Zephiel: Difference between revisions
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*{{title|Fuuin no Tsurugi}} | *{{title|Fuuin no Tsurugi}} | ||
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{{Quote|Jealousy. Hate. Greed. Friends, even family members are driven to kill by such ludicrous emotions. Such emotions create fathers who try to kill their own sons to save their own flesh. As long as humans control, as long as humans dictate, as long as humans exist...this madness will never end.|Zephiel, to [[Roy]]}} | {{Quote|Jealousy. Hate. Greed. Friends, even family members are driven to kill by such ludicrous emotions. Such emotions create fathers who try to kill their own sons to save their own flesh. As long as humans control, as long as humans dictate, as long as humans exist...this madness will never end.|Zephiel, to [[Roy]]}} |
Revision as of 03:04, 7 June 2012
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“ | Jealousy. Hate. Greed. Friends, even family members are driven to kill by such ludicrous emotions. Such emotions create fathers who try to kill their own sons to save their own flesh. As long as humans control, as long as humans dictate, as long as humans exist...this madness will never end. | ” | — Zephiel, to Roy |
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Zephiel (ゼフィール, Zefhyr) was the King of Bern, the son of the late King Desmond and his estranged wife Hellene, and the half-brother of Princess Guinevere. As a child, his jealous father sought to assassinate him by hiring the Black Fang, then later almost killed him personally, with Zephiel surviving barely only through the care of his most loyal attendant, General Murdock. These experiences deeply embittered Zephiel, convincing him of the weakness and monstrosity inherent in humanity and the need to end humanity's grip on Elibe. This led him to unseal and awaken the Demon Dragon Idenn and, in alliance with Jahn, engage the rest of Elibe in a full-scale war, the Great Movement of Bern, with the intent of wiping out humanity and restoring Elibe to the rule of dragons.
Fuuin no Tsurugi
Role
At the onset of the Great Movement of Bern, after Nacien and Brunnya successfully subdued the leaders of the Lycian League at Araphen, Zephiel arrived and had their wounded leader, Hector, brought before him. Hector attempted to ask him why he had launched the war in light of the friendship between their nations, a notion dismissed by Zephiel as a triviality in the face of his goal to liberate the world by placing it under his sole rule. Brunnya then informed him of her intent to return to Sacae, but first questioned his work with Idenn, a figure subject to suspicion and superstition among the Bern forces; Zephiel dismissed her concerns by stating that one with her level of faith in him should follow his path without question, then expressed some amusement with his dramatic approach to her concerns after the fact.
Later, Zephiel arrived at the site of a siege of a Missur castle led by Nacien and Freya. Etruria's General Cecilia, leader of the Loyalists' rebellion against the Etrurian coup d'etat, was its occupant, resisting the Bern forces in their efforts to seize the castle and protecting Guinevere. In the face of the Bern army's failure to seize the castle, Zephiel chose to personally give Cecilia the "honour" of fighting him in a one-on-one duel, easily defeating and severely wounding her. With Cecilia's defeat, Bern's forces moved in and occupied the castle, and Guinevere was brought before Zephiel. Guinevere tried to reason with Zephiel, who in response explained his motives to free the world from the destructive nature of man and attempted to justify the slaughter of countless innocents his process entailed. Zephiel ordered Milady to escort Guinevere back to Bern and to ensure that the Fire Emblem she carried was returned to the Shrine of Seals, and after telling Nacien to send some of his forces into the Nabata Desert to find the rumoured hidden dragon village, he departed.
Eventually, the Etrurian army under General Roy arrived at Bern Keep, and Zephiel received the news of Murdock's death. Zephiel tasked Brunnya with taking Idenn and fleeing Bern Keep, lest they lose Idenn and the entire war be rendered pointless; he also instructed Idenn to continue their work in the event of his death. Roy's army soon worked its way into the throne room, unlocked by two switches and the Fire Emblem, and Roy himself confronted Zephiel. Zephiel again explained his motivation in full, explaining his disgust with the treachery and immorality of humanity, his intent to restore the world to dragon rule, and that the defeat of the dragons in the Scouring was a mistake he intended to correct as soon as possible. Roy rejected his claims, pointing out that the rule of dragons would differ little from the rule of mankind, and that he, with his faith in mankind, refused to give in to one with no faith in his people or in himself. The two then duelled and Zephiel was slain.
Stats
Chapter 22, Normal Mode Chapter 22, Hard Mode Trial Map
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Blazing Sword
Role
On the day Eliwood, Hector and Lyn came to the Bern palace to investigate the disappearance of the Fire Emblem, Zephiel and Murdock had also come to the palace on a visit to Guinevere, having heard she was ill, and presented her with a pet baby fox he caught on a hunt. There, he encountered his father, and attempted to be courteous and kind in the face of Desmond's thinly-veiled contempt. At Desmond's "request", Zephiel departed to return to his mother's manse.
Several nights later, on the eve of his coming of age, Zephiel's manse was invaded by Jaffar and Nino of the Black Fang. He gave a prayer hoping for his family to become happy and untroubled again, and shortly after was assaulted by Jaffar, who stunned him; however, moved by his prayer, Nino refused to go through with killing Zephiel, and the two fled. Zephiel woke up some time later to find the manse invaded by a larger Black Fang force intending to finish the job, with the turncoat Jaffar as his only protection. Meanwhile, Eliwood and Hector's band worked its way through the manse to come to his aid; though initially skeptical of their honesty and their refusal to identify themselves, he nonetheless trusted them with assisting him, believing that he would already be dead were they assassins.
Aftermath
Some time afterward, Desmond made the announcement that the heir to Bern's throne would be Guinevere's eventual husband. Zephiel didn't mind at all, but the people of Bern - hopeful in the light of Zephiel's undeniable talent and wisdom - were outraged at the news and put much pressure on Desmond. In response, he personally attempted to kill Zephiel by, at a banquet, handing him a spiked drink. This nearly killed Zephiel, saved only by the care of Murdock.
Upon recovering, Zephiel learned of Desmond's intentions to have his mother and Murdock branded as traitors and murdered, and in response Zephiel faked his own death with Murdock's assistance. A false funeral was arranged, and when Desmond came to observe his dead son, Zephiel rose from the casket and, sword in hand, slew Desmond. These events were related many years later to Roy by Guinevere, as the Etrurian army prepared to enter Bern and end the war; Guinevere commented that, though as a child she could not fully grasp was what going on beyond her father's death, she did notice a distinct shift in Zephiel himself, and that he never smiled again.[1]
Fifteen years after Nergal's defeat, Zephiel travelled to the Dragon Temple and used the Fire Emblem to unlock the seal, releasing Idenn. Shortly thereafter, he was visited by a projection of Jahn, who asked him why he had freed Idenn; in response, Zephiel declared his intent to give the world back to dragons.
Stats
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Note: The goal of the chapter is to protect Zephiel for 15 turns. Zephiel's death is an automatic Game Over.
Personality and character
In his youth, Zephiel was a kind and wise individual. He was devoted to his younger half-sister, and of all the trials Desmond placed before him it was only the difficulty seeing her which frustrated him; he didn't even mind upon Desmond's denial of his succession of the throne in favour of Guinevere's hypothetical future husband[2]. In the face of the turmoil facing his family, his sole wish was for his family to overcome the bitterness and hatred, and come together to live in happiness[3]. He was highly talented, excelling at all pursuits to which he tried his hand, as a warrior, a politician and a scholar[4]. As a result, he quickly won over the love of the people of Bern; many figures of Bern's army also came to deeply trust him and see him as Bern's sole hope for the future, including Murdock, Brunnya[5] and Vaida[6][7]. It was these talents which embitted and evoked jealousy in the rather average Desmond, and yet ironically, Zephiel was determined to try harder to attempt to meet what he perceived to be the lofty expectations of his father[8].
However, ultimately his dealings with his envious and bitter father would come to shape Zephiel's personality for the worse, sparked by his father's attempt on his life. Following his killing of his father, he quickly descended into a state of grimness, never smiling again[9]. He developed a strong misanthropic worldview, influenced by his father's attitude, believing that humans were inherently evil and devoted to causing misery in others, and that the world would only continue to suffer under the control of mankind[10]. He also developed the belief that the loss of the dragons in the Scouring was bad for the world because of mankind's flaws[11], and that a world under dragon rule would be a better world[12]. To this end, he initiated the Great Movement of Bern to free the world from humans, during which he expressed no interest in the endless torrent of lives taken in his war effort, including those of prisoners and the innocent, citing them all as necessary sacrifices to the greater good[13], and claiming that because of human greed there is no such thing as an "innocent" person[14].
Death quotes
“ | ...So, you have defeated me... But remember... My dream shall never die... As long as...humans retain control...madness will persist... | ” | — Zephiel in Fuuin no Tsurugi |
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“ | Mother… | ” | — Zephiel in Blazing Sword |
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Battle quotes
“ | You shall not bar my path! | ” | — Zephiel in Fuuin no Tsurugi |
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Trivia
Other appearances
Hasha no Tsurugi
This section has been marked as a stub. Please help improve the page by adding information.
The final confrontation with Zephiel varies somewhat compared to the source material: in the battle, Zephiel instead wielded both the Eckesachs and Sword of Seals, both of the weapons of his ancestor Hartmut. Using the Sword of Seals, he re-sealed Al, which functioned as enough of a distraction to allow Roy to seize the Sword of Seals and use it against Zephiel himself, killing him.
Gallery
Etymology and other languages
Names, etymology, and in other regions | ||
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Language | Name | Definition, etymology, and notes |
English |
Zephiel |
From Ζέφυρος, Zephyros, the Greek god of the west wind and one of the Anemoi, a group of four Greek wind gods each associated with a cardinal direction; his name is commonly rendered as "Zephyr". |
Spanish |
Zephiel |
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French |
Zephiel |
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German |
Zephiel |
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Italian |
Zephiel |
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References
- ↑ "Roy: King Zephiel was an outstanding pupil is his studies, he was skilled in warcraft... He grew to be the perfect heir for the king.
Guinevere: That is correct.
Roy: But still, the former king did not look kindly at him.
Guinevere: In fact... Our father began to hate Zephiel because he grew to become such a brilliant and worthy youth.
Roy: What...is that supposed to mean...?
Guinevere: Our father was a man of ordinary skill and intellect. Therefore, Zephiel's outstanding skill made our father cold towards him.
Roy: Jealousy...?
Guinevere: And then one day, our father told Zephiel that 'the next heir to Bern would be Guinevere's husband.'
Roy: What! That's awful!
Guinevere: But Zephiel was very patient. He said that he did not mind even if he could not gain the throne. But the people around us, who were looking forward to Zephiel's ability to be a good king, would not allow anyone else to be the heir. Pressured by the public, our father lost his patience at last, and...
Roy: Decided to kill King Zephiel...?
Guinevere: At a banquet, our father gave Zephiel a poisoned drink from his own hands. And that was the first and last cup that Zephiel took from our father. After returning to his room, Zephiel started to get sick. For ten days and nights, Zephiel lingered between life and death. But Murdock, Zephiel's teacher and loyal general, saved his life.
Roy: ...The former king never did anything after that?
Guinevere: No... But I have heard that he had plans to get rid of Murdock and Zephiel's mother as traitors. He was scheming to murder them all along with Zephiel. After hearing that, Zephiel made believe that he was dead. Our father then checked the coffin to confirm Zephiel's death. At that moment, Zephiel rose up from the coffin and...with his sword...
Roy: ......
Guinevere: I was but a child then, so naturally I could not have understood what was going on. All I knew is that after our father died, Zephiel never smiled again." — Roy and Guinevere, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi - ↑ "But Zephiel was very patient. He said that he did not mind even if he could not gain the throne." — Guinevere, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
- ↑ "……Hear me: Tomorrow, I will be a man… So this is my last wish as a foolish child. It's the same one I've asked of you every night for all these years, but… Please, bring Father and Mother together again. Please, let the day come when Guinivere and I and her mother… When all of us can live together happily in the castle." — Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
- ↑ "I have heard that Zephiel is… a gifted student, a stunning fighter, excelling in all he tries." — Desmond, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
- ↑ "I will protect you to the death, your Majesty." — Brunnya, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
- ↑ "Who swore fealty to any king? Not I! The lord to whom I swore... Was not that plain man, grasping at the coattails of power, but a man born with the presence and manner of a king. Should that man take the throne, a change of fortune would sure come to Bern." — Vaida, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
- ↑ "Yes, I will probably die. Is that what you mean to say? But Prince Zephiel’s life is worth the price. And so I will return to Bern. No matter what it takes." — Vaida, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
- ↑ "As the prince of Bern, I've tried… I've tried my best not to be an embarrassment to my father. I know I've not met with his expectations. But I will try harder. I will please him. I vow to do better. For him." — Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
- ↑ "All I knew is that after our father died, Zephiel never smiled again. Until then, he was strict at times, but he was always a kind and loving brother to me. So..." — Guinevere, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
- ↑ "Zephiel: Humans... Humans are filthy. They flock to those with power and would not think twice about betraying trusted allies to obtain more power. You must have witnessed numerous traitors in your travels. Am I right?
Roy: ......
Zephiel: Jealousy. Hate. Greed. Friends, even family members are driven to kill by such ludicrous emotions. Such emotions create fathers who try to kill their own sons to save their own flesh. As long as humans control, as long as humans dictate, as long as humans exist...this madness will never end." — Zephiel and Roy, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi - ↑ "Mankind should not have won. Just because the humans came out victorious, this world came under their control, and transformed into a world of madness and evil, driven by accursed emotions!" — Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
- ↑ "Mistakes must be fixed with haste. I will give the world back to the Dragons. I will free the world from the evil grasp of men. History must be redone from the beginning to save this world from everlasting evil!" — Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
- ↑ "Guinevere: But...people are being brutally killed in the process
Zephiel: No radical change can come about without sacrifice." — Guinevere and Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi - ↑ "Guinevere: Zephiel, why? Why did you start this war... Why are you killing innocent people?
Zephiel: Innocent, you say? Hmph, jealousy, vanity, greed... People have been fighting over such rubbish in any nation. And you call them innocent?" — Guinevere and Zephiel, Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi
This article is part of Project Characters, a project focused on writing articles for every character present in the Fire Emblem series. |
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