#mansel

eirika/l'arachel, wc 4.5k, rated G

“Worry not, my bride!” L'Arachel pronounces with a grand gesture, as though addressing an audience. “Though the troubadours sing far and wide of that beautiful princess of peerless beauty, the enchanting hero of legend, L'Arachel – they shall surely be just as captivated by your refinement and superior breeding as they are with mine. You shall not be outshined by me, my beloved, but rather, we shall both shine together, two dazzling beacons of light and hope against the darkness!”

or: trans lesbian l'arachel gets fire emblem engaged to princess eirika, featuring monologuing and sappy gay fluff, horseback riding, cool uncle mansel, and dozla & rennac found family shenanigans!

written for the fire emblem trans gift exchange: @fetranshub

I’ve thought about this exact issue long and hard many times, and I’ve never been able to come up with a more satisfactory answer beyond “IntSys didn’t think that far.” (Which happens a lot, to be honest.)

In Tana and Innes’ case, their mother is actually alive (she’s mentioned in at least one of Tana’s supports), so it’s possible that because Innes and Tana both survived infancy, they didn’t feel a need to have any other contingency plans. (Infant and early childhood deaths are what drags average lifespan counts down; once they pass that, most people can live into their 50s-70s.)

Ephraim and Eirika’s mother can be assumed dead because she’s never brought up ever, so I’m guessing they’re the same deal as above. There’s never any indication that they had any siblings before or after them, so that scenario seems unlikely. Furthermore, that the twins never mention their mother indicates she died in childbirth so they have no memories of her, which then posits a “No” for the question if royalty had better healthcare. (Well, they probably did, but it’s not infallible.)

L’Arachel, assuming that the interpretation of her solo JP ending is correct, is technically not the sole leader of Rausten and is instead its head representative. In that case, her death would be tragic, but not debilitating. Assuming that Latona was celibate, Rausten’s royalty can’t claim legitimacy through direct lineage anyways, so it kinda “frees up” the country’s options in the case that a royal bloodline dies out.

Rausten is also notably the only country that involves extended family; Mansel is L’Arachel’s uncle who is serving as her regent. I think it’s implied that Mansel has no children of his own, but that opens the door for L’Arachel having other extended family who can potentially fill her shoes.

Which brings me to the last two most problematic cases: Joshua and Lyon, who pretty frankly have no reason for being their country’s sole heirs.

Seriously, what is supposed to happen to Jehanna if Joshua’s dead? The game never acknowledges that even though Joshua doesn’t get story-scripted “immortality.” I’ve searched high and low in the script for some kind of contingency plan, and came up blank. In the 10 years that he’s been missing, there is no indication that any potential successor was put in his place. (This is also why I argue that Carlyle’s writing would be so much more reasonable if his stance had been “preserve Ismaire’s life at all costs,” rather than “I seriously want to bang her.”)

Meanwhile, Lyon said he has no friends his age, which implies he has absolutely zero cousins/extended family, he doesn’t get along with any of them, or he’s never met them. (And in the last case, that means he meets the royals of another country more than his own relatives.)

The Dad Character of the Day is: