#epimenides fe

Let’s preface this discussion with: I admittedly have a very rudimentary understanding of Buddhist and Catholic principles. I know just enough to allow myself to form the connections between these characters. if I’m missing out on something vital or any cool details feel free to let me know.

Let it be said:

Shez + Arval = Representatives of Buddhist concepts

Arval / Epimenides exists as the “Keeper of Cycles” (According to their title in FE:H) and how they often speak of protecting “this cycle” would lend itself to something about protecting the cycle of life and death--”Samsara” if you will.

Given their intertwined being and mirror to Byleth + Sothis, Shez is also, well, a part of the whole thing.

Byleth + Sothis = Representatives of Catholic concepts / Simultaneously a manifestation of Heaven+Nirvana

Do I even need to say anything about the Catholic aspect of their whole thing. No.

The “Enlightened One” class is a localization of Byleth’s unique advanced class name “Nirvana”.

Now that that is out of the way, like, yeah. Buddhism vs. Catholicism ideas plus some. Wooo yeaaah! Now what.

Well I think, depending on how you approach Byleth recruitment, you (the player) are basically committing to reliving the cycle or escaping it / approaching Nirvana. In completely siding with Arval, you reject Nirvana and you perpetuate the cycle of life/death through Samsara. In forming bonds with Byleth, you approach Nirvana through them and reject Samsara.

In this perspective, I think the game does a halfway-decent job of portraying the violent cycle of life through Three Hopes’ inconclusive endings. Like, no matter what you do the war effort basically continues / there is no sort of peace that is comparable to the endings of Three Houses. Like, if we’re meant to see things like that then I’m not as pissed off over the fact that they’re, well, inconclusive. Making friends with Byleth doesn’t really change much either so the cycle might arguably turn again but that whole thing reads as a writing oversight.

All this being said, I want to make it clear that i don’t think this makes Arval/Epimenides bad person? I do think this view makes it easier to understand their role as a companion-turned-enemy by the end of the Yaaay Byllie route. Like, at the end of the day, they’re trying to sustain their and Shez’s lives through the cycle they defend. The fact that you can side with them is pretty neat. Just as you can accept Nirvana (kill Arval), you can reject it (yaaay Arval) and live out a sort of immortality through them without it.. being too bad of a deal honestly. Shez gets sad over killing Byleth but it’s not really that big of a deal in the grander events of each route. the wheel turns once more but we’re already accustomed to it. What if I like living in Samsara huh. Like, honestly yeah the grand goal is to escape Samsara but it’s nice that we, the playerbase, have the choice to do one thing or the other. It’s also kind of metal to decide that you would constantly relive the Hell that is being alive just to hangout with your partner in destiny. I’m biased because I love them. Anyway: D’aww so cutes. Actually it’s not like Arval/Epimenides is dead anyway like they just fuse with Shez in the same way Byleth and Sothis do in Three Houses so -> You, in a sense, liberate both Shez and Arval from the tortures of Samsara. This is how we win.

There could actually be something said about how Byleth keeps Sothis around? But like, they have the same pastel green hair they got from nearly exploding in Zahras / ‘losing’ Sothis back in Three Houses so like..? Hm. Well. Idk. Idk. If Arval is still technically around Post-Zahras then they’re just taking the backseat in supporting Shez like Sothis did in Three Houses. I’ll pick this up later. Maybe.

This is where I make it clear that I got tired of writing this. I had more to say about how Arval, through their moments of insight to Shez, could possibly be interpreted as having vague memories of previous cycles and that’s a whole thing that fits in this discussion but I don’t have too much to say about it beyond pointing it out. Hopefully the point was made. Look at this picture that reminds me of Arval/Epimenides now:

If you’re familiar with my other essays ramblings here, you will probably notice that with this, I’ve gotten over my hang-ups re: Byleth as a character in fandom contexts / Shezleth as a pairing (#ShezToppings I smile for you). We’re cool now. Yay Byllie. I love mercenary SEX. It’s really true: Without love, the truth cannot be seen.

The writers of these games are ass at their job btw but now I have closure.

I think this camp dialogue is very telling! You can get it by talking to Arval at the base camp instance right after killing Jeralt:

I think Arval / Epimenides' ability to sympathize with Shez here implies that Epimenides likewise lost something important to him. Whatever it was, these lines hint at something interesting: The feelings are clearly a big part of what guides him in his quest to destroy Sothis.

Of course, from our perspective as players, this is a very "no shit" kind of observation to make but I think it's of interest to point this dialogue out and connect it to another one. Specifically: When Arval (as an extension of Epimenides) comes to shed tears after The Ashen Demon, or Sothis rather, is slain:

For all his talk about trying to save the world from whatever this false god has to do with it, it can be confusing to look at them be overwhelmed with such feelings. But if the idea is that he's driven to seek revenge just as he is also driven by the righteousness we see of him in his paralogue, then those feelings are.. actually still kind of weird!

Of course, there's the whole "revenge is meaningless and it won't bring being back what was lost" concept going for this whole thing.. but I wonder if there's anything more to it. After all, Shez is left wondering if there was any other way of solving this whole conflict, if doing it like this was just some big mistake.. So it wouldn't be surprising if that's what Arval / Epimenides felt as well (though they're ultimately cool with the way things turned out in this scenario, unlike Shez and, well, Shez presumably moves on since they don’t really think about this for the remainder of the story).