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localtalent53While working on that stupid Gangrel fic, I got into waaaaaay too much speculation and, well, some of it culminates here.
Looking further into the dialogue of the game, I really begin to feel that for all the hatred he has in him, Gangrel is still a man of some logic. He expresses interest in concepts like peace, even while harboring his grudges and suicidal tendencies. He seems to indicate that his intention was to unite the continent against Valm initially and that he believed he was doing the right thing. He seems to have some knowledge of Plegia's history (enough to not be a member of the Grimleal and certainly enough to not be a fool to Validar and Aversa's whims).
As such, I looked to the legacy of Chrom's father and his devastating crusade against Plegia. Background sources indicate that Gangrel's mother was killed by the Ylissean army and that he suffered a horrible number of years later (Chrom indicates the crusade ended 15 years ago). It would certainly be enough to cause Gangrel's hatred of Emmeryn and her stance on peace, but could history play a major part in his biases as well?
This made me recall my research for the Crusades that occurred between 1095 and 1291, and the comparisons become quite interesting. A "holy" land is called to war by a powerful religious figure to smite infidels in the name of their god. Sound familiar? Interestingly enough, only one crusade is mentioned in FE13, even though history has staged many with a religion that isn't the direct polar opposite of Christianity in every way (I don't think anything is quite as demonizing as Naga slaying Plegia's god with a chosen hero, for example). This inclines me to believe that, despite the claims that Ylisse is a "peace-loving nation" I doubt this extends back before Emmeryn's attempts at reforming the broken ties between them. From this, I conclude that Gangrel's choice to invade stemmed not only from his insecurities, vengeful nature, and strategy for peace but also from a history of misery and violence headed by previous Exalts that further left him wary of Emmeryn and what she represented.
As a last minute quick little note I think this brings an interesting spin on the Grimleal and how Plegia eventually becomes FE's equivalent of Stalin!era Russia; it would be intriguing if many of the Grimleal were raised on the belief that every era brought in new death from the Exalt and that only Grima ("Gimle" in the Japanese version, a Norse word for Paradise after Ragnarok) could provide salvation from the upcoming crusades.
Maybe another day we'll get into religion and FE13 but for now I think this is enough to chew on.
Looking further into the dialogue of the game, I really begin to feel that for all the hatred he has in him, Gangrel is still a man of some logic. He expresses interest in concepts like peace, even while harboring his grudges and suicidal tendencies. He seems to indicate that his intention was to unite the continent against Valm initially and that he believed he was doing the right thing. He seems to have some knowledge of Plegia's history (enough to not be a member of the Grimleal and certainly enough to not be a fool to Validar and Aversa's whims).
As such, I looked to the legacy of Chrom's father and his devastating crusade against Plegia. Background sources indicate that Gangrel's mother was killed by the Ylissean army and that he suffered a horrible number of years later (Chrom indicates the crusade ended 15 years ago). It would certainly be enough to cause Gangrel's hatred of Emmeryn and her stance on peace, but could history play a major part in his biases as well?
This made me recall my research for the Crusades that occurred between 1095 and 1291, and the comparisons become quite interesting. A "holy" land is called to war by a powerful religious figure to smite infidels in the name of their god. Sound familiar? Interestingly enough, only one crusade is mentioned in FE13, even though history has staged many with a religion that isn't the direct polar opposite of Christianity in every way (I don't think anything is quite as demonizing as Naga slaying Plegia's god with a chosen hero, for example). This inclines me to believe that, despite the claims that Ylisse is a "peace-loving nation" I doubt this extends back before Emmeryn's attempts at reforming the broken ties between them. From this, I conclude that Gangrel's choice to invade stemmed not only from his insecurities, vengeful nature, and strategy for peace but also from a history of misery and violence headed by previous Exalts that further left him wary of Emmeryn and what she represented.
As a last minute quick little note I think this brings an interesting spin on the Grimleal and how Plegia eventually becomes FE's equivalent of Stalin!era Russia; it would be intriguing if many of the Grimleal were raised on the belief that every era brought in new death from the Exalt and that only Grima ("Gimle" in the Japanese version, a Norse word for Paradise after Ragnarok) could provide salvation from the upcoming crusades.
Maybe another day we'll get into religion and FE13 but for now I think this is enough to chew on.
