Fire Emblem 15's Royal Treasury

So...a treasury that only allows in those of the royal family.  How much use is that, exactly?

Think about this.  The royal treasury of the empire of Rigel in Fire Emblem 15 can only be accessed by those of royal blood.  So...doesn’t that mean that any time anyone needs something from the vault, whenever some relic or parchment in there is necessary for the sake of state business, they have to petition the emperor himself to haul his ass down to the basement to fetch it?  And it’s a good bit of a walk, too: this vault’s sitting smack dab in the middle of the final dungeon.  The emperor’s gotta clear his whole schedule and make a morning of it any time someone needs a particular national treasure for some reason or other.

And this uppity storage unit ain’t kidding about only opening to royalty, either.  This isn’t some situation where His Royal Highness can just show up, open the door, and get back to his business while some servants head in to procure whatever’s needed.  He really is the ONLY one that can go in.  No cargo-haulers, no dignitary from a neighboring nation that the emperor talked into helping him move this weekend, not even a goddamn intern with a dolly is following him in there.  Meaning that Emperor Amazon Fulfillment Center has to haul out anything he wants from the vault all on his own.  Yeah, that’s definitely what I want as ruler of a nation, alright--I want to keep important shit I might need in an emergency within a warehouse I have to drive 30 miles to get to, where I get to be a 1-man warehouse worker union.

And is it really such a good idea to keep Falchion in this vault?  Falchion, the god-slaying sword given to humanity as a safeguard against the day that the continent’s dragon overlords turn against their people?  The one weapon that gives humanity the capacity to defend itself against an otherwise theoretically unstoppable force?  You’re keeping Falchion in a treasury that only a tiny handful of very killable human beings can get into.  A tiny handful of very killable human beings who traditionally all congregate in the same palace, meeting with the same people, hanging out in the same throne room, eating at the same table!  The sword that represents the great and final hope of the human species is 1 really poorly-cooked fish dinner away from being lost forever to an uncooperative doorknob.

You know what would be a great way of keeping the stuff in your vault secure, but accessible to a highly reasonable degree?  A fucking key.  Just get some magical lock made that only recognizes a special royal crest or whatever--don’t pretend that’s gonna be less feasible than a goddamn DNA-scanning teleporter--and use that.  That way, the most important human being in the entire nation doesn’t have to lug himself through the catacombs every time Royal Gardener Harry needs the legendary +3 Vorpal Hedge Shears because those damned briars in the back are getting uppity again.  He can just give Harry--or a duly appointed designee, never put too much trust in a guy who has a wisteria as his emergency contact--the royal crest key thing, tell him to bring it right back afterwards, and get on with his day.

Hm?  What’s that?  Oh, “What if the Falchion falls into the wrong hands?”  Hmm, yeah, you know, I guess you’re right, it WOULD be pretty bad if someone were to kill the emperor, steal the key, and make a withdrawal of $God-Buster.  Yes, that’d be a real disaster!

But hey, you know what would also be pretty bad?  If instead of killing the emperor and getting the key to the vault, someone were to kill the emperor and there was no key and now no one can have the Falchion.  I mean, if we’re gonna suppose the possibility of a bad guy offing the emperor, I’d sure as hell rather run the risk of having to foil a villainous plot to abuse the power of the Falchion than to run the risk of the only defense against a malevolent god becoming eternally and irreversibly beyond anyone’s grasp.  Frankly, if it means not having to worry that humanity’s fate is 1 loose patch of carpeting on a palace stair away from sealed, I’ll happily run the risk of the royal treasury key being snatched up by any old pickpocket, some 2-bit usurper, or even just an intern who got mixed up and handed the emperor back the bathroom key by mistake.  A single detour from the main plot is all that’s required to fetch the damned key from a mortal holder.

But as the royal treasury stands now, a round of flu breaking out at the capital--or hell, even just a sole royal heir who doesn’t feel like walking all the way down there--is all it’ll take to make every single thing in that vault inaccessible forever.  Deus Ex Machina devices aren’t usually icons of intelligent thinking, but Fire Emblem 15’s royal treasury is a cut below nonetheless.

...And yes, I know that this is 1 of the least important things I’ve ever ranted about.  I’m not apologizing.