honestly the fact that ike fire emblem has been a character many nerd boys have projected on since even before he appeared in ssb because he’s big and muscular is such a shame because he’s become synonymous with ‘strong nintendo male power fantasy character’ even though he’s so compassionate and kind and despises meaningless violence to the point where he deeply respects people innately capable of diplomacy like elincia who he helped not to be famous or anything but because he cares so much and believes he genuinely owes everyone his time.
like this is a character who embodies everything good and while the chicken nugget memes can be funny we’ve reached a point where people genuinely think he’s a meathead devoid of empathy who likes to kill shit for no reason and this mischaracterization has even reached the official writers of the later games like in fates who made him ‘challenge’ people to test his skills when he said in rd he doesn’t enjoy war at all and it’s implied he kind of resents that fighting is the only thing he’s good at, and also the whole priam thing in awakening where they gave him a great- great-granchild for no reason who almost seems like a parody of how ssb fans think the real ike would act
this isn’t even mentioning the whole debacle about his sexuality, because radiant dawn implied and left up to interpretation whether or not his endings with ranulf and soren were romantic, having those ideals of masculinity projected on him has made people become hostile to the idea of him being gay even though the narrative sets it up nicely and basically his whole treatment is a huge example of how toxic masculinity affects everything up to our dumb ass video games and our perception of t
First there’s the extended Japanese version of PoR and RD, which emphasize the Soren/Ike relationship even more and has Ike clarify to Elincia that he isn’t interested in her and only sees her as his employer. His convos with Micaiah also rly cutely lampshade the parallel between Micaiah/Sothe and Ike/Soren.
The downside of the Japanese version is that it makes Ike’s and Soren’s relationship come across a bit like a stereotypical Seme/Uke thing to me imo (Soren is even more adoring of Ike in it and acts even more submissive towards him, while Ike acts more dominant and “manly” towards him) but it’s the source material so it counts. At least his relationship with Ranulf is on more equal grounds.
Second, there’s the paired endings Ike has with either Soren or Ranulf in RD that follows the same pattern other Lord romance endings prior to RD do. He ends up eloping with either one of them, never to be seen again.
The amount of work needed to unlock Ike’s ending with Soren and their infamous last convo is also worthy of note. You have to finish the game twice with an A support with Soren to get this ending. The conversation is even gayer in the Japanese version too, and thats saying something hahahaha
Aaaaand finally, look for the official Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn art book. There’s a translation by a blog named kantopia if I remember correctly? If not, then you should find it on Livejournal. On Ike’s info page, the designer writes that “Ike isn’t interested in the charms of women”.
The quote on that drawing is from the actual in-game Japanese dialogue from Ike and Soren’s A support. Ike actually says that and it’s not even the mushiest thing he ever said to Soren either.
NICE NICE NICE now if only I can get Lucina too I’ll be the happiest girl!!
Lanonima Tumblr Backup 