#Against Dimitri and Rhea ?

[butwhatifidothis]

So, why do some people who love Crimson Flower always go on about how the English translation is pure evil? Because they always say that "oh, Treehouse hated Edelgard," but they never do a side-by-side comparison of why the English translaton is significantly more pro-Dimitri and anti-Edelgard (notice who they leave out in that) than the Japanese script.

From what I've seen, it seems to come from early fandom interpretations of 3H saying that it was "mistranslated to make Edelgard look worse" that came from people who, uh. Primarily didn't actually speak Japanese, or otherwise had a fairly severe misunderstanding of it.

You'll see this with pretty much every big-name event that is claimed to have been "mistranslated" in general. The AM parley, the Continue To Kill no u, Faerghus Toxic Masculinity, and "the Dream Interview calls her an antagonist not a villain" are the Big 4 of this thing happening, and all four of them have been thoroughly debunked as nonsense by people who actually speak and understand Japanese. That's probably why the actual MAJORITY of events that get the "this was mistranslated to make Edelgard look worse" card don't actually have that side-by-side comparison you mention (since there's WAY more smaller things that they say this about, for example Dimitri was TOTALLY JOKING with Edelgard during Gronder 1 and TOTALLY WASN'T freaked the fuck out at her "jokes"), because the people who claim this are 0-4 on being correct about this for four of the most important examples of this supposedly happening.

So they'll kinda just say anything is Totally A Mistranslation in the hopes that the English-speaking fandom who for the most part don't speak Japanese will believe them, and through that believe them on what the game is "actually" trying to say. With that being, of course, that Edelgard was completely and utterly right about literally actually factually every single thing she has ever said in the game ever and literally actually factually every single other person who disagrees with her is completely and utterly wrong (unless what they're saying is, of course, in alignment with what Edelgard is saying).

And if anyone who actually knows what they're talking about comes in and corrects them - even nicely! - they'll either go on about how everyone is coming after them (read: people who understand Japanese are correcting someone who doesn't understand Japanese about something that exclusively revolves around understanding Japanese), or they'll accuse that person of being a liar/sexist/homophobic POS who just wants the poor little gay bean that is Edelgard to be pure and utter evil since they totally view all gay women to be pure and utter evil.

All this, from what I can gather, is mostly to serve as a justification as to why they like Edelgard since they view liking her as a villain to be a genuine mark of bad character, for some reason. They want to believe that she's the progressive figure who does everything for the little guy for one reason or another, and so grab for any excuse they can give her they can think of to make their interpretation of her not seem so unfounded against all of the evidence Edelgard provides the player that she really is just an imperialist who doesn't really give a shit about her people if doing so gives even the slightest bump to her goal of forceful unification. All because daring to like villains is just soooo baaaaad lmao

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Another reason why the whole "forced marriages" concept (that Rhea haters ate up like pie) is bullshit.

Speaking for Faerghus, since this seems to be an issue players point the finger at Faerghus for, it's just... not true? This NPC does understand there are political implications to his marriage, but he wasn't forced into it and neither was his wife. They married for love.

The only known case of an arranged marriage prospect within Faerghus' known cast is Ingrid, and that's something Ingrid has taken on for herself as well. She knows her lands struggle with crops and that her people go hungry. She's choosing to deal with a non-romantic marriage for her people.

But what about Glenn, you ask? There are two aspects to that:

The marriage was arranged when Ingrid was born, but it's worth noting the marriage was arranged between Gunnar and a childhood friend's son. She wasn't just being married off to just anyone. It was both a childhood friend (who Gunnar clearly had deep trust in)'s son, but also a family member of the royal family's right hand family. But what about the Houses paralogue, you ask? Gunnar wasn't aware of the man's crimes, but as soon as he found out he rejected the proposal. Gunnar cares about his daughter's happiness and wellbeing. The only reason they're searching for a marriage candidate is because Galatea lands desperately need the financial support.

Ingrid is the only case we know of where she's being "married off" (her endings rebuke this entirely anyway because she does end up marrying for love if paired with someone). Nobody else in Faerghus had a marriage forced or politically forced on them (and frankly I still fail to understand how the Church is supposedly at fault for concept of this being the case period anyway). Dimitri, the literal prince and at the time of birth immediate heir to the throne, was never forced to marry. Felix has never been pushed to marry. Sylvain has never been pushed to marry (despite how important it is that they continue that bloodline). Annette, a female, has never been pushed to marry.

In other words, the major political players have never put their kids into arranged marriage with a single exception of necessity for one family (Galatea), and in Rodrigue's case with Glenn, it was done with a childhood friend's lands' welfare in mind. Gunnar could have married Ingrid to anyone at any point, but the most important aspect of it is that when it was arranged without her say so (i.e. at her birth), it was done with the son of a man who Gunnar trusted implicitly.

After Glenn died, Ingrid was plenty old enough to have a say so in who she might be married to. Presumably the issue wasn't pushed on her for a while after Glenn died for emotional reasons, but once they tried again, Ingrid had a say in things. Her father sent her letters specifically for her input. No, she doesn't want to marry for political reasons, but she understands how much her lands need it. Still though, her father won't force her to marry some scumbag. If she tells him she won't marry someone, he accepts that.

In other words, the only argument that can be used for "forced marriages" falls flat on its face. It's not a regular practice in Faerghus. None of the heirs to specific territories are being married against their will. The only instance we know about isn't so extreme that Gunnar is just going for it and picking the best dowry without considering his daughter's happiness and health.

The one time it was decided before she was old enough to give her input, Gunnar didn't need to "consider" marriage prospects and be unsure who to pick, because it was planned between two old friends who trusted each other and presumably felt that their child would be safe with the other family in question.

My biggest problem with people saying this claim is supported is that for the most part, people just take Claude's words in GW at pure face value and assume it's absolute, definite truth when he gives nor has any evidence to back it up (mainly because he blames it on the Church, which still doesn't make sense because such things are out the Church's jurisdiction. No amount of "seeing what the world is like without Rhea" is going to change Faerghus' politics, so even if his claims were true, Claude would have to go talk to every single individual territory within Faerghus to realize the truth if he's that dead set on his view of this, as each territory does its own thing politically).

He brings it up like it's a fact in Faerghus, which as I've said before, he has literally no knowledge whatsoever about Faerghus, and it shows. He doesn't even know extremely basic things, such as the previous king literally dying in the middle of making friends with a foreign land. He knows that Lambert died in Duscur during the Tragedy, and that's... basically the extent of his knowledge and understanding about it. For some reason though in Hopes, he thinks he understands Faerghus as well as he understands Almyra.

It's also annoying because in Fodlan games, a character can just say something - literally anything at all - and it's eaten up immediately and taken at pure face value with no thoughts actually put into questioning its validity. And before anyone says "but Dimitri didn't argue this in Zaharas!" yeah, I'm aware, and I feel that was a huge reason why that chapter, trying to be the "we fight as allies this once" chapter, was a total flop, aside from other things (particularly in the SB/GW department with Dimitri and magically wanting to "talk things over" with someone who had just murdered one of his dearest friends mere hours ago tops in SB, or in GW where politics would demand more from him).

The games have a problem with trying to introduce false concepts through characters who don't know better (i.e. introducing incorrect perspectives that we're meant to understand are just perspectives and not the truth nor fact) but then not refuting those claims, despite the game itself as the story progresses outright denying those things, whether outright or passively (in the latter's case, again, other important political figures having no talks of marriage on the table at all).

In the screenshots, the NPC is aware that politics have to get involved with his marriage, but he wasn't forced to marry and neither was she. Not only does he mention it, but he wants people to know they married for love. He's basically saying he doesn't want people to misinterpret their reasons for marriage (wanting land, wealth, etc).

In Ingrid's case, it was started with that goal in mind, but it started out in safe hands. After that she always had a say in who she might marry, and ultimately didn't marry for political reasons. The one person who was possibly going to marry for political reasons in Faerghus and not out of love ends up not even doing that.

Honestly, in Claude's case, I feel like he was just written with no purpose in mind except to rock the boat unnecessarily, because everything he claims in regard to Faerghus is purely speculation on his part. He knows absolutely nothing about Faerghus (in both games, but his ignorance in Houses isn't malicious, whereas you could argue in Hopes he's attempting to overthrow what he believes are their systems when even if they were, it would still be none of his business) but talks like he's lived there or spoken to its people who make the decisions he claims are happening.

Also, the concept of Dimitri being forced to do this that and the other thing are just... not true? Dimitri is happy to be able to help others and make reforms for his lands. He likes that he's able to have the power to make good change and help people. He knows that you need a certain degree of power to be able to push things in a better direction and to have a voice. By having the most important voice, he can make other voices known that otherwise would not be. When people have no choice but to listen to the king, he can demand that other voices are heard.

Even in his A support with Shez, he believes his happiest moment will be when he dies after dedicating his life to "a peaceful kingdom full of joyous citizens". I get the whole "but he isn't living for himself!" side of things, but this part of this post is specifically about how Dimitri is supposedly "forced" into doing things because he's king; but plain and simple, he wants to be king because by having the highest power in his land, he can make positive change happen

"This bad thing is happening in the Kingdom!" Well now he can change that. He wants to change things in his land for the better, and he understands that his position is a necessity for that. That's why he's so upset when he's "rendered powerless by age" in Houses, i.e. can't ascend the throne yet. He wanted to make change and couldn't. He wanted to do right for the Kingdom, but he couldn't yet.

Basically what I'm saying is that people keep using Claude's Hopes rhetoric as "fact", but literally none of it is. It's all based on the most severe amount of ignorance in both games and him for some reason believing that he knows jack shit about Faerghus. That includes the marriage "issue", which while I'd say it may exist in Adrestia (ex. Bernadetta being planned to marry Ferdinand), does not exist in Faerghus as any sort of "issue".

I don't recall if it's really even present in Leicester? So either... Claude just pulled that argument out of his absolute ass, or he's seeing an issue in Leicester and for some reason assuming his country's politics are every country's politics, which is, again, total ignorance (and he makes no effort to ever found out if any of that is true).

[randomnameless]

Some nice positivity: feh proves social awkwardness in nabateans runs in the family 😂 billy trying to learn to people, flayn “how do you do fellow kids,” seteth having the single social braincell but still failing, rhea wanting to share a meal in the cafeteria 😭 i love them all so much, they really are just so cutely unsure of themselves but are friendly and kind

And somehow, the BL gang is still completely oblivious !

During a Friday visit to an orphanage, as usual, orphans run to Rhea to play and ignore Dimitri after staring a few seconds. It makes him very depressed. Dimitri asks Rhea how she manages to be so close to people while being the Archbishop and having her own role to uphold ; he's worried people, and children, are intimidated by his role and presence now that he is king.

But talking to children is easier, so they reveal the "nice lady with a plate on her head" always gives them biscuits, but the other person shines too much and they always have to squint when they look at him. Dimitri immediately gets the message - maybe he should ask Felix and Dedue to stop using "oil" to polish his armor when they're doing knightly things together - and Rhea has her revelation seeing Dimitri remove his armor, at first she thought Willy was just being horny, but this is the real secret to make people less anxious, the key is to undress!

Cichol would obviously disagree, but who cares about him ?

Come the next meal at the cafeteria, and Rhea is less anxious now that she knows what she has to do. Hopefully for everyone, Annette and Gilbert catch her in front of the doors, wondering what she is doing, is she joining everyone to share a meal?

"Well yes, but first, I have to undress."

Annette immediately wonders what the fuck, but Gilbert knows it must have a hidden meaning, the Archbishop couldn't have meant that the way they both understood it, she has a way with words that is not the way of everyone else, he worked for her for years, he knows she is not some kind of pervert, of course she is not.

Thinking as fast as he could, he only came to the logical conclusion that she wanted to remove her heavy robes, fearing an accident if food falls on them or something like this. Seeing them both silent, Rhea tries to make the situation less weird than it is, explaining how it is to make people feel less bothered if she eats with them.

Annette finally caught it, Lady Rhea's afraid how her role and stature as the Archbishop would make people feel too self-conscious to enjoy a proper meal, that's why she wants to look as if she's only someone and not the Archbishop!

Who knew Sylvain's ramblings about paintings could be useful?

"Worry not Lady Rhea, if you want to wear a normal dress, you will be able to eat with us as you and not as the Archbishop!"

After a few tries to find something that'd suit her, she finally goes in the cafeteria, but is stopped at the last moment by Seteth, who gives her the "I'm going to lecture you for the next 20 years" look, what is she doing, she's too old to play dress-up, this dress is not appropriate it shows her arms, she's the Archbishop, cover up for mother's sake !

Rhea refuses, and they argue, Seteth won't back down, he knows how stubborn she is so at least he will give her his jacket, but while Rhea's pushing him he actually rips his shirt, so they both fall in the cafeteria.

Rhea's sure people will stare and stop having a pleasant meal because of Seteth and his idiocies, but instead of saying "oh the archbishop" there are a lot of people running to a shirtless!Seteth, asking him if he can train them, if he needs squires or if they can become his knights, hell, if he needs assistance to "polish his armor".

Flayn wonders what happened to her dad to barge in the cafeteria without his shirt, maybe it's the crisis of the 3500s, her uncle Indech told her once that when Cichol will reach 3500 he will act weirdly. But she's pretty interested in Rhea's new dress, those designs and patterns look so modern!

"What are you talking about? This is the most traditional Faerghian dress, this design is as old as Faerghus !"

Mercie thinks Flayn wanted to find something to comment on, and doesn't think more about it, while Ashe and Ingrid talk about dresses depicted in various knightly novels, the Maiden of Wind's dress in the edition of 950 had a dress that was judged too "Adrestian", so the verses were modified to remove any part that could make a link with Adrestian fashion.

Sylvain wonders even more seriously if the Lady from his step-mom's painting wasn't related to Lady Rhea, because without the giant crown and robes, they really really really look alike, bar the hair color. But it's just a foolish remark, I mean, no one lives to be that old, besides, you can't really change the color of your hair, right? Flayn didn't get the part about "living that old" but tells Sylvain that yes, she tried to use berries a long time ago to change hair color, but it didn't work that well because she couldn't color the ends, but no one noticed it since yellow and green are close colors.

Sylvain stares at Flayn - the lady in the painting has yellow hair, but with green ends - wait just like Seiros he remembers Ingrid tried to put grass in her hair when they were younger when she was pretending she was Saint Seiros - is Flayn messing with him or ???

Ultimately, Rhea asks Catherine if it is alright to eat here, in the cafeteria, with everyone. Aren't people troubled or stressed because she is here? Catherine replies if anyone is bothered they will talk to her fist, but why is she even thinking she is bothering people? Everyone's happy to spend time with her!

"Even if I don't undress?"

Catherine's mind went blank for a second, what the fuck, what is Lady Rhea saying - who's the bastard who told her she had to undress to make people less anxious, Lady Rhea is too naive - but renews her knightly vows.

Meanwhile, Dimitri had to convince Felix and Dedue to let him join the cafeteria without any shirt on "It will create a commotion your Highness, please reconsider" "Stop being a boar and put clothes on!" "But it worked with the children, as soon as I removed a piece of clothing they stopped being afraid!"

"They weren't afraid they were just blinded by the sun reflected on your armor!"

[slotumn]

One thing about Claude is that as much as he's not a religious guy, I get the impression that it's a personality thing more than "actually deeply opposed to the idea of religion or religious institutions itself on principle/ideology"

You know how the opposite of love isn't hate but disinterest? It's that. On a personal level his brain is just not wired for deep investment into religion/faith, whether that's for or against.

Like yeah he doesn't like the Church due to encouraging myopia for the sake of maintaining isolationism, but he'd dislike anything that encourages those actions/policies, even if it's not on a religious basis. And in VW, he's perfectly willing to ally with the Church and use Byleth's clout as a religious figure for his own goals.

He does acknowledge that maybe there is such thing as divine force on some level certain conversations, but he's not devoted to any particular interpretations of it. He's "not religious," rather than "against religion" from something like religious trauma. He's the kind of guy who'd go to religious events because it's fun and the guy who gets interested in theology how nerds get interested in fictional settings and worldbuildings. And at the end of all that his own personal stance is "well the food's delicious and I think they have interesting things to say but I'm not religious lol"

So if you throw him next to Edelgard, Dimitri, and Rhea having a fierce debate about religion/theology from the perspective of individuals (note that I say individuals, not rulers/authorities, bc that's a different story) who actually genuinely hold religious faith and/or are otherwise deeply personally invested on the subject matter, I think he would basically react to it how normies would react to fandom discourse. Funnily enough I think the two other MC/lord level characters who would also have that reaction would be Byleth (dragon Buddha Jesus) and Shez (homunculus Mara Antichrist) so that's something.

Tl;dr on a personal level when it comes to religion

"[182919 page jargon-filled essay full of arguments and counter-arguments]": Edelgard, Dimitri, Rhea

"Hey guys how's it going": Claude, Byleth, Shez

[diaphin93]

The worst is that those Edelgard haters are bigoted ( misogyny is a very important part of it, but there's also so much casual racism, ableism and queerphobia, but I'm sure you've seen this better than I did :/ ) but they often believe themselves to not be, and so many of them try to make them like they're actually the one fighting bigotry.

For example, Edelgard has the biggest queer fanbase out of all the house leader and appear outside of the fire emblem fandom in sapphic online space ( hell she even had an irl drag performance ). But they can't really acknowledge that, because that would make them look bad.

So they pretend that actually the huge majority of Edelgard fan are straight men... But to pretend that, they have to play with reality. Edeleth is getting reposted really often in yuri reddit community ? That's because those community are actually all straight men fetishizing wlw. Edelgard is the only canonical bi lord? That's because they wanted to attract those straight men fetishizing wlw, so it's actually terrible male-gazey represention. Edelgard fanfiction are by the HUGE majority written by sapphic women? They'll conveniently only attack the one man that got his F!Edeleth fanfic popular. That guy actually has mostly sapphic and often trans reader? They don't mention it. He often talk about his own queer headcanon or analysis himself? They'll make shitty post on how those hcs or analysis are actually queerphobic.

And that's the same for sexism, racism and ableism. Edelgard is a character made for white straight men, so she's bad for minorities despite her own traits diverging from the norm: she's an acceptable target when you pretend to be against bigotry. Her fans are all white straight men, so they're acceptable target when you pretend to be against bigotry. ( And funnily enough, they never acknowledge when a non-negligible part of the fandom they're in, like Dimitri and Rhea, are full of straight white men )

But that's the problem, the huge logical issues they try so hard to bury, is that we're not actually white straight men. It's so alienating to have them talk about the bad white straight fans of Edelgard, while at the interacting with people like us. Like, did any of your detractors even ever genuinely acknowledged when you, a woman, accused them of incel like behavior without immediately scoffing at the accusation? Did they ever acknowledge that uncomfortable place of minorities in the Edelgard discourse, like they do so often with Rhea or Dimitri to portray themselves as fighter against bigotry?

They erase minorities in the fandom, but they pretend to fight for them.

And the worst is that they don't even really fight against bigotry in the fandom at all. There's so many racist, queerphobe, ableist, misogynist in part of the fandom like the Blue Lions. Hell some of them are very openly conservative or far-right! But they'll never attack those.

Even in the Edelgard community, where we do have small group of vocal straight white bigoted men like in Reddit... They don't actually do anything to them! Those guys are often just as busy fighting F!Edeleth and sapphic women in the community as they are engaged in the discourse. And the Edelgard haters, well, they don't like F!Edeleth and honestly they don't like sapphic women who like Edelgard either, so they have no interest in fighting them. Because they don't actually care about bigotry, they just want to shit on the character they dislike, not so rarely for bigoted reason on their own.

Hey, thanks for the message and sorry that I'm replying so late, started to write this up and then got distracted alot. And I feel you. I think many aspects of this whole Edelgard discourse and fandom Drama surrounding it are very symptomatic with issues in fandom in general, that can often be very hostile towards lesbians and sapphics in particular, due to the strong androcentrism that is visible across Fandoms. I think FE3H in this way represents somewhat of a microcosm of Fandom in on itself, due to the fact that Edelgard early on established herself as a fav of Sapphic and Yuri-centric communities inside Fandom, her most favored ships being w/w with m/w ships always being somewhat of a niche.

Like, Edelgards strong presence in the fandom as well as the preference of sapphic relationships surrounding her is quite an anomaly inside fandom which isn't very often seen and in my opinion the result of a perfect storm. I think what partially plays into it is probably t he way 3 Houses is structured, with the eponymous 3 Houses front and center and a chose your own Lord approach, which creats very much a faction system with this game and with it, encourages the development of communities centered around supporting their chosen Lord and House inside the broader fandom of 3 Houses. And the Black Eagles are just perfectly set up to draw out a strong sapphic and yuri fanbase for itself. There is naturally Edelgard as the central female Lord of the game herself, but I think what cemented it is having Dorothea next to her. Both of them are not only part of the, sadly rather small, cast of confirmed and unambigiously canonical queer characters with the ability to marry either Byleth, they also are themselves written in a way that would naturally draw sapphic audiences. Edelgard alone already fits right into typical tastes of both sapphic audiences and the more decicated fandom, being a canonically queer woman who serves as the central protagonist of her playable route and not only subverts traditional writing with her dominant, brunt and guarded personality, but also acts as a morally nuanced character with motivations strongly centered around the revolution against an oppressive religious institution and a heavy hitting backstory centered around themes of loss of abuse, loss of bodily autonomy and societal vilification. It doesn't hurt that her initial students uniform also strongly invokes an association to Utena if you look at her, even if it may happen unconsciously, who stands as one of the definitive icons of queer women and sapphic centric story telling inside japanese media. Her role is also close to the villainess genre, which is highly centered around a critical lense on the way female character usually are vilified and reclaiming them as empowered feminist symbols, often through the heroine subverting the predetermined narrative that sets them up against each other and chosing female solidarity and companionship with the villainess, which is basically the plot of the Black Eagles Route. The Narrative tries you to force siding against Edelgard and only through claiming authority and deepening their bond to Edelgard, can they defy it and side with her. With Dorothea, we probably have the most feminist character in the history of Fire Emblem, whose themes center highly around objectification and misogyny she faced in what hs implicitely a clearly patriachal society.

Both of them also have strong supports with the other two female members of the Black Eagles, whose personal themes go deep into patriachal abuse, misogyny and anxiety as well as xenophobia, imperialism and the loss of autonomy, both on a personal and national level. Them having these strong bonds with other women, but also female characters outside the Black Eagles, like Edelgard with Lysithea and Dorothea through their shared Paralogie with Ingrid, even if the laters support line is sadly cut short, creats an in short ideal set up a strong w/w centric community around the Black Eagles. With the Black Lions, with its extreme androcentrism, focus on male bonds and traditional Bishonen Design, drawing the traditional Yaoi but also het crowd, we have also a male supporting class who have strong queer subtext with each other, while also drawing in more non-conventional m/m shippers. Especially Ferdibert, due to Huberts more striking non-Bishonen features.

Sorry for the deranged long tangent and going so much offtopic, but I think it was interesting to go a bit into the factors that in my opinion lead to Edelgard and the Black Eagles having an by far above average w/w representation and appeal against the typical trend we see in more general non-female or sapphic centered media. And honestly, I think this is part of where the hatred comes from, because Edelgard and the Black Eagles just tick every box, but in a game that also features your typical straight white heterosexual with yaoi-bait possible Protagonist that draws Fandom attention, to which she stands in opposition. So it invokes hostility and ire, because it ultimately reveals the very centrist to conservative milktoast comforts of Fandoms that try to present themselves as bastions of progressive values and queer representation, when alot of m/m is less than an authentic representation of queerness and most often written around the comfort and gratification of a mostly cishet and in the case of western fandom also very white audience (look at how for example the m/m fandom on the Blue Lions side shuns Dimidue in favor of Dimilix, despite a much more tender relationship that can be read as romantic by the former). So they need to recontextualize Edelgard and her Fandom as actually not queer, as rightwing and reactionary but also engaging in the tactic of it being at one hand oppressively powerful and hostile but on the other hand also a niche delusional group that misreads the entire story. It is all to justify their own more conservative or centrist comfort zones and androcentrism, against a queer feminist Icon.

Though I think especially on Tumblr, what also goes into it is this need to recontextualize fandom into activism. We see this alot with m/m fandoms for example, where, what is male on male stories written not for a queer audience but for cishetero female consumption first and foremost, is treated as the forefront of gay activism. I mean, we saw it with the whole SuleMio vs Destiel Drama here, didn't we? Where bitter Destiel fans expressed the view that their Supernatural ship was actually a major influence in the push for queer representation and acceptance, up to claiming yuri gundam from japan owes everything to some male-centered buffy rip-off that featured less explicit queer representation than its predecessor did at the turn of the millenium. In 3 Houses, we also see this as treating opposition to Edelgard as some form of activism, framing her goals as imperialist or outright colonialist in nature and making the divine whiter than white dragon people who are the immortal progeny of a dragon goddess into a representation of every real marginalized ethnic group on earth...in a game that eschews racial allegories in favor of actually depicting xenophobia, colonialism and genocide against human PoC characters. Many of these arguments actually reveal how Edelgards detractors are basically just performative progressive activists focussing their advocacy on wars against fictional european-inspired powers inside a game, while also clearly just repeating leftist words that they picked up without an understanding of their contemporary political context. Again offtopic, but using terms such as imperialism in its contemporary political context or even worse, colonialism, for wars of conquest and ideals between fictional nations inspired by medieval european kingdoms and empires is asinine.

As you also hinted at Captain Flash, I think there is also a hugh double standart towards male yuri fans which bothers me. First off is blanked hostility and accusations of fetishization towards these groups always linked by transphobic collateral, due to how many closeted sapphic transfems first explore their identity and sexuality through the safe confines of w/w fiction and especially Yuri and this kind of rhetoric will inevitably damage eggs. Secondly is it hypocritical as it often comes from white cisheterosexual women who center their media consumption around the blatant objectification and fetishization of male queerness, with the Yaoi Genre having a shit ton of homophobic, heteronormative, misogynist and transphobic baggage. It also shows a clear lack of knowledge and insight into the culture surrounding Yuri in general, with these kinds of detractors usually projecting issues inside the yaoi community onto yuri. Yuri, as a genre, just never had a split between male and female creators that queer male japanese fiction had, which was traditionally seperated into the female dominated yaoi and the male lead bara or gay comics genre. Sapphic women were always a driving presence both as creators and consumers of the Yuri genre and are very well capable of policing fandoms against fetishizing misogynistic influences. It doesn't even fit into consumption trends, gooners, to name them very bluntly, don't engage with fanfiction, yuri asa broader yuri or shipping discourse, they are much more pragmatic in getting off and just straight up jump into porn.

I think its especially nefarious if we look at the queer community surrounding Edelgard. I mean, Monica at this point could be a transbian icon, because I have seen so many trans women strongly identify with her and build their fandom identity around her, because they can immerse themselves so deeply into her love and appreciation for Edelgard due to her being such an important comfort character for them. Edelgards most passionate fans are often also among the most vulnerable people inside this fandom, who feel inspired and comforted by her. Hell, even Captain Flash, who is often heavily slandered by Edelcritical crowds for the crime of writing a f!Edeleth fanfic often expressed in his authors notes how important and comforting Edelgard is to him, due to his own history of trauma and health issues.

Though I will also say, I'm against the idea of pushing the entire Blue Lions Fandom under the Bus and villify all of them. And even if I did just write some accusatory shit against Yaoi Fans, there is no understatement that in this case I talk about problematic trends I noticed inside the broader fandom discourse as well as the subsection of Yaoi Fans who engage over and over again in hostility against lesbians. At this point, I don't really think the people you complain about, which bother me alot myself, are really a majority of Blue Lions and Dimitri Fans, they are just very loud, pushy and aggressive and are good in talking as if they have any authority (look for example at this asshole who goes into his large somewhat orientalist and overall just stretching interpretations of the games supposedly deep buddhist themes and characterizes Edelgard as some evil seductress due to his own misogyny and media illiteracy). We shouldn't forget that Dimitri for many is just as much of a comfort character and inspiration as Edelgard is for her fans, due to his themes of trauma, mental illness, redemption and forgiveness which resonate strongly with them and their lived situation. I also think the very loud edelcrit community really worked towards poisening the waters and radicalize discourse, but overall I would personally assume that the majority of Dimitri Fans can understand and appreciate Edelgard as what she is in the confines of his route, a well-intentioned antagonist who in their point of view goies to far in her ambitions and whose ideals are irreconcilable with Dimitris. Which is true from the point of view AM operates on, just as Dimitri for an Edelgard Fan represents a good man who has fallen victim to the System and its manipulators Edelgard fights against. Theirs is a conflict of opposing ideals and perspective and I would say its where the game manages to execute its themes of connections and outreach as well as differing perspectives the best. Like, normal Blue Lions Fans ultimately agree with what Edelgard wants to archieve, because their reading is that Dimitri wants to archieve the same, they personally prefer his approach and road towards that goal. I think this is a point where people should be able to have fun with heated discussions but ultimately agree to disagree, its a very subjective matter ultimately.

Actually, I would say the worst detractors and most toxic individuals of the community are probably the church of seiros fans and the "Rhea did nothing wrong" crowd. Like, they can be among Dimitri, Claude or Rhea Fans, but those are usually those who try to force their own rather reactionary interpretations onto the community and engage often in rather racist, religious apologetics and pro-eugenics as well as pro-feudalism talking points and have this weird disdain for humans and human autonomy & liberation, as if they really immerse themselves mostly into the fantasy of being from some superior race, lol. Most of them have rather twisted and messed up interpretations of the world and the story which they are adamant about and usually they build their interpretation of the game around what they want it to be, namely being very pro-theocracy, anti-liberation and espousing the idea that humans need divine immortal beings to lead them, as well as often also being super Pro-Crest. I mean, one of the most infamous Edelcrit Fanfics is basically just full on pro-theocracy, pro-feudalism and pro-eugenics. Usually they have a strong hate boner against Hopes because it really ruins their personal headcanons of what the game is, lol. And I think many of them seem to have strongly jumped to the Engage bandwagon, which is closer to what they want out of 3 Houses, playing the idea of a divine dragon ruler straight and justified feudal bloodlines straight.

But yeah, I think I went into quite a few tangents here, I hope it doesn't bother you. If you have any more asks you can hit me up. Ultimately, I call them out when they engage in Incel and Misogynist behavior and otherwise just clown on these trolls. Its also just sad in a way, because its clear, that they constructed this idea of what they think the game is in their heads and everything that came out after te initial release of the game contradicts it.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 11

On we go to ch 11. Things are . . . uh . . . interesting.

MAIN STORY

So if you didn't see ch 10, I failed to recruit Byleth. I retried the level a few time, but honestly I just want to finish this game so I didn't bother.

Plus, the reason I failed was that Claude just sat there instead of moving forward on the escort mission, which got really frustrating, and honestly I didn't want to bother.

Ugh, I don't want to fight the Kingdom.

So those Houses that wanted to defect to the Kingdom didn't because Claude's battle was that bloody in that fire map.

Poor Dimitri and co seems like he's just betting bullied for no real reason by two imperialistic maniacs.

I love how Arval is getting snooty over Shez getting credit for their tactics lamo.

Man, this dialogue is dragging.

So Nadar is going to cause diplomatic chaos by utilizing the Almyran army without getting real permission.

Wait, Claude riled up Sreng? So much for "ending racism" lamo. Wasn't having two cultures not be prejudice against each other like his MO? The writers really just threw him in the trash, hunh.

I feel so bad for Claude fans. He's really a piece of work in this.

MAP/SIDE STUFF

Everyone missing Judith has a lot more punch than Randolph. Even Monica was like "get over it" to Fleche (but nicely).

So, let me make sure I have this right. Mr. I Want to End Prejudice Between Cultures just provoked Sreng into attacking the Kingdom so Edelgard can take it over because Rhea is the reason for everything bad. Did I get that right?

Unlike SB, GW is entertaining as hell, but man is the logic here is just non-existant. And poor Claude RIP.

Like, I know I'm biased and all, but I don't see how you're supposed to be the heroes and not Dimitri here. The people just defending themselves are getting attacked on all 3 fronts for the crime of *existing.*

Not going to lie. I kinda wish Claude didn't side with you in AG either. It would've been hype to kick everyone's ass as Dimitri after getting cornered by all these land-grabbers.

GW!Claude is really just the mean girl's sidekick. 😂

If Felix and Rodrigue die in this chapter I swear to God . . . (I just remembered Rodrigue is dead in SB now 😭 - LET THIS MAN SURVIVE).

I had to fight Felix in a side mission. Lysithea said they had to "defend this place" - like, girl, you are invading.

When the challenge is "you can't dodge" but you're using Lorenz 😌👌 (FYI, he just does not take damage in this game)

SHEZ & HILDA A SUPPORT

They're talking about how Hilda exerted energy in a battle because she worried about Shez.

Hilda claims it's just self-defense bc she was cheering for Shez on the front lines and enemies were there (honestly, this is pretty boring so far)

It's the same-old Hilda claiming she's weak but that not being true.

SHEZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

I know she's an Empire character, but whatever.

She wants to create new magics to restore her noble house and wants to research Shez bc of their weird magic

Lamo, Constance low-key called us dumb

Shez suggests she get her house back through military accomplishments.

Constance refuses to train right now, she wants to at night (it's her dual personality thing, right?)

CLAUDE & LYSITHEA B SUPPORT

Their first one. Claude's unhappy Lysithea charged in the last battle. But Lysithea kicked ass, so she's upset with Claude.

Claude calls her plan dumb and that he thought Lysithea was smarter than that. Lysithea still argues it ended earlier bc of her.

Lysithea doesn't back down.

Honestly, I side with her here. Claude's being patronizing. And it's rich of him not to care about all the other deaths dragging out the battle would cause and only Lysithea dying because she's *important*

CLAUDE & HOLST A SUPPORT

Oof, this one hurts. Claude accuses the church of creating all the systems to serve their own interests, because he doesn't know the truth here. That the Empire actually created most of it, and that all the church ever did was protect a genocided race from being murdered by more power-hungry humans.

It's also hysterical to hear Claude talk about wanting to improve foreign relations while instigating a war between two cultures.

Oof, Holst doesn't care about any of this. He's only worried Claude's going to send Hilda to marry a big, brown, scary foreigner. NOT a good look.

Holst says he cares more about Hilda's future than the whole Alliance. Yikes.

HILDA & HOLST A SUPPORT

They're preparing a feast.

Oh, it's nice to see Hilda's insecurities about Holst's "perfection" come up in this, bc so far she hadn't said much.

After that last support though, Holst is actually a pretty shitty leader.

Holst wants to make the feast all about Hilda instead of himself though. Hilda likes the attention.

Hilda basically had to set up her own feast lol.

HILDA & LINHARDT A SUPPORT

Hilda's cleaning, and Linhardt's honestly upset that he's lost a fellow lazy person.

Hilda claims she never pushes work on people. That, is a lie.

Linhardt is mostly worried how bad it'll look if he's the only one not working instead one of two.

All this support confirms that Linhardt is by far the superior lazy.

LORENZ & LYSITHEA A SUPPORT

Their only support.

So, not related to their support (and watch it counter it), but I find it pretty amusing how getting a leadership position faster matured Felix and Sylvain, but Lorenz is still a bit of a joke and the butt-end of every support he's in.

He's just bragging about how awesome his position and power is.

Lysithea says she's not inheriting her house. She claims it's because she doesn't like what comes with nobility, but we all know why.

She worried that the land will go to chaos without it's leaders though. Lorenz offers help (which, imo, he's actually mature here!)

Lorenz suspects she's turning it down for another reason and encourages her to rely on others to help.

RAPHAEL & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Raphael keeps snapping bows in half when he uses them. Leonie's shocked.

Leonie seems to actually make one and invites Raphael to test it while on guard duty with her.

IGNATZ & MARIANNE B SUPPORT

Marianne found his picture. He puts it down, but she likes it (it's a horse, well a pegasus, but of course)

Ignatz gets carried away talking about it, but Marianne finds it cute.

Ignatz finds Marianne loving pegasus cute. She blushes.

He wants Marianne's help, helping him paint a pegasus bc they don't like men, but if Marianne is around he can get closer and get a better painting. She's happy to help.

Honestly, this whole support is really cute.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

It sucks having to attack the Kingdom over and over again when all they want to do is exist in peace.

Oh, joy, Nadar wants to plunder Faerghus. I can see why Fodlan is so evil for not wanting to let them do what they will.

GW really had a chance here to finally do something interesting with Almyra. It even marketed itself as a route that WOULD. But instead it's just doubled-down on Almyra being a one-note lawless place full of barbarians. At least we have Brigid and Duscur so the only brown country isn't some racist stereotype. Since it's only 1 of 3, it's not AS bad of a look.

Fuck. I don't want to kill Felix and Rodrigue. It would be one thing if the Kingdom actually provoked this, but Felix and Rodrigue haven't done anything to deserve this.

I get to recruit Ashe again. Is he miserable here too?

Ugh, I was hoping Felix and Rodrigue weren't here. It seems vastly unfair that it's only Kingdom characters who die for reel in this.

Wow. Claude's really an A-class asshole. He told Ashe to surrender because Dimitri wouldn't want him to die. Maybe don't invade for no reason then?

Is Claude also going to single Felix out as a citizen of Faerghus who deserves to live? Or does only Ashe count and not the nobles and unnamed grunts he's slaughtering because he decided to team up with the person who plans on taking over his rule? (not hate to Ashe at all, I honestly feel awful for him in this game)

Ok, so fighting Felix is just a side quest. I'd rather fail a side quest than fight Felix so, going to try to avoid having to kill him. Ugh, he's attacking the engineers. And he's damn right saying he has every right to kill the people who are invading his home.

Thank God, he just retreated.

I still love how Claude got bent out of shape over Ashe, but Lorenz alone has killed 500 citizens of Faerghus this chapter so . . .

Felix is so worried about Rodrigue. I swear the writers wanted you to feel like shit playing this route.

Oh, fuck. Just when I thought I was finished killing people for defending themselves, Daddy Gautier shows up :( He's sacrificing himself to safe Felix and Rodrigue, isn't he?

Oh, fuck. He died for real 😭

It's really hard to like these characters, making mindless chit-chat after killing Sylvain's daddy. I hope Sylvain fucks them up a new one.

I've never wanted to slap a character more than I'd love to slap Claude right now. The moron has the audacity to be surprised people are going to die while he's invading a foreign country. What a fucking stupid moron.

He's also blaming - get this right - chivalry.

I'm like. I'm speechless right now.

That's right guys. Margrave Gautier died defending his king, his country, his home, and most importantly one of his fucking best friends from an asshole invader. But it's CULTURE'S fault he died.

I'm really confused what the hell Claude thinks he's doing. Does he REALLY think killing Rhea will magically allow people to live as they please? Didn't he grow up in another country where they had princes and shit and NO Rhea?? All he's doing is making Edelgard's take over easier.

This is starting to feel like a borderline spoof. Look at us end the war by invading another nation!!! I mean???

What's his plan? Kill everyone in Faerghus - profit - "freedom" from Rhea - Edelgard takes over - no profit???

The writing in this route has gotten really fucking stupid. Like, I LIKE the idea of evil!Claude. Either a Claude who wants to take over all of Fodlan or one who's ruthless and will do anything to preserve Leicester.

But what I don't like is really fucking dumb Claude, which is what GW's devolved into.

Oh, God, now we get a flashback between father and son. Sylvain and Gautier :(

Sylvain better not be fucking recruitable in this route.

Now Sylvain's in charge 😭😭😭😭

I'm convinced someone who's a major Edelgard stan wrote the larger plot of this, but then a Dimitri stan wrote the actual dialogue 😅

We really go from one moment Claude being like - it's Rhea's fault Gautier died bc Kingdom culture bad because church bad to Sylvain being like, naw, he died defending his friends.

At the very least, I'll give Hopes credit here. At least they didn't write anyone opposing Edelgard as either evil or like they're idiots for resisting invasion, but I almost feel like they made the Kingdom especially too sympathetic which makes Edelgard look more interesting (since SB is more honest than CF) and Claude just look like a bozo. Rhea just doesn't look like anything since she's not even here.

Though, I REALLY wish Claude didn't side with us in AG. I really wish we got to see Faerghus backed into a corner and kick everyone's asses. They've very much the underdog and watching them do that would've been awesome.

Felix and Rodrigue are beating themselves up over this.

See, this is what I mean - Sylvain just said he's reserving all his hatred for the foreign invaders who take everything for no reason - I really feel like a Dimitri fan saw how everyone collectively decided to take a dump on the Kingdom in the big plot and got revenge by making everyone look like villains (or morons in Claude's case) for doing so in the writing.

xxx

[deathbirby]

What sucks about the fandom is that everybody usually defaults to make post-Crimson Flower fanfictions 'and they all lived happily ever after :)' which... sucks because CF is the most flawed ending out of all of the routes (Duscur is still believed to have killed the King, TWSITD are lurking around as seen in Edel's mural, sovereign nations were forcibly assimilated against their will into Adrestia, etc). All of these issues are ignored to default to a happy ending which is such a let down since all of these issues are SO interesting and genuinely could make really engaging post-CF fanfiction delving into them. That's not even going into how Edel's meritocracy is deeply flawed on further thought as it assumes equal opportunity (despite the nobility and the inter-generational wealth of said nobles), and an equal society where everyone is seen and treated as equals (the people of Duscur who are seen as traitors, Almyrans such as Cyril who were enslaved and forced to work, Nabataens and Edel's blatant racism towards them, etc). Let me make this clear; a meritocracy is better than feudalism or a monarchy outright. The issue isn't inherently with meritocracies, nor is it to dissuade changing the current system of Fodlan. The problems I have with Edel's meritocracy is the total lack of foresight and the refusal to engage with Edel's actions that brought in the system. Meritocracies can work but considering the broader context and political landscape of Fodlan: Edel's meritocracy was a system founded after violently conquering two sovereign nations against the leaders and the civilians wills. Many of these civilians do harbour resentment towards the government (as seen in Hubert/Shamir's ending where they act as secret cops 🤢), how Edelgard only really gives resources to people she knows aka nepotism (especially to Caspar and Bernie who are woefully not well suited for the roles the get). There's also the ugly turd by removing the corrupt nobles who kept her in check, there are no safeguards against Edelgard or future successors abusing their power (which Edel's use of her power is pretty questionable seen in Hubert/Dorothea gathering intelligence for the empire and Hubert/Shamir with being cops). ======== (1/2)

2/2 ==== I wanna bring up how Petra was treated; poor girl was kidnapped from her home, tossed into a hostile foreign land where she didn't speak the language and received no support at all from her peers. Going so far as Hubert calling her an animal (we love microaggresions if not outright aggresions to poc). Edelgard assumes her and Petra to be equals, that Petra is completely fine but Edel is oblivious or callous towards the gross power imbalance between the two. Petra is constantly trying to appease society by learning the local tongue, constantly trying to appease Edelgard and prove her own independence to ensure Brigid doesn't appear weak. Edel does show concern, I'll give her that, but she really doesn't do anything to truly help Petra. Iirc, Petra had to learn the entire language by herself without ANY help from anyone, not even Edel nor Hubert stepped in (tho Hubert can gawk at Petra like shes an animal). How is it unfair to assume that if Edel can't even address blatant inequality and oppression towards Petra, something that was in her face, how can she ensure that her meritocracy won't perpetuate further inequality and oppression on a wider scale? I really wish the fandom weren't so scared nor so adverse to exploring these issues in a post-CF fan fiction and really take a deep dive into Edelgard's rule outside of 'Fodlan was super corrupt, Rhea is the absolute fucking worst and Dimitri was just a Rhea Stan, Claude was aaaaalmost cool but he didn't want to work with Edelgard which sucks because they would SO be besties (even tho Claude experienced violent racism and would not tolerate Edel's pasty ass spewing vitriol how Nabataens are inhuman beasts) but its soooooo sad he didn't see Edelgard's goals, BTW CRESTS ARE THE FUCKING WORST :3'. Like, the only thing I have ever read to addressing the flaws Edelgard's rule was To Those Who Are Never Going Home by MadameHyde (but stiiiill doesn't hit the spot for me since its more focused on Garreg Mach than the wider society of Fodlan on itself). I believe in women's wrongs and Edelgard did SO MUCH shit wrong, let👏Edelgard👏be👏pointed👏out👏in👏the👏wrong👏. It sucks that nobody wants to engage or even play with that side of Edelgard, so I'm now stuck developing my own post-CF fanfiction/AU exploring an Adrestian-Garreg Mach and the world of Fodlan moulded by Edelgard's rule lmfao. I really want to explore a politically unstable and balkanized Fodlan, and it's so sad that nobody else sees the vision 😔 Thanks for reading my entire infodump about Edelgard and sitting through this entire essay lmfao. — 🍑 Anon

Oh dear goddess have mercy on me

CF's ending makes no sense when you realize that TWSITD can just nuke Fhirdiad right then and there and win. Thales can also just... brainwash Edelgard and turn her into a puppet according to hopes. It's the least logical ending.

Edelgard's system ultimately would only benefit the strong. The 'weak' (sick, elderly, poor, disabled, etc.) just have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps according to our emperor, but we all know how well that will work.

And yep, the nepotism runs strong with her. Caspar and Bernadetta are NOT fit to rule. We know from one of the endings that Caspar acts recklessly and dangerous on military campaigns but people just ignore it. That is a very bad look for Edelgard who just tolerates it.

Petra's whole situation deserves her own post tbh. She's a political hostage who gets treated like dirt. Edelgard couldn't even help her learn the language despite the fact that she has all of the resources to do so.

let👏Edelgard👏be👏pointed👏out👏in👏the👏wrong👏

write this on my gravestone lol

[cherrypikkins]

fe3h music ask game playlist

A while back I did an ask game associating songs with various fe3h characters. Here is the complete playlist, now with the rest of the characters added :3

Complete track list under the cut:

Felix - The Hand that Feeds - Nine Inch Nails

Yuri - Who Are You, Really? - Mikky Ekko

Mercedes - Change - Kate Nash

Leonie - Whatever It Takes - Imagine Dragons

Bernadetta - Help I'm Alive - Metric

Ashe - Luck - American Authors

Annette - Allies or Enemies - The Crane Wives

Claude - Ship in a Bottle - fin

Sylvain - It's Alright - Mother Mother

Flayn - Nothing Without You - Vienna Teng

Hubert - I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie

Rodrigue - The Lion's Roar - First Aid Kit

Linhardt - The Scientist - Coldplay

Edelgard - Yesterday Must Die - Missy Higgins

Ferdinand - Kid - The Revivalists

Cyril - The Struggle - Grizfolk

Jeritza - The Garden - The Crane Wives

Dedue - Run to You - Pentatonix

Hapi - Blind Winter - Missy Higgins

Ingrid - King And Lionheart - Of Monsters and Men

Seteth - Inkpot Gods - The Amazing Devil

Rhea - The Tower - Vienna Teng

Hilda - I Like the Way - Against the Current

Marianne - Sweet Hibiscus Tea - Penelope Scott

Dimitri - Be Yourself - Audioslave

Dorothea - Grandmother Song - Vienna Teng

Constance - Oh No! - Marina

Caspar - Second Child, Restless Child - The Oh Hellos

Lysithea - Look at the Sky - Porter Robinson

Shamir - City - Natalie Imbruglia

Manuela - Under the Table - Fiona Apple

Balthus - Could Have Been Me - The Struts

Lorenz - Way Beyond - Bastille

Petra - Breathing Underwater - Metric

Raphael - Times Like These - Foo Fighters

Ignatz - One Minute More - Capital Cities

Catharine - The Way Things Are - Fiona Apple

Jeralt - Out of Exile - Audioslave

Monica - Whatever You Want - Vienna Teng

Kronya - Eyes Closed - Imagine Dragons

Shez - Hymnals - Grizfolk

Byleth - Fire and the Flood - Vance Joy

Arval - Come With Me - Chxrlotte

Sothis - Whirring - The Joy Formidable

[fantasyinvader]

Part of the discourse, I believe, is rooted in Byleth being Schrodinger's Player Character. Who is Byleth supposed to be: their own character or an avatar for the player? Byleth's a silent protagonist, much a Link, and while we can't customize their appearance we can change their name and birthday. However, that birthdate is fake and Jeralt's journal gives Byleth's actual birthday separate from what the player gives them (unless the player puts in that date themselves). Likewise, it's also implied that whatever name we give Byleth isn't the name they were given at birth, Rhea's the only one who could actually give them their birth name.

In a way, the identity we assign Byleth is just whatever false identity Jeralt gives them.

The game makes Silver Snow the natural progression of Byleth's story, that Byleth would reject working with Edelgard and her allies at the end of White Clouds. The decisions that unlock Flower instead are framed as “changing the story” within the game itself. As the story is meant to progress, Byleth wouldn't abandon their teaching duties to go to Enbarr at Edelgard's request. Hell, Byleth gains a paralogue by have a support level with Rhea and loses it if they turn on her. Regardless of class taught Byleth being a teacher is shown to be good for them, allowing them to actually experience emotions, and at the end of every White Clouds Byleth's would turn their sword against Edelgard unless the player has them act out of character and do things that change the story. They go from a mercenary who cuts people down without feeling a thing, with Hopes making it clear they don't enjoy such a life, to someone who wishes they could peacefully solve things unless they side with Edelgard and abandon Byleth's character.

Rhea though Byleth was an empty vessel for Sothis, only to learn they were their own person. Yet players treat Byleth as an extension of themselves, their own empty vessel to shape Fodlan as they see fit while complaining you can't “betray” Dimitri like you can Edelgard (never mind the devs said she betrays you) or that Claude doesn't go after the Church. People talk about how your choices matter in Fodlan, but the first choice you get is simply which class to teach which includes two routes without any real variation to them, and the third class has it so that the player can either stick to the script or join the villains. What kind of sense does that really make if that first decision will lock me into supporting the Church over Edelgard before I get to know anyone or anything about the setting?

Instead, our choices only seem to matter when we go against the story and side with the people we were supposed to fight and in the process kill/exile the heroes. Despite the clues that indicate how out of character it is for Byleth to join Edelgard, how they regress as a person, this is held up as a good thing because it seemingly validates not Byleth's choice but that of the player's. They see Byleth not as a character, but as an extension of themselves and therefore want Byleth to fight the Church despite all of what Edelgard and TWSITD did during White Clouds because the player believes they are the bad guys. The devs even said that Flower was thematically tied to having different beliefs... in a world built to support Silver Snow's story. Even when Edelgard is shown to withhold information or spread lies to her allies, people still choose to believe her and think that's okay because this path was their decision.

From a Buddhist perspective, their “self” has ended up leading them astray, yet they believe their “self” should be celebrated because they misunderstood the setting and acted based not on what the story was telling them but what they believed instead. Going even further, this way of thinking is pretty apt for the Asura path. It's the path of the Agarthans.

[raxistaicho]

find it funny the edelcrits are still going after you and this red character. How did u get looped in racist accusations, didn't one of them write that one horrid throuple fanfiction that was racist af to Claude and a total character annihilation of edelgard or is it someone else away from their circle?

Good luck as always

No, you're thinking of Reynaattheend, she's on the same wavelength in terms of analysis of the game, but since she's not on Tumblr (to the best of my knowledge anyways) I wouldn't call her an Edelcrit.

Her fic is pretty dang yikesy though, featuring such wonderful features as,

some Nabateans leaving Fodlan to go "fix" other nations and being the apparent source of all religions (not beating the colonizer allegations at all)

Dimitri being a white savior for Claude

Byleth struggling with her emotions to hysterical woman levels and constantly relying on her two boyfriends to save her from almost getting herself killed (to give an example, Byleth struggles for page upon page against the Death Knight only for Dimitri to show up and one-shot him)

Just... everything to do with Edelgard

The Agarthans and Almyrans, despite their cultures very strongly and clearly leaning Greek and Persian, having German and Japanese as their languages, as though Reyna just thought any foreign language was as good as any other.

Byleth taking measures to hide Rhea's knowing distortion of Fodlan's history.

Sothis's destruction of two city states being lauded as a good thing for which holidays should be thrown (because I guess it was a Sodom and Gomorrah situation where literally every living soul in both cities were evil and deserving of death, meaning double genocide is heroic!)

Characters just swearing constantly because I guess she thinks that makes the fic more mature

Really glad to see people are starting to treat her fanfic with a more skeptical eye, I've done my bit to help push things along there.

[butwhatifidothis]

Do people really not see the inherent disconnect of the claim that Houses Claude is genuinely an amoral opportunist when his dream is to break down barriers to foster unity and peace? Like, is there not a fundamental incompatibility in having a desire for everyone to get along yet being a backstabber that throws people under the bus for their own benefit? From a personality/character standpoint, all that does is make Claude look like a ginormous ignorant hypocrite, and an idiot even though he's supposed to be smart. Because if his end goal is to create a diverse and harmonious community, how is he going to bring people together if he constantly betrays every side? And from a writing perspective, it makes no sense to have a character's actions and goals be completely contradictory and never address it.

Also for someone who is amoral, it sure is interesting in Balthus' Classroom QA Part 2 that Claude likes "ensure the fewest casualties" and dislikes "do anything to eradicate the enemy" when the question was "the war has been dragging for long so let's end it quickly". It's kinda like he has some principles or something.

Like, the idea of Claude being an untrustworthy backstabber who opportunistically takes advantage of everyone without ever growing close to them is just Hubert minus Lady Edelgard could be an interpretation of his character that aligns with at least his initial showing, or a surface level understanding of him. He calls himself the embodiment of distrust, he never fully opens up to anyone, he can in fact be fairly manipulative and callous; the crumbs are there, for sure.

But it also has to ignore how far he's willing to go to protect his people (putting himself in high danger when he is not sacrificial like, say, Dimitri is), or how he supports others having dreams for themselves (Goddess Tower), or how open he is to criticisms against what he thought (Cyril's support), or how he tries to be there for his friends (Marianne's support), or how he's open-minded enough to listen to people he initially thought needed to be his enemy (Rhea), or how violence is not just not something he considers but is something he actively rejects as a means of getting what he wants (The Alliance Leader's Ambitions, near the end), or how putting the people's lives in danger is something he is adamantly against (as you point out, Balthus' classroom question). A staggering amount of Claude's character has to be deliberately ignored in order to come to the conclusion that he's just a backstabbing opportunist who does anything to get what he wants (who magically gets fixed by Byleth's mere presence), because a backstabbing opportunist who does anything to get what he wants who magically gets fixed by Byleth's mere presence does not describe Claude.

Even if one were to take the game's writing failure of properly presenting Claude tackling racial issues (like never addressing Petra's situation despite having supports with her) you can't really deny that Claude is, in fact, a caring person after taking everything in his character into account. For all his flaws, he never abuses the trust people have in him to the extent that they are actively put in danger, nor is it ever the case that the "doesn't truly tackle racial issues" ever translate to anything so drastic as "which means he'll actively worsen relations between two countries." And, well, yes; you still do have to take into account that his dreams are of bringing people together and disregarding past bad blood. He never stops trying to achieve this dream, and he wants it to come true so badly that he is willing to let other people that he trusts rule Fodlan to work together with him to achieve it, shown in VW and even AM. That means a lot for someone like Claude, who is otherwise pretty slow to trust other people so deeply.

That's not someone who would use Leicester's bad history with Faerghus as fuel to violently invade it. That's not someone who would use Almyra's navy to make it look to Sreng like Faerghus tried to invade it. That's not someone who wants to conquer other nations and make his own come out on top. Those things describe Hopes!Claude, which 3H!Claude is not.

It's like. You know how some 3H's fans see 3H as "Edelgard, Dimitri, and the third guy that justifies my fave"? How a lot of people in 3H's fandom don't really see Claude as his own character with his own perspective and ideals and beliefs and morals that are unique to him, and only see him as a battering ram to try and knock down one of the other two lords? And so don't really care how he's characterized in other things (like fanfiction, fanart, meta, or in this case spinoff media) because they never really cared about him as his own character? But then get really, really, really defensive when you point out the flaws in their perception of him, saying that you're the one who never understood or liked Claude, because if you did you'd "realize" that he was always [insert vague, bland description that happens to prop up the lord they actually like]?

Yeah that's basically what's going on here. Most people who prefer Claude as their fave lord do not like Hopes!Claude, some of the loudest voices in the JPN Amazon reviews were of people who hated Hopes!Claude and were literally trying to warn Claude/GD fans away from Hopes as a game because of how awful their writing is, while nearly every Hopes!Claude fan that I've seen vastly prefers Edelgard as their fave lord and are - you guessed it! - very defensive when it comes to Claude fans venting their frustrations over Claude's shit-end-of-the-stick treatment he got in Hopes.

So like, yeah. It's less that people aren't directly computing that Claude's ambitions and character don't match how he's depicted in Hopes, but that they just don't care that it doesn't since 1) it justifies their fave and 2) they never really gave a shit about Claude anyway

[monstierider]

Rambling about why I dislike Edelgard but like Gullveig. I am prepared for the fallout of this post.

Now, both Edelgard and Gullveug fall into a category of tragedy spawning from "the ends justify the means" but their tragedies are different in how they workEdelgard is tragedy through stupidity. Her war is against the wrong people, serving to aid those she should be fighting, she says she wants change, but her change is far to rapid to be stable and will inevitably, should she win, cause resentment, as it would erase preexisting cultures and piss people off. Innocent people die in her war, but she doesn't care as it serves her ambitions. She claims to despise Rhea and the church, yet her plan is the same as what Rheas was back when she was Seiros, but without the stability being a dragon gave Rhea or even the stability of a normal human lifespan as Edelgard will die young, ensuring her changes will come undone once she dies. Edelgard could easily solve the problems she sees needing change by just talking to Dimitri and Claude, but she refuses to accept the better option through infuriating ignorance. She says she hates the abuse of the crest system and blames the church for it, yet it's the Adrestian empire, the place least connected to the church, that abuses that system because of those who slither in the dark.Meanwhile Gullveig is "tragedy through powerlessness".As a goddess you might think she'd have all the power she'd ever need to achieve whatever, but she doesn't. For all her strength, all her magic might and all her control over light and time itself, she has no control over her fate, once the curse of the golden seer takes Seoir her freewill means nothing to the serpents, she'll be nothing but a pained, unwilling puppet, to eventually be broken down and used to kill everything she's come to love. She has only one think to rely upon and that's the small, miniscule hope that someone will put her down, will end her misery, will finally stop the loop and let her die, happy knowing that she will never hurt anyone ever again. But her means to that goal are forced. She has destroyed the world hundreds of times in hopes of reaching that goal, without ever being able to control herself and go for means that won't end with someone being hurt by her.

[randomnameless]

In regards to what would happen to Edelgard if she lost her crests mid-war, i actually think she still stands a pretty decent chance of winning specifically on CF, if only because she'd still have Byleth on her side; an inhumanly strong, durable and fast commander (arguably even moreso than herself, Dimitri and Rhea, but that's a discussion for another post) that can also rewind time whenever things don't go the way they want it to makes a war significantly easier to win, even if she was forced to stay on the backlines from then on because she lost her durability and strength along with her crest.

She's pretty much fucked on every other route, given how she already lost her war on every non-CF route while getting massive benefits thanks to her crest; without it, she isn't making it out of her very first battle with Dimitri/Claude/Byleth alive lol

Ehh,

I'll disagree about Billy here, in the Houses verse they don't go "za warudo" and stop time, and aren't as durable as, say, Rhea herself, and I'd say on the strong and fast part, Dimitri has that covered.

I feel like Billy would waste all of their divine pulses uses trying to get near Rhea'n'Dimitri or even getting a strike in (where you actually wonder how they manage to win in CF, the plot said Rhea was late but even then, it's supposed to be a non fight, and that's not taking into account Sothis being a ok with Billy using her powers for, uh, this)

But yeah, that's another post lol

Without her twin crusts, I wonder if Thales doesn't ditch her earlier and unthaws Nemesis from the freezer.

Sure, he doesn't have the might of the Empire to back him up, but he can manipulate/brainwash Ludwig in Nopes, so why not doing it again to empower Nemesis and get rid of the pesky lizards once and for all ?

[dpsisquared]

Ever heard of Hopesverse nunleth? How about another switcheroo with church raised Byleth?

Now that the empire decided on fighting the church and with Faerghus still undecided if it will protect the Church, the church cardinals (without the full consent of Rhea) decide to send Flayn (for her major crest) as bride for the king of Faerghus. Flayn herself consented but Seteth didn’t. Rhea is still apprehensive about the whole thing but she sees it as a necessary sacrifice.

In the middle of the trip from Garreg Mach to Fhirdiad, after hearing all that Flayn already bled and did for Fodlan, Byleth decides to pull a switcheroo to save her since she already did way too much for humans and Byleth is aware of what happened the last time she did that (her long long mega nap).

So Seiros Knight Byleth Eisner escorts lady Flayn to Faerghus, except that when they arrive, Byleth introduces Flayn as her knight Byleth Eisner and tells Dimitri she is looking forward for their marriage.

Bylie’s plan is:

Pretend to be Flayn → marry the king → win the war → ????? → ask for an amicable divorce and maybe not be decapitated for tricking the king for marrying a foot soldier knight of seiros?

Seteth is also escorting them and helping Byleth cover her ass because it’s his daughter she is saving!!

Are you INSIDE MY BRAIN rn anon?? I was literally thinking about this exact scenario on my car ride home the other day. (Those are my Thinking Hours.) I had kinda dismissed the idea because of the logistics of Dimitri thinking her name was Flayn the whole time. (Not like I haven't written at least three hidden identity fics, so I'm not sure why this was the particular wall I ran up against.)

Lol I love the ??? step of her plan. I feel like Byleth does a lot of flying by the seat of her pants and assuming everything will work out somehow, so this tracks.

[1setethisneat1]

Fire Emblem 3 houses really should have just made Seteth the out right fourth lord of the routes. Like it's super annoying looking back at it how he's both important and yet not important to the Silver Snow route, when it's obvious that should be his route. He should also be shown more importance in the other 3 seeing as Azure Moon has us important to the church, Crimson Flower has El's bias(quote on quote for that cause she's blaming a whole race of people who were nearly genocided for the actions that only Rhea took) against the Nabateans, and Verdant Wind because that is literally the only route we get to fight Nemesis.

Hell, another idea would be to make Flayn the 4th official lord. And actually go deep into how a lot of this has affected her. Like we never get to see much of the two, and usually when we do it's is a big lore dump. Not that I don't like it and that they weren't written well, just that they could have been better.

Like have El question her ideals because she gets to know Flayn in Crimson Flower, or have her shit talk her and Seteth as they choose to side with Rhea.

Have Dimitri be able to interact more with Flayn, have her be the one to smack some sense into him because he's being stupid and won't let someone heal his wound after a battle. Have Seteth speak to him and it remind Dimitri of his father and him have either a freak out moment as he pictures Seteth as his dead dad or which I would prefer more, have him break down in front of him. Have him absolutely sobbing as Seteth holds him and comforts him like a father figure that he's desperately been needing.

Have Claude be more combative with Seteth. (He deserves more interactions with Seteth in my opinion) Have them bounce off each other on how very different their ideas are. Have Seteth actually been cornered by Claude into revealing history on himself and let the player choose who they side with more as points for whoever they side with. Heck you can even have this with Flayn but Claude being more sympathetic towards her as Flayn not only has supports with him, but also because Flayn is that freaking Charming!

Have Flayn actually see the damage that Rhea has done and question everything she knows. Give her actual rage moments, let her mature even more to where we could have her more cut throat and mirror El in SS. Or have that she shows resilience by keeping a smile on her face even when she's going through some of the worst stuff mentally. Let her show the leadership that is hinted at with her being Cethleann. Show the side of her that was a Saint that actually experienced War.

Have Seteth show that side of him. Show the actual power of a major crest and why they are sought after instead of the subtle things they do. Have Seteth be able to actually move the earth and summon vines and other things to his defence. Actually show his power of performing miracles just as his description says he can. Like an act of mercy that he can give to El when we fight her. Maybe even something that has why people follow him. Hell, show more of him actually talking to people cause that's what he's good at from seeing his supports.

These two deserve so much better than being left on the sidelines. They are literally some of the only survivors of a race that was nearly wiped out. That deserves more attention than what it gets. It's just so much wasted potential and story that we are never gonna get.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I'm not expecting this to be published but I'd love to enter a boxing rink with some of these takes. Seriously, lets square up

"Edelgard is actually a socialist"-> She's an imperialist. A hot one at that but she literally invades two independent states. There's is nothing socialist about imperialist. No one in this game is a socialist. Sorry to break it to you but your favs are probably monarchist. My fav is a monarchist! Well, maybe Yuri is a socialist.

"Ingrid is so annoying about Glenn's death" -> I'm guessing whoever wrote also hates Katara for always "bring up her mom died." Geez I'm sorry she has PTSD and can't just get over it. Maybe Dimitri and Edelgard should also get over their family's death too huh

"it's intentional that all canonical Queer characters are from the empire and rebelling against the church" -> Is what counts as queer only if they can fuck Byleth? That's silly. Not only is OP putting Rhea's queerness aside to make their point, it's ignoring a lot of queer subtext in other characters like Dimitri, Felix, Sylvain, Dedue, Hilda, Marianne, Catherine, etc. Subtext as well as straight up canon; Yuri is a bisexual religious guy from Faerghus, Shamir is bi and from Dagda. Mercie won't even rebel unless you recruit her. So like, literally what point are you making? You're using a whole lot of words to say nothing.

I guess my own hot take is that the CoS is not the Catholic church. There's nothing in the text that says the CoS is homophobic why do you want Rhea to be homophobic when she's literally queer?

If you, the fan, want to explore religious trauma in a fanfic or RP or a headcanon and you decide to make CoS homophobic, that's your prerogative. But I'm begging fans to stop acting like it's canon.

That being said, some people are 100 percent and I'm shaking their hand.

Robin should be tan/darker skin and transmasc (and by extension, Morgan should be tan too), Rosando and Forrest are FE versions of F1nnster, archers should be green.

.