#jehanna

I wouldn’t say Magvel is utopian. We get mere glimpses of what life in Magvel was like before the main story, so it’s not enough to get a deeper sense of whatever conflicts may have gone on. But they’re definitely there.

When Eirika expresses shock over the brigands running loose and ransacking villages, Seth basically says “No, they’ve always been here, the Renais army just had a handle on them before.” Amelia’s background is that her single mother was dragged away by bandits while she hid away, and that’s her motivating factor for joining the army. When Duessel recalls the encounter that led him to save her mother, he says he and his men “unexpectedly rode up on a group of bandits,” suggesting that many remote villages are easy pickings and the military/government may be none the wiser.

Disease seems to be a real problem; Franz and Forde’s mother died to illness, as did Neimi’s, and Ross’. Oh, and so did Monica, which is the catalyst for Orson’s later betrayal. Vanessa and Syrene’s father fell gravely ill one time, but his life was spared thanks to Vanessa collecting nuts to sell in a nearby village to buy medicine for him. Vigarde’s failing health on account of overworking (and possibly a naturally-weak constitution – see Lyon) is part of the cause for… well, everything.

There’s also Franz and Forde’s father, who died in a mutual kill against an assassin targeting King Fado. Jehanna’s main export is mercenaries due to the barren terrain they have, with several mercenary companies growing quite illustrious (Gerik’s band, at one point, had over 100 personnel; Caellach and Aias are big names among mercs). If Magvel was peaceful, what would the need for mercenaries be?

Ephraim also talks about how he was “raised to fight.” Innes mastered archery, Joshua learned swordplay, and Eirika and Tana learned how to at least wield a weapon (although Tana had to beg for lessons). That wouldn’t make sense for a continent at (true) peace. If they didn’t think Ephraim would need those skills, they probably wouldn’t placed so much emphasis on it.

Rausten serves as the front line of defense against monsters from Darkling Woods, and protecting villages bordering it seems to be a regular affair… which eventually cost L’Arachel’s parents their lives.That monsters are a mere fairy tale in other countries before the war begins suggests that they keep up appearances for the rest of the continent.

On the front of “nobody saw Grado’s invasion coming,” that’s not entirely true. Some time before the main story, Innes apparently warned Ephraim and Eirika about the possibility of a Grado attack. (Perhaps when they told him and Tana about their friendship with Lyon – Tana cites it, at the end of Chapter 1, as the reason why Grado’s invasion makes no sense.) Since Innes is in command of Frelia’s intelligence network (at least by the time of the war), it’s possible he kept tabs on Grado and believed there was reason to be suspicious of Grado’s movements. Unfortunately we have no more context to his statement, so we can only speculate on that front.

So no, I don’t think this veil of “a superficial, happy utopian wonderland” existed. Or, if it did, it only existed to Eirika and Ephraim (and Tana) – not even to the people who served directly under them.

…Maybe, just maybe, the “blinding radiance” that Lyon envies the twins for is one that stems from their ignorance to the actual state of things around them.

After all, Fado doesn’t even tell them what their bracelets are for before his death, out of fear that they might misuse its power (oh, how ironic it is that their best friend falls to it!) or that, if the secret got out, their lives would be endangered.