Why do Seliph and Leif become kings, while their sisters become advisors?

[S3RAPH]

These are thoughts I had while replaying Genealogy and watching a let's play for Thracia 776. I love discussing the lore of Fire Emblem, and especially Jugdral, my favorite continent in the series. I am dabbling with writing a fanfiction about Cigyun, and this is an aspect of Jugdral law and culture that I became a little confused about. I would love to start a conversation about this with anyone else who is also passionate about discussing the lore of Jugdral.

 

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE ENDINGS OF BOTH GAMES.

 

As we know, in the ending of Genealogy of the Holy War Seliph becomes the king of Grannvale (and assorted other kingdoms, depending on your pairings and character deaths) and Leif becomes king of the New Kingdom of Thracia. This seems natural at first glance, but upon further reflection, they may not be the characters with the best claim to their respective thrones.

SELIPH

At the end of Genealogy of the Holy War, this conversation occurs:

Lewyn: The crusaders' heirs will be returning home to assume their rightful thrones. And with the proper leadership, they can pool their strengths again to build a world, one where all can live in happiness.

Seliph: A new world, you say...

Lewyn: Yeah, Seliph..  a new world. And your role is the most crucial of all. You'll remain here in Belhalla, and you'll guide the rise of this new world as the King of Grannvale.

Seliph: Hold on. I'M to be the king?!

Lewyn: Mm-hmm. After all that's happened, you and Julia are the last living heirs of the blood of Grannvale's kings. The two of you have inherited the last will of all who lost their lives on this path. These souls watch over you, even now. You mustn't forget the light for which they strove.

Seliph: Mm... I understand, Lewyn. So long as I have the power, I'll do all I can.

Lewyn: Now, Julia. What do you say?

Julia: I agree, of course. I wish to aid Lord Seliph, no, my lord brother, every step of the way. I know this path will be a grueling one, but that's all the more reason to give it my all. (Epilogue, Genealogy of the Holy War)

Seliph is the oldest child of Deirdre, who was the heir to the throne. However, he did not inherit the major blood of Saint Heim, or the ability to wield the tome of Naga. His younger sister, Julia, was the only child of Deirdre to do this. It seems here that because of this, Lewyn appoints them to rule side-by-side. However, the epilogue states:

In the royal capital of Belhalla itself, with overwhelming support from the public, Seliph was officially hailed as their king. The newly appointed king Seliph devoted himself to rebuilding his land and bringing peace to all,  his goal nothing short of a prosperous world free of oppression and bigotry. And by his side, one would always find his loving wife,  [wife], and his sister, Princess Julia, regarding his toil with the warmest of eyes...

Here, Julia's role as a ruler alongside her brother Seliph, and her conviction to "give it her all" to be a good ruler for Grannvale, is reduced to simply watching over the progress of King Seliph "with warm eyes" as a princess. This seems strange to me, when she is the sole, rightful inheritor of the power of Naga and major holy blood of Saint Heim.

According to King Azmur: "Lord Naga's lineage through Saint Heim must not be allowed to perish! I want the two of you to bear a son as soon as possible! If the child inherits the power of Naga, he shall be Prince of Grannvale. And once I pass on he'll become the King of Grannvale. Lord Arvis, until the boy is old enough to rule, you shall be the provisional king. Do raise him well."

It seems, according to this, that inheriting "the power of Naga" (which I interpret to mean the power to wield the Naga tome, or major Heim blood) is a necessary precondition to inheriting the throne of Belhalla and thus, Grannvale. Azmur says that IF the child inherits the power of Naga he shall become King of Grannvale. That indicates that if their child does NOT inherit the power of Naga, he will not become King of Grannvale. From this quote alone, it seems that of the three children of Princess Deirdre, Julia alone would possess the right to the throne of Grannvale.

However, I also noticed that King Azmur specifically asks for a great- grandson, and only makes reference to a male child inheriting the power of Naga. He doesn't make provisions for a potential great-granddaughter inheriting the power of Naga, which is what he gets in Julia. This seems strange, since he knows female children can inherit this power as well, such as Deirdre. It could be an indication that the Houses of Grannvale practice male-preference primogeniture, although I am not sure how this can exist alongside a system in which it is necessary for a child to possess the power of Naga in order to inherit the throne.

It's also interesting that he doesn't name Deirdre Queen of Grannvale, but rather names her husband, Arvis, "provisional king." Even in cultures which practice male-preference primogeniture, it is preferable to have a female heir of your bloodline rule rather than pass control of a kingdom to another House, such as her husband's. (We see this in real world examples such as Queens Mary, Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II.) Does this indicate that in Grannvale women cannot legally serve as monarchs or leaders of Houses? This could be the case, although their neighboring countries don't seem to have the same restrictions, since Queen Rahna ruled Silesse for many years in Lewyn's absence, and Linoan serves as Duchess of Tahra for most of her life. Maybe only single/widowed women can rule countries, but if they marry their husband takes the reigns?

Even if this is the case, should the seat of King of Grannvale have gone to Julia's husband and eventual child rather than Seliph, since she was the inheritor of the power of Naga? After all, none of Seliph's children will ever be capable of inheriting major Heim blood, or wielding the tome of Naga, unless he practices incest by marrying Julia (which I do not accept as possible canonically, since it is purely a mistake that this is even possible in the game) or perhaps marries someone else with minor Heim blood, such as Linoan (who is said to have never married in her lifetime). However, it is more than likely that Julia will bear a child with major Heim blood if she ever marries. Would that child not pose a threat to Seliph and his children's claim to the throne of Belhalla? Would this lead to a civil war in the future of Grannvale?

As I see it, there are four options for why Seliph becomes the King of Grannvale over Julia:

1) Right of conquest: he led the liberation, he conquered the Empire, therefore the throne is his, and he chooses not to give it up to the rightful heir.

2) Absolute primogeniture: despite King Azmur's words, the eldest child of the heir always inherits the throne of a Kingdom or House, in spite of holy blood inheritance patterns.

3) Male-preference primogeniture: despite the fact that his sister inherited the power of Naga and he did not, the kingdom cannot legally be ruled over by a woman, and so must pass to a male heir.

4) Will of the people: it is stated in his ending that the public overwhelmingly supported his right to rule Grannvale. He was more popular with the people as the "Inheritor of Light," while she carried the stain of her relation to Emperor Arvis and Julius.

Whatever the case, with this act, Seliph has essentially changed the ruling House of Grannvale from the House of Belhalla to the House of Chalphy, with the "true" inheritor of the House of Belhalla serving only as an advisor. His children can only inherit major Baldur blood from him, and can only wield Tyrfing, while Julia's descendants will continue to pass down major Heim blood and the ability to wield the tome of Naga. Could this spell civil war for the future of Grannvale? 

LEIF

A similar, indeed, nearly identical, issue happens in the Thracian peninsula. After the liberation army sweeps through, despite discovering and reuniting with his elder sister, Leif takes the throne of Northern Thracian, and eventually the New Kingdom of Thracia.

Finn: Lord Leif, the only nation in Northern Thracia that has a male heir is Lenster. The people want you to take the throne and unite Leonster, Alster, Conote, and Manster under one flag. (Epilogue, Thracia 776)

Leif's older sister, Altena, simply "helps" him rebuild the country.

Leif: I know my sister, Altena, wishes dearly for a restored Thracia as well.

Seliph: Indeed. This war has lain waste to Thracia, and I can only imagine the burden  laid upon you, the king-to-be of a united peninsula. I pray you give it your best, no matter what happens.

Leaf: I will.

Seliph: So you're destined for Thracia as well, Princess Altena...

Altena:  I am, sir. I've got to help the new king in his quest to give rise to a united Thracia. At the very least, I ought to atone for the legacy of my adoptive family... Travant and Arion. 

Seliph: How wonderful it would be, if Arion were to work together with you...

Altena: I...I don't believe that could happen for the time being, sir. But perhaps someday, he'll feel the time is right... (Epilogue, Genealogy of the Holy War)

Altena is the oldest child of Quan and Ethlyn, and also the inheritor of major Njörun blood and the Gáe Bolg. It is heavily hinted that Altena eventually marries Arion, inheritor of the blood of Dain and wielder of Gungnir. It seems like this uniting of the two bloodlines that have ruled Thracia for centuries would be the perfect opportunity for the countries to unite under a single House. Years from now, there will probably be Altena-Arion children running around, who have major blood of both Thracian houses in their veins, yet they yield the throne to Leif and his descendants, who only possess minor Njörun blood (and most likely minor Hezul blood, but that's irrelevant to Thracia). 

This time I see only three possible reasons for this outcome:

1) Right of conquest: like Seliph, Leif lead the liberation army that conquered Thracia, and so has the power to take the throne, regardless of previous traditions of inheritance.

2) Male-preference primogeniture: regardless of the inheritance of holy blood, male children are always given preference to rule over female children. This is supported by Finn's statement that Leonster is "the only nation in Northern Thracia that has a male heir."

3) Will of the people: Finn states that the people if Northern Thracia want Leif to unite the kingdoms there and be their king. This does explain how he could be given right to rule over Northern Thracia; however, I doubt the people of southern Thracia would choose Leif when Arion and Altena still exist. In fact, in Altena's ending in Genealogy of the Holy War, it is stated that Leif "entrusts" the lands of southern Thracia to her. It is not clear what this means, since he still rules over The Kingdom of New Thracia. Perhaps she is a kind of governor figure in the south? Arion's involvement is not mentioned.

CONCLUSION

These two instances alone seem to suggest that male-preference primogeniture is the established system for inheritance in Jugdral instead of absolute primogeniture or major holy blood/branded children as inheritors. However, with everything else we know about the world of Jugdral, this seems an unlikely form of inheritance for the crusader Houses. How is it that nearly every Duke or King we see in the game has major holy blood if male-preference primogeniture is the practice? It seems unlikely that every inheritor of major holy blood from the crusaders till the time of Sigurd happened to be male. How did the bloodlines continue when we know that children with minor holy blood cannot pass on major holy blood to children (without incest)?

Perhaps holy blood preference is the usual system in place, but in these two instances, Leif and Seliph seized thrones only by right of conquest/will of the people. Why do they never bring up the fact they are disinheriting their sisters? What does this say about them and their hunger for power?

Could this all come down to the game developers thinking that the only satisfying ending for the player would be to have their main lords become kings of their respective countries? That they thought the players would be disappointed if the ending was "Seliph ceded the right to rule to Julia, inheritor of the power of Naga, and Altena and Arion married and together ruled over a united Thracian peninsula." I don't see a logical reason for these endings when you consider how things must have been done in Jugdral for centuries, and the importance of major holy blood and holy weapons to these ruling Houses. What does this mean for the future of these countries? Several years down the line, would there be civil wars and faction battles? What are the roles of the inheritors of the holy blood of Heim, Dain, and  Njörun in the future?

What do you think is the best explanation for why things ended the way they did? In possible remakes of these games, do you think the disinheritance of Julia and Altena/Arion should be addressed? Would you want the endings to change, or stay the same?

 

[familyplayer]

I'm not too sure whether being male is or isn't a factor since FE seems to do whatever it wants in terms of what values it wants to bring from medieval times, but if I had to guess, it would probably be that both sisters have some sort of parental issue that may make some of the public dislike them, as well as both Leif and Seliph were faces of the liberation in their respective areas.

[Punished Dayni]

It seems that Agnatic (with varying degrees on how strict that is) inheritance is pushed throughout Judgral, much as it doesn't usually have the inevitable consequences if the major blood child is female occur. Usually. (keep in mind that the miracle at Darna is only a bit over 100 years from the events of GotHW)

First off, in Augustria we know why Hezul major blood is in Eldigan's family: his ancestor married a daughter who happened to be the only child to get major Hezul in that generation. They began the oath Nordin would hold until Augustria went to hell under Shaggy. Naturally, Ares would make sense as the first choice for Augustria after the Liberation.

In Issach Maricle's sister also had major Odo married the chief of Rivough, which led to a rebellion and the destruction of Rivough and the exile of Galzus. Clearly holy blood was enough of a concern there.

Grandvalle being ruled by the child who turned out to be its first child regardless of gender would indicate that major Naga was not being considered as a factor, likely partly because Seliph was at the helm of the Liberation army.

Thracia is where we have to think a bit. Leif does have the position of being involved the longest of himself, Altena and Arione. Altena and Arione also have the difficulty of being associated with the legacy of Travant. So while Leif being the most likely choice of the three makes sense, it's complicated by Altena, who has the advantage of having ties to both sides of Thracia. It's probably the point of wanting their main lords to have their prominent positions.

54 minutes ago, BigSun said:

After all, none of Seliph's children will ever be capable of inheriting major Heim blood, or wielding the tome of Naga

Hilariously enough, he would be able to. If he married Linoan, who is supposed to have minor Naga. How that would occur is another matter.

Something to consider is that not all of the nations would have the same method for inheritance and that these inheritances were right after one of the largest wars in Judgral, so the idea that these might be irregular successions is unsurprising.

Certainly the long term consequences weren't considered in the story for this game.

[Florete]

1 hour ago, BigSun said:

3) Male-preference primogeniture: despite the fact that his sister inherited the power of Naga and he did not, the kingdom cannot legally be ruled over by a woman, and so must pass to a male heir.

Gonna say this for both of them, but less due to lore and more because they are the protagonists and the writers wanted it this way.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Florete

[Water Mage]

Seliph being emperor is actually more of a case that it’s what the common people want. Seliph is seen as pretty much a saintly figure by the common people during Gen 2 and they were probably calling for Seliph to be king. Julia is probably seen by the common people as Arvis’s daughter and Julius’s sister. The people would probably riot if Julia was in the throne instead of Seliph. Leif and Altena have a similar problem, as the common people would riot if Altena got the throne instead of Leif.

[Etrurian emperor]

Seliph does hold seniority over Julia when it comes to their ages. He's the oldest child of queen Diadora and so he typically should be first in line to the throne. He was also far more active in the war than Julia was. 

[EricaofRenais]

Seliph being older then Julia is probably a big factor, but I also wonder if it is hinting that Julia can't/won't have a child since she is the product of incest and so Seliph is the only one who will have an heir.

As to Leif I think that one is mostly him being male and the common people wanted him to be king and did not want anyone else.

 

[omegaxis1]

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

Hilariously enough, he would be able to. If he married Linoan, who is supposed to have minor Naga. How that would occur is another matter.

 

LMAO XD

 

[Tetragrammaton]

None of you mention that Diadora is a direct and only heiress but she is not allowed to rule the whole empire until her son get old enough.

[Acacia Sgt]

I'm pretty sure the OP mentioned it, since he brought it with the fact Arvis is a "provisional" King as well.

Anyway, I support the idea that it's partly the sucession laws they have, and partly for all the stuff both Seliph and Leif did, both in action and gaining the support of the people.

20 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

LMAO XD

*reddit stuff*

Heh, that's an interesting observation. Although considering how off to the side Linoan's branch of the Holy Blood is, and that Kaga likely made it so, it wouldn't surprised me if instead, he would've made up yet another minor branch to avoid "pulling a Manfroy", as it were.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Acacia Sgt

[omegaxis1]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Heh, that's an interesting observation. Although considering how off to the side Linoan's branch of the Holy Blood is, and that Kaga likely made it so, it wouldn't surprised me if instead, he would've made up yet another minor branch to avoid "pulling a Manfroy", as it were.

It could have been simply easier to just not have her be Naga blood, but they went with it. I mean... he made Arvis, a guy that never liked a woman until he met Deirdre, end up having an illegitimate child with Aida. 

[Acacia Sgt]

8 minutes ago, omegaxis1 said:

It could have been simply easier to just not have her be Naga blood, but they went with it. I mean... he made Arvis, a guy that never liked a woman until he met Deirdre, end up having an illegitimate child with Aida. 

To be fair, that was probably more to answer the "Where did the Mayor Fala went?" query than to just randomly make Arvis do an exception with Aida. Maybe.

I suppose it happens. They did gave a minor boss in Genealogy Minor Forseti, despite there also not being some concrete evidence as to where it came from.

[BrightBow]

It's worth keeping in mind that holy blood inheritance generally doesn't seem to be much of a concern for the nobility if the lack of holy blood among the ruling family of Augustria is any indication.The fact that so many families still have the ability to use their holy weapons is probably mostly thanks to the war of the crusaders being relatively recent, just a little over 100 years ago. As time passes one, chances are situations like in the Augustrian royal family will probably become far more common.

With that said, while it's never explicitly stated it's obvious that the male preference thing is very much a thing in Kaga's games. It's even more obvious in the case of Nina and Hardin. Nina was pressured by her advisers to marry either Hardin or Marth because Akaneia "needed a king".

Something I love about the next few games after Kaga left is that they downplayed that sort of thing. By the time of Telius we were at the point were Elincia's background relied on her having a greater claim to the crown then her uncle, heavily implying that her gender is a non-issue. In the sequel Micaiah was treated as a treat to Pelleas' aim to become king. In fact, ALL Beorc nations ended up being ruled by women in the end. And Jill ended up ruling over Talrega.

Edited October 3, 2018 by BrightBow

[SoulWeaver]

3 hours ago, BigSun said:

SELIPH

 

As I see it, there are four options for why Seliph becomes the King of Grannvale over Julia:

1) Right of conquest: he led the liberation, he conquered the Empire, therefore the throne is his, and he chooses not to give it up to the rightful heir.

2) Absolute primogeniture: despite King Azmur's words, the eldest child of the heir always inherits the throne of a Kingdom or House, in spite of holy blood inheritance patterns.

3) Male-preference primogeniture: despite the fact that his sister inherited the power of Naga and he did not, the kingdom cannot legally be ruled over by a woman, and so must pass to a male heir.

4) Will of the people: it is stated in his ending that the public overwhelmingly supported his right to rule Grannvale. He was more popular with the people as the "Inheritor of Light," while she carried the stain of her relation to Emperor Arvis and Julius.

LEIF

This time I see only three possible reasons for this outcome:

1) Right of conquest: like Seliph, Leif lead the liberation army that conquered Thracia, and so has the power to take the throne, regardless of previous traditions of inheritance.

2) Male-preference primogeniture: regardless of the inheritance of holy blood, male children are always given preference to rule over female children. This is supported by Finn's statement that Leonster is "the only nation in Northern Thracia that has a male heir."

3) Will of the people: Finn states that the people if Northern Thracia want Leif to unite the kingdoms there and be their king. This does explain how he could be given right to rule over Northern Thracia; however, I doubt the people of southern Thracia would choose Leif when Arion and Altena still exist. In fact, in Altena's ending in Genealogy of the Holy War, it is stated that Leif "entrusts" the lands of southern Thracia to her. It is not clear what this means, since he still rules over The Kingdom of New Thracia. Perhaps she is a kind of governor figure in the south? Arion's involvement is not mentioned.

You're missing a potential reason.

Seliph 5/Leif 4: Julia and Altena just didn't care who held the official title, knowing that this would be a group effort either way, and understood their respective brothers were capable and responsible men who wouldn't go mad with power and would listen to and consider their opinions, and the people recognized Julia and Altena's intent in not stepping up to claim their rightful place and accepted the chosen kings knowing that the would-be/should-be queens would still remain pivotal figures whose opinions would be respected and honored by their lord brothers. I mean, from what I've read, Julia doesn't seem quite like the type of woman to put that much stock into who holds what title considering how her situation went down(I can't say for certain or comment on Altena, though, as I've never played Genealogy or Thracia). This admittedly doesn't take into account later generations, who might have issues with the way things were set up, but I mean, that can be chalked up to just leaving space open for a new game taking place after FE4/5 where you play as Julia's grandson or something.

There's also of course the idea that the devs didn't think too far beyond the 'happy ending' which stated that the victorious heroes would save the day, get the girl/kingdom, live happily ever after, yadda yadda yadda, but I assume that wasn't the point of this Topic.

[DarthR0xas]

Simple answer: Because our Lord and Savior Kaga-Sama willed it so.

Long answer: All that stuff everyone else wrote, haven't actually finished Geneology (Just started Gen2), or Thracia (Chapter 9), so I don't really know much about the endings. Really should've put a spoiler tag in the title, how would I have known that two princes would win and become kings in a Fire Emblem game? Major spoilers right there.

Edited October 3, 2018 by DarthR0xas

[Dandy Druid]

One note I want to touch on is that Rahna was more of a Queen Regent than a straight up Queen. Lewyn's father was seen as the true ruler,; Rahna just ran things until Lewyn was of age to take the throne IIRC. She didn't have Holsety blood, I believe it was Lewyn's father. This partly ties into why he feels guilty for leaving Silesse, he's not just the Heir, but he was supposed to be the King by that time.

Chivalry may be in place, so the fact that Seliph + Leaf were (good looking) men, leaders/faces of the revolution, and were marketable than their sisters. Julia has too much association with who they just overthrew and Altenna wasn't fighting in Lenster like her brother was. 

[Acacia Sgt]

I'm not fully sure if it was Lewyn's father the one with Forseti blood. Otherwise, his two brothers would've had at least Minor. I mean, this isn't the case like Shagall or Scorpio, where it's kinda implied the blood finally diluted in those branches. I very much doubt you'd have someone with Mayor blood... and then two siblings with none, not even Minor.

[Tetragrammaton]

37 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'm not fully sure if it was Lewyn's father the one with Forseti blood. Otherwise, his two brothers would've had at least Minor. I mean, this isn't the case like Shagall or Scorpio, where it's kinda implied the blood finally diluted in those branches. I very much doubt you'd have someone with Mayor blood... and then two siblings with none, not even Minor.

That's an oversight, just like Hilda's major Dain.

Many bosses in Gen 1 only have generic stats while they have major holy blood, because the developers did not care that much until later of the game.

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by hanhnn

[Acacia Sgt]

29 minutes ago, hanhnn said:

That's an oversight, just like Hilda's major Dain.

Many bosses in Gen 1 only have generic stats while they have major holy blood, because the developers did not care that much at this point.

Not sure on oversight. As you note, if they at least bothered to give proper Holy Blood to the others, why not Lewyn's uncles if they had it as well?

Whether or not Maios and Daccar are meant to have holy blood depends if the King had. So far, there's no confirmation he did.

Edited October 3, 2018 by Acacia Sgt

[Tetragrammaton]

19 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Not sure on oversight. As you note, if they at least bothered to give proper Holy Blood to the others, why not Lewyn's uncles if they had it as well?

Whether or not Maios and Daccar are meant to have holy blood depends if the King had. So far, there's no confirmation he did.

I guess they only invented the holy blood wheel in chapter 5.

And not until chapter 7, they faced the need of implementation of minor blood as a way to boost weapon rank.

Edited October 4, 2018 by hanhnn

[KJB]

Well I think its worth noting that king chagel, and all his ancestors did not have major holy blood, so not sure about your comment on how you need major holy blood to rule. I can see why you might try to make a case for Seliph and Julia since King Azmur implied that the naga bloodline was to rule over grannvale (looking at how all heim descendants are the ones who have ruled over grannvale, and his dialog in chapter 5):

Azmur:
“The day you brought her in to the Royal Palace to announce your wedding intentions, I tell you… I could have swore my eyes were playing tricks on me! I don’t know. Call it a family’s intuition, but somehow I knew. And sure enough under her circlet were the markings of Narga. Lord Alvis, you understand what this all means, don’t you? According to the Book of Narga only descendants of Heim, like myself, can give off that kind of vibration. And Narga’s power is the only one capable of standing up to the Dark Lord Loputousu.”

Azmur:
“Lord Narga’s lineage through Saint Heim must not be allowed to perish! I want the two of you to bear a son as soon as possible! If the child inherits the power of Narga, he shall be Prince of Grandbell. And once I pass on he’ll become the King of Grandbell. Lord Alvis, until the boy is old enough to rule, you shall be the provisional king. Do raise him well. I hope you understand all of what I’ve told you. (cough.. Ah…ack..)”

[side note: Seliph is also the eldest child of deirdre making him the rightful heir to the throne automatically anyways.]

Its worth understanding that not only does seliph have minor naga blood (so he is still related to king azmur), with respect to having major blood and therefore having the power to wield the book of naga to defeat a potential loptyr revival, julia not being queen doesnt hinder her capabilities to conceive and have a child of major heim blood, so even with factoring in what was stated by king azmur and looking into the potential implifications, seliph being king and julia assisting still works. Also worth noting that Seliph was literally seen as a God by the people: "Seliph: A legendary child... It's terrifying to know that people have taken to seeing me as some sort of god, Oifey." (chapter 10)

For me personally, I believe it makes perfect sense, the amount of fighting that was done under seliph's name, "the scion of light," and leif respectively, would easily grant them favor over their sisters for them to rule after saving their countries (Altena was even fighting against the favor of leonstar for a good amount of time, despite it being out of confusion). Plus Altena rules thracia in the end anyways since arion up and disappeared, and she grew up there and would definitely be favored over leif to rule there, so I feel leif's is especially justified. As for Julia, she doesn't seem to care either, its not like post game she's arguing about her wanting to be queen or something, If anything I could see her agreeing with forseti on seliph being king, and her assisting him.

Another note, confused about the "What does this say about them and their hunger for power?" comment. Besides it being completely out of their character, even in the reference you put in your own post directly from the games themselves, "Seliph: Hold on. I'M to be the king?!" Dunno about you, but it doesn't sound like they saved their kingdoms solely for some sense of hunger for power, and rather just out of the goodness of their heart and the feeling of responsibility since their parents/allies of parents were killed indirectly by the loptyrian empire. 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by KJB