National emblem of Valla
The Veiled Kingdom of Valla (透魔王国 Tōma Ōkoku lit. Tōma Kingdom, also called the Invisible Kingdom in the Japanese version) is a country in Fire Emblem Fates. The Kingdom is hidden at the bottom of the Bottomless Canyon in complete isolation from Hoshido and Nohr.
Profile[]
A nation hidden beneath the Bottomless Canyon, when it was founded by the Silent Dragon Anankos and the first Vallite King Cadros, Valla was completely undisturbed and with little interaction with the world with only the royal families, specifically the kings and queens of Hoshido and Nohr, knowing of its existence. The pathway to Valla beneath the Bottomless Canyon opens and closes every few decades, coinciding with the skies changing above Nohr and Hoshido. The royal castle of Valla is called Castle Gyges (ロウラン, Lōran lit. Loulan)
The kingdom boasts strange geography, as the land and sky themselves seem to be rent in pieces, and float about seemingly at random. It is unknown if the kingdom was like this prior to or after Anankos took over Valla. Anankos also placed a powerful curse upon the kingdom, causing anyone who attempted to reveal the existence of Valla outside of its borders to dissolve into water and disappear. As a result, its existence is known only to a small handful of people. The age of this curse is unspecified, but there seems to be no written or historical knowledge of the kingdom outside of it, so presumably the curse created after Anankos' destruction of Valla and that the curse was broken upon Anankos's death.
With its inhabitants now little more than puppets enslaved to Anankos' will, with only a few hidden from his sight, the soldiers of Valla are often known as Invaders, although they are properly called Vallites (透魔兵 Tōmahei lit. Invisible Demon Soldiers) during the DLC Hidden Truths 2 and on the Revelation route. They share the same classes as the soldiers of Hoshido and Nohr. However, they are wreathed in ghostly flames and appear as translucent humanoid figures, most likely to serve as both a method of intimidation and as a means to prevent anyone from discovering Valla in the event that they were followed. Despite their invisibility, their murderous intention can still be sensed, as shown several times during the game such as in Hidden Truths.
History[]
Long before the events of Fates, the kingdom was a prosperous place under its lineage of kings and the guidance of Anankos. However, hundreds of years ago, Anankos realized that his ancient animalistic instincts were beginning to compel him to destroy the kingdom that he helped create. In order to delay his fall into madness, Anankos created a song that would weaken his power and destructive urges, and he left the song with Cadros, the first King of Valla. However, in order to use the song, one must be of Cadros's lineage and possess a fragment of Anankos's dragonstone. Anankos continued to bestow blessings of power upon future generations of Valla's royalty, until at some point the final king in the royal line was killed before he could sing for Anankos. His draconic instincts unsuppressed, Anankos obliterated an entire forest. Though there were no casualties, the people of Valla still blamed him for the destruction and tried to kill the dragon.
Unable to comprehend that the very people he had helped had shunned him, Anankos locked himself away in a mountain cave where his detest of humanity grew. Anankos was not completely alone, however; the succeeding King of Valla, his family, and a few select people would make trips to his cave to express their belief in him. Unfortunately, in a moment of weakness he lost control of himself and killed the King of Valla. However, before he completely degenerated, he tore off a portion of his soul which took on a human appearance in a last bid to stop his rage. Now completely succumbed to insanity and his hatred of humanity, Anankos started a campaign to conquer Valla and began to form an invisible army consisting of many of his former Vallite subjects. He even began to resurrect the dead to strengthen his army. He also self-sired a daughter named Lilith to further his goals. Anankos plotted to destroy humanity entirely by first eliminating Valla's greatest rivals: Nohr and Hoshido.
The human portion of Anankos wandered with no memories of his past and soon met the Vallite queen's sister Mikoto. The two fell in love and eventually gave birth to a child. However, soon after the birth of his child, Anankos recovered his memories and sent his new family, along with Mikoto's sister and niece, away to spare them from the dragon's wrath. However, helping them escape attracted the attention of the dragon Anankos, and the human portion would spend the next several years avoiding his other half. Arete and Mikoto would eventually marry King Garon and King Sumeragi, respectively, resulting in them becoming the second queens of Nohr and Hoshido.
Hidden Truths[]
After bringing Owain, Inigo and Severa to Valla, Anankos explained to them his story. He makes requests for them to head to Hoshido first to see Mikoto and help his child fulfill their destiny to assemble the five divine weapons to take down his dragon self. Before he can tell them his child's name, Lilith appears under orders of Anankos' dragon self to stop him. Anankos is shocked and appalled by the news that his dragon self sired an heir, and Lilith informs him that his child had been taken to Nohr, to his further shock. Owain, Inigo, and Severa attempt to attack Lilith, but are unable to do so. Anankos had a vision prior to their arrival showing that the three would be defeated if they met a girl in Valla. Anankos offers to send them back home, but the three refuse and chooses to stay and fight. After they encourage him to believe in them, Anankos gives them the power to defeat Lilith and bestows onto them their new names Odin, Laslow, and Selena.
After the battle, Lilith continues to summon more soldiers to fight, but Anankos warps them straight to Nohr and tells them to become retainers for the Nohrian royal family in hopes of finding his child. Left alone to deal with Lilith, the young girl tries to kill Anankos but finds herself unable to do so. Anankos tells Lilith that he really does love her despite just meeting her, but Lilith remains conflicted because his dragon form never expressed that same sentiment with her despite her efforts to please him. When she finally decides to abandon her attempt to murder his human self, the dragon Anankos senses his daughter's wavering and attempts to kill her. Sensing this, Anankos' Avatar sacrifices himself, taking the hit in her place. As he slowly dies, he asks Lilith to smile for him as he speaks his final words, apologizing to Lilith, Mikoto, and his child. Back in the Vallite Castle, Anankos swears to start a war between Hoshido and Nohr and end the human race. However, a fragment of his human avatar speaks through him, expressing his belief that Selena, Odin, and Laslow will one day bring Corrin to him and defeat him.
Birthright[]
Note that in Birthright, Valla does not appear or isn't mentioned at all during the storyline; however, Azura gives her crystal (the same one she uses in Conquest to show Corrin King Garon's true form) to Leo, before his departure following his boss fight and reconciliation with Corrin; when he returns later, Odin comments that he apparently made a pilgrimage to the Bottomless Canyon alone, possibly indicating that the crystal told him something about Valla.
Conquest[]
Corrin visits Valla for the first and only time during Conquest, when in Chapter 15, they follow Azura through a portal in a lake. Along the way, they also find Gunter, who survived his fall at the Bottomless Canyon. However, they are attacked by the Vallites. Fortunately, they manage to escape back to the surface, although the three cannot tell their fellow allies due to the Vallite curse.
Revelation[]
Corrin first visits Valla after the incident at Chapter 6, when both sides declare Corrin, Azura and Felicia/Jakob to be traitors after they take down their commanders in battle. Fleeing from both sides, they end up at the Bottomless Canyon where they jump off the bridge. Azura explains the situation clearer to them since the Vallite curse would not affect them now. After rescuing Gunter, they return to the surface and decide that to take down Anankos, they would need to convince both sides to stop fighting each other and join Corrin.
After getting both sides together and defeating Hans and Iago, who Garon sent to stop them, return to the Bottomless Canyon. Despite some skepticism from the siblings, the army jumps down and arrives at Valla, where they get a clearer view of the situation. Trusting Corrin, they all jump into the Bottomless Canyon to enter Valla, where Scarlet is killed in the process.
On the way to confront Anankos, Corrin faces several of his resurrected soldiers, including Scarlet and Azura's mother Arete. They also encounter a young Vallite boy named Anthony, who had managed to escape Anankos' control and promised to help enter the castle. Along the way, the army is relentlessly ambushed by Vallite Forces, leading Xander and Ryoma to cast doubt on Anthony as a possible spy, which Corrin disagrees with. Eventually the group fights their way to the castle and Anthony asks Corrin to come alone with him into the castle, which turns out to be a trap, as Anthony was tasked by Anankos to lead Corrin into the trap alone. However, Corrin already knew of the impending betrayal and the army comes to their aid immediately.
Traveling deeper in Castle Valla, Corrin encounters Mikoto who, under Anankos' influence, attempts to lead them into a trap, but avoids it. Corrin defeats Mikoto, and they, alongside Mikoto, are informed that she was originally born in Valla and is the sister of Arete, thus making Corrin Vallite royalty. In addition, she reveals that Corrin is not the child of Sumeragi, but does not reveal who their true father is. Later, they encounter Sumeragi himself who reveals that he was the hooded assailant who lead to Mikoto's death under Anankos's influence. In his defeat, he affirms that he is not Corrin's father, but does not know who their father is either.
Once the army reaches the Vallite throne room, a mysterious spell is launched at Corrin's army, injuring everyone save Corrin and Azura. Gunter begins to accuse them as traitors, however Corrin accuses him of treason in turn, recalling how he offhandedly mentioned the flower in Scarlet: Scarlet had pinned a flower to her armor before leaping into the canyon, but when the others discovered her corpse, the flower had already been destroyed during the attack. Thus the people who saw that were them and the assailant who killed Scarlet. Gunter reveals that he was the mole in the army and was being influenced by Anankos ever since he first fell into the Bottomless Canyon. After Corrin defeats Gunter and forgives him, Gunter dispels Anankos's influence and the armies prepare to face the Silent Dragon.
After Anankos reveals himself, he is defeated by both forces, but he quickly summons Garon and consumes him to regain his strength, transforming into his draconic form. Despite this, Corrin refuses to give up and eventually creates the Omega Yato, and they finally kill Anankos for good. Following Anankos' death, all portals to Valla are sealed.
Xander and Ryoma, deciding that Valla should not be forgotten again, decide to cede part of their lands to create a new Valla, led by Corrin, who becomes their King or Queen depending on their gender. Valla is said to take roughly a third of the continent, and everlasting peace is formed between the three nations.
Family Tree[]
Known People From Valla[]
- Cadros - The first king of Valla. Shigure is said to resemble him.
- Arete - The former queen of Valla whose combination of alluring figure and songbird voice are said to have entranced royals everywhere from Valla to Nohr. She married King Garon and became queen of Nohr before her death.
- Mikoto - The mother of Corrin, the lover of Anankos' human avatar, and the sister of Arete. After fleeing from Valla, she sought refuge in Hoshido where she married King Sumeragi and became his second wife.
- Anankos - One of the First Dragons and former protector of Valla. Before degenerating, he created a human avatar of himself who fell in love with Mikoto, resulting in the birth of his child, Corrin.
- Azura - The daughter of Arete and the former king of Valla. Gripped by an unkind fate, she sings a lost song that can perform miracles.
- Corrin - The child of Mikoto and the human avatar of Anankos who fights on their chosen path with the divine blade Yato. Becomes ruler after the events of Revelation.
- Lilith - The younger half-sister and attendant of Corrin, whose true form is that of an astral dragon, which she reveals to rescue Corrin from a crisis.
- Anthony - A young Valite boy who serves Anankos before he is transformed into a Faceless for his failures.
Etymology[]
Valla is most likely derived as a shortened form of Valhalla, a divine hall of Norse mythology in which Odin, king of Asgard, receives the souls of those slain in battle. This mirrors Anankos's role as king and his ability to raise the spirits of the dead to act as his soldiers.
Many other Norse mythological references are present in Fates, especially on the Nohrian side - Xander's legendary sword Siegfried and Leo's legendary tome Brynhildr are named for the hero and heroine in the Niebelungenlied, an epic poem revered in Norse and later Germanic myth, and the term Einherjar, used to describe units recruitable by visiting their own My Castle and those of other players, referred to those deemed worthy by the gods to fight in Ragnarok, the final battle between good and evil at the end of the world.
The name may also be a play on the word "veil" as the kingdom is hidden from the rest of the world.
Additionally, Gyges, the name of the royal castle, is named after the Ring of Gyges, an ancient Greek myth discussed in an ethical thought experiment in Plato's Republic. The ring was stated to make the wearer invisible, recreated in Fates by the Vallite soldiers' invisibility.
Its Japanese title, "Touma", is made up from two kanji logographs: "Tou" meaning "transparent" or "to appear", and "ma", which translates as "magic" or "devil".
Trivia[]
- The cultural elements of Valla isn't fixated, borrowing several designs and motif from Norse culture (Valla etymology and geography), Greek mythology (Vallite characters and water elements), and Indian culture (Anankos' mask, symbol of water lilies, vajra motif of Yato, and Azura's dress patterns evocative of mandala)
- Valla likely takes some inspiration from Valhalla in Norse mythology:
- A realm inhabited by einherjars; deceased warriors resurrected for the purpose of serving the gods, similar the Vallite warriors fought in Valla.
- Valhalla translates to "Hall of the Fallen" and "Hall of the Slain".
- It is sometimes depicted as a heaven like environment in the sky, just like Valla.
- During the credits, Valla is represented by Water Lilies.
- Oddly enough, if players set up Skirmishes in Valla, human enemies will appear despite being hidden from the rest of the world.
- Enemies from Valla in any path of the game, including the 'Invaders', will appear with sprites colored with a purple color, instead of the red color usually associated with enemy units.
- In Japanese, the palace Loulan is named after a real kingdom in history with the same name.
Gallery[]
