing to throw down his life to let his men escape (something that is alluded to in his Jeremy rapport!) and, on promotion, he gets a shield which, idk, but imo gives him a more "commanding" type than your regular, say, FE axe guys.

Aubin's a nice guy and a nice unit all things considered, and I'm glad the devs really wanted to make him a "reliable" type of guy, especially since he's the first (iirc?) guy you can recruit instead of execute (at least plot wise, Alain decides to hire him instead of killing him!)

Talking about traditional axe guys...

Here's Bruno! Designed to be the Pirate Boss 1.1, but ultimately promoted to playable unit!

I can't say much about his face - even if his large character portrait zooms a bit on it.

Selvie seriously studying his "gluteus maximus" was a bit of a joke rapport convo, but it was fun ngl, Sharon's was the usual "giant brigand with a heart of gold", but fwiw, I prefered his conversations with the Tricorns, both Travis were they come to terms with the fact Travis dumped him to look after his sister, and with Berengaria with Bruno wanting to recreate their bandit/brigand group (which they do, even if Berengaria marries Alain!).

As for his VA, I noticed how possessed!Bruno sounded more composed and articulate that the non possessed one lol (cluing us on a second PT that yep, this isn't the regular Bruno talking) but I won't lie, hearing his seiyuu give his all during the various attacking phases was also a big reason why I didn't bench him lol. And that scene where he joins is really something, you can hear how hurt/upset he is/was when Travis left the group, I agree with the comment, that scene was cool.

Mordon!

"Reborn" ? Was he supposed to die in the original scenario? Poor guy lol.

Even if he might only have been saved to make the Norbelle route available with, uhh, minimum grinding (I say available, not doable since you'd need a lot of grinding to be able to defeat her and get the end of her story lol), I'm also glad he was added!

"Beer-filled belly" lol, while I've read around that some people disliked his character because alcoholism shouldn't be laughed at or something, imo it's obvious the devs went with the "jolly old man" trope, acting sometimes as a mentor, sometimes as a drinking buddy (and the reason why we got to see drunk!Eltrinde).

Cute that the town girl who appears in his ending was retrospectively named, even if she appears twice in the game, maybe to help refocus Mordon's character on someone who, first and foremost, is happy to help people around?

(as long as there is money or booze, he says)

Berenice time!

"tough, strong and cool" women are really something we see mentionned around, and the secret between Berenice's thighs is revealed, much like Mario's mustache!

There's not a lot of notes about Berenice, but fwiw, I really like her interactions with the Clive/Adel duo, and even to some extent, with Gary.

In an era where "strong, no-nonsense women" are supposed to be brutes or look down on people, Berenice being friendly with her pals but still reckoned as a powerhouse with her own feelings about chivalry and helping her comrades was a welcomed breath of fresh hair, even down to her weakness with horses : while it could have been designed as a moe point, it's later explained and revealed that it's a detail that has to do with her standing (rather lack of).

And I also totally don't like her because her Bastard Cross animation is some shit straight up from GBAFE where the Hero critical animation also throws their shield to slice people.

Nope!

Adel and Clive, UO's christmas knights lol

Adel's being a mood maker really shined in Clive and Monica's second rapport convo lol, but I agree with the devs, I hope they'll continue on spending time together (for drinks?) in their later life.

Fun fact, in this artbook's cover, we can see Monica dragging Clive away from Berenice and Adel sharing a drink ^^

For a mood maker, he still has his "serious" moment when he and Clive try to guess who is the "very mysterious" knight Laurent, and in his recruitment chapter not wishing to fight his previous comrades and trying to talk/sway them to Alain's cause.

I wonder if Travis being designed as a "cute guy" influenced his maiden convo lol

i'm half wondering if every drakengard noble is a twink, no wonders why Gloucester worries and believes he can't be an aristocrat

All jokes aside, Travis having an aristocratic/noble background wasn't something I guessed from his design, but as the devs intended, from his various mentions of reading and his love of books.

Coming from another fandom where some devoted people keep on harping about feudalism when the entire playable cast goes to school and has no issue with literacy - save for one specific character - Travis, and thus Fevrith's take on literacy is also, a breath of fresh hair.

I also love the progression of his relationship with his sister, and how it ends with them being together in a non jugdralian way at the end of the war like they promised to at the end of their character arc

(unless Travis marries Alain?)

The only thing I'm a bit miffed on with him is how he is a Drakengardian character while his background doesn't make any sense in the Drakengard arc, like, assuming his dad (who was the royal master at arms! Berengaria was invited to royal ceremonies) died when Soldraga fell, how come he never mentions to Alain that, indeed, his cousin has been living in Drakengard for the past decade, and since the castle fell, she's most likely been in hiding? Joseph's all "we just heard rumours Virginia's been spotted in Drakengard!" when Travis, as Count Zechshelm's son, could have told him since day 1.

Still, he is redeemed imo for being the only loser fooled by Ludwig's "perfect disguise" lol