Eileen (Shackled Power)
One of my favorite aspects of Shackled Power’s writing is the extent to which the ludonarrative translates aspects of the story into gameplay elements. The best example I can choose for this is Eileen, who is your typical early-game Pegasus Knight.
Appearing in Chapter 3 as an eager reinforcement for Prosel and the gang as they try and bust through a Gothen dig site, she is immediately berated by Haban for being unprepared for fighting. Her statline certainly helps cement this initial sentiment, given her paltry 5 base strength and lacking bulk. Eileen retorts that her ability to fly over the fences in this chapter would allow her to distract the enemy while staying safe, to which Haban begrudgingly accepts her help.
This might be one of my favorite dialogues in the game, just because of how rich it is with subtext and foreshadowing. Looking at Eileen through her combat prowess, as Haban does, she is unremarkable. She suffers from the same problems that most early-game pegasi suffer from, which is that her usefulness in combat is gated behind a 30% growth. It is very likely that once Cadence comes around, a Pegasus Knight with a far more powerful statline, Eileen will be relegated to the bench for good. In my initial playthrough, I thought quite similarly to Haban. Eileen was quietly benched and Cadence took over with her flashy magic lances.
But, if we look at things from Eileen’s perspective, Shackled Power makes terrific use of cliffs, mountains, and open bodies of water that frequently incentivizes flier usage. Even if her combat isn’t incredible, her value as a low-con flier shouldn’t be understated. In fact, Chapter 3 provides one of the clearest examples of Eileen’s virtue. If you actually follow Eileen’s advice rather than blowing her off, you can use her to kite around Fulshir forever once he starts moving from the storage room. While Prosel sneaks in to grab those chests, Eileen can dance around Fulshir’s range by using the fences as barriers. And what is your reward for listening to Eileen? A White Gem and an Elysian Whip, a direct reward to Eileen for executing her strategy properly.
Story Spoilers for Shackled Power
From a story perspective, this ties into Eileen’s backstory so neatly. She is a flunky from the army, unable to pass her physical examination because she was too weak. Not only is this a great narrative explanation for her noodle-arm strength, it also causes her to directly run into conflict with her mother, Commander Rita.
Rita abused Eileen frequently for her failures in the army, leading to feelings of inadequacy festering within Eileen. When she’s finally given a chance to prove herself with Prosel, she jumps at the chance! Forget Haban, this loud, overbearing brute who symbolizes everything that Eileen hates about the army. She’ll do it her own way!
On Haban’s end, Rita is an old friend who tasked him with making something useful out of her wayward daughter. Haban carries out his “torment” on Eileen not out of malice, but because of a complicated mix of stubborn pride and genuine care. As an instructor, Haban will not allow this stubborn pegasus rider to make a mockery of his command. And as a leader, he sees that Eileen’s desperation to prove herself to the world will get her killed if she goes about it recklessly.
Eventually, Haban begins to soften up regarding Eileen’s performance, realizing that the kind of harsh discipline that Rita enforced would not help Eileen become better. He recognizes that she has tactical talent that makes up for her physical shortcomings, and comes to rely on the carrot rather than the stick when it comes to keeping Eileen focused. In a way, Haban’s journey mirrored my own regard for Eileen in future playthroughs.
The final piece that really elevates Eileen for me was my most recent playthrough through Shackled Power, in which she got crazy Strength blessed. (At 15/1, she had 16 Strength) In a playthrough where my goal was to get Haban’s blade all the way into Birgitta’s face, it was pure narrative poetry that his A-Support partner, this flunky Pegasus Knight who was always told she would never amount to anything, was getting results far beyond what was statistically likely. It’s almost as if the more that Haban puts himself into the fray, the more motivated Eileen was to do the same.