Mar
26th
2017
Another reason I love Sacred Stones · 1:14am Mar 26th, 2017
Prince Lyon of Grado is a perfect example of a villain who you sympathize with rather than just flat-out hate. He was charming yet cruel, malicious yet sympathetic, he had a sorrowful backstory and most importantly he was friends with Ephraim and Eirika, which furthered their characters when they were forced to kill him.
Admittedly King Zephiel had a sympathetic backstory as well, but Lyon did it better.
There goes my Sacred Stones bias again. 
*insert good natured eye roll here*
Nice!
In a way, SS at least gives you a consolation prize post-campaign by making him playable. Not a bad reward really, since he's got good caps that you can exploit(assuming you found and kept the Membership and Silver Cards), a Hammerne if you wanna make the most of the Legendary weapons a bit longer, and Naglfar... I like to think of it as purging enough monsters to set his soul free and resurrect, even if he's unplayable in the Vs Arena.
That said, I really did like how SS made it so you could see two perspectives of the same big scenario: Ephraim dealing with a mostly empty puppet until the end, while Eirika dealt with the struggling desires of his soul where he was clearly more aware of what he was doing, intentionally or otherwise. I of course prefer the Eirika story since between the backstories, his desperation to have power at the cost of his soul and life, and the light influence he was having on Fomortis to hold back a bit on Eirika showed just how far he was willing to go for everything once he realized there was no going back(yes, I am aware Fomortis still threatened to kill her just to mess with him at the end, but imagine if Lyon had done better sooner and won; Riev is definitely held in fair regard as part of his forces for a human after all).
As for Zephiel? Yeah, his father was a massive douche, and his mother could've probably done better still without Louise having to interfere, but everything he did, he did so willingly when he could've just as easily brought Bern into a prosperous age with his superior academic and martial skills that even his father admitted to. So... fuck him.
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What? He's hot!
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Thunks!
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Really? I liked Ephraim's route where Fomortiis has practically taken over Lyon's body and is using him as a medium. It's just... horrifying to say the least. But to each their own, I suppose.
That said, can we talk about much of a dick Fomortiis is? Lyon summoned him to revive his dead father and stop an impending Grado earthquake, but all Fomortiis did was possess Lyon and make Vigarde a useless zombie, which arguably made Grado even worse. And then Fomortiis forced the incest twins to kill their best friend. What a fucking dick!
Though Fomortiis isn't really a good villain, much like Garon, he served the plot well. One CAN argue that whenever Lyon speaks it could merely be Fomortiis using him as a medium which hints at the fact Fomortiis isn't just a hulking brute but also a skilled and scarily intelligent tactician as well.
4472694 Well, Fomortiis pretty much shows his cunning against Ephraim as is when the Lord hurries after him in the Volcanic stage and immediately stuns him, takes the Sacred Stone of Renais and destroys it, and was about to kill him before deciding it was too risky to stay for long. With Eirika, that was made even more apparent when he acted as Lyon to have her GIVE it to him instead... Though do note he mostly mocked her for thinking she could have Lyon back whereas he was ready to kill Ephraim in the other version outright. The meeting Ephraim has when he bumps into Lyon earlier in the game has him being villanous outright, while Eirika meets one who seems to admit he's doing terrible things but is on her side; So the implication he's more aware or in control in Eirika's story to some degree is quite strong.
Another way I like to look at it is that, instead of Fomortiis just consuming Lyon's soul, he could also be amplifying and corrupting his desires into extremes. Wanting to kill Ephraim where he genuinely desired to beat him, and possibly stopping at nothing to make Eirika his where he genuinely fell for her. After all, with Fomortiis' cunning nature, and having Riev be a clearly loyal from the start, he could have just as easily taken over as a new King as Lyon instead, but still chose to keep Vigarde around as a puppet, which is what Lyon technically wanted in the first place for Grado.