![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
FE: tracing the Massacre to Lehran and Altina.
(Hm, I should warn for spoilers, shouldn't I? Massive spoilers.)
I was thinking about Goldoa's 'no interference' policy when I came to the conclusion that the Serenes Massacre was probably directly related to the circumstances surrounding Lehran and Altina's child. Usually when I consider the laguz-beorc prejudice or the history leading to that event, I'm putting it in a character's voice, and am left with one thought:
Damn it, Dheginsea, shove your ideals where they belong and commit to something.
From everything I've seen in PoR and RD, Goldoa is the only laguz nation everybody cares about. They have influence. The laguz rulers will answer Dheginsea's call for a meeting even if they're basically at war with each other, a Goldoan dragon seems to carry significant weight even with the Daein military, that sort of thing. Even Begnion probably can't completely ignore them. This is a product of their massive destructive power, of course - I doubt it has anything to do with respect on the part of the human nations.
Radiant Dawn sets Dheginsea up as the ultimate reason why Ashera had to be awakened. He remained stubbornly neutral even when his own children left and got involved in the wars of other nations, he confined his protests against laguz slavery etc. to formal protests with the Begnion government, and all he ever seemed to say to the laguz tribes was "don't make war." His inactivity definitely contributed to the problem. I won't deny that. It's frustrating to follow the story and realize... if he'd stepped in and helped his daughter, for example, Rajaion wouldn't have ended up the way he did. Or, if he couldn't have stopped it, perhaps he could have prevented the situation that came together in RD. He certainly could have done something about Lehran.
Or did he agree with Lehran - was he aware of what "Sephiran" was doing? I don't think they ever answer that question. I want to say no, but there's no evidence either way that I remember.
But if you believe what they tell you about equality and/or non-hostility between the races at the time Ashera went to sleep, then it isn't Dheginsea's stubborn neutrality that is the problem - just a symptom, you could say. The problem started when Lehran's child was born, he lost his power, and then decided to hide his condition instead of sharing his knowledge with others.
It's not even the child, so much as his decision to run away and abandon Begnion. Regardless of his condition, his advice - his reputation as one of the founders of the country, and Ashera's trusted servant - could have changed the course of history. Would the senate have the balls to call laguz sub-human if Lehran was there? I don't think they'd have a following for that way of thinking. Not if he was a respected figure of the country's present, as well as its history. But it's the climate created by the senate's grab for power that allowed the Massacre to happen.
The heron refusal to acknowledge the Apostle is probably the other factor, and that can be traced directly to Lehran and Altina. If they'd been honest, if Lehran had stayed and guided his children, their nature wouldn't have been a point of contention between the government and the herons. Perhaps they knew what the Apostles really were. That seems a reasonable possibility to me. But the political rift wouldn't exist, I think, if their nature was public knowledge. Certainly live would've been easier for the Branded. That issue, the lie that laguz-beorc relationships were blasphemy, is actually almost peripheral - it's the product of their lie, not the cause of the problem.
Dheginsea helped Lehran and perpetuated the lie, but his inaction would've remained the same regardless of Lehran's decision. That's my reading of his character, anyway. He remembered the flood, remembered his promise to Ashera, and kept it.
Lehran's public presence would have allowed other nations to do the same. They're the only two left, and they had a responsibility to help the shorter-lived races to remember. Lehran abandoned that responsibility and gave up on Tellius at the very beginning, and the path the racial prejudices and conflicts took after that, while not directly his fault, leave him just as guilty of inaction, if not more so - because he could have advised them differently, and refused. He was too self-centered for that job.
I wonder if he thinks about it that way.
(He will now - in my stories, at least. :D)
I was thinking about Goldoa's 'no interference' policy when I came to the conclusion that the Serenes Massacre was probably directly related to the circumstances surrounding Lehran and Altina's child. Usually when I consider the laguz-beorc prejudice or the history leading to that event, I'm putting it in a character's voice, and am left with one thought:
Damn it, Dheginsea, shove your ideals where they belong and commit to something.
From everything I've seen in PoR and RD, Goldoa is the only laguz nation everybody cares about. They have influence. The laguz rulers will answer Dheginsea's call for a meeting even if they're basically at war with each other, a Goldoan dragon seems to carry significant weight even with the Daein military, that sort of thing. Even Begnion probably can't completely ignore them. This is a product of their massive destructive power, of course - I doubt it has anything to do with respect on the part of the human nations.
Radiant Dawn sets Dheginsea up as the ultimate reason why Ashera had to be awakened. He remained stubbornly neutral even when his own children left and got involved in the wars of other nations, he confined his protests against laguz slavery etc. to formal protests with the Begnion government, and all he ever seemed to say to the laguz tribes was "don't make war." His inactivity definitely contributed to the problem. I won't deny that. It's frustrating to follow the story and realize... if he'd stepped in and helped his daughter, for example, Rajaion wouldn't have ended up the way he did. Or, if he couldn't have stopped it, perhaps he could have prevented the situation that came together in RD. He certainly could have done something about Lehran.
Or did he agree with Lehran - was he aware of what "Sephiran" was doing? I don't think they ever answer that question. I want to say no, but there's no evidence either way that I remember.
But if you believe what they tell you about equality and/or non-hostility between the races at the time Ashera went to sleep, then it isn't Dheginsea's stubborn neutrality that is the problem - just a symptom, you could say. The problem started when Lehran's child was born, he lost his power, and then decided to hide his condition instead of sharing his knowledge with others.
It's not even the child, so much as his decision to run away and abandon Begnion. Regardless of his condition, his advice - his reputation as one of the founders of the country, and Ashera's trusted servant - could have changed the course of history. Would the senate have the balls to call laguz sub-human if Lehran was there? I don't think they'd have a following for that way of thinking. Not if he was a respected figure of the country's present, as well as its history. But it's the climate created by the senate's grab for power that allowed the Massacre to happen.
The heron refusal to acknowledge the Apostle is probably the other factor, and that can be traced directly to Lehran and Altina. If they'd been honest, if Lehran had stayed and guided his children, their nature wouldn't have been a point of contention between the government and the herons. Perhaps they knew what the Apostles really were. That seems a reasonable possibility to me. But the political rift wouldn't exist, I think, if their nature was public knowledge. Certainly live would've been easier for the Branded. That issue, the lie that laguz-beorc relationships were blasphemy, is actually almost peripheral - it's the product of their lie, not the cause of the problem.
Dheginsea helped Lehran and perpetuated the lie, but his inaction would've remained the same regardless of Lehran's decision. That's my reading of his character, anyway. He remembered the flood, remembered his promise to Ashera, and kept it.
Lehran's public presence would have allowed other nations to do the same. They're the only two left, and they had a responsibility to help the shorter-lived races to remember. Lehran abandoned that responsibility and gave up on Tellius at the very beginning, and the path the racial prejudices and conflicts took after that, while not directly his fault, leave him just as guilty of inaction, if not more so - because he could have advised them differently, and refused. He was too self-centered for that job.
I wonder if he thinks about it that way.
(He will now - in my stories, at least. :D)
no subject
no subject
Altina must have done something - I think some of us talked about that in an earlier comment conversation. She probably tried to talk sense into Lehran, and hold him down so he wouldn't try to kill himself again, that kind of thing. But she was as surprised as they were. If he wanted to leave, trying to chain Lehran to her side would just ruin their marriage anyway.
I got irritated at Altina too, but that's what I ultimately came to - she let him go because keeping him there would make him miserable. However, as far as the Branded go, if those massacres happened in her lifetime then she has something to answer for too.
no subject
no subject
That also makes me wonder how old Stefan is, or where in the line of descent he might be from Soan if he really is related. And, if that's true, whether Soan was aware of Lehran's fate or not when he-- well actually, I guess it could've been one of his kids who got together with a human.
Altina is an archetypal figure though, sort of. Someone called her a "mother figure" - one of those women in a story/game history who was really important and beloved, but is only known in the present for one thing. In this case, the establishing of Begnion. Historically, I guess almost everyone would've forgotten about Altina-the-person except for Lehran and the dragons, and they don't mention her doing anything.
I wish they'd do more Tellius, but they wrapped it up with some finality in RD. We can only hope they'll put out an illust book for the two games someday, and give us some information with the pretty pictures.
no subject
no subject
Stefan is too bitter to be young. A story about the nation he creates would be really interesting, though. It'd be an interesting subject for fic, too, but that's a huge project to take on - that would require a lot of world-building and original character generation.
no subject
no subject
But, if I'm remembering correctly, Dheginsea and Kurthnaga had a talk that illuminated the real reason why Dheginsea left was actually due to brandeds -- I remember a convo that said that in ancient times when the brandeds started appearing the children were slaughtered and there was a bighuge bloodbath over it. Dheginsea had some guilt due to it -- I remember seeing this but I can't remember where it came up, in the fighting the dragon level, I'd suppose.
Am I remembering this wrong? I do remember reading that script on serenes ages ago when it was all translations post-USA release.
no subject
I don't remember that conversation, but it's probably hanging around on Serenes.
It'd be kind of weird if he held back out of guilt for the Branded, though. I guess if that led him to believe his continued interference would just hurt more people, then I can see it? But he could have opened his big mouth again and said SORRY, WE MADE A MISTAKE, Ashera actually said laguz-beorc copulating would be really easy, see how that doesn't rhyme with blasphemy at all?
But Dheginsea is like the big, scary friend who came to back up Lehran when the playground politics got ugly. He gave his friend a place to stay, and then covered for him by lying through his teeth about inter-racial marriage, etc. The fault still ultimately falls on Lehran, and Dheginsea said some inadvisable things, but is otherwise guilty of inaction.