YMMV / Queen of Sorrow

• Ass Pull:
  • While Ike being driven to madness by Lehran’s Medallion has a proper set up, the deaths of all Ike’s fellow mercenaries by just not defending themselves for no good reason is essentially the story bending over backwards to give Elincia more things to angst over and is given a throwaway justification of one sentence, not helped by the fact that Soren does die while trying to stop Ike.
  • Duke Alm’s granddaughter, whose existence isn’t foreshadowed at all and who solely exists to kill Geoffrey and make Elincia even more miserable.
• Base-Breaking Character: Readers of this fanfic are divided on whether Elincia's character development turns her into a deeply flawed, yet still somewhat sympathetic character, or simply makes her a loathsome human being by stripping away everything good and noble she used to be.
• Can't Un-Hear It: Overlapping with Hilarious in Hindsight, readers in 2023 can pretty much listen to Elincia sounding like Cocolia Rand, due to them now sharing English VAs.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • At the end of the story, Elincia wonders if Ike was aware of what he was doing under the influence of Lehran's Medallion or not. Early 2018 saw the announcement of a Fire Emblem Cipher card for Ike driven berserk by the Medallion◊, and his character quote is "STAY... STAY AWAY... FROM... ME!!", implying he would have been completely aware and helpless to stop himself from slaughtering just about everyone he ever loved. Softening this up is the Fire Emblem Heroes Forging Bonds event where Ike confronts Berserk Ike and proclaims he would never lose himself with his friends even calling out the shade.
  • The entire story itself with the release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses as there are more than a few similarities between the Elincia of this story and the canon characterization of Edelgard von Hresvelg, a ruthless young woman who seizes absolute power of her country, imprisons corrupt nobility in the Empire, and does whatever it takes to unite the continent under one banner, even going so far as to manipulate and murder former friends and allies. Though on her own path, she can be encouraged not to lose her morality and does lead Fódlan into a golden age.
• Heartwarming Moments: In a strange way, all that is mentioned under Berserk Button and Forgotten Fallen Friend on the main page. Elincia completely losing it over Lucia being insulted shows just how much the two cared about one another.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: If one looks up Elincia's second Heroes VA, it's pretty amusing to start reading the story with Elincia speaking like she's Cocolia Rand, especially considering that both this take on Elincia and Cocolia are strikingly similar (used to be benevolent leaders who became more ruthless in pursuit of their goals).
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Elincia, Queen of Crimea, was once a kind princess who became a jaded and ruthless ruler after suffering tragedies, desiring to protect her kingdom by any means. Losing Lucia, Elincia determines to become a strong queen to prevent tragedy from ever happening again, reluctantly dirtying her hands when forced by others for her kingdom's future, having Bastian assassinated, holding former friends as political hostages and even using her broken uncle as a living weapon. Embracing her inner evil, Elincia begins holding control over her own fate, having her enemies crushed with underhanded tactics, gambits, and massacres or kneeling to her with the Blood Pacts, culminating in a final battle against Begnion, Gallia, and Ike where she singlehandedly wins with her cunning use of Lehran's Medallion. Forcing every nation under the Blood Pacts, Elincia uses her new power as Queen of Tellius to enforce peace and reformation to end war and prejudice with intent to destroy the Blood Pacts when it's all over. Even knowing she would be remembered as evil as her tormentors, Elincia doesn't stray as long as she can be a strong queen for her people.
  • Volke is an infamous assassin known as the "Fireman" who can kill even the most powerful people in the world. Hired by Elincia to kill his regular client Bastian, Volke shows his mastery over the world of cloak and dagger and easily becomes a hire of Elincia thanks to his ruthlessness on the job. Hired once more by Elincia to kill Lekain and steal his Blood Pacts, Volke manages to successfully infiltrate one of the most secured bases in the land and kill one of the most powerful men in the world through his repertoire of special equipment and pure talent, finishing the job and unlocking the door for Elincia to take over the whole nation to protect Crimea.
• Moment of Awesome: Elincia finally gets rid of the nobles who have been tormenting her all this time.
  Elincia: Young people are impatient, you know? Bertram?
  Bertram: Yesss?
  Elincia: If I told you to kill everybody in this room other than Silok and myself, would you do it?
  Bertram: Of courssse. What a sssilly question.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • It is arguable where, if ever, Elincia crosses it, but here are the most probable possible points:
    • Having Bastian assassinated.
    • Killing 1,000 Kilvans via a Blood Pact. (This is where Naesala and Elincia herself believe she has become a monster.)
    • Enslaving the peoples of Tellius via the Blood Pacts.
    • Ordering her troops to massacre the surrendering Begnion troops. (This is where Ike, Levail, and Makalov draw the line.)
    • Making Ike touch Lehran's Medallion, causing him to kill all his allies and friends. (This is where Skrimir and Ranulf decide she's lost it.)
  • Sephiran crosses the event horizon by orchestrating the assassination of King Caineghis, an action which indirectly leads to Ike’s death.
  • Lekain crosses it either by murdering the Apostle Sanaki or by reintroducing the Blood Pacts, both actions having consequences that end up leading to countless needless deaths.
  • Izuka crosses it when he gives Bertram a potion that changes him back into Renning for a bit before destroying his consciousness for good, in an effort to trick Elincia into letting him leave.
  • Alm and the nobles of Crimea cross it either when they torture Silok to get an advantage over Elincia or when they reveal their plan to set Melior on fire, killing countless people, in a bid to force her to do what they want.