#agarthans

[azelfandquilava]

"My Ex-Wife still misses me... but her aim is getting better!"

The idea of Thales and Cleobulus being toxic exes is infinitely amusing to me.

YCH Art by anasamen_ (NSFW warning)

Cleobulus design by @sageofanys

[theblindarcher]

Those Who Slither in the Dark

GBA style portraits of Thales, Kronya, and Solon from Fire Emblem Three Houses. Made for the Night in the Abyss.

[slotumn]

Theory/headcanon on Ionius, Adrestian dads, Hrym fiasco + Ordelian occupation, and Insurrection of Seven. Specifically, why Hubert's dad + Leopold and Waldemar all went along with Insurrection, despite the latter two actually supporting Edelgard when she comes into power

Basically:

All parts of Adrestian aristocracy was compromised by Agarthans from start. Both the Imperial house and the nobles. All of them had Slither officials in key ranks.

Adrestian dads, including Ludwig, weren't completely against Ionius' reforms and power centralization at first. Ionius is Edelgard's father, after all; some of that charisma and smarts and boldness had to have come from him, too.

In the very least, they were all onboard with doing something about Hrym trying to defect to the Alliance because wtf that's treason, you can't let that slide

Problem started when they marched over Airmid and interfered with Ordelia. At some point Ionius signed something by officials about taking measures against Ordelia because without reading or questioning it deeply because, hey they did assist Hrym and they gotta learn you don't fuck with the Empire.

The officials were Slithers and it was shit authorizing experiments on House Ordelia's children. The experiments happen, and the Slithers purposefully let the other Adrestian dads hear that something terrible happened to House Ordelia's kids at Ionius' orders.

And I repeat, the Adrestian dads are dads at this point, they have young kids, probably right around the same age as the kids of House Ordelia. The Slithers purposefully stroke fears that Ionius would do this to their kids, too, if they ever dare go against him.

Boom, Insurrection of Seven.

There were unsavory motives from nobles mixed in there too, for sure, like Aegir seeing this as chance to grab power. Ionius deciding that Ordelia, a sovereign territory of another nation, was fair game to be punished directly by the Empire was probably scummy imperialistic shit on principle, even if he didn't know the details of what would go down. Count Varley's motivation for keeping his daughter out of experimentation wasn't out of like, genuine love for his daughter as a person or whatever, more like protecting future assets. Experimenting on the Imperial heirs instead definitely went too far with worse political consequences.

But for people like Leopold and Waldemar and probably Hubert's dad (as implied by Hubert-Hanneman supports), they were probably genuinely afraid, and when it came down to "our kids or his" the answer was probably simple. I think Waldemar and Leopold later supporting Edelgard when she took power had something to do with that too, like a combination of "what I didn't think it would go like that" wrt experiments being done on Imperial children instead + feeling genuinely sorry for Ionius and Edelgard about what happened.

At the same time, if they had to go back and (be forced to) choose again? I think they'd still choose their own kids every single time.

Also smth smth I really like thinking about stuff like this because it puts into perspective that the older generation, the people always abstractly blamed for the ills that the younger generation has to bare and change, were once the youth too. They also had their hopes and they also had problems left to them by their previous generations. And one day the main 3H cast, the "youth" will become the established older generation in power too! (Arguably they're already the generation in power the moment the House leaders inherit their titles but that's for another day)

[sophitia-of-hyrule]

I love Claude and Verdant Wind, but man is it ironic how Claude goes from "racism bad" to "let's murder all of the Agarthans"

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

When Edelgard wants to criticize somebody she’ll often try to soften the blow by complimenting them first. This is most obvious in her support with Caspar in my opinion, where she talks about his battle prowess before more or less talking about how much his life sucks (she more criticizes Caspar’s life than Caspar directly but I think the situation can be applied here) or in her support with Constance where she calls Constance remarkable before basically calling her trick useless. Even in Linhardt’s C support where she doesn’t lead with a compliment she still makes sure to throw in a mention about  how he could be a “distinguished noble” if he applied himself while before going in on his character.

When Edelgard is criticized she often responds quite negatively to it (at least in the beginning, I’m replaying CF for the first time in years so I don’t really remember how it changes towards the end, but I feel like there will be a change at some point considering she’s receptive of Ferdinand’s feedback in their final support). This can again be seen in her Caspar support where she accuses him of trying to fight her when he calls her out on projecting onto him or in her Linhardt B support when, after Linhardt calls her overbearing, she doubles down and insists her attitude is necessary despite her having criticized both these people first. She also often gains support points with Byleth when you agree with her which can be interpreted as her not enjoying push back, although there are other interpretations for this as well. You could also make an argument for her early relationship with Ferdinand proving this but I think even people who are receptive to criticism would be respond negatively to how Ferdinand approaches that situation so I’ll let that one slide.

This is just kind of me throwing things at the wall so I’m not sure how much sense this part will make but I feel you could also argue that Edelgard handles criticism in this way due to what happened with the Agarthans. The Agarthans wanted to give Edelgard a second crest to turn her into a weapon for them, so I doubt they would’ve responded well to any weakness she showed which could make it so she inherently feels like any sort of criticism is an attack on her making her instantly get defensive. On the other hand, the Agarthans likely wouldn’t have liked hearing her criticize their course of action, so in order to get her voice heard without facing negative repercussions she may have had to soften the blow.

[moltz23]

The Achilles Heel of Fodlan's Most Fantastic Weapon - Analysis & Theory.

As a mere concept, futuristic missiles showing up from nowhere in a medieval-western fantasy setting like Fire Emblem makes for some pretty neat spectacle. In Three Houses, though? This unfortunately comes with some questions left unanswered, forcing people (like me) to come up and find answers of our own. So after considering what 3H tells the player about these fantastic weapons, as well of our current world’s (known) weapon development, I think I might have finally stumbled across why, as cool and seemingly overpowered the “Javelins of Light” appear to be, are ultimately highly impractical pieces of tech which should honestly get whoever worked on them fired.

I feel I must stress however, that at the end of the day, no matter how much in-game evidence I used to back things up, a portion of this analysis should fall into the theory spectrum. Also, I’m not a weapon/missile expert by trade, so there’s that.

So without further ado, here’s the introduction to our topic at hand:

What are the “Javelins of Light”?

Live footage of the things in action.

In Three Houses’ Fódlan, the “Javelins of Light” are “those who slither in the dark” ‘s trump card; highly destructive yet suggested to be impractical (more on this later) missile-shaped objects that fall from the sky and explode upon impact.

Lore-wise, the Javelins of Light - or Pillars of Light, as the Agarthan that wrote Romance of the World’s Perdition (found in the DLC Shadow Library) calls them - are mentioned to have been built by the civilization of Agartha over 1000 years before the main story, for the purpose of killing Sothis. And in spite of all the destruction and death caused, they weren’t enough to do the job, forcing Agartha’s survivors to flee and hide as Sothis erased their civilization from the map. Many centuries later - after Nemesis’ defeat, but before the War of the Eagle and Lion -, “those who slither in the dark'' attempted to use the javelins to blow up the Holy Tomb, but were redirected thanks to a spell Sothis had placed in the area which disrupted their trajectory, blowing up Ailell instead and turning it into Fodlan’s equivalent of Lethal Lava Land.

Afterwards, TWSITD refrained from using them ever again… For a few more centuries at least.

in the Verdant Wind & Silver Snow routes, the trump card returns once the story mission that takes place in the Empire’s Fort Merceus is beaten, blowing up the fortification to smithereens just as Byleth’s faction luckily avoids the danger by chasing the Death Knight (who was all to aware of what would happen, luring the gang on purpose). After Edelgard’s death, Hubert reveals post-mortem that he detected the exact moment when the sorcery triggering the missiles was used, and somehow used that to find the Agarthans headquarters, which he discloses in a letter. And once Shambhala is invaded and Thales (TWSITD’s boss) is defeated, as a last resort, the dude summons multiple missiles to destroy his enemies, but fails due to Rhea literally tanking some them for Byleth and his crew, causing Thales to die from random debris, and Rhea to be wounded lethally (whether she dies or not in SS depends on the player’s choices).

This shot will never not crack me up. Honestly.

In the Crimson Flower path, Thales - masquerading as Edelgard’s uncle, Lord Arundel - arranges a few javelins of light to drop on the Kingdom’s Arianrhod as revenge once he gets the confirmation from Edelgard that Cornelia’s death - in truth, Cleobulus and an Agarthan plant - was fully intentional, and the choice of words used (“I will be praying [...] that the Empire will not become another Arianrhod”) make clear his move was meant to be a deterrent against future backstabs. Given how Edelgard quickly covers up the event and later unleashes the Imperial army over the Agarthans sometime after dealing with Rhea and the Kingdom anyways, Thales’ gambit ultimately ends up being for naught.

Lastly, no javelins of light are ever used in the Azure Moon branch, though incidentally, it’s also the only non-Edelgard route which kills Arundel before Byleth’s chosen faction makes their way to Fort Merceus…

…Oh, and as far story-purpose goes, in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, they’re used to having Byleth and co. go to Shambhala, while in Crimson Flower they’re used to explore further Edelgard’s relationship with the slitherers.

The Implications Behind the Trump Card

First, let’s go over what the game suggests about the things which make them so damn impractical:

Two routes point out that the weapons can't be abused at their leisure. For what’s worth, TWSITD blows up Fort Merceus in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow only because they were confident Byleth and co. would be there, and not to mention, both Hubert and the Death Knight knowing it would happen all but states Byleth’s group was intended to be killed there).

The only other instances where the “pillars of light” are used rashly are either because: 1. Thales has been cornered and has nothing left to lose (VW/SS): and 2. Thales is visibly pissed over his “pawn” killing his spies like nothing, and is trying to exert some control over her (CF). This stands out a lot given the Agarthans have a serious problem of hubris clouding their judgment at times, so seeing them being so careful with their usage implies a lot of how much they value them.

Thales has exclusive access to them: He’s seen summoning them in Shambhala in the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes; in Crimson Flower, he alludes something will befall Arianrhod upon finding out the circumstances behind Cornelia’s death - which turn to be the his trump card-; and in Azure Moon… Thales dies before everyone goes to Fort Merceus, and no missiles ever rain over the location. Thus, it would be criminal to ignore him entirely for his analysis given how much the story points out all the “javelins” employed are due to his will.

Whatever happened with Ailell was an exception, not the rule: Ailell by the time the plot takes place is a living wasteland of lava due to the “javelins of light”, and yet, none of the missiles used in animated cutscenes or even described in person carry this much destructive potential. Meaning, either Ailell was a dormant volcano before missiles fell on it, or the specific “javelins” used were, simply put, “built different“ and are no longer an option.

How a ballistic missile works, courtesy of Wikipedia.

By now, it goes without saying that the biggest criticisms the “javelins of light” have as a plot device, is that their weaknesses are never openly addressed and just merely “suggested”, and that’s understandably an issue if one’s trying to convince beyond reasonable doubt that there’s a good reason why the slitherers use them so seldomly, and prefer to scheme and attempt to manipulate important people in Foldan instead.

So in the end, how do we prove these fantastic weapons have an achilles heel at all? Well, I think we can reach a highly likely (yet ultimately theoretical) answer to this dilemma… By answering yet another question:

What truly are the “Javelins of Light"?

I’ve seen many, many people call the “javelins of light" online as nukes or ballistic missiles/ICBMs. But given what in-game evidence we have, both proposals just can’t be true:

First, and as previously mentioned, none of the weapons deployed in the present ever reach a comparable amount of destruction to a nuke, and Aillel’s aftermath being such a peculiar case makes it more of an exception rather than the rule of thumb.

And second, none of the missiles are even seen being launched from the ground. In all cutscenes they appear, the first thing that pops up are purple rings, which are then followed by the “javelin” falling through the path those rings set for it. This happens even near Shambhala, where one would otherwise expect them to launch from the ground if we go by the assumption these are indeed ordinary ballistic missiles/ICBMs Hubert used to find Shambhala’s location through analyzing their trajectory…

How a ballistic missile works, courtesy of Wikipedia.

In turn and, by process of the elimination, this leaves us with one kind of missile that fits behavior of the Javelins of Light to a tee, which as of this post, is still just hypothetical.

The Kinetic / Orbital Missile.

The idea behind them is simple; have missiles fall from the sky anywhere you would ever want, and let the kinetic force - AKA, the fall - do most of the job. And not only that, these can be - design wise - as simple as a giant pillar as a result, leading many people to nickname this idea as “rods from god” due to the weapons being seemingly launched from the heavens themselves. Sounds familiar?

If all this sounds too good to be true, then that’s because it is. As stated before, the concept behind this type of missile is still - currently - just an idea due to the logistics behind them being nothing short of a nightmare. Most importantly for the topic at hand though, a key step in setting them up involves sending them to space first, so they may later be launched from a satellite or something floating in the atmosphere.

And it’s right here where 3H’s lore screws the Agarthans hard, as the only existing reports where there’s anything remotely hinting the missiles were launched from the ground at some point (knowingly, implied, or otherwise) comes from “Romance of the World’s Perdition”:

"The False God must be defeated before the world sinks into a watery grave. To this end, the children of men have erected pillars of light upon the land. Thinis, Malum, Septen, and Llium were utterly destroyed. Those lands have vanished from this world. Yet even still, the False God stands. And soon, a flood aptly named Despair will drown this world."

As a quick reminder, this book is pretty much a relic from the era the Agarthan civilization that existed over 1000 years before the main story, as all of the cities being blown up mentioned in the book no longer exist in Fodlan. The missiles clearly were once on land before, but not anymore, given how they always drop from the sky…

The Achilles Heel of the “Divine Retribution”

In the end, with all the evidence at our disposal, I believe it’s possible to identify - to a theoretical level at least - why the “Javelins of Light” aren’t truly a “press the button to win” for the Agarthans. This achilles heel is split into 3 key points:

Finite number: If TWSITD doesn’t have the means to send new “pillars” into space, then logic dictates they just simply have a very finite number of missiles they’re forced to work with, so it’s best to make every one of them count. After all, if they had found a solution to the javelin problem (which didn’t give away the location of their HQ so blatantly, like teleporting them through magic or something), chances are they would have already used it.

Thales: Besides being the one that calls the shots on the javelins used, people often forget that the dude at his core is a schemer, not a fighter. Unless you really force his hand/piss him off, he will give the missiles the most strategic use possible, and will refrain from abusing them if he sees value in other methods and ideas, such as in CF where he wants to keep his partnership with Edelgard and the Empire going post-war and even have her potentially conquer the world later (it never pans out, but it’s the thought that counts).

Garreg Mach/Holy Tomb has a jamming spell. Sothis did something to the area so it’s 100% invulnerable to missiles, thus forcing the Agarthans to come up with another way to get rid of the Church and Rhea. Incidentally, this is why Thales never uses the missiles during his final fights in both Scarlet Blaze and Azure Gleam routes from the Warriors: Three Hopes spinoff; because it would be a resounding failure.

Thales, probably having to remind his cronies every century or so why blowing up Fodlan up with missiles isn't an option.

So in Conclusion…?

Whatever FE game we get later down the line that puts similar emphasis to lore as 3H did really needs to be clear on why your antagonistic forces can’t brute-force their way into victory. Truth be told, It’s not a dealbreaker to me (more so once I figured all this out), but it definitely adds to the frustration and belief the Agarthans should not have been in Three Houses to begin with (which is easier said than done, but that’s a topic for another day…)

And like always, many thanks to those who have kept up with all this wall of text up until now! If I had to ask a question to y’all though, it would be something like: if you had the choice to change something about the “Javelins of Light”, what would it be?

[mommymooze]

New Story!

Have not written in a while. Decided to get back into it. So wrote about my new friend Dee. She was displaced, looking for a new place to live. There are so many things going on in Fodlan, good and bad, and she finds herself somehow in the middle of it.

Really, if they were just off in a corner, milking cows and threshing wheat, how interesting would that story be anyway. No romance here, but I have a few things coming up in this universe that I feel should be put out there for my friends.

[curse-d-owl]

Three Houses has many racist aspects that either gets glossed over, deliberately denied by fans that can't handle criticism of their favorite game or worse praised and one of these things is Almyra's portrayal as people and a nation.

Almyra gets written as brainless and war loving barbarians with no sympathy nor self awareness instead of normal functioning human beings. They're just as cartoonish as the Agarthans except for the fact Almyra isn't intended to be portrayed as villains.

This in turn makes Claude uncharacteristically stupid and oblivious by not only refusing to acknowledge Almyra's constant invasions and holding them accountable but putting the blame on Fodlan for not wanting to understand other nations.

Which is made even more bizarre considering the fact the devs have done their best to write realistic reasons for other nations to take up arms against Fodlan.

Duscur wants to reclaim their stolen land, Brigid wants to be free from the Empire's control, Sreng wants better land and resources ( which doesn't justify their actions ) but Almyra? They kill, conquer and ruin everyone's lifes for shits and giggles.

They easily could've opted for the Agarthans to stoke a fued between Fodlan and Almyra by posing as Fodlan soldiers and attacking Almyra. Which in turn would've given the Agarthans more presence in the Golden Deer route.

[raxistaicho]

I didn't you were part of Das Spork... Talk about a blast from the past!

anyvay, I was wondering where you saw that Shambala was specifically a vault for a flood, and that Sothis flooded the continent instead of restoring it

Also, do you think Three Hopes engaging enough to hold the attention of someone that doesn't care for musou games?

I don't talk a ton about it anymore, but I had some fun while I was there :)

anyvay, I was wondering where you saw that Shambala was specifically a vault for a flood, and that Sothis flooded the continent instead of restoring it

I'll tackle the second question first, there's quite a bit of evidence now between Houses and Hopes that Fodlan suffered a biblical-esque flood:

It seems the ancient Agarthans had enough forewarning that the flood was coming to destroy the world.

Now, interestingly, the Book of Seiros actually supports this:

It tells the story of Fodlan appearing amidst a great ocean, and the goddess creating life upon it.

Rhea tells of the world destroyed by war and then restored by Sothis, just as the Book of Sothis does. Fans have long believed that the Agarthans ravaged the surface through use of their Javelins of Light, but as I demonstrated in an older post of mine, they don't seem nearly destructive enough for that.

Interestingly, Rhea doesn't mention a flood, so clearly either her or the Agarthans are lying (by omission, in Rhea's hypothetical case).

In the case of Shambhala, Lorenz notes that the air within is stale:

Air gets stagnant if it doesn't have enough fresh air circulating inside, suggesting that Shambhala is airtight. You wouldn't necessarily need to make the city airtight if you're just hiding from detection within it, but it would be absolutely necessary to built it that way if you're trying to escape an apocalyptic flood on the surface.

So to sum it up, my theory is that Sothis at some point flooded the surface, either to wipe out the Agarthans in one fell swoop or to cleanse it of the damage of the war, then let the waters recede and started over from scratch with life on Fodlan. Sothis has a very God of the Old Testament vibe about her (a creator deity, creates offspring on her own, fire and water symbolism, a sacrifice, jealous, quick to anger, has a chosen people and land, exists in multiple ways at one time), so it definitely fits her.

Also, do you think Three Hopes engaging enough to hold the attention of someone that doesn't care for musou games?

Have you tried a musou game before? The formula is rather addicting once you get used to it, but if it's not your style you honestly might be better off watching you tube videos of the cutscenes instead, or you'll very quickly get bored during chapters.

[azelfandquilava]

Byleth might've gone a little too deep for those free Dark Side cookies.

For real though: Imagine if in Hopes instead of giving her body over to Sothis completely, Byleth made a deal with the devil.

Summer Byleth model by arnsden originally (ported to MMD by Arisumatio)

[deathbirby]

Ancient History of Fodlan

This post will be from the beginning to when Seiros defeats Nemesis.

I might go back and edit this post if more information comes to light.

Let's unpack!

The Beginning

"A long time ago, the progenitor god came from somewhere far away and descended upon this continent." - Rhea

The Church says that the Blue Sea Star is the home of the Goddess. She supposedly fell from it and landed on Fodlan, but what exactly is the Blue Sea Star? Is there a real-world example of it? Yes.

The Blue Sea Star is supposed to be the star Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. My proof?

Sothis is the Greek name of the Egyptian goddess Sopdet, the personification of the star Sirius.

Rhea has a theme called "Gazing at Sirius."

Sothis's special in FEH is called "Sirius."

Seiros is another word for Sirius.

Aelfric says that the Ashen Wolves got their names from the beasts who guard the Blue Sea Star. This is quite fitting, as Sirius is also known as the Dog Star.

Oh, and Sothis might just be one of these 'beasts'. I talk more about what Sothis looked like as a dragon in a previous post.

Arrival

"She changed her form to resemble that of a human, and gave her own blood to birth her children. The progenitor god and her children shared knowledge and skills with the people of the land. Together, they built a prosperous civilization."

Sothis, after her journey from the Blue Sea Star, alighted on the continent of Fodlan. What does 'alight' mean in this case? Well...

Pictures taken seconds before distaster

By crashing into the continent as a meteor, of course!

She changed her form to resemble the humans who already lived there and used her own blood to birth her children. These Children of the Goddess would come to be known as the Nabateans.

Sothis and the Nabateans shared their knowledge with the humans and together a prosperous civilization, full of advanced technology was built.

Of course, this peaceful period wouldn't last long.

Conflict

"But the humans turned their backs on the teachings of the progenitor god and engaged in senseless wars."

In the land of Thinis, where the old god(s) was/were supposed to have lived, at last the one who is not god awakens. The grotesque monstrosity resurrects to sink the world to watery depths. Bringing extinction to all children of men, salvation to all beasts, all birds, and all fish. Bringing retribution to the children of men who spilled too much of the blood of life. - Romance of the World's Perdition, Japanese translation

The humans waged senseless wars against each other, as humans do.

Fuck that ship in particular

They realized they made a mistake when Sothis revealed her true form. This quickly sent them into a panic. The False God would only promise cruel retribution for the children of men who spilled too much of the blood of life. Or so they thought. Rhea only says that the humans challenged Sothis to war because they became too arrogant. Which side is true?

This part really stumped me. Was Rhea just... biased? It seemed like a simple answer, but I needed more proof before coming to a conclusion.

I was listening to "The Spirit Dais" when I remembered something. That song is Sothis's theme, and it has lyrics.

[When] all creation lapses into chaos [In] eternal night There, the goddess returneth

Huh. When all creation lapses into chaos, the Goddess returns? Guess we got an answer. Sothis did reveal herself to the humans, and it was because the constant wars were causing chaos. That still leaves the question of whether or not she was going to blow them up into smithereens as retribution or give them a very stern talking to.

So... yeah. Rhea is biased! Nobody could've seen that coming. It's also understandable because from what we know, she might not have been there.

That's not to say that the Agarthans aren't also extremely biased, but considering Rhea claims that they destroyed everything and their book admitting they destroyed quite a bit, I'm willing to believe they destroyed a lot.

Moving on.

War

Defeat the one who is not god before the world sinks to watery depths. To this end, the children of men erected pillars of light upon the land. Thinis, Malum, Septen, and Llium were all utterly destroyed, and the land vanished. Yet even still, the one who is not god stood.

The humans felt a primal fear, like when faced with a storm or natural disaster. They believed they had to act before Sothis destroyed them all. To destroy the False God, they created the pillars of light. They fired them at Sothis, devastating the continent, and still, the goddess stood.

This could be the pillars of light being used on Thinis or in the wars among humans themselves.

"Eventually people began to think of themselves as gods and challenged the progenitor god herself to battle. The land was scorched in the war that ensued and the majority of humans were annihilated. I believe that those who slither in the dark are the descendants of those who retreated beneath the ground during that time."

Trying to kill the goddess and destroying countries is enough reason to go to war, and go to war the goddess did. The Agarthans tried to win through sheer numbers alone, but it was useless. They stood no chance against the might of a Goddess. The pillars of light already did a lot of damage to the continent, but Sothis went above and beyond and swept the entire board clean. The majority of humans were killed, with the descendants of those who retreated beneath the ground becoming Those Who Slither in The Dark.

I also want to adress something that I said a long time ago: that Sothis created new humans to populate the planet after blowing shit up. Rhea does say that the majority of humans were annihilated. You could read this as some humans still surviving the massive war and not retreating underground.

But I still believe that Sothis created new humans. Look at what Hanneman says about TWSITD;

"Shambhala... An underground city with an entirely different lineage than the goddess?" - Hanneman

An entirely different lineage than the goddess, hm? Looks like modern humans are created by Sothis. Is that the reason why they can turn into demonic beasts? I'm not too sure...

Sothis knew what demonic beasts were and how to defeat them when she was an amnesiac living inside Byleth's head. Byleth can even ask how she knows this, and she tells them to focus on the giant fucking monster.

That means she has dealt with demonic beasts in the past. It makes sense. Many Nabateans likely died during the war, and humans who stumbled upon their crest stones/blood would've transformed into demonic beasts. That is a plausible reason for why Sothis would know about them and how to deal with them

It's also possible that the Agarthans did some demonic beasts experimenting. How the hell did they even have the technology to create weapons out of the Nabateans? They had to have started somewhere.

And Sothis does call them parasites in Three Hopes, but that could just be because they are literal parasites who steal other people's bodies.

Despair

A flood named despair covered the world.

I said in the past that this was a literal flood, but now I'm not so sure. There are three options here:

Sothis flooded the world. Take the text literally, and this is what it says.

Sothis went scorched earth on the Agarthans, and it was considered to be a "Flood of Despair."

A mix of both. She went scorched earth first and then used the flood to extinquish the flames.

I think option 3 is the most likely one. The post I linked before explains it a little better. Here is some text from it:

The reason I don’t capitalize “despair” is because I don’t think there was a literal flood which was given the name Despair. The Japanese phrase is zetsubō toiu na no kōzui ( 望という名の洪水), which literally means “a flood named despair”, but this construction is most often (at least in my experience) used in a figurative sense. As a very random example of the same phrasing, take the title of the ending theme song of the anime Bakuman, “Those Who Fight the Monster Named Reality”. There is obviously no actual monster; the monster is just a metaphor for reality. Applying this to our sentence, we arrive at the meaning, “despair covered the world like a flood”. However, this is by no means a definitive answer.

Not a definitive answer but still quite compelling. After all, someone else does say that Sothis did not just flood the planet...

Hatred

The children of men fled to the depths of the earth. To a place where the gaze of the one who is not god does not reach. To a place where the light of the sun does not reach. To a place where the waters of despair do not enter. Swearing eventual revenge against the surface ruled by beasts, against the one who is not god.

The Agarthans hate Sothis. She and the Nabateans forced them underground and stole their light away from them. But there is also another factor. Remember how the text said that Thinis is where the Old Gods are supposed to have lived? Could these Old Gods be the Nabateans? No. The Agarthans know that the Nabateans are Sothis's children. They would not call the children of a False God the "Old Gods."

It looks like the Agarthans had their own religion. Thinis is where their gods are supposed to dwell, and Sothis awakening there completely invalidates their religion. It explains why they hate her so much before the war even started. She goes against everything they believe in.

"My name is Epimenides, an ordinary man who vowed to kill the beast which set the earth ablaze." - Epimenides, Into the Chasm

Epimenides, one of the Agarthan survivors, goes as far as to say that Sothis is the one who set the Earth ablaze, completely ignoring their own actions. Is that also bias? Judging by the Agarthan book admitting they blew shit up; Yes.

But hey, this does make it sound like the Flood of Despair wasn't just a literal flood.

It almost seems like a self-fulfilling prophesy. They must destroy Sothis before she destroys them all, but their actions may have just been what led to their demise.

You know, this entire conflict reminds me about this piece of text about Sirius:Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky On summer nights, star of stars, Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat And fevers to suffering humanity.

Sacrifice

This is where it gets a little interesting. Sothis seems to have created Fodlan after the destruction of the entire continent. Take a look at these quotes:

"This world of yours is quite a sight. Was this one of my own creations, or... Ah. Never mind that last part." - Sothis, FEH

"My power covers Fodlan's every inch!" - Sothis, Three Hopes

"And look what you brought me- the three who fancy themselves sovereigns, ruling over that abomination's wretched spawn." - Epimenides, Into the Chasm

Her power covers Fodlan's every inch. Epimenides calls Fodlan her wretched spawn. She has created worlds according to FEH. Fodlan is designed to look like the head of a dragon. Is that just an easter egg? Probably! Still, a lot of things point to her recreating the continent after all of it had been utterly destroyed.

"It took the progenitor god an astonishing amount of time to revive the ravaged world. But eventually, the continent found peace again, and the progenitor god, having fulfilled her duty, fell into a long slumber in the Holy Tomb."

Reviving the world cost so much energy that it killed Sothis. She fell into slumber in the Holy Tomb, a place that she created to protect her children from the javelins of light. Why is her death called a slumber? I'll talk about that in a different post.

Peace?

The Nabateans who stayed behind built a settlement in Zanado to protect the Holy Tomb as they quietly lived out their lives.

However, some Nabateans would go on to rule over different lands. The Agarthans hated this state of affairs, so they devised schemes. They granted a bandit the technology to make powerful weapons from the corpses of the Nabateans. This bandit would come to be known as Nemesis, the King of Liberation.

Of course, if you give a human power, they would want even more power, and that means finding a stronger dragon to defeat and harvest, and so on. It was a vicious cycle, a cycle that led to the birth of the Ten Elites.

Nemesis plundered the Holy Tomb and took the remains of the Goddess with him. From her bones and heart, he created the Sword of the Creator. From her blood, he acquired the Crest of Flames. With this powerful relic and crest, he would move on to Zanado.

Some say that the rule of the Nabateans wasn't entirely perfect if it led to Nemesis and his Ten Elites to be thought of as heroes. That's not an unfair assumption to make, but do not try to use it as justification for the genocide of the Nabateans.

The two extremely biased factions who knew the truth both called Nemesis a thief. That was all the man was, a bloodthirsty thief who believed in the strong ruling over the weak.

Edit: garlandgerard pointed out that the term the devs use for “govern” contains the kanji for “cure”. That goes against the idea that the Nabatean rule was tyrannical or bad.

Tragedy

"Even now I cannot forget the sight...of that massive canyon, painted red with blood..."

The Nabateans in Zanado stood no chance. Nothing could prepare them for a human wielding their progenitor's corpse. It was a massacre. The canyon was painted red with their blood, meaning that they were in human form. Do you know how many human bodies you need to paint an entire canyon red to the point it gets called the "Red Canyon"? Hundreds, thousands, millions? It doesn't matter. An entire history and culture ended within a day. They were all slain... except for one.

Saint

"I was the only survivor of Zanado, and all I could do was wander across Fódlan clinging to my desperate desire for revenge."

A direct daughter of Sothis survived the tragedy, and she would go on to wander across Fodlan, clinging to a desperate desire for revenge.

She called herself Seiros, naming herself after the star her mother came from. Seiros traveled throughout Fodlan, performing miracles that led people to form the Church of Seiros in her name. She fostered the founding of the Adrestian Empire, working closely with its first emperor, Wilhelm Paul Hresvelg, and sharing her blood and Crest with him.

Seiros gathered the remaining Nabateans who were scattered across Fodlan. The most notable being Macuil, Indech, Cichol, and Cethleann. These four would come to be known as the Four Saints. Cethleann would be grievously wounded in one of the battles, leading her to fall into a slumber of her own.

Revenge

It was time for the battle of Tailtean. Seiros fought Nemesis on the Tailtean Plains, and there she defeated him. Looming over Nemesis with a dagger aimed at him, she asked if he recalled the Red Canyon. His eyes widened in recognition, but he didn't get a chance to say anything as she drove the dagger into his chest. Over and over again, screaming that he took everything that she loved.

She did it. Nemesis was dead. She hugged Sword of the Creator, which had been cast away during the fight, close to her.

"He's gone now, mother..."

Her mother always believed that revenge was something you do not take for someone else. It is to slake your rage and heal your wounded heart. But this line, to me, makes it clear that Seiros did it for her mother. For her fallen Nabateans. You can see her look up the moment the words leave her, her eyes becoming empty and distant.

She got revenge for her mother, and yet... The Goddess's bones stayed silent.

[star-arcana]

Why the Fire Emblem Three Houses/Hopes discourse surrounding Almyra is unfairly biased against them!

I expect everyone to know about Almyra and Fódlan, so I will not go over in great detail as to the history and mention all the bad points right away to be debunked, but first a little intro:

The continent of Fódlan is attacked from time to time by Almyra, a persian-coded empire that once tried to conquer Fódlan and was beaten only marginally by the combined effort of Adrestia, Fearghus, Leicester and the Church. Afterward a large fortification called Fódlan’s medallion was placed between the border of Leicester and Almyra. Then the Church of Seiros established the Officer's Academy and attempt to prepare the young nobles for a future of conflict. To the present day, we see small attacks from Almyrans on the border and that might make one think that they are pure evil and pretty much the bad guys from 300...wrong for following reasons:

1. We only get Fódlans view of things and never that of Almyra. Cyril doesn’t count because he himself admits to not know why Almyra attacks in his support with Hilda and would have been 5 years old when he was orphaned and as many of us know, our me memories of these early years is not clear, so he cannot be seen as completely reliable narrator on such matters, especially when he is wrong about some of Almyra’s stuff as I am mentioning now.

2. Almyra has no real incentive to conquer Fódlan. After a century, no real invasion took place with the exeption of some border raids that counts as nothing, since such small scale conflicts happened a lot in history, and they still persist even in Fódlan as Jeralt mentions battles taking place. Coming back to the Cyril point, the Almyrans have a powerful navy, more advanced than Fódlan (which casts doubts about Cyril mentioning how inferior Alymran tech is, because they appearently can’t build a structure as grand as the Bridge of Myrrdin). With that, they should have taken easily the Alliance capital, the Fraldarious territory as well as the Kingdom capital and debilitate the Empire, allowing them full control over most of Fódlan this way. One might say the hero relics, but how much good will it do against high advanced tech?

3. Another problem is that the King of Almyra has no interest in a invasion and many of his officers as well as many others do also not think of invading Fódlan. This led to Shahid being betrayed by Nader and before that having his soldiers fight with low morale to the point where the GD conclude that had the Almyrans been serious, they would have been in big trouble and presumably lost.

4. If really Almyra was such a big threat, why are there no long-term consequences for missing out on the paralouges in Three houses where you battle them. If we are meant to think that they are this dangerous, why is there no punishment? It makes no sense.

5. Finally, saying that all can be blamed on Almyra is also against the GD’s theme of Isolationism and ignorance clouding our senses as we see how aggressive Fódlan is to outsiders and even if Almyra is as bad as people say, not wanting peace with them is what would lead to more death and more hate and this is pretty much what the story criticizes; The Nabateans and Agarthans are unwillingly to let their past go and because of this, they burend the continent asunder and nearly wiped out all life on it. So for the sake of future generations, Almyra and Fódlan have to put aside their differences and work together for a new dawn.

If you have disagreements with me, tell me and I’ll answer gladly.

[slotumn]

The wildest most extrapolative 3H headcanon/worldbuilding I have is that Nabateans are actually some kind of biocomputer/information storage devices who also functioned as local deities for human communities across the Fódlan in the pre-civilizational reset days.

They originally took on the form of large animals because that's what humans tend to revere + that makes it physically easy for them to help with stuff like, idk, harvests and big construction projects. They also basically store the entire history of those communities in their physical forms.

Originally, they didn't have human forms or the ability to communicate directly with humans, but they did have chosen figures who acted as intermediaries; priests, basically. The priests were given blood of the Nabateans, which enabled them to communicate with, and access the information stored in the Nabateans on behalf of their community. So these are proto-Crest systems, but unlike post-Agarthan war era, the Nabateans and Sothis hold control over granting (and taking it away, although those cases are rare). Major/minor Crests denote ranking within the priestly order, with there being only one major Crest holder at a time to lead the rest of the order.

The mechanics behind why Sothis and the Nabateans hold final control over Crests and is this:

Nabatean bones are where the history/information is stored

Nabatean blood grants authorization to read the information

Crest stone is admin access that's the key to editing the info as well as doing all the cool supernatural divine shit

And all this is relevant to why the Relics work the way they do.

(More about Nabateans as metaphor for human history under the cut)

Throughout most of (pre-Agarthan war) human civilization, this system of Nabateans + human intermediaries worked pretty well. Nabateans are the archive of human history and knowledge, their priests are its maintainers and curators. As civilization developed, humans gained (or rather developed) more and more autonomy and self-governance, while direct Sothis/Nabatean rule over them decreased. Nonetheless the Nabatean information and storage system remained because, hey, it's useful.

But it starts to creak as humans industrialize, and especially, as the information revolution occurs. More humans are literate than ever, they can communicate faster than ever, and information/data is more accessible than ever. Not everyone likes the system of Nabateans and priests anymore, seeing it as slow, inefficient, and gatekeeping.

And, most importantly, there are people taking advantage of these circumstances for their own ends— like the group that come to be known as Agarthans. They seek to use technology for the preictable things like profit, power, and immortality; and although their technological achievements were only possible thanks to the library of human knowledge and history reliably archived by the Nabatean system, they no longer see it as necessary and actually see it as the obstacle to gaining the human/material resources they need for their projects, so they start doing everything possible to discredit and destroy it.

Sothis and Nabateans don't just sit idly, of course. They too try to adapt, and Sothis giving the Nabateans humanoid forms so they can communicate directly with humans is one. But this also has its own side effects, like the priests fearing this will make them obsolete, with some even betraying them and joining the proto-Agarthans as a result— which is where they got more detailed information about the mechanisms and powers of Crests from.

Fundamentally though, the issue is that Sothis + Nabateans and the proto-Agarthans are working on a different time scale. The former plans and strategizes in generations and centuries, the latter plans and strategizes in financial quarters/election seasons/etc, which feels more approachable and "real" to other humans.

At any rate, eventually, the proto-Agarthans gain enough supporters and initiate a war across Fódlan with the goal of destroying the Nabatean archival system.

This is also why Sothis and Nabateans didn't prohibit or crack down on the proto-Agarthans growing like that. On principle there's nothing wrong with pursuing technological advancement— Sothis knows it's not a good look as goddess to suddenly butt in and crack down after centuries of assisting and blessing humans for their advancements. And the turn from "let's make some cool gadgets" to "man fuck Sothis she just gets in the way" was just too sudden for her MO. Think of how long homo sapiens has been around vs how long the internet and especially all the bullshit related to Big Data™ has been around; that's the discrepancy in the time scale we're working with.

And not everyone fell for the proto-Agarthan's shit, as a matter of fact more than half decided they still prefer Sothis and the Nabateans when push came to shove. But there still were enough proto-Agarthan supporters to do significant damage to society. Plus the proto-Agarthan leadership was willing to do whatever it took to destroy Sothis' system, no matter how many of their own supporters died, because the leadership in fact did not give a single shit about their supporters.

So yeah the war escalates and boom, great civilizational reset on Fódlan. Sothis spends most of her power making the continent not a post-apocalyptic hellhole, then she goes to sleep to recover. All the Nabateans now have humanoid forms, but most of the human communities they were supposed to be guardians of just fucking evaporated so a good majority come to Zanado and wait for Sothis to wake up. (But also there are still quite a few scattered across Fódlan living with what remains of their communities, except now in humanoid form.)

All this would have worked out well, if not for the fact the Agarthans managed to survive. And they're no longer the "proto-"Agarthans; at this point, the ones who aren't bitter/egotistic megalomaniacs have all died in the war, defected from then, or got executed internally, so they have pretty much self-selected to the worst of the worst. And they still managed to retain the information on how the Nabateans and their powers work.

Now humanity is on its second civilizational dawn, where everything is chaotic and they're still trying to figure things out, this time without Sothis helping them along. The one thing that was supposed to help is the fact the Nabateans still remain in some form— Nabateans, who are the compilations of human history and knowledge itself, now able to communicate with humans directly.

Of course the Agarthans can't let this stand because 1. fuck Sothis 2. they want to exploit the power of Sothis and the Nabateans— human history and wisdom— for themselves only. But they've suffered heavy losses from the last war, so they can't do it directly, hence they grab the closest charismatic and power-hungry dude to do the job of fucking it all up.

Cue Nemesis, the massacre at Zanado, and the Crest+Relic system as we see it in the game.

The important thing here, mechanically, is that Nemesis and the Elites not only have the Nabateans' Crests (blood, which allows reading), but also the bones (information storage) and most importantly, Crest stone (editing and other admin access shit). That's why they're so powerful, and that's why people with Crests can use matching Relics and the combat arts regardless of their proficiency in the weapon type. When someone with Nabatean blood gets their hands on those matching Nabatean bones and Crest stones, they unlock access to like... the combined proficiency and experience of their ancestors who used the weapon and the techniques. And of course they add their own experience in there as they use it, too. This is why Relics and Crests are still so powerful and coveted, even as Crested blood grows thin.

Metaphorically, this makes the Nabatean genocide and the Crest system even worse. It's like a couple of assholes barged into libraries full of thousands of years of human wisdom and artifacts, burned most of it down except the stuff they found useful which they looted, overwrote the rest to serve themselves, and completely fucks up the development of humanity on a continent for the next thousand years as a result. Of course there are still a few other libraries (Nabateans) remaining— but these libraries are sentient and they just saw the other libraries get burned the fuck down and looted, so they decided to never advertise what they were or share what they hold for (self) preservation.

Also Rhea is mentioned to be the youngest of the Nabateans Sothis (directly) made, and in the context of all this, I headcanon that she's the first and last Nabatean created from the scratch with a humanoid form. She's pretty much the Nabatean 2.0 made to counter all the bullshit the Agarthans were pulling, which is why she has a title so grand as the Immaculate One.

She's a lot more in tune with humans than the older models of Nabateans, which is how she successfully lead the Adrestian Empire against Nemesis and the Elites in the War of Heroes— but at the same time, why it's also why she's so fallible in the same way humans tend to be. As a Nabatean she is meant to be the keeper and embodiment of human history/wisdom, but after seeing what humans did with it (destroying and bastardizing them into weapons), she decided that maybe it would be better for humans to not learn of it (at least the full true versions) at all.

And that's pretty much where all the tragedy of Fódlan in 3H starts.

[inkperch]

...TWSITD would be. Really easy to turn into a dark mirror of the church, if you wanna make Agartha sympathetic.

Like. Make Thales the most pro-Edelgard take on Rhea you can think of, and that's most of the work done lol. Highlight the church's cowardice and stagnation by making comparisons to someone doing the same things, but from malice in the name of a progress that is little more than a prettily dressed return to the past. Highlight how both control the populace and what they know, but The Church does so out of fear of progress and one stubborn immortal's grief, while Agartha does so to keep their control.

...also could lead to the hilarious paralleling of Kronya and CYRIL.

[askhubertvonvestra]

That is the Crest of Seiros on something Agarthan-looking that is actually from the Church of Seiros!

I love that the game reminds us with these details that Sothis gave this technology to the Agarthans, which is why they look so alike. But the Agarthans took this innovation way too far. It's one thing for the Nabateans to give their blood to people they deem deserving, and it's another for the Agarthans to steal their bones and the hearts from their chests to make weapons because they don't feel like having to ask the Nabateans for blood.

...That said, it is a little unsettling that the device from the Church of Seiros summons phantom soldiers. Not sure how I feel about that, and I'm sure Hubert would have a much more powerful opinion on the subject.

[moltz23]

When the Darkness gets Miscasted - An Essay about Three Houses' "those who slither in the dark"

As someone that joined the FE fandom with Sacred Stones, I gotta say, “Those who slither in the dark” are an interesting experiment as far as antagonistic factions go. In spite of being the most alien-like group featured in the franchise (as of Engage), regardless of the 3H story branch picked, TWSITD in the long-term serves as an villainous third wheel of sorts, going from being very active late into Part 1, to vanishing almost entirely by Part 2, not even getting an proper send-off in half of the routes. So what happened?

Well, after pondering about it for a while, I believe the reason TWSITD fell into this situation is because their unique traits don’t mesh well with the broader purpose the story gave them. In other words, I’m saying “those who slither in the dark” were miscasted.

To explain what exactly I mean by this, a brief recap of the group is in order:

Part 1: The Nitty-Gritty of the Slitherers.

This concept art of Shambhala is so cool.

In Three Houses (and Three Hopes by proxy), “Those who slither in the dark” is an organization that causes strife in Fódlan anonymously:

“In the long history of the Church of Seiros... No, long before even that… There have been an endless number of threats to the peace of Fódlan. Yet, those who oppose us still operate in the shadows, their identities a mystery.” - Rhea in Report: Red Wolf Moon

Their origins can be traced back to remnants of Agartha: an ancient human civilization of Fódlan once that waged war against Sothis and her kids - trying to seize control of the continent from them -, but got themselves wiped out when Sothis retaliated. The remaining survivors then retreated underground, bowing revenge against Sothis, her spawn, and those spared by her wrath. And from then on, this remnant cut contact with the outside world for over a millenia, thus becoming - as far as everyone else is concerned - “those who slither in the dark”.

The ones who call themselves Agarthans want mainly 2 things: Payback against Sothis’ surviving kin ie. Rhea, Seteth, Flayn and Byleth (once they know they’re Sothis reborn); and

obtain what Sothis denied Agartha: dominion over the surface.

“Let no crisis go to waste” is the group’s core motto, as whenever something bad happens in Fodlan, they will likely be there to reap the benefits, usually by:

Acting as benefactors, providing resources (or the means/knowledge) others would normally be never able to gain normally.

Doing Crests experiments once the avenue is open.

And body-snatching, letting them act in the open without giving themselves away, all while opening a new pool of resources and connections to draw from.

As for their Modus Operandi, their general plan is to get involved in a major conflict where they gain something by their chosen side coming out on top (which is known as a proxy war). Given their track record, their MO looks like this:

Find a pawn who could gain enough followers (or already has them) to kickstart a large-scale conflict, and offer your services.

Once the fighting starts, provide support to show your pawn how much of an asset you are to their cause.

If your pawn gets killed or the conflict ends with the opposition alive, then retreat underground, and let the years pass by.

Go back to step 1.

The group’s identity - as in, what differentiates them from other villainous groups - is comprised by the following:

Design-wise, save for one exception, all non-disguised Agarthans have ghastly white skin and dress in black.

Resource-wise, they have access to giant automatons, electric turrets, kinetic orbital missiles (called “javelins of light”), demonic beasts, and more.

Character-wise, regardless of each member’s individual personality, every one of them always showcases hubris and xenophobia. In a related note, every member is also portrayed unsympathetically.

Soundtrack-wise, the group’s heavily associated with dubstep.

Finally, when it comes to TWSITD’s narrative purpose in the main stories:

Their general objective is to serve as the puppeteers behind the scenes, trying to manipulate events behind the scenes and their pawn of choice (ie. the Empire/Edelgard) to achieve their ends.

Meanwhile, as far specific objectives go, they:

Kill Jeralt, and thus, force Byleth to fuse with Sothis before Rhea can have them sit on Sothis’ throne, thus unintentionally foiling the Archbishop’s agenda.

Give Edelgard the means to remove Rhea from the story at the end of Part 1 (used only outside CF) through their Demonic Beasts.

Set up the Final Boss of Part 2 of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow by the story having Byleth’s party reach Shambhala, their HQ.

Help Azure Moon’s story explore the Tragedy of Duscur subplot.

Help Crimson Flower’s story explore the TWSITD alliance subplot.

Part 2: Those Who Experiment In The Dark.

As alluded early, the Slitherers stand out from other major villainous factions in FE due to being the very definition of experimental. I use this term because no major villainous faction in Fire Emblem prior to them has had to contend with the following factors:

1. Access to Modern/Sci-Fi Technology:

While everyone else in the setting - including the Agarthans to an extent - use medieval western-inspired resources, only they get exclusive access to modern/sci-fi weapons like giant robots, turrets, and orbital missiles.

2. Deal with Multiple Handicaps:

I previously covered this in a past-article (that can be found here), but for those unaware: the manner the plot in Three Houses is written ensures the Slitherers' path towards their goal isn’t a straight one:

In spite of initially having Edelgard be just a puppet in someone else’s plans, they end up working for her thanks to some deals both parties make behind the scenes, thus leading TWSITD to backstab their former collaborator once Edelgard makes her move and becomes Emperor. Once that happens-

They take a backseat from the plot midway through the story, relinquishing their spotlight to Edelgard while she drives the story onwards. Meaning-

They rely on Edelgard winning to get anywhere, which would normally not be an issue if it wasn’t for how-

Edelgard plans to get rid of them once they’re no longer needed. Not only that, but she also screws the group over in every route in some form.

And that’s not even going into the other two problems they have to deal with:

A. Their orbital/kinetic missiles being impractical: I also did an analysis on those things, but long story short: two routes imply they can’t abuse the weapon at their leisure; their most desired target (Garreg Mach) is protected by a jamming spell/device; and if we go by the evidence at hand, not only the missiles were crafted back when Agartha was still a thing 1000 years before the main plot, we have no evidence they have the means to replenish their stock due to the javelins being orbital missiles (aka dropped from space).

B. Nemesis being unreliable: So, here an interesting fact about Nemesis: dude never died in the introductory movie (perhaps he just went into sleep, not unlike how most Nabateans & Byleth do when wounded enough?), and had to be sealed because, to indirectly quote Rhea’s words in Verdant Wind, no one really knows how the Crest of Flames works.

The known credit the Slitherers get with Nemesis’ return in Verdant Wind is that they were definitely prepared in case he woke up. After Shambhala has been destroyed, the story shows that not only they held him in a coffin somewhere in their catacombs, multiple flavor texts allude they are the reason Nemesis has the reanimated corpses of his old allies for Verdant Wind’s final battle. Beyond that, no one really knows why Nemesis returns at the very end only in Claude’s route, and how much TWSITD may be behind it. He just… returns.

3. They Lose Their Original Purpose (in 2/4 of the Post-Timeskip).

Quick development trivia for y’all: Silver Snow was the story branch of Three Houses that started it all, laying the foundation of every other route that came after. And in it, plus Verdant Wind - for sharing similar story beats - “those who slither in the dark” fulfill a specific purpose in Part 2’s story: setting up the scenario for the final battle to happen though having the player’s party going to Shambhala (their HQ), whether it’s by: wounding Rhea lethally, thus playing a part in her sudden dragon degeneration (Silver Snow); or by having an army prepared for Nemesis once he wakes up in Shambhala after their defeat (Verdant Wind).

But then, Crimson Flower and Azure Moon changed everything. Because both stories deviate from Silver Snow by using Chapter 11 to set up their own Final Boss in advance (Rhea in CF, Edelgard in AM), the writing team behind those routes was forced to solve the following issue:

“What happens when the story doesn’t need to go to Shambhala? As in, when the story has no need for the Slitherers to set up the final battle?”

The solution found was simple: TWSITD would blend-in with the Empire, and be forced to stick with Edelgard to reach the end of the road they crave. In turn, each path would show how well that situation ends for them.

(As a quick tangent: 3H’s The Cutting Room Floor page having unused unit data for a playable Edelgard and Dimitri in the Shambhala map - and nothing else - does very little to corroborate the idea that both CF and AM ever intended to visit the place in the stories beyond the planning stages).

No major antagonistic group in the series before the Agarthans has been ever given such a mixed bag to work with. And I believe it’s no coincidence either, as it very much appears most of these handicaps were placed to ensure TWSITD doesn’t have enough control of the plot to allow a “Golden Ending” to happen just by defeating them early. Still, this doesn’t change their unique situation as it causes unfortunate problems for them, and it’s precisely this what I want to address to finally explain why this group of antagonists were miscasted in the stories 3H tells.

Part 3: The Bad, Good, and Nasty side of the Agarthan.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first: even though their general objective in the story is to act as the puppeteers behind the scenes, in a twist of irony, the Agarthans are at their weakest when trying to manipulate their way into victory. The reasons are twofold:

A. Their handicaps limit their level of threat and control imposed. And…

B. Due to their anonymity shtick, they straight up don’t appear unless the plot calls for it.

These two details explain why they fall out of relevance by the time the timeskip takes place (and for the Three Hopes spinoff, this too goes for Azure Gleam’s second timeskip), and when they finally reappear, their performance ultimately falls flat despite all the spectacle provided. For all their efforts, the Slitherers unfortunately have a lot going against them that stops them from accomplishing the main objective the writers set out for them (and worse of all, this is by design).

Incidentally, another problem that quickly springs up for TWSITD is that, once they are forced to fight outside the darkness and can no longer count on their surprise/shock factor, they’re

taken care of in a pretty swift fashion (see AM Chapter 19 and VW/SS Chapter 21/20). And this is because, at the end of the day, they are just an organization of people that has historically relied on other nations’ armies to put up a fight vs the Church after the fall of Agartha. As trying to foolishly fight regardless, just exposes them for what they all are, warts included.

“[those who slither in the dark] are looking down on us. They think we cannot touch them. But the closer we get to them, the less true that becomes.” - Hubert, in Darkness Beneath the Water.

But enough negativity! Let's get to what the Slitherers are truly good at. My reasoning behind why TWSITD were miscasted, given a role they would never be able to fill its shoes comfortably, is because Three Houses’s stories not only show them at their worst, but also at their best. And what is what they excel at, you might wonder?

It is Terrorism. Just, flat out terrorism at its finest.

In execution, by the Agarthans using their anonymity shtick as a strength, they are allowed to:

A. Appear out of nowhere to cause havoc and quickly vanish once the job’s done. And-

B. Confuse and worry the hell out of the enemy.

Arguably the stand out examples of this is Part 1 of White Clouds, and Part 2 of Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze route. Whether it is to test out and perfect their “experimental assets” intended to be used by the Empire once Edelgard declares war on Garreg Mach in the former’s case, or by providing the perfect stage for Ferdinand’s father, Duke Aegir, to attempt a coup against Edelgard’s Empire in the latter, TWSITD’s surprise appearance completely disrupts the direction the plot was going for, and forces the characters to handle them directly in the hopes of - somehow - foiling their end goal, just for the group to vanish soon after, leaving everyone with a sense of unease, worry, and fear, upon witnessing they are not dealing with just some random group of villains anymore.

Simply put, “those who slither in the dark” are at the top of the game when they are causing terrorism and exploiting their enigmatic aura of theirs. So it’s a shame that Three Houses still ultimately decided to have the organization stick to their “puppeteers” shtick no matter what, even if it is for the sake of deconstructing the idea or in an attempt to try to make them work somehow.

Finally, while I feel the point this article’s been trying to make has already been made, I still wanna wrap things up by addressing the nasty side of TWSITD: their one-dimensional malice.

While Fire Emblem as a franchise is no stranger to cartoonishly evil antagonists, never before the Agarthans have we gotten an entire major faction with not even a trace of nuance. In a series where major villainous factions have done stuff like human sacrifices and child hunts, there has been always someone that either: can display basic decency; can be recruited and allowed work off their bad karma; or had long since defected the group, and might try to help the playable characters in some way. Heck, archetypes like the Camus exist because people have noticed some conventions are used a lot for the sake of giving the enemy-side some nuance, with varying degrees of success and reception.

The Slitherers by comparison, get none of that. And in spite of it… I feel it may be on purpose.

Let me remind everyone for one last time, what the Slitherers' backstory and shared character traits are:

Their background can be summed up as a “millennial legacy of hate which willingly isolates from society as a whole”. Also-

Displaying hubris and xenophobic tendencies appears to be an unwritten rule for every one of its members.

Considering these two facets, I just can’t help but wonder if the 3H writers drew the line with the TWSITD as far as nuance goes simply because, as far they themselves were concerned, those who hurt others due to a sense of entitlement, superiority, and hate, are beyond saving. And I say this because ever since last year, this exchange from Azure Gleam has been in my mind a lot as of late:

Cornelia: As for your loyal knight and the former Duke Fraldarius… They're certainly giving it all they have, but a paltry force that size will hardly buy them any time. And once we've wrung the life from them, you'll be next. How tragic it'll be, facing your beloved citizens for the final time with a noose around your neck. Dimitri: You know, I almost appreciate seeing such bold-faced sadism. There's not a hint of nuance to it. Cornelia: Is that a compliment I hear? You'll make a lady blush if you're not careful. - Event: Behind the Mask

I’ve been figuring out how to complete this whole thing for over a month now and oh man I am so glad I can finally move on from it. Now the only thing that remains is to thank y’all who checked and read this huge wall of text to the end.

To finally close things off, I have a few last questions for everyone: What are your honest thoughts on “those who slither in the dark”? What did you expect of them? Did they surprise you? And would you improve on them if given the chance (and how)?