#I MISS THIS GAME SO MUCH....... i may not draw it a lot but sylvain has left such a huge imprint on me

[crescentfool]

fe3h doodls from the year....! mostly sylvain bc i love him a totally normal amount...

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[radiantresplendence]

The Dancer Class - Fire Emblem Three Houses

The Dancer is our second special class and is the only one that is not exclusive to a specific character. Any student character, including the Ashen Wolves can be made into a Dancer when the White Heron Cup event comes up in part 1. Unfortunately, only one character can be made a Dancer in each playthrough of the game. Hopefully my analysis can help you make an informed decision. 

The Dancer certification works a little different than the qualifications for other classes. You select a student contestant to represent your house and come the dance contest, the house with the representative with the highest charm stat wins. To increase the player’s chance of victory, the game allows you to give your student dance practice. This grants the would-be Dancer a permanent +5 charm. I’ve never lost the contest, but from what I understand, it is possible.

Analysis 

The Dancer offers no boost to your base stats, but you could consider the +5 charm from dance practice a boost to your bases, even though it’s a flat increase that doesn’t care where your stats sit beforehand. The class offers solid stat boosts, however granting 1 strength, 3 dexterity and 3 speed. It also grants 2 additional charm on top of the already considerable boost to your bases. These are good stats for a unit that’s not necessarily suited to combat, and the exceptional charm makes a Dancer a powerful user of offensive gambits. Despite being a sword class, the Dancer also has access to magic, which is arguably the better choice for a Dancer in combat. 

Dancers have high mobility for an infantry unit, boasting 6 movement. This allows them to keep up with your mounted units, to an extent, so  long as you relegate yourself to backline support, which is what a Dancer excels at. 

Dancers have a robust skillset, starting with the skill and Combat Art that are permanently available once you qualify for the class: Sword Avoid +20 and Sword Dance, respectively. While in the class, a Dancer gains the Dance skill. Upon mastery, a Dancer gains the Special Dance Skill. 

Sword Avoid +20 is an absolute beast of a skill and acts as a premium ability for high evasion builds. It’s not the most useful ability to keep on a Dancer, barring Levin Sword shenanigans, but it’s extremely powerful in other classes. 

Sword Dance is a powerful Combat Art which is not locked to Dancer. It may only grant 1 additional damage, but it adds like 30% of your (already boosted) charm to your damage as well. It also grants 20% evade and only costs 2 weapon uses. It may not be the most powerful Combat Art, but on a unit with weak Sword Combat arts, it can be a notable choice. 

Dance gives access to the “dance” action, which allows them to refresh an adjacent unit, granting another turn. This is the biggest draw of the Dancer class and is extremely powerful. You can grant your most powerful combatant a second turn and take out a second enemy. (This is stupid good in tandem with a unit buffed by a Stride gambit and Canto.)

Special Dance boosts the “dance” action, giving it rally traits to boost dexterity, speed and luck by 4. It’s good, but not great. Usually, Dancers try to use the “dance” action as much as possible and if that’s how you’re using them, it’s a good skill to equip. The biggest boon is potentially allowing a unit to double and crit. It pairs well with units using gauntlets or brave weapons, especially so if you don’t have a dedicated rally unit. At the very least, it does have good action economy. 

Dancer growths are bad, granted a 5% detriment to strength, defense and resistance. The only meaningful boon it gives is a 10% boost to charm growth. From a stat perspective, boosting a high-charm unit to astronomically-high charm is the only real benefit. 

Good Dancers

Dorothea (and to a lesser extent, Constance) make the most obvious Dancers due to them being magic-specialists with access to long-range magic for linked attacks. (Hilda can do this too, if you want to be cursed... she even has high Charm...) Dorothea is probably the best of the three due to her sword skills and her Songstress Personal Skill allowing her to heal without taking an action, she’s also the only one of the three with a budding talent in faith and Physic. (I should note that Hilda has a special linked attack bonus with Balthus and Claude, making her arguably better at this than Constance. Basically, I recommend Dancer Hilda, but please don’t do it.)

Dimitri is the best high evasion build unkillable god type in the game. Ferdinand can do it too, without being locked to a specific route, making him the arguably stronger choice as Sword Avoid +20 can be unlocked by previous Dancers in NG+. Dimitri has his main lord charm though, can combine the Crest of Blaiddyd with Sword Dance for monstrous damage without chewing through your weapons as hard and his Royal Lineage+ gives +5 more evade than Ferdie’s Confidence. Basically, you put either of these boys on a wyvern. They’re not strong as a Dancer necessarily, but they work better than any other unit with what you gain by qualifying for the class. 

Edelgard is notable for having the highest charm in the game, a strength in swords and decent magic, including a really interesting spell list. I don’t think that Dancer Edelgard is the best mage Edelgard build, but the possibilities are interesting enough to be worth noting. If there’s a build where you’d want to actually use the Authority skill, this would be it. 

Marianne and Ingrid make notable Dancers due to respectable charm, access to Thoron and a strength in swords. Marianne is probably the stronger choice, due to being more magic-oriented and her Hero’s Relic being a magic sword, however Ingrid’s Personal Skill, Lady Knight boosts her gambit effectiveness which gives her a niche to not be overshadowed. They also both have access to Physic. 

Yuri makes a really solid Dancer because his Hero’s Relic, the Fetters of Dromi gives him Canto and Movement +1 as an infantry unit. Yuri also has a strong spell list, and main lord stats, boasting huge charm and the ability to not be as hampered by Dancer’s bad growths over time. 

Flayn is my last recommendation. She joins late, has good Charm and her Caduceus Staff gives her bonus range on offensive magic for linked attacks, she also has a special linked attack bonus with Byleth and Seteth. She lacks Physic, but if you want to use her and haven’t decided on a Dancer, it’s a good pick for her that can compensate for her being a little behind the rest of your army. 

The honorable mentions are Sylvain, who I was originally going to include, but decided against it when I basically convinced myself to make him a Dark Knight instead and Anyone who’s Getting Statscrewed and You want to Use. Dancers are going to be using the “dance” action a lot of the time anyways, so their not as dependent on the randomness of level-ups as other units. 

Conclusion

Dancers are really strong and losing out on fielding the class for Sword Avoid +20 isn’t really worth it unless you’re really going to capitalize on it. Sure Felix and Petra can use it, but you lose out on a lot in the process. In my opinion, once you get the late game dance of the goddess battalions and roll them over into NG+, you really get the freedom to experiment with the class without feeling like you’re missing out. 

I’ve got more of these, see the rest here.