#3H spoilers

[nowis-scales]

Do you prefer Three Houses or Engage?

Whew, okay. I am happy to answer your question, but please be prepared for me to talk a lot, because I have a lot to say on this topic.

I haven’t played all of the routes of Three Houses. At this point in time, I’ve played Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower. As for Engage, I’ve played all of it (though my playthrough posts sure make it look the other way around, heh). From this perspective, it might seem like there is a possibility for a bit of bias here or there. And while I agree that that could be true…

In this specific case, however, I don’t think it matters. I greatly prefer Engage over 3H.

Now, I should start off by pointing out that some of the stuff I say is going to be hyperbolic. I’m at a point where I’m quite jaded with 3H and many of its fans. There’s only so much discourse and disrespect a girl can take before she becomes a little disenchanted with the subject in question. That being said, though… honestly, none of that stuff affects my overall view. It’s mostly just about the way I might be delivering the message.

The thing to understand about me is though I love video games, if it’s a video game with a story as a major point, it automatically becomes the most important part. I enjoyed both 3H and Engage, but… the best way I know how to put why I would choose Engage over 3H is that while both have their share of writing problems, 3H’s bother me that much more.

To me, it just seems like Koei Tecmo and IntSys had this wide scope for 3H and couldn’t narrow down on what they were doing. And yeah, stones in a glass house comin’ from a Fates fan, I hear the people — but for all that 3H gets called this morally grey masterpiece, half the time it just seems like the “grey morality” comes from the fact that they couldn’t agree whether or not EdeIgard was in the wrong. In developer interviews, Kusakihara of IntSys, calls her the villain. Her route is referred to as one where you bulldoze everyone else to get what you want. It’s not exactly flattering, yet that same interview also states her popularity with the creative team. In my playthrough posts of CF, I know I mentioned to the point of annoyance that she rarely, if ever, faces a proper consequence or sacrifice for what she wants. And in Hopes it only seemed to get worse, with the developer interviews there actually confirming that she is actively happier than she ever was in Houses… Even her ending in Azure Gleam, which is sexist and disgusting, can be read as being in her favour, because how can you accuse her of anything anymore? She looks like a grown woman, but she’s mentally a freshly teenage girl! No more consequences! It feels like they’re just constantly flip flopping between “oh she’s right” or “oh she’s wrong”, which is not something you want from a perpetrator of conflict in the narrative. One minute they’re saying she’s villainous, and the next there’s a convenient & unclear excuse that tries to make her a good person for doing it. If something doesn’t favour whatever the devs wanted to highlight in that moment, it just gets unceremoniously swept under the rug. The Agarthans are proof enough of that. That’s not grey morality, that’s just being indecisive and, quite frankly, the opposite of impartial in Koei’s case.

That’s another problem that gets me about 3H’s story. I hate, hate their supposed “worldbuilding” trick where they just throw out minor details about like, a country’s problem with sexism or a group of people like the Almyrans or the Dagdans and just… never elaborate. I’m particularly interested in the Nabateans and the sexism of Adrestia myself, but are those points that ever get elaborated on? No, because it’s time to talk about crests and the crest system, which could have been an interesting look at classism if the concept actually stood up under scrutiny. It is very difficult for me to believe that there is some specific-to-Fodlan classism issue going on when Crests don’t determine whether you become or stay noble. Byleth is not immediately noble once it’s acknowledged that they have one, and Constance’s house fell in spite of it. Considering the possible marriage option for Ingrid in her paralogue, being nobility is not even the only way to ensure success in society. And all this is without even acknowledging the ridiculousness of the idea that the Nabateans would want to perpetuate a system that was actively soaked in the blood of their own. It just feels like, rather than engaging more clearly with how the crest system would actually work and subsequently be attacked, it just becomes this abstract thing that all other interesting thoughts get sucked into, without any concept that it’s real aside from EdeIgard and Sylvain mentioning it. I don’t feel passionately about it, it’s just kind of something that’s there. It could have been interesting to execute, but the way they went about it just doesn’t make it seem real to me — so, again, any attempt at a morally grey conflict there is lost on me.

And then there’s the problem with tell don’t show. I’ve seen people saying that Engage has this too… but 3H is god awful for this. The whole time I was playing Engage, I just remember thinking how much I loved how naturally emotional everything was. When you fight Hortensia again in the Solmic castle, the fact that she’s crying that she just wants her family back is sad. It’s natural. You don’t feel like the game is holding your hand, trying to make you to feel upset on Hortensia’s behalf. You don’t need to be told that Hortensia is trying so hard to be independent and strong and leaderly. You can just hear it in the way that she instead whimpers about how nobody will give her what she wants. You can tell that she’s angry that she cannot emulate her father or Ivy, and that she can’t get Ivy to do the things she wants her to do when it should have been so easy in theory. The way she reacts to the situation laid out before her shows us that yes, Hortensia has been through a lot the last little while and is getting to a breaking point where we might be able to help her. It’s what makes it that much more cruel when Zephia mind controls her to rip her away from us. 3H’s kind of pale in comparison at times, really.

The best way I know how to explain how 3H kinda flops at this is to continue picking on EdeIgard a little (sorry). I’ve rambled about it before, but presumably in an effort to show the legitimacy of EdeIgard’s suffering at the hands of the Agarthans in Crimson Flower, they put in this scene where she sees a rat and gets scared. The implication is supposed to be that there were numerous rats in the dungeon where she was kept when she was being experimented on, and that she now has a trauma response to them. However, when you actually get to the scene, her reaction is obscenely unrealistic — because it’s about being cute. This is a trauma response she’s supposed to be having, and Byleth can tease her about it. When responding to the stimulus of the rat, she doesn’t even respond with intense fear or anything symptomatic of the actual mental illness she would probably have. She just screams, and then tries to act like it didn’t happen, but of course she gets all blushy about it. It is entirely ingenuine, and I can’t just bring myself to emotionally invest if they only know how to give characters subdued, acceptable reactions or have them just tell me that something made them sad or scared. Just hearing that this character has had a sad life — and, conveniently, almost all of them have had a sad life — doesn’t make me feel emotionally connected to them. Representing the more human parts of that struggle does.

Bottom line, I shouldn’t feel like the game is holding up an “APPLAUSE” style sign that says “BE SAD” whenever the characters talk about things that have happened to them.

These are three big things that I just feel really tamper with my enjoyment of 3H to its fullest extent. The game just makes me feel too micromanaged, like it doesn’t trust me to be smart enough to pick up on the things it wants to say. For all that people say it’s the best story FE’s done in years, I would actually disagree on that. It’s the characters and the lore that carry this game. The story is just not that well-organized, nor is it willing to give you any sort of space.

That being said, I do not dislike 3H! At the moment I am… admittedly incredibly sick of it, but I don’t dislike it. There are plenty of things that it manages to do well! Like I just said, I think the lore is really interesting. The Nabateans in particular have always been a subject of interest for me, because there’s something so intriguing to me about them sort of being a parallel being to humanity, but still being so viciously discriminated against. The conflict between Duscur and Faerghus was also pretty attention-catching, and while I’m not super crazy about how the Insurrection of the Seven is portrayed, I do like that this is a kind of political conflict that they would confront.

In fact, the fact that this game does try to confront the more political side of things is another thing I like about it. Whether it does this well all the time is a different situation entirely, but just the fact that they decided to put this in is something I enjoy. One thing I know that I instantly enjoyed about Persona 5 that was also reflected in 3H was the way it brought up how the socio-political issues were affecting the society that everyone was living in. Each country had its own individual problems, with Adrestians struggling with sexism & classism, the Faerghans with their unstable government and newly developed tendency toward anti-Duscurian racism, and the Leicester Alliance with its imbalance/disagreement between people and the doubt surrounding its new leaders. To have these things helps us better understand what the characters are going through, as well as the causes for a war. It also makes the world feel more alive, because now we know what kinds of things each group is up against. It develops them. I’m still not a fan of how sometimes these things are just brought up and dropped in favour of one thing or the other, but there is often enough thought in them to make it most of the way, and that most of the way is awesome.

As for the characters, they have to confront a recruitment mechanic that completely throws their motives out the window at times just to conform to a specific narrative… and they still turned out pretty good, so that really speaks to how great they are! There is a lot of detail to put into each character’s life, and for the most part, the devs took care to make sure that everyone had a tie to someone. If they didn’t, then that felt intentional in some way. Relationships in particular really humanize characters, and I feel like 3H took that into account. I know I said it eons ago, but I’m still so delighted that we know about Maya Kiersten. Other FE games don’t tend to give these minor characters that a main character loves a name, but here we are, getting all kinds of details about her. Same goes for Holst and Rodrigue. It’s fun, and I really like that this happens. It also intrigues me that some of these characters aren’t total angels, and have their ugly sides as well. I need to put this in big bold lettering, but I do not condone the racism of Hilda or Ingrid. However, I do think that it’s an interesting addition to each of their characters. With the ways they are otherwise portrayed, it is possible that you could get too rosy of an image of the two girls. Their own racism undercuts that, it makes them feel more realistic, because bigoted people aren’t all one-note. They can seem otherwise kind and dependable, and still not be able to separate their head from their ass when it comes to being considerate of others. It fleshes them out. Details like this do add a little more to them, even if I wish they would actually explore them more in the context of the world as well. Racism that doesn’t get improved or worked upon is just racism for realism’s sake, and why should people who experience irl racism have to deal with that? They’re very aware of what the real world looks like, thank you.

The thing about 3H in comparison to Engage is that it just trips so many more times. I didn’t know what it was about Engage that just caught me, but once it had me, it had me. The emotional influence was definitely part of it, which I already mentioned, but I think another thing that I just liked in comparison was the fact that it didn’t try as hard as 3H did for some of that stuff. Thematically yes, Engage is more straightforward and doesn’t pile on the angst quite the same. It’s lighter and doesn’t take itself painfully seriously. Nonetheless, the stuff it does try to do comes out beautifully. It (for the most part — we need to have a whole other post about Alcryst) knows when to make you laugh, when to make you feel sad, and when to instill feelings of suspense or hope. It cares deeply about its characters and seeing them to the end of their journey. I never felt like I didn’t know the thesis of the game, and I almost never felt like there was a moment where I really wished they would just tell that part of the story differently. The whole thing just felt very carefully put together to me, and made for a better impression overall because there were no conflicting accounts of what was meant to go on based on the writer at the moment. I could tell that the game trusted me to draw my own conclusions. It made for a much more fun experience, because I love finding these small things woven in by the developers and mining them out like little gems. That’s part of the reason why I love Fates so much. While everyone else is complaining about how awful it is, I get to be searching for and finding all of these amazing parts that just got totally missed. I love stuff like that.

The worldbuilding in Engage is also something that I feel was a lot stronger. Things don’t just drop off. Tensions between Brodia and Elusia, for example, constantly inform the way the characters approach situations. Even conversations that are supposed to be silly, like that of Étie and Goldmary, are informed by that tension. Characters don’t forgive and forget everything that happened to them in relation to their societies just because they’re working together now. Citrinne doesn’t forgive Yunaka for her assassinations right away, she remains suspicious of her for a long time. When Ivy plays a part in the summoning of the Fell Dragon and ends up being part of the reason why Morion was killed, Alcryst holds a grudge against her — even though Ivy was part of the solution for the rest of the group, and even though Ivy herself turns out not to be a Fell Dragon worshipper at all. Things like these are constantly informing the plot and the characters. They don’t just disappear when it is inconvenient for them to exist. This is just one of many examples, but it really made the conflict feel like it was distinct, and thus was more meaningful when they came together.

I also just generally feel like the cultures in Engage ended up being more unique as well. I’ve played the entirety of Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind, as well as about 8 chapters of Azure Moon, and I’m not sure I could do as much to show how the cultures vary as much as I could with Engage. However, to give credit where credit is due, one could argue that the cultures of the Alliance, the Empire, and the Kingdom are less distinct than Elusia, Solm, Lythos, and Brodia because 3H’s conflicts need to build up to the final concept of uniting Fodlan. Nonetheless, the whole point of the nations breaking up from being just Adrestia is at least partially because the cultures are too different, and even if they weren’t… This would still just be more proof of my point that EdeIgard gets stuff weighted towards her. Therefore, I kinda prefer to think that it is not as much of a deliberate choice because the purposeful interpretation is straight up glorifying the imperialism element of the game. It’s just different in the case of Engage, where the differences and similarities are there with much more explicit purpose. The peace of Firene is played quite like the freedom of Solm, for example. Both nations have this seemingly leisurely thing that they value above all else, and it’s something that they know must make them seem overly gentle or carefree to outsiders. Nonetheless, once you start to spend time with characters like Céline and Timerra, it becomes clear just how viciously they fight to protect their people’s right to having those things in their lives. And this, of course, isn’t the only similarity, nor is it the only difference. If you need to see more of what I mean, emblemxeno made a great post on this that might help fill in some more gaps. It’s stuff like this that makes me prefer the way Engage executes its worldbuilding, because you can feel the way the countries influence each other, as well as the things that come innately from themselves. It’s not quite the same as Fodlan’s sort-of similar cultures. The ideas from each place don’t bounce off each other quite the same, so I find they’re not as entertaining to observe.

I could probably keep going on for awhile longer, but the answer to this ask is like… probably way more than you bargained for when you initially sent it, so I might leave it off at that. Any further, more specific questions can always be sent at a later date! I’m certainly not opposed to getting more asks after all ;)

At the very least, hopefully I was able to shed some light on my opinions on the contrasts between 3H and Engage, and why each one either does or doesn’t work better for me. Thanks for taking the time to ask!

[benebonv]

Imogen i don't know how to say this but we think your mom and Otohan Thull are fucking

[nowis-scales]

Oh boy, I love that I've now earned myself the title of "local Fates expert"! Glad my penchant for remembering small details is worth something.

Anyway, there definitely were 12 dragons in Fates' original lore, but four of them go unnamed. The named ones are the Dawn Dragon (Hoshido), Dusk Dragon (Nohr), Moro (unknown affiliation, though he did want to help Anankos), Anankos (Valla), the Rainbow Sage (unknown affiliation, creator of the divine weapons on both sides, the Ice Dragon (contrary to Flora's commentary in the English version, in the Japanese version she confirms such a dragon did exist long ago), the Wind Dragon (Wind Tribe), and the Flame Dragon (Flame Tribe).

As you both pointed out, though, the way blood is transmitted is quite different from Fodlan's universe. The biggest difference is consent. In fact, some even describe the relationship between the humans and the dragons as a blood-bond. In Fates, they are a gift, but in Fodlan, they are just taken. Actually, I think it's about the same for the weapons, too? I can't quite recall if the Dawn and Dusk dragons even directly gave their descendants the weapons, or if it was the Rainbow Sage himself. I lean more towards the Sage, because he's the one who carries out the sentence of living with humanity until he fixes that mistake, while the Dawn and the Dusk dragons are said to have comfortably ascended. If it really was them, then the other dragons should have punished them as well.

It's also worth noting just because I think it was mentioned in the original ask that the royals in Fates actually age at a perfectly average rate. Not even Corrin, who is half-dragon, looks any younger than their intended age. With the art book and data from the game slating Hinoka as canonically 21-22 years old, Corrin looks about right for someone who is meant to be her slightly younger sibling. Even Lilith, who looks more youthful, doesn't look that young. She simply looks slightly younger because she is a slightly younger dragon.

One thing that always intrigues me though is the fact that only the Dusk Dragon, the Dawn Dragon, and Anankos seemed to give their descendants any blood powers. Felicia, Flora, Rinkah, and Hayato notably don't have any. As you said, you could make a case that perhaps their dragon's blood powers instead are their abilities with ice, fire, and wind, but that doesn't 100% make them "dragon veins" either, as they are usually classified as being able to do many things. That's a bit of unresolved lore that I think could be helpful to connect to Fodlan, especially since certain crests seem to be better for certain things. Regular dragon veins as we see them are good for a variety of uses.

I think because of these little differences, the children of Fates seem to be trained to use their powers better, because there aren't nearly as many known instances of dragon veins being abused. Hell, Ryoma takes divine power from someone else when he wants to maybe be a little underhanded with it, even though he came preinstalled with that function. We never really hear about people vying for the hands of royals in marriage to specifically get their divine power or anything, either. That's Sylvain's whole shtick in Houses, but the most anyone ever says about such a thing in Fates is Garon's mistresses, and even they cared more about the direct line of succession than the divine powers as well. Their concern seemed to be about who would be king or queen and the power that came with that. The divine powers were just kind of a bonus. It probably helps, too, that dragon veins are always guaranteed. Crests are not.

So I guess my end note here is that while I think there are a multitude of similarities between Nabatean and Fates Divine blood, they are more unique than they are alike. There are some interesting connections there, especially with the 12 dragons in Fates leading to the near fall of humanity versus the 12 "heroes" in Houses leading to the near fall of the Nabatean race, but I think that's part of what makes the links interesting. They're not directly alike, but I can definitely see where yanderefairyangel is getting their impression from! I definitely think the people of Fodlan would be floored seeing the ways a Dragon Vein operates.

I know we compare Fodlan's crest to Holy blood, but did we ever mentionned how it is also very similar to how dragon Veins were transmitted ? I mean, there is total of 12 Heroes who got blood from the Nabateans (because of genocide) while in Fates, we got 12 Ancient divine dragon who gave their blood to several rulers. At least one of those 12 individuals plays a big parts in the plot and as an antagonistic figure at that (Anankos/Nemesis). The dragon have magical blood that helps grow older slower and gives you magic power you might transmitt to your descendant which is the case of the Nohrian, the Hoshidan and the Foldan society (but not of Laslow, Selena and Odin for reasons) and they got their magical weapon from them. The only difference being... the lack of consent of the Nabateans in all of this.

I see what you're getting at, but at the same time... are there really 12 dragons in Fates? I remember there being far, far less (The Dawn and Dusk dragons where the royals got their Dragon Veins from, Anankos which is where Corrin and Lilith got theirs (also Soulnankos temporarily gave the Awakening trio Dragon Veins), the Rainbow Sage... maybe the Ice Dragon? None of the latter two give Dragon Veins though, although the Tribes do get power over their own element so *shrug*)

Anyway. I believe the reason Dragon Veins are almost never equated to Holy Blood and Crests is that while they do share some similarities in how they function (carrying over through generations, being initially acquired by drinking dragon blood, granting superhuman powers), Dragon Veins function the same no matter their origin, regardless if it came for the Dawn or Dusk Dragons or Anankos.

And also, barring maybe Yato, none of the Fates Sacred Weapons (or whatever they're called I don't remember) seem to explicitly need a Dragon Vein to be used? In fact if I remember some supports correctly you actually need a great amount of skill to be able to properly wield them (Kiragi's support with Takumi mentions that he is still unable to either call or draw the magical string of Fujin Yumi, and the fact that none of the Gen 2 royals are able to use their parents' Legendary Weapons in the main timelines, rather only in Heirs of Fate). And also, no one covets for Dragon Veins in the same way they tend to crave Holy Blood and Crests.

But regardless, yeah. Even Dragon Veins were willingly given by humanity (by either mating between dragons or humans or offering of blood) just like Holy Blood while Crests... absolutely did not.

(realized this answer is really messy due to my memories of Fates lore being kinda foggy, if it's not too much trouble @nowis-scales could you please give a second opinion as the local Fates expert? :D )

[mixed-up-metaphors]

insert studio laughtrack here

[strayjester]

Guys, the case in TMAGP ep. 19 is so good

[hello-eeveev]

With Matt saying it in that one 4-Sided Dive and reiterating it tonight, yeah sure, I’ll take Ludinus at his word that he was witness to horrific violence and suffered a lot of personal tragedy at the end of the Calamity. And in doing so, I am now considering him in relation to—interestingly, ironically—Rhea Fire Emblem Three Houses.

They both frustrate me and infuriate me. I don’t like them. At all. But I do have some sympathy at least for their past selves who went through the events that set them down this path.

Even so, their past trauma does not justify their present abuses of power and disregard for the lives of their fellow man. They are so caught up in their personal quest for revenge or “justice” that they’ve stopped caring about who or what becomes collateral along the way. They have an unwavering faith in the righteousness of their cause that makes them arrogant and patronizing and insufferable, but which also makes them quite capable of drawing people in and exploiting people’s desires for answers in order to bolster their own power. What might have started out as a just cause has festered in centuries of single-minded focus and self-pity until it has morphed into something unrecognizable, and they don’t even seem to realize it.

I need to crawl into the screen and shake them.

[randomrandomalright]

ISTG if another one of my favorite characters loses an eye….

[sunsetbridge555]

cool animals

[shuppityduppity]

People are sort of dunking on Engage for sort of having Isekai Plot Writing (trademark) but it's like... at least it has a story, you know?

When there's four campaigns in a game and two of them are basically identical and the third is a throwaway "evil ending" that doesn't even resolve the main plot, and NONE of the campaigns manage to tell the complete story of the characters or the world, it really feels like the story has been chopped up into big chunks for no reason beyond a storytelling gimmick that's been done better before. I love the 3H characters and their designs and the idea of the time skip but just cramming a bunch of sort of interesting people into a church and having them fight some evil dudes doesn't constitute a story, I'm sorry. I've gotten much more meaty story content from the 3H fandom making fanart than I ever have from the source material's actual text and that really says something about the substance of the game, I think.

Not to fire emblem on main but I think that playing Engage has really set in just how much I didn't like 3H. I think that game was missing a "core" to give it an identity apart from the rest of the franchise beyond the branching paths thing (hello FE: Fates). The mechanics were so limp that fighting battles was an "eh, whatever" sort of affair that absolutely does not fly in Engage whatsoever. The little battalion/gambit mechanic and the big monster enemies absolutely do not hold a candle to Emblem Rings and the weapon triangle in terms of strategy gameplay.

In 3H I always had this feeling that I was focusing all of my time on the Monastery to the point where battles were an afterthought. By the midpoint of the first route, the "management sim" boosts to stats and abilities were enough to carry me all the way to the end of the game basically without any thought or tactical decision making. It really felt like a dating sim/time management game with a tactics game sort of loosely attached to it.

[uselessnocturnal]

just found out that jonny sims voices the narrator in slay the princess and getting So Stupidly excited about it because i watched gab smolders play the demo last year and?-!?/!-?!!! loved it i’m so excited to see a playthrough and actually recognise the voice actor

[vampiromano]

why 'stardust'?

…because you're all that's left

ISTG LOOP!!!!!!!!! I NEED A REVEAL‼️‼️‼️ IDENTITY REVEAL RN‼️‼️‼️

[nowis-scales]

EdeIgard’s New Dawn Approaches…

As does the Engage liveblog, cause after I finish this path, that’s what I’m gonna do! As for Azure Moon, we’ll catch up on that once Echoes is through.

(Emblems:

❃ = Positive, not a problem

❋ = It is entirely neutral

✾ = It’s a bit negative, but it’s told in a joking way

✿ = It is negative and critical

Remember to filter #Fodlan Fault Finding and #Shut Up About Del as needed!)

❋ A noble sentiment, but it would probably mean more if, you know, maybe you weren’t actually directly spitting on everything Dimitri stood for by trying to take over his country, y’know?

I feel like this is a really good example of how EdeIgard gets painted by the fanbase as empathetic without actually being empathetic. In her heart, do I think she wants to do good by people? Sure. But does she really try to understand what other people are thinking, feeling, or desiring? Nope! She’s quite self-righteous, she thinks she knows best. So that’s why I’ve never really vibed with the secret uWu girl act, because like… no? This girl is not secretly a sweetheart, she’d like to be, but she’s not. She’s kinda more fun that way tbh, because it gives her actual moments of sweetness more of a chance to shine. For example, while we all know I think Petra doesn’t feel as close to her, I think it’s sweet that she does try in some capacity to be caring towards her. That’s nice.

Anyway, that’s a tangent. TLDR; Edie stop pretending that what you want is what all other people want. ❋

❋ Oh thank goodness we’ve got another genuinely good moment. ❋

❋ I will be by your side until Ashe shows up with that wedding ring and then I will drop you like a hot potato, but I can’t do that until the end of the game, so I suppose I will be? ❋

✿ Do you think this qualifies as inception? Cause like Arundel’s being impersonated by someone from TWISTD, right? So it’s like, two characters who exist mostly to make EdeIgard’s backstory sad layered onto each other? What would you call that, Woobception?

Alright, I’m sorry, I gave myself license to be mouthy because I really do not care for EdeIgard’s attitude in the confrontation between her and Dimitri, especially because we just go right back to treating her like a hero, but I’ll try to reign it in because I’ll get away from myself. ✿

✿ SHE WAS IN MY HEAD, EDIE

I WANNA SAY THAT YOU WOULD BE THE KIND OF PERSON TO SAY “um your mental illness is just in your head” BUT CONSIDERING THE KING OF DELUSION LINE, THIS IS ACTUALLY NOT INACCURATE AND WILL NOT SUCCEED AS A LOVING JOKE

I AM TRYING TO FINISH THIS PLAYTHROUGH NORMALLY EDIE, PLEASE HELP ME TO DO THAT ✿

✾ EdeIgard in Class: I want Rhea out of power, but I don’t want to hurt her

Also EdeIgard When the Moment Comes: Let’s just kill her and all of the Seiros people, bang bang!

Like I’m sure someone is going to say “that’s kind of a misinterpretation”, but I’m just thinking more in the context of like… peacekeeping work done by the Church, this could be a bad thing. Like the Church would interfere between Adrestia and Faerghus fighting, but if Edie’s all about full Adrestia, she’d want to get rid of that, wouldn’t she? ✾

✿ Call that a humble brag

Also I just need to point to the second last chapter of Verdant Wind

Also also if we’re actively advancing on Fhirdiad where the fuck are they supposed to go ✿

❃ “So when EdeIgard von Hresvelg says this, she is what the youth call a ‘girl boss’. But when I, the Seiros, also known as the Immaculate One-” ❃

[butwhatifidothis]

fastest time beating Chronos!!

(spoilers)

and Eris!

[fayesdiary]

Rhea for the "send me a character" w/ the "first impression, impression now, etc." ask game!

Cringefail pope my beloved💚

First impression

The days of 3H pre-release are long gone, but from what I remember I didn't think much of her beside her being another Mikoto archetype which I didn't have any interest in. (especially because this was back when I was still on Reddit and by extension the Fates Bad™ circlejerk)

Then I think I remember seeing a screenshot of an official tweet that went something like "fight/destroy the Church of Seiros in Fire Emblem Three Houses" (nevermind it happens in only one of the four routes and the most villainous one at that) so I was something like "welp. guess she's the villain of another Evil Religion™, whatever."

Impression now

fgdgdfgdfgdfgsdfgshfgifuhg

She's my favorite Fodlan character, something I never saw coming.

While I have my issues with how she's treated as a character (mainly being relegated to the red herring for Edelgard in Part 1 and the late Nabatean infodump only to then die in Part 2. You know, when she's not completely absent or treated as the scapedragon. In general she's treated with the "tell don't show" approach Fodlan writing loves) they are definitely mitigated by all the small details that make her so interesting. And while I find her lack of spotlight and moments where she shines at her best incredibly frustrating, I'll admit that digging beneath the surface and starting to see who she actually is as a person is quite fun in its own right.

She's a truly kindhearted, deeply flawed and quite cringe woman. Of course I love her.

Favorite moment

Funnily enough, her weed quest. Not just because the sheer concept of the pope indirectly giving weed to her students is hilarious, but because if you look closer you'll notice that every herb she gives seems to fit the specific students a bit too well to be a coincidence (for example Bernadetta's herb is said to give her the courage to strike a conversation, Marianne's gives her a more positive outlook on life and Ignatz's boosts his self-confidence).

This shows that while she feels unable to get close to the students on a deeper level, she's clearly paying enough attention to them to know the general things they struggle with and tries to secretly help them, and it's really sweet!

Idea for a story

I've been entertaining the idea of a Silver Snow rewrite (AKA a scenario where getting an A support with her changes the entire route instead of just the ending) where Rhea is rescued early and becomes the de-facto lord. Featuring character development where she finally starts to actually talk to the students and her loved ones, Dimitri in a secondary role because I think the dynamic between her and early-timeskip Dimitri, not to metion in a context where Edie's already dead, has some insane potential (also makes for a nice foil to CF).

Also changing from her requirement to survive from being A Rank with Byleth to being A rank with all of her support partners. AKA overcoming her fatal flaw allows her to not only survive, but live.

Basically her learning to stop compulsively keeping secrets, openly talk and get close to others again and rely on other people on a deeper level. You know, the good stuff!

Don't count on it ever actually getting written beyond a few posts though. I know my limits :(

Favorite relationship

Romantically with Catherine, platonically with Cyril!

Unpopular opinion

I mean, this is Rhea we're talking about.

Liking her to begin with and not treating her like she's responsible for everything wrong in Fodlan is already unpopular to begin with.

Also people severely overestimate the political power she actually has.

Favorite headcanon

As a joke headcanon: Rhea has been every single archbishop in the past as well, so to keep humanity from finding out she's a dragon she faked her death every few decades... in increasingly ridiculous ways.

It got to the point where the Seiros faithful believe the position of Archbishop is cursed, and whenever people act concerned about her because of it Rhea is grateful for it but at the same time is internally laughing her ass off.

[mixed-up-metaphors]

another prime example of "what the heck was going on with my 3h playthroughs"

[asha-mage]

🌶️ fe3h, perchance? or barring that, fe fates (it's been too long since I've played awakening for me to have any real thoughts about it)

I have so many Three Houses spicy takes that their burning a hole in my pocket, so I'll pick one of my older ones:

A lot of the problems inherent to Verdant Wind would have been either fixed or mitigated by Lysithea being Claude's retainer instead of Hilda. The biggest thing this would have fixed is how scatter shot Verdant Winds is in terms of themes and ideas, especially compared to the other two routes. Lysithea being Claude's retainer would have allowed her to be more central to the main story, and tie in more tightly themes of 'finding the dark truth at the heart of Fodlan' by giving Claude a more personal and less abstract motivation to find that truth, as they search for answers for what was done to Lysithea and why. I understand the idea behind Hilda being Claude's retainer is give a sharp contrast between Hilda's family and her upbringing, and her loyalty to a someone from the nation her family so vehemently and bitterly opposes. But the main story of Verdant Wind never properly digs into what it means that Claude is Amlyran for his and Hilda's relationship, or manages to quite marry it's various disparate ideas together into a unique whole. Even the final confrontation with the Agarthans feels stilted- something better suited for Silver Snow or Crimson Flower. Claude doesn't have a huge personal character stake in fighting the resurrected Nemesis or plunging into Shambhala, but that could have been fixed if the game centered on him in relation to Lysithea instead- and tied together the routes disparate themes through that relationship.