u/Si67

I've been pouring over details provided by shadows recently since it's the first time the series has ever gone all in on making beast shifters the center piece of a game's whole identity. However with that in mind it made me wonder what exactly separates the 12 ancient royal bloodlines from everyone else in-universe, and what my caught my eye was the Chinese zodiac.

FE has experimented with unconventional animal shifters since awakening but this is the first time we've ever had someone like Rusty who transforms into a monkey and Yuyo who does so with a mouse. Also the series has used astrology and the number 12 for previous games before such as the 12 starsphere shards in archanea, the 12 crusaders and recurring 12 deadlords, the Ten Elites total 12 members with Maurice and Nemesis, and the 12 main story emblems from engage. Though to be more specific I believe they're using the iconography of the chinese zodiac for designs but utilizing western astrology for the nitty gritty details. So stuff like Kurt potentially being related to Sirius which could also explain why Kurt's unique spell is tied to fire because seirios can be interpreted as scorching and another name for it is the dog star. As for Rusty there I don't recall their specifically being a monkey star but there is a nebula within Orion referred to as the monkey head. Additionally, Rusty is a hunter like Orion albeit with the Monster Watch rather than an average huntsman. This is mostly a shot in the dark but I feel like this is plausible

You can probably guess what this is referencing but I like to believe Ignatz and Leonie had a moment like this just before they decided to travel together in their ending. The lovely artwork was done by ignitemix who can be found here

A lovely gift I received from a good friend a while back of Leonie and Ignatz cosplaying as Estelle and Joshua from Trails in the sky. The artist can be found here ilyscia and here