Mireil, although powerful, wasn’t a descendant of the Mateus bloodline like the Mage, who is even more powerful. Also, Tahlia (in this new version) did say that she’s resurrecting the Mage because she felt responsible in enabling Mireil to cause the Mage’s death, and this is her way of saying “sorry” to the Mage.
I don’t recall ever reading this anywhere in the old demo. In the old demo, it is said that Tahlia and Mireil eventually went their separate ways because of their disagreements, and I imagine that’s still the case in this new demo since she chose to resurrect the Mage instead of Mireil.
Given that the in-universe lore for the revival ritual is that it takes a solid year of preparation, and that’s on top of needing every single speck of the target gathered when the body isn’t whole, I’d say that Tahlia made her choice. Wise or foolish, that will only be up to the player, and how they move forward as this story develops. The Mage was chosen, and that’s all anyone who wants to continue the story from book one should care about.
I’m not worried about whether the current face of Arcadia is weirdly quaint, or if it will take a bit longer to get back in line with the Yotai arc while the rewrite is in progress. I do worry that too much circular discussion is discouraging for the author to see after returning to us with a more in-depth look at Arcadian culture, and its people that was missing previously. The old version said that they’d been taking in refugees for years, but the population of the place that the Mage resided in didn’t really reflect it. This new version may be softened, but the Arcadia we see now is a missing piece we needed to know what was said wasn’t just pretty words about other potentially “enslaved” Arcadians. They are free, which is a good thing to know about their long-game. It isn’t just behind the scenes like before; it is a proper view on what could be on offer for the Mage if they’d rather move on, and for those who don’t, a good landing point they could redirect displaced Arcadians to if the Mage eventually takes to the road again. You don’t even have to like Arcadia to at least see that the citizens are treated well, and better than they’d be elsewhere.
This is true in the old demo. But in the new demo/rewrite, the way the Song of the Dead works has changed. Tahlia actually managed to bring the Mage back from nothing, but the Song needs a whole year to complete and for the Mage’s soul to fully tether in the world of the living (to become a real living human being again). Until then, the Mage is on a magical life support using Tahlia’s mana, which weakens her power and makes her unfit for the battlefield.
Speaking of the remains, this might be a bit messed up but you think anybody collected the Mage’s ashes? How messed up would it be if we went back to Param and found our own grave or something? Honestly it’s probably best that the mage died burning alive, I’m not sure anybody would react well to the thought of finding their own corpse.
Assuming the fangame “Sunblind” remains canon/semi-canon, the mage’ll be faced with a statue of themselves when they eventually return, so. Something to look forward to reacting to!
(Also yeah, wonder what happened to their remains? Unmarked grave turned shrine perhaps?)
No matter who you side with, that is probably the most terrifying thing you could ever hear.
Mage: “Hey, remember how I won the war for Param even though it left me in excruciating pain? Yeah I was being nerfed that whole time.”
Honestly, can we highlight that a bit more? Not only is the mage already talented, but they survived having an incompatible arcana implanted in them (which already bordered on a death sentence) not once, but four times. Anybody with that context would probably have expected the Mage to survive the burning pyre through sheer force of will.
Sorry but the Arcadian were much more compelling to me when they were shroud in mystery and moral ambiguities. They actually felt like a group of freedom fighter with all the nasty baggage that come when you lead an armed revolution. Now the tentions, the stakes and the mystery is gone. It’s now a cliche black and white plot. Arcadia also felt more competent with all their way to planned for opportunities, their many sub factions, their understanding distrust of the one that ruined their plan to take down Param, their flying fortresses instead of a incompetently defended city (seriously this is supposed to be a safe haven?) and Talia ace in the hole should we try to escape. The previous game also gave you opportunity to sabotage them in small way like deliberately let Razor died during the mission to save Eli by refusing to treat the poison in her wounds if you were against Arcadia. And like I said, the new version never make you forge your opinion, your just a passive observer. The naration completely ignore any imput you make and your never given choices to voice anything that doesn’t align with Arcadia. And the way we’re fed an entire chapter of Arcadia shilling is not a good way to present them. I prefer learning through my experience with them rather that having everything dump on me in the first chapter with the subtlety of an anvil falling on my head.
I remember it as them mentioning they only had the time and resources to revive one person, and since Mireil was a bit batsh*t insane, they decided Mage was a safer bet.
Yeah this is what i remember as well. Also something F said about the sacrifice having to match the person they want to bring back? Really wish the old demo was still around so I could double check.
And yet, we were still unable to fight back during our execution and device that neutralise magic affect us all the same. We were also powerless against Mireil curse and we lost the duel against Leon even with the use of our spells. We are not that overpowered.
The execution is because by that point, the Mage’s body was effectively fried from using their (incompatible) arcana, leaving you a wreck and a shadow of your former ability (Which is now rectified since you don’t use said arcana anymore); and you only lose to Leon because his sword specifically negates your spells, to the point where (I might be wrong about this part) it’s mentioned you’d probably have won the duel if he hadn’t used said holy sword. Granted Mireil’s curse and anti-magic devices are notable weaknesses, but saying “the tool made to counter mages counters a mage” isn’t exactly groundbreaking.
You’re not exactly wiping out entire countries at the snap of your fingers, but the Mage is certainly one of the greatest of their time (at least as far as we’ve seen) and has survived an excruciating amount of pain. There’s a good reason the Mage was one of the big factors to defeating Mireil to begin with.
I think your selling Leon swordmanship short. A lesser warrior even with the same sword wouldn’t likely have beaten us. He was describe as the strongest warrior of Param and he proved it during the war as he was already reclaiming lost territory and uniting Param before the mage even woke up.
But the point i just wanted to make is that our mage is just as vulnerable as any mage and any smart opponent aware of said weakness can easily get the best of them if they get careless. Even Arcadia at her peak lost to “Peasants”. (Since that’s what the word ersei mean.)
Not to undersell Leon’s skills with a blade, my point is there’s only so much pure swordsmanship can do against magic unless the circumstances such as terrain are in the swordsman’s favor. In close quarters, a swordsman like Leon would be next to unstoppable; at range, even he would have to put in a lot of work to get in close without taking a big hit.
Yeah you’re right; the Mage is powerful, but they’re also still mortal, so even a simple dagger could be the end…which is why my mage will go down in history as the person who invented the permanent fireproofing and daggerproofing enchantments and eventually became immortal. I can dream at least.
