#which is sadder

Regular!Julia first

My brother Julius, once very kind, turned into a twisted devil... Then by that devil's hands, my mother...and my father... Oh, it's beyond anything!

Friendly reminder that “that devil” might have killed your mom and turned your dad in puppet ruler, but the one who killed Arvis wasn’t Julius-Loptyr :

Julia resents Loptyr for what happened to Deedee and to Julius, but not for what happened to Arvis because, hey, Julius isn’t the brother who killed Arvis :)

My brother Julius and I both inherited a special power through our lineage. I...gained the ability to use the Book of Naga. My brother...could take hold of a book of terrible darkness, and it turned him into a devil of a man. Both of our fates were made merely because of lineage.

And this is what I’m most miffed with.

Here, it’s as if Julia is saying that whatever happened Julius would have been possessed by Loptyr and she would have had to kill him. But that’s forgetting her first lines, where Julius was a regular good boy before being Loptyfied. Does having Major Loptyr blood fates you to become a “devil of a man”? FE4... somehow asserts this. OTOH, it is made very clear in FE4 that Manfroy is the trigger who Loptyfied Julius. Without Manfroy and his evil book of doom, Julius would have remained Julia’s kind bro.

Putting Manfroy’s machinations, desperation and 30 years of dedicated work under the “it was fate!” rug feels wrong. Humans do the shitty stuff in Jugdral, there’s no “sorry, Fate said so!” joke card.

Also, the bolded part is odd, what fate is Julia talking about? Taking her HW or fighting against her brother? Because for the second part, since FE4 was Seliph’s fest, it is actually possible to end Julius with Seliph without using Julia or the Book of Naga, hell developer’s oversight or not, she can even die in the final map!

FE4 Julia thinks her fate is to fight, and she won’t run away. From her earlier lines during this chapter, she knows Loptyr isn’t her brother anymore, Julius died when Manfroy gave him the book. So, in this chapter at least, there’s no angst with “why must i fight my bro :’(” but determination to get rid of Loptyr.

What if I could succumb to what took hold of my brother—become your worst enemy against my will?

You succumbed to Manfroy who plot-warped to plot-kidnap you when you had the stats to blow him away, and your dad plot-forgot to burn him to a crisp to save you and only gave you a circlet for your protection

Loptyr can’t take hold of you, you’re not the compatible vessel! But apparently, Manfroy can, with the power of a berserk staff or whatever odd magic he used.

L!Julia, the Crusader of Light - wait isn’t she sharing her bro’s epithet??

Ah, I was just admiring the flowers... When we were young, my brother and I would play in the flower beds...

I’m pretty sure this line was added in a mirror to Julius’s line about crushing flowers

In the past, I've resented the crusader blood flowing through my veins... Yet, it gives me the strength to fight fate.

Okay where does this come from because it isn’t in FE4 nor in FE5. Seriously?

Julia lashed out not at her “crusader blood” flowing in her veins, but at Loptyr itself.

Also the “Crusader blood flowing through her veins” is her parent’s blood? It’s a part of their identity (Arvis takes great pride in being Vala’s descendant and Deedee becomes the plot coupon of the game/Princess of Granvalle and her children save the world thanks to her Naga blood).

Now I understand. In order to face the great malice that threatens the world, this strength is necessary.

Hm, this sounds like Lissa in Edel’s FB - with this power (Naga) Julia wants to protect the world. I mean, why not? If only her base game gave her that role afterwards instead of turning her into a potted plant in the epilogue...

So yes, I think Julia’s characterisation falls on the “meh” spectrum in FEH, but I can understand, they only had 15 lines to work with in FE4 since Julia’s such a non-entity and no one gives a crap about her.

Still, the “i hated my crusader blood” and “it was fate i had to fight julius” feels especially wrong, given how Julia made it clear and is the ONLY ONE in the game to call Loptyr out - Julius is dead, the person she’s talking to is not Julius. Maybe I want to cling to a smallest thread of hope in Jugdral (lel) where if Manfroy died chocking in a pretzel, Julius would never have become possessed and lived his life happily as an imperial brat without Loptyr shenanigans.

Julia is the one to debunk the “Julius was fated to become a host of Loptyr” myth, she is the one to explain how the possession happened :

Manfroy gave the book to Julius, Loptyr took control of his host. FE5 tries to bring more nuances like gradual possession or something like that, but as I understand it, FE8′s Lyon’s situation is call-back, even if Lyon was still in the meatsuit, the Demon King was here and was going to become the only driving force in the meatsuit with time.

Still, the Loptyr possession was the endgoal of Manfroy’s many machinations in the First Gen and the karmic retribution awaiting Arvis after his own machinations in the 1st gen.

So blaming it as “Fate ! He had major Loptyr, it was bound to happen :)” feels really wrong.