Is Ike...You Know - Fire Emblem Investigaytion 

Thanks for Watching and Don't Forget to SUBSCRIBE!! There's limited availability of footage for some of the handheld games, and I have no way of capturing 3DS footage myself, so sorry for some of the lower quality visual parts

"Yeah, sex is cool, but have you tried Fire Emblem?" I'm listening to this at work and I just LOST IT

The whole "epilogues are never explicit" is so true. Just look at Dedue/Dimitri : "they behaved like family in private and were buried together"

"Priam the personification of the straight agenda" is literally the perfect description for him.

Maybe my favorite argument for Ike’s endings being romantic is that, if they were with a woman, there would be no discussion. If you take Ike and Soren’s ending and replace Soren’s name with any female, it would be unanimously accepted that those two are a romantic pair; but because they’re both men it has to be platonic somehow.

There was an exhibit it Germany about LGBT history in gaming & they actually had a card specifically about Ike and Soren’s relationship & Ike’s sexuality in general. Regardless of if his being gay is “canon,” it’s really cool how so many of us read him that way anyways, even across languages.

"If you want pride, I got it." - Ike Fire Emblem.

I think this is your best written video yet, and yes this is only 80% because of GRINCEST and GRILD MURDER

Gay people can be Chad's to

Ike definitely has that classical hero feeling of "killing dudes all day but at night I just want to cuddle with my boy(s)". I actually love this as an idea because like you said he's so different from the usual gay male characters. Subtle gay/bi inclusion is actually my favourite because something about not making a big deal out of it makes it feel more validated? Another great video Mr Spaceman, and as we say in the UK, aubergine.

For the Priam part one possibility could just be that Ike adopted a child whose bloodline ended in Priam.

I like the idea that Priam just kinda....found (stole?) Ragnell and just claimed to be descended from the radiant hero. I like also like the idea of him being Mist's decedent, but him being a lying eggplant is more interesting.

Since I was a kid playing Brawl, Ike has given me bigg eggplant vibes, and it's pretty fucking dope that aside from being a badass he's actually a well if not decently written gay bro instead of the usual flamboyant dudes used in most media

I think the funny thing about Priam is that even people who don't involve themselves with the gay Ike debate hate him bc of how badly he fucked up the timeline if we take him literally. He feels like such a lame character who rly shouldn't be taken as telling the truth, to an extent where it borders on feeling like part of the joke. Also, shoutouts to how Ike and Soren got alternate costumes around Valentine's Day in FEH, as well. Totally a bro thing 🍆

The Rumor Come Out: Does Ike is Gay? Ike is gay is the most discussed in the media in the few years ago. Even it has happened in 2005, but some of the public still curious about what is exactly happening and to be the reason there is a rumor comes out about his gay. At that time he became the massive video gaming rumor. The public, especially his fellow mercenaries are shocked. He just came out with his bad rumor which is spread massively. This time is not about his sword fighting career, but his bad rumor. The rumor is out of standardize of hoax, according the last reported this mercenary revealed himself as homosexual. Do you still believe or not, this rumor is really much talked by people even in a person of his mercenaries.

I read a comment that I like that went like: "IkexSoren ship is like your reverse fanship, because instead of people making vague arguments to defend it, it's the haters that make tinfoil theories to prove that Ike has to be heterosexual" Also, I'm always happy to see that the Makalov slander it's still strong even nowadays; Astrid, dear, blink if you need help.

You know what makes it worse with the same-sex options in Fates? So we all know that Revelation is the canon route of Fates by this point. There’s no point in debating it. But when it comes to the association of Birthright, Conquest, and Revelation with individuals, on one of the most common official arts I’ve seen (the one with the Nohrian and Hoshidan siblings + both Corrins and Azura), male Corrin is associated with the Hoshidan route Birthright because they’re standing alongside the Hoshidan siblings, female Corrin is associated with the Nohrian route Conquest because they’re standing with the Nohrian siblings, and Azura is associated with Revelation because she’s standing at the center and she is the one that reveals the secret that kickstarts Revelation (she’s also a recruitable unit on all three routes, though I’m pretty sure the only route she survives is Revelation). The two same-sex options in Fates are Rhajat and Niles. However, Rhajat can only be recruited in Revelation and Birthright, while Niles can only be recruited in Revelation and Conquest. Due to the previous association of male Corrin with Birthright and female Corrin with Conquest, this means that male Corrin players on Birthright and female Corrin players on Conquest don’t have a same-sex option.

When it comes to Priam, I don't think he's as lore-breaking as it might appear. I think it might be intentional that he doesn't bring up being Ike's descendent in FEH, for the same reason he only off-handedly mentions it once in Awakening (and only because Chrom assumed that's who he was) - he's not. In FEH, Priam says that Ragnell has "chosen so many prominent heroes over the years", not that the sword was inherited down a bloodline. In this case, Priam is a 'descendent' of the concept of the Radiant Hero, in the same way as whoever were the numerous heroes that Ragnell chose in between him and Ike. Ike even calls Priam a "fellow Ragnell enthusiast" by the end of their conversations. That being said, I don't have a horse in this race. I do believe that Ike is gay or bi, but it's not a position I feel strongly enough about to argue it. Priam has come up among my friends a few times in the past and I decided to read into it at the time. This is off-topic, but did you know that in Fate/Grand Order, 'Eggplant' is a bit of a meme nickname for Mash Kyrielight?

i got watching this randomly and laughed, thank you lol

I view Priam existence as I see Gangrel, Emmeryn, Aversa, Yen'fay and Walhart allying with us in the paralogues: extra content easter egg, to not take serious.

Ike x Ranulf will always be one of my favorite endings. Ike's only goal is to be a mercenary and chill with his bros, he also likes laguz, his 2 endings are male (part) laguz who like the mercenary life... it reads as queercoded to me

In regards to Priam being Ike's descendant, I've always agreed that Priam is likely the descendant of Mist, not Ike. Just like how Marth is said to be the descendant of Anri the great, and Marth even looks identical to Anri. But Anri actually never had children and Marth is really the descendant of Anri's younger brother, Marcelus.

Me reading Ike's and Soren's dialogue while playing the game for the first time: FELLAS?!? ❤️ Thanks for the video, your knowledge on fire emblem lore is very eggplant.

First off, I want to say that your last point about Priam being an easter egg and nothing more, is almost certainly 100% correct. He just *feels* like a character who didn't have a lot of thought put into him. Secondly, you covered the option of surrogates through magical or time traveling means, but there is also the magical world of... actual surrogate mothers. Gay and lesbian couples have children all the time through whatever means works for them. I myself raise a daughter with another woman. When two people love each other and want to build a family together, they will make it work. I played Path of Radiance way back when it came out and even back then, I had a feeling that Ike was bisexual. I thought it was strange that Ike didn't have a "marriage" ending like you had talked about with the other games, and based on the intimacy of some of the supports, I thought the writers were setting up Ike to have a choice of four characters in a sequel; Soren, Ranulf, Elincia, or Lethe. That's two men, two women, two beorc, and two laguz to choose from. That said, I think Ike is definitely written as gay in Radiant Dawn, so maybe that's what was intended for him all along or it was another direction that the writers wanted to take his character, or maybe he just spent the time between games figuring himself out. This is kind of a minor point but I almost think that the absolutely ridiculous amount of things you have to do just right to see that tender moment between Ike and Soren on the final chapter is another point in favor of Ike being gay. If Ike were in a hetero relationship I imagine the moment he embraces his partner just before the big battle would be an important and hard-to-miss moment for players. But since it's a gay pairing, it gets locked behind gameplay and support mechanics that span two titles. It's one of Ike's best character moments and the vast majority of players will never see it. Excellent video that was both funny and interesting, I give it five out of five eggplants.

We have a male dragon in Anankos who asexually reproduced Lilith as well.

Well, you've convinced me Mr Astronaut. 🍆 I've only played Shadow Dragon & everything since Awakening, but "he can only be paired off with one of two guys" is a pretty open and shut case imo.

I agree that Priam is at best canonically dubious. But if we really need to treat him as canon and not a LARPer, then I think the Mist x Boyd lineage works a lot better than people give it credit. I know not a lot of people have played Marth's games, and even for those who have, the lore is obscure at best, but one of the most important aspects of Marth's place in the world and his importance to the story is that he's "Anri's descendant." EXCEPT! Anri died alone and childless. He had a romantic interest in the ancient war named Artemis, but she chose to marry a different guy who went on to rule Archanea (country, not continent), with Anri sticking to his small country of Altea, where Marth is from. Anri's royal lineage was continued indirectly via his brother, and it was this matter of disputed succession which actually split the neighbouring country of Gra away from historic Altea's borders (Gra became ruled by the stuck up nobles who didn't accept Anri's brother as king). POINT BEING: the genesis of this series literally involves its most iconic character (Marth) claiming descent from a mythic-historical figure through an indirect lineage continued by that figure's sibling. I think whether the Awakening writers were aware of this or not (probably not; I agree that they didn't put any thought into Priam, period), it very clearly establishes the precendent that Priam can be descended from Mist while still being considered and referred to as Ike's descendant. Also, while I didn't care much one way or another in this debate about Ike's sexuality, though probably leaning toward gay if anything, I think you pushed me over the edge. Your schpiel about how heterosexual relationships never need to openly state that they're romantic, yet because of our biases toward normativity we unreasonably expect hard confirmation before acknowledging any homosexual fictional relationships, really sold me on the idea of Ike being gay. Especially when I consider if Ranulf, and especially Soren, were simply genderswapped but otherwise remained the exact same, I think their romantic chemistry and paired endings with Ike would never be called into question like they have been.

Growing up I was quite happy that Fire Emblem would have any LGBTQ+ representation at all....but then I realized that almost every gay or bisexual character is of the thief or rogue class? Like, what is THAT about? Legault, Heather, Niles...Fire Emblem Three Houses was the first to really break this sequence, I think....but then the male romance options are so limited...

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS You just won a subscriber

The algorithm lead me to this video, and I instantly love your presentation style and tone for approaching the subject. Definitely going to be diving into your other videos!!

My theory is that ragnell exists in the shadow dragon/valentia/awakening timeline kinda how the fire emblem appears throughout several games in different lands. The radiant hero in the Archanea timeline might just be a different character who isnt Ike. Any semblance of him was just a callback to Ike from the writers.

Another point towards Ike's sexuality is his Radiant Dawn design. Instead of being pretty bishounen like Marth or even a pretty man like Chrom, he's well built and masculine, to the point where some characters bring up comparisons between him and the laguz, something almost unheard of for JRPG protags. In Japan, hyper-masculinity is the gay stereotype, hence the Bara genre. And the design was definitely intentional, because the Japanese audience voiced backlash towards his Radiant Dawn design for looking like, and I quote, "a gorilla", something the devs would've known would be the case.

Thank you for making video essays that aren’t 24 hours long

OK so I need to point out that was NOT the Soliel support in Japan. She was shy around girls so Corrin used a potion to look like a girl for her to practice on. It's weird but it wasn't sexual nor conversion at all.

Priam could be related through adoption. Ike, Soren and ranulf find sime kids adopt them time passes and waoh one of their decendants has a penchant for (off color) blue hair and fighting and he is related because adoption is family binding and all that Also explains why he doesnt have aether but learned luna and sol to be like his ancestor

Gonna be honest, I'm a Ike stan I love this man for his morals and values. He reminds me alot of robin hoods story doing the right thing for the right reason I honestly couldn't care less who he ends up with

i mostly disrespect priam's existence as a retcon by a different writer. ike's one of the best-written lords in the series, and his character is very deliberately built as a result. i think he's absolutely totally intended to be gay, but now we're just in a state where things are unconfirmed since it was understandably subtle back then and they mostly don't want to mess with his canon

3:37 Wrong, I can’t self insert as Robin as I can never even hope to be even half as perfect and lovable as him, and neither can anyone else.

I really want to believe this because if he is ( eggplant btw) than I think he is the most complex written gay character in the series. I would like that his sexuality didn't overshadow the character or become part of his motives. The implication is alluring and although he doesn't do much for representation (hard to say you represent when your sexuality is an implication at best) he does tons to add diversity to how gay characters are written into the series ( AKA more than just an optional sexuality to appease the gay agenda).

"If you're looking for pride... I have it." LOL eggplant

Also for the sword , Marth inherited the falcion from his ancestor's brother

I like the idea that Priam is lying, makes it more interesting

You've earned my sub with this great video!

This made my day.

Great video and as an FE fan, love all the subtle things that show the extensive FE knowledge. Ike getting or giving that eggplant. Though I do like the ships of him with Elincia and Mia.

The investigation we’ve all been waiting for. Either way, we like Ike. Also, I’m pretty sure Awakening has 2 Black characters (Basilio & Flavia). But I guess you meant Robin specifically. Regardless, Ike is at least homoromantic & worthy of an eggplant.

Aaaand this video made me subscribe, love the Captain Astronaut persona

wonderful video, love the ace attorney!

If Ike is gay can I please pleas please have him as my lover I've been loving that man since forever omg

eggs and plants.... im really happy you posted a video like this! im a huge fan of the stuff you put out, i feel like seeing a gaming channel cover topics like this is hard for me to find, and on top of that your jokes are funny!!! i appreciate you going more indepth about this a lot.... also, sylvando supremacy (>__>)b

I screamed when ya suggested mpreg, good editing right there. Peak comedy.

After watching the original video, the one with robin's "Eggplant" on the thumbnail, I looked it up, got no results, and was thoroughly confused for the rest of the day. nice to get a follow up. Also cool to see cap's studio through his visor.

As someone who enjoys writing, the idea of other ways to have children through magic and such is very interesting. You could do a lot with the concept. 🍆

You knowledge about this game series is honestly admirable.

Awesome video! As a gay guy myself I always liked the way Ike was handled (and I’m still on the fence regarding which way he swings). It’s so much better than making him like Sylvando (I have no problem with him either, but there are plenty of other ways to portray gay characters). Ike and Soren are two reasons I go back to FE9 and 10 so much. I also like how Soren goes from a racist self-hating (kinda) little bastard In 9 to a much more reserved and humorous little bugger in 10.

Priam is stated in in game dialog that comes from another world.

Eggplant and hard agree on everything you said. I've been team "Priam is Mist's decendant" personally since Awakening came out but explination 3 reallly is the most likely story. Here's hoping we one day get a remaster of these games so the next generation can experience them.

Fantastic video. Gave me a good laugh. Found myself here through RU-vid suggestions. I don't normally comment, especially since I'm wary of my English and getting my words confused, but I wanted to comment on a couple of things. Apologies for any misunderstandings. I want to point out that some things are lost in translation. For example, the Ike and Elincia ship tease was only in the localisation version, but they gave up in the second game as Geoffrey was Elincia's only marriage choice. Another thing is Priam in the Japanese version of Awakening reveals that he's not a direct descendant. Something like a descendant "in a way", similar to Marth not being a direct descendant of Anri because Anri never had kids. That's why I don't see the Priam counter-argument from others as something really important to consider. I also liked the way you presented that part in the video. Gay people can still have kids one way or another. Overall, Ike is one of my favourite FE characters, not because he's gay but because I like the way he's written, especially when compared to the other lords.

Your words wound me with the genealogy remake. i must stay strong

You're channel is pretty cool man

Ike give'n Palu flowers, Smash cannon.

the fact that people will vehemently refute that ike (a character with no explicitly stated sexuality) could be interpreted as gay but just as fervently claim he's straight like it's the default will never not be funny to me. "heterosexual until proven otherwise" 🍆

12:15 That joke was timeless. Subcribed now

Eggplant. Good video I wonder if the ladst video had a code word

in the mobile game, if you get Soren he straight up asks if Ike is there sus

Fantastic video. I’ll also add that Intelligent Systems has also made queer characters in other games, such as Vivian in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door.

In conclusion: you’re hilarious & I love you 😂❤

Option 4: Ike had special fun time with a woman, but the child was raised by both Ike and Soren. It isn't impossible for a gay person to have special fun time with a woman, especially if they need to carry on the family name. (Philippe I, Duke of Orléans comes to mind).

One small counter to one point. Sanaki basically gifted ragnell to Ike when he became the general of all the armies again. She basically said that the sword has a special connection to him. Ike most likely took the sword since it would be even more unlikely that Begnion would give away ragnell.

9:48 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNND It can easily be disproven when you consider Priam could be descended from Ike thanks to his sister Mist

Eggplant! Good vid, neighbor!

Its important when discussing representation made by big companies like Nintendo that compromise is a big factor, age ratings are very important to Nintendo and in countrys like russia just having a gay character would get the game rated obsurdly high (thats what happened to the tomodachi life sequel) so if the game’s creators do want to explore themes like that which they often do with fire emblem. Even if they want be more explicit about it they cant just write in the text that he IS gay. Obviously its not an ideal situation but good art often comes from limitations and I actually like it more that ike is only subtly implied to be gay and never stated outright wether they would have or not if they were able to.

Theres a lot of funny easter eggs/call backs in Awakening that, if taken at full face-value canon, absolutely demolish any sort of idea story coherency between games. Especially with the Jugdral references in Awakening. We know that Jugdral and Valentia/Archanea (and thus Ylisse) exist in the same world, with Jugdral being on a different continent that was ~1000 years ahead of the others. Loptyr, later followed by Naga and the other divine dragons, come to Jugdral and cause the plot of FE4/FE5 before fucking off back to Archanea. Makes sense, related but separate continents with light story ties. Yet somehow the **SUPER IMPORTANT** Holy Weapons of Jugdral just end up in Awakening because... they just do. This and also the map used in Paralogue 2 "The Secret Seller" of Awakening is a copy of part of Genealogy of the Holy Wars Chapter 4 "Dance in the Sky" which would make 0 sense cause theyre separate continents. These little callbacks in Awakening are all fine as long as you see them as little fun easter eggs for players but if you take them as canon it falls apart reallll fast and Priam is no different.

never laughed so hard at the backstories of the fire emblem games and most of the characters XD im dying this is fucking great

Subscription, courtesy of the one and only PJiggles.

this is kinda off topic but i didnt know that in the english version f!byleth and edelgard dont marry each other? i played the italian version and it explicitly says that they get married

🍆, I've been telling my bf about Ike and how he should give the tellius games a shot (thanks dolphin). I can't say it's canon, but anyone who reads Ike as being straight is kind of covering their eyes and ears. I'd say he could be read as ace too, but Soren? The evidence is a lot stronger on his end, though I wouldn't call it entirely one sided either.

Reminds me of that time back in like the late 2000s/early 10s when a bunch of ppl shipped him w Marth. And meta knight was there

aww, i'm glad for Ike eggplant, maybe i should try playing radiant dawn again

Eggplant. Never heard of you till now but you preach the good word on Fire Emblem lore and I respect you a lot for it because Nintendo don't respect shit lmao.

You know what. The man as a point. Eggplant.

Ya know I’m always confused why people always assume Priam is Ike’s direct descendant when Mist and Boey clearly got hitched up and had descendants of their own.

Bro we knew this you seen how Ike handles that bigass sword?! cmon now.

Love it. Ike ♥

I wonder if Ike's world had eggplants as plants 🤔

I am a firm believer that Ike also liked EGGPLANT, but due to the times the games were released they really didn't wanna alienate whatever fanbase they had left (considering conservative Japan and US back then...and uh, now again?). Once Fire Emblem became a financial success, they felt more free to include whatever kinds of sexualities they want (looking at you, Three Houses of Bisexuals). Thanks for the video Cap'n!

Is Ike...you know... Me(with the spongebob hand gesture)💅

Good video lol, do you want to make "investigaytion" a series?

My headcanon is that Priam is actually Mist's descendant, not Ike's. People kind of forget Ike has a sister.

People tend to forget in the early 2000s homosexuality was still taboo, even when we started to talk more openly about the matter and wanting rights for them and other sexual and gender identities. That's explains why Ike's sexual orientation was left vague since not only writers thought it would scared players (yes, homophobia was (and still is) an ingraine thing in pop culture, videogames wheren't an exception) but because when we think "gay" many would write based on stereotypes rather than bother to make a proper character. And also censorship was more heavier on this topic, even changing the gender of a couple of Animal Crossing characters because they thought parents in the West might complain about the inclusion of "queer" looking characters. At least nowadays we are trying to move on and add more inclusion. 11:45 Wait, didn't Ike had a sister? So even if Priam is not a descendant of Ike he might be still related with him. Still doesn't prove Ike is heterosexual. PS: Funny how most folks would rather accept Ike being gay rather than open the possibility he might be bisexual. I guess is because that means he would hook up a lot or even cheat his partner or spouse, when ingame it seems he is not really into relationships. But hey, maybe he got drunk one day...

Completely unrelated to the video but man your outfit slays absolute coochie. Like the motorcycle dirt bike helmet with the open shirt? The vicariously placed captain hat?Major drip alert over here!!!!

priam is descendent of ike with Sothe, micaiah said herself.

I always kinda assumed Ike was Ace and possibly Aro. I definitely don’t think he’s into women, but even with the men he’s close to, it always felt more like a relationship closer than friends but not romantic. Like AroAce domestic partners or something

I'm glad Ike enjoys him some eggplant. Bedsides It's nice to have a not super flamboyant gay guy in games.

Your a strange eggplant loving man but I still enjoy your videos.

7:17 YOU DID *NOT* PUT A PICTURE OF MULAN KISSING MUSHU AND ESMERALDA KISSING FROLLO AS YOUR STRAIGHT EXAMPLES/REP AHAHAHAHAHA NOOO HELP XD Anyway this was a great video and most importantly it was a lot of fun! I was cracking up throughout the whole thing. I laughed throughout your Fire Emblem history video and your smash bros. virginity tier list too, but this one won you a subscribe for sure!

He's still my favourite character so I don't care about if he's gay or bi

Eggplant! I never heard anyone saying Ike was gay but now that I heard it, I'll stand by that assumption with all of my heart.

Eggplant...speaking of....why am I so attracted to a helmet with crash bandicoot gloves? Maybe cuz the content is phenomenal? Anyway, gonna go ask myself some tough questions now...

Ike is a certified epic eggplant enjoyer