And here's a villain placement that literally everybody saw coming from a mile away. Arvis for me is the best villain in the Fire Emblem franchise for several reasons. The first reason is "feats." Out of every villain in the franchise, I consider Arvis's accomplishments in Holy War to be the best. Let's examine what this guy accomplished in the game.
In one chapter, just one chapter, of Fire Emblem 4 Arvis managed to:
- Manipulate Langbart and Reptor into fighting Sigurd. He even turns on Reptor and wipes his forces out.
- Lures Sigurd into a trap by hosting a "celebration" for his return. During the "celebration" he flaunts Deirdre in front of Sigurd, humiliating him in the process. Bytheway, Deirdre's his half-sister.
- Proceeds to kill Sigurd and wipes his army out in one fell swoop.
- Takes over the entire continent of Jugdral. And bytheway, he was greeted with cheers during the early days of his rule too.
Holy....wow. I...even typing this out again after playing the game so many types still brings back memories of how shocked I was when I first witnessed this. How many villains are you aware of who get to steal the main character's wife, kill the main character and rule the entire world? That is the most monumental, gut wrenching plot twist in the series. The only plot twists I can think in any fictional story that affected me to the degree that the plot twist in Chapter 5 did are the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones and the Eclipse from Berserk.
How many villains achieve that level of success? I'm sure they exist, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. That plot twist still sticks with you years after the fact. It is dark, it is epic, it's a huge reason why Holy War is often touted as having the best plot in the series. And Arvis is the one who made it all happen.
Now I could just end this post right here, and I would feel justified in my ranking. Arvis achieved what no other villain in the franchise could. But, oh no dear reader. There is SO MUCH MORE beneath the surface to this motherfucker that we have to talk about it.
- So Arvis eventually has two children with Deirdre: His son Julius, and his daughter Julia. Sometime during the Second Generation of Holy War, Julius gets possessed by the Loptyr tome, effectively becoming Fire Emblem Satan.
- Julius, who has now been possessed by the Loptyr tome, proceeds to murder Deirdre, and Arvis was too powerless to stop it. This man had to witness his wife being murdered by his possessed son.
- What about his daughter Julia? Well she eventually teams up with Seliph, the son of the man that he just murdered. Julia joins the player's army in Chapter 6 of Holy War. She gets captured by Manfroy at the beginning of Chapter 10. What was she doing between that time? Julia was helping Seliph dismantle Arvis's empire country by country. So Arvis's daughter spends the majority of the Second Generation undermining and destroying his empire.
- Speaking of Arvis's empire, we're told by Lewyn that during the early days of Arvis's rule life was peaceful. The early days of the Grannvale Empire were actually pretty good. It seems like Arvis was a pretty good ruler. But then, everything changed when the Loptyr Cult attacked. Now his once peaceful utopia is turned into Hell on Earth. Innocent children are being sacrificed to the dark god Loptyr everywhere in Jugdral…and Arvis was too powerless to stop it.
Earlier in this post, I mentioned that Arvis was "greeted with cheers during the early days of his rule." Well that all changed once the Loptyr cult swooped in and started sacrificing people's children to their dark god. Most of the average Jugdrali didn't know that it was Manfroy and possessed Julius who were the main culprits behind the child hunts. They all think it's Arvis who's behind this. To them, he's the face of the empire. They think Arvis is the one who's ordering the child hunts to happen.
In the first generation Arvis is the one who "spearheaded the mission" to frame Sigurd and House Chalphy for the death of Prince Kurth, a crime Sigurd didn't commit and did not condone. Now the average Jugdrali citizen believes that Arvis is behind the child hunts, a crime that he didn't commit and did not condone. So Arvis ended up being framed for a crime he didn't commit, just like Sigurd. In the eyes of his citizens, Emperor Arvis went mad with power. Even after he dies, I'm willing to bet that most people remembered him as a tyrant.
Fun fact # 1: Thracia 776 references Arvis and the child hunts in a conversation between Amalda and Palman in Chapter 17B:
So apparently, we do have a confirmation that Arvis did "approve of the child hunts," which further explains why the people of Jugdral would hate him. Something tells me that Julius was the one who was really behind this, and that Arvis was being pressured into doing it.
Fun fact # 2: Arvis being viewed as a villain "in every Jugdral saga ever" is referenced in Awakening by Chrom. Chrom even asks why Arvis comes across as pleasant. So even outside of Holy War, Arvis is still viewed as a bit of a villain. I actually liked this bit about the game, and to this day I still feel like Awakening hit the nail on the head in regards to how Arvis was portrayed.
Shortly before he dies, Arvis's daughter Julia had been captured by Manfroy. The last he sees of Julia is her being taken away by Manfroy, who threatens to kill her if Arvis doesn't do battle with Seliph. So as far as he's aware, Julia's going to be killed by the man who played him like a fiddle. By this point in the game he's lost everything. That's why he gives the Tyrfing to Bishop Palmark. Arvis wants Seliph to kill him. The once proud emperor of Grannvale wants to die because all his hopes and dreams were torn from him, and he was forced to watch all of it. In the end, he was too powerless to stop his fate.
After Seliph obtains the Tyrfing, Arvis mocks him by making light of poor Sigurd. On the surface, one would think that he's just being an evil prick. But in light of everything I just mentioned, it becomes clear that Arvis is finally embracing the role given to him by the people: He's acting his part as a villain so that Seliph will hate him enough to put him out of his misery. Right now, the quote that comes to mind is a quote from The Dark Knight:
Sigurd died a hero. Arvis lived long enough to see himself become the villain. Sigurd may have been branded as a traitor to Grannvale, but eventually his name was redeemed and he lived on as a folk hero and a legend among the commoners of the Empire. Arvis began as the Emperor who ushered in an era of peace, but he died as the villain, his name forever tainted by what happened in the latter end of his empire.
We the Fire Emblem fanbase may be in awe of what he did to Sigurd, but I get the impression that Arvis eventually regretted what he did to Sigurd in his later years. Part of the reason why he wanted Seliph to kill him is that he was seeking redemption for the shit he pulled in the first generation. If we could interview Arvis in his later years, I'd be willing to bet that he'd express regret over killing Sigurd.
So here we have a villain who rose to heights that no villain in the series had ever achieved, but ultimately fell far lower than any other villain on this list. Karma's a bitch, and Arvis paid a heavy price for everything he did. Once again, I could just end here and I would feel justified in placing Arvis as the greatest villain in the Fire Emblem franchise. But wait dear reader, there's still so much more to his character that we haven't discussed yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment