#dorias

Dorias is so me.

One of the aspects of Thracia I’ve seen receive close to universal praise from players is Leif’s tacticians, August and Dorias. They have a unique, well-written dynamic with their clashing perspectives and personalities and each add to the world with interesting backstories and connected characters. But between them, there’s a very clear favorite. It’s well-deserved and August is my favorite of the two as well. But Dorias deserves appreciation too for his impact and importance to Leif, August, and the narrative and I don’t just mean through his fate.

After capturing Fort Noel, Leif admits to almost admiring how well House Friege’s soldiers fought, which Dorias encourages. Dorias openly admires how well General Largo fought and the discipline and honor House Friege’s soldiers fight with, telling Leif if he captured General Largo to never forget his knightly pride. Though this isn’t something Leif seems to identify with, it is something important for him to understand. Just as Eyvel encouraged him to spare any foot soldiers he can as most were just regular folk being forced to fight against their will and August’s explanation of the harsh position the Southern Thracians were in recontextualized their actions, Dorias’s understanding of the beliefs and expectations of knights allows Leif to see them as more than just a cruel, evil enemy that deserves to die. Leif has already been shown to be inclined to offer mercy if he can, both in sparing Rumei and his admittance to Dorias that rather than knightly pride, he thought about wanting to avoid a needless slaughter, and the game allows you to let him be, nearly every enemy including many bosses able to be captured and released. For as deep as his hate can be, it isn’t so broadly, something each of the perspectives he’s presented with makes even less so. This empathy and understanding are important for Leif to avoid making the same mistakes as the kings who came before him and successfully unify Thracia and these three groups of people are all who he needs to have them for the most in order to offer mercy when deserved in a way that will be accepted.

Unlike Eyvel and August’s lessons though, Dorias’s is challenged by the latter. After hearing Dorias praise Reinhardt, August snaps at his fellow advisor, getting truly angry for the first and only time in the game. He’s disgusted by Dorias talking about Reinhardt in a positive light and calls all knights hopeless for thinking as Dorias does. While he’s not wrong about Reinhardt deserving reproach, what Dorias was saying is objectively true. Reinhardt is a damned fine warrior, he’s incredibly strong and skilled and potentially one of the hardest enemies you’ll face in the game. But objectivity isn’t August’s issue with Dorias’s assessment, it’s Dorias’s perspective as a whole, the traditional ways of thinking of knights and the north. To someone approaching this from a similar perspective as August, that of a common person suffering under the Empire and because of the failings of previous rulers, the willingness to respect and speak highly of someone aiding the Loptyrians in bringing Jugdral closer to destruction is insulting and just the kind of short sightedness August warned Leif about.

But that respect was also how Leif was just able to recruit Fred and Olwen. When their army first encountered them at Fort Noel, both saw Leif and his army as invaders on House Friege’s land. They had no sympathy to their cause or reason to want to join them. But when Kempf traps Fred along with Leif in his attempt to kill him, Leif’s admission of respecting the honor House Friege fought with before earns enough respect from Fred to be willing not to fight him and agree to work together, even after Leif tells Fred who he is. Fred even vouches for Leif to Olwen if he speaks with her first, admitting that even though they only spoke briefly, that was enough to convince him Leif is worth following. The boss of this chapter, Oltoph, will also express surprise and a change of mind toward House Leonster if he’s captured and released. While there are flaws in the knights’ perspective, they aren’t as hopeless as August dismissed them to be. At the core of their perspective is a belief and desire for honor, something House Friege has been falling short of with their involvement in the child hunts. Reinhardt is a damned fine warrior but not so much an honorable knight and Kempf launches himself as far from honorable as he can in every scene he’s in. While there is subjectivity to what makes something honorable, one thing it unquestionably requires is respect. Leif showing that to enemy knights on top of his opposition to the child hunts makes him a viable option for who to follow to those whose view of honor puts greater emphasis on morality than loyalty to a house or person. If he’d met Fred with the same disdain August holds for knights, one of them likely would have died to the other in that trap. Not every knight is hopeless and offering that hope and deserved respect won’t always work but will benefit their army more than dismissing all knights from the start.

This isn’t the last time August voices his dislike of Dorias’s perspective, snapping at him a second time several chapters later, not as angrily but more cruelly. To reach Leonster, August advises taking the route that’s safer for their soldiers and allows them to attack a less defended side of the castle than the main gate. Dorias, however, wants to take the route that goes straight to Castle Leonster’s main gate and through another Empire held fort. August vehemently opposes this idea, warning Dorias he’ll get innocent men killed projecting his values onto them. But Dorias isn’t making this suggestion purely out of knightly pride as we see a few chapters later, he can recognize when a battle can’t be won and it’s better to play it safe than take the honorable, knightly approach. He acknowledges his approach here would result in casualties but still had faith it would work. He believes in their army and if they take his approach, the people and their men will too, each victory raising everyone’s morale in a way August’s approach can’t. He wants to spread the hope he has and though that will mean losses along the way, at least those who die will do so feeling proud of what they accomplished while alive, giving them and those they cared about some small consolation.

August isn’t wrong to criticize Dorias’s approach though. As he rightfully points out, most of their men aren’t knights or even nobles. They don’t have the resources, training, or mentality of the knights Dorias is treating them as. They’re just regular people trying to survive fighting against their oppressor. Holding them to the same expectations all the time isn’t reasonable and is partially responsible for innocent men’s deaths when immediately after reclaiming Castle Leonster, the people of Alster plead with them for aid. Both Dorias and August advise against it but Leif insists he can’t stand by and let the people of Alster die nor can he ignore the debt he owes them for sheltering him after Leonster fell. His father would never forgive him. August calls his thinking childish but Dorias offers to lead half of their men to aid Alster, refusing to let the whole army go and refusing to let August lead them instead when he suggests it.

This moment always felt a little contrived to me, like August and Dorias gave in too easily for how serious this is. But I think I understand why now or at least came up with a perspective on this that feels more satisfying to me.

While Leif’s argument sounded childish to August, to Dorias, it sounded like an argument a knight would make, that he would make. It’s the honorable and right thing to do, to aid your allies in their time of need. But in this situation, it isn’t practical and that right there is the greatest flaw in Dorias’s perspective. It isn’t always possible to do the right, honorable thing nor does following knightly pride always lead to a good outcome. Even having faith in your army’s abilities is not enough and even dangerous on its own. Although there was value in his perspective, it’s not the one Leif needs. It won’t lead them to victory, just to the same end Leonster met thirteen years ago. For Leonster to survive, it needs to be led and advised by a more practical, realistic perspective. I think in this moment, Dorias realized this and to ensure Leif would have the guidance he and Leonster needed, and maybe as a bit of atonement for the role he’d played in leading to this, takes lead of the force to aid Alster, letting the influence of the old ways die with him so Leonster could be reborn as a better kingdom.

This isn’t the end of Dorias’s influence though. After learning of his death, there’s a six month timeskip and after it, August acts oddly. He scolds Leif for point out the army is reaching their limit, doesn’t protest Leif’s insistence on storming a prison camp despite how easily he could have stopped him by reminding him of Alster, and seems to scold himself for starting to lecture Leif after crossing the River Thracia. He’s not exactly less harsh but he does seem to be holding himself back, perhaps because he no longer has someone to balance him out. His pragmatic, logical approach is the best approach for their army to survive the war but too much of that isn’t good either. After half a year under siege, even Leif’s morale and faith in their army is low and August’s scolding does nothing to change this. Dorias was right to put importance on inspiring and raising the hopes of everyone which pragmatism and realism rarely ever do and certainly can’t right now. They need faith, to be able to believe in themselves again. That’ll be impossible for August to create not just because of his perspective but because of his lack of it as well, admitting to Leif at the end of the game he believed liberating Northern Thracia was impossible when they first met and after Leonster was liberated, attributed all their army’s successes to the Empire making mistakes.

But he does also admit to eventually beginning to genuinely believe in Leif and I believe that happened around now. He chooses to believe in Leif when he decides to storm the prison camp, taking that chance for the possibility of raising the army’s spirits by rescuing their captured men. He stops himself from lecturing Leif at the River Thracia because sharing his perspective has already affected Leif enough, Leif no longer able to admire the river’s beauty either. It’s a small, subtle character arc but August’s attempt at faith for strategic reasons becoming genuine faith would be fitting. And a nice little final impact for Dorias on the story, August seeing some of the value and positives of his perspective.

I kind of wanted to write this because of a sentiment I’ve seen of August always being right, Dorias’s advice being bad or him being a bad advisor. I can see why as August’s approach is more fitting for Thracia’s story and themes but I also think there’s still value in Dorias’s and wouldn’t be so quick to call any of it bad or wrong. Or maybe I’ve just developed a soft spot for him after writing from his perspective, who knows

Anyways, happy 25th anniversary to Thracia and all of its wonderful characters, NPC tacticians included!

I asked my friends to help me make an OC , for shits and giggles, and

This is now my only good OC

Prompt: Fortress