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Fire Emblem: Dawn of Darkness - The Comic Series


Anacybele
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So, sometime after I began writing this tale as a fanfiction, I decided to start making FE GBA-style sprites and later use them to make comics out of it.  And some people that critiqued the story here on SF felt that it was too wordy at times (it's part of my writing style lately, but of course, you can't please everyone).  So those may find these comics to be a better alternative, despite that they obviously sacrifice description entirely for the most part.  I've improved most of the mug sprites that have been used so far in this series using my own skills and critique I got right here in this forum, so I thought what the hell, I'll finally bring these comics to SF. :P

 

Dawn of Darkness takes place a good several months, almost a year, after the events of Radiant Dawn.  I used to have it as only a few months, but recently changed my mind.  Some of what goes on in the beginning would probably be more believable if the timeframe between the two was a little longer.  And changing it would thankfully not affect anything else that occurs in the story.  In fact, this change probably benefits certain other scenes, if anything.

 

But anyway, the story follows the young mercenary Azura, a girl from the nation of Talgria in the newly discovered continent of Altarais.  It starts with the lives of the characters (I did this because I liked how PoR started this way), but conflicts soon have Azura teaming up with new friends to fend off the bandits who have been targeting her and only her for unknown reasons (besides the fact that she'd been thwarting them for money, of course). This gradually escalates into a war that threatens the entire continent.  The story bends canon a little, but mostly follows available endings for the Tellius characters that show up.  Some people would call it AU anyway, but like that really matters.  I just didn't want to go TOO AU with this.  And as a warning, if you don't like the Ike x Elincia pairing (or to a smaller extent, Boyd x Mist), you might want to ignore this.  The pairing is only emphasized at all in a few chapters out of 34 so far, but yeah.

 

Oh yeah, and before I forget, the story starts with a scene between Elincia and Geoffrey, but I've omitted this from the comic series because it would require a separate Elincia mug as well as a Geoffrey mug, and I don't really find it worth my time to make two mugs that I'll only use for one scene and then never use again.

 

I've got 39 comics made so far (well, technically 40, but one of them actually doesn't take place until chapter 20.  Don't ask me why I made it early, as I don't remember anymore, truth be told. >_<), but I've only updated the first three with the new versions of my mugs.  I'll be posting at least a few comics per update and mostly group split conversations together so this doesn't get dragged out.  I'll also be adding links to comics here in the OP and grouping them by chapter.  And with that, here we go!


 

 

Comic 1: Broken Hearts

dod_comic_1__broken_hearts_by_great_aeth

 

Comic 2: Azura Meets Elincia Part 1

dod_comic_2__azura_meets_elincia_by_grea

 

Comic 3: Azura Meets Elincia Part 2

dod_comic_3__azura_meets_elincia_part_2_

 

Now, to answer a couple questions you might have...

 

Why did Ranulf go with Ike, but Soren did not? Well, besides the fact that I'm a Ranulf fangirl, two reasons.:P Firstly, and I still kind of feel dumb for this, I never originally thought of having BOTH of them go with Ike.  I don't know why, seriously. xP Secondly, I decided that I like the idea of Soren going to live in Stefan's Branded village.  I think it would be really good for him to live among a lot more people that are like him, would care about him, and be his friend.  I also think he had a rather...unhealthy obsession with Ike and needs a bit of time away from him.  But don't worry, Soren shows up eventually! ;)

 

What exactly happened between Ike and Elincia prior to their departure to Altarais? Well, the answer to that lies in the omitted Geoffrey/Elincia scene, but some details are also explained later when Elincia finally finds Ike.  But believe me, it wasn't easy deciding to have Elincia leave.  And of course, it wasn't easy for her to do so either (it took her almost a year to finally get the guts to leave, after all).  She loves her people and she loves Crimea.  Trust me though, she still wants to support them in anyway she can, even if she has to go far away.

 

Oh yeah, and a bit of trivia: Ranulf being unable to decide between Lethe and Lyre reflects that I was never sure which one of them I liked better with him either. :P

Edited by Anacybele
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i could see this being in the 'art' section rather than the 'sprite' section, which seems to be the creative root section? i do not know i am bad at creative

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oh man I remember things like these used to exist back in the day a LOT more, fun times

I remember I even did some animated GIFs of Fire Emblem sprite battles

man those took forever but they were kind of a blast anyhow

good times, thanks for the (probably unintended) slight nostalgia gift~

Edited by Trails in the Blaze
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Ahaha, you're welcome! lol

Yeah, that was unintended, but I'm glad I could do something good for someone! Sprite comics are all the rage in the Deviantart FE sprite group that I currently help run, so that's part of why I make them myself. :P

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Yeah, she would under normal circumstances. Love can make people do things you wouldn't expect though, and as I said, it took Elincia almost a year to get the guts to leave. She just found it hard to function and continue ruling a kingdom after the chaos that was RD and the situation that drove her and Ike apart. But wanting to take care of Crimea and continue overseeing its reconstruction also ate at her. And she does eventually say that if Crimea is ever in a pickle again, she'll be there to help sort it out.

I'd never make her abandon Crimea completely, no way. lol

But I'm glad you enjoyed it! ^^

Edited by Anacybele
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And the story continues! Here are the next three comics. ^^

In comic 4, Elincia tells us a little tale that actually refers to a short story I wrote even before I played RD. It takes place in the three year time frame between PoR and RD. We also have the first battle in comic 6. ;D

Comic 4: On to Altarais

dod_comic_4__on_to_altarais_by_great_aet

Now to explain something y'all will probably bring up. :P

Wolf king? But the ruler of the wolf laguz is a queen, Nailah! Yes, I'm fully aware of this, lol. As I stated above, I wrote the story of Ike thwarting a wolf laguz clan before I ever played RD and thus knew wolf laguz existed in the game. After I played it though, I of course had to add some alterations so this escapade still could've occurred. I won't reveal everything, but I can clear this up: that wolf king was only a self-proclaimed ruler that betrayed Nailah. This adventure is mentioned again at a later point in the story, so more details will come then.

Comic 5: The Search Begins

dod_comic_5__the_search_begins_by_great_

Comic 6: Elincia's Escape

dod_comic_6__elincia_s_escape_by_great_a

For those of you that have actually seen the original versions of these comics, I should point out that I altered some of the dialogue in comic 5. Azura's line in panel 2 is now completely different and Elincia's reply in panel 3 is partly changed to reflect that. I figured things would make more sense this way. :P Of course, this means I'll be editing these lines in the fanfiction as well, but that's a simple task.

And speaking of the dialogue, another difference between the comic series and the actual fanfiction is that since the comics sacrifice description, they add extra dialogue every now and then to make up for it. So some lines you see in these comics are only written as description in the original story context.

EDIT: Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to mention when I made this post. Updates will go a little faster once we hit the fourteenth comic. The amateur me didn't think to use Photoshop for its layer function for the first thirteen. >.> But six of them are already done, so we're on a roll. ^^

Edited by Anacybele
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The next three scenes are here! I wanted to have them out sooner, but I had to make something for my mom. Anyway, this is also the start of the chapter 2 comics. I'll put the whole index in one big spoiler since it's going to get lengthy.

We also go back to Ike and Ranulf's point of view for a bit. It's now Ike's turn to run into trouble...

Comic 7: Ranulf is Coming to Town

dod_comic_7__ranulf_is_coming_to_town_by

Comic 8: Bothersome Bandits

dod_comic_8__bothersome_bandits_by_great

Ike is just being his badass self here, isn't he? lol My co-author actually came up with the dialogue for this one. I came up with the idea of the scene though. But don't worry, a vast majority of the writing of the story is still mine. My co-author makes mostly aesthetic suggestions for changes.

Comic 9: Elincia Finds Ranulf

dod_comic_9__elincia_finds_ranulf_by_gre

Comic 7 originally had a different title, but I thought I'd change it to give it a more comedic spin lol (it's a pun off of "Santa Claus is coming to town" XD).

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And now to continue further along! We've got some suspense going on... And a new face.

Comic 10: Desperation Deepens

dod_comic_10__desperation_deepens_by_gre

Comic 11: Azura is Kidnapped

dod_comic_11__azura_is_kidnapped_by_grea

Comic 12: Striking Ike's Trail

dod_comic_12__striking_ike_s_trail_by_gr

This new guy is just a random knight Elincia asks for help though. Or...is he?

By the way, I actually added two more panels to comic 11. As with comic 5, it's so things make a little more sense. :P

Just one more comic without a Photoshop file remains! I need a bit of a break now though. Still, when I pick up where I left off, updates will finally go a bit faster!

Edited by Anacybele
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Small update. I changed Elincia's line in panel ten of comic 3. I knew it had to be changed when I was editing it, because it just...sounded wrong (I have no idea what I was thinking when I first had her say that), but I wasn't sure what to change it to until now.

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Picking up where we left off! :) We've actually got some humor going on in comic 13 lol. Battle number 2 also occurs in this set!

Comic 13: Kiss and Tell

dod_comic_13__kiss_and_tell_by_great_aet

Comic 14: Showdown With the Bandits

dod_comic_14__showdown_with_the_bandits_

Comic 15: Ike is Found

dod_comic_15__ike_is_found_by_great_aeth

Wow, just how did Ike manage to lose his prized sword to a group of lowly bandits? Haha, we'll find out soon enough! I may love Ike a lot, but for some reason, I like giving him trouble. XD

Comic 14 was a nice fast edit since I only had to swap out two mugs. ^^

Oh, btw, I didn't make Ranulf's overworld cat sprite. Credit for that goes to a friend of mine on DA by the name of RubyDragonCat.

Edited by Anacybele
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I've got the next comic ready! I'm posting this one by itself because it's lengthy. lol Enjoy Ike and Elincia's long awaited touching reunion. ^^ We also finally get some more insight on just what happened between them in Tellius.

Comic 16: Ike and Elincia Reunite

dod_comic_16__ike_and_elincia_reunite_by

If you're wondering, no, Renning didn't literally force Geoffrey and Elincia to marry. That's just crazy. xP Renning simply believed the rumors going around that Geoffrey and Elincia were having a secret affair and thought they wished to marry. When much of Crimea learned of this news, they fully supported the idea. Few people knew of Ike and Elincia's love because they thought keeping it secret except from those who could be trusted would be best. Ike was on his way out of Tellius and Geoffrey seems like the kind of guy that's afraid to speak his mind, so Elincia and Geoffrey didn't think there was anything else they could do at the time. And if Elincia were to remain queen, she would eventually need to produce an heir. But she was also rather upset with herself for all the mistakes she'd made during her reign thus far and she began to miss Ike so much that she got the guts to stand up and do what her heart really desired. She still technically put Crimea first, as she didn't go anywhere without making sure the country was in good hands and that her people would be well taken care of, and much better than she felt she would ever manage. And Renning was obviously the right candidate to take over. He WAS raised to rule, after all. And if Elincia's father, Ramon, trusted him enough to name him successor, Elincia herself would too.

Aaaand, cue a long, romantic kiss. Hee hee.

Oh, and this comic is the longest one I've made so far, so don't worry, we won't be seeing anymore of this length for a good while.

Edited by Anacybele
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he's getting the vibrating sword ready

...?

Anyway, I apologize for actually taking longer this time to update... >.> Life stuff got in the way, like a project my mom wanted me to do for her running group. But I will be updating today (at least I should be able to. At the moment there isn't anything that can hinder progress), so sit tight!

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Okay, we finally continue!

Comic 17: Ike's Explanation

dod_comic_17__ike_s_explanation_by_great

Comic 18: Elincia's Story

dod_comic_18__elincia_s_story_by_great_a

We finally get the full story on what went on when Ike disappeared. I also recalled that some people asked why Ike didn't have any other weapons on him besides Ettard, so I modified his explanation in comic 17 to explain that better. You can now infer that Ike likely did have an extra sword in his and Ranulf's tent, but the bandits stole that too.

Btw, the next few comics will have a different background. lol This ends chapter 2's set as well!

Edited by Anacybele
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Three more comics! As well as more humor and the start of chapter 3's battle. ;) Comic 19 has another little anecdote from that short story I mentioned awhile back, the one that Elincia's wolf laguz battle tale is from.

Comic 19: Arms of Iron, Skull of Steel

dod_comic_19__arms_of_iron__skull_of_ste

The irony Elincia is talking about here, btw, is that I just never saw Ike as a hard headed guy in the figurative sense. lol

Comic 20: Busted!

dod_comic_20__busted__by_great_aether-d5

Heh, heh, that knight from before wasn't so random after all! He's baaaack. ^^ But dang it Marc, you ruined the guys' plan! lol Marc introduces himself though, and he brought his partner, Leona as well! Don't worry, she can talk, she just doesn't have any dialogue yet. :P

Comic 21: The Fight for Ettard

dod_comic_21__the_fight_for_ettard_by_gr

Ike really wants his sword back. :P And to rescue Azura, of course. Oh, I still love Ranulf's entrance in comic 21. XD

Edited by Anacybele
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And here's the next comic! ^^ I'm posting this one by itself because the three that come after are better off being posted together. You'll see why when I finish editing all of them.

Comic 22: Ike is Enraged

dod_comic_22__ike_is_enraged_by_great_ae

Uh oh, Ettard got broken. Ike sure isn't happy about that. :P

Word of advice: never get Ike mad. lol

He cares a lot about that sword, though, doesn't he? But there's a good reason for it. Although, if you believe the theory that Ettard once belonged to Ike's dad, Greil, then you probably already know it. :P

Edited by Anacybele
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Finally, the next set of comics! Now you see why I wanted to post these together. They're all part of the same conversation. It just got split into three parts. Here we see a blast to Ike's past adventures and how Altarais had begun learning about him. Leona also finally has dialogue. :P

Comic 23: Legendary Hero - Part 1

dod_comic_23__legendary_hero___part_1_by

Comic 24: Legendary Hero - Part 2

dod_comic_24__legendary_hero___part_2_by

Comic 25: Legendary Hero - Part 3

dod_comic_25__legendary_hero___part_3_by

Ike's become quite the celebrity lol. But now we see why he was so angry over the scenario with Ettard. It's all he has left of his father, whom he looked up to. It's pretty much Ike's most prized possession.

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