The characterizations are too thin, that they are ;_; I mean, even though Fire Emblem 4's got some really likeable characters, they're just not as developed as they are in FE7, due to the fact you can only have a few conversations instead of a voluminous amount of supports. Fuuuu, I keep begging for a remake with the support system put in place (and maybe an actual conversation between Cuan and Elto! ) but that will likely never be...*sobs*
Anyway, Ms. Iris, you asked for a defense of the BeoLache pairing? I would like to expand upon a few interesting things the most venerable Ms. Summerwolf mentioned, as well as a few ideas of my own ^^I can't understand Japanese, and I haven't read the mangas and doujinshis you have, so I might not exactly be an expert on FE characterizations...however, I have gotten my hands on a competent translation at
winds.westhost.com/feholy/feindex.shtmlso I am not completely ignorant...but in any case, Ms. Iris, please accept my most humble and sincere apologies for my ignorance concerning the plot and characterizations and any mistakes I may make in this analysis.
First off, even someone as horrendously ignorant as I may have leave to point this fact out: FE4 canon itself points to Elto having a wife (Queen Grahyne, I believe) Thus, he's not "officially" in a relationship with his sister. Now, perhaps it can be argued that he used to be, or that he's got a little sumthin-sumthin going on with her on the side, if you catch my drift, but whatever the case may be, the plausibility of EltoLache isn't what I'm analyzing here. My point is, in FE4, her brother's already taken...so why not somebody like her brother? Maybe Beowulf and Eltoshan aren't so far apart after all
"Beowolf: Hmmm, so you are that Princess of Nodion.
Lachesis: What an impolite man, who are you!
Beowolf: Oh, well, pardon me.
I'm just a lowly mercenary named Beowolf.
Lachesis: And why is it you look for me?
Beowolf: Ah, I just have one thing to tell ya.
War is not playing around. With people like you wandering about like little chicks, we all get more hard time in this.
A Princess should behave like a Princess, stay inside the castle and be more like a grown up.
Lachesis: Why, you have no right to talk to me like this!
What a nagging nanny you are.
Beowolf: Hehe, that so lives up to be Eltoshan's sister; you have an aggressive attitude.
Lachesis: Eh? ...you know my brother?
Beowolf: Yeah well, we have been buddies for quite a while. I was asked to look after you as well, that's why I made that comment.
Lachesis: Ah, so it's that... I'm sorry.
Beowolf: Well, it's alright.
Good, say, I should teach you a little bit on fighting. This is also for Eltoshan.
Lachesis: Yes, please!!
Now, let's look at Lachesis and Beowulf's final conversation before their untimely deaths...
Lachesis: Beowulf...
Beowulf: Lachesis, if something happened to me, go to Lenster.
There you'll find Finn and Cuan's son as well. Please help them for me.
Lachesis: Don't say that!... We are going together!
Beowulf: Lachesis, I guess I should apologize to you.
Lachesis: Eh? What do you mean...
Beowulf: I know your true feelings...
Lachesis: !...
Beowulf: Take care, Lachesis. I'd treasure the time we spent together, however short it has been.
Lachesis: Wait! Beowulf!!
Granted, these conversations don't say a whole lot about the characters--just as you said, Ms. Iris, I'll have to do quite a bit of "reading between the lines," so again, I most humbly apologize for my incompentency and stupidity if I end up bastardizing these characters so much it offends you ^^;; I also apologize if these translations are inaccurate--if they are, the most I can say in my own defense is that they're not mine, but those of the proprietrator of the website ^^;;
Anways, on to the analysis!
There are a few plausible reasons Lachesis might be so infatuated with Beowulf. One, obviously, is because judging by the conversation in chapter 2, Beowulf knows Eltoshan. Thus, from Lachesis' point of view, if she can't get her hands on her brother, perhaps she can get the next best thing, and get herself a man who at least knows her brother. It might be from simple virtue of association that Lachesis' love for Beowulf sprouts.
Another conceivable reason I would like to postulate is that in terms of personality, Beowulf and Eltoshan might not be so far apart. Now, obviously, on the surface, it seems as if the two couldn't be more different--after all, Elto is a noble prince, well versed in the knightly virtues of chivalry and possesing a mastery of social etiquette and courtesies that only a lifetime in the nobility could cultivate, and that only a similarly pampered sister of his could match, or appreciate. Beowulf, on the other hand, is a coarse, uncouth mercenary, posessing no sense of honor beyond his blood money and no better manners than those of a common peasant. However, once one looks deeper, beyond the shallow niceties and formalities a live lived in the royal courts would give rise to, Beo and Elto may have some things in common in between them. First off, at the very least, they both know how to fight. Obviously, Eltoshan is the superior warrior thanks to the Demon Sword Mistoltin, but Beowulf is no pushover, indeed, if you actually use him, you'll find that he's not a half-bad Forest Knight. Thus, at the very least, Lachesis might be attracted to Beowulf's fighting skills. Plunging even further into her psyche, however, one could say that Lachesis has some need to be protected, to feel guarded, from physical threat at the very least (I don't want to read *so* far into the lines as to say emotional, because I don't feel there's enough canonical evidence to support such a thesis). Perhaps one reason she loves her brother Eltoshan so dearly, and sexually, is that quite simply, he's always there, shielding her from harm. Judging from her reaction when he leaves the castle in chapter 2, Lachesis is so afraid of being alone and unprotected that her brother has to leave his three best knights to guard over her, and even though Eltoshan says he'll be gone only for a little while, Lachesis can't bear to be separated from him, away from her protecter, for even a miniscule amount of time (which, unfortunately, turns out to be not miniscule at all, but forever, when Eltoshan dies ;___; ) But even if Eltoshan was able to be by his sister's side every moment of every day, and perpetually be there to shield her from any conceivable threat instead of leaving his lackeys to take up the slack, according to canon, there's already someone else stealing his attention, and thus the full scope of his guard, away from lachesis: Queen Grahyne, the mother of Ares. Eltoshan simply cannot keep his focus 100% on his little sister anymore, and that might make Lachesis feel somewhat alone and abandoned. But what if someone came along who promised to look after her, who promised to shield and defend her as her brother did? That person happens to be Beowulf. As their conversation attests, Beowulf is looking out after Lachesis, even though it is initially done out of duty to Elto rather than brotherly love. However, to Lachesis, who would have had the man who was essentially the center of her life, judging by how attached she is to Elto, torn away from her by marriage and not able to make himself fully available to her, attaching herself to a wandering mercenary, whose orders are to watch over her as Eltoshan did, might be able to fill that vacuum in her heart. At the very least, Beowulf teaches her how to defend herself, increasing a few stats of hers by a small margin, perhaps emulating training Eltoshan might have given her in swordplay when she was younger. After all, while she's no match for her brother, she must have learned how to swing that Prayer Sword of hers somewhere!
Now, if you have been perturbed by the most horrendous length as well as pointlessness of this little diatribe, you can rest assured that I'm almost finished ^_^ Just one last point I'd like to state...
One final reason I believe is plausible for Lachesis falling in love with Beowulf may be that he's actually so far removed from the courtly life Lachesis is so used to. Although she may be something of a priss herself (Please excuse my insolence in saying that ^^;; ) she does detest the noble Eliott, and if most Agustrian nobles are jerks like him, it would be little wonder she'd look for love elsewhere! And indeed, Beowulf might be that breath of fresh air she's looking for--instead of the shallow, smarmy, deceitful, snobbish, obesquious, hypocritical nobles like Eliott she's familiar with, Beowulf's blunt, even somewhat rude honesty and sincerity might seem extremely attractive to her. If the Agustrian nobility is at all similar to actual European nobility, Lachesis might find the strength, virility, and charisma of a common soldier more appealing than the decadence that is usually attributed to the nobility. However, in all fairness, as a historian, I should point out that in the middle ages, the "noblity" still possessed some modicum of respectability--it wasn't until later that the aristocracy lost that virtuous aura which always surrounded them and began to get skewered by the likes of Johnathan Swift and Emily Bronte. But in any case, it has often been seen how girls from upper-class, respectable families can often end up with guys whom society labels as "troublemakers." Lachesis is essentially the definition of a pampered, spoiled rich-kid living in a posh neighborhood, so perhaps like so many other young, immature adolescent girls, she's fallen for a regular "bad boy" such a Beowulf.
FURY LOVE <3<3<3
