Fridge Brilliance
- Yes, since Artio is the chief's daughter, the Suebi would declare war if something happens to her. But why do they declare war after she goes missing for only one night? Because the chief already lost his wife many years ago when the imperial troops were pillaging his village, and harbors some hatred of The Empire and is likely very concerned he would loose his daughter as well.
- Everything to do with Izebel
- A month before the rebellion, at a meeting between her, Zaras, Aemilia, and Laelius. Zaras and Aemilia plays up the possibility of the Barca Party rebelling and someone, namely Hamil, pulling strings at Tamar village. Though she agrees to move troops to Tamar, she very snarkily says a peaceful solution would've been better, laughs off the possibility of a rebellion, and calls Hamil a complete idiot incapable of shielding Tamar village behind the scenes. Though she has to move the troops as to not blow her cover, she is actually trying to persuade Zaras to leave Tamar village and Hamil alone.
- The rebellion is greatly helped by capturing large stores of weapons and supplies throughout Hispania. The Party theorize Izebel was planning on taking over The Empire herself like when she betrayed Hasdrubal. She's not. Those weapons and supplies were placed there to be captured on purpose as her way of helping Hamil and the rebellion which she knew would occur.
- Her entire personality is a mix between pretending in order to taunt Hamil into fighting and eventually killing her, and her having already gone crazy from what Hasdrubal ordered her to do.
- In the story despite her taunts, words, and bravado, not once has Izebel actually actively tried to kill Hamil and there-by destroy the rebellion, even though she had quite a few chances. The closest she came to was sinking Hamil's ship when he already stated they're going to hug the coast so if anything happens they will most likely be able to swim to shore and survive. She's just trying to make Hamil stronger while testing his abilities. She actually wants him to survive.
- Except the Tartessos campaign, Izebel never once ordered a large scale operation against Hispania. All combat with her before that campaign were between small units fighting raids, skirmishes, pursuits, and rearguard actions. The Empire has control of the seas so she could've landed armies anywhere she wanted, and it is stated even without the bridge at Avron she could send troops through the rough lands in the north which would turn the war into one of guerrilla warfare and attrition. She does neither because she actually wants to loose. As she plans to let Laelius defect with her personal troops during the Tartetos campaign, while she leads the reinforcements from The Empire proper to their deaths, every soldier she preserves -on either side- is one that will be under Hamil in the future fighting against The Empire.
- After her death, The Empire immediately goes from just harsh and repressive to downright genocidal. Even while fighting Hamil, she was actually still shielding Hispania from the worst of The Empire.
- Monomachus is always advocating for a more hard-lined way of action, while Enneads is content with tirelessly carrying out Hamil's plans. In Izebel's flashback, however, their roles were reversed. What caused the changes? They both had the same two My Greatest Failure from different angles. Monomachus originally loves farming deep down. But he is then burdened by Hasdrubal dying without even a fight, and not having seen through Hamil's disguises and conflicts. He turned into a slight Death Seeker to make up for failures. Enneads was a young, idealistic scholar and likely felt that his advocating for rebellion in part caused Hasdrubal's arrest. Unable to see through Hamil's disguises and recognize the considerations he put in, as leader of the Barcid Party, Enneads had every intention to use Hamil as a puppet for the rebellion. To him these failures are due to him overstepping his authorities and abilities, so he decided to step back and be The Smart Guy.
- If Tanit is Ashtarte's future and ideal image, who then is Melqart? He's the bloodlust of the wielder of the sword, fueled by revenge in the case of Hamil and expectations in the case of Eshmun. When Hamil cuts off his bloodlust, he states that in time, Melqart will leave him. That may be, but for now, for the player Melqart's transformation no longer goes berserk because Hamil now has complete control.
- Tarte stated in her meeting with Hanno, her mother Ishtar was the previous Ashtarte. Ishtar states the name is reserved for the strongest goddess. It is still well known on earth, and will keep her strong and allow her to leave the upper world. Ishtar gave away the title of Ashtarte to her daughter and allowed herself to eventually fall into a coma so her daughter may live and live a better life.
