#I also noticed that in Nemesis's inner circle (himself+ elites+maurice)

[revenge10112]

Y'know I've been thinking about how framing Crimson Flower as "Queer Woman Destroys the Patriarchy" kinda falls apart when you remember that her arch-enemy is ALSO a queer woman.

(Not that a queer woman can't also defend misogynistic systems, but Rhea's church clearly lacks the strictly patriarchal leadership of the real Catholic church, and while homophobia doesn't really get brought up, some of the most devout characters are queer, and never present this as a conflict.)

Meanwhile, if you want "fierce woman SLAYS toxic masculinity" the opening cutscene is RIGHT THERE. The highly feminine (but never soft or passive) Seiros vs the hyper-masculine Nemesis. She's out there, driven by her love, not for a man/romantic interest, but for HER MOTHER. She's up against a man who took a woman in a position of power and objectified her so hard he LITERALLY turned her into an object.

God, I love how apeshit she goes, and how she ends the fight COVERED in mud and blood. Her femininity is not something that forces her to stay pretty and demure, nor is it at odds with her ferocity. She's SCARY. IT'S GREAT.

So uh.. typically patriarchal humans vs matriarchal dragons has been an angle I've considered before too.

#edelgard's story being a privileged woman serving a misogynistic institution under the veneer of what she thinks is activism

omg actually wait like what if a big reason the Agarthans hated the Nabateans wasn't JUST for their race, but because they followed a female leader instead of a male one?? and they wanted to destroy this culture that not only had "beasts" in it, but also followed the "lesser sex" - which would piss them off because "despite" that, the Nabateans were still WAY more advanced than they were!

cuz the only female Agarthan leader we see is Cleobulus, and even then she fits a very stereotypical male gaze-y role of being a ~seductress~ who ultimately still does everything a man wants her to do anyway. and taking Hopes into account, Thales still views her as a guy anyway!! meaning this woman is possibly only in power at all because she ISN'T VIEWED as a woman!!

AND! they only let Edelgard get away with so much shit because they think she's serving them at the end of the day, which! she basically IS since she's doing everything they want done!

oh my god! why does it all fit so well??

There's so much meat here! Allying yourself with people who are the direct cause of your actual problems just so you can get rid of people who are at worst inconveniencing you, and it ends up magnifying your bigotry and callousness and cruelty toward everyone else? The TERF parallels just write themselves! JKR siding with Matt Walsh and Edelgard siding with Thales are straight up the same picture.