This post is part of a series on reader requested (and personal curiosity) comparisons between Fire Emblem games’ Japanese and English scripts. Last time, I looked into a bit of Farina and Karla’s support conversation from Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade (FE7).

Today, I look into a reader request who emailed me:

“I recall reading…. somewhere…. that they changed Garcia and Dozla’s support conversations to remove alcohol references. If you have time, could you look at it?”

I have heard of this too, but never looked into it. It’s listed under trivia on Garcia’s page on the Fire Emblem wiki, for instance, though it lacks any citation.

So let’s fix that!

For reference, these are the characters involved:

To start things off, it turns out there was quite a drastic change in the supports beyond just alcoholic reference. As such, I ended up having to translate the entire (C, B, and A) supports from the Japanese version.

I will go through each support separately, but my full translation can be found at the end of this post.

Comparing the C-Support

I’ll present my translation and the official localization side by side. The original Japanese can be found in a link I put in the reference section at the end, but would get too messy if posted here too.

Note: While my translation is “literal,” it still flows as not to sound awkward, so slighty grammatical and vocabulary liberties are taken.

Literal Translation Official Localization Garcia: Are you by chance Sir Dozla? Garcia: You must be Dozla. Dozla: That’s right. Who’re you? Dozla: That’s right! Who are you? Garcia: I am named Garcia. Sir Dozla, I have heard tales of your heroics. Garcia: My name is Garcia. Sir Dozla, I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately. Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha! I too have heard tales of you, Garcia! About your overwhelming strength! Dozla: Only good things, I hope! Ha ha ha! I’ve heard of you, too, Sir Garcia. Mostly about your incredible strength! Hey, would you mind lifting this boulder? Just kidding! Ha ha ha! Garcia: Ah, you flatter me. I must say, you are quite energetic, Sir Dozla. Garcia: Ha ha. It’s not a big deal. Are you normally this…energetic? Dozla: Well I’ve already eaten to my heart’s content! I’m feeling great! Dozla: Well, I stuffed myself, so I’m feeling pretty great! Garcia: Indeed, after all, “an army marches on its stomach.” Meals are a must. Especially breakfast. Speaking of which, I have heard that they refer to breakfast as “the first break” in a distant country. Garcia: You can’t fight on an empty stomach. Eating is very important to keep up your strength. Especially breakfast. I’ve heard that in some cultures, they call breakfast “first break.” Dozla: Why’s that? What in blazes are they breaking? Dozla: What’s that? What do they break? Garcia: Their fast. Garcia: A fast. Dozla: Their fast? Why’s that? I don’t get it. This is hard. Dozla: A fast what? Huh? Speak plainly! I don’t understand all this talking in circles. Garcia: When people sleep, they don’t eat anything. Therefore, they are “fasting” within that period. And so, when they wake up and eat, they “break fast.” That is how I understand it, anyway. It basically emphasizes the importance of breakfast. Garcia: We don’t eat anything while we sleep, so it’s as if we are fasting. So, the meal you eat in the morning breaks that fast. This means that breakfast is an especially important meal. Dozla: I see I see! All I did for breakfast this morning was drown myself in nothing but ale! Gwaa ha ha ha! Dozla: Huh. Who would have thunk it? The only thing I consumed this morning was knowledge! Garcia: Oh? In that case, you must be great at holding your drink, Sir Dozla. Garcia: What do you mean? Dozla: You must be too! Dozla: Just that I make it a point to learn other disciplines. You have to if you want to grow as a fighter. Garcia: Perhaps. It’s settled, we must go drinking together sometime! The younger men in the army may be great at fighting, but they can barely hold their liquor. It gets boring rather fast. Garcia: I completely agree. Young men in this army are strong in their specific fields, but weak in others. The art of complete training has been lost on the younger generation, I’m afraid. Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha, I’m lookin’ forward to it! Heck, forget “sometime,” let’s go drinking right after this battle ends! Dozla: Yes, that’s right! Back in our day, fighters had to learn many disciplines in case they had to fill in for a wounded teammate. I’ve always wanted to learn archery. The delicate precision is the opposite of fighting with an axe. Garcia: Understood. I too look forward to it. Garcia: Me, too. Why don’t we meet sometime and study it together? Dozla: Now we’re talkin’! Dozla: That’s a great idea!

As you can see, both conversations start off the same. The two have heard about each other’s respective strengths. It leads in to talking about breakfast, the name’s origin, and its importance.

But then it goes in two entirely different directions. In English, Dozla had only consumed “knowledge,” which leads to them finding the importance of learning other disciplines.

In Japanese, however, Dozla had consumed nothing but ale! (Or, more literally: “an alcoholic beverage.”) This leads to Garcia being impressed and wanting to go out drinking!

Now we can only imagine how that may affect things in the B support, as those should lead to entirely different results…

Comparing the B-Support

Literal. Translation Official Localization Dozla: Garcia! Dozla: Garcia! Garcia: Why if it isn’t Dozla! Garcia: Hello there, Dozla! Dozla: Going drinkin’ after battle the other day was great! Dozla: I had a great time last time! Garcia: It really was something. It’s been ages since I’ve drank like that! And since I laughed like that… Garcia: Yes, indeed. Dozla: I’ve never even heard of the drink you gave me! Dozla: I just love sparring! It’s like having a conversation, except with weapons! Garcia: It was a special brew made only in my village. I had it set aside until the day I could finally share it with someone like you. Garcia: You DO know that you’re not supposed to swing the bow like an axe, right? Ha ha! Dozla: I’m glad to ‘ear that! It was pretty darn good. Gwaa ha ha! I loved the way you ended up bragging on about how beautiful your wife was! Dozla: I was only clowning around! I’m recalling that a certain someone loaded the arrow in the wrong direction and nearly impaled his shoulder. Hmmm. Now, who could that have been? Garcia: Ah, I’ll never be forgiven for that… I think in all the fun I ended up drinking a little too much. Garcia: That was a defect in the arrow! Dozla: Gwa ha ha ha! It’s fine! Those kind of things come hand-in-hand with drinking! So boast away! Dozla: Ha ha ha ha ha! I’m sure! Garcia: I was quite entranced… Garcia: Maybe you just can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Dozla: Gwaa ha ha. But you know, it’s not just drinkin’ you’re good at. I’ve seen you wield that axe too. The way you fight with it is incredible! Dozla: I don’t believe that’s true at all. You’re magnificent with an axe. How hard can it be to learn something new? Garcia: Ah, no no, you’re the one who’s great at that, Dozla. You’re most certainly the greatest threat to our enemies. Garcia: No, you’re the great one. You’re a menace to the enemy! Dozla: Where did you learn to fight like that anyway? Dozla: Where did you learn to fight like that? Garcia: The truth is, I was a commander in Renais. I had seen plenty of fighting. Garcia: Well, I used to lead troops in Renais. I learned the basics there… Once I retired, I was living on a mountain. My daily chores involved swinging an axe, although just for splitting firewood. Dozla: Oh-ho! Dozla: See? You learned how to apply your skills to different fields. Maybe archery just isn’t our thing. We should try something else. Garcia: I learned all the basics from there. After I retired, I led a simple life with the trees on the mountains as my new opponents, cutting through them with my axe daily. Garcia: What do you suggest? Dozla: Oh I see. Though the enemy changed, you still kept using that axe of yours. It’s no wonder your skills haven’t dulled! As expected of you! Gwaa ha ha ha! Dozla: How about magic? Garcia: What about you, Dozla? Garcia: Hmmm… Dozla: I’ve got to where I am today thanks to being L’Arachel’s loyal escort! We’ve been through countless ordeals together, with me by her side as her one and only special bodyguard! Gwaa ha ha! Back in my younger days before that though I was splitting firewood. Huh, kind of like you after retirement, actually. Cutting down my opponents that were called trees. Dozla: It can’t be that difficult to learn. As far as I can tell, it’s just a bunch of arm waving and shouting gibberish. Garcia: I see. It seems that we both share hobbies related to drinking and axes. Garcia: You do have a point. Dozla: Yeah! I unexpectedly made a great friend here of all places! It’s made me really happy! Dozla: Let’s practice sometime soon. Garcia: Ah, please. The pleasure is all mine! Garcia: I’m looking forward to it…Mage! Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha! Here’s to us! Dozla: Ha ha ha ha! Yes, indeed!

So things take an interesting turn. In English Dozla still mentions “having fun the other day,” but in this case an entirely different event.

They sparred and talk about the mishaps both of them had. In Japanese, they talk about what a merry time they had drinking, such as Garcia going on about his (now deceased) wife.

Localization did, however, manage to rope the conversation back to Garcia talking about his history with axes. Military service and cutting down trees exists in both versions. However, I’m not quite sure why, but the conversation decided not to expand upon Dozla’s own history with the axe, coming down to the similarities between the two.

I suppose there were limitations such as general space limitations (I’m not sure if conversations were as extendable back then as they are in the modern games, where it is basically a non-issue, but as you can see all three convos have the exact amount of “space” in the sense of who is speaking). It’s possible they couldn’t find a common point between the two aside from axes either (where as in Japanese Dozla mentions axes and drinking). However, one potentially simple way around this would be to just relate Dozla’s service to L’Arachel to Garcia and Renais.

All of that leading to an expression of great friendship was a rather nice touch that was lost in the changing process, unfortunately.

The English one ends with a declaration of trying magic out, which is quite funny! But the Japanese one ends with a declaration of friendship, which is quite nice too.

On a side note, in Japanese, one can see that Garcia’s more initial formal tone has become more familiar. It’s hard to express in English, so generally translators use more contractions (they’re instead of they are, etc).

Anyway, let’s see how these paths affect the final conversation:

Comparing the A-Support

Literal. Translation Official Localization Garcia: Dozla. As Lady L’Arachel’s bodyguard, don’t you ever get tired of being dragged from east to west and back with no time to rest? Garcia: That did not go as well as I had hoped. Dozla: No, it’s really not THAT bad! Sure, Lady L’Arachel never compromises, nor is she the type to listen to little complaints from other people, but she is a wonderfully carefree lass! Dozla: Well, that’s not entirely true, is it. Garcia: Oh, is that so? Garcia: It would have helped if you hadn’t whacked me in the head with the staff. Dozla: Yeah! But, sometimes, when I serve at her side and hear her speak, I hear something other than her commanding me… it’s almost as if… a child is requesting something of me instead. It’s kind of hard to describe. Dozla: I didn’t mean to hit you! You just got in the way when I was…conjuring. Garcia: Hmm, like a father forced to hear the whims and wills of his spoiled daughter? Garcia: I still have a lump on my head. Dozla: Oh-ho! Exactly! That’s perfect! You really get it! …Oops! Better not say that too loudly though, eh? Gwaa ha ha! Dozla: I feel badly about it, all right? Besides, I think you’re forgetting that I also healed you with that staff! Garcia: Sometimes I think about my son that way. So I understand how you feel. I get the feeling that you’re probably good with children, Dozla. Garcia: No, you didn’t! You burned my beard clear off! Dozla: Hm! So you get that impression too? Well, I mean I guess my way of thinking ain’t too different than a child anyway… might be why I get along with ’em. Dozla: Oh, yes. That’s right. I’m sorry. Garcia: On the contrary, Dozla. Thanks to people like you, men and women of all ages can band together in one army. You truly are a wonderful person. You understand children more than anyone else, and yet make a finer adult than any other person, too. Garcia: Hmph. Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha ha! You’re praising me much too much! Dozla: You have to admit, though, you looked quite dashing without that beard. It took at least ten years off of your appearance. No, at least twenty! Garcia: From here on out, Dozla, let’s strive to ensure the children have a better tomorrow. Garcia: You really think so? I can’t stop smelling burnt hair. Dozla: You said it! Here’s to a long life of being guardians, paving the way to the future! Dozla: But, wait! At least give me credit for making it grow back that quickly. Garcia: And once we reach the end of our days… Garcia: … Very well. It grew back nicely. Thank you. Dozla: Then we’ll be drinkin’ together in the next life! Dozla: You’re welcome! Garcia: Hear hear! Garcia: This little foray into other disciplines has certainly taught me a lot. Dozla: Hear hear. Gwaa ha ha ha ha! Dozla: Me, too! After all this, sword fighting should be a piece of cake!

Here’s where things took a big turn as a result of the separate paths the conversations took.

In English, it is the result of playing with magic that burned Garcia’s beard off a bit, and some more fun silliness between the two, ending with Dozla’s funny implication of moving to swords next.

But, take a look at that Japanese conversation. They explore much more about Dozla’s character, and go on to compliment what a wonderful man he is as a result. From his relationship to L’Arachel, to how they both want to fight for the sake of their children’s future. It ends with an ultimate declaration of friendship of drinking together in the next life.

I feel the localization could have gone about this better, as this means players missed on some deeper sides of the characters (especially Dozla). Sacred Stones already has low screen time and limited supports for characters, so every moment counts.

Of course I have nothing against the silliness, as it was pretty fun. But when it is at the expense of deeper sides of characters it can become questionable.

At the same time, I of course understand why alcohol references had to be removed (ESRB and other reasons). But, I feel they could have combined silliness with the deeper story too rather easily while still excluding alcohol. Perhaps I should try to write such a conversation in the future as an example.

I think space limitations may have been another issue. As this is for a blog, I had all the time I wanted to write out the Japanese idea, but you can see the English ones only had a few lines. I think this was likely another major issue faced at the time. The ideas could still be condensed to present key points, but it becomes an ever uphill battle. I know for old games they had to work with the space they were given, but that is not so much the case for the newer ones. It’s often one o the biggest hurdles to face.

Also, the Fire Emblem wiki mentions Dozla uses “Gwaa ha ha!” in every conversation except Garcia’s. Yet it exists in the original, so I suppose that solves that too!

Conclusion (In short):

In the end, censoring alcoholic references made sense and is understandable. However, the direction the conversation went in was silly fun at the expense of a deeper side to Dozla and the friendship with Garcia. Perhaps the localization could have implemented those deeper sides while retaining the silly nature of what they did (without alcohol, finding some suitable substitute), but I assume space limitations prevented them from doing so. Again, it’s not a bad result, it was a fun and memorable conversation for many, but I feel some kind of middleground could have been reached.

References

Original Japanese Script

For those who understand Japanese and want to take a look at the script, it can be seen in its entirety here. Not reposted on this blog as I assume less people will be reading it.

Official Localization

Here is the English support conversation in full, on the Fire Emblem wiki

My Translation (C, B, and A)



For those who may just want the text without all my commentary strewn in between. Note some liberties were taken in word choice and tone, but the literal meaning and content remains.

C Support

Garcia: Are you by chance Sir Dozla?

Dozla: That’s right. Who’re you?

Garcia: I am named Garcia. Sir Dozla, I have heard tales of your heroics.

Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha! I too have heard tales of you, Garcia! About your overwhelming strength!

Garcia: Ah, you flatter me. I must say, you are quite energetic, Sir Dozla.

Dozla: Well I’ve already eaten to my heart’s content! I’m feeling great!

Garcia: Indeed, after all, “an army marches on its stomach.” Meals are a must. Especially breakfast. Speaking of which, I have heard that they refer to breakfast as “the first break” in a distant country.

Dozla: Why’s that? What in blazes are they breaking?

Garcia: Their fast.

Dozla: Their fast? Why’s that? I don’t get it. This is hard.

Garcia: When people sleep, they don’t eat anything. Therefore, they are “fasting” within that period. And so, when they wake up and eat, they “break fast.” That is how I understand it, anyway. It basically emphasizes the importance of breakfast.

Dozla: I see I see! All I did for breakfast this morning was drown myself in nothing but ale! Gwaa ha ha ha!

Garcia: Oh? In that case, you must be great at holding your drink, Sir Dozla.

Dozla: You must be too!

Garcia: Perhaps. It’s settled, we must go drinking together sometime! The younger men in the army may be great at fighting, but they can barely hold their liquor. It gets boring rather fast.

Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha, I’m lookin’ forward to it! Heck, forget “sometime,” let’s go drinking right after this battle ends!

Garcia: Understood. I too look forward to it.

Dozla: Now we’re talkin’!

B Support

Dozla: Garcia!

Garcia: Why if it isn’t Dozla!

Dozla: Going drinkin’ after battle the other day was great!

Garcia: It really was something. It’s been ages since I’ve drank like that! And since I laughed like that…

Dozla: I’ve never even heard of the drink you gave me!

Garcia: It was a special brew made only in my village. I had it set aside until the day I could finally share it with someone like you.

Dozla: I’m glad to ‘ear that! It was pretty darn good. Gwaa ha ha! I loved the way you ended up bragging on about how beautiful your wife was!

Garcia: Ah, I’ll never be forgiven for that… I think in all the fun I ended up drinking a little too much.

Dozla: Gwa ha ha ha! It’s fine! Those kind of things come hand-in-hand with drinking! So boast away!

Garcia: I was quite entranced…

Dozla: Gwaa ha ha. But you know, it’s not just drinkin’ you’re good at. I’ve seen you wield that axe too. The way you fight with it is incredible!

Garcia: Ah, no no, you’re the one who’s great at that, Dozla. You’re most certainly the greatest threat to our enemies.

Dozla: Where did you learn to fight like that anyway?

Garcia: The truth is, I was a commander in Renais. I had seen plenty of fighting.

Dozla: Oh-ho!

Garcia: I learned all the basics from there. After I retired, I led a simple life with the trees on the mountains as my new opponents, cutting through them with my axe daily.

Dozla: Oh I see. Though the enemy changed, you still kept using that axe of yours. It’s no wonder your skills haven’t dulled! As expected of you! Gwaa ha ha ha!

Garcia: What about you, Dozla?

Dozla: I’ve got to where I am today thanks to being L’Arachel’s loyal escort! We’ve been through countless ordeals together, with me by her side as her one and only special bodyguard! Gwaa ha ha! Back in my younger days before that though I was splitting firewood. Huh, kind of like you after retirement, actually. Cutting down my opponents that were called trees.

Garcia: I see. It seems that we both share hobbies related to drinking and axes.

Dozla: Yeah! I unexpectedly made a great friend here of all places! It’s made me really happy!

Garcia: Ah, please. The pleasure is all mine!

Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha! Here’s to us!

A Support

Garcia: Dozla. As Lady L’Arachel’s bodyguard, don’t you ever get tired of being dragged from east to west and back with no time to rest?

Dozla: No, it’s really not THAT bad! Sure, Lady L’Arachel never compromises, nor is she the type to listen to little complaints from other people, but she is a wonderfully carefree lass!

Garcia: Oh, is that so?

Dozla: It is! But, sometimes, when I serve at her side and hear her speak, I hear something other than her commanding me… it’s almost as if… a child is requesting something of me instead. It’s kind of hard to describe.

Garcia: Hmm, like a father forced to hear the whims and wills of his spoiled daughter?

Dozla: Oh-ho! Exactly! That’s perfect! You really get it! …Oops! Better not say that too loudly though, eh? Gwaa ha ha!

Garcia: Sometimes I think about my son that way. So I understand how you feel. I get the feeling that you’re probably good with children, Dozla.

Dozla: Hm! So you get that impression too? Well, I mean I guess my way of thinking ain’t too different than a child anyway… might be why I get along with ’em.

Garcia: On the contrary, Dozla. Thanks to people like you, men and women of all ages can band together in one army. You truly are a wonderful person. You understand children more than anyone else, and yet make a finer adult than any other person, too.

Dozla: Gwaa ha ha ha ha! You’re praising me much too much!

Garcia: From here on out, Dozla, let’s strive to ensure the children have a better tomorrow.

Dozla: You said it! Here’s to a long life of being guardians, paving the way to the future!

Garcia: And once we reach the end of our days…

Dozla: Then we’ll be drinkin’ together in the next life!

Garcia: Hear hear!

Dozla: Hear hear. Gwaa ha ha ha ha!

So what did you think? Which support conversation did you enjoy more? The more lighthearted shenanigans they get up to in English? Or exploring more about Dozla’s character (and relationship with L’Arachel) in Japanese? I liked them both a lot, so I understand that it can be a hard choice!

How would you write it without alcoholic references yet keeping the spirit and tone of the original?

I will continue to look at fun differences between the versions of Fire Emblem and other games. Any dialogue you’re interested in? Let me know in comments or via email!