#I typed “Dedue is a good person” and then i looked at it and then deleted it

[yellowocaballero]

It was cool seeing a bit more of Dedue this chapter, cause like his dynamic with Dimitri is just so interesting yk? Like alongside the loyalty and devotion, Dedue also genuinely cares about Dimitri and Dimitri very much so cares about him in turn, but there's also the added layer of Dimitri being basically his only hope for the justice and restoration of his people and that adds even more of a power imbalance (outside of just the general future king and his vassel imbalance lol). And the way that in their supports they both had said that the other had saved them and Dedue calling Faergheus abhorrent with Dimitri as the exception. There's just a lot of depth there, and I really like the way you're showing that so far in the fic.

YEAH BABY. I know I went on for WAY too long about Dedue in a comment, did I do it here??? I don't think I did? I'll more or less repeat what i said.

You're so right. Dimitri and Dedue's relationship is so complicated, and Dedue is so complicated, and I think the nature of Dedue's character is that he is very, very quiet about how complicated it is.

Dedue and Dimitri genuinely love each other very, very much. They're so devoted to each other, they would do anything for each other. I think they 'killed off' Dedue because Dimitri would not have lost all hope if Dedue was alive. Blaming himself for Dedue's death fucked Dima up bad. Dima genuinely, actually cares a ton about saving Duscur and helping the people his country hurt, about helping Dedue with his life goal of giving the country freedom. I also think Dedue is...um, bad for Dimitri.

You can't forget that Dedue is a single issue voter. He is a genocide survivor. The goal of his life is to save Duscur. Dimitri is his only method of saving Duscur. Dimitri is the only person who cares. Dedue has to make Dimitri king. He's thrown his hat into Dimitri's ring and he has to keep it there. Dedue knows every secret Dimitri has - his hatred, his mass murdering tendencies, his sickness - and he doesn't tell anybody, because that would get in the way of making Dimitri king, and that would put him at odds with Dimitri and what Dimitri wants. He enables continuously when what Dimitri needs is an intervention. He actually openly tells Felix that, should Dimitri start burning down a village and murdering women and children, that Dedue would help him. Dimitri would do that because he's nuts, but Dedue would do it fully aware of what he's doing and completely willing to do it, because Dimitri told him to, and Dedue needs to make Dimitri king, because Dimitri is going to save Duscur.

The power imbalance is a big thing, yes. It's huge, and it's understandable but silly of Dimitri to want them to be friends. But I think Dimitri is extremely reliant on Dedue. When somebody depends on you completely, when they share everything with you, you have power over them. Dedue had the power to help Dimitri, and he chose not to.

I don't blame him. Dedue had his own ways of coping too, and this was how. I think he put the salvation of his people over Dimitri's happiness, and...that's fine. The sad white boy is not the most important person in the world. In the fic, I draw an explicit comparison between Dedue and Byleth: that they needed Dimitri to be a king and a leader and alive, and they didn't need him sane for that. But it was the actions of two people who loved Dimitri so much that they were willing to do anything to keep him alive.

I always kind of wondered if Dedue had THAT MUCH internalized racism, or if he just knew that he had to be careful with his words and show the world the right face. He talks a lot about how ashamed he is of Duscur's So Awful Bad Actions We Killed Your King :(, but...he also privately shares that he finds finds Faerghus abhorrent. SO MUCH of Dedue's lines in his supports are just severely internalized racism, and I just kind of wonder how honest it is...same way that you have to wonder how honest Petra is. I think they're both doing what they have to in order to survive, and that they have to protect themselves and this is the way they have to do it, but...it's not...good...

He's a fascinating character in a way I don't think is immediately obvious, and I think he's kind of slept on in that way! Dedue portrays his own actions as very simple and straightforward, but I really don't think they are. Unfortunately, due to the story, this is the last time we see Dedue play a very active role in the narrative. I was sad about it (I also dislike writing out POC, but such was the story). Thanks for the ask, though - I think if you drain out all of this complexity about Dedue, then you're really missing the point. And the Dedue you'd be creating is somebody who has no internal life or motivations or faults or strengths outside of Dimitri, and who also just has so much internalized racism. Which is lame.

TL;DR

FELIX, AS USUAL, YOU'RE RIGHT BUT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY IT LIKE THAT.

[isan0rt]

Jumping off this post, I feel like I see a lot of posts espousing their love for Dedue in general terms but I very rarely see content on Tumblr that actually engages with the complexities of his character (Pixiv is better about this tbh). And don't get me wrong, I love seeing Dedue content of all types. But often I see him relegated to ‘He’s a cinnamon roll who doesn’t deserve to have to be involved in this so I put him in a nice coffeeshop or bakery AU where he can be happy in a mundane way.” And like. I get how that can be a big wish fulfillment thing for some fans, and am not unilaterally knocking it.

But I also…feel like sometimes doing this is about removing Dedue from the narrative in a way that means fans don’t have to sit with the discomfort of actually engaging with the themes he brings to the table.

It’s easy to just say “oh he’s too good for this narrative, too pure” and put him on a bus that looks like a twee little flower shop, because it means that you don’t have to engage with the fact that he is also just as emotionally damaged as the other Lions. You don’t have to engage with the ways in which he is gentle and kind by nature but choosing, of his own volition, to be part of the violence of the war effort because it means something to him. You don’t have to engage with the fact that he is subjected to constant racism in the academy phase by his own teammates, and that he grits his teeth and bears it because he is trying to accomplish something. That he is intentionally making himself the face of Duscur and choosing not to retaliate even though he would be WELL within his rights, because he is on an uphill PR campaign and Felix and Ingrid are the people he has to bring around, because they are the people the king he’s backing needs in his corner to restore Duscur without just getting immediately overthrown by his own lords. The Western lords have done it before! Without the Eastern lords’ backing, Dimitri will barely get to warm the throne before his head is rolling in the mud like his father’s.

If Dedue quits and just goes and opens a cute little restaurant somewhere, you don’t have to grapple with the fact that he loves Dimitri personally, but the political situation means he cannot just be his friend. Dimitri doesn’t get it. Dimitri wants to get it. Dimitri wants to snap his fingers and make Faerghus respect Dedue like he does, recognize Duscur’s innocence like he does. Dedue understands it will never work that way. He understands that the closer he appears to Dimitri, the more biased Dimitri will appear to the people who are determined to hate Dedue and everyone like him, and the easier it will be to dismiss him. Dedue knows that the prejudice of the people of Faerghus can’t just be wiped away so easily; he knows that it’s not rational, that there’s not any basis for it, and so declaring their innocence is not going to work like Dimitri expects.

But at the same time, Dedue knows Dimitri is the only fucking person in Faerghus with any kind of political power who gives the slightest fuck about reparations to Duscur, and if he dies, Dedue’s people will never see justice. Rufus will simply make it all go away, whatever way is the most convenient. The exact same way he made Lambert and his reforms and his peace treaty go away; with murder and scapegoating. Dedue sees this, even when Dimitri isn’t willing to.

And at the same time, he wants to keep Dimitri safe because keeping Dimitri alive in the hell that was the Tragedy of Duscur is the only fucking thing of value that came out of a nightmare that was otherwise an unbearable loss. He also has nowhere else to turn, and nowhere left to go, and no one else left alive who loves him and cares if he lives or dies. If he leaves Dimitri’s protection, he will never be safe himself. It’s only a matter of time until he’s used as a political football by Cornelia if no one else. If he’s out of the way playing nice little barista, you don’t have to grapple with the fact that Dedue can’t just walk away and expect to be left alone.

You also don’t have to grapple with the fact that he doesn’t want to. To grapple with the fact that being helpless to stop the Tragedy changed him fundamentally, so he can never go back to being innocent the way he was before. The fact that he has a fundamental need to effect change himself, the fact that he came back after five years and the first thing he asked was to be allowed to witness the new, better world himself, with his own eyes, on the front lines. That he needs to make the Tragedy worth something in his own soul in order to live with it.

To grapple with the fact that Dedue is the only retainer to both outlive the Lord of his route on other routes, and to decide to personally finish the mission himself, anyway. Hubert doesn’t; his allegiance is to Edelgard personally, and not to her ideals beyond the fact that they’re hers; he dies in every non-Crimson Flower route well before you reach Edelgard. Hilda certainly doesn’t; you can recruit her away as long as you’re not backing Edelgard, and Deirdru is the last place she appears if you don’t recruit her. Dedue cannot be recruited, and yet, no matter what route, he personally faces Edelgard himself, even if Dimitri is dead. Even if the odds are against him in every possible way. He can’t die in Silver Snow or Verdant Wind! He is the only retainer who cannot die except in Crimson Flower!

Unless you, the player, betray him. Unless you, the player, decide that what matters to him doesn’t matter to you. Unless you, the player, decide to let his people die, when it is the only thing he asks of you, to give him the power to save them. If you don’t live up to his expectations, if you choose to not allow Dimitri to be the leader who cares about Duscur that he believed Dimitri to be, that is the only circumstance in which it’s even possible for Dedue to die outside of Crimson Flower.

And that’s uncomfortable. Dedue’s themes and narrative weight are uncomfortable. He challenges the player, like he challenges the other Faerghus characters, to look him in the face and understand his humanity. He demands that the player sit with discomfort and the injustice of his circumstance. He demands the player care about what he cares about if they want to retain him. He demands that, and refuses to be sidelined, refuses to go away, refuses to stop doing the hard thing even though it doesn’t have to be him that does it, because he is the only one with the power to do what he does for Duscur. The only one who can advocate for them the way he does. He wants to be on the front lines in that fight.

But in a happy little bakery, he’s harmless, isn’t he. Then you just don’t have to think about it anymore.

[randomnameless]

Are we ever going to get an in-universe explanation as to why Rhea sets a city with civilians still in it on fire at the end of CF, or is it forever going to remain the "devs wrote Rhea doing something evil so the audience wouldn't feel bad about killing the final boss who'd done nothing wrong up to that point, regardless of how grossly out-of-character it is for her to do that" excuse?

:(

I was typing an answer, switched tabs, and what I already typed disappeared...

Anyways...

Watsonian wise, the game iirc tells us Rhea intends to use the "fiery tiles" as hazards to slow down the BESF's progression to rekt them - and I personally find nice how the devs picked peg knights to act as reinforcments - cementing the "strategy" aspect of the Berning, aka Rhea's own troops are immunte to tile hazards, but the BESF isn't.

Doylist wise, I feel like it was one of the moves the devs pulled out to illustrate how far Rhea fell from... well, what she once was.

It's the culmination of her breakdown, her point of no-return : we came from a Rhea who valued Fodlan and its people more than her own survival and who would refuse to sacrifice anyone to ensure her safety to... a Rhea who lost so much (her remaining family), is PTSD'ing hard and was betrayed by Billy and Humanity "again", she snaps and now will sacrifice Fodlan and its people to get a chance of surviving what she perceives as the second act of the genocide of her species.

Forget the "not feeling bad" aspect of this fight anon, because, at least with the Jp audio, every scene involving Rhea, before this fight when she lost Seteth'n'Flayn, is in Tailtean, or even in this fight laments in her battle quotes, conveys, kuddos to Inoue, anguish, desperation and anger.

The BESF pushes her - during the entire length of this short route - to her breaking point, she breaks (but it's not only a furious/angry breakdown!) and Firdhiad Berning is the consequence.

Imo, even if the gapmoe and the Supreme Court tries to act as if the BESF is "in the right" or wonder what's for dinner, the foes are much more humanised/developed/are mourning on screen that, save for some devoted people, I firmly believe Tru Piss wasn't supposed to be seen as a "Good Route", but more like the Tales games sometimes have a "Bad End" path.

The final close-up on Billy's dead eyes after they lost Nirvana is, imo, telling enough - even if gapmoe and the game mechanics + IS' obsession to sell you Supreme Leader as a S material waifu you can romance sort of killed this intent, since you can get your "and they lived happily ever after" ending and marry Supreme Leader.

Tl;Dr : Tru Piss is written in a way that would make anyone (even on a first PT!) feel bad about the people you're trouncing, from Judith crying about Ignatz'n'Leonie's loss of their future, to Hilda sacrifying herself to save someone against her former nature, aka when it comes to do the "right thing" Hilda will do it even if it costs her life, to Faerghus' desperation to defend themselves at the point of willingly make the ultimate sacrifice and turning into demonic beasts and Dimitri's tender scene with Dedue, or Felix and Rodrigue fighting side by side to defend their land (and dying together) - to ultimately, Rhea losing her mind, breaking down as she learns of her kin's fate and relieving her previous PTSD hard, ultimately telling the player that they betrayed the gremlin living in their head (even if game mechanics means that gremlin is the worst mother in the entire series) and ultimately, herself.

If you're not a first PT, but Tru Piss is your last PT and you know about Rhea'n'Billy's backstories... Well.

I don't like the "you made hit you" rhetoric because it fucking sucks and irl is used by scum, and while I don't think the Firdhiad Berning was made to make Rhea look "evil" so you wouldn't feel bad for rekting her... the game painfully reminds the player, each time, that they are the instigators of this war, they are the agressors attacking people who, in this last map, will do anything to defend themselves.

It's ugly but it's the War the BESF, aka the player in Tru Piss, started/supported.

[malsfefanfics]

Here's some different ships; Ashedue, Yurivain, Manuela/Seteth, Rhealeth, Bylitza..

Okay, so please don't be mad.

Ashedue: Probably my favorite Ashe ship period, and my second favorite Dedue ship. I legit cried watching that A support. And I am so, so happy they got to live a very happy life filled with wonderful meals and wonderful company together in their ending. I like that they can let their walls down in a way that's so unique to them compared to the rest of the Blue Lions. Food really does bring people together. If anyone in the Blue Lions is Ashe's soulmate, it's gotta be Dedue.

Yurivain: Gods, these two were so good in Hopes. Their support was phenomenal, and I wish we'd gotten something, ANYTHING, in Houses. Even a throw away comment when exploring the monastery that these two knew each other. If we had gotten more, I'd probably bump them up to "WHY DIDN"T YOU GET A PAIRED ENDING" tier.

Manuela/Seteth: So, not my favorite Seteth ship, but it's up there. I really like how they handled Seteth's grief over his late wife, even if thousands of years have passed by since. And how Manuela isn't not a replacement for her, but someone new he can come to love just as much, flaws and all. And I like how Manuela is handled here. One of her better outings for sure.

Rhealeth: Okay, so....this is one of those outlier ships I mentioned previously.

I understand its popularity, and thematically, it makes sense. I can see why it is so compelling. A lot of Three Houses is really built on the back of Byleth's relationships with the powers of Fodlan, and Rhea is no exception. The art fans make for this ship is fantastic and I love the passion this ship's fans have.

That all being said, I still don't personally like it.

While some of the ships in Three Houses have a lot of trauma they have to work through, I can usually look past it, or even imagine how it can be explored through said pairing. And a lot of times, that can compel me. But with Rhea, I can't look past this particular trauma or incorporate it into my thoughts on ships like the others. There's still the fact that Byleth was the end result of her experiments to bring back Sothis. A lot of their interactions leading up to their S-rank support lean very heavy on the sense that she's not seeing Byleth. She's seeing her mother. And while she does realize this mistake in her S-Support, it does feel a tad too-little-too-late, and leaves me feeling the squick.

TLDR: Rhealeth has cool concepts and the fans I've seen for it are chill, but the execution of said concepts just isn't for me.

Bylitza: This is one of those cases where my brain just goes "oh, this would fuck hard as a Hannibal/Silence of the Lambs type of AU, wouldn't it?" and then goes brrrr. That's it. Not my favorite ships between the two of them, but it's a lot of fun.

[sunstone-smiles]

The Bubbly Blue Lion Tickle Fight

With the release of Fire Emblem Engage just around the corner, I finally finished the Azure Gleam route in Fire Emblem Three Hopes last month! To celebrate, I have once again created a fun fic with Shez wanting to make their friends smile, with the Blue Lions this time! (Somewhere in the process the word count became even longer than my Golden Deer one, but oh well-). I hope you enjoy! 

Series: Fire Emblem Three Hopes

Characters: Shez, Dimitri, Dedue, Sylvain, Ingrid, Felix, Ashe, Annette, Mercedes

Words: 4,522

Summary: Dimitri struggles to simply relax on his day off, so Shez thinks of a way to get him to take a break, but their original plan grows into a much more playful battle when the rest of the Blue Lions show up. (Note: There are no spoilers that are mentioned so please enjoy!)

—

The tides of war are ever changing, yet little by little the Faerghus army keeps clawing their way towards their end goals of peace. Turmoil occurred during their pushes for victory, but the army learns from every battle they fight. The key to their success so far has been their continued trust between allies, furthering the bonds between each other in the process. On days when the army is not battling for the good of the Kingdom however, they’re saving their strength for the next fights ahead.

Shez, a mercenary and commander for the army, spends their day off by doing a little reorganizing of their private quarters. Wearing comfortable black clothing rather than their usual armor, Shez places a box of old papers outside their tent. These types of quiet days give the entire army a chance to relax. Everyone does so except for the one person who needs it the most—the King of Faerghus itself—Dimitri.

Shez notices him working in the distance. He’s helping fellow army members organize their own boxes of weapons and materials near the rest of the camp’s private quarters. It’s kind that he’s helping, but what he really should be doing is resting. At this point, Shez can’t even count how many times they, or the rest of their friends have told him to take it easy. Yet despite what they say, he seems to be doing the exact opposite. With a huff, Shez makes their way over to Dimitri.

The king lifts up another wooden box filled with sword hilts sticking upwards. The metal of the weapons clang together as the box is moved on top of a cart. “That’s the last of them,” Dimitri steps away from the cart and dusts his hands off. The army men and women thank him for his assistance and cart the materials away. “Take care now,” the king waves goodbye to them.

“Well, it seems like you’re being helpful today,” Shez comes up behind him. Dimitri turns around in surprise.

“Ah, Shez!” he positions himself properly to face them. “I didn’t see you there. What are you doing over here?”

Shez crosses their arms. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Dimitri lets out a sheepish chuckle. “Yes, I know. You’re about to give me an earful about why I should be resting.”

As expected, he already had a feeling as to why Shez had come over. At least he was out of his bulky armor and in more casual attire, wearing a dark blue, long sleeved undershirt with matching pants.  

“Because you’re aware of your mistake, we’ll skip the lecture this time. And now that you’re done helping, you can go and rest now, right?” Shez responds.

Dimitri flicks his blue eyes away, “Well…”

“Dimitri,” Shez elongates the last part of his name like they are about to scold him.

“I know, I know,” Dimitri gives a guilty look, tilting his eyes downward, “But it’s difficult for me to simply relax when there’s work to be done.” After a moment to think, he lifts his head back up. “How about this, I’ll finish one final task I have to do, then I’ll rest for the remainder of the day. Does that sound agreeable?”

Shez feels sympathy for him. They really do. They want to agree with him, but they know that he’ll go off and overwork himself again unintentionally. He doesn’t know when to stop. What Shez needs is a way that can guarantee that he’ll relax. Something that can get him smiling in no time. Ideas bounce around in their head—and they finally set their sights on one particular, perhaps unconventional idea, that may just be exactly what Dimitri needs to finally relax. 

Shez puts on a serious face. “A tempting offer, but no.”

“What?” Dimitri is taken aback.

“Every time you say you’re gonna take a break you never do. You may finish one task, but another will just come up. So, I’m gonna make you take a break, right here, right now.”

“S-Shez?” Dimitri can only blink at them, “I don’t understand.”

“Oh, you will,” Shez smirks. They stroll towards Dimitri, keeping eye contact with the king until they circle behind him. Dimitri continues to watch them with a curious gaze. Shez’s smirk becomes increasingly larger. “Right after I do…this!”

“AHACK!” Dimitri suddenly lets out an uncharacteristic shriek when his sides are squeezed, followed up by the fluttering of Shez’s fingers into his sides. 

“Shehez! What are you dohohohoing!” Dimitri turns his head away into his shoulder to hide his boyish giggles from slipping out.

“I’m tickling you of course! What else does it look like? I thought it would be a great way for you to finally relax.”

“Shehehez wait—AH!” Dimitri shrieks again when Shez scribbles their fingers into his stomach. He tries to curl up his middle and hold his laughter in, as this silliness may be unbefitting of a king, but streams of giggles continue spilling out. 

“Shehehehez! Hahaha!” Dimitri attempts to twist away from the mercenary. He soon ends up  crumbling to the ground onto his back and Shez follows him down. They crawl their fingers up to his ribs, earning another giggly shriek from the king. He slaps a hand over his mouth upon hearing his own squeaks; behind his hand, pink hints of a faint blush can be seen rising in his cheeks.

“Hey! No hiding that smile!” Shez easily pulls his wrist away from his mouth, then dives both of their hands back towards Dimitri’s ribs. The king is known to have great strength, but even he is weakened by the tickles.

“Shehehez!” Dimitri curls up onto his side. Big, full laughter begins to flow out of Dimitri and a bright smile is clear on his face. 

“See? Now isn’t this relaxing?”

“Your Majesty!” a protective male voice suddenly booms. Shez lifts their head up, noticing Dedue rushing towards them. They temporarily halt their attack on Dimitri to give him a break.

“I heard a shriek and—Oh?” Dedue pauses when he gets close enough to see Shez and a still giggling Dimitri on the ground.

“What’s going on over here?” another voice, female this time, calls from behind. Shez turns their head, seeing Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix rushing over from the opposite side. 

“Hey Dedue! Hey you three!” Shez smiles at all of them as if nothing is wrong. Their friends are all wearing comfortable undershirts as well instead of their armor.

“Well, this is an unexpected surprise,” Sylvain returns the smile.

Felix crosses his arms with a scowl. “You better have a good explanation for getting us all worried.”

After hearing his friends, Dimitri tries to lift himself up, “Dedue—Ack!” but Shez playfully shoves him back down and starts tickling him again, quickly earning more laughter from the king.

“Are you…tickling His Majesty?” Dedue asks, unsure if he should be concerned or not.

“Yep! Our king here was being stubborn and refusing to rest like we told him to, so I decided to show him a way to relax,” Shez casually responds while a squirmy Dimitri wriggles under their fingers.

“Dehehehedue! Hehehehelp!” Dimitri calls to his retainer through his giggles. 

As his retainer, Dedue knows full well that it’s his duty to protect the king, but that includes making sure he’s well rested. The corners of his mouth then turn upwards into a faint smile. “Very well, Your Majesty.”

Dedue positions himself behind the leader, hooking his hands right under Dimitri’s arms as if he was going to pull him away. Thinking Dedue is going to help Dimitri up, Shez stops their attack. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Dedue starts scribbling his fingers into Dimitri’s underarms.

“AHA! Dedue! Thihihis is nohohot what I meheheheant!” Dimitri clamps his arms to his sides and starts kicking his legs in the dirt.

“Is it not?” Dedue responds innocently with a smirk in his tone, “You needed help relaxing. I am simply helping you achieve that.” 

“Dehehehedue!”

Shez laughs, happy to see this playful side of Dedue come out. They then assist the retainer by diving their fingers back towards Dimitri’s stomach, increasing the squirms and giggles produced by the king. 

Sylvain chuckles to himself as he watches from the sidelines with Ingrid and Felix, “It looks like he’s still as ticklish as he was when we were kids.”

“You know…” Ingrid looks at the red-haired noble with a child-like mischief in her eyes, a giddiness rising up inside her that she can’t contain. “I recall you also being ticklish, Sylvain.”

Sylvain whips his head in the direction of Ingrid, his eyes expanding in horror.

“I-Ingrid! Now wait a minute!” Sylvain backs away from her when she takes a step closer, her fingers wiggling in the air. With that, he turns to make a run for it, but she darts at his sides before he can even take his first few steps to escape. Sylvain bursts into laughter, twisting in Ingrid’s hold to playfully shove her away, but he crumbles to the ground, falling to nearly the same fate as Dimitri as Ingrid follows the red-haired noble down to continue her attack. Felix rolls his eyes at Sylvain and Ingrid’s behavior, but he continuously glances back at the silly scene, also finding it quite amusing.

Shez softly laughs seeing Ingrid and Sylvain now join in on the fun, but the commander suddenly lets out a startled shriek when they’re yanked forward by a strong tug. They flop down on the dirt, and before they can look over their shoulder to see what happened, there’s fingers scribbling at their own ribs.

“AH! Hehehey!” Shez wriggles around on their belly, now noticing that Dimitri had escaped, and is the one who had attacked. 

“Ah ha! I’ve got you now Shez!” Dimitri digs into their ticklish bones, immediately causing Shez to flail around even more. “Prepare for your revenge!” Dimitri smiles and looks over at his retainer. “Dedue, I would greatly appreciate your assistance!”

Dedue returns a nod. “Right away, Your Majesty.”

“Nohoho! Dehehehedue!” Shez twists around onto their back in playful panic, now using their arms to try and defend themselves. “I thohohought you were on my sihihihide—AH!” Shez yelps again and kicks their feet in the dirt when Dedue slightly lifts them up from behind and wiggles into their own underarms.

“I was,” the retainer says in a serious manner, “But it’s only fair that His Majesty gets a chance to return the favor.”

Meanwhile, Sylvain continues wriggling on the ground, his arms squeezed to his sides, unable to roll over onto his stomach due to Ingrid’s nimble fingers scribbling into all his ticklish spots. His laughter rises in pitch the higher she flutters her fingers up to his ribs.

“Ihihihingrid! Quihihihiht it!” Sylvain giggles and tries to push her back, only resulting in her grabbing one of his wrists away for easier access to his torso.

“Quit what, Sylvain? Is there a problem? You’re going to have to be more specific,” Ingrid teases while her free hand tickles him to pieces.

“Ohoho thahahat’s it! Yohohour turn!” Quickly finding an opening, Sylvain darts his hand forward, which earns a surprised screech from Ingrid when he latches on to her ticklish side.

“EEK! Sylvahahahain!” She releases his wrist and topples over onto her back, unfortunately leaving her middle wide open to Sylvain’s attack. Ingrid tries to grab his wrists away from digging into her tummy, but Sylvain easily uses one hand to claw into her belly, earning another child-like shriek from Ingrid.

Dimitri looks over when he hears these giggly exclamations from Ingrid. He also notices that Sylvain’s back is turned towards him, which leaves him the perfect target. As sneaky as he can, Dimitri leaves Shez to Dedue and moves closer to the others.

“Haha!” Sylvain laughs triumphantly over his squirming friend, unaware that Dimitri is approaching. “What are you going to do now Ingrid—AH!” he yelps when Dimitri pounces at his sides, causing Sylvain to erupt into more laughter. He successfully yanks himself away from Dimitri’s fingers, but flops onto the ground in doing so. In a panic, Sylvain tries to scramble to his feet, but Dimitri catches his leg and starts tugging him back.

“Don’t try to run from me Sylvain!” the king exclaims with a smile.

Sylvain worms on his stomach, frantically clawing at the ground to pull away. “Why not?! I think this is an appropriate situation to be run—ING! Hahaha!” Sylvain yelps once more when Dimitri dives his fingers into his ribs. Sylvain clamps his arms down and wriggles around again in any attempt to nullify the vicious tickles.

“Did you forget how ruthless of a tickle monster I could be?” Dimitri grins from above.

“YES! Yehehehes I did!” Sylvain exclaims as he’s nearly tickled to hysterics.

“But that tickle monster is also ticklish himself!” Ingrid sits up and pounces towards Dimitri’s side.

“Ah! Ihihingrid!” Dimitri attempts to gently shove her away, which allows Sylvain the chance to quickly slip from his hold. He then attacks Dimitri’s other side, causing the king to curl himself up into a protective ball.

From above, Felix lets out a short laugh. “It’s surprising how the ruthless boar can be easily taken down by something so simple.”

“Why don’t you join us Felix?” Ingrid smiles up at the blue-haired noble.

“Hmph. No thanks,” Felix turns his head to the side.

“Aww come on! It’ll be just like when we were kids!” Sylvain adds on to the persuasion.

“I said no.”

“Then if you're not with us…” Sylvain smirks at Ingrid, signaling her with a wink of where he’s going with this new plan. He grins back at Felix. “Then you’re against us!” Sylvain exclaims and gets up to dart towards Felix, Ingrid following Sylvain’s lead.

“What?!” Felix flinches back, unable to move from his spot fast enough before Sylvain grabs his arms and pulls them in front of him. Felix growls as he tries to shake him away. “Sylvain! Let go of me—AH!” Felix yelps when Ingrid comes up behind him and squeezes his sides. The blue-haired noble immediately grits his teeth, refusing to let even a single giggle slip out. He arches his back to escape Ingrid’s wiggling fingers while trying to free his arms, but he bends backwards too far, slipping out of Sylvain’s hold and onto the ground. 

Ingrid switches roles with Sylvain, now being the one to position herself behind Felix and grabbing his arms above his head. 

The blue-haired noble gasps, then struggles to get out of her grip. “Ingrid! Let go!” Felix snarls at her. To make matters worse, he looks ahead and sees Sylvain staring him down with a sinister grin. 

“S-Sylvain! Don’t you dare!” Felix snarls again as the red-haired noble approaches him closer with wiggling fingers.

Sylvain’s grin grows even wider, “Oh, I dare!”

“Sylvain no! GAH!” Felix shuts his mouth tight when Sylvain dives his fingers into his underarms. His mouth forms a wobbly smile as he tries to hold in his giggles, but the dam soon bursts, resulting in the blue-haired noble breaking into rare laughter. He squirms from side to side, trying to yank his arms down, but he’s clearly at a disadvantage.

“Not so tough while you’re in this position, huh Felix?” Sylvain teases. In the corner of his eye, Sylvain also sees that Dimitri is finally lifting himself up from his previous attack. “Ah, you’re finally up, Your Majesty. You want to help us with Felix now?”

Dimitri chuckles, then makes his way over to Felix’s side. “I will gladly be of assistance.”

“Yohohou’re all gohohoing to gehehet it!” Felix’s laughter rises in volume when Dimitri aids by tickling his sides. Soon after, Ingrid lets go of his wrists to use her own hands to tickle him, turning the usually stoic Felix into a squirmy, giggly puddle against his three friends.

Due to the ruckus of laughter, the rest of the Blue Lions—Ashe, Annette, and Mercedes—also in casual clothes, come over to the scene after all the noise caught their attention.

“Oh my!” Mercedes exclaims with a smile when she sees the cause of all the commotion, “What’s going on here?” 

“Aww!” Annette clasps her hands together, “It looks like everyone’s having a tickle fight! Oh, how fun!”

Mercedes gazes down at Shez, who’s still being taken down by Dedue. “Shez, did you start this?” she asks.

“Yehehehes! Buhuhut it bahahackfired! Hahaha!”

“I know that feeling all too well,” Ashe giggles. “It reminds me of the tickle fights I used to have with my siblings.”

Annette’s ears perk up. She then glances at him with a little grin. “Soooo, does that mean you’re ticklish too, Ashe?” she ends her sentence with a poke to his side, earning a jump from the knight.

Ashe darts his eyes to the side. “I—Well…Hehehey!” he jumps again when Annette continuously starts poking at his sides. He turns away from her pokes, but Annette suddenly wraps her arms around him and scribbles her small fingers into his sides, trapping the knight in a tickle hug.

“Ah ha! I knew it!” she exclaims.

“Annehehehette! Hahahaha!” Ashe bends his middle forward to try and escape, but like many of his other friends, he ends up crumbling to his knees and flopping onto his back, where Annette follows him down to easily scribble into the rest of his torso.

After witnessing Ashe and Annette’s playfulness, Mercedes glances back at Shez and Dedue, observing that the purple-haired mercenary is still squirming about with laughter after all this time.

“Here, let me help you Shez,” Mercedes joins in on the fun. She leans down behind Dedue and scribbles into his sides. The retainer jolts in surprise, but no laughter.

“Mercedes? What are you doing?” Dedue asks over his shoulder, also halting his attack on Shez to allow the mercenary a breather. Shez lifts themself up on their arms, slowly sliding themselves over to the side to now watch the two.

“I’m trying to tickle you,” Mercedes responds, “You’re not laughing though.”

“I suppose I’m not ticklish there. I can’t remember if I am anywhere.”

“Hmm…Well, maybe you are in a different spot then,” Mercedes scratches her fingers up his ribs, still getting no reaction. “What about here?” the healer then moves her hands up to Dedue’s underarms. The retainer lets out a sudden gasp, followed by him clamping his arms down.

“M-Mercedes!” a quivering smile grows on Dedue’s face while Mercedes continues scratching at his tickle spot. Dedue drops forward, one hand holding himself up, while the other wraps around his torso, his body unsure of how to exactly react to the unfamiliar tickly feeling. Shortly after, soft giggles begin releasing from the retainer. 

“There we are!” Mercedes beams with success. She increases the pace of her fingers, prompting Dedue’s deep giggles to slowly increase and nearly causing him to drop completely onto the ground.

“Thanks Mercedes,” Shez smiles up at the healer. 

“Of course!” Mercedes then peers ahead to Felix’s situation, seeing that another one of her friends can use some assistance. “Annie! Take over for me!” Mercedes exclaims over her shoulder.

“You got it, Mercie!” Annette releases Ashe and quickly switches with Mercedes, leaving little no time for Dedue to regain his composure before being sent back into giggles. With Annette now taking over, Mercedes dashes behind Dimitri and Sylvain.

“Come on you three! Give Felix a break,” Mercedes drops to her knees, then shoots her hands forward to tickle the ribs of the male nobles with one hand each. The two jump and lean away in the opposite direction of her while another stream of giggles spill out of them.

Now freed from two of his attackers, Felix launches past Ingrid into an upright position and pounces at Sylvain, knocking the red-haired noble to the ground.

“Oh, you’re in for it now Sylvain!” Felix immediately starts digging into Sylvain’s sides, causing his friend to jolt with laughter.

“AH! Fehehehelix! NO—AHA!” Sylvain kicks his legs when the blue-haired noble scribbles down near his hips, sending Sylvain into hysterics. At the same time, Mercedes takes on Dimitri, easily making him topple over onto his back again from the gentle fluttering of his fingers into his middle.

“Thanks for the help Mercedes,” Felix acknowledges the female healer beside him as they tickle the two other nobles side by side.

“I’m happy to assist!” Mercedes smiles.

From behind, Ingrid quietly laughs at her friends, but apparently not quiet enough. Felix glances over his shoulder, glaring at her like he’s locking on to a new target. 

“Don’t think I forgot about you, Ingrid!” Felix leaps at her, knocking her to the ground like he did with Sylvain. She explodes once more into laughter when Felix scribbles into her belly.

In the meantime, Ashe recovers and notices Dedue in need of assistance as well. The knight lunges his hands towards Annette’s sides, resulting in the girl producing a high pitched squeak. Through her giggles, she twists herself all the way around in the knight’s hold to break free, but Dedue repositions himself to sit behind her. Using their significant height difference to his advantage, Dedue pulls back the squirmy Annette in his lap before gently scribbling into her sides. Ashe also helps, adding in some more scribbles into her tummy.

“Eek! Ashehehe! Dehehedue!” Annette shrieks again, loud enough for Mercedes to hear it over the laughter around her.

“Annie?” Mercedes lifts her head up. Unfortunately for her, that leaves her wide open for a counter attack from Dimitiri. Wasting no time, the king darts his hands forward and wiggles into the healer’s sides.

“Eep! Dimitrihihihi!” Mercedes crumbles to the ground and Dimitri sits up, successfully switching places with his previous attacker.

“My apologies for this Mercedes, but it has to be done!” Dimitri smiles while a flow of airy giggles is released by the healer.

As this all plays out, Shez curls their knees to their chest from the sidelines, simply watching everyone have a good time. They didn’t think that their silly little plan would turn into an all out tickle fight, but they’re glad it did. Sometimes they forget that everyone needs a chance to loosen up once in a while.

Another squeak from Annette snaps Shez out of their thoughts. Looks like it’s time to get back into the game and help out their friends.

“Hold on Annette, I’ve got you!” Shez gets up from their spot. They come behind Dedue and slip their fingers under his arms, earning a jump from the retainer. 

“Ah! Shehehez!” Dedue squeezes his arms down and can’t help himself from breaking out into giggles again.

“Don’t worry, Dedue! I’ll help!” Ashe lifts himself off the ground and heads for Shez. With a mischievous glint in their eye, Shez stays put. Ashe lunges at the mercenary, but Shez dodges out of the way and Ashe trips forward with a thud.

“Come here Ashe!” Shez scoops up the knight in a hug and pulls them into their lap, then drills their fingers into his sides.

“AH! Nohohohot again!” the knight squirms around in the mercenary’s hold. Annette then sneaks up from behind, wrapping her own arms around Shez’s middle to tickle them.

Through Shez’s giggly squirming, they reach behind and give a few squeezes to Annette’s sides, making the girl fall back with a squeak. Shez quickly escapes their friends and runs away. However, they accidentally head right towards Dimitri. The king easily catches the mercenary when they run by and Shez lets out a shriek when they’re yanked backwards into a strong hold.

“Dimitri!” Shez frantically tries to squirm away, having a bad feeling they know what he’s thinking of next.

“You can’t escape all of us at once Shez! Time to end this fight with the person that started it all!” Dimitri glances around at his teammates, “Everyone attack!”

Shez’s eyes go wide and their squirming significantly increases. “Noho!” they exclaim with a giggle as they attempt to escape from the king’s grasp, but they release another shriek as Dimitri dives his fingers into the commander’s sides. Shez immediately slides backwards onto the ground. Soon after, Dedue comes over to assist Dimitri, both tickling Shez from behind. The rest of the Blue Lions surround the mercenary—Ashe, Mercedes, and Annette get them on their right, while Sylvain, Ingrid and, surprisingly, Felix get them on their left. 

Shez squirms around from side to side, kicking their legs in the dirt as their laughter fills everyone’s ears. They had no idea all of the Blue lions could be this playful, but it warms their heart to see them all happy. Dimitri was right that Shez can’t escape all of them at the same time though.

“OKAY! Okahahahay! I give! I gihihihive! Hahaha!”

Dimitri and Dedue release Shez, soon followed by the rest of the Blue Lions moving their hands away to free the commander from their team attack. Leftover giggles slip out of Shez as they catch their breath, some remaining from the tickles while the others are just because they had fun. Dimitri lends them a hand to an upright sitting position and the rest of their friends huddle around them.

“Are you alright Shez?” Dimitri asks with concern in his eyes.

Shez still has to catch their breath, but shows him a reassuring smile. “I am…But the real question is…Do you feel relaxed?”

The king glances down, but it only takes him a moment to ponder the question before he responds with a similar reassuring smile. “Actually, I do. Thank you.”

Dedue places a hand on Dimitri’s shoulder. “That’s reassuring to hear Your Majesty.”

“Yeah, that’s a relief,” Sylvain leans back on his arm. “I was starting to think that we would never get His Majesty to take a break.”

“And that’s what really matters to us,” Ashe adds on, “Being able to see you take it easy once in a while.”

“Agreed!” Annette beams. “Plus, it was really fun! We should do it again sometime!”

Felix scoffs. “Fun? Speak for yourself. I wanted no part of it yet I was forced into it by these two.”

“Yet you still continued playing the game even after you were freed, didn’t you?” Ingrid nudges Felix with her elbow. The blue-haired noble scowls and turns his head away.

Mercedes lets out a soft laugh before looking at Shez with proud eyes. “It looks like your plan didn’t backfire after all, Shez.”

Behind them, Dimitri suddenly lets out a yawn, using a hand to cover his exhaustion. When he opens his eyes though, he notices everyone staring at him. Dimitri’s cheeks slightly flush. “Well, I suppose you would all like to see me get some rest now. I’ll make sure to do so right after I—” but Dimitri cuts himself off, not only hearing what he was saying, but also noticing the piercing glare on Shez’s face. “On second thought…” he catches himself, “I’ll make sure to get some rest now.” 

Shez smiles at him once more. Now those are the words they've been waiting to hear for a long time.

[quietsun5268]

Fire Emblem Three Houses: Which Ending is a Happy (or most Fulfilled) Ending(s) for Dedue in Fire Emblem Three Houses? (ALL ENDINGS INCLUDED)

Not all character endings are happy ones. Some don't accomplish their goals, there are those who don't completely heal from trauma, or they're overshadowed by someone they're paired with. However, There are also those who accomplish their goals no matter what (Ex: Ignatz being a painter) or seem content with how things went for them.

I'm mostly not going to discuss supports (meaning compatibility between characters or the most romantic) since that's not what this is about. It's about which endings would be the happiest for specific characters or what makes them more fulfilled (you can choose more than one).

Recap: Ingrid

Bernadetta

So right now, we are going to discuss Dedue. I suppose you can call this tricky cause he seems content being Dimitri's vassel. Some can argue that Dedue is not living his own life,  being his own person, or taking care of himself. While others can say that he made a choice to stay in Dimitri's service, so he's being his own person. Things can go either way. It all depends on perspective. I'm a neutral party in this.

There's also Duscur, some endings have both Faerghus and Duscur reconcile, while others seem ambiguous (like it doesn't say). Although in the latter, We can only assume since Dimitri doesn't seem like the type to not try to reconcile with Duscur.

Endings

Dedue - Taciturn Devotee

"As a loyal vassal, Dedue dedicated his life to supporting King Dimitri through his entire reign. After tending to his liege on his deathbed, Dedue resumed his post at Dimitri's grave on the edge of Fhirdiad. There, it is said he stood sentinel over the peaceful realm he had helped build until the end of his days."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: ??? (This ending never mentioned Duscur or the reconciliation of both Faerghus and Duscur. We can only assume since Dimitri doesn't seem like the type to not try to reconcile with Duscur)

Is this a happy ending for Dedue, no, or so-so?: Dedue seemed content to remain as Dimitri's vassel. It doesn't seem that different to Dedue's ending with Dimitri. (See Dedue and Dimitri ending)

Dedue and Byleth

"A year after Byleth was appointed to succeed Rhea as the new archbishop, she announced her marriage to Dedue, who had resigned his position as the king's vassal. Their wedding ceremony, brightly colored with all of the most beautiful flowers from Duscur, set the tone for their happy life together. Dedue served as an intermediary between Faerghus and the church and -- alongside the archbishop -- committed to improve relations with foreign nations as part of the rebuilding effort. In their later years, they retired to the Duscur Peninsula where they spent the remainder of their lives gardening in peace and quiet."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: It might be implied. It's said that "...Dedue served as an intermediary between Faerghus and the church and -- alongside the archbishop -- committed to improve relations with foreign nations as part of the rebuilding effort." Foreign nations could include Duscur.

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Byleth, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Dedue resigned as Dimitri's vassel so he can propose to Byleth (although he said that "He accepted my decision with a smile. I do not think I have finally accepted it myself yet, to be honest."). Despite that, he assists in his own way not just to Faerghus or the church but other nations. Settling in Duscur looks like a good retirement plan for both Byleth and Dedue. Some can say that by resigning he's being his own person or taking care of himself. (Again it all depends on perspective)

Dedue and Dimitri

"After his coronation, Dimitri assumed the throne of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and his loyal vassal, Dedue, remained ever at his side. Among Dimitri's achievements was the reconciliation with Duscur: an extraordinary effort that required extensive negotiations to get past a history of betrayal and oppression. It was a trying task, but Dimitri never once considered giving up. While they behaved as lord and vassal in public, it is said that Dimitri and Dedue were more like family in private. When Dimitri finally fell to illness, Dedue tended to his liege's deathbed, and then took up a post at his grave for the rest of his days. When the time came, they were buried beside each other."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: Yes

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Dimitri, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Both. Dimitri always felt guilt over the deaths of his father, Glenn, and the genocide of the people of Duscur (whom were scapegoats to the murder of the king). While he can't bring back his father, Glenn, and many others who died. He can help Duscur and worked so hard to achieve reconciliation and succeeded. Dimitri and Dedue remained close, Even after Dimitri's death (what Dimitri died from i'm not sure. Is it from illness like in his ending with Marianne, old age, or something else?) Dedue still displayed loyalty towards his grave. Doesn't seem that different towards Dedue's single ending.

Dedue and Ashe

"Though the innocence of the Duscur people was proven, prejudice against them still lingered in the Kingdom capital. Far this reason, Ashe refused a knighthood when it was offered to him, and choose instead to open an inn that specialized in Duscur cuisine. Dedue began to frequent the place on breaks from his duty as the king's vassal, and overtime, imparted to Ashe his culinary wisdom. As the inn gained popularity, the people began to see the Duscur people in a positive light. This led to a reconciliation between the two cultures that came rather more quickly than expected."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: Yes

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Ashe, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Both. Ashe didn't become a Knight due to his disgust of the lingering prejudice against the people of Duscur. However, one of the things makes a Knight a true Knight is readiness to help people, and that can be enough. Ashe embodied a spirit of a knight by opening an inn that specializes in Duscur cuisine to provide a hub for the people of Faerghus and Duscur to meet and settle their differences. And Dedue, while still remaining as Dimitri's Vassel, helped Ashe along the way.

Dedue and Mercedes

"Two years after the war, Dedue and his wife, Mercedes, opened a school in the Duscur residential district in Fhirdiad. The school educated Duscur children, who had never been given structured learning before, in reading, writing, arithmetics, and even Duscur history. Many years later, when the Duscur people reclaimed their homeland, the people who attended this school were able to resettle there and revive their old culture. because of this, Dedue and Mercedes were forever renowned by the Duscur."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: Yes. Not only that but also Duscur's revival.

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Mercedes, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Both. It doesn't say if Dedue remained as Dimitri's vassel nor does it say that Mercedes entered the service of the church, But being involved in the restoration of a nation wrongly blamed for the death of Faerghus's king and several others sounds like a huge step-up. Especially since Duscur is Dedue's homeland and Mercedes (Adrestian by birth but a Faerghus citizen) did say she wants to help people - whether through service to the Church of Seiros or otherwise.

Dedue and Annette

"Some time after the war, Dedue and Annette exchanged wedding vows in a modest ceremony and then settled down to a life in Fhirdiad. For them, after marriage stayed much the same as before. Dedue continue his duty to King Dimitri, and Annette took up a teaching position at Fhirdiad's school of sorcery. Though each gave the other space for the work that was important to them, they made sure to spend much of their free time together, and to bond over cooking and housework."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: ??? (This ending never mentioned Duscur or the reconciliation of both Faerghus and Duscur. We can only assume since Dimitri doesn't seem like the type to not try to reconcile with Duscur)

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Annette, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Annette gets to be a teacher, a fitting end for a hard working magic prodigy to teach the next generation of mages/sorcerers. Dedue seems content to remain as Dimitri's vassel. But both Dedue and Annette seemed super with their jobs, at least they make time to be with each other.

Dedue and Ingrid

"After the war, Dedue and Ingrid both served as protectors to the newly crowned King Dimitri: the former as his loyal vassal, and the latter as a knight sworn to House Blaiddyd. The pair fought side by side on countless occasions, and were known to be inseparable on the battlefield. Tales of the taciturn vassal and the steadfast lady knight were told by bards all throughout Fódlan, and it is said that their friendship helped spark the reconciliation between the peoples of Faerghus and Duscur."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: Yes

Is it a happy ending for only Ingrid, only Dedue, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Both, because not only do both Ingrid (achieving her dream to be a Knight) and Dedue work together as protectors to Dimitri. But their friendship helped the peoples of Faerghus and Duscur reconcile. She gained character growth too, overcoming her prejudice.

Dedue and Flayn

"After the war, Dedue returned to Fhirdiad to support King Dimitri's reign as his vassal. As he worked, his wife, Flayn, was determined to support him with home-cooked meals. Dedue patiently endured the more disastrous of his wife's experiments, while teaching her everything he knew. Eventually Flayn's talent blossomed and she became a renowned chef. It is said that those who were lucky enough to taste her cooking always asked for more, and that Dedue's eyes lit up with affection and pride when she told him what she was planning to prepare next. "

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: ??? (This ending never mentioned Duscur or the reconciliation of both Faerghus and Duscur. We can only assume since Dimitri doesn't seem like the type to not try to reconcile with Duscur)

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Flayn, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: Flayn manages to improve her cooking. Plus, I remember that Flayn is interested in love and relationships. Plus she's able to have her own life without Seteth interfering (I think? Depends on the perspective). Dedue seems content to remain as Dimitri's vassel.

Dedue and Shamir

"After the war, Dedue returned to Fhirdiad to support King Dimitri's reign as his vassal. Shamir was ever near, and as Dedue's trusted partner and a mercenary for the royal family, she complemented his public-facing work with by handling any necessary covert operations. The trusting professional relationship between the two blossomed into love, and soon they were married. It is said that, when absolutely no one else was around, they would let down their guard and engage in secret jokes and idle chatter."

Have there been improvements with Duscur (like reconciliation)?: ??? (This ending never mentioned Duscur or the reconciliation of both Faerghus and Duscur. We can only assume since Dimitri doesn't seem like the type to not try to reconcile with Duscur)

Is it a happy ending for only Dedue, only Shamir, both, neither, or ehhh… (like it's too complicated to decide)?: In this ending Shamir at least managed to settle down somewhere (possibly moving on from her dead partner). Dedue seems content to remain as Dimitri's vassel.

Which of these endings is his most happy endings (you can choose more than one)? What do you rank these endings? You can even discuss Dedue's supports as a reason in comment.

I'm about to do Ingrid next since one of her biggest struggles is deciding between her dream of being a knight and the welfare of her noble house as the only Crest bearer in the Galatea family.

Voting is optional - Fire Emblem Three Houses: Which Ending(s) is a Happy Ending (or most Fulfilled Ending) For Dedue?: https://strawpoll.com/polls/7MZ0ANvJByo

Reddit (you can click here if you want to see what other people think in the comments but know that the polls aren't in Reddit)

[childofaura]

This might be a little different from other asks but since I asked which are your top 10 fav characters from Engage, how about I ask which is your top 10 fav characters from Three Houses and why they’re your favs?

Oh THIS one will be fun but also hard! So I will say that I love all these equally and this is in no particular order, but number 1 is for SURE number 1.

Dedue. I adore Dedue for a lot of reasons. His backstory reminds me a lot of Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist (and he even kind of looks like him too, lol), but rather than violence and vengeance he's just incredibly patient and even-tempered. And I really like that out of both the personal retainers (Hilda and Hubert), how unique he is. He has no Crest and nor is he a noble who is made to serve the leaders, but it's rather that Dimitri showed him such kindness and giving him that second chance. Plus he's just so kind and compassionate to the others, and very hard-working and loyal (and handsome). There was no chance that I WASN'T going to fall in love with him. So yeah I will marry Dedue in every Three Houses playthrough (and support in every Three Hopes playthrough).

2. Catherine. I will say this: Everyone's got a "I'm not gay BUT-" kind of character. Sometimes even multiple types of that character. And in Three Houses, Catherine is that one for me. She's boisterous, fun, rowdy, but also just incredibly funny and also deeply self-reflective. She carries a lot of burden from killing Christophe and even though it hurts her, she still holds fast to her convictions. But also she just likes having a good time. I'm still incredibly mad IS never gave her a support with Balthus (But gave Shamir one with him instead, WHICH WHY???) because they're practically parallels to each other. Also she's pretty.

3. Alois. I am SO sad that so many people seem to not like nor care much for Alois, both in-game and in the fandom. And it hurts that even Jeralt doesn't seem to ever have any real connecting moments with him and treats him more like a nuisance, even though the game tries its damndest to imply that Jeralt sees Alois like a son (WHICH WOULD HELP IF THE TWO ACTUALLY HAD SOME DECENT DIALOGUE BETWEEN EACH OTHER!!!). Alois is the sunshine man, he gets along with practically everyone and never lets himself be dragged down by sadness or tragedy. And he's die-hard loyal to Jeralt, he even leaves the Church to follow him. I'll say it, too: The puns may be awful but I still like them, he has a sense of humor at least.

4. Rhea. This one had gone through a process because I didn't know HOW to feel about her during the Blue Lions route. I was super wary of her after the Miklan mission because she had seemed to know about the whole Beast/Relic situation without telling us first. But then the game went on, more info was coming out, and after watching the cutscenes from Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, I actually felt bad for her when all the cards were on the table. She has good intentions, and she's trying to keep the peace as best as she can, but she also isn't honest with those around her and it kind of works against her. But I understand she's trying to juggle both keeping Fodlan peaceful and protecting the last remaining Nabateans after the others were slaughtered by Nemesis and TWSitD. Also her battle theme is beautiful.

5. Manuela. Gosh that woman is a hot mess and I love her. I am so happy she's not just some bland cougar-type character but that she actually has a balanced personality. She drinks like a sailor, can't hold onto a date, but also she's an accomplished physician and famous opera-singer. She can be kind of undisciplined and unable to take things seriously, but also she does her job with a sense of duty and has a kind heart overall. And I REALLY ship her with Seteth. But also it kills me that she's Black Eagles-exclusive in Three Hopes, it's total bullshit. There's no reason a teacher for Garreg Mach would ONLY be fighting for the Empire.

6. Balthus. My weakness. My bane. A tall, gorgeous, fiery and rowdy beefcake with a surprisingly thoughtful backstory. And he's smarter than he lets on, which is why it kills me that FEH keeps flanderizing his character (and even MISCHARACTERIZING him that one time Hilda dragged him to training. Hilda. The lazy girl. Dragging Balthus. The tanked as FUCK King of Grappling who LOVES to train and fight). And I think one of the things I love the most is how he even understands just how flawed he is, though he makes the mistake of thinking people hate him for his flaws. As if there aren't hordes of fangirls wanting to marry him. He's just a genuine sweetheart and a relatively honest guy.

7. Dimitri. This one's pretty much a given, I love Dimitri the most out of the three leaders, and I feel like he had the best development and story over the other two. His downfall and his rebirth makes him probably one of the most multi-faceted lord characters of FEH. He has an incredibly compassionate heart and he's so prone to seeking peace as a solution; you see it so many times, with Dedue (which that HAD to be hard, imagine being told that an entire race of people was responsible for the death of your family and friends. But then you see a boy from that same race, not much older than yourself, injured and broken from losing his family too, and you empathize with him and save him), with Edelgard in Azure Moon when he wants a peace talk and after he defeats her, with Claude (saving him from the attack by TWSitD), and even with Miklan in Three Hopes. I adore his optimism and his ideals.

8. Seteth. Great character, responsible, a little too strict sometimes, but he's still at his core a genuinely good person. It's simply that he puts Flayn above all else, for good reason. And even with all that, he can be a little flexible sometimes, such as when he tells Manuela that he'll accompany her when she goes out drinking and he'll even be her drinking buddy. Though I feel a little cheated that we never saw a draconic form for him or Flayn, I can't imagine how hype it would have been if we got to see him transform in a cutscene or something.

9. Flayn. Under no circumstances can I put Seteth on this list without putting Flayn. She's thousands of years old and somehow she's baby. Absolutely precious and curious and selfless in helping others. And it's adorable how punctual her speech is. Flayn's just a cutie patootie and I love her.

10. Rodrigue. This man is so important and he doesn't even realize it. His whole character essentially being Dimitri's second dad is so sweet and painful when THAT event happens. And I love the fact that he's playable in Three Hopes and he gets some much-needed closure with Felix. He's incredibly likable and helpful overall.

I know I picked a lot of non-students on this list, and I DO like a lot of the students almost just as much as the ones on this list. But I definitely feel like all these characters deserved a shout-out. Stuck with Three Houses specifically since it was the ask, but I wanna put an honorable mention to Shez (both versions) and Three Hopes Miklan at the end. But yeah I'd say these 10 are probably my most favorite of all. And I DO like (most of) the students a lot.

[dogs-over-people]

Fire Emblem Engage First Impressions:

The Bad-

1. Not a fan of the art. This has been known. I much prefer 3H’s. I don’t like bright and flashy. I don’t like uwu humongous anime doe eyes.

2. I personally feel like most of the VAs don’t match the characters? I’m playing F!Alear, and her voice is so soft-spoken and timid. I get she has amnesia and has been asleep for 1000 years, but I was expecting a bit more self confidence? I also find Alfred’s voice weird. Maybe it’s because he looks like Dimitri and Lorenz’s love child, but he sounds more like Ashe? Etie is this petite lady in frills who is supposed to be a body builder? I expect her voice to sound like F!Alear, but she sounds like Catherine/Shamir? Boucheron is supposed to be a tank, so I expect a Dedue type voice, not the voice he has in the game. Coming off of 3H’s VAs, my mind is reeling with expectations vs. reality. The only VAs I feel match their characters so far are Zander and Zephia.

3. The story is very simple compared to 3H. Granted, I am only on Chapter 6. The story could very well improve in later chapters. I guess I am more of a fan of complex routes, morally grey characters, and political intrigue.

4. The supports are very campy, and not in a good way. I feel like I’m listening to caricatures, not actual characters that have a deep bond with each other. Most of the supports that I have seen so far are meaningless fluff with a lot of surface level glamour, and no real substance.

5. Aside from the parent dies trope, they killed off Lumera way too quickly. In 3H’s, it felt like Byleth had an actual bond with Jeralt. I didn’t get the same vibe from Lumera and Alear, especially since Alear has severe amnesia. So when Alear is suddenly sobbing because Lumera is dying, it seems really forced.

The Good-

1. As much as I hate the art style, the animation is much crisper for the cut scenes and fights.

2. Sommie and pet adoption. I’m currently on a mission to adopt all the animals in Elyos.

3. The Emblems of past fire emblem heroes is something I thought I would hate, but I like them better than half the newer characters.

4. The interactive battle map from Awakening is back. Even if I think the story is too simple, I think the world the story exists in is interesting and beautiful. I like being able to see more of the world as I traverse the map through battles. But, I do kind of miss the narration from 3H.

5. Localization said no to lolicon/pedo pushers. More games need to stop catering to adults who think it’s OK to be attracted to children. It doesn’t matter if they’re real or “pixels.” If you find the likeness of a prepubescent (or barely pubescent) appearance attractive, there is something wrong with you and you need help.

[semi-imaginary-place]

fe3h nonsense from reddit

Aymr is similar to the Hero's Relics in that all of them were made by the Agarthans from the bodies of the Children of the Goddess. Aymr is their newest experiment in creating powerful weapons, you can think of the Heros Relics as earlier experiments or prototypes. So Aymr doesn't really follow the one-to one rules of the Relics, as you play the other routes and dlc you'll see more of this. As you learn in SS Rhea has been giving out blood and creststone fragments quite often so I assume the Agarthans stole some at some point . Balthus, and Yuri's crest weapons are similarly not consider Relics but share the same icon color and look of the dragony bones. There's also the dark Relics that show up in VW. The sacred crest weapons the Children of the Goddess made themselves so they aren't cursed like the Agarthan made ones, they even heal every turn. Stuff like Staff of Caedues or Sword of Moralta.

3 Hopes really would have sold better if it was also a trpg instead of a musou. (And if it was wasn't half finished.

Felix wants to go brawling. Edelgard and Hilda want wyvern. Catherine also wants brawling and she got robbed. Gender locked classes ROBBED us of gremory Linhardt and warmaster Hilda. But yeah I keep thinking of ways fe3h could have been improved and Catherine could have gotten grappler and had thunderbrand the reward for her paralogue. Like most of the other relics are paralogue locked. We keep joking that wyvern fixes everyone. On maddening Catherine like most sword users fall off but unlike Felix (war master) or Yuri (sniper), Catherine doesn't have an immediate good option. Her stats mean she's never a bad unit in a physical class but especially in late game she doesn't really shine. Yeah I would have preferred the church units could be recruited at at least the same time on all routes and then just leave on CF. I mean Flayn already does that.

Duscar in CF: Probably absorbed into the Empire system which is actually probably better than their fate under Faerghus. Edelgard cares about merit and action, not background. So at least under her direct supervision Duscar people wouldn't be discriminated in employment or promotion. She's instating new leaders in a lot of regions and honestly a lot of Faerghus nobles are the exact sort she hates so there's a good chance she'd kick Kleinman to the curb. Now she also not the type to install a Duscar leader to the region just because they're from Duscar they'd have to prove themselves to her.

Hilda is a very kind person. She hides it behind her laziness but she's genuinely very warm and compassionate so Edelgard's war and more harsh methods are in direct opposition to who Hilda is as a person. In general most "retainer) characters like Dedue and Hubert can't be recruited outside of their route. Hilda is the exception since she and Claude are just getting to know each other. Mercedes, Ashe, and Marianne all have suffered greatly on a personal level from the crest and nobility system. Alois's prime objective is loyalty to Byleth no matter what path they choose. Additionally Alois is haunted by the people the Church has had him kill.

Yeah the people who say get hit+20 on everyone and armor knight on everyone don't understand the concepts of efficiency and opportunity cost. Uncanny blow is great on mages since magic suck at EP in this game. Bow users (deadeye + +2 bow range + +1 bow range hehe) are the only ones I ever put hit +20 on. Axe users I'm using combat arts and smash on every turn. And if I need to patch up hit on anyone I equip a different battalion.

[darianias]

(I WROTE ALOT and i domt have the time to go im and add like different emhasis points or emojis but like, this is absolutely NOT HATE so please don't take it that way, @curse-d-owl I literally have to get ready to go get my teeth pulled RIGHT THIS MOMENT AS I TOOK TOO LONG TYPING THIS. Edit 2: probably missed some but I fixed some typos and added a little bit with my edits. )

I honestly get what you're saying, but also, it's kind of... the point of it all? At least how I understood it?

Like that it's supposed to be obviously wrong that everyone in Fodlan treats and looks at outsiders that way, excuses thier own abominous acts but they mostly only interact with others in Fodlan and from Fodlan, and at most with foreigners who are supposed to kind of stand up to represent their countries and not get on the ones in Foadlan's bad sides, so they are in a position where they can't really speak up much unless they really trust the person and it's in more private confidence. Only try to help these people see thier wrong doings and false beliefs by slowly coming to learn and accept otber's cultures so thier eyes can be opened that way.

I feel like for Rhea and Cyril's case that Rhea doesn't really recognize anyone unless she actually has to (to keep up the charade she has been doing for 1,000+ years) or she actually cares about them- we don't see her really interact or even talk about Cyril despite his dedication to her because

1.) She's so used to that from everyone she doesn't even take in that it's more so towards her than the church (albeit she wants both still)

2.) She only truly cares about a small group of people and fakes it until she makes it with others. Most notably, most of which are other Nabateans (idr the spelling atm), her homonculi which she grew a motherlike bond with Sitri, Byleth (in part bc of sitri and alot due to her plan on our body becoming a vessel for Sothis,) and Jeralt to an extent. Even then, she treats even him like "an other" who "can't understand)

So like, in this case I feel like it completely points out how the white savior type thing is wrong, as in not good.

For Ingrid, it's supposed to be blatantly clear that she and her hatred/bigotry is in the wrong, but in this setting, it's generally not good or smart to point it out, especially if you are someone like Dedue.

Also I view Almyra kind of in the eyes of when the middle east was really into science and math and all of that, but still wanting a military presence and having more reliably fertile land (as much is prarie and desert so susceptible to drought) can always help, so having troops who are made up of some that are "war-mongerers" be it they love to fight or truly believe in what is preached, makes sense and i thought both called the other barbarians, I know at least fodlans were called cowards (i think inoart due to how much they rely upon relics), but reality shows that fodlan is no better, pretty much the same and how they also have those who love to simply fight (hence why Holst could get along with Nader so well in VW.)

We can see how horrible what they did to Duscur was and how it frankly even worsens Dimitri's mental health as he is aware that no one would ever had believed him other than a select few due to his age at the time and due to the racism and/or prejudice held towards them before that, able to completely ignore that Dimitri's father acted as though he actually liked and accepted the people of Duscur and was on fairly, in comparison, good terms with them, especially to have such confidence with them and trust in them.

From almost every point of view the older generation's sins are laid bare for us to see and foe the younger generation in the game to point out that it was wrong of them and help bring change. Hence why we hear of many of them doing atrocious things within thier families and onto others. The breaking down of classism, racism & xenophobia, sexism even and even biases against those who don't believe in the same religion in every route.

I do feel like somethings could be fleshed out more, mind you, with more time possibly more could be addressed by a variety of characters such as Claude pointing these things out about these other wrong doings towards all other cultures and peoples, but again, safety and trust are big things, so with less time game development-wise, and limited amounts of support convos, I think the development and story team did pretty good. Especially considering Japan itself as a whole society can be pretty xenophobic and really hold onto alot of those same, terrible values (much like any imperialistic or formerly imperialistic country.)

Today I'd like to talk about the mistakes the writers made with my favorite 3h lord is Claude, specifically houses Claude. they've done a lot right with his character but that doesn't mean he isn't without his unfortunate flaws.

Lets begin with Almyra and how Claude sees the situation between them and Fodlan.

Almyra is poorly utilized and done dirty by making them war loving barbarians for the sake of it and causing everyone and themselves grief due to their unnatural love for war. And on top of that they made Claude uncharacteristically dumb by blaming Fodlan and Rhea for Almyra's consuquences despite being smart enough to know that Edelgard is the aggressor in part 2.

This could've been easily avoided by making either the 10 elites or the Agarthans responsible for the fued between Almyra and Fodlan.

Next is his view on Rhea and Edelgard. I talked about this before but to sum it up he distrusts Rhea that she can't be reasoned with to the point that he believes that change can only happen if she's gone, all because he blames Rhea for Fodlans throat and yet a violent war monger like Edelgard who endangered his friends during white clouds and works with the Agarthans is granted patience, a chance of mercy, cooperation and the benefit of the doubt.

What makes this even worse is that Claude distrusts Rhea for the wrong reasons. Things like her allowing Fodlan to oppress, conquer and kill foreign nations like they did with Duscur and Brigid are extremely valid reasons to distrust her. The solution to that issue is properly criticising both characters.

The next problem is that he's great pals with Hilda, who's family enslaved an Almyran child and subjected him to extreme labour with no rest and some bread every few days. The ever so simple fix is cutting that slavery junk out. It doesn't get addressed as it should've, only exists to prop up Rhea as a white saviour and Cyril is the brown servant. Just get it it out of here.

And last and certainly not least his support with Ingrid not addressing her unjustified racism and hypocrisy in condeming all people of Duscur for the actions of a few while simultaneously giving Faerghus a free pass for their worse crimes. That could be solved by either A. Cutting her selective racism out ( cause again, it only exists to prop up white characters, isn't handled properly, you don't need extreme racism to have depth, nuance and conflicts and nothing would be missed if it was cut out ) or B. At the very least harshly condemn Ingrid for her repulsive behaviour.

Barring the first issue the selective treatment of similar characters, the needless and extreme racism that purely exists to prop up white characters and not taking the oppression and mistreatment of Duscur and Brigid seriously are issues that plague the entire game and not just Claude.

But that's it for my criticism. Like i said Claude is my favorite lord but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna deny the faults. Liking your favorite character and bring critical about them isn't mutually exclusive.

[raspberryranpo]

Can I just say…I feel like the BL boys would all spoil their s/o in different ways without meaning to. Can I get some HC for that please?

spoiling their s/o

fire emblem three houses: blue lion boys

tumblr just crashed for a solid two minutes… yikes

i bought castlevania on the weekend & it’s the hardest thing ever. i can’t get through a boss fight without a) not having enough time or b) not having enough hearts. i’m stuck on medusa in the first game if anyone can help :(

DIMITRI

he’s the prince of faerghus. of course he’s going to have a load of money to spend on you.

every time you both go out to the town, he immediately buys anything you set your eyes on.

either that, or he buys it in secret, just to see your smile when he surprises you with it

he loves to see you smile. he went so long without one that he’d just do anything to put one on your face

since he’s not very good with words or actions, he’s very glad that he can get his love across with the huge amount money that he’s been cursed with

DEDUE

will cook/bake you anything you want at any time. he’s very willing to spoil you with food

he’s alright with spoiling you with gifts, but he’s not very good at deciding what’s a good gift and what’s a bad one

i’ll give you an example - one day, he bought you a hammer, thinking that hammers were useful and were therefore good gifts. he chose the hammer over a sweet little bracelet that you could both have matched with.

he knows that you like his cooking, and he enjoys cooking, so that’s the easy way out of it. he loves spoiling you that way.

often comes up to your room with different foods or desserts, hoping that it’ll cheer you up and make your day better

SYLVAIN

arent his gorgeous looks and perfect personality enough? - a joke

he loves buying you things, even if they end up being something he wants more. but he knows the ins and outs of jewellery and flowers, and he’s happy to present those to you

also buys you any book he thinks you’ll like. he’s memorised your taste in everything down to a T and any book that he gets you always turns out to be the best thing you’ve ever read

makes sure to spoil you with kisses and attention too. he wouldn’t be sylvain without all the touchy stuff

FELIX

has no clue what type of gifts are best for partners, nor is he very generous with affection… but he wants to spoil you nevertheless, so he’s stumped

he physically cannot bring himself to hold your hand in public, so he resorts to spoiling you in private instead

honestly, i have no idea how he’d spoil you otherwise. maybe you could count him being nice to you and mean to everyone else as him spoiling you.

he goes from giving you lovey-dovey eyes to giving sylvain the worst wedgie he’s ever had in his life

ASHE

ashe would spoil you by always giving you his full attention. he doesn’t even know that he’s doing it

but whenever you walk into a room, he can’t help but keep his eyes on you & only focus on what you’re saying

if you catch him staring, don’t say anything because he will get insanely embarrassed

if ever you’re in a conversation and you’re telling a story, but everyone stops listening halfway through, he’s always there to tell you to keep going. please take care of him he’s so sweet

[marahuyos]

anon asked: If requests are still open, I'd like to request claude, edelgard, dimitri and maybe yuri (pre or post timeskip) from fe 3h having to deal with an impulsive s/o who is overprotective if you don't mind me asking

*:･ﾟ✧ i may have messed up the request so sorry sksks

gn!reader

tw: spoilers for all post timeskip routes

✧ Claude von Riegan

• He feels exhilarated and curious all at the same time. He’s never met anyone that piqued his interest as hard as Byleth and... they were Byleth. He hasn’t seen anyone who was as outspoken as you are even when he’s seen a lot of common folk. Hell, even when you two are together, he feels like he hasn’t cracked you down even though you bare your heart to him so easily. He hates the feeling but at the same time he would revel in the risk of leaving him vulnerable for someone that wasn’t himself.

• Speaking of laying bare, he’s not used to this-to have someone else care for him. All his life, he had only himself to depend on, not trusting the words from Almyra and Fodlan alike. He keeps everyone at a respectable distance from his heart and he was content with that.

• But when you came along, everything changed for him.

• He still remembers the day that he first saw you; he was assigned weeding duty from Byleth due to another prank caused by him. Alongside Claude, they picked you, a random student who wanted to be an armored knight at some point, so you always asked Byleth to assign you in weeding. Not the best type of training for your calves and spine but at least it's something productive for Garreg Mach.

• Of course, Claude wouldn't want to pick out weeds so his next scheme is to see how far he could annoy you. Not that he bared any resentment towards you but hey, a man has to kill boredom somehow. Before he could try and see if he could get a beetle to drop in your clothes, other students strolled by. Faceless ones that Claude won't probably remember but he knows that they were the types who mutter under their breath on anything that they find hilarious.

     • "Look at that," one of them says to their friend, "a rat and a loudmouth doing the church's work."      • "Honestly, what were they thinking of letting trash like them in Garreg Mach?"

• Claude could care less about petty words, he's grown past them. But he was taken aback when you raised your voice at the two. "Don't call me a loudmouth if I wring you both by the necks in the next mock battle!"

• And after disposing the beetle, disarming the possible fight that was happening in a weedy field, and convincing Seteth that no, it was not Claude who started the fight this time, he's found an interest in you. He hasn't had this impulsive person in his life other than Judith and it scares him. It scares him that he places his trust in you, knowing that you would say what ever is on your mind and that you might find him repulsive like a street rat.

• But you never do. Past your brazen personality and iron fists when it comes to defending Claude, you still treat him like a person ("Because you deserve it, dumbass. Don't go making a spiel on how mysterious you are.").

• Even when he became the King of Unification, people would remember how he stares at you in absolute reverence whenever you tell him that the new Leicester Alliance is making your head spin harder than Lorenz's pick-up lines.

✧ Edelgard von Hresvelg

• She's grown an interest in you. She's never met anyone who ever spoken their mind so freely compared to you. Sure there was Dorothea, but even the girl has secrets that she keeps to herself. To you, listening to your random spiels about everything that you've seen, Edelgard is not even annoyed. In fact, she looks forward to listening to your daily ramblings.

• Even when people began to talk behind your backs, she still invites you to tea time as you talk. She doesn't mind them but she knows when you hear them as she sighs through her nose when she hears your insults to them. It was another fight that she has to dismiss and another apology towards Seteth.

• Still, she wouldn't change it for the world. Not when you tell her that she was the stupidest person alive to issue a worldwide purge, when she could've headed towards a less bloody path, when she didn't have to waste what little is left of her precious life. She could only let a tired smile stretch across her face as she cradles your bloodied hands.

     • "Maybe so," she said, "but at least... I am somewhat sane when I have you to bring me back to reality."

• Despite this, you never detached from Edelgard's side. As dutifully as her personal guard and lover, you defended her from outlandish cries, from assassination attempts, from her own demons that plague her mind. Your brash words and physical strength is what kept the woman grounded and like hell is Edelgard going to let you go.

• Even when going down in history, historians depicted Edelgard as a ruthless ruler clad in red with her lover holding her like she was their world.

✧ Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

• He's met his fare share of impulsive people such as Sylvain and Felix. But he hasn't met anyone such as yourself. He practically had heart eyes already when you started spewing how awesome he was a throwing his spear and how he was practically cool in general. He's never met anyone so honest as you that it scares him.

• It scares him how easily it must be to break your heart should he reject you (but thank Seiros he didn't, he'd be a damn fool to do so). But he sees that you were tough as nails. He sees that you don't break as easily compared to plates or the sewn items Mercedes had made. He can't help but be thankful for someone who's as solid as a rock, for someone he can rely on when he feels the winds of change course.

• ... Is what I've described but it's really just holding Dimitri's hand while he blushes so hard you fear he might pass out while you were staring at him with a dumb smile.

• It doesn't help that both of you are overprotective of each other. It wouldn't be long for either party to brandish their weapons at any foreseeable threat. It takes the likes of Dedue, Felix, Raphael when he's available, and Rhea herself to pry you two away from causing mass genocide.

• ... Yeah about that. See what happened in the Azure Moon route. But hey! You weren't the one committing genocide!

• Even if he pushes you away, threatens you, confesses that a monster like him doesn't deserve you, you've returned to becoming Dimitri's anchor. You were the one who slapped some sense (figuratively or literally is up to your interpretation) when the rest of the Blue Lions came back. You've become his anchor and now, his next spouse to lead the new Fodlan in a time of peace.

✧ Yuri Leclerc

• In this case, you were someone in the Abyss just like the Ashen Wolves are. Yuri isn’t the type to let anyone close to him; he only places his trust to those who aren’t savages like Dimitri or Edelgard. In fact, he seems to trust you more than anyone else because of how honest you are even with the rocky start.

• The rocky start being that you were way too honest for your own good. There was no way you survived in the Abyss letting your mouth run like that. He’s always at a complete stand-still when you’re picking fights against his men who questioned his leadership. He hasn’t met anyone who honestly cares for him, the last time he remembers was his own mother. He clenches his fist each time he remembers but it wasn’t anger. He felt... happy knowing that you got his back.

• With you being your honest self, Yuri feels like he can be at ease. He doesn’t have to make multiple personas to talk to you, he’s already seen your true persona. He can let the tension off his shoulders when you say that his current make-up looks like hell and that you wanted to try and fix it for him (and he’ll always let you with a small smirk on his face).

• He’s appreciative of you being overprotective, even when there was a war for Fodlan. Yuri knows that you have his back no matter what and that he’s glad that he has someone like you to lead the Abyss amidst this war. Even if he hasn’t revealed his true name to you, the amount of trust you put on him makes him exhilarating and sick at the same time.

• He hopes that he shouldn’t write your name on his notebook someday soon. But maybe one day, in a Goddess Tower maybe, he would confess to you his true name with your hand in marriage.

[glowingbadger]

Can I also ask on the tangent of escape rooms how the BL would get out of an escape room with a s/o? 💙

Aww, super cute concept~ I don't have extremely robust ideas for this other than creating a full blown fic (which would also involve like... creating an escape room design lol), but let's throw around a few headcanons~ (As usual when not specified, I'm focusing on the dudes, but folks can always tell me when they wanna hear about the ladies!)

Blue Lions x GN Reader - escape room headcanons

SFW

Dimitri: Very good at collaborating and communicating- up until the point when the pressure is on and he starts to feel stressed. Once time is running low, he can absolutely get frazzled and not think as clearly, so hopefully you're able to ground him a bit! But overall, he takes suggestions well, and is fairly observant- though he's not always the best at piecing together what he's observed and getting himself into the right 'mindset' to solve these puzzles. Definitely accidentally breaks a lock or two. But he gets so excited when you two succeed, and he's so proud of how cool and clever you were!

Dedue: Incredibly observant and detail oriented. He'll pick up on the most minor clues with ease. Problem is, he's not always great at knowing when to speak up and let you know what he's found, so you may be stuck spinning your wheels for a bit until he finally says, "I apologize for interrupting, but I found what looks like a code on the underside of that desk." He works well under pressure, and keeps a cool head, and he's always alright with being the first person to approach something that looks suspicious or scary, if it makes you more comfortable.

Felix: This poor boy. He does not understand why you would intentionally put yourself in the position of being trapped somewhere for fun. But you get so excited and so into the whole thing that he simply can't help wanting to help you if he can- not that he would ever admit it. It's just that your moods are so contagious to him and he can't help wanting to see that adorable, triumphant smile you give when you've figured out the next clue. Absolutely the type to get impatient if one code or riddle is taking too long, and will 'test out' the structural integrity of the doors, walls and locks.

Sylvain: Trapped alone in a private room, you say? You're definitely going to have to remind him that these places always have cameras on you- to which he of course 'jokes' that, "that's alright, babe, they can watch~" He spends the first chunk of your time here more or less goofing off like that, wandering around and helping out a bit, but not engaging too seriously. But the more time goes on, the more you realize that he is shockingly good at this when he actually tries. And gradually, as he sees how excited you get when you two make some progress, he does start actually applying himself, and together you'll make quick work of it.

Ashe: He is so excited to do such a fun and interesting activity with you, and he's gonna put his all into it from start to finish. He does have an unfortunate habit of noticing details that are definitely intriguing, but end up actually not relating to the solution that you need. That said, there's a fine line between excited and afraid, and he's definitely going to get a bit anxious in this small, dimly lit space. He jumps every time a prop moves- but honestly, being a bit scared is part of the fun of an escape room. By the end, you both feel like you went on a harrowing investigative journey together.

[four-loose-screws]

An Interview with Mr. Toshiyuki Toyonaga about Fire Emblem (Claude‘s Japanese VA), Pg. 7

Chatting As Just a Player

As a player, how did you play “Three Houses?”

Toyonaga     When I started, I planned to complete two playthroughs, and on my first playthrough, I didn’t look up anything at all.  Because of that, I didn’t know things like how to scout the characters from the other classes. Someone told me “It seems like you’re missing something,” and I thought, then maybe I have to raise their support level? But even when I did that, I still couldn’t recruit them, so next I thought that maybe it had to do with stats, and did a lot of trial and error. I only realized that it might have something to do with weapon proficiency (skill levels) and support levels during the latter half of the Academy Phase. Because of all of that, I was filled with wishes that I had recruited this character and that character as I was thrust into the War Phase, and I was filled with regret during the three-way battle. (Chapter 17 and the battle at Gronder)

Because you encountered the other students as enemies, right?

Toyonaga     Yes. I remember thinking “Curse you!!” when Bernadetta attacked from the ballista because I didn’t scout her. Laughs. Having to fight the characters that I wanted to come to my side was really painful as I cleared the map. And so, that was how I played the game. I remember thinking it was a particularly pure playthrough. I also remember thinking “There’s so, so many of these!” as I collected the fallen items from around the monastery. When I think of the lost items, I remember stuff like the fish. Laughs. Fishing was fun too, and so was growing things in the greenhouse… though I forgot about it a lot, so there were some plants that didn’t grow. As you can guess, I ended up harvesting what I planted before the time skip five years later, after returning to Garreg Mach.

Which difficulty level did you choose?

Toyonaga     On my first playthrough, I chose normal classic. I play with the thought process that has followed me throughout the series, that I can’t let anyone die, so I have never once chosen casual mode.

We’d like to ask you about what impressions you were left with when you played normal mode.

Toyonaga     I thought that even normal was hard too! I progressed through the game without utilizing the free maps much at all. I only leveled up by completing the main maps and paralogues, so the War Phase was tough. There were many times where Claude and Byleth did nearly all of the work. I also gave Lysithea Lorenz’s Thyrsus Staff, giving her four range, so there were also a lot of situations where her magic did a lot of work even from far away. There ended up being a huge gap between Leonie and Ignatz’s levels and everyone else’s, and felt sorry about that as I continued through the game.

Did you make Lorenz a physical or a magic unit?

Toyonaga     I made Lorenz a Dark Knight. He was closer to a dark mage cavalry unit. Also, I remember thinking it was kinda cool that Grappler Raphael could attack four times in a row as he punched his enemies with all his might. Marianne fulfilled the role of the healer, and Hilda swung around her axe with great force. However, my Hilda’s defense didn’t grow very much, so I kept it in my mind that she couldn’t go out on many risky missions as I played.

What scenes did you like, or what scenes left an impression on you?

Toyonaga     I liked the mystery of the scenes where Byleth and Sothis spoke in the place that resembled a throne room, that was a sort of spirit world. I also really liked Seteth and Flayn’s conversations.

They’re all characters that are all similar to each other in some way!

Toyonaga     They are. When their allies learned of Flayn and Seteth’s true identities and relationship, a lot happened, and their allies changed a bit… Aside from that, because Claude is an archer, I also really liked being able to hear his conversations with Shamir, as they are both archers. It felt like she was a big sister.

The developers said that this game’s storytelling, and the creation of how noble society functions, among other aspects, were developed with Genealogy of the Holy War in mind, so what sort of impression did that have on you, as someone who has many memories of that game?

Toyonaga     There were many times where I thought that might be the case, that Three Houses was based on Genealogy, but as we talk about it now, I sort of think that might be why it was so easy for me to become fond of Three Houses… They both feature a type of war that doesn't really feel rewarding at all… And questions like “Who’s really behind all of this?” and “Is fighting this fight really what’s right?”, that deepened Genealogy's story, were things I also felt really strongly during the War Phase of Three Houses.

We agree! And you can even play the villain’s side of the story.

Toyonaga     About that, I thought that Hubert and Dedue’s roles were so unfair! They are considered the closest confidants to Edelgard and Dimitri respectively, existing as their right-hand men. The Golden Deer don’t have anyone in that position… Lorenz would never be someone like that.

Both     Laugh.

Toyonaga     Lorenz finally comes to support Claude during the War Phase, but the way that Hubert and Dedue are so devoted because they are right-hand men is really moving, and as men, it’s so cool! Oh, I mean “man,” as in “manly man...”* I could talk on and on like this for five minutes about just one character. Laughs.

(above) Hubert and Dedue both serve their lord without any concern for their own well-being. Also, Mr. Toyonaga also told us that he didn’t choose a different class from the Golden Deer even for his second playthrough, so we showed him scenes like how manly (!?) Hilda acts when she faces Claude as an enemy.

It feels weird to hear your own voice

Did your impression of Claude change after recording?

Toyonaga     My original impression of Claude was that his core personality cannot be changed, but aside from that, he gives off the mood that he has the flexibility to accept the opinions of many types of people… That sort of image. That part didn’t change the entire time we were recording, so after recording, I don’t think my thoughts changed then, either. I just thought from time to time that he says some pretty snobby things. Laughs.

He does. Laughs.

Toyonaga     He talks like that to the professors, to his fellow students in his class… ‘He… He can say nasty things like that?!’ I thought. But I think it’s still a good part about him, or not bad, at least.

So your image for performing Claude’s role was consistent from beginning to end. Does that mean that you didn’t have to do many retakes?

Toyonaga     We hardly did any retakes. I corrected myself on my own when I mispronounced town names that were difficult to say, and things like that, but aside from those physically difficult to perform lines, I don’t feel that we did that many retakes.

So how did you feel as a player when you heard Claude’s voice?

Toyonaga     This much is obvious, but when I first heard my own performance in a Fire Emblem game, it felt weird. And on top of that, I don’t know why exactly, but I wanted Claude to get married and have a paired ending, and I chose Professor Byleth. So I ended up confessing to myself! Laughs.

Laughs.

Toyonaga     I enjoyed the game in a way that only I could. But it was really weird the entire time. Hm, how do I put it… I wanted to express myself in the world of Fire Emblem, and wanted to confirm that I did a great job of that, so I listened really carefully to my own performance as I played the game.

That’s the point you discussed before, that you wanted a portrayal that made the game feel like it really happened in history, right?

Toyonaga     Yes. Was I able to express what I wanted how I wanted? I played the game with that thought in my head. ...And lastly, this is completely unrelated, but as I played the game, I was also thinking “Ingrid sure is really cute!” the entire time. Laughs.

[the-apocryphal-one]

I remembered hearing you liked Dimitri fire emblem, what was your favorite part of his character arc?

All of it? XD

Ok, his redemption, which also means his fall because those are tied together by nature. Look, those are some of my favorite types of stories, and Dimitri's is really good. I still remember the gut-punch of seeing how low he'd fallen and the swell of emotion when he began to climb out, the first time I played 3H.

Because it's so tied into his need for healing--he is traumatized horribly by the Tragedy of Duscur at a young age, but lives in a culture that glorifies "knightly deaths", so no one properly addresses what happens. He just tries to bury his trauma in three different, equally unhealthy ways (putting on his princely mask, vowing revenge, and taking his anger out in battle) until he snaps from it. And he just spirals down and down until his cycle of revenge comes to collect its due on him but takes Rodrigue instead.

I view the events that lead to his trip back as a road: Rodrigue's death placed him on the road, but he didn't start walking down it until Byleth told him that he had to forgive himself and let go of the dead. So while Rodrigue's death was important, more important (because before Byleth got there you know he was gearing up for a suicide trip to Enbarr) was Byleth telling him (which was probably the first time he heard it), that he not only needed healing, he had a right to it. And once he accepts that, he starts the process--which destroys his unhealthy crutches, changes his behavior, and changes him for the better (Dedue points out that only now is Dimitri a new person--he hid his true self so well that to everyone else, this is him going back to normal).

And man, that’s just so beautiful. How many of us have fallen into that type of self-destruction and/or needed healing like Dimitri did?

[sevarix-blogs]

who are some characters yuri doesn’t already have a support with and you think he should?

This is an excellent question and I have a lot to say about it!

The wolves should have had more supports :(

1. Ashe

ok this one is pretty obvious, basically everyone (except intsys apparently) thinks they should have had supports.

We were so deprived :( think of the potential! Ashe knows Yuri a bit from when he lived at House Rowe. Yuri knows Ashe is kinda naive and tries to protect him. Ashe really looks up to Yuri and sees him as a hero to the commoners, but Yuri doesn’t think very highly of himself (as we all know). And then maybe in their A support Ashe finally convinces him that he’s a Good Person and offers to help him in Abyss after the war.

2. Ferdinand von Aegir

we all love Ferdie and his quest to be the noblest of nobles, but being so noble makes him unaware of some of the hardships of the commoners. but once Yuri talks to him, he learns more about these hardships and keeps getting advice about it from him. And at the same time, Yuri comes to realize that some nobles are genuinely good people.

3. Dedue

They cook together, of course. And Yuri has Dedue come into Abyss to talk to some of the Duscur people living there who escaped the tragedy. It helps Dedue realize that his culture is still alive, even if it’s underground for now.

4. Ignatz

Ignatz laments that he is unable to get certain types of rare paints/art supplies, but Yuri manages to get it for him through the black market and encourages Ignatz to pursue art as a career. Ignatz promises to paint a portrait of Yuri’s mother as thanks.

5. Marianne

Yuri needs more people to care for the cats and dogs in Abyss since he’s allergic to them. When he first asks Marianne she refuses, insisting that she wouldn’t be good enough for the task. But then one day Yuri finds her in Abyss talking to a group of cats and offering them food. She ends up organizing part of Abyss solely for taking care of the animals there, also to keep them away from anyone who’s allergic.

6. Lysithea

They try to make the tastiest cake in all existence. After the war, Garreg Mach becomes well known for the bakery founded there that serves the most delicious cake in all of Fodlan. (lysithea uses the proceeds from the cake sales to hire Linhardt to cure her of her crests) (i know this one is silly , they can’t all be so serious)

I might add more later, but these are my thoughts for now!