Those shadows on Valentia Island aren't going to analyze themselves.
This article will primarily be an analysis of Alm and Celica throughout the story, alongside my thoughts on one of the antagonists and the post-game dungeon. As mentioned in my non-spoiler review, "Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia" was developed by Intelligent Systems.
Note: There will be “Fire Emblem Awakening” spoilers down below, but only in the last section of the article, the heading for the section will properly mark them.
Alm and Celica
We first see Alm and Celica in the opening. Here, they promise to never fight like the Gods Duma and Mila did.
However, as their story happens, this promise takes on a more ironic meaning overtime.
The Inseparable Children
Alm has always been in Ram Village and has never left it. One day, Celica arrives to stay at Ram Village, living with Alm and Sir Mycen, to hide from people who want her dead due to being Zofian royalty.
When Alm meets and talks to Celica, to him, it's like having his eyes opened to the rest of the world.
He genuinely cares about Celica, protecting her from Slayde, a knight hunting Celica, and doing his best to cheer up Celica. He sees Celica like family due to only having Sir Mycen as family.
While Sir Mycen is cool, especially with that moustache, it's understandable Alm would feel a void with only Sir Mycen. Celica genuinely appreciates Alm. She apologizes to Alm for her harsh words when they first met, and both laugh about it. She's thankful for everything Alm did to cheer her up.
What sells how much they care about each other is the first Memory Prism you can find in the game in Act Two. This Memory Prism shows how Sir Mycen and Celica met each other, how Celica managed to escape the people who want her dead, and etc..
Most importantly, in the prologue Alm brings up how gloomy Celica was when she first came to Ram Village, how she never smiled. This Memory Prism explains why: she went to Ram Village right after her brother, Conrad, died. That's... That's a hard pill for anyone to swallow, let alone a child.
This makes Alm cheering up Celica extremely important. While Alm doesn't realize it, he was helping Celica with her grief by cheering her up, healing her with his stories, their walks, etc..
Alm is the one who brought back Celica's smile. Alm helped a mourning girl without even realizing it, expecting nothing in return. That's hugely commendable which also adds great depth to both characters.
The Conflict of Ideals
It takes many years for Alm and Celica to reunite, as they cross paths when trying to resolve Zofia's problems. Unfortunately, things don't go as expected, as their ideals on saving Zofia are radically different.
Alm believes he and the Deliverance need to stand up and fight Zofia and Rigel's corrupt leaders to make a change. On the other hand, Celica believes if talked to, Mila will help Zofia's people without bloodshed.
While Celica believes people must fight when they have to, she doesn't see the war as necessary and harmful to Zofia. Alm can't see any other way to go about things, seeing the war as Zofia's only hope.
I think both have good points. Celica is correct that Alm isn't considering other options, and that he's unnecessarily making himself a target by being the Deliverance leader, much to Celica's worry.
However, Alm is right that a peaceful solution sounds too fantastical. Furthermore, he has the right to be the leader of the Deliverance if he wants to.
What makes things more complicated is that Celica knows what it's like to be royalty, and more importantly, a target. However, if she says she's Zofian royalty, she'll be forced to lead the Deliverance.
Alm states he's more than happy to make the missing Zofian Princess, who is Celica, the leader of Zofia. Unfortunately, Alm isn't considering what the Zofian princess would think, being made to lead an army she might not want to.
Furthermore, Celica accuses Alm of eyeing the throne, which makes sense given she herself was almost assassinated because one man eyed the throne. Although, it's wrong and Celica should know Alm wouldn't focus on riches.
However, Alm is firm in his position. He has seen what has happened to Zofia, the corruption, Rigel's and Zofia's invasion, and more. Zofia's people are suffering. Someone must step up, and if no one else will, he will.
If Alm didn’t become leader of the Deliverance, where would Zofia be? In the same miserable spot it was at the beginning of Act One. Alm is giving Zofia hope that it has been missing for many years.
It's a tough situation given they both want to do what's right, but their methods are too different to cooperate. Instead of their long-awaited reunion being a joyous one, it's bitter instead.
Hearts Connected
Despite their fight, in Act Three when an earthquake makes it so that Alm's and Celica's paths to get to each other are blocked, they both show concern for each other.
In Act Four, when Berkut uses Duma's magic against Alm's army, Alm calls out to who else but Celica during this seemingly impossible situation. which surprisingly ends up saving them. When Alm is considering going to Nuibaba's Abode or not in Act Four, he decides to head there when he believes Celica is held prisoner there.
Given Alm by this point realized Celica is the missing Zofian Princess, this is a huge concern. While Alm's love for Celica pushes him forward, Celica's love for Alm is used against her.
Jedah manipulates Celica into giving up her soul by stating Alm will drop his arms if she does, since Mila will be able to end the war peacefully. Celica only wishes for everyone and Alm to be unharmed, but this wish excludes her as she values others over herself.
This also extends to her friends, as she's willing to give herself up when Dolth attacks Mae. By this point, she feels guilty for her friends threatening their lives for her and would much rather be the one to die over her best friend.
Even when Celica can give herself the upper hand against Jedah with Halcyon's magic, she asks for Halycon to help Alm instead. This lets Alm become the Hero class.
Celica and Alm also talk to each other thanks to Halcyon, where they apologize about their behaviour during their argument. Despite what they said during that argument, they still deeply care for each other, and the game shows it beautifully.
Family
Unfortunately, Celica does accept Jedah's offer, watching Alm in his darkest hour as he approaches and kills Emperor Rudolf... His father.
Alm only realizes this after landing the fatal blow on Rudolf and has a mental breakdown because of it. He's always wanted family and he just killed his own blood. Furthermore, Rudolf was not a bad man, he only played the tyrant to ultimately stop the Gods.
This hits harder when you consider Alm's longing for family. Back in Act One, he was disturbed by the mere notion that Sir Mycen didn't have any heirs, before being convinced otherwise by Clive.
However, I will admit the twist here is as obvious as Clark Kent being Superman. The game hints this far too much: the old man, the Royal Sword, Berkut's and Zeke's reactions to Alm's brand, Rudolf telling Zeke to follow the one with the brand, etc..
While Alm's voice acting after he kills his father sells Alm's pain and the scene well, to the point where I didn't care how obvious the twist was, it still doesn't excuse the obvious nature of the twist. Really in general, "Shadows of Valentia" is hints at twists too much, Conrad still being alive is another example.
Still, Alm loses his very last chance at biological family as he's given no choice but to slay Berkut, his cousin, after Berkut loses himself. While it's a peaceful death for Berkut, it leaves Alm in tears.
Again, Alm’s voice acting nails Alm’s pain so well. It makes me feel so bad for Alm that I want to give him a hug.
However, despite all this pain, Alm will always have Sir Mycen as family. They aren't biologically related, but in their Supports, they still see each other as family.
Man vs. God
I believe Celica's and Alm's difference in ideals has a man vs. God theme to it. Alm, seeing how Zofia has suffer, believes in his own men and power to fix Zofia. On the other hand, Celica, who relies on Mila, believes in Mila to fix Zofia.
This affects their arguments as Alm doesn't have faith in Mila, believing Celica's method is fantastical. However, Celica can only see Mila saving Zofia due to her faith.
While this has an impact on both, there isn't much to discuss with this theme in Act Three and Act Four for Alm. For Celica in Act Four though... That's where her faith is manipulated by Jedah.
Jedah offers that if Celica gives her soul of Zofia royalty and the brand to Duma, Jedah will release the captive Mila. Furthermore, this will save Duma from his impending madness and by extension, all of Valentia. Celica is suspicious of Jedah's deal at first, only deciding when she's sure it's the only option.
Celica keeps her problems to herself, never sharing them with others as she believes her problems are her sole responsibility. However, in my experience, this is perfectly common for people that bare huge responsibilities. People who bottle up their emotions feel their problems are their own to deal with, their responsibility.
When she does decide to sacrifice her soul, it's when she knows for sure it's the only way to free Mila. Jedah says he's the only one who can unseal Falchion from Mila's skull and free her.
Now, anyone would easily see right through Jedah’s manipulation here and know he’s lying about his offer to free Mila in exchange for Celica’s soul. I mean, he even does an evil laugh... Multiple times.
Well, when the entire world isn't on the shoulders of someone with low self-esteem. The situation really is all or nothing and it's fair for Celica to give into desperation. It's either let Alm get hurt and risk all of Valentia suffering or sacrifice her soul to save all of Valentia and stop Alm from fighting. In her mind, what other choice does she have?
Celica's sacrifice is also her own self-redemption in her mind. Celica knew Alm was going to face great danger, but wasn't able to prevent it, causing him to suffer. She genuinely believes it's her fault Alm killed his father and feels she failed him, making her guilt-ridden despite none of this realistically being her fault.
It's possible this guilt is furthered by Alm saved Celica in her darkest hour, but Celica couldn't save Alm from his darkest hour. Additionally, she knows what pain of losing a loved one but in this case, Alm killed his loved one.
The truth, however, is that Celica keeps Alm going.
Even after promising to stop giving herself up for others to Conrad, she still does. I know that's a weird praise, but realistically, it takes a lot for that mindset to disappear and it'd be odd for it to go away suddenly. A dead brother coming back won't magically make that self-sacrificial behaviour go away.
However, Celica not realizing any of this causes her to get tricked in the end...
Extremely hard.
In comparison, Alm's faith in the Gods is further decreased when Rudolf and Sir Mycen tell him about ending the age of the Gods. When he finds out about Celica's situation, he rejects the necessity of Celica's sacrifice and the need for Mila completely.
He believes humanity shouldn't rely on the Gods and that they are strong enough to survive without them. This turns out to be correct as Mila herself is convinced of mankind's power thanks to Alm and Celica, even using the last of her power to revive Celica and return her soul.
Mila being convinced of humanity's strength also convinces Celica to believe in her own strength. In the end, Celica did succeed in freeing Mila, but not how she originally intended.
Sacrifice and the Saint
When Celica is saved by Mila, Alm isn’t mad at Celica for sacrificing herself. Instead, he says, “I couldn't ever be happy in a world you died to create!”
I must admit my bias here, games that criticize sacrifices or state there are other ways of going about a situation without sacrificing someone’s life, usually get me emotional. "Shadows of Valentia" is no exception. This line hits extremely hard for me, it's exactly what Celica needs to hear.
Force vs. Compassion
Another layer to Celica's and Alm's ideals is that they reflect Mila and Duma respectively with their own beliefs to an extent.
Duma believes power is most important, believing Mila's nurturing would lead humans astray with false happiness. Mila, however, believes men should have the burden of their shoulders lightened. Duma believes strict force will lead to power, while Mila believes giving compassion will lead to mercy and kindness.
While neither of them isn't completely wrong, their philosophies aren't failproof neither.
Rigel became a cruel and cold place. Rigel was left with no compassion due to the strict expectations placed upon them.
With Zofia, they became too dependent on Mila. Mila supplied too much to Zofia, making them powerless to stand up and stop the corruption on their own until Alm, a Rigelian, entered the picture.
It’s a similar vein to Alm to Celica.
Alm joined the Deliverance, forcing change in all of Valentia by using strength. However, he did not compromise for more peaceful solutions. While he wasn't cruel like Duma, he almost lost himself after killing Rudolf.
Celica was compassionate and wanted to save everyone. However, she was too compassionate, not valuing herself enough, resulting in her being manipulated and giving her soul to Duma.
Only when both compassion and force are in harmony can people become stronger without losing their compassion/heart in the process. To not balance them and to prioritize one over the other leads humanity astray.
Compassion and forcing things are inevitable, but there are limits to both. This is something the Gods did not realize, while Alm and Celica realized this and used these to ultimately defeat Duma and save Valentia. It's a beautiful message that's well-executed without being in the player's face.
Roasting God
All of this results in the last battle, the "Duma roasting session" as most characters denounce Duma's and Jedah's ideal world. Which fair enough, a world ruled by who's the most powerful would suck.
What the characters say reflect their personalities well, such as Valbar comparing Duma and Jedah to pirates, the same people that killed Valbar's family. Or how Kliff criticizes Jedah and Duma with their thinking that strength is everything, so Kliff states he'll use his own strength if they believe in strength so much.
These quotes combined with the final map's design and enemy placements makes for a phenomenal final boss. My only complaint is that Jedah needs to be hit four times before he can be attacked without the game telling you.
Like I stated in my original review, while vaguely referring to Jedah, this isn't fair. Not only is it hard to figure out but attacking Jedah four times means having two more units being dealt massive damage, in a fight with teleporting witches, nonetheless.
Overall, for Alm and Celica
Alm and Celica are amazing protagonists. They feel like real people with human flaws, amazing ideals, and their romantic connection is brilliant.
Celica is extremely relatable to me, as we share a lot of the same traits and flaws, such as being polite and mature, while also bottling up our emotions and being a bit too compassionate. I'm uh... I'm still working on those flaws and Celica is even more encouragement to tackle them head on.
I do want to be clear that I don't think Celica is well-written because I just relate to her, it's because I relate to her that I understand her mindset and flaws. A decision she makes that someone might see as stupid, I see as a realistic decision someone with like her would make given her experiences and flaws as a person.
There are very good reasons Celica is now my third favourite character of all time. However, their journey is only near perfect, as there are flaws with it, One example being Celica's "death" at the beginning of the game.
I get the intent was likely to make players think, "wait what?! How does it get to this point!?" However, I knew Celica wasn't dead, I've seen this story hook before. It doesn't work and only just ends up being a spoiler.
Berkut
The Crushing Expectations
Berkut is easily the best antagonist in the game and it’s no contest. So much so I'm making an entire section for him in this Spoiler Review.
Berkut was raised in Rigel, born with the heavy expectation to be strong. As a result, he's overconfident. In fact, the first time he fights Alm, it's for sport.
Which only makes his defeat by Alm more humiliating. Berkut must resort to begging to his uncle, Emperor Rudolf, to have a second shot at fighting Alm. In the second fight, he doesn't play games, he wants Alm's head, and with his own strength.
However, he gets cornered after losing to Alm yet again, resulting in him using the mirror Nuibaba, a Duma Faithful, gave to him. He refused the mirror because he felt a victory not won by his own strength is hollow, but in a moment of desperation, he betrayed that belief.
However, Alm counters Duma's magic, causing Berkut to retreat and break down back at the castle. He questions why that despite being strong, he can't beat Alm, given he was raised to be strong. He can't even beat Alm by betraying his own beliefs.
Later, Berkut is rejected from joining Emperor Rudolf's defence of Rigel Castle when Alm arrives, due to his past failures. This only deepens Berkut's psychological wounds further.
After Emperor Rudolf dies and Alm is declared the heir of the throne of Rigel castle, Berkut is lost and questions everything. What was the point? Why was he lied to by his uncle? How can he and Rinea be Emperor and Empress now?
Berkut can never, ever achieve his dreams now... Because Alm exists. His blame for Alm swells. While Rinea does her best to calm him down and cheer him up, Berkut misunderstands, believing Rinea was lying to him too. In his fragile state, he gives into Duma, sacrificing Rinea to Duma to get the power he wants so he can finally crush Alm.
His jealously and hatred made him go as far as to sacrifice his lover. Berkut truly goes mad by this point, but it's not like it's out of nowhere, even Duma noticed it earlier.
By breaking Nuibaba's mirror, his descent into madness began. It's only when he lost everything that he lost himself.
Interestingly, Berkut acts as an effective foil to Alm, both deeply love someone and rely on power to achieve what they want. However, Alm uses his power to change Valentia for the better, while Berkut uses his power so he can become Emperor with Rinea as Empress.
Both Berkut and Alm even suffer mental breakdowns when Alm gets the throne. Alm was just able to get on the right path again thanks to Sir Mycen, but Berkut had no wise figure like that, not anymore.
Ironically, this sub-section's last image is of Alm, not Berkut.
Berkut is the tragedy of someone who was given so many expectations, that they all crumbled when he couldn't keep them up, being left with nothing. The chilling part is that anyone could end up as Berkut if they were in his position, being Rigel royalty and raised in a place like Rigel.
Berkut highlights the critical flaws of Duma's philosophy and how cruel it really is to people who can't meet his expectations. What makes things more tragic is that, despite what I said, Berkut wasn't left with nothing.
A Tragic Love
Berkut, even in his insanity, had Rinea. He always had Rinea.
Rinea was Berkut's moral support, trying her best to help Berkut and be with him. Both Rinea and Berkut trusted each other, as Berkut would vent to her. Most importantly, they loved each other very much, as much as Celica and Alm love each other.
Rinea is the one who brings out Berkut's kindness. When they first met, Berkut was captivated by her beauty and questioned why she was away from the others at the party. Berkut and Rinea hit it off, with Berkut proposing to dance away from the others since it made Rinea more comfortable.
In fact, Rinea and Berkut are first introduced dancing alone in Zofia Castle, staring lovingly into each other's eyes. Rinea and Berkut love to dance, but only away from judgemental glares.
Throughout Berkut's descent, Rinea always tries her best to cheer Berkut up, unfortunately failing. This ends up being the final nail in the coffin for Berkut, as she doesn't effectively communicate that she never wanted to be an Empress and what matters the most is that they're with each other.
Credit for all three pictures above: underbuffed
Unfortunately, she ends up sacrificed and turned into a witch, fighting alongside Alm in a witch state. Despite Berkut's insanity, he still loves and wants to marry Rinea, just over Alm’s corpse.
Berkut also have the biggest support boosts in the game, making for an intense fight. I was hoping Rinea could be spared, but unfortunately, no.
When Berkut is dying, Rinea's spirit appears, finally communicating what she wanted to, bringing back Berkut's sanity and realizing his wrongs. Both joining each other in the afterlife, Berkut lets go of his anger of Alm, also giving a ring that belonged to Berkut's motherr. After this, Rinea and Berkut pass onto the afterlife.
While it's not confirmed, I believe Berkut was going to propose to Rinea with his mother's ring. Unfortunately, he never got the chance.
Berkut and Rinea are both amazing characters, they both contrast each other so well while being a believable couple with faults and struggles. If it wasn't for Duma, they could've been both happy and alive.
Thabes Labyrinth (Fire Emblem: Awakening Spoilers)
Oddly, the most mind-blowing part about "Shadows of Valentia" to me doesn't occur in the main story, but in the post-game. There's a dungeon called Thabes Labyrinth, where you learn about the tale of an alchemist named Forneus.
The deeper you go, the creepier things become. The lighting becomes blue; the enemies have health bars marked "???," meaning their health is above 52; and the music also takes on a creepier, yet more somber and beautiful feel.
The sixth to tenth floors are genuinely creepy, they aren't like any other area in the game. However, you find out why when you realize the full context of this area... This is Grima's birthplace, the antagonist of "Fire Emblem: Awakening" that nearly destroyed the world.
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Forneus created Grima and the Risen, Grima's soldiers. I wasn't too big on Grima in "Awakening," but this backstory is amazingly good and it's interesting to finally learn about his origins.
This isn't just a coincidence, as Thabes Labyrinth is in Archanea, which is renamed to Ylisse in the future. Ylisse is the main continent of "Awakening."
It all connects. This blows my mind on so many levels. I didn't expect a huge connection to another "Fire Emblem" game, let alone the only other game in the series I've played. Seriously, what are the odds?
Overall (S)
While there are missteps here and there, I find "Shadows of Valentia's" story to be amazing. It has compelling themes, amazing protagonists, a phenomenal antagonist (although Emperor Rudolf and Jedah are great too), an interesting world, and blows my mind.
In conclusion: Celica is best girl.
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