The Tournament for the Throne (王権競技会, Ouken Kyougi-kai)? is a major event in Metaphor: ReFantazio that forms the majority of the plot of the game.
Overview[]
The Tournament for the Throne is a conflict set up by the Sanctist Church to manipulate the outcome of the decree of the late king's royal magic, due to the castle being rendered out of reach. As King Hythlodaeus V's royal magic decreed that the next king would be chosen from the most trusted of the entire populace, the church arranged the formation of a tournament to increase the odds in their favor.
Summary[]
Before his assassination by Louis Guiabern, King Hythlodaeus V cast a spell that would activate posthumously. The spell activated during the day of his funeral, where the royal palace would ascend to the sky and the rock beneath it resembling the king's face would respond as the king's skybound avatar that speaks to and observe the citizens. Through his speech and through further examination of the Royal Magic by Rella Melancoryphus Cygnus, the executed spell has established the following effects:
- Any citizen, regardless of tribe or social status can become king so long as they have the majority of the people's support
- The top twenty candidates are protected from harm, where anyone who tries to harm them will be shackled by chains. Should anyone keep trying to kill the candidate, the protective magic will wrap chains around the would-be assailant's body, which can lead to death if they persist with their attempt to attack, assuming if the candidate does not kill them first. This first happens to Grius and later happens to Forden.
- All candidates are granted the right to challenge the top twenty to a duel, to which the protection magic would be lifted for all participants for the length of the duel and ending with either opposing candidates conceding in defeat, regardless of whether the concession is genuine or as part of a ploy, or slain.
In response to Hythlodaeus V's magic and to regain control of both their Crown Theocratic leadership and the situation, Sanctifex Forden decided to establish the Tournament for the Throne in a scheme to solidify his popularity and reputation with the citizens and to quell any people's interest in desiring any other candidate other than himself in this open-to-all contest. He also would choose Albus Procnias Batlin, a maverick and unorthodox crier of the Sanctist Church, to host the tournament, and Ovis Lydnad Gideaux, his bodyguard and right-hand man, to participate and support him as the third most popular candidate in the race.
The first task that Batlin provided to the participants during the open ceremony of the tournament is to bring a monster's head to Port Brilehaven for the exhibition, where the bigger and most impressive head should win the people's impressions and public support. Having predicted that this task meant to be rigged to Forden's favor for every participant bringing monster heads of their own for the exhibition, Leon Strohl da Haliaetus would devise a plan that Will's party would bring the supposed criminal Heismay Noctule's head as an unorthodox approach to winning the public's favor and impressing Louis rather than focusing on actually winning the first task. The plan did succeed, despite later proof of Heismay's innocence, which as a result shifted towards bringing the real criminal of the events in Martira as their head offering: a repentant Sanctoress Joanna Calendula, who was found out to be abducting and feeding people in Martira to a human she secretly raised while believing it to be her own dead child during her temporary madness that was lifted upon the human's demise.
Joanna confessed to her crimes as the caretaker of Homo Jaluzo as planned, but almost immediately afterwards, Forden decided to summarily execute her in plain sight at the exhibition, much to the dismay of Strohl and the rest of the party, though Joanna herself welcomed her death like it was penance. This public execution caused the Sanctist Church to take a blow to their popularity over what they perceived as a humiliation thanks to Joanna speaking up over what she had done and undercutting the progress Forden had made. Despite this setback, Forden's popularity remained strong. His right-hand man Gideaux would recommend to the sanctifex and members of the senate to make the next task focus on a divine relic hunt in order to restore the church's damaged reputation and strengthen the support of the faithful to their cause. During a period of repose before the next task has been officially revealed, Louis would host a soiree with all his supporters, including Will's group that succeed in winning his favor, and declare his official participation to the tournament while stating Forden has no choice but to accept in order to maintain the pretense of a fair popularity competition.
Louis' announcement happened to occur at the same time Will had been infiltrate the Skyrunner Charadrius to search for the formula to the prince's curse. During the infiltration, he would wind up working with the songstress and undercover resistance operative Juani "Junah" Cygnus to confront the suspicious Glodell, both parties unknowingly fulfilling the conditions of the duel that bypass the king's magic and subsequently leading to the candidate's death after his defeat and underhanded attempt to kill Will afterward.
At the start of the next task, all candidates apart from the top twenty have either been eliminated or dropped out, which includes Lina, Goddard and Roger (and possibly Catherina depending on the player's progression into her follower rank through her battles while traveling). When the instructions to hunt for relics and bring it to Altabury Heights was declared, Edeni was outraged that the Sanctist Church would make the tournament's next task a thievery of his religion's idols of worship and immediately resigned from the tournament to return home, but not before parting his words of grievance and frustrations to Will over the large disparity between the mustari people and the church's Crown Theocracy.
The protagonist's party then sailed to Virga Island at Louis' behest to claim the Spear of Drakodios, a relic possessing the magla to construct and summon the Dragon God Eht, for him to bring to Altabury for the ceremony and sealing of collected relics by the Sanctist Church. Upon resolving the incident caused by a human, Homo Margo, that plagued the mustari villagers, the priestess and new member of the Will's traveling party, Euphausia Etoreika, revealed Drakodios' ability to nullify the king's protection magic, leading to a plan built around forging a fake spear (with Neuras making a convincing looking) to hand over to Louis and killing him with the real relic at the time of the ceremony, though the actual planning was kept hush-hush due to the presence of Fidelio and Basilio Magnus, who joined the party strictly as Junah's entourage for the length of the trip between Brilehaven and Altabury. Despite the party's attempts to keep the Magnus brothers in the dark, Fidelio's paranoia allowed him to find out the truth, but he became wrest with hesitancy to actually report it to the count, even as Will's party gifted him the fake lance that Fidelio knew was fake.
On the night of the ceremony in the opera house, Will's party took advantage of Louis' attendance to Junah's live performance and struck a supposedly lethal blow to the count using Drakodios. However, Louis survived the attack and took control of Drakodios, leaving the protagonist to challenge him in a duel, which Louis wholeheartedly accepts. When he cornered Will after the duel with a surprise reversal, Eupha controlled the spear to distract him, leaving him open to Will delivering a lethal blow to Louis from behind with Drakodios. However, before his supposed death, Louis tells them that their efforts were all for nothing, which struck a chord with them. His final words said, Louis stabbed the skylight he was standing on with his blade, leading to the count crashing from the rooftop and down on top of the stage together with Drakodios.
A panicked Forden, who saw Louis' body and realized Drakodios' nullification ability, questioned what had transpired. Will's party then arrived and took control of the commotion by declaring themselves as Louis' assassins in the just cause against him for allowing human attacks on villages to further his own support and to avenge King Hythlodaeus V's death. Forden accepted the group's explanation and congratulates them on the deed, while holding onto the Spear of Drakodios for safekeeping.
Back to the party's hotel room, Louis' "final" words were proven to be true when the protagonist finds out that the prince's curse has not been lifted at all, making the party suspect that someone else was behind the assassination. Hulkenburg narrowed the culprit down to Forden, as he accidentially slipped up complimenting her trying to stop the assassin prior despite she never told it to anyone else out of shame, indicating that he was somehow involved in planning it.
Louis, despite the mortal wounds and lethal loss of blood, would survive, the Drakodios just happened to barely miss his heart. He was then restored back to full health thanks to Cirsium Zorba, who had survived the aftermath of the attack at the Regalith Grand Cathedral and had infiltrated the Sanctist Church to retrieve his boss's body at the end of the first day of the festival. Thanks to his infiltrated position, Zorba was able to perform the swap of the real Drakodios with the fake one.
Upon Will's confrontation with Forden the next evening on his role as the mastermind behind the prince's assassination attempt and his presumed victory as the winner of the tournament, Louis appeared as a hooded figure before Forden to assassinate him before any further conflict between the sanctifex and the party can occur. Much to his shock, Forden still attacked Louis with Drakodios, only to be ensnared by the king's protection magic due to him having the fake lance thanks to Zorba's swap. Louis took that opening to dramatically unrobe and fatally pierce the santifex with the real Drakodios. Soon after killing Forden, Louis then leaves, but not before deducing the prince was still alive and demanded his location. When Louis didn't get the information fast enough, he proceeded to point the Drakodios to a family that had remained behind and fired a shot from the lance. This shot made Will try to intercept it, but the Magnus brothers instead stepped up and shoved Will out of the way, using magic barriers to slow it down and allow the family to escape with their lives. Incensed at their selflessness, Louis intensified the shot, breaking through the barrier, causing Fidelio to protect Basilio by pushing his little brother out of the projectile's flight path, mortally wounding him.
In order to take back control of the situation and to keep the Sanctist Church in the running for the throne, the senate members chose the saint Rella to act as Forden's replacement. Upon Louis' public confrontation with Rella and the Church's struggling grasp for the throne, he would convince the skybound avatar of the king to remove the protection magic on all candidates and allow the tournament to become a fair contest of strength, stating it is pointless to maintain it while a weapon like Drakodios exists to nullify it.
Soon after, Will publicly claims himself as the prince and Louis' departure from Altabury, Rella would reveal herself to the party as the caster that cursed the prince and challenge them to confront her at the ruins of the Mage's Academy. Instead of battling directly however, Rella summoned a dragon named Sogne the Icebound to fight in her place while she buffs it with her magic. When the party defeats the dragon, Rella confessed to both party and the public of Forden's misdeeds behind the assassination and her forced involvement to his schemes, and asked for the Sanctist followers to support Will under the premise that his testimonies that he is as the lost prince was true. After Rella took her own life by suffocating herself within an ice block to break the curse off of the real prince, the Sanctist Church lost most of their options and support to claim the throne by this point, including Gideaux's resignation from the race after hearing of Forden's corruption, leaving the tournament for the throne out of the church's control and devolving into a stage of contest between Will and Louis, the only two most popular and viable candidates running.
When Will's party were challenged by Louis to a duel in front of the Grand Cathedral, the count sabotaged Will's reputation by briefly transforming him into a human in front of the public attending and deceived them through deliberate choice of truthful words and lying by omission of facts in describing the elda as another term for the humans. Louis then revealed the use of their duel as a ruse to get their attention while Zorba travels to the Ancient Eldan Sanctum to kill the prince and robbing the party's motivation to win the throne, forcing the group to flee from the angered citizens.
After Will's merged revivification of himself as the true prince of Euchronia and revelation of the tribes as descendants of the original human race, followed by his group's return to Grand Trad in order to break the frenzied public out of the magic that robs them of their sanity and regaining their support, the remaining members of the Sanctist Church senate were convinced by Batlin to aid the prince's cause with what resources they have left in order to thwart Louis and keep control of his faction. Eventually, Will defeats Louis in one, final dramatic battle atop the Tyrant's Star on the Day of the Hero, and the king's skybound avatar declared him the new king of Euchronia. Gideaux would then return to lead the warrior monks to control any dissent from any remaining unsatisfied Louis supporters after Will's hard-earned victory.
With the conclusion of the tournament and a year after Will's crowning, the Crown Theocracy was abolished and the Sanctist Church has lost a lot of its political, military and financial power it once had. This includes Will's combatant allies forming as the Six Partisans that took over the senate's duties, along with the assistance of his close followers and allies over the course of his journey aiding his rule, such as Brigitta Lycaon taking over as the igniter consortium head and Batlin acting as the chairman of parliament.
Candidates[]
- Sanctifex Aestivum Svafriam Forden — The initial most popular candidate. He was later assassinated by Louis in the Altabury's opera house out of revenge after Zorba resurrected Louis after his death at Will's assassination attempt.
- Rella Melancoryphus Cygnus — The saintess of the Sanctist Church, she was briefly appointed by the senate to replace Forden's position following his death, only to commit suicide to remove the prince's curse and exposed Forden's crimes.
- Louis Guiabern — The initial second most popular candidate. He promises that he will turn the country into a meritocracy and stop the human crisis, but in actuality he was the one who summoned the humans (and likely personally converted random civilians into humans too), and if he ever got the throne, he would have transformed the entire kingdom's population into humans so that all would be truly equal.
- Ovis Lydnad Gideaux — The third most popular candidate, as well as Forden's loyal bodyguard and the head of the church's guard. He planned on giving the victory to Forden if he wins, effectively giving him a failsafe should he fail the race. Willingly stepped out of the tournament after Forden's treachery was exposed.
- Catherina Grann — A paripus woman who wants to gain enough power to execute the nobles and distribute wealth to the poor. Once the protagonist defeats her three times atop of her gauntlet and befriends her, she is no longer an independent candidate and stands on his side after her followers began indiscriminately targeting anyone with even a single coin in their purse.
- Idaeus Glodell — A roussainte man who joined the tournament and approached Louis for his own ends to satiate his ego and inferiority complex. He is killed by the protection magic after losing his duel with Will, allowing Will to take his place as #20.
- Milo Adriano Narcissus Maurizio — An ishkia man who aspired for the throne to strip the ugly out of their titles and giving privileges to beautiful people.
- Loveless Muscar O'Shea — A paripus hedonist who wants to turn the capital into a party district. Steps down after losing to Will.
- Rudolf Humulus Krause — A roussainte military man with aspirations of a roussainte supremacist military dictatorship. During an unknown point between the events of Port Brilehaven and Virga Island, he replaced Gideaux as the third most popular candidate.
- Goddard Cattley Gunnar — A rhoag man who wants to give privileges to the elderly and tax the young.
- Roger Arctium Ward — The clemar son of a grain merchant who wants to completely abolish taxes, laws and religion.
- Jin Cerchine Dulls — A nidia man who only joined so he could freely profit off from people.
- Lina Cetula Kayden — A eugief girl who only joined to advertise her own workshop. She voluntarily stepped down after Neuras offers to sponsor her workshop following her defeat.
- Julian Ruta Castiglione — An ishkia advocate of animal rights who wants to protect even dangerous animals.
- Edeni — Brother of Eupha who joins to advocate religious freedom. He steps down in protest of Forden arranging a contest to plunder pagan relics for the second leg of the tournament.
- Will — Started out as the least popular named candidate because of his elda bloodline. Joined initially only to approach Louis and assassinate him under the pretense that he is responsible for the curse, but genuinely participates to become the next king once the myriad truths behind the events of the game are exposed.
- There were more than 4,000 participants, but most of them did not get past the first monster hunt trial. Among them, at least six unnamed candidates made it to the top 20.
Trivia[]
- All nine tribes are present in the Tournament and have named candidates. The roussainte (and later ishkia) have three named candidates, the rhoag, paripus and elda have two, and the rest only have one.
- Gallica worries that if any of the side candidates were to somehow take the throne, they would pose way more problems than if Forden or Louis were to take it.
- Forden, Julian and Edeni are the only tournament participants that the protagonist cannot fight anywhere in the game.