The Invisible Princess

[waltzoid]

The Invisible Princess

Author: The Apocryphal One

Series: Fire Emblem Fates

Length: 10 chapters, ~61,000 words

Progress: Completed

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I'm a sucker for stories that explore and/or flesh out side characters. Some stories have "that one character" who isn't a part of the main cast, but there are enough fragments of information that you just want to stitch them together and build a tale around that.

Mikoto, of Fire Emblem Fates, is one such character. She's the queen of Hoshido and the protagonist's birth mother, but she dies fairly early into the game -- just before the big choice that determines which route you get to play.

The Invisible Princess acts as a prequel to the game, detailing Mikoto's early life and eventual rise to power in Hoshido. It's more of a tense political drama than a bombastic action piece, with Mikoto struggling to navigate as an outsider to both Hoshido and Nohr while being suddenly thrust into a position of authority as her loved ones die around her. While there are a few intense emotional moments (such as Mikoto's depression after losing Corrin/Kamui to Nohr and him not recognizing her after being freed from Nohr's clutches), they never overwhelm the narrative.

If I had to name an aspect or two of Invisible Princess I liked best, it's that it shows Mikoto as more than just "the doomed parental figure", and as a princess willing to do what it takes to make the best of a bad situation (from her escape to Hoshido to repairing her strained relationship with her sister Arete to dealing with Nohr's increasing aggression). I'll also give it some points for providing a plausible explanation for why the Hoshido-Nohr magic barrier only weakens invading Nohrians instead of repelling them outright.

My Rating: This one's a definite keeper.