Translation + Analysis of Sylvain and Felix’s Paired EndingsCovering both their AM and non-AM

Translation + Analysis of Sylvain and Felix’s Paired EndingsCovering both their AM and non-AM endings, originally posted on Twitter.Bonus: Discussion about Felix’s Meandering Sword title.Azure Moon Paired EndingHONESTLY I FEEL I SHOULD JUST PACK MY BAGS AND GO… The JP version has plenty of subtext but the EN version just blows stuff outta water and takes the lines further than what the JP version already has.I personally am incapable of topping the way they handled everything and my translation feels so watered down, even if it’s pretty close to what the original actually is, ahaha. But I think the JP version is still worth a look, considering how EN glossed over some details in favor of being more romantic, in a way?One is the specificity of when Sylvain took the Margrave title (aka after his father died). Another is detailing the existence of a Gautier castle, and the detailing of what these two actually did with regard to this “relentless game of one-upmanship.”Like so:Felix, visiting Sylvain: “/Fuck/ you”Sylvain, visiting Felix: “Fuck /you/”Or so I imagine it, aha. But yeah, in other regards, the localization really ran away with the wording in JP, notably with “Each led a busy life, but that only seemed to enhance their friendship over the years.” and “as if conceding that one could not live without the other.”The JP version did not go that far. Maybe the localization team has a pet bias for Sylvix…? I don’t think the changes are unwarranted in any case, it adds a lot of nice flavor to the text!Friendzoned as they are in this ending card, we all know that’s FE code for “yes they were very gay for each other” so take the ending as you will!Non-AM Paired EndingTHERE’S NO HAPPINESS TO BE FOUND IN THIS ENDING it just tore my heart into a million pieces and I’m–ahem, okay, let me try to get this show on the road before I start crying needlessly over this ending again.In contrast to the way the localization handled Sylvain and Felix’s AM paired ending, they decided to go with a more subdued route in the localization, but the original JP just has so much depressing meat in it that’s interesting to poke at, so here goes…!「捨てる」 (suteru = to throw away/discard/abandon), I feel is such a strong word to use, though that’s in part to my personal associations with the word, perhaps. That verb can definitely be used in relation to renouncing one’s title, and is not unnatural at all in that context!But as a common verb, I just often associate it with “throwing away trash” so it just hurt me in a weird way, but that’s probably just me. A friend associates it with “letting go”, which I think is a more eloquent way to put what I feel about the use of this word here.Felix, having chosen this path as a wandering swordsman, has no need of his noble title any more. A noble title symbolic of his connection to Dimitri, who had passed away during the course of the war Felix has fought and lived through.Felix is a vassal without a liege, a shield with no one to protect. This course of action he takes seems to imply that he thinks there’s no point to becoming “Duke Fraldarius” or the “Shield of Faerghus” in a route where Dimitri is dead.So instead, Felix severs his ties with it–his past, his supposed destiny. Left it behind to seek a place where he could die, just as a ronin might do without his master. A matter that is similarly referenced in his non-AM ending with Mercedes.I am using samurai references here again because in JP, Felix is a walking samurai trope. He usually speaks like one in battles and in reference to seeking worthy opponents, which kinda comes off as pretty edgy at times.I mean, all those flowery references to his blade and cutting people down and swordsmen can sound pretty extra in my honest opinion, but that’s a tangent.And speaking of Felix fitting the ronin archetype, “Meandering Sword” is written as 「流浪の剣」(rurou no ken) which has the 「浪」 in ronin, which is written as 「浪人」. Take that as you will.Digging in even deeper, the kanji 「浪」 is the character for wave, and for me it evokes the feeling of being adrift, of going where the tide takes you. It definitely is the root for a lot of words that have to do with the word “wandering”.In fact, my alternative way of translating his title is “Wandering Sword”. Which I think is more telling of what he did after he abandoned his noble title and the kind of occupation he took, but admittedly “meandering” has a pretty sweet ring to it that does seem appropriate in this context.Also, I’m probably reaching so hard, but his title in JP, “Rurou no Ken”, sounds a lot like “Rurouni Kenshin”, an old, classic manga and anime series about a swordsman that takes up a life of vagrancy after his bloody involvement in a “war” of a kind (revolution, in his case).Though Kenshin’s and Felix’s paths differ wildly, especially with Kenshin’s vow not to take another life, I can’t help but wonder if Felix’s title is an ironic nod to that… especially when I tend to presume that Felix living by his sword means he uses it to protect people.Despite the whole mercenary deal, I feel one condition that Felix attaches to his jobs is that it has to be in line with protecting the weak and innocent. But that’s all in the realm of headcanon!But yeah, waxing poetic about Felix’s end card title aside, some lines were cut and changed, I think the most notable here is “ten-odd years” became “decades later” in English. Also, EN chopped off the part about how happy Sylvain and Felix were to be reunited.Probably because it leads right into Felix leaving anyway and them never meeting each other again, the way it was phrased in JP made them sound so star-crossed that it really, really hurts to think about.The way they just drop 「運命」(unmei) right there… like it’s destiny that they are not to meet again after that reunion… it’s just really crushing to read.Then the last part just twists the knife right in, with Felix’s sword making it back to Sylvain a few years later. In the context of this story, there’s only one way to read this.Felix, the meandering sword without a master, has found a place to die. His sword is a memento, all that’s left to pass on to those who yet live.As to whether Felix himself asked that his sword be brought back to Sylvain, or if whoever got hold of it knew it’s got to go to Sylvain, we’ll never know, but the fact is, the sword makes it back to Sylvain.Which is oddly touching when you think about the fact that, for a wandering swordsman like Felix, his sword is his most precious possession. It didn’t find its way back to Fraldarius territory, to where his uncle or relatives are likely still are.It found its way back to /Sylvain/, who, perhaps, always held a certain torch for Felix this whole time. Watching, hoping their paths would cross again despite Felix’s willingness to just leave him after their reunion. But fate has other plans, and all Sylvain has left of Felix is this sword bequeathed to him. Perhaps, a will, you can even say. Or a sentiment Felix has never been able to properly return in his lifetime.This is Sylvain and Felix’s tragic love story in this route. A story of parting, fleeting happiness, and a promise broken. All that’s left for Sylvain now, is to either follow after Felix or carry on by his lonesome, with Felix’s sword by his side.Original Posts:AM Ending: https://twitter.com/slip_fe3h/status/1205817451595722754Non-AM Ending: https://twitter.com/slip_fe3h/status/1206000144929345536 -- source link
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