History FanFic / QueenOfSorrow

Confronted with that harsh reality, and internally scarred by the event, the (formerly) WideEyedIdealist Queen vows to never let something like that happen again and now faces her duties with the intention of truly becoming a powerful and respected ruler among the Kings of Tellius in order to protect all her subjects, even if it may require sacrificing her own happiness and using ruthlessness, though she only gradually slips into the latter. From then on, the story loosely follows the third act of Radiant Dawn's plot, but Elincia's slow development into a different kind of ruler results in a great many changes to the established events and the story ultimately leaving Radiant Dawn's plotline altogether.

* CurbstompBattle: Two of them.

* FatalFlaw: Elincia, in an attempt to grow more stoic, actually ends up developing a pretty snappy temper with a certain degree of self-righteousness.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. [[spoiler: Neither the real Sanaki nor Duke Alm's granddaughter will ever be reaching puberty.]]

-->'''Elincia''': Did you hear what he said about Lucia?
-->'''Geoffrey''': Yes, but–
-->'''Elincia''': It wasn't true!
-->'''Geoffrey''': I know!
-->'''Elincia''': She was my friend! Not my mindless slave!
-->'''Geoffrey''': I know!
-->'''Elincia''': She even told me to let her die! She said that of her own free will!
-->'''Geoffrey''': I know.
-->'''Elincia''': He couldn't just continue saying these things...
-->'''Geoffrey''': No. No, he couldn't.

* DuelToTheDeath: One happens between [[spoiler:Giffca and Skimir]] to determine the fate of [[spoiler:Gallia]]. The victor is [[spoiler:Giffca]].

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: [[spoiler:Giffca to Skimir]], after the latter becomes too engrossed in [[spoiler:raging at Elincia over Ike's death]] to hold proper negotiations with her.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: The attitude that [[spoiler:Giffca]] takes regarding his decision to kill [[spoiler:Skimir]], after the latter makes it clear that he's prepared to [[spoiler:sacrifice the whole of Gallia]] rather than [[spoiler:sign Elincia's Blood Pact]]. For him TheNeedsOfTheMany are much more important that the wishes of one person, no matter how dear that person is to him.

* MartyrWithoutACause: Giffca sees Skimir's plan to [[spoiler: create a permanent reminder of Elincia's tyranny by forcing her to raze Gallia to the ground]] as this, which causes him to take desperate measures in order to avert it.

-->'''Elincia''': "Don't worry...I have no need of this foolishness called love."

--> ''She knew that if she could not shed any tears now, hunched over the body of the man who protected her life, who had [[spoiler:been her life for an entire year]], she would never be able to cry again.''

* VillainProtagonist: YMMV if Elincia is this or becomes this at any point.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Elincia's main goal throughout the story is to safeguard Crimea. And by the end she's willing to go to ''any'' lenghts in order to do so.

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Similarly to her Radiant Dawn counterpart, Elincia's troubles only really begin after she is crowned. What differs betweent them is that here, [[WellIntentionedExtremist her]] [[TheUnfettered methods]] of [[GoodIsNotNice dealing]] with her problems after donning the mask cause her to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen fall from grace]] in the eyes of the rest of Tellius.

--> '''Skrimir''': When I was a young child, my uncle made me learn the beorc language. In the beginning, I had much trouble with it, but in the end, I learned to speak it well. Some of the words were particularly hard to understand... words that don't exist in nature. Words for things that can't be touched, like 'kingdom' and 'fealty' and 'law'... words that are called 'abstract'. Those were the words I struggled with. Among those abstract words, there was one that I've never understood for many years. Its meaning eluded me, and after a while, I suspected that the word had no meaning at all. But eventually, I was proven wrong. The word was 'evil'. There are many words to describe a beorc or a laguz of whose actions you don't approve. Prideful. Greedy. Ignorant. Reckless. Vengeful. Power-hungry. Murderous. For each of these words, I have met people who could be described by them. Several of them have been used to describe ''me''.\\
\\

** RefugeInAudacity: He offers all of Kilvas's treasury to convince [[spoiler:Sephiran]] to kill her, in the middle of the room, with her in hearing distance.

* ShamefulStrip: After taking him as a political hostage, Elincia orders this done to [[spoiler: Valtome]]. Ostensibly it's to search him for hidden weapons, but it is clear that her true motivation is humiliation.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Michaiah's attitude towards Sothe. [[RelationshipUpgrade Until the battle of Carcass Gorge, that is.]]

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Thanks to canon going OffTheRails rather early on, Elincia is kept in the dark regarding certain plot points such as [[spoiler: Sephiran's real identity]] and [[spoiler: the truth about Yune's medallion.]]

''Queen of Sorrow'' is an AlternateUniverse DarkFic for ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius'' written by Lord Syntax. It starts at the end Radiant Dawn's second act, with Lucia about to be executed by Duke Ludveck. Only this time, the Greil Mercenaries do not arrive in time to do their BigDamnHeroes routine. Torn between her own personal feelings and her duty as Queen, Elincia has no choice but to sacrifice Lucia's life for the sake of all of Crimea.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: Defied hard. Elincia posthumously has Lucia declared a Duchess of Crimea, makes sure she gets a proper burial, and is extremely protective of her honor and good name. As she continues on in hard times, she keeps reminding herself that what she does is also to honor Lucia's sacrifice and whenever Lucia is mentioned, she tends to get melancholic. [[spoiler: Bastian is a more straight example, but when Elincia last saw him, she had good reason to be mad at him and she was not even half as close to him as she was to Lucia or Geoffrey.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Bastion inadvertently triggers a chain of events which eventually sees [[spoiler:Elincia uniting almost all of Tellius under Crimea's banner.]]

* TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask: Similarly to her Radiant Dawn counterpart, Elincia's troubles only really begin after she is crowned. What differs betweent them is that here, [[WellIntentionedExtremis her]] [[TheUnfettered methods]] of [[GoodIsNotNice dealing]] with her problems after donning the mask cause her to [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen fall from grace]] in the eyes of the rest of Tellius.

-->"...I told you before, at Flaguerre, and I will tell you one more time: if you cross me, you will die. I will hate myself for it, but I will kill you, or have you killed; it makes me difference."

* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Ike]] sheds them after [[spoiler:(he thinks)]] he's figured out [[spoiler:Elincia's]] [[HeelRealization true]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath motivations]] behind her CombatByChampion request.
--> ''But it isn't raining'', [[spoiler:Ike]] though in confusion. ''Why is there water on my face?''

* NotSoDifferent: Valtome tries to invoke this on Elincia. It managed to damage her facade, but she only truly snaps once he mentions [[BerserkButton Lucia]]. She also recurringly wonders if she is becoming like Ashnard.

* DuelToTheDeath: One happens between [[spoiler:Giffca and Skimir]] over the fate of [[spoiler:Gallia]]. The victor is [[spoiler:Giffca]].

* TheEmpire: By the end of the story, [[spoiler: Elincia has forged a huge Hegemonial Empire which surpasses even the likes of Begnion.]]

* MartyrWithoutACause: Giffca sees Skimir's plan to [[spoiler: create a permanent reminder of Elincia's tyranny by forcing her to raze Gallia to the ground]] as this, which causes him to take departed measures in order to avert it.

* ExactWords: In her speech made shortly before she [[CombatByChampion rides off to face [[spoiler:Ike]]]], Elincia states that she'll defeat him and his company with "...nothing but these callous hands of mine and that which can be fit into their palms." And she actually manages to do so - but not with her sword. Instead she uses [[spoiler:Lehran's Medallion]], which she smuggled into the duel clenched in her non-sword hand and then slips into [[spoiler:Ike's]] palm when he reaches down to help her to her feet after the duel concludes.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: See YoungConqueror above. Really, all Elincia's goals boil down to 'prevent wars and keep Crimea safe'.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: Elincia has her moments, the most notable being when she assumes that [[spoiler:[[BloodMagic signing peace treaties in blood]]]] is ''not'' [[TheDarkArts something that should be taken lightly.]]

* CombatByChampion: How Elincia decides to have the final conflict resolved to spare unnecessary bloodshed. [[spoiler: She loses against Ike, but manages to defeat him anyway by making him touch Lehran's Medallion]].

* FatalFlaw: Elincia, in an attempt to grow more stoic, actually ends up developping a pretty snappy temper with a certain degree of self-righteousness.

* GoodIsNotNice: Elincia actually rather good and noble goals at heart. It's her ruthless way of perusing them that makes her this.
* GuiltComplex: Though she does not show it often, the various atrocities and sacrifices Elincia goes through seriously weight on her conscience, eventually causing her to admit that she herself has become evil.

* HonorBeforeReason: Leads directly to the deaths of [[spoiler: Skimir and Ike.]]

* OutGambitted: After having been pushed around and forced to do horrible things by the nobles for so long, Elincia finally turns the table on them [[spoiler: When they try to stage a coup by having Melior burned. She has them all locked in the room with Bertram and orders him to kill them all one-by-one, causing one of the cowardly lot to spill the knowledge that allows her to stop the coup's accomplices from following through with their orders. Then she has all the surviving nobles exiled.]]

* ServileSnarker: Deconstructed with Naesala. [[spoiler: As Elincia notes, he is actually a very passionate king and if he was unable to express all his sheer wrath at being enslaved and having lost 1 000 people to the Blood Pact, he would just go berserk, so he is openly rude and mocking to her, at least. As long as he obeys, she tolerates it.]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Ludveck's little rebellion ends up causing [[spoiler:the entire continent of Tellius to end up under Crimea's thumb]].

** This way of thinking is shared by [[spoiler: Dheginsea and Sephiran]], with the former all but quoting this trope. However, it does ''not'' sit will with [[spoiler:Ike]], which is why he and Elincia are on [[FightingYourFriend opposite sides in the final battle.]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Sephiran]] drops a whopper in the penultimate chapter. This is especially shocking in universe, as Elincia is LockedOutOfTheLoop regarding certain plot points, like, say, [[spoiler:his real identity.]]

* ServileSnarker: Deconstructed with Naesala. [[spoiler: As Elincia notes, he is actually a very passionate king and if he was unable to express all his sheer wrath at being enslaved and having lost 10 000 people to the Blood Pact, he would just go berserk, so he is openly rude and mocking to her, at least. As long as he obeys, she tolerates it.]]

* KidWithTheLeash: Elincia winds up becoming this for [[spoiler: Bertram, due to Izuka's potion.]]
* TheLancer: Geoffrey is this to Elincia, [[spoiler: contrasting with Bertram. Elincia is such a morally ambigious character that she can have a Lancer and a Dragon at the same time!]]

* Adorkable: ''Volke'', [[ProfessionalKiller of all people]], slips into this briefly when Elincia offers him [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Two! Million! Gold!]] to bump off [[spoiler:Lekain]].