#and rhea in general when she was on screen because she still has sort of more lines being 'in action' in this game than in the previous one

[randomnameless]

Based random JP Amazon reviewer:

People who have a strong attachment to the previous work will feel the pain. Especially if you like Byleth, Claude, Sothis, Cyril, and Hanneman, you will regret buying this for a long time. This work deliberately lowers the class of Claude and Golden Deer in order to raise Edelgard, and Byleth and Sothis in order to raise the level of the less attractive new protagonist, and Claude is like Edelgard in the main story. He's a tyrant, his classmates praise him for not thinking, he's an idiot, Byleth is turned into a real NPC, and they say, ``It would have been better if he hadn't become a teacher (lol).'' The encounter with the teacher must have been an inevitable encounter, right? I'm convinced that the person who wrote this scenario hasn't played Three Houses. Well, I think there are cases where someone who doesn't know the original work writes the scenario, like a certain Hollywood version of Dragon Ball, but I don't want this writer to write the scenario again.

On the other hand, I think it's a good game for people who have no attachment to the previous game, don't care about the scenario, and just like mowing grass. The price is dropping at a fast pace for a Switch game, so if you really want to play it, you might want to wait a little bit before buying.

The most diabolical parts of this critique have to be the guy pointing out how the price is dropping bizarrely fast for a new Switch release, that the game is only worth it as mindless fun for people who don't care about Three Houses, and comparing Nopes to Dragon Ball Evolution💀

LOL

But yeah, the price dropping so fast, at least in Japan? (here it's still worth more than 10 euros) is, imo, a sign that part of the fanbase really didn't like this game.

Maybe some people who preordered it on Amazon.co.jp cancelled their order when the leaks were revealed? So Amazon had to sell those things no one wants anymore?

And re-lol at the mention that the devs didn't play FE16 - one of the devs in his interview legit said he forgot parts of the FE16 plot as he played Nopes...

(I'll forever be salty that they retconned the existence of magic tomes in the Fodlan verse!).

[randomnameless]

In a way I realise the issue with Fodlan is pretty similar to the one found in Tellius regarding Brandeds, but refusing to acknowledge part of the issue, the games pushes for a less than ideal solution, especially with this ending.

You summed up Claude and his routes as fuck the past and the traditions associated with it.

And I'm thinking, with hindsight, about Rhea's words here.

In our absence, future generations are likely to repeat the foolish actions of their ancestor.

And when that happens, who will be left to stop them? This land has suffered enough as it is.

Nabateans are associated in this route, but Rhea and her Church in general, to the "past and traditions".

In VW, Rhea reveals the truth and is put in the fridge (dying off screen).

And who pops up when we're sure Rhea won't return ?

On the one hand, we can see Nemesis's sudden return and ultimately, final death, as the occasion to cleanse Fodlan from all of its past history and secrets, no more Seiros, no more Nemesis, we get a blank canvas to work with.

On the other hand... Even if the canvas is now blank, what is going to happen next ?

As you pointed out in your post :

but now the false history of Fodlan has been corrected. People now know what the past really was, not some glamorized image of it from the Agarthans nor the story told as part of a peace treaty. The Church is still going to be there, helping to rebuild Fodlan after the slate was wiped clean, free to spread it's messages without having to also recite falsehoods that can give people mixed messages

Will the Church really be free to spread its messages without falsehoods ?

And that's where the Tellius parallel comes in, Fodlan refuses to engage with Nabateans.

Will the Church really reveal that Crests come from Nabateans, and the origin of relics ? Will Flayn will free to show her ears to the world and not be afraid for, idk, potential kids she might have being turned in poleaxes ? Or bled, like she was, to get power ?

VW doesn't answer, hell, no Fodlan game gives an answer.

Hell, we can even make a link : the second she reveals the truth about relics and crests, Nemesis and his Elites, living (well) proofs of human greed and lust for power return.

Rhea sealed Nemesis, just like she "sealed" the truth about Fodlan and Nabateans with her lies.

When the jig is up, Nemesis and his allies return-the game reminds us why those lies were created in the first place.

Some people meme'd and called Nemesis the "ceo of racism", but Nemesis is only an example of human greed/lust for power :: we got Supreme Leader and, arguably, Claude in GW and, even if it ends on a positive note because Claude has a treaty in his hands, the ending mural imo still has one party holding weapons when the others aren't.

VW is painfully silent on the aftermath of Rhea's big reveal - no one reacts to it because, well, Fodlan game means we dgaf about Nabateans but hey, Lorenz just learnt that slaughtering people with pointy ears can give him a relic and a super powerup. Lorenz isn't the kind of person to abuse his power (at least not in VW), but if this "truth" is told to Erwin? What if Erwin immediately wants to secure a marriage between Lorenz and Flayn to get future "super human" heirs? Or maybe, use her in, uh, a more "Agarthan" way to get a poleaxe and new crest for a future line?

Are Nabateans really "free" to live and spread their teachings in a world where there are no lies, and the truth is revealed?

Imo, VW doesn't end with the blank and "new" dawn presented by the game, but it's, again, a return to a past state : an era where humans and Nabateans lived together, but humans knew what kind of power they could get from a Nabatean...

And we know how that ended!

Maybe it was just a "skill" issue and like, where Nabateans and Sothis herself failed to curb down human greed and envy - which led to Zanado's party and Nemesis - maybe Billy and Claude will do better...

And yet, it's just some "maybes" and, at the end of the day, sort of headcanons?

"Telling the Truth" and "Smashing the lies" effectively means painting a giant target on every Nabatean's back. From now then, we won't know what will happen - but we know what happened the last time humans got this knowledge.

And the game, this route's lead (bcs let's be honest, Billy is as relevant as a flower pot in this route) doesn't even take this, say, immediate consequence in consideration.

Rhea conveniently dies at the end of VW - while Seteth'n'Flayn are pretty much ignored in this route as Nabateans - but if she didn't and Claude told her he was going to reveal the "Truth" to get rid of Fodlan's past and traditions, to make a world where everyone can live together regardless of race, etc etc.

Wouldn't Rhea just look at Failnaught, and tell him that Sothis/Nabateans already tried to live with humans - without any lies or omissions, but when Humans desired more power, Nabateans ended up as glorified weapons?

What is going to prevent Claude/Billy from making the same mistakes (slaugther Nabateans to get weapons/trust humans with their secret and hope they won't kill the remaining Nabateans?) their ancestors (Riegan, but also, in a way, Sothis/the Nabateans themselves!) made?

Why were those lies built? Is the "truth" and getting a blank canvas - to create a new society - more important than the lives of a few people ?

I agree with you when you say VW doesn't end up with a "traditional jp" ending, because VW (or maybe I was too influenced by discourse) ultimately champions the "Getting to know the Truth/ending lies" is more important than anything else, regardless of the consequences - I know this also parallels a cultural difference between some parts of the world, lying can be seen very negatively but in some other areas giving half-truths and omissions are more "accepted", especially if it's to protect/bury something important.

Is revealing the Truth and ending Rhea's lies going to benefit Fodlan ?

We don't know, but we know why those lies were made, which VW reminds us through its final boss.

Supreme Leader sacrificed people to get power/for her IdEaLS (even if VW still has her line refusing Flayn's place in Fodlan because of her race!), Nemesis massacred people to get power, in an alternate world, Claude will also kill random people for his IdeAlS (and to get more power!)...

Is it the same of VW!Claude? To make a new world with new values, he sacrifices the few remaining Nabateans?

And in a way, it's annoying because Claude, through WC when he realises Tomas was Solon, understands that piercing the church's secret (aka the Immaculate One and her crest stone) is less important than, in this case, refusing to saddle the Church with another problem/issue and taking part in Solon's plans, aka, Claude could determine that there was something else at stake here than "getting to know the truth and ending lies".

But when Rhea gives her infodump? The end of VW? After knowing why those lies were made up?

"Fuck the past, fuck the traditions associated with it, let's end those lies" which, implicitely but ultimately leads to "fuck Nabateans and their survival".

---

Much like Tellius who goes "lol" about, arguably, one of the reasons why the Big Bad does Big Bad things - none of Fodlan's endings (bar Tru Piss lol) deal with the crux behind Rhea's lies, which is often cited as one of the reasons why "the war" happened.

Is there a future for Nabateans to live as Nabateans (aka not hide their ears and maybe transform in front of people) in Fodlan?

Sadly... none of the endings (again, save for Tru Piss) give an answer, and VW, in this way, returns to the situation that existed pre Agartha War. Will History repeat itself again, with a new Red Canyon and a new Nemesis later down the years? We won't know.

I know Claude (and Dimi!) can marry Billy and Flayn, thus, technically, it means they could get (through Flayn?) part Nabatean children... and yet, would those children have to hide like Flayn does in the current Fodlan, or free to bare their ears - if everyone, from Bob the Carpenter to Derrick the soldier, that the Queen/Prince/Princess can be turned in a shiny poleaxe and grant them super powers?

I don't think that's what the games wanted to say (especially with Tellius lol), but that's the conclusion they lead to.

VW ends as a new dawn for Fodlan, it's supposed to be full of hope and a joyful ending !

And yet, just like Tellius that ends with Beorcs and Laguz joking and getting alone, there's still the biggest question left hanging : can they really get along if Laguz die when they "get too close" and racial segregation, at least when it comes to breeding, is the only way they can survive?

VW ends with a positive note between Almyran (or Dagdan?) armies and Fodlan signing a peace treaty, and yet we still see the "foreigner" army with weapons when Fodlanese people have none, besides, there's no Nabatean (no Billy) in this scene, so what, for humans to get along, Nabs have to put under the bus? What of Relics and Crests, is that secret out in the wild and the reason we don't see any in that mural, or they still exist but the game pretends no one will ever give a fuck about it?

Granted, unlike Tellius, I can chalk Fodlan's lack of, uh, resolution, to crap writting and the devs prioritising something else than coherency in their world (tfw no continuity guy and the "uh we added things here'n'there to make the world seem bigger and that's why we left some stuff hanging but don't worry we have our 10k years of lore notes somewhere" from the interview...).

With the last few points in mind, we can see how SS, AM and VW are may be somewhat radical from a Japanese POV.

In SS, Byleth's leadership goes against a very common mentality in Japan where it's viewed as wrong to give people money they did not earn, even when that person is in dire straights. In fact, begging for money is actually illegal over there. So with that in mind, Byleth focusing on reconstruction of Fodlan in addition to the Japanese text saying he supported “every soul” in a motherly-fashion, it does point to Byleth's rule being one that looked out for the people.

It also has elements associated with oudou, considering the Sword of the Creator's Japanese name the Sword of the Emperor of Heaven. Emperor of Heaven is term for the Jade Emperor, the deity that oversees Heaven's mandate (Mazu, the Emperess of Heaven, is commonly depicted in red robes... but she's associated with water as a sea goddess, not fire. She's also said to be an incarnation of the Jade Woman of Marvelous Deeds, and associated with a star in the big dipper, who is said to oversee all aspects of life and death and help those who call upon her. So, Edelgard's color scheme itself might be a red herring, as Sothis is the one associated with water). Byleth judged Edelgard as unworthy of following, rejecting her and in turn leading the Black Eagles to do the same. They no longer bend the knee to their emperor simply because she is their emperor, they take a stand against her actions and work to remove her from power. And this is consistent for them regardless of whether Byleth taught their House or recruited them to another House, not joining Edelgard is tied to their character development (see Ferdinand and Caspar's paralogues not being available in Flower).

Dimitri takes Byleth's supporting the poor a few steps further, believing change has to come from the people and giving them a voice in politics while at the same time supporting them. He empowers the masses, and on top of that even has focus on improving relations with foreign nations (whereas the Japanese text indicates Edelgard begins invading other countries). Dimitri is also meant to represent oudou himself, a benevolent ruler justly governing the people.

Claude also identifies Edelgard's rule as oudou, stops her, but then puts Byleth and his version of oudou in charge of Fodlan. I think the best way to put how Claude is radical is, to put it bluntly, fuck the past and fuck the traditions associated with it.

Claude's goal in coming to Fodlan was to learn from it in order to change Almyra, and he got that in Verdant Wind. He begins transforming his homeland into a trading powerhouse, works with the Church in order to bridge the two nations, and can even introduce magic to his country in one ending. On top of that, people have noted that he embodied a very negative stereotype of his people in Hopes, so his character growth proved beneficial. He's no longer the type who will flee to save his own life rather than protecting his people, he stops trying to manipulate everyone and instead work with them as well.

When applied to Fodlan, it's not saying that the Church is bad. It still continues to exist, but now the false history of Fodlan has been corrected. People now know what the past really was, not some glamorized image of it from the Agarthans nor the story told as part of a peace treaty. The Church is still going to be there, helping to rebuild Fodlan after the slate was wiped clean, free to spread it's messages without having to also recite falsehoods that can give people mixed messages. And on top of that, there's also support for other faiths and customs to be brought in, accepted and learned from. The game really drives home it's the dawn of a new era for a reason.

So, we have that. Meanwhile Edelgard trying to set the clock back on Fodlan, spouting ideals informed by Agarthan manipulations, and trying to conquer the world... this is all supposed to be tyranny according to the devs. SS, AM and VW all support some form of progress whereas Flower, once you see through the cracks and get to know Edelgard, is supposed to be regression. To return to old ways, old traditions, that the Church put a stop to for good reason.

[pynkhues]

anything about caroline collingwood honestly... i want to hear it all

This is a slight tangent to your ask, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately (again, haha) about how Logan typically seems to be attracted to women who he sees either himself or his needs in, especially this late in his life. His relationships with Marcia, Rhea and Kerry all seem steeped in the way that those women demonstrate something of his own survivalism and ruthlessness, and it’s fascinating to me in the sense that they each seem like a shallower version of, and are a more superficial relationship to the one that preceded them.

Marcia was a true partner to Logan in s1, and while she was self-serving, she also did protect him, support him, care for his health and seem to have genuine love for him. Rhea in s2 was more transparent about her self-interest and her maneuvering, but she also became something of a companion to him before everything blew up, whereas Kerry in s3 seems so far to pretty clearly be posturing and using Logan for her own professional and social gain – gosh, she doesn’t even manage his medications well which contributes to his psychosis with the UTI. You know Marcia never would’ve let that happen.

I think all three women though speak to Logan’s current and present desires for partnership, legacy and control, and it makes for an interesting reflection of where he’s at in his life.

The reason I bring this up is because I’m fascinated by Caroline and Logan’s relationship generally, and in particular what the relationships we’ve seen play out on screen tell us about Logan’s first two marriages, and maybe even who those two women were as people.

In some ways, they are hard to compare, especially Logan's first marriage. He would've been very young when he married Connor's mother, likely in his early twenties, and I tend to think their marriage was one built on a foundation of trauma. We know Connor's mother had mental health issues and was institutionalised, but the timing too would've roughly coincided with either Noah's death or him handing the reins of the company over to Logan (either of which would've had huge implications for a 20-25 year old Logan who'd experienced serious physical abuse by him), Ewan enlisting (bearing in mind their father died at war), and, I suspect, the death of their sister.

Caroline too is different to Marcia, Rhea and Kerry, in no small part because Caroline had independent wealth and a sealed legacy that Logan wanted for himself. In many ways, they were more equal than any of Logan's other relationships, but all of that sort of does beg the question of what, exactly, Caroline saw in him.

She was the one with generational power, she was the one with embedded social status and secure wealth, whereas Logan’s empire would’ve really still been in the process of growing. The major expansion of Waystar Royco into theme parks and cruises is said to have been in the early-to-mid-80s after all, and Kendall would’ve been born in 1979, which tells us that when they got together, Logan was a divorcee with a son and a likely robust-but-still growing news business and a degree of political power in another country.

On top of that, they weren’t old when they met, but they weren’t especially young either. I tend to think there’s more or less the same age gap between Caroline and Logan as there is between Harriet and Brian, which is four years, and would put Logan at 40 and Caroline at 36 when they had Kendall (maybe a year or two younger), and so if we estimate they were together a couple of years before that, Caroline would’ve been in her early thirties when she started dating Logan.

Caroline isn’t a social climber in the way Marcia, Rhea and Kerry all are, and she has nothing to secure. She has everything she wants, and yet she chose Logan, and Logan chose her, and I do think they’re both still wounded and bitter enough about each other that they were genuinely in love.

It kind of comes back to my original point about the survivalism and the ruthlessness of the women Logan’s interested in, and how we see that materialise in Caroline as a character. She’s a stone wall a lot of the times, acerbic and often cruel, and there’s something to that that makes me think she’s a survivor too. Something both raw and slick – barbed wire wrapped in silk – that Logan maybe saw himself in too.

In particular, I really loved what Harriet Walter said about Caroline in her interview with The AV Club:

I have to say that I’ve created a backstory that [Succession creator] Jesse [Armstrong] approves of because I had to fill in the dots. He has to look over everything, though, and I only have my character to look after. So I created a sort of backstory where she’s certainly no saint, but you do understand that she was badly parented and she has no clue about being a mother, really. She handed everything off to nannies, but she thinks she loves her kids and she has her cozy moments with them. When anything gets profound and real and they really need her, a kind of shutter goes down because that’s what she knows, because that’s what happened to her when she was a kid’

I think that’s probably the survivor that Logan connected to, and to me, that speaks to Caroline’s upbringing. That she wasn’t shown love or affection as a child, that her parents were distant and neglectful, if not abusive, that that made her sharp, but not cold, defensive but not necessarily offensive. Technically, she wanted for nothing in life, but there’s the same rejection of real emotion in her that there is in Logan, because neither of them were shown how to love, how to give, how to do anything but manage the hand you’re dealt, and that festered inside both of them until it fundamentally broke them.

Ultimately, I think Logan projected that into his social climbing (he'd be happier if he had more, was more, did more), but Caroline already knew that wasn't the answer.

In some ways, it leaves her aimless, but in others, she has a clearer purpose than Logan too. Her life is about preserving her family history, most notably with the castles and estates, while Logan’s is about trying to create his, and I think that builds in them both this really interesting, bristling root conflict, and testifies to the way he was able to take sole custody of their children.

He feels a family beside and ahead of him, whereas Caroline feels a family behind her, and I think Caroline knows nothing can fill her, whereas Logan doesn’t. He still thinks his story has a happy ending, while Caroline knows hers doesn’t, so she’s getting her kicks in where she can, and Logan’s constantly looking on to the next best thing.

They're tragedies out of step with one another, and I think it meant that when they were happy together, they were probably really happy, and when they weren't - -

Well.

They really, really weren't.

[nowis-scales]

Pre-Verdant Wind Endgame Update

An Update on the ol’ Three Houses Verdant Wind playthrough, since I’ve been neglecting documenting my journey properly for a bit:

• My current placement is Ch.20, so I’m only a few chapters away from the last one. It’s kind of a weird thought because I feel like I just hit the timeskip, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this will feel well-paced out. In terms of writing, I’m known for being a bit of a stickler for good flow. It’s why all of my fanfics take so long to update! I have to make sure my flow is perfect.

• The fact that they have been giving background information on characters has been so amazing. Learning that Raphael’s sister’s name was Maya and getting to hear about her has made me irrationally happy.

• Also, just generally, holy shit people sleep on Raphael and Leonie. Raphael often gets shoved to the side, and Leonie is treated like her only trait is liking Jeralt, and for me it all just culminates in the question of “so did you like... not do their support conversations, or...?” Seriously. I think Leonie might be one of my favourites in the game so far, and I adore Raph. He’s so sweet!

• The Flame Emperor reveal for some reason gave me “and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids” vibes. I liked the venom Cherami Leigh had there as Rhea, too. I think I read from someone that in Japanese, Rhea’s actually super calm in that scene. I don’t think I have a preference towards the anger or the calmness, honestly. I think I just liked how smoothly the emotion came across. Plus, I’m a little biased, I’m fond of Cherami as an actress. I haven’t found a performance from her I haven’t enjoyed yet.

• I was really confused as to why Seteth showed up in my house after Chapter 12ish I think? I wasn’t expecting him to just be there after the paralogue, but I definitely wasn’t unhappy. I do like him! I just never use him, because I recruited Bernadetta and Sylvain, so I kinda have a full roster going... 

• I was also confused in the Gronder Field fight because I couldn’t see what people meant about Bernie getting set on fire. Then I remembered Bernie wasn’t on the hill because she was with me. I recruited her. Whatever this proves about me, I don’t know.

• I did end up beating Marianne’s paralogue! It actually wasn’t as hard once I levelled her up a bit and classed her to a Holy Knight. The big thing with her in that paralogue seems to be that she needs a decent amount of power and movement to really get by, so that’s what I’d recommend for anyone else playing it. Using rescue will also probably help you out, but I tried to avoid using Flayn there because it’s kinda easy to kill her. 

• Admittedly, I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the support system. In some ways, I think it’s better that not everybody has that forced S-Support. Oftentimes we were either squeezing a love confession out of two characters who were unlikely to have one, or characters with decent potential might get snubbed because their connection was less apparent to the writers (and unfortunately that still does happen in the case of same sex S-supports in 3H). Having the conversations only go to a certain point is helpful, but at the same time, the inherent romantic undertones of several of the A-supports do make things feel strange. If it weren’t for the fact that I know characters can have only one partner as their paired ending, I would think lots of them were in a polycule. Nothing wrong with that as long as everyone’s comfortable, but because I know they can only have one person in their ending, I find it pretty jarring.

• I think it was interesting that they went to do the fights for breaking into Enbarr and then taking down Edelgard back-to-back. I’m glad they did, honestly, because while I don’t usually like to do two fights next to each other unless I’m grinding, it doesn’t mess with the suspension of disbelief. It would be stupid to break into Enbarr and then just run right back to the Monastery.

• I have still not completed the randomized quest from just after the timeskip. You know, the one I was yelling about with the weeds? Still haven’t gotten any weeds. I think I might just have to give up on it. It’s hilarious that my luck is so good that it’s actually bad.

• The fact that Byleth is praised for having more of a personality than Corrin is the biggest slice of bullshit I have heard from this fanbase in a long time. Byleth is literally designed to be a silent protagonist with nothing going on with them – they even came up with a story reason for why Byleth is such a blank sack of meat! In the kindest way possible, I don’t think most people realize that they are implementing whatever personality they want onto Byleth. Personally, I don’t find anything relatable about being stoic, calm, and not inclined to anyone (until plot happens, of course). I’ve always been the overly enthusiastic and caring type, with a tendency towards nervousness. Trying to relate to Byleth was like trying to relate to the experiences of a cactus. While I definitely don’t think Corrin is the strongest of the modern FE avatars – that award goes to Robin – they still had some things I could understand and relate to. If you’re not the type of person who loves the cool, “I fight for my friends” types like Ike, though, you’re likely to have a hard time relating to Byleth. If you can manage that type of character, then you’re more likely to have present them with a personality of their own.

• Actually, while we’re on the topic of Byleth getting praised for things Corrin got dragged for, the fact that Corrin is still cited as the character who receives the most “player pandering” is ridiculous too. Do a lot of characters like Corrin? Yeah! But most of them who do are deeply traumatized in a way that inclines them specifically towards Corrin. The Nohr siblings cling to each other due to their abusive childhood, the Hoshido siblings all in some capacity seem to suffer from abandonment issues (oldest) and/or attachment issues (youngest), and the official foursome of retainers have also had some sort of abandonment struggle in their past (forced separation from parents, murdered loved ones). While the cast of Three Houses needs therapy and is traumatized too, there is no reason why the inclination moves towards Byleth. Bernadetta feels safe around them just because. Edelgard is obsessed with them just because. Marianne learns to feel better about herself just because. Why are there so many exceptions for Byleth, and so many just without explanation? I don’t hate Byleth by any means, but these two things make my opinion of them lower than it would be otherwise. It kinda sucks that my image of Byleth is tainted by the fanbase’s hypocrisy, but I know I can’t have everything.

• The gameplay overall for 3H has been pretty fun! I love the addition of the Demonic Beasts, as annoying as they are to fight. There’s a charm to having some of your stronger units working to take on the soldiers blocking the path, meanwhile your army’s more intermediate strikeforce works to keep them safe by bringing down the beast. Once you get the hang of it, gameplay with the new additions is fun. The only thing I don’t use is Divine Pulse, but that’s because I’m on Casual and usually when I want to rewind, I want to just plain start over. So I use the old “turn off and start again” trick.

• Edelgard’s death scene was actually pretty good. I must confess that I went out of my way to avoid Edelgard in the academy phase, as I knew how hard the game was going to hit me with the “she’s obessed with you” thing and I wanted to see how wonky it would feel if I didn’t speak to her much. I was right that it’s incredibly awkward in terms of writing when you haven’t spent the time with her, but surprisingly, her death scene still holds up. Good voice acting, animation, and music. My only beef with it is something they have done in FE before, and it’s something I wish they’d stop. If a character is dying, you either let them have a few last breaths after their last lines or you kill them mid-sentence. It’s probably just a personal nitpick, but hearing them get their last word out without struggle and then immediately die just makes me aware of how badly the directors wanted the whole line to be in there. I can totally understand it but I find it so troublesome in the grand scheme of things that I just can’t.

• I also like that in the fight against Edelgard, they tried to make it ambiguous who had the key. Immediately as it told me that, I decided it was Petra and ended up being right. I was kind of sad to kill her though, to be honest. I don’t know her well, but she’s probably one of the Eagles I like more.

• The fight against the Death Knight at Fort Merceus ended up being surprisingly pretty easy. In fact, while I paved the way for most of my army, Nader ended up making it to the Death Knight just as Claude did. He did most of the damage – I’m not kidding, the Death Knight was down to 1 HP – and then Claude took care of the rest. It was a weird fight. They said impregnable a lot leading up to it.

• I understand why they kill Dimitri off-screen at the Gronder Field fight, but I was admittedly a bit disappointed. Again, Salli Saffoti does a good job doing Hilda’s voice for it, but I would have liked to see it animated. It was also nice to have that little rapport with Dedue! If only we could have allied with the Lions a bit more. Everyone always says Claude and Edelgard have similar goals; however, it’s their methods that differ. Claude seems to align himself a bit closer to Dimitri, so I’m usually a bit confused by the idea that Edelgard and Claude would work together. I was spoiled on enough to know her background and story, and even so, I think that her methodology is just a bit too violent for his tastes. But that’s just my two cents.

 Alright. I think that’s about all I can drain out of my brain from the top of my head. With that, I am off to kill the slithers! We’ll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

[rudderless-in-an-ocean-of-stars]

So a lot of the premise of S2E19 was the idea that Kara did a lot with her fists- and didn't consider talking. I was just wondering what you thought of that- Kara literally talked a robber down with just her words, and all of the sudden she doesn't know how to do it at all. Seriously, what is up with this backwards character development?

I’ve been thinking about your question for quite some time- which is why I’ve taken so long to respond, sorry, and it’s a very good one.

Yes, we did see Kara learn that fists aren’t always the answer to every solution in season one, and it was a beautiful episode.

So it does leave the question- why take that away from her character now?

The writers probably needed to further the problem of the episode, to show a direct source of conflict between the pair, so they took Kara’s reasoning skills down a couple notches to reduce her to being the ‘brawn’ so that Maggie could be the ‘brains’.

Let me explain the logic behind this. (Brace yourself, it’s a doozy.)

Maggie’s place in Team Supergirl is still undefined. Everyone else has already carved out a place for themselves within the group dynamics- for example, Winn with his technical skills, Alex with her general badassery. Given that the occupations of Alex and Maggie are so similar, it served as a catalyst for their meeting and subsequent encounters that led to their relationship. However, the similarities between them have made it so that Maggie cannot simply take the role of ‘badass with a gun’ within the group, because Alex already has it. This means that she must prove her worth to the team by providing a skill or talent that isn’t already there.

Kara, we know, is a very empathetic, kind character. While it makes sense for her to rush into danger heedlessly, due to her invulnerability to most forms of harm, it does not make sense for her to have broken a man’s arm or given another a concussion without feeling guilty about it. She’s lived on Earth for nearly half of her life, and we know for a fact that she’s learned how to regulate her strength very well. Besides that, she has always been reluctant to physically harm her opponents in debilitating ways. She normally incapacitates them as best as she can without injury. Whether this is due to her high level of empathy or her heroic sense of self- like Batman and his NO killing rule- is irrelevant. What matters is the fact that time and time again, we have seen her go to great lengths to resolve situations peacefully- attempting to sway Astra, for example- before resorting to violence.

So to have Kara so casually dismiss their injuries at the dinner table was completely out of character for her. While she uses the ‘greater good’ reasoning to justify her actions- by claiming that she saved the lives of the hostages- Kara has never been the type to risk others in the name of the ‘greater good.’ She would risk herself, as we saw at the end of season one, but she would never willingly compromise the safety of another individual- and if she did, she would feel extremely guilty about it. After she dropped Cat off of the balcony under the effects of Red K, despite the fact that Cat was not physically harmed, the guilt that wracked her was extreme. For Kara to break one man’s arm and leave another with a concussion is one thing, having her care so little about it is another, and a very out-of-character move for Kara. But then again, a lot of her actions were out of sync with the hero she has spent the past season developing into. However, it was done to have Maggie assert herself as someone capable of contributing ‘new’ skills to the team.

And having Maggie bring up the ‘Supergirl defense’ is another thing. Had Supergirl really used excessive force repeatedly, we would have seen mentions of this in the media when they criticized her previously. A superhero hurting people doesn’t make for much good publicity, does it? The vigilante defense is one thing, and they did have a point about debris-contaminated evidence, but Kara would never injure so many people and feel nothing about it.

Yet this is what they had her do.

Why?

Simple.

It all comes back to cementing Maggie’s role in the team.

She needed a place, a position, as I said earlier, and in order to get that, she had to play a critical role in helping and mentoring Supergirl herself. So by making Kara take a few steps back in terms of character development, they allowed Maggie to be seen in a new light by the members of Team Supergirl. Through this, she was also able to finally gain the respect of our favorite hero, and forge a working, if not friendly, relationship with Kara.

This, however, cost Kara’s character something, but it was remedied at the end of the episode, where Kara is shown to have learned her lesson and talks the villain’s father into cooperating. A nice touch, but not as nice as having Maggie succumb to the demands of Alex’s classmate. It was a brilliant role reversal in which Maggie was forced to do exactly what she had accused Kara of doing earlier- taking the fast, brutal solution rather than negotiating and reasoning. Both characters learned a lesson in this episode, and it was very well-written.

Obviously, it wasn’t perfect- making Kara’s character backtrack wasn’t the smartest move, but it was efficient, and it got the job done at the end of the day.

However, we also can’t ignore the way that a lot of the character development from last season has been shunted off to the side or disappeared altogether- and not just for Kara. This, I DON’T blame on Maggie.

No, for this, I blame Mon-El.

To push him forward as one of the major players in what is shaping up to be the central conflict of the season- Rhea’s evil plans- the Supergirl writers had to quickly make him a 'hero’ of sorts, in the audience’s eyes. Unfortunately, they did this by reducing the storylines of pretty much every other character, regularly giving him the spotlight of many episodes, and turning Kara into a rash, lovesick puppy too blinded by the shoddy writing and supposed charms of an alien frat boy to remember that her character- the character we came to love in season one- would never, ever be with a slave owner, or a man who can’t do the simple task of remaining faithful, or a man who tries to guilt her into a relationship by making her feel bad for not returning his feelings.

Mon-El is the ultimate representation of the self-proclaimed 'nice guy’ that we all love to hate.

Y'know, the guy who feels like he deserves everything, even if he does little or nothing to earn it, up to AND including a girl’s affections. The sleazy guy who offers to buy you a drink and gets mad when you turn it down. The guy with a chip on his shoulder who feels like the world owes him something simply because he’s a man. The guy who will sit down and talk with you like a rational human being, and say he’s not like other guys- until you turn him down for a date, and that’s exactly what he becomes. Entitled. Arrogant. Spoiled.

And Kara’s own behavior towards his guilt trip is another prime example of how poorly written her character has been the past season. Look at how gracefully she handled Winn’s unrequited affection for her- the pair came out stronger and better for it, and Winn grew into his own because of it. But now she immediately decides to jump into a relationship because his feelings for her- which were initially unreturned- caused her to have a magical change of heart?

Sorry, no.

There were so many other ways to develop Karamel as a legitimate, healthy relationship that I would respectfully acknowledge in spite of my support for SuperCorp.

Unfortunately, the writers made him too important, too quickly, which dashed any hope of a slow, realistic evolution into a redeemable, lovable character. Thanks, guys. He had serious potential, and if his story hadn’t been rushed so quickly that it became one the wildest face-heel turns to ever grace a television screen, he could’ve been a great character.

Could’ve been, but now he isn’t.

Sorry, Karamel shippers- if any of you are reading this. I hate hating a ship, but one as badly executed as this one doesn’t deserve even the dignity of my respect. I respect you, and your right to support it, but don’t ask me to do the same for your toxic ship.

Sorry if this response went on a bit of a tangent, anon, but I hope it all makes sense! :)

Remember, my ask is always open- for prompts, questions, advice, anything at all. :D

[clanmccrackengaming]

Chapter 5

In this chapter you learn that a disinherited son of a noble house has stolen a Hero’s Relic and you are tasked with getting it back.

Before setting off for the first week, Byleth hit level 10 in the previous chapter and is now ready for an Intermediate class. I’ve elected to go with Thief.

Not only did I pass, but the minimum speed stat for a thief is apparently 11, and since I had a lower speed then the minimum it automatically boosted me to the proper level, It helps to offset all those terrible level ups I’ve been getting.

Week 1: Explore

Starting off with my usual explore phase ritual, I watch all the new supports I’ve unlocked, Go around and collect all of the quests and blue items scattered around the grounds. I check the garden, Asked Petra to join me this month again, asked her to tea, did choir practice, ate a meal with Petra and Lysithea, and ate another with Hilda and Lorenz. All in all nothing spectacular, accept for one minor detail…

AHHHHHH GHOST IGNATZ!?

Well to be perfectly honest when you lose a character this early in the game they are not technically ‘dead’ they just get injured and retire from combat. Apparently they still show up at the monastery, but you cant interact with them in a meaningful way. You cant give them gifts, or return their lost items. You cant invite them to meals, or observe their supports. Soooo, I’m still going to treat him as dead. This apparition is a lingering fragment of his being put here to make me feel bad for not protecting him better.

Week 2: Battle

In the second week, I chose to battle. I only have 1 action point for this phase, and I have 2 quests that need to be finished. Clearing the Way is a quests that unlocks additional merchants, and Maintaining Your Training doesn’t unlock anything meaningful. Try to guess which one I picked.

This map is the exact same map we’ve run a couple times all ready. They used it for that one fog battle. Strategy wasn’t anything special but here are the highlights

The level ups were nothing spectacular, but they were better than nothing. Byleth was the MVP

Week 3: Explore

Happy Birthyday, Leonie

Exploring again, 5 AP.

Trained Swords with Catherine, and Rhea. Choir practice then a meal with Leonie and Ingrid, and a second with Lorenz and Hilda.

  Assignment

Before starting the assignment Petra asked to join my house as a full member.

I accepted, obviously

With the assignment started, we tracked the bandits the stole the relic to an old tower in the Kingdom Territory.

This mission is unique in that there are several reinforcements that appear through out the map. Some of them will ambush you, and attack you the turn they appear. To make matters even worse, the ambushers also have Pass, meaning they can team up on your weakest members and there is generally little you can do about it. So we need to move forward with that in mind.

To help augment our forces Lady Rhea sent a knight with us. Gilbert is a Fortress Knight, and because of that carries a massive shield and axe. He is meant to be a tank of sorts.

For this I really wish I had a capture card so I could have recorded it. I’ll try to go into the strategy I used, but it is a little difficult only having screen shots.

Derp

You start off at the bottom of the map in a checker pattern. There are 3 units to the east in your immediate way: 2 to the north east and 1 on the other side of the wall in front of a treasure chest. Before you start clearing out units though, make sure you turn on the enemy danger areas. Specifically turn on the red markers for the 4 archers in the center of the map. This is important because if you (Or Gilbert) stop moving within range of one of those archers, not only will they hurt you, they will also aggro every other unit on the map to get to you. It cost me 2 Divine pulse to learn this lesson.

Do NOT stop within range of any of these archers.

My first goal was to clear out the three in front of me and bunch my self in the hallway so as to create a choke point for the first two waves of reinforcements.

By the time the first wave arrives you want to have your formation looking something like this. Put your tanks in the bottom row, pack in your mages in the second row, and your long range archers in the third row. This will make the enemies take on your tough units first instead of running though you and hitting the back rows. Strike with the achers/mages first where there is no retaliation, finish injured units off with your melee when you can kill them off without a counterattack happening. Damage the mages with high resistance units and finish them off in the same manor.

Once you move into this formation the first wave will appear and attack. If you did it quick enough, Gilbert will take the brunt of their attack. This is what you want. Sad as it may sound, you want Gilbert retreating from this battle. If he survives it he WILL aggro the archers on the hill. It’s just the way his programming works. You cant control him, and the only way to prevent him from stopping in one of those squares is to stand in them yourself, which defeats the entire purpose.

In my run Gilbert did not survive the first wave, but he did get a lucky crit and took one of them out for me.

Clearing out the initial 3 units, and the 3 remaining units of the first wave netted me the following levels

Lysithea, you are my most deadly unit, but if you keep up these levels you wont be for long.

Close up of the formation

Take the time to heal up. When you are ready, move one unit to this square to spawn the second wave

When the second wave spawns, take it the same way you took the first one. Clear out the second wave and use the key your found (or a thief) to open the chest for an Armorslayer sword. It will come in handy later.

The second wave got me these levels.

A solid level

  After clearing out the second wave I pushed forward. There was a lone mage sitting in the middle of the hallway, I baited her out with Marianne who had the best Res in the army. She was able to tank her attacks without taking a single point of damage, your mileage may vary on that. Note: The healer on top of the hill did heal this mage, and I was afraid it would agro the entire hill, but that wasn’t the case. Once we killed the mage the healer did run around the hill towards me, but he didn’t bring anyone else with him. You can start setting up for the next ambush point while you wait for him to make it to you.

Setting up in this formation is perfectly safe, the ambush will not happen until someone from the formation steps beyond this first pillar,  so watch that you don’t step past it until you are ready to engage.

Once you do engage, 2 thieves will jump out of the wall to the east and one mage will approach from the west. The mage is too far to be a threat at this point, but if you followed my formation above and moves the entire formation 1 square west to spawn the ambush then the thieves will attack your two rightmost units. In my case this was Claude and Byleth. Each thief got off one attach, ate the counter attack of both, then I was able to pick apart the ambushers. Gaining me the following:

Marianne, come on 😦

I am not sure what specifically triggered the second wave from this spot, but it involved 2 more thieves from the exact same spot without anyone having to move. At this point the mage from the west caught up to me so I had 3 units to deal with. Clearing them out got me the following levels:

Once you get past this part the rest of the level up to the boss is pretty straight forward. Just take your time, take it one mob at a time, and if you can help it do not take any damage on the player turn. Move the rest of your army forward and progress.

From this point to the boss I gained the following levels:

Not off to a great start, Petra 😦

Marianne, no.

See, this is what the rest of you should be aiming for. Good job, Leonie

Leonie took out Michlan with this shot, AND she got a superior level up

With Leonie’s arrow Michlan was defeated, but he wasn’t quite ready to let defeat claim him. He attempted to use the Hero’s Relic he has stolen, but because he didn’t possess a crest of any kind it transformed him into a giant beast.

Using the last remaining gambits, I was able to break all four of his shield plates, which rewarded me with 5 umbral steels. I also got one of his health bars down.

Byleth was able to take a second of his health bard with a crit with the Sword of the Creator

Lorenz finished the beast off with a well placed Fire Spell

46 turns? If felt like it took a lot more than that.

I went extremely slowly in this run. I basically walked around the entire arena in formation being careful of additional ambushes. I only ran into the 4 total waves, I dont know if there are others that I didn’t trigger, but even going as slow as I did I only used a bit over half of the total turns available to me.

Take it slow and you can get through this without losing anyone.

Overview

Byleth +3 Levels: +3HP, +1Str, +1Mag, +1Dex, +2Spd, +1Lck, +1Res, +2Cha

Claude +3 Levels: +2HP, +1Mag, +2Spd, +2Lck, +1Def, +3Cha

Marianne +3 Levels: +1Str, +1Dex, +3Res, +2Cha

Hilda +3 Levels: +2HP, +1Str, +1Dex, +1Spd, +1Lck, +3Cha

Lorenz +4 Levels: +1HP, +1Str, +3Mag, +4Dex, +2Spd, +2Def, +3Res, +2Cha

Lysithea +2 Levels: +1Str, +1Dex, +2Spd, +1Res, +1Cha

Leonie +3 Levels: +2HP, +2Str, +1Mag, +2Dex, +3Spd, +1Lck, +2Def, +2Cha

Raphael +2 Levels: +1HP, +1Str, +1Mag, +1Dex, +1Lck, +1Def

Petra +1 Levels: +1Spd, +1Cha

Gilbert: Retreated (Fatal)

Total number of levels gained: 70

Total number of unsatisfactory levels ( >= 2 Stat ups): 22

Total number of null levels (0 Stat ups): 0

Remembering the Fallen

    FE Golden Deer Maddening: Chapter 5 Chapter 5 In this chapter you learn that a disinherited son of a noble house has stolen a Hero's Relic and you are tasked with getting it back.

[randomnameless]

And people still think Supreme Leader's whole spiel of "weak must be rely on themselves instead of others" is not social darwinism.

Which is even more ridiculous, all things considered given how heavily Supreme Leader herself relies on others - or the "gifts" she "received" from Uncle to launch her war or just - but well, we know how the game is regarding Supreme Leader.

There won't be any situation where she says this and someone, Dimitri or Dedue, ask her if she didn't rely on Hubert and her soldiers/generals to conquer Fodlan... And it's really frustrating, because we see glimpses here'n'there that she doesn't want to take Hubert for granted in their supports - so she knows he trusts and supports her... and yet we still have this nonsensical line.

Sure, Supreme Leader and Hubert can't reach those supports in AM since they're not playable, and that's the kind of artificiality I was berating FE16 for - if Billy didn't pick class X, members of class X will be in some sort of limbo where we don't even know, as a player, what kind of relationship they have with each other - bar the Lions who have lines for each others if one of them is killed, or mourn on screen.

Is Supreme Leader suddenly caring and wondering if Hubert follows her because he wants to and not because it's his duty - because Billy is her teacher, or Supreme Leader, when Billy isn't her teacher, dgaf about Hubert despite him being her right-hand man and more or less managing the war and the Agarthans? I'd say we're closer to the second option, given how she has no fucking line when he died, no mourning, no "they even defeated Hubert... No matter what, I cannot let them win!", nothing.

I mean, after Uncle's fireworks in Tru Piss, Dimitri mourns Rodrigue, Felix and Ingrid (if they weren't recruited). Tru Piss!Claude even doesn't understand and is pissed/upset/saddened because Hilda didn't retreat, Rhea laments the fall of Cyril and Catherine (in GM but not in her IO form for some reason?) and Seteth'n'Flayn's deaths...

Anyways, back to your ask, anon, we're not at the only one "for thee not for me" contradiction with Supreme Leader, but that's her mindset, only using part of what she went through (tfw the "Goddess" abandonned her by not rescuing her from Uncle... which is why she sides with Uncle to get rid of those pesky lizards and their goddess) to justify and motivate her conquest and imperialism in a few words : Git Gud.

Hell, it takes Ferdie's end supports in Tru Piss to have her realise that randoms cannot "Git Gud" if they don't have the means to "Git Gud"!

[randomnameless]

To be honest, after that last interview I’ve seen a lot of negativity on my dahsboard regarding Nopes and Fodlan in general and...

TFW I couldn’t join the salt fest earlier :’(

Did IS or KT work on Nopes?

“Yes”

Well, through that interview...

I know I’ve been racking IS over the coals lately, because I’m a filthy “elitist” and I still remember the Tellius, Magvel and Elibe eras and I deeply miss them. Even if we all hate how IS seem to fall on “tried’n’true” tropes like brainwashing (especially women) so it means a character #didnothingwrongitwasntthembutmagic - 

That interview, about Nopes, tries to sell the “everyone has a point and valid reasons to fight” and...

I really thought more than I should have about a stupid shitpost project I wanted to post, but I realised it might leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths and I don’t want to make anyone feel ill at ease when shitposting about this “game” but - I thought that nonsense about a “civilizing mission” is now commonly accepted to be utter nonsense, and just a stupid leitmotiv to justify conquest, imperialism and, because those two always go along, racism.

The shitpost idea was to “replace” France in this with a certain Empire and copy-paste Faerghus, Leicester, Brigid, Dagda (but not the lizards, in an ideal world they are, “finally gone” from Fodlan) - but no, it’s a real poster that really existed and displayed a mentality that also existed during dark times, and if I can shitpost with Lion King memes, I won’t do the same with that thing.

But damn if I wasn’t expecting the FE series to take the “With 79600 Men France brings peace and the benefits of its civilisation to its 60 millions of indigens” 1931 propaganda seriously, or at least portray the person who support this “opinion” as someone who has a valid point of view, clashing “ideals” with the rest of their world.

Still, who am I talking about, Supreme Leader or Clout ?

“Yes”

Adrestia wants to bring its “reforms” and “enlightened” ideas about how the world should be beyond its frontiers - that shouldn’t exist in the first place because once upon a time Adrestia encompassed the entire continent so MAGA.

Clout? Wants to “free” Faerghus and its king from “antiquated” notions like chivalry, loyalty, devotion by conquering the land, nearly waltzing on the capital and killing a beloved benevolent figure.

And so...

Why is it suddenly an issue? I mean, I love games where people fight for “reasons” and not because we need a final boss else we can’t close the route, nope.

Beyond talking about games and the messages they convey - I expect more from this “conflict” than *shrug*, *memeshrug*, *sigh* and “okay okay let’s say I agree now just please shut up I don’t want to interact more than necessary with you”.

If the conflict is based on “irreconciliable ideals”, then why don’t we see those characters argue about say “ideals”? We only get a glimpse of it in AM, and then the topic switches to sandwiches because merchandising needs to sell and Shinon can’t make people pots of earl grey or half-naked cipher cards.

In Nopes? Everyone (sort of) agree that the “Rhea Piñata” is bad and they could just get rid of it, then nothing bad will happen.

Clout drinks a Kool-Aid off-screen and no one, after some “mandatory” eye raising from Judith, even asks explanations, nope.

Nopes erased Supreme Leader’s belief that non-humans shouldn’t rule over humans because they, as a race, have no regards for human life.

And Dimitri is hit the hardest with the *shrug* + *memeshrug*, not even voicing any complains about this kool-aid because, just, let’s get over with this nonsense.

So why are they fighting?

“No U” was already used in Nopes, so here they need a Deux Ex Machina and a lot of idiot plot balls to, say, ask Supreme Leader why she wants to conquer Fodlan and remove Rhea from the surface of the continent - no sir!

Why Dimitri doesn’t kill them both the second they’re out of space, because they’re trampling his country and killing his men for no reason?

We all laughed about “no U” and thought it was something exclusive to Supreme Leader because, well, Supreme Leader and marketing means she can’t be challenged - but it was actually in this verse’s DNA!

We don’t see Clout challenge Supreme Leader when she offers Kool Aid - he drinks it off-screen.

Dimitri doesn’t challenge Clout or Supreme Leader about their invasion of Faerghus - he evens sips Clout’s Kool Aid !

Where is Elincia “You cloak your desire to rule with pretty speeches, but it is petty avarice nonetheless!” to the two persons invading a third country for, uh, reasons, or “to civilise them”?

I know I’ve been talking a lot about this game as of lately, because imo it’s a mirror of what we could have, but in TS -

When three people argue about which path to choose, “sacrifice the few for the sake of the many”, “Bootstraps!” and “sacrifice the many for the sake of the few” - those three characters argue, and shout, and fight, and defend their opinions, and ARE challenged by, well, the characters supporting the other options.

In FE16 we had “no u” and “sandwiches”.

In Nopes we have “maybe I’ll stop chasing you and trampling your country if you stop running away teehee ~”

Dimitri accepted to shelter Rhea and the Church because they requested help? “Okay okay maybe you have a point maybe they’re bad and they should be gone”. Where’s the progression between “I’ll accept to help them because even if it means war with Adrestia - provided they weren’t MAGA’ing our way no matter what we did - because that’s the right thing to do, they helped us tremendouly in the past and now, so today, I’ll help them too” to “mkay Clout you’re maybe not wrong” ??

Back to this interview, it finally appeared clearly -

FE16 and Nopes - Fodlan - isn’t a traditional FE verse.

IS worked with KT to make FE16 and Nopes (maybe Nopes is more KT’s bby than IS’s).

Water’s wet, what of it?

From what I could read around, and from a friend who played more Musous games than I did - Musou games aren’t supposed to tell a story with a “complicated” or “serious” plot, it’s a beat them all where you combo randoms with the units you like the most. No earl grey, it’s just to have fun!

FEs... are T (or S?) RPGs, a story based type of games. There is a verse, characters, relationships between those characters, etc etc. Earl grey can exist, because characters are written in a way to make them “interesting” to the player who’s supposed to interact with them in their world.

So what is Fodlan? A Musou or a FE verse, or the worst of the two?

We have a conflict where people will always fight (FE?) so you have to pick a side (FE+Musou?) to see where/how the story is going to end (FE)?

But contrary to “traditional FE”, the characters in Fodlan leading the factions... don’t interact. There is no opposition between them à la Elincia v. Ludveck or even Chrom v. Gangrel, we only have “no u” or  “teehee~”.

Why?

Why ???

Because the 3 factions have to be different and refuse to side with each other, even if it is super artificial (FE16′s Gronder Battle v.2 says hi) ? And this artificial “opposition” is even more important than the plot? So even when a Red Emperor does Red Emperor things, for this reason we will still have 3 factions?

To still have the choice to pick “your faction” to “beat the others”? 

FE16 tried to cook up and come with an explanation, even everyone hated Clout’s myopia in Gronder.

Nopes drops all pretenses, all leaders have “reasons” and their routes are just “their POV” about how to change things.

Even if those reasons are really reminiscent of Paris’s 1931 Colonial Exposition.

It wouldn’t be an issue if Nopes was an usual musou game (Ganon does Ganon things!) but since Nopes wants to be a FE game?

It is an issue. In FE Giffca roasts Ashnard, in FE, when Lundgren offers Kent a chance to surrender Lyndis to become one of his knights, Kent (tries to) kill him. When Nergal/The Black Fang ask Eliwood to abandon Ninian to them and they promise they will let him leave? Eliwood draws his sword.

No U doesn’t work. In FE, where those things are said, usually, it doesn’t work well because the Lord/Hero/someone you’re playing as gets rid of the person making those outrageous claims. 

Ultimately, we’re left with people who have to fight against each other, but who can’t... really hold any animosity against each other, leaving the illusion of a posibility where they could have talked (and not warred... for an artificial reason). Does this feel foggy enough?

Tl ; Dr (because this is already long enough) : Sorry to Pat, but FE16 (and Fodlan?) has always been thought as a nod to FE4 and Belhalla’s Academy, i.e. how Sigurd, Quan and Eldingan used to go to the same school together and became friends. And how tragic it is that they have to fight against each other.

However, FE4 built up this conflict, and... Quan sided with Sigurd.

In FE Fodlan? People oppose each other for... reasons that aren’t built upon and we’re supposed to be sad that they fight each other? Why? Did we hear about past history between them when they were friends? Or saw it on-screen? Why should it be a tragedy?

FE16 tried to give an answer, and it wasn’t convincing.

FE Nopes... per the devs, doesn’t even try. It’s just here, they all have their POVs and reasons, and they fight because they fight, and it is sad that they have to do so because. Look, they could have been friends under other circumstances (maybe if one of them didn’t try to invade the world to MAGA, or if the other didn’t start a war on the other with a third party involved but we’re not going to talk about that) but it doesn’t so here you go.

So while I wanted to say Nopes is a 66% KT product and the “two writers” meme could really imply that IS wrote AG (and AM in FE16) while KT wrote SB and GW -

At its core, FE Fodlan is not a FE verse, but a hybridation of KT’s approach to games and stories with FE’s approach, and just like a liger, it spectacularly failed.

Why, it’s not wonder so many people actually liked the Fodlan cast in FEH (or in their first apparitions) there was no pretenses or illusory conflicts/friendships to be had, Supreme Leader’s words and “ideals” could and are challenged, something that never happened in FE Fodlan. 

Could FE Fodlan have been something really nice/good with IS being only dev ?

...

Ultimately, I don’t think so, FEH is... imo, the best window we have on IS and... well. The writing sucks, but moreover... IS wants to make money through this gacha game. 

Some people already wrote a lot about it, but Supreme Leader’s partly designed to sell alts in FEH. So, judging by how everyone hated Supreme Puppet and her “Deedee?” - I’m not sure FE Fodlan, made exclusively by IS, would have been a better thing.

----

Real Tl;Dr : If KT works on the next FE game, I’ll seriously consider not buying it because, for me, this crossover was an utter failure.

If IS releases a new FE game right now, I’m still going to be doubtful and wait to see if people have a good opinion on this game.

To be clear, the only FE game I’m going to buy with closed eyes at the moment is a remake.

[pynkhues]

In a previous ask I asked if you thought the writers dumbed the ladies down, thanks for answering by the way, but what about Rio. Do you think they dumb Rio down so Beth’s ideas look good? Like this episode wouldn’t Rio know that about the car wash? It seems easy enough to figure out?

You’re welcome, anon! And I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to get to this. The pandemic just sort of threw a grenade into my life in many respects, and I still feel like I’m scrambling to catch up on things – including my ask box – particularly for asks I have longer replies to like this one! 

As for your question – it’s a really interesting one! I don’t disagree with the sentiment at all, and can completely understand where you’re coming from. It is obvious, and seems a bit of a convenient pivot for a character who’s generally been depicted to us as very intelligent, a step ahead, a kingpin, etc. etc. 

Probably surprisingly, my answer as to whether or not they’ve dumbed Rio down in s3 to make Beth look good is actually no though. I mean - gosh - think of his re-introduction this season which was entirely about showcasing how well he was able to play Turner and ‘handle him’ in the way Beth had no capacity to. In fact, a lot of this season was about positioning Rio as competent, powerful, and aspirational overall for Beth, but actually in some ways Ruby and Annie too. He’s really their yardstick in how they measure themselves and their own success, and I think a lot of this season was trying to add dimension to that and him overall, both in the slightly softer ways (i.e. Rhea, Marcus, and even Mick) and the harder ways (Lucy, Turner and even Beth). 

Which brings me to something I’ve actually thought since 2.04 but never really elaborated on here beyond brief mentions, haha. 

I think the show is running a subtextual storyline with Rio. I think it’s been running that storyline actually since Turner’s introduction in 1.04, and that it’s been on-and-off successful on a textual narrative level – mostly because they don’t give us enough of it. I do think it’s there though, and pretty consistent if you’re keeping an eye on it, but it doesn’t really bleed through enough to sate audiences beyond that. (And hey look! I’m one of the people who doesn’t usually have too big of an issue about Rio’s lack of screen time!) 

But yes, haha. 

What I’m getting at is that I think there’s a parallel, very present storyline that is trying to tell us that Rio’s business and operation was already under the microscope by the feds before the show had even started, and that Beth and the girls getting him arrested in 1.10 has been a hurdle that’s had major ramifications.

So let’s break that down a bit. 

I feel heat on, I shutdown.

The seed for this storyline is, in many ways, planted with Beth’s monologue in 1.02 where she tells Rio that if he kills her, Ruby and Annie, he’s ultimately playing himself (there are hashtags and movements after all, haha). The set-up here is that Beth is an outlier for Rio in more ways than one, but there’s also an inference that Rio’s used to pulling the trigger first, and dealing with the fallout later – something that’s reiterated through his handling of Eddie in this very season, and then later Lucy in s3. 

But we’ll come back to that. 

The point here is that Beth calls him out on not being as subtle as he thinks he is, which is a fact that the story doubles down on with Turner’s introduction two episodes later in 1.04. Turner’s FBI, and he’s in town specifically investigating Rio. It’s immediately clear that there are a lot of gaps in that investigation, and in a lot of ways Beth bridges those gaps for Turner, but still. Turner was always onto Rio before Beth was ever in the picture.

In this sense, Rio’s seeming position in the crime world is already splintering – he has the feds on his tail already. Something happens – we never find out the details – in 1.04 which has one of his boys shot badly (Eddie), and Rio deliberately drops him off with somebody who’s very much on the perimeters of his operation (Beth). That same boy is later pinned by the feds and blackmailed by Turner (1.07) and something happens that quickly leads to Rio not only shutting down business, but seizing all of his assets from everyone, including Beth and the girls (1.08). 

He has Eddie killed, orchestrates a test in 1.09 to see how much information Eddie actually leaked to the feds – a test Beth took personally – before he tries to cut her out and Beth retaliated by having him arrested in 1.10. 

I’m out, I’m done, time for something new.

Which means starting s2, Rio’s business hasn’t actually been up and running since 1.07, and he’s now got a very public arrest on his record too. 

I don’t think it’s an accident that Rio’s shown as virtually alone in s2 outisde of Beth, Marcus and Gretchen, rather I think it’s a deliberate effort to show where his priorities have resettled – which is in business (which Beth is, which I’ll come back to shortly), his son, and his freedom respectively.

But yes. 

Let’s talk about work. 

Rio tries to get Beth to handle Boomer (2.01), the key witness in the case she’s just given a lot of weight to through the Fine & Frugal job in 1.10, but generally speaking, I think Rio’s still technically, professionally shutdown for the first half of the season. Not only that, but he seems to be trying to disentangle from fake cash generally to get into prescription pill distribution – a pretty distinct pivot for him. 

This could be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I don’t think he printed any new cash in s2. I think everything he left for Beth was stuff he had before she’d gotten him arrested, and I think that that’s demonstrated with him giving it to her in the first place (Beth says it herself in the same episode – if they can’t wash it, it’s just paper) and with him flipping his game overall. 

In other words, I think Rio was still shutdown and trying to figure out how to redistribute the work he could operate, while he handled the court case and no doubt tried to cover his losses. 

And in that incredibly stressful set of circumstances, I think Rio threw a line out to Beth as someone who owed him and was unencumbered by other networks in the crime world, and she bit, she delivered, and then Rio took advantage.

Something that was only ever made more complicated by their relationship, of course, haha, but even after that, I think he justified her presence in his life as a useful and unexpected card in his deck, and someone to keep his bed warm. In that capacity too though, I actually don’t think Rio ever intended for Beth to find out about the pills. I think he was already building that operation, saw an opportunity in Boland Motors, and worked it. 

The point is that things were fraying for Rio back in s1. I think that things were getting back on track for him at the start of s2, but then fell apart in a way that was bigger and worse towards the end of it. 

Beth successfully wrangled half his business, sure, and he not only let her, but he made a bad choice in investing too much in Boland Motors because he thought he had a better handle on her overall. Boland Motors ended up not just being the front for him to wash the cash he’d made via the girls, but was now the key stop-point for the drugs he was bringing across the border.

I’m sure he did have other operations at this point, but Boland Motors was BIG, and it blew up for him twice over.

First when Beth dumped him in 2.09.

Then with the FBI raid in 2.10, which ultimately rendered their cash useless in 2.12.

Something I imagine was only made worse by Ruby dumping the pills that would ordinarily be delivered through the car airbags in 2.10 too. 

So who made your money? 

Which brings us to where we are in season 3, where actually a lot of this seems to come to a head off-screen. I think this season actually really quickly established three things that work together and with the information of previous seasons pretty effectively, just that it was hindered by it being too subtextual, and not quite textual enough in certain parts. 

1. Rio’s operation is still kicking, albeit not without challenges. He’s able to set up other crews, while mobilising his own to assassinate Turner from what is essentially a lockdown situation. The first episode is devoted to telling us exactly how powerful Rio is, while also how much he isn’t. We get Rio playing puppeteer with Turner and the crime world, but we also get the disconnect from his child as symbolised through the model airplane, and the lack of connection he has to his family through Beth and Rhea’s relationship. It’s a really great character breakdown to parallel Rio’s control over his professional life, and lack of control over his personal one. 

2. Rio’s lost professional networks and is struggling to re-make them. This is actually the point I think we needed more of in the show, because I do think it’s there, but I don’t think it’s as textual as it should be. I’ve said it on here before, but we know from 1.03 that Rio’s never designed his own money – it’s what he sent Beth, Ruby and Annie to go collect from Canada after all, and that design was cooked by 2.12. 

We also know he was washing cash through a variety of local businesses prior to his arrest in 1.10 as per the news report in the same episode, and from the fallout in s2, it seemed like those networks had dried up, hence him giving Beth the money to wash in 2.04 and then jumping all in on Boland Motors. 

Beth also latches onto this concept in 3.04 when she tries to negotiate with Rio for her life, telling him “no cars, no pills, no cash, it’s gotta hurt”, and he responds, pretty simply with “You don’t know my interests.” 

Which she doesn’t, particularly as she latches onto the idea of Rio needing money, because I don’t think he does, and I think the introduction of the G Wagon this season was a significant symbol in teling us that as an audience.

I don’t think Rio needs money. I think he needs to be making other people money. 

I think he needs the business.

It seems to be something underlined in Rio’s confrontation with Gil in the bar later in the episode. He’s holding Gil to get the name of the person designing his money, because Rio knows the value of the product, and he needs to rebuild professionally after the arrest, raids and his own disappearance, and it’s only re-emphasised by Rio taking over Beth’s operation when he finds out. She owes him enough, is on the backfoot enough, that he can own all of it, knowing she’ll let him.  

3.  Lastly is that Rio is, and always has been, a dangerous person with a ready and willing trigger finger. He handles his rotten eggs – for better and for worse. 

Sophie, what are you going on about?? 

A good question, me, haha. I guess my point in all of this is the fact that I think Rio’s comfortable financially but is in deep in crime and as a result has a lot of people relying on him (both above him and below him) to build business. Since the shutdown in s1 and his arrest then disappearance, I think shit’s hit the fan, and a lot of his old professional avenues have been cut off, and that Beth presents to him as this sort of perfect in to a world he’s just been re-ostracised from. 

The carwash was obvious, of course it was, but I think that was sort of the point? I think it was a narrative signpost of how many steps backwards Rio’s operation has had to walk, and how far Rio’s been boxed into a corner (something I actually do think would have re-emerged on a textual level this season given we know we were supposed to be meeting Rio’s crime bosses).

I think he wanted another Boland Motors sort of operation, and forcing Beth’s hand created Boland Bubbles, and I think the prospect of that was a relief to him in more ways than not (hence his tone shift in 3.11). 

Beth is, after all, a logical person in many ways for Rio to invest in because she owes him, and because she has no other ties in the crime world. I’ve said this in multiple other posts, but I think Rio’s really deliberately kept it that way. I think he sees her potential, yes, and I actually do think a part of him wants to protect her (again, 2.07 being the clearest example of that), but I also think he sees her as an asset for himself. She’s quick on her feet, exists in a world he can’t – that world being middle class, white mama – and he can throw down a challenge to her, knows she’ll rise to meet it, and present a solution.

She did it unprompted in s1 with the secret shoppers, prompted when given the means in s2 with Boland Motors, and then prompted with a threat in s3 with Boland Bubbles. 

For all his talk of not knowing how to incentivise her in 3.10, he really does know, and more than that, he knows how to prompt her to level up in a way he can then take advantage of. 

Does this mean that Rio can’t or doesn’t come up with the ideas? Of course not! (Athough I do think he likes outsourcing them, haha) But I think he’s aware of where he stands and who he is and what he looks like, and I think that’s been compounded by a period of time that’s been dangerous for him both personally and professionally, and fuck - - exhausting too. I mean – he was shot! Three times! In the chest! 

But I do think Rio’s a kingpin too. It’s just been a hard year, y’know?

(Because I think it mostly has just been a year? There’s something to be said here after all given we know there was only eight months between early-s1 and 2.12 given the timestamp, and now only two months apparently between 2.09 and 3.03, so it very well could’ve been only little over a year in canon? That said, requesting any sort of logical timeline on this show feels like a trap, haha).

I don’t know though! This is just my theory. What do you guys think?

[randomnameless]

I don't know if this has been asked before, but I was wondering what your thoughts on Rhea are.

Oh, I don't think someone asked it, but I remember a character meme.

Rhea's in the Julia tier : you're expecting things and the game doesn't give you any.

you asked for thoughts so this is long and rather unorganised even if i tried a bit and i feel like i repeated myself a lot so meh

If Edel and Rhea have one thing in common, it's being shafted by the need to make Billy the most special being every with the monstrous "I was lonely before you player-chan uwu".

Seteth'n'Flayn ? In the same trashcan Hubert went in.

Catherine, Shamir, the randoms living in the monastery? Dgaf but still she's willing to die for them so does she really gaf or not? Rhea's willing to give her blood and crest stone shards (to this day I still don't understand what those are) to trusted randoms who would become cardinals? "uwu player-chan". I know I've written a bit about it with the seirelm anon, but with the Canon-ish info? Post Zanado Rhea told a random dude she could turn in a dragon, gave her blood to the same dude and remained in his empire/fighting by his side for at least 30 years. Still “lonely without U Billy <3″

I've written this in the meme entry, but Rhea has her own net of relationships. They're not as important as Dimitri and his childhood friends, but erasing them for the sake of "player-chan" feels wrong.

Role and goals

Rhea's in an interesting place, being a former "legendary hero" like Athos, Sephiran etc.

Still her fight isn't over, she only defeated Nemesis and couldn't end the mastermind behind (a bit like Seliph if you only kill Arvis or Roy when you forget to pick up every legendary weapon). Also, if Seiros killed Nemesis, she hasn't won. In the current Fodlan, she still has to pretend to be a human, the Nabateans as a culture/population are dead. They're still 5 (ish? I think the apostles are lizards), she's still afraid humans will dice them if they learn the truth. Has she won? Idk. Could she win and make a Fodlan were lizards and humans could live together? I don't think so.

Her role as the Archbishop? Well, the game really liked Rhea as a red herring during white clouds and the way FE16 is built, around the monastery, reinforces it. Rhea's the head of the monastery, so she's the head of your world. Everything wrong with the world is automatically linked to Rhea.

So, when Marianne complains about people wanting to kill/ostracise her because of her crest, thinking it's a curse, we of course wonder "why Rhea can't tell to the randoms that no Marianne shouldn't be killed/shunned because of her crest?". Completely forgetting that, hey, Marianne's from the Alliance and heiress of Edmund, so if some people should intervene, it should be her dad "why the fuck are you trying to kill my daughter" or the Alliance council "Duke Riegan, could you please make a public statement about my daughter and how she isn't some sort of demonic beast so stop throwing rocks at her?".

Same thing with the Empire, why should you blame the church and the crests instead of the people doing shit? Hanneman's brother in law? Like is marriage so absolute that a husband can force multiple pregnancies on his wife to the point of literally killing her? The von Essar aren't as important as the Bergliez, but Hanneman's sister dying like that should have rang some bells? Hanneman's dad didn't care? No one wanted to appeal to the Emperor or something? If Jane the random or Karen the peasant died this way, it’d be usual class nonsense. But a noble woman??

Rhea should have done more to prevent crest abuse. She wrote tenets in her Bible and apparently doesn't discriminate in her monastery. But in the other countries? Idk. Her tenets are interpreted like your shopping list by Gloucester Sr "and add a part where interacting with foreigners goes against Seiros's teachings what yes I know better than those dunces from the eastern/central church".

It's not because Riegan Sr and Ionius aren't doing shit that she should do nothing too, but ultimately it falls on the usual landmine about Rhea's influence and power over Fodlan and if we consider Fodlan isn't just the Monastery we see but a continent made up of 4 autonomous states...

The so-called status quo isn't upheld by the church alone (if it is upheld in the first place!), but also by the empire and the Alliance... Lambert was toasted before making any changes, the Alliance is that weird thing where money is anything and crests/old nobility doesn't matter anymore, and the Empire is... Well. The Empire.

Regarding this, I find it really strange that Rhea went to Goneril and rescued one of their slaves, with how much she cares about protecting her monastery and not antagonising anyone, picking Cyril up, risking the ire of house Goneril, feels really risky from her perspective.

Imo WC doesn't sell me the "church rules over the continent" take.

Ultimately it doesn't matter because Rhea thinks she should have done more, and abused her position as the archbishop to rez her mom - I understand the "abused her position" as regretting her various omissions, like helping more people around etc etc.

I also feel like Rhea’s got a big survivor complex, and tries to fulfill impossible tasks. "leading/guiding the world?" she won't take an active role in it, but still resents the state of current Fodlan and wishes Sothis could restore some order (crest abuse? Or relics popping up right and left meaning more sibs dying). She wants to :

1/ guide the world and make it a better place (why complaining about the wayward Fodlan otherwise?)

2/ protect randoms who live under her protection

3/ make sure no one learns the truth about her appearance and relics at the same time.

I don't think it's possible given her current role and especially not possible on her own.

About 3/, call back to FE9 or not, but Rhea's paranoia is... Actually, not proven to be exaggerated in the game.

Ranulf was lynched in Crimea when he was discovered to be a laguz? In a certain route, Rhea's called a cruel beast due to her appearance, accused of not having "human" feelings and is depicted as a creature masquerading as a human. Hate and attack the woman all you want for things she did or might have done, but getting rid of her because she's not human? Rhea's right about not revealing her true nature, because, relics notwithstanding, humans will try to kill her for being a nabatean. Relic wise, in the DLC, we learn Aubin was recently turned in a relic, so that's even more reason to hide.

On 1/, wanting to promote peace in the land? National bias at play with rewriting history “to promote peace” issue. Rhea also built the officer's academy (if nobles from different states can live and study together surely they won't try to kill each other when they return home because they might have become friends?) and with help from the everyone in Fodlan (even the empire iirc?) built the locket to fend off Almyrian invasions. Not saying this is the best way to protect your borders but at least she tried to help instead of staying holed in her monastery.

Imo if Rhea didn't care about Fodlan, she'd have followed her bros and fortified herself in her monastery without accepting random humans to live with her, wouldn't have written a book about how everyone had to get along "unless it goes against the goddess" and wouldn't basically run what seems to be the biggest orphanage/place for the needy/and whatever is the abyss in the continent.

Not saying she doesn't have a priority, but Rhea tries to care, on her scale, about Fodlan's randoms.

About said randoms (and 2/)...

Well there's this bout with Lonato's rebellion and another herring where Rhea's all "I will destroy anyone who takes arms against the church and its believers" and it's extreme, I can’t deny. But if Lonato took arms and mounted a militia to attack Ositia's castle and its randoms? Hector'd have Armads'd Lonato without a second thought. Elincia had qualms about taking her weapons against her own countrymen who were used by Ludveck, but in the end, she took up her weapons to defend her castle, even if it meant she had to kill militiamen. Rhea's line seemed random and cold in the context, but it's the same general idea, attack her people and she will kill you. Still, if you don't take weapons against her, she won't react violently. Duke Gerth is apparently dick waving with Aubin's relic, but Shamir wasn't sent to recover the thing or to get rid of Gerth.

Ultimately Rhea blows her cover and abandons her dream to reunite with her mother to protect the monastery and its inhabitants in 3 routes (arguably in CF too). Someone once made a post about the differences between Seiros's and Edel's crowns and the symbolism of wings - the IO's wings are meant to protect. The IO is the guardian/protector. Rhea tanks missiles and buys time for the students to escape at the cost of her life.

Relationships

Rhea and Sothis? someone made a post summarizing my thoughts about their relationship, or lack of, and if we can argue Sothis was shafted by the devs like Rhea and Edel, ultimately the only important person to Sothis is Billy.

Billy doesn't warp Sothis's preexisting net of relationships, Sothis doesn't have relationships with anyone save for Billy. Rhea wants to meet her mom more than anything else (save for protecting randoms) but Sothis will never address that plot point. She only does in SS and off screen, and it ends up with Rhea wondering if she should live... so take it as you want, but to me it mustn't have been the "hug and pat on the head" kind of reunion.

Ultimately we see Rhea is able to let go of her dream (rez mom) in several routes, she understands and acknowledges Sothis will never return and Billy has her powers now, so either she dies more or less at peace knowing she can trust Billy with Fodlan's future, or she can return to Zanado and live peacefully with Catherine.

Which leads me to the Billy relationship,

As much as I hate player pandering, it makes some sense that Rhea would support Billy and not, let's say, Caspar. I still hate it though because Billy exclusive support means we were robbed of Rhea's other supports with, idk, her fam, Cyril, Catherine, Shamir, Alois, Hanneman, Manu etc etc.

In the beginning of WC, Rhea's pretty sure Billy's Sothis but without memories. Then in the non-cf chapter 12, she tells Billy they know what they are and thus must guide Fodlan, also telling Seteth Billy's a vector for sothis's powers, but not Sothis herself. In SS's finale she calls them "mother" but in her S-support finally acknowledges Billy's their own thing.

In CF Rhea's vicious in her trash talk but immediately jumps to the conclusion that Billy cannot be or hear Sothis, because, to her, logically, Sothis wouldn't side with Edel and her Agarthian allies (stealing the crest stones, Flayn, etc etc). Billy is something that stole Sothis's crest stone and sword and wants to finish what Nemesis started. I don't think CF Rhea snaps because Billy isn't Sothis, CF Rhea snaps because, again, someone is using her mother to kill her.

Rhea's also supposed to have been fond of Citrus to the point of talking to her remains (something she does with her mom) which could explain her sympathy for Billy regardless of the Sothis project.

Jeralt's a different issue, apparently they worked together for more than 100 years but Rhea never told him the truth about her nature, only about how he was saved. Still, Jeralt betrays when his baby is "weird" and unlike regular human babies so... Would he have ran away if he learnt what rhea was? Dumped Citrus if he knew she was an artificial being? Idk.

Catherine Shamir cyril and pals (Alois)? We don't know bcs the game dgaf about anyone not named Billy. As I said above, It’d have been nice to get more interactions with randoms she is working with, or at least showed some care, but nope. “Player-chan uwu” strikes again.

Seteth'n'Flayn? Rhea's close to them, she gets out of her room to look for Flayn and Cyril and Catherine note how she seems close to Seteth (who's totally her bro), but again, the game hates us. FFS don't think she has a line with Flayn!

Secrets and explosions

Tied to 3/ and 1/ from earlier, Rhea keeps a lot of secrets which could justify her lack of relationships/supports with the others... but this argument falls flat, because she’s not the only one with a secret and if Flayn doesn’t seem to care that much about hers, Seteth does and is still able to support students and staff members. Which leads to tragedies.

The Christophe incident is not well documented, and while we learn Rhea was the target of Christophe’s attempt because Western peeps told him so, it is not very well explained why she didn’t execute him on those grounds instead of falsifying charges about involvement with the Regicide. We are told it was to stabilise the Kingdom, but I still don’t know how the Kingdom would have suffered backlash if Rhea told the truth (maybe it would have led to open conflict between the western church and the central church in the kingdom, when the kingdom needed stability at that point? idk).

Still, Lonato wants revenge for Christophe, not because he was executed on false charges, but because he died ; imo, if Lonato learnt the truth, he’d still be out for Catherine and Rhea’s head.

Aelfie’s gambit is more of a direct result of Rhea’s secrecy, because she had “no words” for him about why Citrus was still in pristine condition, he gave up and tried to rez her. Would it had been different if she told him what Citrus was (and by extent, what she was)? Idk. Maybe, maybe not.

Still, Rhea doesn’t keep secrets from everyone every time - she once trusted Willy and told him about her alternate form and it exploded 1k years later, when Willy’s descendants are out for her head because she’s a creature masquerading as a human (I know mole people also played a part, but I guess it sticked more with Edel and the gang who already knew Rhea was a dragon ; trying to convince a random that “hey, this woman is a dragon !” would be more difficult). CF-wise again, Rhea trusts Billy with the SoC and, again, it explodes. In CF Rhea feels betrayed, she trusted some people and now the very same people (or their descendant in Edel’s case) are trying to kill her.

So it’s not a case of someone never trusting anyone, it’s someone trusting some people and regretting it afterwards (in both routes + CF at least, even if I firmly believe the “evil lizards ruling over the world” spiel doesn’t come from Willy, but from later emperors influenced by mole people).

There can also be a point made for Aelfie, who might have been able to merge with Citrus to create an umbral beast because he had Rhea’s blood and a crest stone shard - Citrus being a fake Nabatean and Aelfie having a crest stone + blood might have produced CS’s final boss? Rhea trusted Aelfie with a crest stone shard and her blood, and he became an umbral beast.

Interestingly, Rhea is hell bent on keeping her secrets regarding her identity, in SS Seteth has to beg her to reveal everything to Billy when Billy is the most important person in the world “uwu” or at least, the only person Rhea supposedly opened to. Even the “uwu” factor isn’t enough, on its own, to make her reveal the truth about her identity.

She gives Claude half-truths, and has to be on death’s door to tell him everything - still occulting Seteth’n’Flayn, to the point where Claude later wonders if there are other children of the goddess around.

Vengeful Rhea?

Rhea isn't a stale piece of bread like Julia. She says mean words to Nemesis but also brutally kills him. Rhea cannot forgive the Elites. I know it's very different, but Julia "dad is the kindest man I ever knew" making a 180° “i must atone for what dad did eff him” will always make me throw up - she doesn’t have to be vengeful or try to stab Seliph with a butter knife, but no acknowledgement of “dad’s the bestest” after his death, or even, of his death is meh.

To Rhea, Nemesis and the Elites are a trigger point, and everything related to Zanado. CF!Billy using her mom’s powers is like Nemesis, CF!Billy + Edel pillaging what remains of her siblings in Nemesis’n’Dudes. Flamey doing his shit with Flayn also parallels that. There’s the usual “vengeance sucks” speech to be given, but also the Tellius verse where Laguz aren’t depicted in a bad light when they want to destroy Izuka or when Tibarn learns Lekain was responsible for Serenes’s massacre.

Still, unlike Tibarn’n’pals, Rhea, unlike Macuil, doesn't seem to hold a grudge against descendants of the Elites. Maybe she had faith in them when she told them not to abuse the power of their crests, but then their descendants forgot or didn’t care and we’re in the so-called crest system.

In SS, Seteth asks the BE students if they want to return home to the Empire and how he won’t hold it against them. Seteth’s being Rhea’s right hand bro in this situation, I doubt he’d have proposed this solution without her approval.

She is vengeful and ready to pursue for more 90 years someone to kill them, but she won’t target that someone’s descendants or potential allies. I’ve read some takes about the Western Church being razed to the ground after Catherine’s paralogue, but iirc, Rhea’s only going to execute the Bishop there ; they appoint a new bishop in hopes to ease the relationships between the central and western church. There’d be no point to appoint someone to rule over a body that doesn’t exist...

Grey waves

Wave 1 : Another parallel with Edel is the will to sink in troubled waters to reach their goals.

However, Rhea stays on the surface.

Aelfie thinks Seiros failed to rez Sothis with the chalice because she didn't take more blood from the apostles. Blood rituals are creepy and gave an umbral beast. Seiros didn't pursue and sought another mean to rez Sothis without killing her bros. Rhea makes homunculi to host Sothis's soul? It fails but the homunculi isn't destroyed asap to make another one, hell, Rhea cares about them (which is all kinds of fucked up on its own).

AM wise, iirc, Seteth and Catherine say Rhea'd never forgive them if they run to save her instead of saving randoms first.

Still, making homunculus to create a vessel for her mom - making artificial lives - is problematic, she’s ashamed of it “i did questionable things” and Seteth berates her on her “questionable” experiments.

CF!Rhea eats babies during the final map. She burns the city to make her last stronghold and refuses to run away. CF!Rhea, at the end of this route, completely abandoned goal 1 2 and 3. She wants to survive, yes, but to recover Sothis, no matter how. She still seems to care about humanity, but takes everything too literally and is persuaded humanity and humans are after her to hurt her and her mother (i’m pretty sure uncle Arry was waiting with his Agarthan tech suitcase for Edel to deal with the beast in the background). Contrary to CF’s chapter 12, Endgame!Rhea doesn’t have lines when Catherine and Cyril fall. She’s still siding with humans, but she’s in this for herself now.

Of course, CF!Rhea is special, because CF!Rhea lives again through her trauma, CF!Rhea lost her home, her bro and niece a few chapters ago, she lost her human allies, apparently some peons from her church are deserting and Uncle is waiting with his portable electric saw to turn her in a shiny sword, because she trusted a corpse with Sothis’s heart and spine and trusted a human 1000 years ago with her secret. And now said corpse follows someone who rings at her door with an army, wishes to obliterate her unless she surrenders (?) and works with Uncle and his dubstep pals.

In the other routes, Billy doesn’t want to killer her with her mother’s spine and tries to defend her home, Seteth’n’Flayn aren’t forced into exile or dead and depending on the route she gets to see Uncle and his dubstep friends being buried under rubble.

Troubled waters to reach her goals also include slowing Fodlan’s technological advancements (but was it really slowing down Fodlan’s R&D’s department or cliking “no” when Mole People offer a free (for now) new technology that makes you advance from bronze age to the industrial era in one go?)

Wave 2 : Rhea’s anchored in the past, she wants to return to happier days with her mom and her family, but also wants to help randoms in Fodlan

She doesn’t seem to mind the present where humans do whatever they want, and yet will protect her people and tries (or tried since it’s history) to keep Fodlan safe.

I think the game wanted to tell us Rhea’s stuck in the past, but she also manages to form bonds (albeit fickle) in the present with Catherine, Shamir and, arguably, Cyril. Seteth’n’Flayn accept the past and try to move forward, Rhea cannot and yet is making baby steps forward, or at least to live in the present. “uwu factor” is supposed to mean Rhea’s stuck in the past and can only see Billy for what they are once she accepts to live in the present, but Rhea’s already fond of Catherine, calls Aelfie her child, was fond of Citrus and Jeralt, makes time for Cyril, etc etc. It’s not as clear cut as drinking tea with them but it’s still something that quashes the “lonely B4 U player-chan uwu”.

Rhea thinks her biggest grey wave is how she didn’t do enough for Fodlan and feels inadequate to walk in Sothis’s shoes as the guardian/protector of Fodlan - she could have done more, but she’s busy juggling with three goals, rez mom, protect fodlan, protect the fam.

I think one of her main issue (but the game was also made this way so) is to try to reach those goals alone, save for the “rez mom” goal, everyone in Fodlan, especially the heads of the three states should be concerned with keeping peace in the continent!

Lambert was BBQ’s, Riegan’s busy shitting on Gloucester and Ionius is... well, Ionius. Add to that Mole People starting up shit all around the continent and you have the recipe for a disaster. I’m not saying Lambert and Ionius should have participated to the “protect her family” goal, but at least not trying to eradicate them to turn them in relics would have been nice, sadly Ionius’s bro in law was an Agarthan.

Even if she is nearly immortal compared to a human, Rhea can’t do everything on her own. That’s why I ultimately think a SS ending is doomed to fail, Billy will try to be Rhea 2.0. and in 1000 years it will fall apart again.

AM ending? Billy will become like Rhea was post War of Heroes, but when Dimitri’s descendants start to do shit, his Kingdom disappears and humans start to return to their usual shitty selves, what will Billy do?

VW ending is kind of the same, Claude wants to open the borders and make everyone able to live regardless of their differences, but what if 940 years later an Almyrian president decides to build a wall between Fodlan and Almyra and make Fodlaneses pay for it? What is immortal Billy, who knew Claude and his ideals, going to do?

Wave 3 (lol i nearly forgot but remembered when i was rambling in the tags) : Rhea and technology !

The DLC book and Word of God said she slowed advance of technology in Fodlan to protect peace etc etc. But there’s a book where a cardinal said “eff to autopsies else people won’t rely on us with faith magic” which is... kind of weird. There’s a reason why Rhea might have approved that ban (Why does Freikugel look like a hip bone?) but it still deprived Fodlan’s randoms from the scientifical advance of autopsies... and made people reliant on faith magic.

Actually, the book goes

“Though it is widely believed that this is medically relevant, such actions upon a corpse are considered desecration of the dead. Since white magic can be used to a similar end, autopsies were deemed taboo. A notable cardinal asserted that if medical science were to excel over faith-based white magic, it would destabilize the foundation of the church “

I already pointed out the WTF between faith and white magic (Seteth doesn’t believe his mom is real so he has no faith boon) but interesting to note “desecrating the dead” is still something of an argument nowadays, not regarding autopsies but other practices like anatomical theaters etc etc. Maybe White Magic isn’t intrusive and yields the same results? idk.

Interesting to note, it’s a cardinal who edicted/justified that ban (Rhea as the head of the Church would have given her approval oc). As pointed out with the Freikugel example, Rhea’d have a personal interest in preventing humans to know more about anatomy (goal 3/). Would people stop looking to the church to be healed if “medical science” progresses too much? Maybe. From what we see in the curren Fodlan, it doesn’t.

Also, French version translated the “foundation of the church” as “stability” of the church - would the church become unstable or challenged if people could heal without using white magic? Again, we ultimately know that it doesn’t, magical science and medical science coexist, Manuela gives a short summary of the two - they have different effects.

As for things Rhea herself banned : Telescopes, Oil exploitation and Printed Press.

Telescopes were banned because Rhea thought it would increase violence during wartimes and would make it too easy to snipe from afar (TFW mages with bolting can do the same without telescopes, but they’re limited by their range and if they have a gloucester’s crest by Rhea’s sister’s femur’s range or whatever is Thyrsus). We know the mole people use (and most likely used before during the Sothis war) this technology. The “lessening the mystery of the goddess” thing is noted by Edel herself who wonders if the Goddess could really have come from space since it’s super far away. Edel doesn’t know the Goddess is an alien dragon-thing though.

Oil exploitation : “Misuse could result in accidental death” tfw random Faerghus countryman thought it was water and died :’(

Used tactically by those lacking magical abilities - like gambits? Was Rhea thinking that a random human cannot set fire to an entire city (lol) on his own with his limited spell pool/uses, but if he uses oil then he would only be limited by the quatity of oil? So it’d be easier to cause mass fires? Or whatever Robin did in FE13 with the ships and the Valmese army? Also, if Rhea thought oil could replace humans with magic, does it mean humans with magic were supposed to do everything oil can do? Like making a lamp or they still used something else as fuel? “Competition for it could cause strife” Rhea acknowledged that if humans discovered this ressource they’d deem it as essential and try to get their hands on it, even if they had to wage war?

Metal molding Printing Machine : “after careful consideration” Rhea banned it because it’d be useless for illiterate randoms - well yes, but why should this be an argument? You don’t ban something because it’s useless, look, no one banned airpods - risk of mass circulation of false information or rumors : rhea wanted to prevent redshit from existing This is a way to control information, but funnily enough in the game, we see the results or someone deliberately using manifestos spreading misinformation - risk of “increasing disparity between church branches” (fr version has “rivalry” instead of disparity) what does it mean? The central church would have more means to print books than the eastern church so the eastern church would be jealous? Or the Western Church could mass print its doctrine and have more zealots than the central or the easter church?

Ultimately, all those bans were lifted with time, Manuela performs Jeralt’s autopsy, Edel’s imperial science division managed to guess the distance between the Blue sea star and Fodlan, Oil is apparently used in several gambits, Edel’s able to send manifestos around the continent and Seteth can write children books and sell them without difficulties. Hilda can also lose books which would be a big no-no even if you are a noble if books weren’t, kind of, mass printed.

So why those bans? To protect Fodlan and the fam, but since they were lifted with time, I don’t think Rhea abandonned her goals, most likely, she thought humans were making small steps to discover those technologies, slowly learning about them so they won’t have them when they’re not “ready enough” to use them.

The “ready enough” thing sounds paternalistic or what can be expected from a more technologically advanced alien, but technically Rhea’s part alien and she lived through (or not?) an episode where humans received technology and did shit with it (mole people) so maybe she won’t hand them the car with the keys this time, and instead let them figure out how to build the car.

Still, this is HC because, as usual, the game doesn’t let us talk or question Rhea about those things, so we can only infer, read between the lines or between pixels.

****

TBH, I didn’t care a lot about her when I played, but when she had to eat babies in CF I grew more interested. Other bloggers already pointed it out, but Rhea’s a Tiki, but also a “traditional FE lord” in the sense she avenged her mom who was killed by the king of another kingdom, lived in exile and raised an army to fight against the King.

Still, Rhea didn’t end up as the leader of the world, or as the first Empress of United Fodlan, or something like that. She let Willy do his thing. Why? How? Why didn’t she became an integral part of the Empire, if she had been politically important, or a kind of seer/oracle, it would have been difficult for the Empire to go against her!

But nope, Rhea figged away in her mountains to rez her mom, sprout some “doctrine” (she could have done the same as an Emperor/Seer/Oracle) and watched over randoms who made up her “church”. She sometimes tries to intervene in Fodlan’s best interests, but it failed. Because Rhea doesn’t want to rule. She feels like she has to be a guide, but when humans don’t follow her? Well, what can she do? FE16 doesn’t show us Rhea sending her knights against the Empire when the Empire kicked out her Church and basically said “fig” to her face. FE16 doesn’t show us Rhea being angry and punching Gloucester in the face because he doesn’t show “real piety” and sprouts doctrine out of his rear.

Still, when she has to take a more hands-on approach and cannot be a distant figure/guide, she complains about maintaining a certain image as the Archbishop and how she cannot socialise with students or even walk around without Seteth randoms guarding her. She feels her mother would do a better job and tries to act as a proxy. Imo, Rhea’s bound by duty to her mom, to her sibs dead and living, and to Fodlan. She doesn’t reject her role, she accepts it, she doesn’t like it yes, but if going Gandalf in non-CF chapter 12 shows, she will fulfill it.

What’s most saddening though, is how her duty is a self-imposed one. Rez her mom? She personally took the challenge, because she misses Sothis the most and feels ashamed of this feeling to the point of not telling Seteth about it (interesting enough, Indech seems to be aware Billy’s Sothis incarnation and didn’t jump to the “Billy must be one of Nemesis’s kids with the crest of flames” conclusion, as if he knew Sothis could “incarnate” one day, but was he thinking Sothis would incarnate on her own or Rhea would trigger it? Flayn also suspects a thing about Billy being related to them because of Rhea). Rhea personally thinks she has to lead/guide Fodlan and make it a better place, ignoring the heads of the 3 states who should also be concerned with this goal. Rhea will create a false history to protect her living siblings when Macuil and Indech won’t give a fuck and live in their bestial forms somewhere, and when Seteth hides, but made it clear his only wish is to protect Flayn and the apostles, if they were really lizards, disappeared in random villages.

FE16 isn’t interested by Rhea’s story though.

That’s why I’m desperately waiting for a War of Heroes DLC or prequel of BSFE or whatever because I don’t really care about Fodlan in 1180 and who can have a perfect tea time with Billy or not.

I’d like to know why Birdie and Indech figged away, why Rhea thought letting Willy control the entire continent when he knows she’s a dragon was a good idea, why the Apostles didn’t take part in the Nemesis fight, why Fodlan’s humans decided to side with Willy in his brand new Empire instead of staying with King Nemesis, did Sothis have a previous faithful and what happened when she disappeared, were the Nabateans tyrannical rulers over humans which made some with Nemesis’n’pals, what were they supposed to do when they left Zanado, etc, etc.

So just like Julia and the baijilions AU ideas I came up with, Rhea’s a fuel for AUs because her base game dgaf about her.

[pynkhues]

Now that we've seen Rhea.. Do u think her and Beth are similar, do they seem to have similar qualities? Do you think their similar qualities means Rio has a type. Physically they're not the same but when they were together on screen they seem to be alike.

Hmm, honestly, I don’t feel like we know enough about Rhea to know if her and Beth are similar or not? The tidbits that we’ve gotten of her show only pretty general traits in that she’s generous and friendly. She seems intelligent, and like a good mother to Marcus, and tired, but tolerant of the revolving door of Rio in her life. Beyond that, we really know very little about her. That might change in 3.03, but I’m not sure it will. 

It’s hard to know too if Rhea is indicative of a ‘type’ because likely Rhea was different when Rio and her got together too. Motherhood is certainly at the heart of Beth’s identity, but Rhea wasn’t a mother when Rio met her, and from the glimpses that we saw of her, seems less perhaps invested in the sort of specific, very conventiional ideas around it like Beth was and still is (needed Beth’s help getting Marcus on the soccer team, works, etc.) 

So I don’t know! 

I do know I’m having a lot of fun writing her in a fic and feeling her out right now though, haha.