You have some knowledge on how the game is written in the original japanese version vs. the english translation. Can you provide any insight on the ending of Chapter 13 in Eirika's route, which mentions Saaga, the court troubadour of Rausten? The name seems to come out of nowhere in such a way that I have to wonder if it was a mistranslation.
So, I have a transcript of the Japanese versionâs script on hand, but I donât actually know Japanese myself. I have a teeny tiny bit of knowledge on Japanese sentence structure and usually piece together translations with various machine translators (Jisho, weblio are the two I trust more). Sometimes, in cases where I think the machine translator isnât cutting it, I ask the advice of friends who actually know the language.
That said, without consulting someone with knowledge of Japanese, I think the official translation should be valid.
English:
The princess was enflamed by the words of the court troubadour, SaagaâŠ
ă”ăŒăŹ, which was officially translated as Saaga, is the typical Japanese spelling for the Norse goddess and seeress SĂĄga. (See: JP wikipedia)
At the same time, ă”ăŒăŹ can be translated as the ordinary word âsagaâ (as in the prose style), which is where the confusion settles in as ă”㏠is also used for that word.
I donât have a good enough grasp on Japanese grammar/sentence structure to know which reading is âproperâ, and not helping is that many of FE8âČs names (at least for weapons and locations) are derived from Norse mythology. The name SĂĄga would be a bit unusual for a minor namedrop, but also not out-of-place.
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Anyone who looks into the names of FE8âČs Sacred Twins will know that all but two of them have basis in Norse mythology. The two outliers, Latona and Excalibur, have basis in Roman and Arthurian legend, respectively. Why? Because they can.
Mind you, even I canât make much sense behind the names of these Sacred Twins. The only one that makes a margin of sense without heavy extrapolation and theorizing, is a margin of sense that people blow out of proportion in favor of a certain pairing, so thatâll be discussed at the very end of this meta. (Yes, Iâm talking about Sieglinde and Siegmund, but the reference is most likely only a surface-deep reference to them being twins and nothing more.)
Excalibur, as many people probably know, is the sword of the legendary King Arthur, after which legends surrounding him are named after. In the Fire Emblem series, FE8 included, Excalibur is... a wind tome. FE8 at least grants it the epithet âwind blade Excaliburâ to acknowledge the whole sword part of its original namesake. I donât know why FE8 reused the name Excalibur, considering it was technically only used in the Archanea games and Gaiden before that; FE7âČs Excalibur was named Gigascalibur in the Japanese version.
Latona, meanwhile, is the Roman name for the Greek goddess Leto. For some reason, the writers of FE8 really couldnât find a Norse name to use for them, I guess. Itâs especially odd when one background character, Saaga (the court troubador who inspired LâArachel to go on her journey), shares the Japanese spelling of their name with SĂĄga... a Norse goddess.
All Iâm really gathering, from what I can find about (Roman) Latona, is that (Magvel) Latona was probably foreign to Magvel, and thatâs why their name isnât rooted in Norse mythology. We really canât even say that Latona was a woman, despite the nameâs female origins. The Japanese script didnât assign Latona a gender, but used ćžç„ to talk about Latona. (The word translates to âpriest,â specifically Christian priests, who have traditionally been men.) The English script referred to Latona as Raustenâs âmost holy fatherâ due to that. There arenât any references or possible ties to Roman Latona other than the name, so...
For the next several I will talk about, I have come up with a wholly self-indulgent explanation for their names. It probably doesnât make complete sense, but it's more than the gameâs nonexistent reason for the references. The Sacred Twins in question are Nidhogg, Vidofnir, Garm, and Audhulma.
Theyâre all from Norse mythology, and more specifically, creatures from Norse mythology. My explanation behind their names is that the weapons were used to defeat especially powerful monsters created by the Demon King, then had parts of those monsters forged into those weapons.
(As it so happens, Shadows of Valentia did something similar, with the Blessed weapons being able to be forged into Regalia. I didnât notice this parallel until after I came up with this explanation, though.)
Nidhogg, the Serpent Bow. In Norse mythology, Nidhogg is indeed recognized as a serpent or dragon. (On that note, the word for âdragonâ comes from, at its furthest root, the Greek drakon, which means âserpent.â Dragons were also originally depicted as serpentine creatures before gaining legs and becoming more lizard-like, at least in Western media.) In FE8, dragons gained a weakness to bows. (In the Elibe games, dragons had no such weakness.) So it would be appropriate for the bow that slew Nidhogg to become known as the Serpent (Slaying) Bow. It could also explain why it belongs to Frelia, the country with pegasiâpegasus knights could take the battle to the skies instead of having to remain rooted to the ground the whole while, making the battle against the great monster easier. (FE14 introduced Kinshi Knights, fliers who can use Lances and Bows. Like FE15, itâs giving me some precedence to support my theory.)
As for Vidofnir, it is a rooster in Norse mythology that sits atop MĂmameiĂ°r (often taken to be the same as Yggdrasil, the tree whose roots Nidhogg gnaws on). Vidofnir is referred to as the âtree snake,â harking back to serpent symbolism. By stealing Vidofnirâs tail feathers, the giantess Sinmora will grant a person the sword Laevateinn, which can then be used to slay Vidofnir. After doing so, one can take its two wings and serve them to Odinâs hounds, Geri and Freki, to sneak past them. In-game, Vidofnir is referred to as the Winged Lance.
Garm, the Black Axe, is named after the hound that guards Helâs gate. Garmâs howling heralds the coming of Ragnarok; after Garmâs first howl, Fimbulvetr (the great winter) puts an end to life on earth. (Fimbulvetr, in FE, is a tome that attacks the enemy with a blizzard. Already more accurate to its source than the rest of the Sacred Twins.)
Finally, Audhulma, the Ice Blade. In Norse mythology, Audhulma is a primeval cow who licked an ice block until she unfroze a man named Buri. I have no idea what this means for the FE8 weapon, as Audhulma is not capable of summoning a Fimbulvetr-like attack and only grants a Res boost. Itâs further proof that whoever picked out these names probably just skimmed a Japanese book on Norse mythology and went âoh look, thereâs an element referenced here, letâs use it.â I mean, the best thing I can say for âwhy a swordâ is that Audhulma was a cow, so the blade was... a glorified butcher knife, I guess?
(When I was discussing this theory with someone else, they mentioned that some of FE8âČs monsters could also, at least loosely, tie back to the respective creatures. Necrodragons for Nidhogg, Gargoyles for Vidofnir, Mauthe Doogs for Garm, and Tarvos for Audhulma.)
For some more âshit that just works,â we have the Dark Tome Gleipnir. Itâs also from Norse mythology, but it is neither a person nor a creature. Rather, it is the chain that binds Fenrir until Ragnarok. As it so happens, Fenrir is a tome in the game: specifically, itâs used by Lyon in Chapter 17. So thereâs a bit of symbolism in Gleipnir being the tome left behind by Lyon, which is then acquired by the heroes in their attempt to stop him and the Demon King.
(As for Naglfar, while Iâm at it: in Norse mythology, itâs a boat made by the fingernails and toenails of the dead. Commanded by Loki, it carries the undead on their assault on the gods. As for âwhy fingernails and toenails,â apparently some Indo-European beliefs state that improperly disposing of hair and nails will âthreaten the well-being ofâ the cosmos. Make of this what you will.)
As for Ivaldi, I genuinely have no clue how its legend is supposed to inspire it. In fact, the character Ivaldi himself is barely referenced in Norse mythology itself, as his name is referenced through his sons, who crafted some cool stuff for Freyr, Odin, and Sif. The closest thing I can dig up regarding Ivaldiâs in-game epithet as the âGlorious Lightâ is the fact that the Sons of Ivaldi made... golden hair to replace the hair Sif lost to Loki.
Finally, the notorious use of Siegmund and Sieglinde as Renaisâ Sacred Twins. In all honesty, they were probably only used because those two characters are twins in Norse mythology, nothing more. Iâve seen claims that the incest between the twins at one point in the legends is âproofâ that Eirika/Ephraim is basically canon, but said âevidenceâ runs into problems.
The first issue is the fact Siegmund and Sieglinde in-game have zero similarities to their legendary selves outside of their names. In lore, Siegmund used a sword, and there is no association with him to fire whatsoever. So how it becomes the Flame Lance in FE8 is a mystery. In fact, fire would be associated more with Sieglindeâwho kills herself by burning to death with her husband, Siggeir, as penance for making Siegmund murder her own children and tricking him into an incestuous affair for the sake of revenge. Sieglinde in legend isnât depicted using a weapon ever, and has absolutely no association with thunder. So her name being attached to the Thunder Sword came out of IntSysâ booty.
The second issue is the implication that the writers actually knew the contents of the legends they were referencing. If they knew what they were doing, they wouldnât be using Excalibur, Latona, or Ivaldi. Considering that I just came up with my theory for Nidhogg, Vidofnir, Garm, and Audhulma, and thereâs no actual in-game basis to suggest any of it, those names may as well have been picked out of a hat too. As mentioned above, IntSys completely made up the Flame Lance and Thunder Sword epithets, and they have no ties whatsoever to Sieglinde or Siegmundâs tale. So thereâs no reason to assume that the writers knew, or cared about, any part of the legend outside of âtheyâre twins.â
Considering all the other Norse references in FE8, the reference to Siegmund and Sieglinde would also be rooted in Norse mythology more than Wagnerâs Die WalkĂŒre. The Norse version of their story makes the incest a lot less consensual than Wagnerâs version; Sieglinde tricks Siegmund into sleeping with her by disguising herself as someone else. Siegmund doesnât find out until he and their son kill Siggeir. It is then that Sieglinde reveals the truth, and walks into the fire to burn to death as penance for her deeds. Then Siegmund goes and marries another woman. Oh, and before Sieglinde had her affair with Siegmund, she had Siegmund kill the âunworthy sonsâ she had with Siggeir since they didnât prove themselves strong enough for the revenge she wanted. Itâs because Siegmund refused to keep killing innocent children that she gets desperate enough to sleep with him. Eugenics, I guess. So the whole âSiegmund and Sieglinde are incestuous twinsâ thing is a lot more complicated than just that.
TL;DR: The names behind Magvelâs Sacred Twins basically have no connection to their namesakes at all.
Walles Forest and Mimir Mountain (Innes-LâArachel B)
While writing up some meta on Magvelâs architecture, I realized that not only did Innes mention a Walles Forest in Frelia (where pegasi gather), but LâArachel also mentioned a Mount Mimir in Rausten. And because I am me, I am obligated to look up their Japanese names to scrounge up any possible worldbuilding meta I can.
From there, I discovered that theyâre based on Norse mythology... because while Mimir the same as its Norse variant, Walles Forest is actually called Urd Forest in the Japanese version.
If I had to guess, the translator misread ăŠă«ăș (Uruzu, official translation of Urd) as ăŻă«ăș (Waruzu), which then got translated into âWalles.â (Heroes Innes also says âWalles Forest,â but thatâs likely to be consistent with FE8.)
(If you want, you could say that Walles is derived from wurÄĂz, the root from which Wyrd, the Old English spelling of Urd, came. There was just a lot of language evolution involved.)
Mimir, in Norse mythology, is a figure of great knowledge and wisdom. He was also beheaded, though a spell was placed so he can continue talking and give counsel to Odin. (For some headcanon time, perhaps Mount Mimir in Rausten is a place of pilgrimage, and itâs said that meditating on its peaks will grant pilgrims wisdom.)
Urd, meanwhile, is one of the three Norns that decide peopleâs fates. She specifically is in charge of the past. There is no direct relation to pegasi, as the pegasus is a creature from Greek mythology, but apparently pegasi were viewed in the Middle Ages as a symbol of wisdom. (Maybe Walles Forest was the Frelian equivalent of Mount Mimir, and Innes was their to gain wisdom while Tana was catching herself a pegasus.)
