Hello, this isn't normally the type of posts I make, but something I've always found a bit underrated is FE4s character development.

While there isn't a whole lot of it conventionally, FE4 does have it. You just have to do some digging with most characters.

So, in an effort to both explain why I like this character so much, and also show off the development, I've decided to do an analysis on my favorite Fe4 character: Tinny.

Tinny is the daughter of Tiltyu/Talite, and the sister of Arthur. Prior to being recruited, she lived with her aunt Hilda, uncle Bloom and cousins Ishtar and Ishtore. All of them bear the same house name, Freege.

After surviving the Battle of Belhalla, Tiltyu fled to Silesse with her young son Arthur, and had Tinny soon after. However, her brother Bloom captures her and Tinny and returns them to Alster, separating them both from Arthur.

This is why Tinny is on the Freeges side at the beginning of the war.

Why is this important?

Blooms wife, Hilda, considered Tiltyu a traitor for helping Sigurd kill her father in law, Reptor, during Generation 1, and as such both physically and verbally abuses both Tiltyu and her daughter. This is the environment in which Tinny is raised, and it greatly affects her character.

We first see Tinny being ordered to attack the liberation army by Blume. Before doing so, she says this line.

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"I don't understand. All the villagers speak of the rebels as if they were some sort of liberating heroes but why....Why did they have to kill Ishtore? I...I don't know what to do anymore...Oh mother...What would you do?"

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Her cousins Ishtar and Ishtore are pretty much the only two people she have showed her kindness in her life, and as such she doesn't understand why your army would hurt them.

Indecision and timidness is a large part of her character and it's shown right off the bat.

In her recruitment conversation with Arthur she cries at what her uncle did to her mother. She had no idea that that had happened because she was too young to remember.

She also drops this, showing just how bad the situation was for Tiltyu.

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"It...It makes sense though. I can't remember much of mother but..I know I never saw her smile or laugh..."

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Then she breaks down, saying she never really did want to fight them. The Freeges are all she's ever known, abuse or not. It took this bombshell to break their control on her, and it's something that causes her distress for the rest of the game.

In an optional conversation with Seliph, he'll welcome her to the army and she immediately apologizes. He forgives her and says she had no choice to do what she did with an uncle like King Bloom.

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Are....Are you forgiving me sir?

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She asks him. She can't believe that she would be forgiven so easily, because any kind of mistake at the Freege household probably have involved beatings or some other harsh punishment.

When he forgives her once again, she responds with

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"Wow...You're everything the stories say you are....I...I wish we could've met sooner..."

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Seliph has shown her a greater kindness than anyone else has at this point. Her cousins may have refrained from harming her, but they still did the orders of their parents. This is true kindness, with her best interests at heart, and she's never experienced it before.

This scene gives her something she comes to love about Seliph, in a similar vein to Sigurd and Deirdre. Deirdre and Tinny are both infatuated at first sight because they've been shown kindness unlike anything else. Keep in mind this parallel: it becomes very important later.

Upon fighting Bloom at the end of the same chapter, she apologizes before attacking him. She still isn't sure what to feel about him. Bloom never harmed her directly, - the beatings came from his wife - but he also did nothing to stop them. And having just learned of how he ripped her away from her brother, she just doesn't know what to do about him just yet.

She also apologizes before attacking Ishtar in the next chapter, feeling similar to how she feels about Bloom, but in a much stronger way since the actions of her parents weren't Ishtar's fault.

When she fights Bloom again, she has finally figured out what she wants to do about him. (Given each FE4 Map takes about a year in game, she's had a lot of time to think on it.)

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Bloom: "Tinny..How dare you, you spoiled, ungrateful brat!"

"Spoiled? If it weren't for you, my mother wouldn't have been driven to her death...Don't you claim to have forgotten!!"

Bloom: "Gah..."

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This is the first time we see Tinny starting to overcome the abuse she has faced. It's clear that between the last fight with Bloom and now, she has realized just how bad what happened to her mother actually was, and now she wants to do something about it.

Also, by Blooms response, it's clear that this information is something he didn't want Tinny to know. Maybe he really did care for her, but couldn't do anything because of Hilda.

Either way, it's nothing he can apologize for and dies because of it.

Afterwards she can talk to Seliph again, this time about her life before joining the army, and about Prince Julius.

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"When I was growing up, Ishtar was like a sister to me...She was one of the few people who treated me well..."

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This shows she genuinely still cares for Ishtar, even if she didn't do anything about the abuse. She really couldn't, and Tinny recognizes it.

She also expresses sadness about her relationship with Julius, claiming that the man doesn't even seem human sometimes.

Next map, she faces off against Hilda. Hilda does nothing but taunt her, claiming that she's every bit of an ingrate that her mother was.

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"Hilda...You...What you did to mother..."

Hilda: Ah, that takes me back. It's been so long since I enjoyed tormenting that eyesore you call "mama".

"You...I won't forgive you for this..."

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Here, she isn't as confident as she was in the Bloom fight. She's scared. This is the person who controlled and abused her for so long, and even in the conversation she's still doing it. She doesn't know what to do...Once again. Luckily Hilda warps out just like Bloom did for another rematch.

Next is a conversation she has with Lewyn as her father. I have this screencapped, and this alone makes me think that Lewyn is the best father for her.

It's one of my favorite scenes in fe4 because it causes even Gen2!Lewyn to break down...Something no other person or event manages to do.

This really emphasizes how bad it was once again, and the fact that she's been able to recover as she has been is amazing. She doesn't even know that her father is standing right before her...But Lewyn knows.

Admittedly this scene does more for Lewyn than it does for her, in that it shows that he *really* cared for Tiltyu, and even his kids he never got to know.

Unlike with Fury, where he's cold and indifferent to her death (leading me to believe that he only married her in grief for Mahnya or so that the throne of Silesse was in stable hands. The Freeges were the enemy at the time of his wedding, after all, and Sylvia is a random dancer with no knowledge of the political spectrum), he breaks down and actually shows more emotion here than anywhere else in the game. It's just a really good scene.

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Next we having pairing dependent development.

This one comes if both her and Arthur have no lover, and due to its nature I take to happen either way, even if it's offscreen otherwise.

Arthur has always believed that the Freeges were his enemy, even though Tinny has told him about Ishtar and Ishtore. He then asks her about Hilda.

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Arthur: "Oh...Yeah, it was Hilda who drove mother to her death, wasn't it?"

"It was...Even after all this time...I still hate her so much. All I want is to be the one to put an end to her myself."

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She's finally resolved herself to face her abuser. After all this time with the liberation army, she has grown stronger both in terms of character and in game, and all she wants to do now is put an end to her evil aunt. This is what all her talk of the abuse, and her non-decisive attitude has led up to.

But before she faces Hilda, she has another great moment of characterization.

Now, she has three pairings that give lover conversations, but only one of them actually develops her or her lover. This is Seliph's.

Remember how I said to keep in mind the Deirdre/Sigurd parallel? This is where it all comes together.

By refusing to leave for the safety of the castle (something that probably wouldn't be the case had she not developed as she did), she does something that no other character does for Seliph.

She helps him avoid the mistakes of his father.

This is very important, as it is what makes Gen 2 what it is. This, in conjunction with the special Chapter 10 scene, ensure that Seliph has learned. Not just from his father's mistakes, but from his mother's, and to an extent, even Arvis'.

His love isn't blind, but he does respect and care for Tinny, and in doing so does what's best for both of them.

This is my personal favorite pairing for both characters, because it ties off Seliph's character arc in a nice little bow. Not only that, it also shows off how much Tinny has developed over the course of the game.

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Now for her final scenes of development.

Facing Hilda.

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Hilda: "I've been waiting for you Tinny. I want nothing more than to choke the life out of you with my bare hands."

"You won't get the chance! I pray you're watching mother....Im finally going to kill Hilda."

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All of her development comes together as she now finally has the courage and the strength to defeat her abuser. But she isn't just doing it for herself....As she says, she's doing it for her mother too. And I think she knows that ending this war is what her cousins would have wanted.

But, she has one more scene. This time in the final battle with Ishtar.

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"Ishtar, please stop this! You've been nothing but kind to me my whole life...I know you want no part in this battle!"

Ishtar: "Tinny....I may be in the wrong...But I can never turn back now...Forgive me Tinny...Please..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~With her revenge on Hilda enacted, she does her best to save the last person that she can. She fails, but just being able to do so says a lot about how far she's come.

I've heard a theory that the reason Ishtar does this is because she's carrying Julius' child and doesn't want to spawn a new Scion of Loptyr.

Kinda of some food for thought that gives this scene a bit more meaning.

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That concludes my analysis on Tinny. I hope I helped you see that she's a lot more interesting than she first appears.

Her progression from an indecisive, timid little girl to someone who can face her problems head on, and who even manages to defeat the person who so long hurt and controlled her makes her one of my favorite characters in the series.

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Sources include the Fire Emblem wiki for the official art.

BookOfHolsetys Project Naga translation patch.

And these talented artists who made the fanart I used. (This is, unfortunately, not all of them. I did my best, but a few of the artists eluded me.)

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=59771391

http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=3138184

https://twitter.com/kitano_373/status/786904010888359936