#Nabateans and humans can and did fuck

[randomnameless]

Do we know if Humans and Nabateans can have children? I thought Flayn's mother was a Nabatean too, since she got her crest.

Technically, Flayn never says she got her crest from her Mother !

Nopes wise, in the jp version, Sothis doesn't seem to know her (she knew another Light Dragon?) and calls her a wonder - but jury is out whether she thinks Flayn is a wonder because she was born after, or during, her Big Nap, or bcs she Flayn is a hybrid.

So Flayn being half-nabatean is, basically, headcanon.

However...

Immediately after the war, Flayn disappeared from Garreg Mach. At the same time, Linhardt mysteriously abandoned his claim to House Hevring, and also vanished. It was suspected, among those who knew them, that they had eloped, although no one seemed to know just where they went. Over a decade later, well after the Officers Academy had been rebuilt, something strange happened. A sleepy young girl with antiquated clothing and the Major Crest of Cethleann enrolled. Over the next two years, a young boy and girl with that same Crest also enrolled. Though Crest scholars deduced that they must be siblings, the truth of their lineage was never definitely proven.

Flayn's ending with Linhardt in FE16 is explicit, they got at least 3 children who were "viable" enough to enrol (also, are we supposed to understand in the new GM, children as old as 10 can enrol?).

Canon-wise, Nabateans and humans can have children !

Headcanon wise...

It has always been a possibility that fascinated me, especially because Supreme Leader is so biased against Nabateans when she could be of Nabatean descent herself, via Lycaon - but headcanons are fickle things lol

So there is an AU where Lycaon is a half-lizard, and is killed because of that - which leads Willy to ditch Adrestia and Rhea to abandon hope in Humanity to work on her rez Sothis plan.

Half-lizard Lycaon managed to fuck before dying, which would later lead to the Martritz siblings being hybrids too (but with 500 generations between them and Lycaon lol) - Supreme Leader and her ancestors descends from Empress Hildegarde, the scion of a kid Willy got after receiving his crest, who was never supposed to sit on the Adrestian throne but who took it nonethless when Lycaon "accidently died".

tldr : the matritz sibs are Rhea's far removed descendants

Noa, the apostle, was a Nabatean, and got her own children who ultimately formed the elusive House Nuvelle - they swore an oath of mutual assistance with House Hresvelg (their supposed cousins!) but with time that oath and its origin was forgotten, House Nuvelle just remembers they have a vow of allegeance to House Hresvelg.

Seteth's wife being a human (per his and Flayn's recollections, she was someone like Manuela and Judith??? Why couldn't we see her IS? KT?) is a HC I'll die for, her presence and support might have influenced some Nabateans on thinking maybe all humans weren't bad, and how they could work with some of them.

[randomnameless]

Yep, even with only 7 lines, Macuil was lolcalised :(

Teaspoon got this :

It follows the japanese this : ……あの者らは、うぬの仲間か？

He basically asks Seteth if those people are this friends/companions, but I sort of got that "うぬ" is basically an old way to, uh...

...yeah.

Which is kind of understandable in a way, Macuil doesn't like humans and the "world of humans" Seteth and Rhea partake in, so he'd be annoyed at seeing his bro hang out with a bunch of humans (and descendants of the Elites at that!).

Interestingly, JP!Seteth tries to justify his alliance with "his companions" aka those humans, by saying that Rhea cannot help because she is in a "precarious state".

Pat's Seteth just adds this, randomly "Those people are my allies. Oh and btw, Rhea's in deep shit."

Birdie refuses to help because he is disgusted by "the world of humans" and finds the idea of fighting in a war repulsive - but what does he find repulsive, the idea of a war, or fighting with humans?

Note how JP!Seteth expected Macuil's answer, and says it cannot be helped, like, he knows what his bro thinks and accepts that his pov "can't be helped", like no, we're not going to make him change his decision.

Pat's Seteth doesn't have the "can't be helped" portion, he just regrets Macuil's decision and leaves.

It's not that he's disgusted by humans, he faked his death and left after Nemesis was slain because he was sick of war. The war of heroes didn't end with Nemesis slain, it was only when Seiros made peace with the families of the Elites

Given how Macuil wants to kill Claude for being Riegan's descendant, I wouldn't say that the WoH ended, for him, when Rhea made peace with the families of the Elites.

To Macuil, those families are his bitter enemies, even 1k years after Riegan's death.

So imo, while he might not be fond of war - what he's the less fond of are humans and that'd be the main factor behind his refusal to help his bro and niece : Macuil's hatred for humans (descendants of the Elites) is so strong that it makes him refuse to assist his family who are fighting alongside humans.

Jp!Macuil explicitely calls Billy one of his brethrens :) and given his lines with Flayn'n'Seteth, compared to his lines with the "human" cast, he seems... happier/less pissed at seeing Nabateans around him than humans.

Would he have joined the war if only Billy, Seteth and Cethleann asked him? ... I don't know, and we know from his lines with Claude that his relationship with Rhea is "strained" at best, but still, I suppose he could have answered differently.

(tfw he saw Monica once and regretted giving his crest to her ancestor)

Claude was lolcalised a bit though :

JP!Claude calls Macuil by his title, while Pat!Claude just calls him a "thing"...

i'm telling you Pat was trying to warn us about nopes all along

Jp!Claude suggests Macuil was an ally of Rhea, instead of the more mundane "anything to do" but worst offender is the last line; Pat's Claude wonders where he put his book, when Jp!Claude wonders what "sent by the goddess" even means, aka what the thing he heard about truly means.

Is it the same guy who acts based on a letter given to him and decide to start a war against a person, who's revealed to be part of a legend itself? And when the guy learns that Rhea is actually the Immaculate One, you'd guess he'd stop doing what he was doing and reflect on his course of actions, right?

:p

I just noticed something, how Treehouse changed Macuil's character. His line against Seteth is this in English: I will not assist you. I have lived apart from the world of man, which disgusts me so. This war disgusts me also. Whereas the Japanese text is this “...I won't lend you a hand. I retired because I was sick of the human world. War at this point is disgusting.”

It's not that he's disgusted by humans, he faked his death and left after Nemesis was slain because he was sick of war. The war of heroes didn't end with Nemesis slain, it was only when Seiros made peace with the families of the Elites.

And then think about how there's no recruitable character in Houses with his Crest. The only person we know of is Monica, who was killed by the Agarthans to serve as a skinsuit for Kronya. No one in the game uses the Crest of a said who is sick of war.

Also, it's not that he smells the “stench” of Sothis, he senses her power within Byleth in the Japanese.This whole paralogue is about how Claude has begun requiring seeing proof with his own eyes rather than simply acting on his initial impressions and assumptions, seems like the translators failed to realize what his route was really saying.

[butwhatifidothis]

The fact that someone in 2024 can say "a person is bad because the blood from another race mixed with theirs and made them bad" without any shred or irony or self awareness is ghastly.

Probably comes from the idea that they are "good people," so they can't say racist shit or be racist because racism is bad and they are good people.

Which leads to shit like Shandale and multiple other people repeatedly saying shit like "The Nabateans as a race are ontologically evil and deserve the genocide that happened to them and the humans who genocided them were the good guys." "The Nabateans need to have their rights stripped away from them and live as second-class citizens to atone for what other Nabateans did." "The Nabateans are so savage and violent and evil that having their blood mixed with yours makes you evil like them." The Nabateans are evil, so they deserve to be erased. They deserve to be oppressed. They deserve to be killed. All of them. Even the children. No exceptions.

But they're not a "real" race so it's fine to advocate for their genocide. It's fine to cheer on their genociders and wish they were "properly" portrayed as the good guys they clearly are. It's fine to say "only humans should rule over humans" as if that isn't an ear-bleedingly loud dog-whistle for racial supremacy. Shandale is a good person so Shandale can't say Bad Person things, of course.

And the worst part is that Shandale knows what they're saying sounds bad. They fucking hate it whenever anyone with enough nuts in that cesspit of a discord directly tells them "hey yo this is some racist ass shit you're spewing out, can you like, stop?" They and the people who agree with them pull the "YOU'RE pulling the real world into this, and THAT'S so distasteful and bad!!" because Shandale knows that they only have that cover to hide behind. Shandale isn't saying what they're saying because they aren't aware of what they're saying or don't know why what they're saying is bad, they're saying what they're saying because they found the race they can scapegoat into getting away with saying this.

They all very clearly desperately want to say this shit. They will all go on for hours upon hours at a time vehemently going to bat for this hateful rhetoric, to the point that they will quite literally make shit up about what the Nabateans have done to make them evil. They owned slaves! They destroyed culture! They were tyrants! All of them! Genuinely every single one of them! All that shit is the CORNERSTONE to Shandale and their buddies' rhetoric, and they fucking made it up! It makes you wonder why they're so desperate for this clearly untrue thing to be true, and none of the answers to that question do them any favors to put it kindly.

And everyone in that server with the means to kick Shandale and all the other people who are clearly fucking racist and are using Nabateans as a scapegoat to vent their clearly fucking racist views would rather DM me to tell me ~oh so kindly~ that I should stop airing their moldy tattered laundry (in exchange for the mods following their rules of their server that they've been ignoring for fucking years) than do fucking ANYTHING about the mod that is peddling the racism. Shandale and their buddies don't need any shred of awareness - or more accurately, any shred of acknowledgement - because they know the second they bare their asses to the world the other mods will fucking scramble to cover for them. It's all beyond pathetic and disgusting

[fireemblems24]

Scarlet Blaze Ch 15 (Final)

Last one, everyone! After this, I finally get to play Spiritfarer which I got on . . . Christmas 2022.

NARRATION

Last chapter. Finally. Killing so many people in this route is really awful. Especially since you just . . . don't in the other two.

I think the last chapter will take place at the monastery.

Oh, great, does this mean I have to protect Bernie's dad in this route? I hope Rhea kills him, like gets this badass cut scene where she cuts him down for perverting her faith by using it as a propaganda tool.

So TWSITD showed up and is attacking Rhea and the Empire.

They're mostly after the "beasts" (aka Nabateans? Or humans?)

I wish this meant that we teamed up with Rhea, but we know Edelgard would team up with TWSITD first.

Catherine and Rhea got a cool moment together though.

Yep, we have to protect Count Varley, gross.

MAP

No side battles! This final chapter will be super quick, which is nice.

I'm VERY curious what the Golden Deer students say after Claude's moment last chapter lamo.

And if any Lions mention Sylvain :((((

OMG, Ignatz is savage. He only cares about painting the battle. No mention of Claude.

Yuri wishes he could kill Varley instead of save him. Good for him. He really feels more suited for AG/AM/SS/VW than SB/CF/GW.

Well, at least Mercedes mentioned Sylvain. And Ingrid and Annette. Saying they died for what they believed in and admires them for it, since she could never.

Poor Ashe is having a crisis. Still had no idea wtf he's doing in the Empire's war camp. Honestly, this game made him so much more interesting.

Linhardt also has no fucking clue why he's here. I swear he does nothing but complain every map (in a funny way) and wish he was doing literally anything else.

Lorenz is more concerned about his future bc of Claude than worried about him. Man, guy really has no one loyal to him lol.

DOROTHEA & CASPAR C

I swear I did a much better job getting supports in GW and AG.

Caspar has a bunch of books, and Dorothea's horrified by the idea that he'll use them in training.

Caspar plans to read them. Dorothea teases him. Apparently Lin made similar comments.

Dorothea makes him promise not to hurt the books. A woman after my own heart.

Caspar's like, did you know my dad reads! Dorothea's like, yeah . . . how do you think he got his role if he didn't.

Dorothea tells a story about an unlearned commander who studied strategy in books and improved to become legendary.

The only stupid part of this is thinking you can read and understand complicated books in 5 days and become an expect in 5 days. For once, Caspar was the smart one being like, uh, I need more time.

MERCEDES & LYSITHEA B

This support is SB locked, but neither characters are Eagles. It may be the only support like that in the game. But, hey, new Mercie content, I'll take it!

Mercedes comes across Lysithea in the kitchen, trying and failing to cook.

The fruits she wanted to use are moldy though. Lysithea has an idea to use something else for the fruit - a sugar syrup.

Lysithea has dedicated her time to learning how to cook because of how good Mercedes' cooking was, so she credits Mercie for the sugar syrup, which she learned because of that.

Baking also helped Lysithea learn the importance of taking breaks.

Mercie calls her a wizened old grandma, lol.

They arrange a tea party.

SHEZ & LINHARDT A

It starts with Linhardt saying they haven't learned anything about Shez's powers. I wonder how funny this sounds if you get it after the special chapters.

Linhardt says it's find because the war is almost over, so there's less need and chance for the powers to go out of control.

Shez pretty consistently wants to continue working as a mercenary after the battle.

He also seems to have no desire to stay in Enbarr lol.

Linhardt wants Shez as a personal bodyguard. Honestly, not a bad choice.

Then Linhardt says something like "spending the rest of my life with some random bodyguard" and then makes an excuse to leave. so he wants to stick with Shez for life. It's kind of sweet.

EDELGARD & PETRA A

Their only support

Edelgard comes across Petra praying to Bigid gods. In Brigid they pray in nature rather than in churches in Fodlan.

Edelgard asks Petra why she's risking her life in the war because it's bad for Brigid.

So Brigid will only be freed if Petra remains alive.

To be fair, it's because she doesn't know the new leader. Still feels a bit icky for Petra.

Edelgard warns about "tricks" the enemy will use. She really has a beef with anyone using tactics.

Petra just says she's happy to fight and can't run while everyone else remains and fights.

Edelgard says she can't back out, which true, but she could've just not started one. But that's in the past I guess.

Overall, came across better than the Houses one where Petra didn't seem like an equal.

EDELGARD/LYSITHEA/HAPI PARALOGUE

My plan is to have Edelgard and Shez make the other two adjuncts and see if I can't beat the paralogue that way.

It's about TWSITD, which isn't surprising given that character list.

God, I've made SB Shez so fucking stupid. Never understanding anything. It's so funny.

So is this about Cornelia? They found one of her old hideouts.

I had Shez shrug about joining. Hapi got offended.

They're talking about Hubert. I wish he was here. He's my best unit.

I wish Cornelia showed up. She's so fun, but sadly she did not.

They didn't find anything. Hapi was mostly chill about it. Edelgard and Lysithea were more bothered.

Shez could show concern or change the subject. Obviously I made him change the subject since SB!Shez is not intelligent.

CASPAR/LINHARDT PARALOGUE

Like the last time, I just plan to adjunct Caspar and let Shez and Linhardt do all the work.

They're arguing if Caspar saw a ghost or not. Linhardt remains unconvinced.

Lamo, their dads showed up and Linhardt's dad called him a "fountain of positivity" when he brought up their could die any day.

Linhardt is also upset that he has to help.

We're hunting down Empire people who've turned against Edelgard.

I had Shez not want to go lol.

The main battle changed to defeating their dads. I don't think I'm supposed to take this paralogue seriously.

Linhardt had no fun.

Bergliez gave Caspar some gaunlets, and I could either be happy for him or jealous. I obviously picked jealous since it's fun to pick the dick answer lol.

FINAL BATTLE

Why is the S rank reward Edelgard's axe? This is the last battle, right? Is there some post game stuff? Because I'm so ready for this to be done (I don't think I'll do it).

Funny, Edelgard is the one defending the monastery this time, and Varley. Imagine your final battle being about protecting Varley. Ugh.

Only 40 points for the final battle?

Just killed Catherine :(

Cyril just showed up. Rhea's so concerned. Not looking forward to killing a child :((( He died too. This is by far the bloodiest route. I swear no one even dies in AG, and in GW it's only Sylvain's dad.

This can't be it, right? That was too easy. And Cyril as the final boss makes no sense. I'm betting it's a Thales and Rhea fight.

Rhea turned into a dragon. Badass. Glad she was the final boss poper and not Thales.

Spoke too soon. I think they're both here now.

Think I beat it. We're at a cut scene now. Thales is doing magic shit. Rhea attacked him and just ignored Edelgard and Shez like they weren't worth her notice lol.

Wait, that's it?

Rhea pushes Thales off a cliff? So RHEA's the hero??

There's no way they could've survived that - Edelgard. My girl, Rhea is a fucking dragon and Thales can warp. I have bad news from you. Also, Byleth survived a fall too so . . .

What happened to Dimitri? I don't think I killed Claude either?

Is that really it? The war just keeps going. The war just keeps on with no end in sight. Hahahaha. You mean I played how many hours for THAT? I'm going to laugh my ass off if all 3 routes end like this. What a cheap way to avoid killing any of the lords.

OMG. What a stupid ending.

Except for Rhea. She got the big hero moment lol.

I kept waiting for another battle. Esp since there's an S rank reward that's Edelgard's axe, so Idk what's going on.

OMG, this is going to take FOREVER. They're showing the MVP of every single side battle and not just the main ones. I'm only at ch 6.

There was a lot more variety in MVP than I thought. I thought it would be the Hubert show, but it's pretty varied.

Ok, so around ch 10 turns into the Hubert show. I like seeing battle data though, so I sat through it.

Ok, so you get a letter from the person you get a whistle from. Aww, I eventually won Hubert's trust, and he admits he and the army needs us. Glad I picked him.

Wait, no paired endings? That blows. I hope this isn't a new trend since Engage didn't do that either (I love paired endings)

Ok, so it looks like some stuff would carry over to another playthrough on this file. So, in the future, I'd replay AG over my GW or SB playthrough to at least get 2 on the same one. I can't see myself replaying SB or GW. It's not like the story would matter since I could just skip it, but the gameplay is pretty much the same, so why not play the route with my favorites and the most unit choices on top of that?

So you can carry over supports and even unit level. So I could play Dimitri as the absurd level he's at in level one if I saved over my AG file? Because that would be funny. Probably boring. But funny.

Still feels good. One down. Two to go.

xxxx

[slotumn]

Headcanon/theories on Duscur and how it maintained autonomy up until the Tragedy, despite being a very small corner of the continent:

They either helped Sothis and Nabateans during the war that reset civilization, the Saints during the War of Heroes, or both, by supplying them with crucial high-tech parts (former) or giving shelter to Nabateans and supplying the Imperial army with weapons (latter)— and for this, they were guaranteed autonomy by the Church despite differing faiths.

For the first one: aside from what we already know, about Sothis being a war god in their pantheon and being good with metalwork, why did the Agarthans target Duscur in specific? One is that being a religious and cultural minority must have made them easy targets, but what if they were also after something from the ancient war— something they thought was the reason Sothis won? Like ancient artifacts and blueprints— stuff that current-day humans don't know how to use and maybe only revere as sacred objects.

For the second one: I'm making a few assumptions about how the Imperial army made their way up the continent during the War of Heroes, and basically it's that they had to push up on both the eastern and western front before cornering Nemesis at Tailtean. Ones on the western side probably included Cichol and Cethleann, considering their connection to Rhodos Coast— and Rhodos Coast is conveniently close to Duscur, especially by sea, so I can easily see them restocking supplies (mostly weaponry) from Duscur before the final push of the war. Really the fact that Duscur shores sea on the western side (and has Sacred Gwenhwyvar as natural barrier on land) would have made them great allies for the western front of the war in general.

Also, for Nabateans in the north, a relatively isolated enclave like Duscur would have been a good place to go hide— or to get on a boat and go south to join Seiros. Then when the Imperial army pushed north, they would've known that they could reach out to Duscur for help. The Duscurians hearing Nabatean refugees talking about Sothis, then seeing the Imperial army win against Nemesis, would have further solidified Sothis' image as a war god, too.

All this would have been a great leverage for Duscur to retain its autonomy over the years, and it would explain why Lambert went on diplomatic missions and generally tried to be on good terms with them (even if there were prejudices among the populace) instead of just seizing the territory like with Sreng. It could even explain why the western lords + Western Church joined into fuck over Duscur, too; they felt that the eastern lords + Central Church were giving Duscur too much favor, perhaps favor that they believed they deserved instead.

+completely self-indulgent detail to this headcanon is that in Sothis' era, Duscur manufactured semiconductors, and that during War of Heroes the Four Apostles passed through them— and because three of the Apostles (Aubin, Timotheos, Chevalier) had parts of their bodies cut off to make Relics, they got prosthetics from Duscur.

[deathbirby]

Something I never see the El stan squad bring up is if it is somehow not that bad for genocide against the Nabateans to be carried out bc some of them did bad things to humans, then by that logic Rhea must be the actual nicest person in all of Fodlan’s history for choosing not to go scorched earth on every human being for *checks notes* killing nearly every single one of her people, mutilating their bodies and drinking their blood. It’s almost like it’s an admirable trait not to equate the actions of a group to the entirety of a race. Funny that

Right?? Rhea not going "fuck dem humans" and blasting Fodlan after getting genocided says a lot about her character. And we know she CAN wipe out life on Fodlan. SS's rampaging Immaculate One has Seteth worried that she will destroy Fodlan!

It's like they think the Nabateans are a hivemind that have the same goal; subjugating humanity. That's the ONLY way they can justify what happened in Zanado because we KNOW they were peaceful in Zanado and did fuck all.

[dyaus-pita]

If there is one net positive to 3Hopes' existence, it's that it confrims that not only is KT responsible for most of the writing issues of 3Houses, but that KT is fundamentally incompatible with the themes and messages of FE in general.

While Houses did have a lot of KT devs on staff for Houses, it was IS staff that served as director and producer. Hopes was almost entirely a KT production, with Kusakihara only being credited as an illustrator and "consultant/supervisor" this time, KT staff in the director and the producer roles, and two of the writers being replaced. IS basically had almost nothing to do with Hopes; this is very apparent when you compare how the characters, themes and story are handled compared to other entries in the series (the Elibe and Tellius games in particular) and even Houses. I've written about issues I've had with how Houses handled its anti-war and anti-prejudice messages, but there was an actual attempt at communicating said messages. Compare how the relics and the Nabateans are framed in Houses vs Hopes. In Houses, the relics and crests are ultimately the product of human sin and folly, with scenes like Hilda noticing and being repulsed by how her relic seems almost alive existing to draw your attention to it. The big secret Claude learns at the end of his route is not that Rhea was responsible for crests or relics, but that they are the remnants of her family, and she lied about them not to control humanity but because she wanted to protect what was left of her race and couldn't bring herself to kill people for simply being related to her victims. It was not an accident that Rhea turns out to be the one person in Fodlan who understands more Claude's desire for people to live without hiding who they are more than anyone. In Hopes, not only is the nature of the relics and crests completely ignored, the game seems to go out of its way to imply that the Nabateans deserved what happened to them or are equivalent to the people who genocided them for power, which is extremely fucked up.

In fact, the morals of 3Hopes in general are very fucked up, because the messages it communicates basically seem to be the following:

War is a Good Thing to help the common man, and should be the first option. As long as you have a Good Reason, the devastation and death caused by it can be handwaved.

Power and authority should be completely centralized on one "enlightened" autocrat. They shouldn't have to listen to their people because they know best and therefore should be free to do what they want.

It is fine for the enlightened ruler to use religious organizations as puppets to indoctrinate people and lie to them to support your warmongering. It is not ok to lie to people to prevent bloodshed and protect the last members of a genocided race.

The ends ALWAYS justify the means. As long as a ruler SAYS they feel bad, it's completely ok for them to treat civilians as expendable.

Because invading countries is good, defending one's country is bad, and if someone dies trying to stop you, then it is their fault or the fault of their inferior culture. They should always roll over and let you do what you want. Offering surrender is optional.

It is perfectly fine to destroy another country's culture or system of government to impose your own culture's, because yours is obviously better and you're doing them a favor anyway.

If a continent has had a history of other countries trying to conquer them, then they're racist for keeping you out when you attack them for sport. Why should you have to put any effort to understand them?

A true friend will do whatever you say and want and will ignore their own morals and interests. Feel free to lie to them or abuse their trust.

All the social, international, and political issues in the world can be laid squarely at the feet of one person or religion. It doesn't matter what they actually say or do, the fact they exist at all is tyranny and lynching them will fix everything.

Ethnic cleansing is perfectly fine as long as you want their land or personally don't like them.

Humans are great and perfect and should be free from the divine, except when they face the consequences for their actions. In that case, humans are helpless and the divine should always bail them out.

All foreigners want to subjugate you. Their attempts at peace actually mean they want to infiltrate your culture and destroy your traditions so they can rule, so don't trust them. It is much more acceptable as long as they suck up to the culture of a native though.

Always except everything you're told at face value if it's something that confirms your bias. It doesn't matter who it comes from or their ulterior motives, and you don't need to do research or try to understand the full picture because you are Right.

It is perfectly acceptable to inflame centuries old grudges so you can make war, especially if it allows you to help the people who wronged you less than a year ago.

It is also fine to sabotage another nation's diplomatic relations and use a neutral country's soldiers as bait, especially if your goal is to improve international relations. It's all the church's fault anyway.

It is NOT ok to leave an ally of convenience who clearly wants to either control you or conquer you later to die to end a war quicker.

It's a pro-war, pro-imperialist game, and reads more like the manifesto of a Japanese nationalist, right down to the victim complex and refusal to accept responsibility. Edelgard and Claude in that game are not so much characters as they are mouthpieces, and Rhea and the church are standins for everyone the devs don't like. It's not the plot holes introduced or the continuity errors and retcons that should disown 3Hopes, but the thematic and tonal dissonance to both the series as a whole and the entry that it's supposed to serve in the first place.

[mousegard]

for the ask thing

rhea

favorite thing about them

oh god. where do i start. she's so fucked up and she's so hot. she's an absolute mess on every level. my daughter who has every disease. my poor little meow meow. she did everything wrong and i love her for it. she's so bad and it makes me want to clap my hands and rub them together with glee. all of the rest of my answers to this meme are my favorite thing about her

least favorite thing about them

the fandom

aside from that, her lack of relevance in azure moon sucks. i'm glad that at least she got more focus in azure gleam, as much of a cursed route as that was, if only because it just makes it so obvious how incredibly and delightfully toxic rhea has been for fodlan and its people

favorite line

every line rhea gets is just fucking. so good. cherami leigh is perfectly cast in the english dub. her lines are dripping with menace when they need to be, unsettling when they need to be, and vulnerable exactly when they need to be. every fucking line she gets in cf is just so, so good and the voice acting brings it all to life perfectly.

rhea's lines when byleth chooses to protect edelgard in the holy tomb are my favorite. especially the sheer contempt you can hear in "you are just another failure"

chills every time. the truth comes out there. exactly how she sees byleth and exactly how she sees humanity as a whole

brOTP

one of the fascinating things about rhea is that nobody is on an equal footing to her. not seteth or flayn, her fellow nabateans, whom she never answers to for any of the decisions she makes, despite seteth being nominally her advisor. not catherine or jeralt, who were brought under her wing in exchange for their servitude as knights, one of whom was successfully groomed by her and one of whom wasn't and got out while he still had a chance.

honestly cyril is the only human character in the game that rhea doesn't appear to have a purely transactional relationship with, and... he's a child. a child who cleans her room and does chores for her. okay that's pretty transactional now that i think about it.

so, given that rhea doesn't have anyone she can be bros with, my brotp for rhea is...

rhea/catherine. you get the more wholesome ending of a deposed rhea retreating from the world and catherine looking after her, which is quite bittersweet. but you can also be delightfully fucked up with it. imagine if cf ended with the black eagle strike force being routed in fhirdiad and fresh off a decisive church victory over the empire catherine had to live with the thousands of civilians she'd murdered on rhea's orders, with nowhere to go but deeper into rhea's arms. hhhhhhhhhh

OTP

i don't think rhea is capable of having a healthy romantic or sexual relationship with any other playable character in the game (she might have had one with wilhelm, but that was 1000 years ago), but a relationship doesn't have to be healthy to be incredibly fascinating and compelling. that is why my rhea otp is rhea and cf!dimitri. the feedback loop of bloodthirsty revenge they would enforce for each other would be fun to watch... from several miles away.

nOTP

rhea/byleth. like... rhea outright doesn't see byleth as a person (in stark contrast to the other humans in her life, who she at least understands are people and not merely vessels) until the end of ss/vw and tried to erase their entire identity without their foreknowledge or consent. that's not something i can ship. i can fantasize about how fucked up it is i guess but as a ship? nah

also rhea/edelgard is one of those ships which i like mainly for horny reasons but under certain circumstances it goes instantly to squick. and it's a fine line but a line nonetheless.

random headcanon

this isn't so much of a headcanon as it is an interpretation of sothis' characterization through her behavior in 3 hopes, but i believe that sothis felt no affection for the nabateans she created; they were just tools to her, and she cared about them as much as a paperclip maximizer cares about the paperclips it makes. and that makes it extra tragic for rhea, who wastes her entire life after slaying nemesis trying to recapture a maternal love that only really existed in her own head.

gives me real nier automata vibes. isn't that hilarious? doesn't it make you laugh?

unpopular opinion

rhea is the villain everyone accuses edelgard of being. she's a sympathetic and fascinating character, but at the end of the day she's an alien colonizer who spent 1000 years fucking up an entire continent. and she didn't have to be any of those things. you know it. i know it. she knows it

song i associate with them

See these eyes so green I can stare for a thousand years Colder than the moon

It's been so long

Feel my blood enraged It's just the fear of losing you Don't you know my name?

You've been so long

And I've been putting out the fire with gasoline

favorite picture of them

SageOfAnys

frogbians

[nowis-scales]

We're on our way to finding out what the Colour of Sunrise is...

Can tell you I'm having trouble titling these well? Lol

(Emblems:

❋ = It is entirely neutral

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

✿ = It is negative and critical)

❃ The burning of Fhirdiad just makes me think of that one African proverb: “The child not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.” 

That’s how I interpret what’s happening with Rhea here. This kind of behaviour does not show up until now, you’ll notice, when she’s backed into a corner. The fact that EdeIgard uses this as another point to point fingers is manipulative as fuck, knowing that she’s driven someone else to their limit, but I kind of like that about her. When they dare to use it, her ruthlessness is kind of awesome. ❃

❋ Oh believe me, Bernadetta, I know. 

Actually, now that I think about it, no I don’t. I recruited you for my GD playthrough so I never watched you burn. But I have no plans to do so for AM, so um… sorry. We will someday acknowledge your flammability. Today is not that day. ❋

❋ I don’t know Cyril that well bc I plan to connect more with him in my SS playthrough, but I think he deserves better from this fanbase. He’s often just reduced to prove the badness of Rhea (incredibly debatable imo) and the badness of Hilda (haven’t seen the support but I don’t think it’s debatable — Hilda has some serious self-reflection to do).  ❋

❃ I really do wish there was something more that could be done to help Rhea. Like there is just so much of this shit that she did not ask for, and all of the “solutions” people have pitched have some pitfall or caveat for her. She was never going to be able to win. ❃

✾ Girl she’s having a breakdown, stop trying to make this about you, it's not your moment ✾

✿ I think I will always believe that the message of this story is not about “humanity sticking together”, but the way that power and greed corrupts us to abuse each other and those who seek to help us. Cause I don’t feel like we stuck together in this route. The three countries have a tattered relationship, with one being completely in control. Commoners have been trampled to serve the desires of the nobility, but have been trampled in their own name. There has been an incredible failure to try and understand those who are different from one another, and instead a demonization. EdeIgard doesn’t even seem to trust anyone but Byleth. Hubert and Dorothea are some of her two closest friends, and they don’t even seem to matter. 

I cannot buy this route as “humanity reaching out to each other” because we’re not. We’re not making the effort to understand each other. We’re saying “this is our way, become a part of it or die”. I can’t blame Rhea for being upset with us. EdeIgard is angry that Rhea has no regard for human life, but how much time does she spend actually, genuinely regarding others? She won’t connect to her friends, her fellow governmental officials, her classmates, anyone. When I look at EdeIgard and Rhea, I do see two very broken people, but to me, EdeIgard seems more broken. Because she can’t fathom that there is any other way to do things than she is doing them right now. She’s that in need of control that everything she’s doing has to be right, and that speaks to what she’s been through for sure, but also speaks to the kind of damage she is capable of doing. ✿

❋ But you did.

You’re Wilhelm’s descendant, Edie. Someone that Rhea cared about deeply. She trusted him and his bloodline to carry on, to protect the interests of everyone in Fódlan, including the remaining Nabateans. Your family has information that no one else had. She admitted you into her school with confidence that you would bring about a future of further peace. 

And instead, you turned around and told her that she and her dragon family had to go, just like the humans before you did. 

You may not even have meant to betray her, but you destroyed a trust and respect she placed in you long before you even met. And sure, maybe that is her mistake, but you should understand that better than anyone, right?❋

[dumuzithemessiah]

Jesus never existed

He was a ripoff of old deities, specifically, Dumuzi.

I read the Nabatean story of Dumuzi teaching Jewish people trying to teach them the truth but they reacted violently.

The real story is I didn’t die cause gods can’t permanently die as the closest thing is being shattered so I did try to teach humans the truth and they did react violently as humans are cowardly shitheads who can’t handle reality and their Jewish king got electrocuted by Marduk[[My husband whose name is pronounced Mar-duke! No such thing as a straight deity as no one is heterosexual on Nibiru as we’re all gay or rarely bi! We’re too advanced to even have heterosexuality as heterosexuality only exists in lower advanced species! Humans are an advanced species so what an advanced species should be clear to you humans!]] who struck him with lightening! Yeah you should never fuck with a god’s male wife as that even clearly showed why you would not wanna fuck with a god’d male wife! You get killed if you try that shit! Marduk didn’t play around!

I was only teaching others as King Enkai ordered me to! King Enkai is my rebirth father but also one of my countless descendants as I am the original god after all so I am the ancestor of all gods and goddesses!

All gods and goddesses are related so incest is unavoidable but no one on Nibiru has any biological incest problems so breeding isn’t a problem so no badly messed up kittens are born and yes baby deities are also called kittens in English though our word translates into kittens anyways?

Deities are divine felines so yeah we’re anthropomorphic magical spiritual bipedal felines! We never looked like you humans in our true forms! That was all hateful narcissistic human lies claiming gods and goddesses looked like humans! We look nothing like you cowardly humans who hide behind your lies and stubbornly refuse to listen to the truth!

The prophets started my true lover would never be afraid of me even when I had my nightmare aura out! My nightmare aura is a power of mine which terrifies all as a self defence power! But Marduk does not fear me when I use that power and when I first saw he did as I knew of the prophecy I was shocked but waited till Marduk was old enough because legal reasons as at the time he was a child at age 8 and he didn’t just not fear me but he also came up and hugged me telling me it was okay…

Us deities are well obviously immortal so our views on acceptable couples are different so if we find our soulmate is a child we obviously wait to their 13-15 as that is equivalent in humans to ages 18-21!

And like I said Nibirians don’t have biological incest issues so we have no problem with consent incest relationships!

Humans hate truth and reality so why should we give a flying fuck if you human brats hate incest? We aren’t gonna change our culture because some wicked evil hateful species who disobeys all Universal and Multiversal Council laws and damages the Kosmos heavily out of believing in hateful lies, spreading war, spreading genocide, spread intolerance to others for being different like being against the LGBT!

And humanity hates the real deities because real deities wouldn’t put up humanity’s evil ways and real deities look nothing like humans so humans feel butthurt because the truth proved humanity isn’t special worth shit and humanity wants to be worshipped like if their species was a bunch of special snowflakes that can do no wrong despite humanity damaging the Kosmos with all the evil things they have done!

Which caused the Kosmos to send shockwaves damaging countless planets and causing the suffering and death to countless innocent lives including advance species! Which means beings with families, friends, had homes, purposes in their lives, and as advanced species have culture, language, technology, laws and order, etc! Humans are a lower advanced species!

Many of these species are more advanced than humans!

And the Universe cannot exist without a Kosmos! The Kosmos exists in the centre of the Universe! It is shaped like a heart and is a pale cyan in colour with eyes and a mouth, a blue monochromic ring around it with two royal blue bows!

The Kosmos is the heart and soul of the Universe! Both are needed for things to exist!

Humanity is threatening the lives of countless innocents just because humans are a bunch of cowards who can’t handle reality and truth or accept deities for what my kind truly is!

Humans made themselves Universal Council Enemy Number 2!

With Number 1 being The Reincarnation of The Great Evil Herself whose name now is Ishtayr!

On Judgement Day humanity will realise what happens when you fucking damage the Kosmos to the point it could blow up and kill all mortal life and fuck with the real gods and goddesses and all Nibirians!

Sadly for you humans I doubt many humans will be allowed to reincarnate as humans have hit rock bottom in terms of how wicked and evil humans are!

You humans claim you can reason but you in reality actually can’t because you react hatefully when told the truth! All because truth means you humans aren’t special or above shit! And that’s all majority of you humans have: A special snowflake disorder that cannot process real truth because it means humans aren’t special! AND it means others different from you exist! And humans hate others for being different because they’re a sad pathetic species who get triggered at the sign of others being different then you humans!

That is why humans have problems such as racism, homophobia, biphobia, enbyphobia[[That means against non binaries, which Nibirians don’t really understand but we’re not necessarily bashing you for it?]], transphobia[[Will say Nibirians bodies form around their souls so no one is trans on Nibiru as it’s physically impossible for us to be trans so no offence in that area…]], etc, because humans normally hate those who don’t fit their definition of their norm! They rarely show acceptance to those different from them!

And if you read some of my posts where I talked about my past then you’d know I have suffered way too much for any living being… I have my memories which traumatised me for a long time now so I really am a god and there is nothing you humans can do about me being a god cause that is what and who I am! You’re just upset because I am different from you and I speak the truth unlike you humans who have spread nothing but lies, genocide, war, intolerance, etc, so who’re you to even insult me just because I’m not what you wanted me to be?

The letter J was invented in 1524 by Italian Renaissance grammarian Gian Giorgio Trissino.

So it’s only 500 years old.

Jesus was always a false deity and judging by the old testament? Jesus was a fiendish hateful being who wanted non followers who didn’t believe in his sky daddy to be killed in spot if they rejected his lies!

Many advanced aliens do worship us as we’re deities and all but we deities just expect respect in general as we’re here to protect peace and order in the Universe and Multiverse! Advanced species also see demons as sacred creatures as well! Demons as I’ve stated are Nibirians that are advanced magical spiritual multidimensional species and are nothing what you hateful humans claim with your discriminating lies against innocent demons!

They like yazata[[god/goddess/deity/royal angel]] and tenshi[[common angel]] are magical anthropomorphic spiritual multidimensional species!

All Nibirians are not organic species but are made of magical paint, magical thinner, magical ink, aether, spiritual energy, two crystal hearts, and do not have flesh, bones, or organs but instead look mostly like a void inside! Our “skin”, manes, and fur and what looks like we have organs but don’t is just made of aether and such! Our magical ink is our equivalent to blood!

But we are what we are and if you can’t accept the errors of your ways humans then you will all die and get the “Big E” aka go extinct and never be allowed reincarnation! Your crimes have proven how fiendish you humans really are!

It’s not easy for me being here on Earth right now either as I just want to be with my family and friends and want the Helveon War to finally end!

The Helveon War is the war between Nibirians and other good advanced species VS evil elves[[and which as far as I know only Earl and Aeva are left?]] Ishtayr, the Reptilian aliens, and humans! It’s been going on considered start around half a million years ago! So the eon part works in Nibirian terms as eon is a Ancient Nibirian word and means half a million years so my rebirth and being put together along with the other three members of The Holy Four Kosmos Deities would be over an eon ago in Nibirian terms!

The word eon remains unchanged in Modern Nibirian!

While the word Hel comes from the evil city of Hel/Hell which I will explain in my next post as this post is getting too long!

Also: How Nibirians Age:

Age 0-2 - Newborn/Baby

Age 3-4 - Toddler

Age 5-8 - Child

Age 9-12 - Teenager

Age 13-15 - Adult

[randomnameless]

Sorry I need to send this about the "children of the goddess should not be allowed to rule" thing. Cause like, why shouldn't they. We, as humans generally appreciate the guidance of someone older and wiser. Wouldn't a nabatean's lifespan and experience make them the most "fit" to rule? Like, yeah, I trust someone with a millenia life experience to lead more than I trust someone with under 3 decades. And maybe it can be argued that Rhea didn't do a good enough job, but that doesn't actually disqualify the rest of them? Like, either they're truly godlike and should lead due to their inherent experience and wisdom, or they're just like any other person, in which case why shouldn't they get the CHANCE to lead. Like, is the situation that they live in fodlan, but have no rights to play a role in the future that they'll have to live in? They're not allowed to be in a position of leadership due to their race? Cause that's like. Pretty bad. But this is a question the game cannot answer because it might make homegirl look slightly morally questionable.

Go ahead anon, rant!

I think this issue could have also been raised in FE10 - but that game and "racism" is like... you believe you're eating a chocolate flavored peanut, and only realise you're actually eating a peanut flavored chocolate.

For all of the focus, in both games of the duology, Daien got as the laguz hating country, there's no line/zilch about them being happy - or not - with having a heron branded queen? Miccy will age slower than regular beorcs, will Daein peeps be okay with that? We don't know, but we sure know that legends will remember Ikey-poo fondly, just, don't give a fuck about the world or the other characters from the verse please.

As for Nabateans not being allow to do either X or Y based on their race... well, it was basically raised early in the fandom days by some people, myself included, but I guess being able to drink tea with Freezer overwrote that issue.

We could argue using headcanons all day long, for 5 years lol about what Rhea did or didn't - since the game loves to tell and show different things, but the fact that Nopes had to add Yuri and Dimitri discussing about common sense, like feeding people first before giving them education, I'm pretty sure the devs never believed people would seriously wonder what would Clout/Supreme Leader/Dimi's policies about "making a better world" would entail : both Yuri and Ferdie's supports are just here to, in a typical Fodlan fashion, sprinkle peanuts on your ice cream to make you believe you're really eating a snickers.

"We're a very serious game about having three political powers discussing about the future of the world and what should be done to reach this ideal !"

"And no one thought about food? People needing food to survive? Before doing anything else like getting a proper education or wishing to have a say in the politics of their respective states?"

"... Well, we also tackle very serious themes like isolationism and its effect of society and prejudices!"

"By depicting the foreign neighbours as MENA inspired people being bloodthirsty and deadset on pillaging or rampaging in cities? They attack for fun and let their orphans die as canon fodder? And the main lead who wants to talk about opening the borders and isolationsim never mentions this? At all? Especially since he's a prince of this MENA inspired country?"

"... but we hammer in 3 routes how this lady is evil incarnate, and in the 4 others, we say she sus!"

"Your point being? One person hearsaid to be wrong doesn't suddenly make the rest of your cast likeable, especially if their writing has glaring holes like the ones I pointed!"

"... we can sell super rad umbrellas?"

And you know what, it's a damn shame the devs didn't believe in their "homegirl" as you said it, because Freezer is somehow super popular, and that was even before the DBS retcons!

[fantasyinvader]

I was thinking how Sothis seems to be more associated with water, flooding the world after the Agarthans destroyed it. Yet her Crest is known as the Crest of Flames. It kinda hit me that the Crests are named either after the saint that bestowed them upon the people of the Empire or, in the case of the Elites the name of the Elite who took the Crest. The Elites were allies of Nemesis, who had the Crest of Flames, who was a puppet of the Agarthans. The Agarthans were the ones who gave him the Crest, so what I'm thinking is that they in all likelihood gave it the name.

So thinking about this, the Agarthans were the one who set the world on fire before heading into their vault. They're the ones who gave Nemesis his Crest. They took the heart and blood of Sothis, who is tied to water, so that they could take power over the surface they long ago abandoned after they fucked it up, and used it to create a being with the Crest, which they called the Crest of Flames/Fire Emblem, to their puppet king. The Agarthans seemingly presented themselves as gods, tasking Nemesis with killing the "wicked" gods, and Nemesis then went onto persecute the people he conquered. And when they're defeated, they manipulate Edelgard into becoming their puppet, the Flame Emperor, in order to purge the surface.

There's also the fact that fusing with Sothis allows Byleth to access the Nirvana class and the powers associated with it, including making the SotC stronger. Nirvana is a spiritual state where the individual has extinguished the three flames from within themself, furthering her association with water. And as I've said in the past, Rhea seems to be more akin to an ICE dragon due to her abilities despite the setting of Flower's final battle or her power going nuts in SS.

It really seems to be that Flames are tied to the Agarthans, not Sothis. They took her power and were the ones who made it associated with Flames. It's a symbol of their theft from the Nabateans, calling back to the OG Fire Emblem, as well as their corrupting influence.

"BUT THE AGARTHANS WERE THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD! SOTHIS STOLE IT FROM THEM!"

That's like saying the surface rightfully belongs to the vault dwellers in Fallout and the people living there should submit to them. Wild Arms 5 did this plot, with the aliens that conquered humanity a century prior being humans who left thousands of years ago after wrecking the environment. They were gone so long the planet, the actual planet, didn't recognize them as it's people anymore and they needed to create stuff in order to do so rather than the planet trying to kill them like they were a disease. They weren't entitled to the planet, and the game is about coexistence.

They fucked up the world, they left it while Sothis fixed it. And now they want it to burn again so they can take it over. Fuck them.

[butwhatifidothis]

Okay, I'm morbidly curious, how racist is this chapter? Did Cap really outdid himself here with the dehmunaizing language and rhetoric? And Sothis bless you for enduring through this trashfire. I can't believe people legitimately think this is a must recommendation to understand E**lgard's character and 3H in general with some treating it as more canon than the base game.

Okay, so. Buckle up cuz it’s a bit of a doozy

To start with the “””””””small””””””” stuff, there’s that whole “There was no name in Fodlan’s language for what to call this monstrous form” comment that is very clearly explicitly racist towards Nabateans. Ignoring the fact that Dragon Claws are a weapon in 3H and thus the concept of the word “dragon” exists in 3H’s world, which the Immaculate One is very much a staple example of and thus could easily be described with that particular word in Fodlan’s language - that “monstrous form” is just a state that Rhea’s race can naturally become as a part of their natural biology. Being unable to find the words to “properly” describe how inhuman and beastial she sees this form, when a perfect apt word literally does exist that has no racist undertones at all, would make Woobiegard, at the FUCKIN’ BEST, seem outrageously callous. But that wouldn’t be the first time she’s called Rhea a monster though:

“All that monster had to do was wear a funny hat, and spout some meaningless platitudes about mercy…

(oh, maybe she means “monster” as in Rhea as a person is a monster-)

“ And now, just like Seiros, Woobiegard was alone. Would she lose herself, just as the Saint had? Would she descend into madness, believing in her righteousness even as she damned herself? Without her loved ones, her father and Byleth, perhaps that nightmarish form, that husk she had seen in her dreams, would reveal itself — just like the Immaculate One.

(oh, well, no, not really. Describing Rhea’s other form that is natural to her biology to the mutated “nightmarish form” of the Hegemon Husk - classy!)

Then we get to this bit in Chapter 63:

“The Crests were to blame, not just because of the rapes and kidnappings and savagery that they legitimized, but because they told the world what people could be.

So, the natural blood of the Nabateans that was stolen by humans and made important to human society by humans are to blame for society’s horrific shortcomings. Humans are innocent - it’s the Nabatean’s fault for having magic blood! Humans can’t be expected to not commit genocide and steal Nabatean blood to use for their own gain, or to not directly benefit from said genocide, or to not fuck each other over in the pursuit of this stolen blood of genocide victims, or anything silly like that. We must blame the natural product of this race’s blood that they had no say in humans having. 

(also, uh, ignore that mask slip of “could be” and not “should be,” since that implies Crested humans actually do have a choice which Woobiegard very much wants people to think they don’t until she saves them)

And mind, Woobiegard, does, in fact, know about what Nemesis did, and what happened from it. Chapter 50:

[Nemesis] murdered Seiros’ entire family, in a bid for power.

She knows of the genocide, she knows that power was gotten from said genocide, she knows a human committed said genocide to gain said power - still Crests’ fault tho! If Crests (aka, Nabateans) never existed, everything would be so much better for everyone! 

And then there’s the top dog, the Big Boy, the culmination of a repeated racist sentiment vomited across the course of the fic. Woobiegard had a line waaaaay earlier in the fic that was already omega racist, right? This one, from Chapter 9:

"Of course, the Church had “mediated” that separation [of Faerghus and Adrestia], and given what Woobiegard now knew about the immortal archbishop, she strongly suspected Faerghus' independence was a pretext to keep humanity divided and weak, dependent on the Church’s protection.”

She then says this waaay later, in Chapter 63, bold mine:

"Woobiegard glared at her opponent. “You speak of betrayal, Archbishop, but who was the one who claimed to speak as the Goddess’ Voice?! Who allowed the Southern Church to ferment rebellion in the Empire, and sanctified a Holy Kingdom?” She felt the anger tumble out of her in a righteous wave. “I swore the same oath that Wilhelm did, upon the red blood and the white sword, the ancient covenant between the Hresvelgs and the Church. I promised to achieve peace for all, Crest or no Crest… have you done the same?””

So basically, her racist conspiracy theory she mentally spouted out in Chapter 9 and over the course of the fic is being given legitimacy here; she's being presented in the right for saying Rhea was wrong for separating Faerghus from Adrestia, the act of which Woobiegard believes Rhea did so that she could install herself as the shadow ruler of the country. And this coexists along other moments of Woobiegard thinking this (asterisks mine):

Chapter 49:

“As soon as I am finished retaking this continent for humanity, *the children of the Goddess will no longer control Fódlan‘s destiny.*”

Chapter 50:

She had even witnessed the secret past of this continent — the *lies and manipulations of the children of the Goddess,* infusing their faithful followers with the blood of the Immaculate One.

Chapter 50, bold not mine:

The Flame Emperor looked up at the eager face of one of the children of the Goddess, the *very rulers she had sought to overthrow.* How could this be? How could she stand alongside the Black Eagles, and fight for humanity’s future?

Chapter 53:

She turned, and saw the one figure she had hoped to avoid above all else. *Woobiegard despised the Children of the Goddess for what they had done to Fodlan — standing above, concealing the truth from the people…* despite her sobriquet, the Flame Emperor’s soul was given more to cold, icy rationality then the burning flames of hate. Yet when she looked at Flayn, some long-concealed anger roiled within her.

With all this capped off a bit earlier in Chapter 63, when Woobiegard says this in response to Rhea calling her a mutinous whelp (which, to be clear, Rhea does call Canongard in canon, least in the ENG version):

“A mutinous whelp, am I? So you admit you stand above all of us, striking down those who dare to stand against your rule.”

And she like. Says this one. Like out loud. Meaning her racism is no longer confined to just her thoughts, but spoken for the whole class to hear... and say nothing against. The closest the fic’s come to doing this before is Marianne and Seteth in Chapter 54 and the shitty things she said to him then (that the Church - aka, the Nabateans - hurt Marianne the same way Nemesis hurt them). But she'd never said that it was Nabateans as a race that were to blame (and we don't have access to her thoughts to know if that's what she thought), and also at that point in the fic the possibility still existed, however minimally, for Seteth and Flayn to change everyone’s minds. They could have shown Woobiegard that she was wrong to think of the Nabateans so horribly - and not because “there are goods ones,” but because making blanket assumptions about an entire race is, like... inherently wrong. 

But this chapter, and this quoted line, pretty much conclude that nahhh Woobiegard WAS right all along! It’s not that Seteth and Flayn showed her that Nabateans haven’t taken over the government, their whole point in joining her side was to rebuild themselves into better people as recompense for having taken over the government, with her guiding and righteous light leading them down the path of redemption! And - shot in the dark here, haven’t finished the chapter yet - should the pattern be upheld, Rhea can join them too :)

To almost be fair to the fic, Canongard also believes in the racist conspiracy theory that the Nabateans control every facet of the government and must be destroyed as a race to eradicate their influence from humans. But you see, Canongard is, y'know, wrong in believing that? And is racist for believing that? And in every route other than hers, the villain route, she gets killed by the heroes? And Rhea is saved from Canongard's clutches? Which isn't happening here: Woobiegard is right, she definitely isn't racist, and she is the one true hero. All the times she would think the most racist shit ever about Nabateans are, in this chapter, being completely validated.

Any chance for the fic's tendency to lay the blame for everyone's woes on the Nabateans' shoulders to ever be rectified has been made monumentally harder to pull off with this. This close to the end, and the protagonist is righteous in spouting their racist beliefs to the face of the persecuted minority they are trying to murder - which they are trying to do, in large part, because that character is a specific race that the protagonist explicitly says they despise. Their racist conspiracy theories are being proven "correct." The persecuted minority is definitively in the wrong and is guilty of everything the racist protagonist accused them of.

And as you can see from the quotes, Woobiegard has not been blaming just Rhea. She has not been specific about the person she despises. She very clearly says that she blames Nabateans as a whole. She very clearly states that she despises Nabateans as a whole. And that hatred for Nabateans, at least at the point of the chapter I'm at right now, is being justified as right. And in the entire narrative of this fic, Woobiegard isn't just right, she is the only person at all, in any timeline, who is ever right. 

I am prayin' on my damn knees that by the time this fic ends this shit will have the mother of all explanations as to why this ISN'T astoundingly racist on its face, but brother that's gonna need a mighty big mama to be good enough

[lumeha]

☕️ Talk to me about Rhea.

I consumed lore through googling for days.

Rhea my Beloved

Some things I absolutely adore about Rhea

-Due to Sitri only being the 12th vessel, and the very long lifespan of Nabateans, it is quite probably that, every time Rhea created a vessel to house the Crest of Flames, she let them live their full lives. And with how she treated Sitri, it is also quite probable that she took care of all of them, and loved all of them. As complicated as the idea of creating bodies to house a specific consciousness is, we know Rhea didn't regret giving life to Sitri

-Three of the members of the Church faction have been personally saved by Rhea (Shamir, Catherine and Cyril), Jeralt has also been personally saved from death by Rhea, and Garreg Mach has served as a refuge for others (Hanneman - to work on his Crest research ; Alois, who was welcomed in the monastery when orphaned ; Gilbert, fleeing his guilt). It's also implied she was the voice that inspired Manuela to sing, if I remember correctly. So. Basically. Rhea has inspired and saved and welcomed a lot of people, directly or through Garreg Mach, and it is absolutely impressive when I think about it

-Her crest, the Crest of Seiros, represents the High Priestess. And while, yes, she absolutely hides many truths, some she has hidden herself for fear of what would happen to her kin, and also because she thought it was the best to favour peace, which, chef kiss, I love that, this is the morally grey shit people should love because it is absolutely an intensely fucked situation that she ended up in and her actions are both complicated and understandable and yet snowballing into something more a millenia later, it also does put her as being the one who holds Fodlan's truths and secrets, a spiritual guardian, and, while her actions are not always moral, in most routes of the game, she reveals one of her biggest secret to protect the people of Garreg Mach and, later in Snow and Wind, the people of Fodlan. Her concerns are, first, in most situation, to protect people.

-I am actually amazed that Rhea has not lost any faith in humanity like Macuil did. Contrary to Seteth, Indech and Flayn, she has been involved with humanity for a millenia, and yet she's ready to do her utmost to protect people. She keeps saving people, individually or as a group. She has seen wars, she has seen the corpses of her family used as weapons, their powers twisted into horror, during the timeline of the game itself she has faced two assassination attempts, her niece has been kidnapped specifically because she is a Nabatean, and, yet, she.. continues. Which is why I genuinely think that, if Rhea had known about the Agarthans experimentations done on the Ordelia children, as well as the Hresvelgr children, she would have just ripped into the people involved and saved those kids.

-So, like. Rhea. She has done some weird shit. Taken some heavy decisions that are morally complicated, between the weight of what was in the balance, the long term impact, the fact that she has to deal with Agarthan trying to push and put their far more advanced technology back into the hands of people, the short term impact, and her desire to bring back Sothis not only because she is her mother, but also the Goddess, who she thinks is the one who can bring Fodlan back into the peace it was in before the war with the Agarthans and her sleep and then death, and I just... (shakes fist) ... I love her. So much. She's the morally gray complicated character people wanted. I love her so much.

And yes, I'll keep saying she did nothing wrong until people stop saying that she is the actual villain and antagonist, because I can absolutely understand that the religious aspect of her character can be uncomfortable for some people..... it still doesn't make her into a villain, and the game does spend time to actually say that, as suspicious as the narration first tries to make her, she isn't a villain. She is a complicated woman with a boatload of trauma, who has been working for peace for centuries, and who doesn't feel like the role she has can truly fit on her shoulders. She is closed off and awkward and she doesn't quite know how to fully let go of her masks but she also loves and cares for people, even when she doesn't quite know how to show it, and she worries over the students, and to me, she deserves to rest and to have peace

Also the fact that she is, like, really good at punching people is kind of hilarious, ngl

[deathbirby]

Yeah, i always thought it was kinda BS that Nemesis and co nearly won their war against the Nabateans; if their bones are durable enough that, when removed, they make for weapons significantly sharper and more durable than ones made with raw metal, then logically speaking even fodder Nabateans should be near-invulnerable and ridiculously strong by human standards, if their bodies can handle the weight and power of those bones without hurting themselves.

Which begs the question: how exactly did some human bandit leader and a bunch of mindless goons genocide the vast majority of the race? Even if Nemesis and his top lieutenants somehow got their hands on Relics before the war started to even the score for him, surely there wouldn't have been enough to supply his entire army with the things, at which point the army would just be irrelevant cannon fodder and Nemesis would have just been overwhelmed when a bunch of Nabateans swarmed him and started tearing him apart; i just can't imagine any sensible world in which the Nabatean's bones and, by neccesity, their bodies, are so ridiculously strong and durable they're considered the deadliest weapons humanity can get it's hands on, while also having a bunch of normal humans be able to fight and win a war against them.

Honestly, where did Nemesis get his first relics from in the first place? Did he just loot a child's corpse? But then how do Nabatean funerals look like for that to work?? How the fuck did he get into the Holy Tomb when we know it was being protected by the Nabateans???

The Red Canyon doesn't really make sense when you look at it. Sure, Nemesis with Sothis's blood and spine should level the playing field, but the game tells us that his crest and relic don't actually matter because Rhea easily clobbers him in the opening cutscene!

Nemesis would've stepped into Zanado, killed one Nabatean, and immediately be swarmed by a bunch of angry Nabatean-bees.

[glowingbadger]

FE3H misc. spicy HCs

I did a handful of general spicy headcanons for some of my FE3H favs a while back as a break from an ongoing fic I was working on, so I figured I'd post that over here too. Linhardt, Felix, Lorenz, Seteth, Jeritza

x gender neutral reader

18+ NSFW v

Linhardt:

Not a very high sex drive, but when the mood strikes it's fierce- though even if you're together for years you might not be able to tell he's horny until the moment he says something blunt and unabashedly lewd about wanting you immediately.  He’s very comfortable initiating.

Usually a bottom, as you'd imagine, but a power bottom of sorts; he feels completely at ease communicating exactly what he wants, what feels good, etc, and loves to be able to watch your body move above him.

Will learn your every single weakness, turn-on and sensitive spot and utilize them mercilessly.  He's absolutely fascinated by the minutiae of pleasuring you, mentally noting even small changes in your breathing or tone of voice.

Not very experienced to start, but a very fast learner

While not outlandishly kinky, he's open minded, and willing to try just about anything once- provided it's not too strenuous

Can become entranced and even aroused by seemingly odd, innocuous things- it's not unusual for him to catch an interesting color in your eyes, or a quirk in how you walk or move your hands when you talk, and find himself needing to express his affection for you directly

Very good with his hands, and very invested in foreplay; he becomes so enamoured with the subtle pleasures of touching and tasting you that it may be agonizingly long before it occurs to him to actually seek out his own climax.  He’s gentle in a way that’s almost unbearable, all making him something of an unintentional tease.

Felix:

Somewhat high sex drive, once he's with someone he's comfortable with- he's kept himself from intimacy for so long that he's a starved man with someone he actually likes

By the same token, he's not likely to come out and say when he's turned on. Fortunately for you, he's also not good at hiding it, becoming unusually handsy and a bit territorial with you when his physical needs arise.

Not very vocal during sex, but what moans he actually let’s himself make are raw, desperate and lustful.  Similarly, he’s not much one for dirty talk, since he’s generally focused entirely on the physical sensations, but you might catch him muttering “yes” or “mine” against your neck.

He secretly loves it when you tease him, but loves it even more when you're too dizzy with pleasure to speak clearly enough to give him sass.  He loves watching your expressions, always aiming for that post-coital dazed and over-fucked smile.

Sex is generally energetic and passionate, sometimes even a bit competitive; you may try to see who can resist cumming for longer, or wrestle to see who ends up topping.

He likes marking you with hickies, scratches, etc.  While not outwardly possessive, he does like to know that you're his (and vice versa)

He's surprisingly weak to compliments and praise, especially if it feels sincere.  Bonus points for moaning his name, or picking up on small details of what he enjoys and so on.  Basically anything that makes it abundantly clear that it's him that you want to be with and that he makes you feel incredible.

Even he is caught off-guard by how much it turns him on to see his partner being strong in any sense- strong willed, physically strong, anything that impresses him about his SO is also likely to deeply arouse him.  It’s especially gratifying to be on top of such a strong person and make them dazed and spaced-out with pleasure.

Lorenz:

An average sex drive, but he'll restrain himself for fear of propriety for ages before initiating anything more scandalous than kissing.

By that token, he’s extremely fun to tease, conspicuously blushing and stuttering over even light touches or a brief kiss on his neck.  In truth, he gets a real thrill out of this, but only admits this to you after a particularly brazen incident where you steal him away in an empty corridor for some heavy kissing and rubbing him from atop his clothing, then free him to go about his business for the day completely wound up and frazzled.

Certainly the type to “make love” rather than fuck, unless he were with someone for long enough that they would request something more rough from him, and he trusted that they would instruct him.

Adores spoiling his lover; scented oils, massages, long hot baths, the works.  Your pleasure is his foremost priority.  As such, he takes instruction very well- more than happy to do exactly as you say and revelling in any moans or words of encouragement he can earn from you.

He finds it ungentlemanly to be on the bottom and “make you do all the work” unless you really insist.  Generally, he’s more of a service top.

Loves giving his partner oral and could easily keep at it until you need him to make love to you.  Your taste, touching your lower body, the sounds you make- he’s absolutely intoxicated by every part of going down on you.

Somewhat surprisingly, he’s more than happy to indulge in dirty talk, but less surprisingly, it tends to be deeply poetic and romantic.  That being said, he’s more than happy to hear you utter any sort of filthy words he may inspire in you, as it means he’s performing well.

Seteth:

This is probably showing my favoritism, but my personal very headcanon-y headcanon is that Nabatean men are better endowed, have greater stamina and “fecundity,” and so on compared to humans, given being like near-godlike themselves (at least at full power) and since, even before the massacre, there didn’t seem to be many of them overall, so greater fertility would be a valued trait.  But really this just comes down to me being hot for Seteth, okay?  Just let me have this.

He’s fairly sexually flexible, given how long he’s been around, but it will take a long while before he’s ready to let himself express his (predictably pent up and frustrated) desires for you openly.

Once the physical part of the relationship has started to open up, however, he’s intense, focused, and thorough.  He wants to touch every part of you, hold you as close as he can, and satisfy you utterly and completely.

A big post-sex cuddler, as he’s got strong protective instincts and wants you close and safe.  Even more so if the sex got really rough and you’re both coming down from that high.

While there’s certainly a bit of a “repressed beast” situation in regards to his libido, he’ll generally let his partner take the lead in suggesting kinks or experimentations.

He’s a Switch and enjoys power play- either pinning you down and verbally dominating you, or begging to be tied up and used.  It never gets overly violent, but the psychological element of a sub-dom relationship plays into his authoritative personality.

He has a strict “no physical contact during work hours” policy, but if you catch him working late into the night once everyone else is gone, you may become very familiar with the surface of his desk.

Jeritza:

Similar to Felix, his sex drive can be pretty high, but only after the long and difficult process of getting him to actually open up to someone.  Once he’s come around to actually liking a person, however, he’s deeply enamoured with their body.

An odd mixture of sweet and intense- catching you in deep, erotic kisses, but also more than happy to fuck you into the mattress or against a wall.

He loves to affect your body in any way he can.  He wants to know how much he turns you on, hear your moans, feel your body tense and your nails along his back and through his hair.  Overall, he responds very well to an active and expressive lover who will show him exactly how much they want him.

You’re gonna have to find a way of coping with the Death Knight, unfortunately.  This is why Jeritza is actually not as “violent” as you may expect in bed, as that can trigger a personality lapse, and the Death Knight is absolutely a fighter and not a lover.

Can actually be pretty damn kinky, even initiating some new things that you may not have expected.  That said, he refuses to tie you up, for fear of slipping up and hurting you.  He’s perfectly alright with being tied up, though he remarks that it’s fairly silly, given he could easily break out.  In fact, breaking out of restraints might become part of the kink itself.

Pretty big into food play- he definitely wants to lick up ice cream or syrup off of your body, and will absolutely lose himself in the sensory experience of it all.

After a battle, he especially craves intimacy, as being raw and passionate with another person who he somehow cares for tethers him to feeling “alive” and being Jeritza, rather than the childlike Emile of his past, or the bloodthirsty Death Knight in his psyche.