#black eagles recruiting felix etc etc

[dragonsarecats]

What you say might be true for the Blue Lions but not for the Black Eagles? SS existence show how functionally the Black Eagles aren't loyal, they can all turn against her in a way that goes beyond not exactly following her like some Deers with Claude. But focusing on Edelgard point of view, she certainly doesn't take for granted loyalty, she think most people will go against her once the truth is out ( it's often brought up, be it in dialogue like Dorothea support or her behavior like the deep suprise when you support her in the Holy Tomb, hell there's even way she constantly ask if Byleth is they're sure they want to follow her consistently throughout the route ) and even with her ally she remain cautious ( the most obvious is her behavior towards Shez, but remaining in house you have the moment when she hide what happened in Arainrhod for example ): just like Claude learn to trust in VW, so does Edelgard in CF. "Having a group of people one can rely on" is also a fundamental theme of CF, that's Edelgard arc with the Black Eagles strike force and Byleth.

And it's normal: Claude has trauma around trust, and so does Edelgard. Claude was an outsider and a kid growing in a situation of deep rivalry, his situation was so dire he was under treat of assassination; and he end up in country which he still has a lot to learn about and where people hate his very origin ( very angry at how people dismiss how horrific Claude past is, and how much it affect him by the way ). Edelgard lived through political turmoil where her father was betrayed in a political coup, then she was herself directly betrayed by a person she trusted, her uncle, ending up in a situation no one should ever have to live through. Ever once she's out, she's under the abuse of a shadowy group that have manipulated major event in she shadow and who can litteraly take people face. All while learning the most influential institution of Fodlan is hiding the truth.

( And Ferdinand isn't loyal? On Edelgard point of view he's the son of the man who betrayed and used her father, and a man who deeply support the system. On Ferdinand point of view you have him constantly doubting Edelgard at the beginning of CF, one of his first line after the Flame Emperor reveal being "As the next Duke Aegir, should I follow Edelgard into battle?"... Felix is miserable when you recruit him elsewhere, but Ferdinand not so much? And it makes sense looking at Adrestrian politics and how he isn't Edelgard childhood friend unlike Felix with Dimitri )

Previous answer here

Okay, so once again, I need to reiterate that when I discuss themes and characters in fire emblem three houses, I am always doing so in relation to how the narrative and gameplay framework go together. I've said it as a joke, but Jeralt is a prime example of how this works and how narrative and gameplay roles really affect each character.

So to that end, I really don't think you can say Ferdinand isn't loyal. No one is loyal in this game save for Hubert and Dedue (as various church people are recruitable and thus by metrics we're using, not completely loyal, although Catherine has a similar situation to Hilda, I think). They can't be loyal because they have to be recruitable.

You also have to keep in mind that you recruit people pre-war. They literally just transfer into different homerooms. No one is recruited with the initial intention of not going back to their home territory after they graduate, lol. But the academy phase is all about developing bonds within the class and with the professor and when the war goes down--well, they all weight their bonds and their loyalties and chose the former, save for a few exceptions (Lorenz, Ashe, etc. Characters you recruit and have to "recruit" again after defeating them with Byleth post time-skip).

That is to say, again, Byleth is the fulcrum on which this universe spins, both narratively and in game. Three Hopes proves it.

Characters need to be recruitable, and so everyone's loyalty is suspect.

Which is why I don't think your Silver Snow argument holds much water? I don't mean that disrespectfully, just that I disagree with your interpretation of what this means. Edelgard and Claude are exceedingly similar in several ways, and are often directly compared in both their routes in their ideals and differing methods. They also have similar trust issues, but again, are vastly different.

Edelgard has always had someone her age she can rely on. She has always had the same person, in fact, in Hubert. Claude does not; he does not have an official retainer for a reason. Edelgard desperately wants to trust people--even in Verdant Wind, she's filled with longing towards Byleth when they've comparatively barely interacted. Claude and Edelgard deal with their trust issues in different ways; Edelgard longing quietly to have a hand reached out to her, and Claude longing to reach out a hand that won't be smacked away. It's why his speech when they defeat Nemesis is so important.

I don't think Edelgard takes loyalty for granted at all--sorry if that was unclear. I don't think Dimitri does either. I don't think they can considering their pasts. But they take for granted this respect that's naturally given to them as leaders, that Claude visibly has to fight tooth and nail for. There's a reason people are constantly hounding over Claude's secrets but not Edelgard's when in my mind she's far more suspicious in her respective route. However, I think on the surface, Claude thinks they take these things for granted. They have loyal, unswayable retainers, noble connections formed in childhood, rivals who they dispute with who don't literally seek to take their power, and just a general respectful air granted upon them that he doesn't.

When it comes to Silver Snow, again, I don't really think that can be compared to what happens with Claude. Without Byleth, Claude loses members of the Deer. This is entirely different to Edelgard losing the Eagles because they are loyal to Byleth. Byleth's charisma and ability to earn the trust of people despite her inherent oddness (even to distrusting people like Hubert and Claude, because again I don't think Edelgard is inherently untrusting) is a feature, not a bug. Edelgard feels so betrayed in Silver Snow not just because her house has left her and she trusted them but because her teacher has turned against her and taken the house with her, an echo of what happened to her father.

It's just. They have very different situations going on, lol? Silver Snow is less a commentary on how people leave Edelgard and more an expansion on the recruitment function--people will, when push comes to shove, chose the bond they've cultivated with Byleth over the bond with their Lord. Without this interference, Edelgard doesn't lose any of her people. They're loyal.

And yes, that includes Ferdinand, lmao.

Each house leader deals with dissent in a different way. Edelgard ignores it, Dimitri tries to placate it, and Claude engages with it. Edelgard and Ferdinand's arc is about him learning to stop comparing himself to her because she is his better; not in their current world, but the world she wants to create, a meritocracy. Her abilities surpass his and he grows to respect that. In Verdant Wind, when confronted on the bridge, he mentions how he feels like he's the only one who can properly advise Edelgard (likely in part to how he thinks Hubert isn't critical enough of her and does whatever serves her best).

He might disagree with her, but he believes it's his role to guide her, and frankly, it is, narratively. Edelgard doesn't show distrust of him because of what his father did, but rather, exasperation. She and Ferdinand may not be childhood friends, but they did grow up together, and she's been used to him doing this since they were children, as she mentions. Any doubt Ferdinand has about following Edelgard is less about his personal feelings for her, in my opinion, and more about what he's supposed to do as someone in his role. "Do I support her as the son of the prime minister?" Not Edelgard as Ferdinand, but an Emperor and her future advisor.

[sheikahwarriork]

- Outside of Dimitri, who's your favorite characters from each house? ( Counting the Church as a house! ) And what's your favorite support too?

- What's your favorite moment in all the game? And your favorite line?

- If you could give three supports to Dimitri with ANY characters of the game ( counting everyone, even those normally impossible to talk too like Sothis or dead character ) who would that be?

- Do you have any headcanons you'd like to share?

- Also I've seen you like Mother Mother from your fic ( good taste by the way :] ), so are there any songs you associate with three houses?

Those are a bit more specific, but I love seeing other creative take on that game, so:

- If the characters weren't nobles, what do you think they would be doing in life?

- Do you have any fe3h alternate universe?

- If you could had any element to the game, what would it be? ( It can be anything! And oc, a new class, a new type of magic, etc )

If you don't like a question or don't have the energy feel free to skip them or respond later! Also take any time you need :) Also I tend to be a bit overexcited when talking about the game so sorry about the length ^^"

thank you so much for these questions!! <3

1) for the black eagles, bernadetta 100%. i dont talk about her often, but i loved her since i first played the game (and i recruit her everytime!!), i wish she could s supports f!byleth because i totally was going to romance her in my first CF run if i could! we have a lot of things in common, and i love how in post time skip CF she is outside her room! also when she's near jeralt's grave when he dies çwç babygirl. i love her so much. i even bought the pop parade figure (alongside with the dimitri one of course xD). for the golden deers, i like marianne a lot!! she's so precious and sad and i just want to hug her grrrr. her supports with sylvain are super cute ("cheeeese?"), i love her smile. for the blue lions, aside for dimitri... man i love them all so much! but i'm gonna say mercedes. she's sweet but also clumsy and also funny and she loves ghost stories!!! best girl :3 for the church staff, know that i love flayn soso much but i count her alongside the blue lions, so i'll say seteth. bc daddy. sad daddy. best daddy. 👀 oh, i was forgetting about the ashen wolves! i really like yuri: chaotic bisexual thief lord. what more can i say?

1.5) about my fav support... i love many of them! ugh i cant choose just one! dedue/mercedes supports are so soft, the part where mercedes says "duscur may be gone, but you're still here" and then dedue whispers to himself the same thing... it's so precious and angsty but also cute, and that was the moment i fell in love with mercedue xD i also enjoy a lot the felix/annette supports bc theyre so funny and i love grumpy felix falling for cheerful annette!! grrrr netteflix i love it grrr. i have others but i should get to the other questions lmao

2) my fav moment in the game? "your hands are so warm... have they always been?". what more can i say? angst/fluff dimileth + dimitri starting to heal, just in a one line!! perfect moment. my TOP FAV line tho is "KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM" bc chris hackney didnt need to go so hard but he did and i love him for that. powerful. love feralmitri

3) before three hopes, i'd say bernadetta for sure, but i'm pretty happy how their supports went xD so i'll say: dorothea (she'll explain to him what bisexuality is and dimitri will finally have his bi-awakening), petra (with dedue being his best friend, i think dimitri would be willing to help petra with brigid indipendency), and yes sothis too. imagine dimitri (who doesnt fully believe in the goddess) talking to a little green gremlin who teases him over his crush for the professor *chef kiss*

4) i have TOO MANY headcanons dear anon it's an endless list 😭 i'll say the one about dimitri's sense of taste: he recovers it back after a lot of love from byleth :3

5) yoo another mother mother fan hello!! i actually have a playlist, it's dimileth-core basically lmao.

6) if characters werent nobles... i never thought about that! i like to think ferdinand would be an actor at mittlefrank opera company, and annette a songstress; bernadetta would be a farmer, maybe with marianne (bernie takes cares of the plants, marianne of the animals); ingrid a mercenary... these are my first thoughts!

7) alternate universe? mh... i have an intricate modern au in mind (actually a wip fic currently on my laptop), but im not sure if it's what you mean. i like the aus where sitri doesnt die and byleth grows up at the monastery tho!

8) a new element in the game... please let my non-magic classes cast magic if the unit did learn magic!! 😭 also i'd like if the weather in the monastery changed, at least based on seasons

thank you so much this was so fun!! and dont apologise for the lenght, really, theres no need i appreciated this ask a lot <3<3 if you have any headcanons or other thoughts about the game i'd love to read them! my inbox is always open uwu <3

[just-a-quail]

1. favourite house

black eagles <3 i just love their route and they have the most of my favourite characters (linhardt, hubert, dorothea...)

2. strongest unit

i think rn it's dorothea? meteor + she one-shots everything.

3. unit you always recruit

felix! it's just so easy to get sword proficiency and he's always good, whether swordsmaster or warmaster.

4. favourite golden deer

claude. he's the whole reason i picked golden deer first and he was my first ever s support <3 i just love how goofy he is

5. favourite blue lion

felix?? i'm not really a blue lions person but i love his conflict with the ideals of all the other blue lions (glenn died a true knight/he died for nothing etc)

6. favourite black eagle

linhardt, he has so many good one liners .... but hubert is a close second esp in 3 hopes.

7. favourite ashen wolf

yuri. i have a thing for morally grey crime bosses with tragic backstories, can you tell?

8. favourite house leader

claude but i also love edelgard and yuri :(

9. favourite faculty member

shamir. her interactions with balthus are so good (when she asks him if they have the same taste in women...)

10. favourite support conversation

literally any of huberts in three hopes but specifically the one where petra threatens him (and the one where he tricks lysithea into eating vegetables)

11. favourite song

edge of dawn. also, joe zieja's cover of god shattering star

12. favourite activity

tea! i'm always so proud of myself for picking the right options

13. one thing i'd change

more s supports! for example, male byleth and claude. or just, you know, make either byleth be able to s support any character

14. most emotional moment

oh boy... (spoilers)

when dimitri kills edelgard at the end of AM. it's so......

15. favourite support

i think we already did this but let's do another one! lindhart and caspar being like "my dad would beat your dad in a fight" and from this conversation we also get the gem of "i'm going to agree with you so i don't have to keep talking."

16. what class would I be

probably a warlock. i have no physical strength whatsoever

17. character i relate to

linhardt. i don't think further explanation is needed

18. favourite pre timeskip design

probably constance! i'm a big fan of the ashen wolves' pre timeskip designs. also i love dorotheas hat

19. favourite post timeskip design

mercedes is cute! (wait... do i just like girls with hats?) i also love hildas design and i gotta say lorenz had the best glowup

20. unpopular opinion

edelgard did nothing wrong ever

21. favourite dynamic

yuri and balthus lmaoo

22. favourite heroes relic

gameplay wise, thrysus is soso useful, but aesthetics wise, aymr just looks so cool

23. favourite class

trickster (no one can hit yuri, ever)

24. shez or byleth

this is really hard... i think i'm gonna go with byleth because they're actually important to the story, but shez is so funny and i feel bad

25. favourite difficulty

hard because i'm a coward and maddening is too scary (i've also never played on classic because i couldn't bear to have anyone die)

fire emblem three houses ask game!

01. favorite house?

02. strongest unit you had?

03. unit you always recruit?

04. favorite golden deer?

05. favorite blue lion?

06. favorite black eagle?

07. favorite ashen wolf?

08. favorite house leader?

09. favorite faculty member?

10. favorite support conversation?

11. favorite song?

12. favorite activity (tea, fishing)?

13. what's one thing you'd change about fe3h?

14. most emotional moment?

15. favorite support conversation?

16. what class would you be if you went to garreg mach?

17. character you relate to?

18. favorite pre timeskip design?

19. favorite post timeskip design?

20. unpopular opinion?

21. favorite dynamic between characters?

22. favorite heroes relic?

23. favorite class?

24. shez or byleth?

25. favorite difficulty?

[reflectionsofacreator]

I started Fire Emblem: Three Houses! My plan is (roughly) Blue Lions > Golden Deer/DLC > Black Eagles. I’m using my roommate as a guide to see who I want to recruit for supports and units overall, so so far I think Im going for Lysithea, Ferdie, and Caspar.

I, admittedly, don’t have much experience with tactical RPGs outside of FFT, nor have I ever touched a Fire Emblem before. Learning to play this game has been a little frustrating, because I keep reaching for things that are instinctive to me (I understand why the turns are split between enemy/player phases, but I keep wishing for speed meters to let the entire battle play out in sort of real time). So far I like it though!

It’s also much different than I was expecting wrt support conversations/etc. half the time the scant number of C supports I have have the characters yelling at each other. It’s also nice that you know they have prior history, or that their lowest support isn’t “hi, I’m X!”. You get dropped into sort of pre existing relationships, but in a good way.

I’m going to take a spray bottle and put Felix’a name on it though. I like him but Ough boy you are testing me. I also hate that I got assigned Felix Liker by no less than 3 people and I know they’re all going to be right.

Anyways we’re about to go hella murder Ashe’s dad and traumatize one of my students because Rhea doesn’t like being told no. Cheers!

[iturbide]

What do you think could have been done to improve 3H? Given the budget/time, what changes would you have done? Also, what elements do you consider KEY to a good story?

fffffff I would have done so many things differently in 3H it requires a read more but to your second question: I feel that characters are a key element of a good story. Possibly the most crucial element, to me. You can have the most epic, incredible plot in the world -- but if the characters taking part in it aren't interesting or able to engage the reader, then the story loses a huge part of its impact. It's only by caring about the people taking part that a reader can get invested in the story and its outcome; if you don't care about what happens to someone (either in a good or a bad way) then you're at best apathetic to the events, at worst bored by them.

Frankly everything else in a story -- narrative structure, conflict, etc -- is so malleable that I can't consider it key. You can easily make stories that have no classic conflict if you have characters that people care about, because just watching them interact with the world and each other can be beautifully engaging. So at least to me, the key is in the characters: whether you love them and want them to succeed or love to hate them and want to see them get their just desserts, they're the ones that do the heavy lifting in a story, so making sure they're compelling is one of the most important things to me when writing.

As for 3H though I have a lot of changes I would make. Throughout the whole game.

Academy Phase

Giving each House their own unique set of missions. I feel that part of why the Azure Moon route is considered so strong is because it's the most character driven, something that starts in the Academy Phase: everything from Lonato's rebellion to Miklan's theft of the Gautier Relic are highly personal to the Blue Lions students, with Ashe being Lonato's adoptive son and Miklan being Sylvain's estranged older brother (and someone who's well-known to Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid on top of it). While these are both important events, for the Black Eagles and the Golden Deer there's not the same level of personal engagement: it's just a thing that's happening rather than a devastating blow to the students we love. While there are certainly missions that can and should stay the same (the raid on Seiros' tomb, Flayn's kidnapping, the Remire incident, etc.) having select missions be personalized by House to give that same level of engagement would have made for a far stronger narrative, since it enhances the player's connection with the students of their chosen House.

Just as an example: for the Black Eagles, rather than putting down Lonato's rebellion, maybe have their mission be aiding a small sect of the Church in the Empire that's being plagued by monsters or bandits. It gives us the chance to learn more of the history between the Church of Seiros and the Adrestian Empire, how close they were and how it fell apart a century before the game; Rhea might explain that she wants to improve these failing relations by having Imperial students go to aid this disconnected branch, and in private Edelgard could hint at her distrust of the institution and of Rhea herself even if she is following orders. Not only that, we could hear on returning that the Blue Lions students accompanied the Knights of Seiros in dealing with Lonato's rebellion, so we still get the fallout from those events and have a reason to choose the Blue Lions in another run.

Another example: for the Golden Deer, rather than going after Miklan and witnessing his transformation, maybe a report arrives that someone stole Failnaught and task the Alliance students with retrieving it. It lets us learn more about the situation in the Alliance, giving more details about Duke Oswald's situation, Claude's appointment as the heir to the Riegan House...and while he would never do it personally, have there be subtle implications but no hard proof that Duke Gloucester is behind the theft, just as he was the death of Claude's Uncle; on top of that, we could still get a battle against a Black Beast when Failnaught transforms the bandit, giving Claude a very personal look at how dangerous these Relics can be (something he likely wouldn't have had deep insight into, given his Almyran roots). And again, on returning to the monastery we could see the Blue Lions dealing with the fallout from Miklan.

More interaction between the House Leaders in general. There are only a handful of scenes where all three of them interact together, and I can only think of one instance where they're even in each other's company at the monastery (Claude and Dimitri in one of the early chapters). Having more of these moments where they're apparently interacting on the grounds or where we can see them together in cutscenes, giving us more insight into the leaders of the other Houses we didn't pick, would give us a lot more investment in them as people and make the eventual revelations at the end of the Academy Phase hit a lot harder.

Especially with Claude's ambition being what it is, it would have been a far better show of his character to have him hanging out with different students every month -- not just from his own House like Hilda, but from other Houses. Have him be talking with Petra in the dining hall one month, or with Annette at the reception hall another; if you sided with the Black Eagles or the Blue Lions, it would be very easy to suspect that he's up to tricks and trying to figure out individual weaknesses...but if you picked the Golden Deer, you'd likely realize very quickly that he's got no ulterior motives because you've been seeing him in action and getting Supports with him.

More Supports period. We were robbed of some fascinating interactions, like Ashe and Dorothea or Dedue and Petra, and some really strong Support chains stop before they reach their full potential (several Sylvain supports, including Marianne and Bernadetta). I want to see so many more of these and I would add in a ton if given half an opportunity.

Giving Byleth more agency. This bleeds over into the War Phase, too, but one of my biggest complaints about the game is how limited the response options are, especially when it comes to Edelgard and her frightening rhetoric as early as chapter 3. Give us more options with real varied outcomes, rather than it changing one immediate line of dialogue; give us real dialogue trees rather than minutely altered responses so that we have an opportunity to affect change. This runs the risk of drastically altering Byleth's relationship with the various House Leaders, but that potential is undeniably fascinating in and of itself.

War Phase

Azure Moon: Make Dimitri's turn more gradual. Show him grappling with Rodrigue's words more, have more scenes where he and Byleth talk and he tries to work through his understandably complicated feelings. It doesn't even have to take that much longer, honestly: every week for the next month, give us an extra cutscene and let there be a small change in how you can interact with him. For example, maybe he still doesn't attend the round table in the first week, but you do have the option of assigning him to a task around the monastery; in the second week if you explore, you have the option to invite him to a meal; in the third week he finally attends the roundtable and you're able to work on his skills again; and in the fourth week his supports finally unlock.

Azure Moon: Make Claude recruitable. Don't have him leave Failnaught and go waltzing back to Almyra, have him actually head up the Alliance in this time of need and volunteer to join forces with the Kingdom forces. You can have the option of turning him down, if you really want, at which point he might leave Lorenz in charge and go back home, but give us the option of bringing him on board along with any other former Deer that fought with him at Derdriu -- and furthermore, let us have some supports with Dedue and Dimitri to go with it. Ideally those Support chains would be available in the Academy phase and maybe you'd have the recruitment option only if Dimitr's Support level with Claude is at least a B (since you can get to A during the Academy Phase but not unlock it until the War Phase as I experienced many times). But still: Claude recruitment. Yes.

Verdant Wind: Make Dimitri recruitable. Having him die offscreen after Gronder is absolutely terrible, especially since we know for a fact that at least two people from the Alliance army saw what was either going to happen or directly happening. At the end of the battle, give us an option of going after Dimitri: if you choose not to, he still dies, but if you do you have the opportunity to save him and recruit any other former Lions with him. As abve, Supports between Claude and Dimitri would be great, and you could even keep Dimitri's Supports locked for a while and include scenes of Byleth and/or Claude and Dimitri talking and working with him until he starts turning around the way he does in Azure Moon. Dimitri's death in Verdant Wind is a travesty and it needs to be changed.

Verdant Wind: More character stuff in general. One of the things that makes Azure Moon such a strong route is that it's so deeply character-driven. Verdant Wind is much more plot-driven, and while it's still strong, it could have been more impactful if the characters were more directly affected and/or we got to see more of their individual actions. For instance: after securing Myrddin, have weekly missions where you actually go along and meet with the Great Lords and discuss with them before the final round table. Have Byleth and Claude go with Lorenz to talk to Count Gloucester and try to get his buy-in, and give us more dialogue trees where Byleth can contribute (for better or for worse) so that in the end you either get his full agreement or only grudging consideration because Lorenz intervenes. Get us engaged, show us more of the situation in the Alliance, and let us have a role in moving from this uneasy state of neutrality to full agreement that it's time to take action.

Silver Snow: A unique story in general. Basically everything in the route is a weaker copy of the events in Verdant Wind, and regardless of which came first, Verdant Wind handles the events in a way that makes more logical and narrative sense than Silver Snow does. So even if things could be changed in Verdant Wind to make it stronger and more unique, Silver Snow needs the most work and ideally should have a new plot made just for them that gives the Knights of Seiros a chance to really shine.

Silver Snow: More for Seteth to do period. Despite the fact that he's ostensibly our Lord stand-in for the route (since he's the one who meets you after the timeskip, where it's either Claude, Dimitri, or Edelgard who does in the other routes), he barely has a chance to do anything and doesn't make much of an impact on the route overall. Silver Snow could -- and ostensibly should -- give him a chance to showcase his talents and stand as a unique and engaging character, since his role in the Academy Phase was so minor; relegating him to the same general role in Silver Snow does him a great injustice.

Crimson Flower: Have Edelgard suffer consequences. This is one of my biggest complaints with the game on the whole: that Crimson Flower goes out of is way to glorify imperialism and Edelgard gets a rosy perfect ending with nothing ever going wrong according to her endcards. Logically the way she achieved her goal would have led to massive dissent, unrest, and civil conflict in the territories she conquered and subjugated; her route needs to show that, and make it clear that there are in fact consequences for her actions, both within the original Adrestian territry and without in the newly conquered ones.

Crimson Flower: Deal with the damn Agarthans. Given that she knows about them in detail the way neither of her fellow House Lords did, it's an absolute travesty that we never saw her go after them in her route: all she did was show her hand too early and cause hundreds of senseless deaths when the Agarthans fired on Arianrhod. Her route should have ended with a conflict against the Agarthan menace -- and likely a very hard one, harder even than the battle against Rhea, because she left them for too long and gave them time to bolster their defenses before she arrived. And given that she's killed Rhea, the end of that conflict would likely be a massive loss of life when Thales bombs Shambhala -- further consequences for her actions.

All Routes: Give Byleth agency. This is especially pertinent in CF where canon reduced Byleth to Edelgard's enabler: give them a chance to fight her, push back against things that either don't make sense or are only going to hurt people, argue and maybe force her to change her mind or see another viewpoint rather than continuing to barrel down a path of bloodshed and loss because she selfishly decided that war was the only way. But giving Byleth that same agency in other routes would be equally powerful: let them talk candidly with Dimitri, let them encourage Claude to trust his companions and reveal his Almyran heritage, just...let them have a chance to be their own person, with complicated relationships and the ability to speak freely.

[kendrixtermina]

The Recruitment Freebies: Thoughts on Sylvain and Felix

Now when it comes to recruiting characters, there are 2 who kind of stand out and are, in their own way, somewhat ‘easier’ to get.

Sylvain joins you automatically if you’re playing fem Byleth, whereas Felix actually requires high stats/abilities that no one else does but since your primary weapon is most likely going to be a sword anyways and he requires sword skill, he’s actually not so hard to collect. Given that they’re both handy units (Felix kicks butt like no tomorrow, Sylvain is pretty customizable and gets a relic early on) you’re sorta encouraged to snatch one or both.

If you’ve seen them in their original environment, you’ll easily notice why: They’re kind of the kingdom’s token cynics. 

[Longer Essay Under The Cut]

The Initial Situation

One thing that stands out right away is that the Blue Lions are one of the tightest-knit groups: The Black Eagles have sort of vaguely heard of each other because most the imperial nobility lives in the capital and the one commoner used to be famous, but that’s it, only Linhardt and Dorothea really express any regret over betraying Edelgard if they do, and their fates don’t differ that much by whatever faction they’re in - Ferdinand is certainly sad to see the Empire itself go down (see that amusing line about an ‘Adrestia-shaped hole in [his] heart’) and has a minor existential crisis when his family’s lands are confiscated after he spend his whole life preparing to rule them, but while he gets that line wondering what might have become of him if Byleth had chosen a different path, he pretty much always becomes a statesman no matter who winds up on the throne.

The Golden Deer, meanwhile, are from wildly different backgrounds and even Claude just showed up last year. If they stay together, they eventually become a tight-knit group under Claude’s leadership (except Lorenz, if Byleth’s not with them), and if you recruit em,  they will largely pursue their own interests as they were never too unified to begin with, with most of the commoners saying they were never that involved in politics, and most of the nobles acting out of self-preservation or opportunism.

By contrast, most of the Blue Lions know each other personally and will be pretty conflicted about defecting from the Kingdom if you recruit them, and it’s no wonder:

Sylvain, Felix Ingrid and Dimitri were childhood friends and all big weapons enthusiasts, Dedue has followed Dimitri everywhere he went for the last few years, Anette’s father worked for Dimitri’s, Mercedes is Anette’s BFF from magic school and while Ashe didn’t know the others before since he was a poor village kid before Lonato took him in, he becomes fast friends with the rest of them due to their shared admiration of knight stories.

So in this more idealistic and old-fashioned groups, Sylvain and Felix can be thought of as the token cynics or more independently-minded characters. This is most obvious with Felix: He sticks out like a sore thumb, vocally expresses his dislike of the others and their values and basically keeps to himself on the training grounds, and its only through the other’s doormatsey dispositions that they seem determined to ignore his hostilities and continue considering him a friend whether he wants to or not. He doesn’t fit in with the other Blue Lions at all.

Sylvain, meanwhile, doesn’t stand out that much at first glance, he seems like another fairly common character archetype in the silly childhood friends lineup and gives Ingrid plenty of cause to get into Mom Friend mode,  but the whole thing with him is that while he pretends to be a hedonistic oaf, he’s actually something of a brooding intellectual type underneath, very ‘byronic’ overall.

Ultimately, both of them are motivated by a desire for, and love of freedom. (which is probably why a lot of ppl think they’d be a compatible and interesting as a romantic couple - for all their outward difference, they have a common ‘core’ there)  Sylvain has been treated all his life like his life and power don’t really belong to himself and he desperately strains against those binds by acting out, and Felix finds his countrymen to have a bit of a grostesque lemming mentality and wants no part of that.

At the same time both show their ‘cynism’ in very different ways, and neither of them is a ‘complete’ cynic, but the areas where you find their residual idealism are also different. I would say that Felix’ cynism is more apparent, while Sylvain’s runs much deeper, but more on that later.

Though he cares little about maintaining a reputation and indeed seems to sorta seek out or get a kick out doing what his father would hate, calling himself a ‘good for nothing/scoundrel/ someone who’s going to hell’, to sorta go against that pressure to be a good kid, when it comes down to it he’s actually still pretty honorable and does actually believe in The Power Of Friendship (as noted by both Ashe and Dimitri - it’s probably why they like him) He’s inclined to be a Good Guy, he just doesn’t want the pressure that goes along with it.

It reminds me a bit of that one Fiona Apple song: “Do I wanna do right? Of course./ But Do I really wanna feel I’m forced to/  answer you?/ Hell no!”

Felix meanwhile - well. Some might say he’s tsundere, and I suppose he is, stock phrases wise, but to put it more specifically what he is is counterdependent.  Which is a word commonly used to describe that teenage behavior of always doing the exact opposite of what your parents or the mainstream do, thereby being just as influenced as a dependent person. It’s closer to being dependent than indepedent - He wants badly to be independent, but doesn’t really know how. He still very much has attachments to his father and his oldtime childhood friends, he just rejects them fiercely, because between Glenn’s death and his first deployment to Sreng, he came to see that attachment as something that will destroy him, something incompatible with self-preservation. He still dearly loves Rodrigue, Dimitri and the others, but he doesn’t want to be like them. He wants to be free, he’s a reasonable man and sees that they’re all walking off a cliff and he doesn’t wanna jump of of it, but his opposition is so absolute because some part of his kind of wants to.

At the same time he’s not entirely a complainer for complaining’s sake. Though very fighting-focussed he has his own strong code of ethics and standards- Dimitri markedly falls short of them. They’re not that different, Felix too feels the wide open wound of being still bonded and attached  to people who aren*t there anymore (”Training for a duel with a corpse”, as he puts it) - But while Dimitri let it eat his life (though there’s more complexity here of course but that would derail this into a whole different essay), Felix kinda errs on the opposite side of pushing down all attachment, but at the same time, he does it because he’s concerned with saving the ones who are still alive. That’s the point he stresses in his paralogue where he argues with his father, “We’re here to protect our subjects”. He wants to protect himself, yes, but he also wants to protect other people. He’s all about that.  He wants people to protect themselves not glorify throwing their lives away.

Which is why despite all his vocal complaining he still ultimately hangs out with the others, cannot help but worry about their wellbeing etc.  They might be negative bonds now but they’re still very much bonds.

Meanwhile, in Sylvain’s case the cynism comes not from rejection but disillusionment and distrust. He’s a good guy but his ability to form bonds is almost completely destroyed. All his life he got showered with fake conditional love while being presented with an example of what would happen if he didn’t stay in ppl’s good graces: His brother, who’d been dropped like a hot potato. I don’t think he can think of himself as good; He kinda got treated as an unfair existence the moment he came into the world.   At least if you get no love, you still have the hope that you might eventually get love. But fake love? Fake love poisons everything. It’s disgusting wrong, it’s not really for you and it just makes you wanna get rid of it by any means neccessary. Speaking from experience here.

Apart from the bonds he got with his childhood friend and those with exceptional people skills like Byleth, Mercedes and Dorothea, he doesn’t really trust anyone beyond a certain level.

But that’s a subtle distinction.

At first the most apparent difference, and the first contrast to come up in their support chain, is focus. Felix responded to the unpleasantness in his past with absolute laser focus, particularly on fighting and becoming stronger, whereas Sylvain avoids ever the appearance of focus like the plague, downplays his capabilities and chases distractions in a way that may be rather relatable to those of us who had the whole weird-ass Gifted Child Experience. Hence, Sylvain might come off as extravagant/frivolous while Felix appears disciplined, even ascetic.

This is also apparent in how its implied that they “jump ship” - Sylvain does it on a whim because of fem Byleth’s ample bosoms, (whereas man Byleth needs to impress him with reason skill which ties more into his hidden dephts) whereas with Felix it would tie into his pursuit of strenght and how he focusses on that more than anything else. Byleth stands out as a badass, so Felix juins his class or that’s his reasoning in the dialogue he gets.

But at the same time what we see here is that both were born with great natural power but don’t want that defining their lives. Sylvain downplays and refuses to use his, while Felix is determined to get straight that he actually “earned” through his harsh discipline and dedication, and vocally disavows conventional wisdom (”Crests, lineagle, knighthood... all trifles. Only strenght and skill matter”)

Post-Timeskip

So while a lot of characters like, say, Dorothea, get alot of the same dialogues in each route, others kind of get different little arcs depending on where they end up - for example if you recruit Lorenz for the empire he will at first join out of pure opportunism (that, and trying to get mercy for his corrupt-ass father), but then towards the last few months, he’ll actually come around to Edelgard’s way of thinking.

Felix is one of the characters whose dialogue differs the most by route - church & Alliance overlap a lot though with a few pointed differences, and his ending narrations are totally different depending on whether you recruited him or left him with the Kingdom. Of course, this would have to differ to an extent as he can’t exactly become Dimitri’s right hand when there’s no Dimitri, but the outcomes are starkly different to the point that even his paired endings with different characters all have two versions.

In the Kingdom route he generally succeeds his father whereas in the other routes, he typically renounces his title and becomes a mercenary unless his partner or BFF convinces him otherwise.

Unlike, say, Ferdinand, who does about the same thing regardless of who he ends up working under, for Felix the decision to ditch his classmates is a big big turning point, a choice

Sylvain by contrast has rather more similar endings wherever he goes and his dialogues are more similar - one highlight being how he has the exact same “history is written by the winners, whoever wins will say they’re right war will probably always exist...” lines regardless of whether he’s fighting for or against Edelgard. Whenever he isn’t commenting on the weather of their next destination or the general suckyness of the war, he remains mildly sceptical of whatever side he’s on, including one memorable instance where he refers to poor Hubert as “Edelgard’s idiot sidekick” and thinks they should try more negotiating, though he’s not blind to Dimitri’s flaws either when they go fight him.

Not really a big joiner or believer, this one, no illusions about how they could always be wrong, which perhaps makes it more touching how he invariably ends up becoming a peacemaker and activist after the war, basically becoming a fulltime do-gooder.

Since the inner mechanics with Felix are quite different, so are his outcomes. Sylvain’s gonna be like “I’m not optimistic but I gotta try doing the right thing”, no atter who he’s following, but you get a whole different Felix depending on what route you’re playing.

Because for him, wether to stick with Team Kingdom or not kinda represents a choice between his lingering attachment and his drive to reject that.

In the Kingdom route, he stays a lot more like he was in his academy days: Complains a lot, but still sticks with everyone to the end. He sort of fills the role of the contrarian number two, the one providing a contrastic viewpoint (while, Sylvain, while not optimistic, is no less stubborn about sticking with a friend in need than the rest of Team Kingdom)

He comes across as the Only Sane Man at times, esp. when he calls Titanic on the whole Revenge Trip to Gronder, “Iceberg ahead? ya’ll seeing the iceberg right?” but of course if you’re just complaining you’re kinda part of the problem - He muses that he must be crazy too, if he’s going along with everybody. Can’t bring himself to leave. Eventually that attachment wins out and he doesn’t even bother hiding it especially once Dimitri gets his act together. At that point he figures that the best he can do is to keep him on-course. Though they don’t go back to the same dynamic they once had, they go back to being BFF and the new dynanic is probably more useful to Dimitri as a counterpoint, they pretty much each succeed their fathers in proper Kingdom Manner and stay an A-team for the rest of their lives just like their das were. Idealism triumphs, though it’s a more matured, well-thought out one that is less about high standards and more about forgiveness/redemption.

It seems like he kinda became what he didn’t want to be early on (in the paired ending with Dimitri he even winds up in one of those chivalric tales he used to hate!), but it also looks like that made him happy. Maybe because it resolved the contradiction and tension within himself, all the energy he expends in rejecting his feelings of attachment, to like, actively not care about Dimitri.

I mean in their B support at one point he almost accidentally lapses back into Nerding Out About Swords Like Old Times - He needs to actively remind himself that he’s supposed to hate Dimitri now, and he does an even worse job at No Longer Liking the others.

Indeed when he gets what he ostensibly wanted, or rather what he wants to want, it doesn’t seem to make him all that happy - This was indeed the realization that prompted me to do this analysis. He goes full lonesome cowboy and marches off and he doesn’t sound all that happy about what he’s done, and his paired ending with Sylvain is one of the ones that makes it very obvious - In the Kingdom route, they stay Together Forever as they were in childhood, like they never got estranged at all. In the other routes it’s a sad, melancholic, darkly romantic thing about how Sylvain inherited his title, Felix came to help him out once and they never saw each other again, and Sylvain eventually gets a keepsake from Felix... and this is if you recruit them both. They get a sad enough dialogue if you grab only one and make them fight each other, but even if they run away together, essentially, they don’t become happy together.

The circumstances aren’t that different, if they still wound up in the same faction - But Felix is different.

Because he doesn’t just leave because of Byleth’s heroic charisma like many of the others - He  goes because, in essence, he is putting his pursuit of strength over his lingering attachments for his friends. To leave the kingdom means to actually become what he pretends to be. To actually become a lonewolf warrior who cares only about strenght rather than an ultimately loyal tsundere.

Which is where the above rambles about counter-dependency come to bear: He says he doesn’t care but he does, so much he can’t stop. So to take this step, which at the time seens reasonable and sane and free to him, is to cut off part of himself.

Though even here there are different gradations depending on where you recruit him to.

In the Alliance and church routes he simply jumps ship on the kingdom out of self-preservation. Sanity before Honor, just like he was always talking about. The kingdom’s in horrible shape, it can’t win, or so he sees it, Sylvain’s reasoning is pretty much the same but more resigned/sad (”There was nothing I could do”), after all for all they know, Dimitri is long dead (though Felix, always one with keen insight, suspect him to be alive a bit before he shows up)

Then Dimitri turns up alive, but promptly gets himself killed, and Felix regrets it. Every bit as much as other kingdom characters. He wonders if he could have stopped Dimitri if he’d been with him. He channels this into avenging Dimitri first on the empire and then on TWSITD, and starts using his name at this point.

Tellingly enough, he refers to the local afterlife beliefs that are so prominently featured in the Kingdom route. The ones that Rodrigue taught to both Felix and Dimitri and that likely played a role in the latter’s inability to forgive himself for all that Rodrigue is largely a good man who was a positive influence. He talks about “facing” Dimitri in the afterlife or allowing him to rest in peace much like Dimitri’s own talk about appeasing the dead - As much as he’d like to be Felix was not actually immune to his upbringing. basically he really regrets it.

The church and alliance routes differ somewhat in the dialogue before the last stage in a way that makes the church route seem “milder” - He considers working under Byleth once they become King/Queen, so he doesn’t seem quite as “lost”, whereas in the alliance route he expresses interest in dueling Nemesis. Not that far beyond his usual “must fight worthy opponents/ blood knight attude” but certainly more of an embracement of it and also very reckless, since as far as we knew the zombie horde is blazing an almost unhindered trail through the land and pretty much had Hilda’s renowned invincible brother for breakfast.

The empire route, of course, requires him to go even further - it’s one thing to evacuate a sinking ship, another to go a path where there’s a good chance that he’ll have to go against, and even fight/kill his former comrades. The game sure included tons of unique dialogue for this. You can even have his feud with his father end quite lethally, and Dimitri will even comment on it when you engage him. Ouch!

Right after the holy tomb scene most the recruitees’ dialogues are either some variation of “I’m scared but I trust you sensei” or “Now that she’s actually explained her reasoning, Edelgard’s got a point” - Felix’ is neither.

Though he’d presumably agree that Crests and Status are overrated, that’s not what he talks about. He says he wants to forge his own path, one that isn’t his father’s or Dimitri’s.  

He may or may not be doing the right thing but it’s for the wrong reason.

It’s a decision that’s perfectly logical if you feature in all factors except for his own heart - by which I don’t mean some bullshit 19th century “head vs heart” contrast but simply self-knowledge, which is necessary to make choices that you won’t regret, especially when the ‘correct’ path is ambiguous.

He wants to be free, deeply and desperate but, there’s also the counterdependency in play. He’s not going with the Empire because he wants to go with the empire, but because he wants to go against Rodrigue and Dimitri. Rejecting them to prove to himself that he can.

And turns out he can. He can cut em all down, with fairly unfazed Dialogue about how he’s going his own path, will never bow to the likes of Dimitri, will pursue strenght no matter who stands in his way etc.

They all curse him for betraying him, only Sylvain who’s not the sort to have much certainty about being right, gets more of a “sad/tragic” line about their childhood promise.

But that’s on the battlefield. Back at the monastery it’s a different matter. In this route he shows significantly LESS regret about what happens to the kingdom peeps - after all, he knew he’d be fighting them. He’s just completely embraced the ‘living to fight’ thing here and you get the sense that some other parts of his may have been lost in the process.

Ironically he says he killed more ppl than he can count and that he’s practically as bad as Dimitri now (”Your better world better be worth this”, indeed...) and while he’s completely unflinchingly resolute he’s not exactly unphased.

You can certainly understand why he’d end up as a restless sorta wandering mercenary  (interesting, too that if you pair him with Byleth they’ll go with him - interesting enough in its own right since that’s the sort of life they use to have before coming to the academy)

So I guess this could all  ultimately be seen as a parable on ‘be careful what you wish for’, or, more accurately, ‘know yourself before making wishes’.

[edelest]

black eagles recruiting plot fix!

as we all know, there’s a variety of characters you can recruit into the black eagles house, and we all know they’d follow you through any route. a lot of people tend to say that there’s no reason/it doesn’t make sense for some of those characters to be in the black eagles/crimson flower route, because no plot is provided, it doesn’t fir their character, etc. so i decided to make a list of why one of the students you recruited would follow edelgard/you even if it goes against their character.

felix: felix would join for more than one reason, and he already states one of these. he doesn’t want to follow dimitri, even if he does care about him. another reason would be his bad relationship with his father, and how the people of faerghus force all kinds of ideals onto him. the country is full of people who admire chivalry and those who follow their leaders blindly, which he despises because that’s what glenn did. edelgard is highly against blind obedience, as she is against the church and its followers and as she never truly forces anyone to be with her and support her (seen through black eagles strike force.) the only difference in opinion between el and felix is how felix hates the unnecessary bloodshed, but he does believe that edelgard can change the way the world is. and oh! the way that dimtri and his father blindly follow rhea and choose to ignore what edelgard claims is a fine example of the blind obedience felix hates. it actually baffles me how some people think felix has the least reason to be in black eagles/crimson flower, when in my opinion he has the most reason to be there.

annette and mercedes: this is harder to uh... give reason to, since gustave is a knight and mercedes is religious, but annette and mercedes are pretty strong and pursue when they believe in something. i doubt either of them support the violence bloodshed, but mercie would follow el because she believe in the goddess and sees something wrong with the chruch and how it operates. same goes for annette, she’d fight for what she believes is right, especially if she has mercedes beside her through it. and of course, gustave is a piece of crap. i also want to point out the way that the church basically threatens, everyone including byleth. rhea has literally once said “let this be a warning for those who choose to point their blades to the goddess” or something like that. and she says so many more lines like this, further proving edelgard’s point and convincing annette and mercedes, because, as stated, they are against violence. jertiza might also ge a weighing factor for mercedes.

sylvain, marianne, and lysithea: edelgard believes in a world where discrimination, blind obedience, tyranny, and injustice would be something of the past. these three characters have all experienced a bad life due to their crests. sylvain, because of his father and brother, lysithea, because of the crest experiments on her and her family, and marianne, because she grew up hating and fearing herself for a crest that was dubbed dangerous. in the world el envisions, these things would never happen again, and while the three of them are actually terrified, they want nothing more than to live in a world of love and acceptance, and in a world where crests don’t affect lives like how it affected theirs.

ingrid: hmm, i guess for her, even though ingrid wants nothing but to be a knight, her world and dreams have basically been crushed by her father who wants nothing more than to get ingrid married to a rich man. so while ingrid goes against the idea of what el believes in, she still hopes for a world where again, a crest does not factor one’s life path. (this applies to marianne and mercie too, because they were told by their parents to marry someone too. it’s just not as bad as it is for ingrid.)

ashe: of course, lord lonato plays a big part in this decision. i doubt ashe has actually forgiven the chruch for what happened with lonato, we even see this in the golden deer route if he’s not recruited.

leonie: not much of a reason other than jeralt. leonie “promised” jeralt she would protect byleth, and byleth probably mentioned to her that jeralt doesn’t trust lady rhea, which might have factored in the decision.

ignatz and raphael: i don’t really see a reason for them other than it’s better for their lives and families, if the empire wins the war. they are merchants, after all. especially raphael, who needs to look after his little sister.

lorenz: i don’t see a reason other than territory. he says it himself, the gloucester region makes it risky for him and his father to fight the empire with the alliance. and let’s be honest, lorenz is the type that does what benefits him, and doesn’t mind if it affects others.

that’s all i could think of! this isn’t actually related to the story though, i just made it so that if you feel weirded out plot-wise by how some characters would be with you in the crimson flower route and you wanted some more depth to their character being there other than “i follow the professor wherever they go!!!!!! >:T”

[fireemblems24]

Are there any characters beside the lord that have cought your attention?

Well Rhea is she doesn’t count as a lord (not sure where the fandom consensus is on this). 

FYI, I haven’t unlocked many supports for or even recruited most of the school staff/knights, so I don’t have well informed opinions on them yet.  

There’s a lot of characters I enjoy like Hilda, Manuela, Ashe, Linhardt, Flayn, Marianne, Mercedes, Leonie, Shamir, Annette, Petra, etc . . . 

There’s also characters I want to analyze and dig deep into their supports (for the most part, I really enjoy these characters too) like Hubert, Dedue, Ingrid, Slyvain, Lorenz, and maybe Dorothea. 

I REALLY want to like Ferdinand, but like, his supports are kind of a let down. All the Black Eagles so mean to him except Petra, so it’s hard to get much out of his supports. I’m really hoping his supports with Edelgard and Hubert are as good as they could potentially be, which will help his character a lot, but time will tell on him. 

And then there’s Felix. Like - ho boy - I cannot WAIT to get more content from this little jerk that I love but that doesn’t mean he’s not a complete ass to his friends or that he’s not right but still also basically abusive at times but also a complete mess himself . . . I have a lot of Felix thoughts. Also, he’s an absolute unit and hot as hell, so that helps. I’ve also heard he changes depending on what route he’s on, so I think, of everyone, he’s the one I’m the most looking forward to seeing develop outside of the lords. 

[the-tactician-magician]

What if characters from FE3H played Splatoon?

AKA the headcanons no one asked for. Also feel free to add.

Black Eagles Strike Force (BESF)

Edelgard (FlameEmpr) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Dynamo Roller

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: X

Hardcore competative player, plays very frequently and won several competitions

Prefers weapons that do a lot of damage, doesn’t mind the heaviness

Very picky about who gets to be on her team

Hubert (Grimoire)

Favorite weapon: Ballpoint Splatling Nouveau

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: S+

Only plays with Edelgard

But is surprisingly good with how little he actually plays

Part of the datamining community

Always wears black

Ferdinand (vonAegir)

Favorite weapon: L-3 Nozzlenose D

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: S+

Competitive against Edelgard, always trying to one-up her

Picks whatever weapon is meta in order to beat her

A fair and honorable fighter, feels bad whenever an opponent disconnects, etc

Petra (kanaloa)

Favorite weapon: Dark Tetra Dualies

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: S+

Her username comes from a spirit in Brigid that takes the form of a squid

Empathizes with the Octolings and their broken English

Fast on her feet and hard to hit

Krakenslayers

Caspar (CHADspar) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Octobrush

Favorite mode: Clam Blitz

Highest rank: B+

He came up with the team name and won’t accept any substitutes

Always super jumping into danger, despite warnings

Super aggressive player but somehow does ok

Linhardt (zzz)

Favorite weapon: Bloblobber

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: A

Just press ZR and hope for the best

Takes quick naps between matches

Probably can rank higher if he’s more interested

Dorothea (☆DIVA☆)

Favorite weapon: Splattershot

Favorite mode: Splatfest

Highest rank: B

Not great at this game

But loves the idols and the music (Callie is her favorite)

Is also super salty that Callie lost the final splatfest in S1

Plays a lot less once Splatfests ended

Bernadetta (bbear)

Favorite weapon: E-liter 4k scope

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: A

Screams whenever an enemy approaches

A good shot, but panics in bad situations

She somehow does better when her team is losing

Blue Lionfish (BL)

Dimitri (Areadbhar) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Splattershot Pro (with gratuitous MPU)

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: X

Hardcore competative player like Edelgard, also won several competitions

Adept with any shooter type weapons

Gets angry easily and has broken several controllers

Has a terrible fashion sense and uses whatever gear he needs to

Was going to name the team ‘Blue Lions’, but Sylvain said to use ‘Blue Lionfish’ for the pun

Dedue (Pavise)

Favorite weapon: Tenta Brella

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: A+

Is fixated on Dimitri whenever they play together

A defensive player, doesn’t like charging in

He does his best but he’s sadly the worst of the team

Ingrid (Whitewing)

Favorite weapon: Clear Dapple Dualies

Favorite mode: Clam Blitz

Highest rank: X

Expert duelist, can win most 1v1

Whatever weapon she chooses, she gotta go fast

Constantly yelling at Sylvain, blames him for everything

Sylvain (tentaXXX)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Sloshing Machine

Favorite mode: Clam Blitz

Highest rank: S+

Would have a more inappropriate name if it weren’t for Ingrid

A deceptively good player that masks his skills with an easygoing attitude

Could probably get into X rank if he cared more

Is a chronic squidbagger

くコ:彡 (Team Squid Emoticon)

Annette ( (´･ω･`) ) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Soda Slosher

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: A+

A cheerleader, always encouraging her friends to do their best!

Overuses bombs

She’s only the team leader because Felix hates leadership

Likes the songs and often makes up lyrics to go along with them

Always booyahs

Mercedes (mercie ♥)

Favorite weapon: Aerospray MG

Favorite mode: Turf War

Highest rank: B-

Not good at this game at all…

Only knows how to spray and claim turf

Still, she loves playing with Annette

Always booyahs back

Felix (L0NE_W0LF)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Splat Dualies

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: X

Only on this team because he refuses to play with Dimitri after Dimitri broke his controller once 

And because Annette is his girlfriend

Always charges in by himself, luckily has the skills to back up such tactics

Will coach the others when he’s feeling nice

Still plays with Ingrid and Sylvain whenever Dimitri isn’t around

Ashe (Decidueye)

Favorite weapon: Firefin Splatter Charger

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: S+

A good shot and a helpful player

Constantly checking the map

Gets nervous in competitions

Got recruited to this team by Felix because Felix can’t stand being the only good player here

Cod-Splattering Stars (CSS)

Claude (insertmeme) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Bamboozler 14 Mk I (with MPU)

Favorite mode: Clam Blitz

Highest rank: S+

Always doing things for teh lulz

Would rather troll people than actually play well

Could probably get into X rank if he stopped memeing

Picks the male octoling with the afro because the hair is funny but secretly empathizes with the octolings for being outsiders

Also grinds out weird gear (like the masks) just for the shock value

Was going to name the team ‘I wish squids were real’ but Leonie and Lys wanted a serious name and Hilda didn’t get the joke

Hilda (pnkprncess)

Favorite weapon: Splat Roller

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: A

Doesn’t like others depending on her

Yet if everyone’s splatted but her, she will do her damndest to hold the line

Is actually pretty good but tries not to show off

Constantly complaining and whining about stuff

Adores dressing up her inkling

Lysithea (Miasma Δ)

Favorite weapon: Explosher

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: X

A really good player, has a good sense of spacing and timing to make her weapons deadly

Always goes for the big, explosive weapons

Call her a little kid and she’ll punch you

Leonie (BladeBrkr2) 

Favorite weapon: Custom Dualie Squelchers

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: S+

Only got into Splatoon because it’s Jeralt’s favorite game

And is surprisingly good at it

Replaced Lorenz because she was better and he was getting on Claude’s nerves

A little nervous to be the only commoner on the team but that just motivates her more

Inkblooms

Lorenz (GLOUCESTER) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Foil Squeezer

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: S

Was on Claude’s team, then got kicked out for Leonie which he’s still bitter about

Still, he tries to make this team work

A boastful winner but takes losing well

Only wears the most fashionable gear

Ignatz (ᴄʜαʀᴛʀεᴜsε)

Favorite weapon: Inkbrush

Favorite mode: Salmon Run

Highest rank: A

Also does well with snipers, but has the most fun with the inkbrush

Spams splat bombs and runs away

Also gets nervous in competitions

Raphael (RAPHROX!)

Favorite weapon: Clash Blaster

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: B

Can’t aim

A very loud player

Likes playing with Ignatz

Still uses sticks

Marianne (dorte)

Favorite weapon: Splattershot Jr.

Favorite mode: Turf War

Highest rank: B-

Not good at this game because of self-esteem issues

Freezes up and dies whenever she’s confronted

Lorenz is trying his best to coach her

Jeralt’s Mercs

Jeralt (Jeralt) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Tentatek Splattershot

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: X

A prominent streamer and e-celeb

Played a lot of Splatoon 1 and although he likes Splatoon 2, always complains about ‘back in the day’ like a boomer

Used to be really competitive back in the day but nowadays just plays with family and friends

His username used to be ‘BladeBrkr’

Thinking of passing the torch to Byleth soon

Leonie used to be a sub for his team until she joined Claude’s team

Byleth (AshenDemon) 

Favorite weapon: Enperry Splat Dualies

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: X

Jeralt’s kid

Rarely talks or expresses emotions, which kinda creeps people out

Can dunk people like nobody’s business

Secretly has a fondness for the Judds

Alois (10tickles)

Favorite weapon: Heavy Splatling

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: S

An old friend of Jeralt

Used to run with the Knights of Seiros until they got too competitive for his liking

Appreciates all the fish puns in this game

Sometimes acts like a boomer with Jeralt, but takes the boomer memes in stride

Sothis (fell star☆)

Favorite weapon: Tri-Slosher

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: X

Who is she??? No one knows. A friend of Byleth apparently

Temperamental and emotional but a very good player

Somehow managed to pick the winning team in all the Splatfests

Knights of Seiros

Catherine (thundrcath) (leader)

Favorite weapon: Carbon Roller

Favorite mode: Rainmaker

Highest rank: X

Loud, confident, always takes the opponent head-on

Likes the feel of rollers but can pick other weapons as long as they do lots of damage

Trash talks opponents a lot

Shamir (Raven)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Splatterscope

Favorite mode: Tower Control

Highest rank: X

Complete opposite of Catherine, rarely talks during matches

Can see you coming from a mile away

Makes it her mission to protect Catherine when she’s running into danger

Flayn (cethleann!)

Favorite weapon: Neo Splash-o-matic

Favorite mode: Salmon Run

Highest rank: A-

Likes the fish and the fish puns

Not super great at this game but she has a lot of fun

The team mascot

Cyril (pointblank)

Favorite weapon: Kensa Glooga Dualies

Favorite mode: Clam Blitz

Highest rank: A+

Used to be pretty bad until Shamir coached him, now he can hold his own weight

Doesn’t use the ‘ouch’ button when he dies, even though he should

Has mastered the art of splatting foes when he rolls

Seteth (Cichol)

Favorite weapon: Rapid Blaster Pro Deco

Favorite mode: Splat Zones

Highest rank: S+

Way too busy to play Splatoon now, only a sub for this team

But he is good at this game

Used to be in X until he fell out due to not playing much

Always makes time to play with Flayn

(Hanneman and Manuela don’t play Splatoon because they’re not interested.)

(Rhea supposedly plays but no one knows her username or has even seen her play. She could probably curb stomp everyone at Garreg Mach though.)

[superfluousstuckupitude]

WARNING: MAJOR FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES (FE3H) SPOILERS BELOW. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Disclaimer: If this seems to be all over the place it's because it probably is lol. I'm writing all of this on the fly with very limited info, this is just me kind of theorizing.

Note: For like the 0.01% of people who might get offended because they think I'm attacking their house or whatever, stay out of your feelings. Let's remember it's a video game, it's not that deep and I thought this might be a fun little discussion. If you agree that's fine, if you don't that's fine, let's just be respectful.

I've seen some people say there is no true route in FE3H and I was along the same train of thought. However after a few conversations with a friend of mine and some research of my own I'm starting to wonder if that line of thinking is correct.

I was under the impression that it was the same over arching story. The only difference was that it was being told from the point of views of the different houses, however, this seems to not be the case. The story is relatively the same up until Edelgard turns on the church. After that depending on which house you chose the story will drastically change, to the point where the final boss fights aren't even the same (hell even time skip Dimitri looks different). To me that says there is a "true" route you were supposed to follow. My and others proposal is that you get it in the Black Eagle (BE) route.

Now hear me out. Usually in games that have a true ending or route in this case, there's usually extra effort required by the player. Take Crash 2 and 3 for example, all that's required to beat the games is to get the crystals and beat the levels. However if you collect all of the box gems (and yes this takes effort) you will get to see the true endings of either game. Now bringing it back to FE, there seems to be default routes a person can find themselves in depending on their house choice. The default for either the Blue Lion (BL) or BE will cause the player to side with the church with Edelgard being the final boss, with the Golden Deer (GD) seeming to be the neutral path. Does the GD house have a final boss? To whoever reads this and played that route let me know. Anyway, however, there is what people are referring to as a "secret" route (which isn't so secret if you ask me because I got it my first try along with other people). That route being you having the opportunity to side with Edelgard and the empire. You have to meet a certain criteria for the game to even give you the option to do this:

1. You have to get her support rank up to a C+.

2. You have to talk to her during the month of her betrayal.

-A cutscene will trigger and she will ask you to accompany her to see he father. The game will tell you this decision will drastically change the story (the majority of the text will be in red so you know they're not playing)

3. Go with her.

4. After you fight her in the Holy Tomb the game will present you with another game altering choice: to kill her or protect her.

- Note: this choice WILL NOT happen if you choose to not go with her to see her father. The only choice you have is to kill her or do nothing, either way you will side with the church.

5. Choose to protect her and you will side with her.

The BE house from what I gathered upon investigation is the only house in which this kind of choices happen. Or at the very least the only one that has two, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Like I said these choices don't even happen if you don't meet the criteria for it, criteria the game doesn't even tell you is a thing. I just kind of stumbled upon it because I already had my mind set on ranking up Edelgard and I dedicated at least one day off every month to go talk to everybody. Everybody went into this game with a different mind set of what they wanted to do so I can see how someone could miss it, well I can and then at the same time I can't.

Let me explain. I was surprised to find out some didn't know this route was even a thing. But as I said prior considering it's something that has stipulations and the fact that cutscene is framed as normal conversation and not one you're forced into. You have to actively rank Edelgard's support up and seek her out to make the cutscene trigger, so that's how I can see someone missing it. Other the other hand it's fairly easy to rank up people. Just give people lost items, gifts, fight beside them in battle, etc and they're as good as yours. Also the map tells you who you've have and haven't talked to and will even tell you specifically where they are. Plus it's not really even that big so it'll take no time at all to explore all of it.

Now on to my somewhat crack pot theories for why I think Edelgard's route is the true route:

In the beginning the game has you specifically saving Edelgard and what are the odds of her, Claude, and Dimitri meeting them here for all of these events to happen? Also let's point out the scene of Byleth giving Edelgard the eyes LOL. Also while I'm at it Edelgard is the only character who seems to genuinely depend on the main character. If you choose to side with the church from what I gather she essentially loses her mind. If you side with her she stays reminded of why she's doing what she's doing. She like so many real life people can be very laser focused on achieving their goals, to the point they forget the reason why they doing it in the first place. The main character is what keeps her grounded and if you choose to side with her she even tells you as much. Even during the 5 years you were gone the hope that you would come back is what kept her going.

Dimitri on the other hand goes of the deep end regardless. Hell if you bothered to talk/recruit Felix he will warn you many times about Dimitri and even the main character senses darkness in him at the beginning. Speaking of which anybody notice there was a bit of a difference of the main character's first impression of each house leader, specifically their first impression of Edelgard versus the other two? I'm not gonna go into it because this is getting long enough, I'm sure it's out on YouTube somewhere lol.

ANYWAY, I'm rambling at this point LOL, so yea tell me what you all think.

[extremepineapple2]

After I discussed the problems with the Black Eagle and Golden Deer house composition, I thought about what would have been better. This is all assuming that I cannot make new students and have to use the pre-existing ones. I think that Blue Lions is great as is, but in the interests of making all of the houses better, some of the blue lions will be moved.

To do this, I looked at theming, how likely the characters would stay with the country of the house they started in and/or how much interesting drama could ensue. While at the same time making sure house has the same amount of students (8).

I do personally think that most (not all) students should still not be able to side with Edelgard, and you instead get more exclusive units in CF like Ladislava, Randolph, etc.

Black Eagles:

Edelgard

Hubert

Dorothea

Leonie: Commoner Leonie definitely has gripes with the nobility, including thinking they tax her village too much. She’s perhaps the most poor student. She’s a self-starter who wants to rise on her own talent. Natural fit for the supposed meritocracy of Edelgard. She doesn’t really belong anywhere else but Black Eagles. Not even Blue Lions - a mercenary is different theming than a knight. The fact that a slither kills her idol, Jeralt, makes for drama.

Mercedes: Has suffered from nobles, and her religiosity could also make for some interesting dynamics with Edelgard’s atheism. There’s also the obvious ties to Jeritza. Assuming she can side with Edelgard, her friendship with Annette should have to cause some drama, otherwise it should be removed.

Lysithea: See Marianne, except without the religion. Extra drama comes from the fact that Edelgard worked with the people who tortured Lysithea. The fact the actual game never addresses this in the supports is beyond stupid.

Lorenz. In the Golden Deer route, Lorenz served as a reminder of the arrogance of the nobles. However, since the route isn’t actually about that, I believe he is misplaced. Lorenz is the most nobility obsessed character in the game besides Edelgard, so the dynamic would be interesting in a route where Edelgard supposedly wants to get rid of the nobility system. He also already sides with Edelgard in non-GD unless re-recruited.

Sylvain: Other than being the childhood friend of Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid, there wasn’t a ton of going for Sylvain in Blue Lions theming. His thing with girls is directly related to the nobility and crest system, and then there’s what happened with Miklan. Assuming he can side with Edelgard, his friendship with Dimitri, Felix and Ingrid should have to cause some drama, otherwise it should be removed.

This puts Black Eagles at a total of 3 commoners, the most out of any of these modified house compositions.

Golden Deer:

Claude

Hilda

Dedue: This was a painful choice to make, and I made it mostly because Ignatz [and Raphael] doesn’t fit anywhere besides Blue Lions (I honestly don’t think the merchant thing is that imporant in GD theming). The other part is that Dedue is “foreign.“ In this hypothetical, he might be devoted to Claude instead.

Petra: She already has supports with Claude, and Petra would be able to give an additional foreigner prospective. She would fit easily in the narrative about racism and closed borders in Fodlan. Move Brigid’s location closer to the alliance.

Linhardt: Linhardt’s desire to learn the truth about crests, but not actually disliking crests, makes him a good fit for Golden Deer’s truth seeking. He also has a lack of nationalism, which seemingly fits in Alliance culture and Claude’s aims. It also means he wouldn’t be impressed by Edelgard’s nationalism herself.

Caspar: See his supports with Shamir: He feels guilty that his father had fought against Dagda. This fits into the foreign relation/racism theme of Golden Deer. This is basically capitalizing on the most interesting part of Caspar, because other than that is basically dumb guy who wants to fight.

Ferdinand: One big reason is that he already has supports with Petra, a character who definitely does not belong in Black Eagles. And those supports have to do with understanding foreign culture and warfare. Another reason is that there would be too much overlap between Lorenz and Ferdinand in the same house. In addition, while Ferdinand’s pride may have gotten on some people’s nerves (people who love Edelgard primarily?), I don’t think he was nearly as good an example of arrogant nobles as Lorenz was.

Ashe: Already has A supports with Petra and Dedue, showcasing Ashe’s interest/tolerance in foreign cultures. In addition, what happened to Lonato has a lot to do with the church lying about Lonato’s son. This fits into the Golden Deer’s theming about finding the truth about the church.

Blue Lions

Dimitri

Ingrid

Felix

Annette

Raphael: There’s not much to Raphael, but what is there is his desire to become a knight to help those who cares about, which absolutely does fit into Blue Lions theming. He doesn’t have a lot to say about racism/nationalism/crests/church/nobles, (other than not caring about that shit) so he’s not a good fit in the other houses. He also already has a support with Dimitri (and Ingrid).

Ignatz: Ignatz’ conflict about whether to become a knight to support his family or follow his dreams fits into Blue Lions. He feels guilty over what happened to his family, much like Dimitri, Ingrid and Felix. He also already has more supports with Blue Lions than he does Black Eagles.

Bernadetta: Bernadetta is not bad a pick to remain in Black Eagles as she suffered at the hands of nobles, but as I prioritize students who I could actually believe might be willing to fight on the side of the house they start in, Bernadetta ultimately does not belong there. What I could believe is if she had to fight, ie. in self-defense if her country got invaded by an aggressor (which happens to Faerghus). Thematically, Bernadetta is closed off due to her past, much like the rest of the Blue Lions. She also already has more supports with the Blue Lions than she does the Golden Deer.

Marianne: See Bernadetta. Marianne is also religious, fitting into the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. She also already has an A support with Dimitri and has more supports with Blue Lions than Black Eagles.

[acepalindrome]

Out-of-House Supports

So, I’m obsessing about Three Houses in the final days before release and trying to plan out which characters I want to try to recruit for each route. To make that a little easier to keep track of (and because I have a hard time reading the IGN support chart,) I made a list of all the students’ supports that aren’t in their own house. Hopefully this will help if you’re trying to pick recruits who have a lot of supports in your chosen house, or to get as many supports as possible for your favorites, etc. The characters in bold have 3+ supports in the listed house. There’s nothing particularly spoilery about this info, but I’m putting it under a cut just in case. And without further ado!

[[MORE]]

Black Eagles:

Edelgard - Lysithea, Hanneman, Manuela

Hubert - Hanneman, Shamir

Ferdinand - Mercedes, Lorenz, Marianne, Hilda, Flayn, Manuela

Linhardt - Annette, Lysithea, Marianne, Flayn, Hanneman, Catherine

Casper - Ashe, Annette, Raphael, Hilda, Catherine, Shamir

Bernadetta - Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, Raphael, Leonie, Seteth, Alois

Dorothea - Felix, Sylvain, Ingrid, Lorenz, Hanneman, Manuela

Petra - Ashe, Claude, Ignatz, Alois, Shamir, Cyril

Blue Lions:

Dimitri - Raphael, Marianne, Flayn, Gilbert, Alois, Catherine

Dedue - Flayn, Gilbert, Shamir

Felix - Bernadetta, Dorothea, Lysithea, Leonie, Seteth, Flayn

Ashe - Casper, Petra, Marianne, Gilbert, Catherine, Cyril

Sylvain - Bernadetta, Dorothea, Lorenz, Lysithea, Marianne, Hilda, Leonie, Flayn, Manuela

Mercedes - Ferdinand, Lorenz, Ignatz, Hilda, Alois, Cyril

Annette - Linhardt, Casper, Claude, Lysithea, Hilda, Hanneman, Gilbert

Ingrid - Bernadetta, Dorothea, Claude, Raphael, Ignatz, Seteth, Catherine

Golden Deer:

Claude - Petra, Annette, Ingrid, Flayn, Shamir, Cyril

Lorenz - Ferdinand, Dorothea, Sylvain, Mercedes, Manuela, Catherine

Raphael - Casper, Bernadetta, Dimitri, Ingrid, Flayn, Shamir

Ignatz - Petra, Mercedes, Ingrid, Flayn, Shamir, Cyril

Lysithea - Edelgard, Linhardt, Felix, Sylvain, Annette, Hanneman, Catherine, Cyril

Marianne - Ferdinand, Linhardt, Dimitri, Ashe, Sylvain, Hanneman

Hilda - Ferdinand, Casper, Sylvain, Mercedes, Annette, Seteth, Cyril

Leonie - Bernadetta, Felix, Sylvain, Seteth, Alois, Catherine, Shamir

[semi-imaginary-place]

Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind Fusion Alternate Route

Spoilers for all of Black Eagles and Golden Deer routes.

I should also say here I don't think this should actually be a route. And this isn’t an ideal route but I’ve had this idea floating around in my head for a while now and its too interesting not to write down. I want to cover for the narrative weaknesses in both the Black Eagles and Golden Deer routes while playing by their strengths (more on this towards the bottom). 

Byleth teaches the Golden Deer and bonds with all of them, but also spends much time with students of other Houses, especially Edelgard. Claude especially helps Byleth grow as a person, questioning the roles of government and faith. Between what Edelgard tells Byleth and what Claude figures out, Claude and Byleth start planning for the Adrestian invasion and for Byleth to act as an Alliance agent within the Empire. Byleth recruits Felix, Sylvain, and Petra (or some other mix of characters). They plan for places the Black Eagles who don’t want to fight for Edelgard can be (Dorothea, Linhardt, etc.). When The Flame Emperor steals the crest stones Byleth defends Edelgard against Rhea as planned and defects to the Empire. Claude organizes as escape for the Golden Deer from Garreg Mach as well as any students who can be convinced not to fight for the Church. During the battle Rhea and Byleth grievously injure each other with Byleth falling into regenerative stasis like a Nabatean a la Sothis. The remnants of the Church join with the Kingdom but not before Cornelia throws a rebellion backed by the Agarthans. Assassinating Dimitri’s uncle and framing him, the Kingdom is split and begins a 5 year civil war. After Byleth wakes, unlike in Crimson Flower where you invade the Alliance first, in this route you invade the Kingdom first. The rest of Crimson Flowers then plays out. Seteth and Flayn disappear, and Dimitri is killed. After a final battle against the Church in which Rhea is killed, the Empire in victorious but the Kingdom is in shambles after a civil war and invasion.

Internal tensions is the Empire mount as Arundel and Edelgard fight for power and the ICBMs are deployed to intimidate and decimate Edelgard’s forces. All the while Byleth has been amassing support from both normal people and the military. With Edelgard struggling to maintain control of the Empire, Byleth proposes to join with the Alliance against the Agarthans. Byleth leads the new forces under the banner of the Union of Fodlan. The main force of the army under Edelgard confronts Arundel’s forces, while a smaller strike team led by Claude goes after Shambhala using the trajectory calculations from the ICBM by Hubert. Thales is defeated but as Byleth and Claude learn the truth of the Church and Crests from Shambhala, self destruct protocols are being activated and they must flee as Shambhala is destroyed. Meanwhile Union forces retake Enbarr and kill Arundel.  Then we get Verdant Wind's final battle which is a zombie fight with all 12 of the original legendary weapons against their original wielders. (well… 11 since we killed Maurice in his paralogue).

Alternate route 1: You kill Rhea during the assault on Garreg Mach because sooner is better and then Seteth leads the church forces.

Alternate route 2: This route starts the same as the others with Byleth helping Edelgard conquer the Kingdom but diverges afterwards. As in Verdant Wind, the Alliance takes the Great Bridge of Myrddin and Fort Merceus through tactics and sabotage on Byleths part (no dressing Claude up as Edelgard needed here). Hubert is assassinated. Sorry. I mean dies under mysterious circumstances. Edelgard driven back to Enbarr with only Byleth at her side, Byleth rallies the people against Edelgard’s tyranny (Fire Emblem is very top down, focused on what the Lords are doing, I know I’m in the wrong game but this is all made up anyways so gimme some grassroots organizing), throws a coup against Edelgard, ousting her and driving her forces into Cornelia's territory where a Kingdom rebellion is brewing. I can see the Agarthans pulling out support because they achieved their goal and Edelgard is losing and useless to them. Honesty the biggest threat in this route would be Hubert. Since he would intercept all out/in going communications, and planning a coup with him around would be exponentially more difficult.

Alternate route 3: This is essentially an expanded Verdant Wind. From Edelgard's Byleth mellows her personality and convinces her not to brute force solutions, and Dimitri doesn't die at Gronder Field (and gets therapy). I think its also the least likely to happen. You'd really have to start stretching things. Edelgard is very obstinate and kinda tunnel visions, but shes also oddly dependent on Byleth so I don’t know how it’d play out. Dimitri going feral seems dependent on if he gets accused of killing his uncle and gets hunted down for 5 years

The mysteries of the Crests are central to the story of Three Houses and in this way Silver Snow and Verdant Wind feel most complete. However they lack the excellent setup that Crimson Flower has. Crimson Flower is very interesting to me as you play as what would be the villain team in another game. A recurring element is moving past a society of crests and nobility and that's so much more satisfying with the total destruction of the Church, the Kingdom, and the Agarthans. Rhea has held Fodlan in an iron fist for 1000 years and its time for her, her dogma, and her organized religion to go. The Kingdom represents the worst parts of Fodlan’s crest society (dying well prioritizes over living, the entrenched feudal system, and a divine right of kings, etc.). The Agarthans are evil, but they also represent a path for humanity that we shouldn’t take.

Basically I want all the set up and mystery of Crimson Flower and all the payoff of Verdant Wind. 

Edelgard's route of all the routes has a ominous atmosphere. Claude and Hilda are goofballs, while Dedue is a soft boy and Dimitri is so earnest in part 1, but Edelgard is 100% serious business all the time and Hubert screams evil. In addition Edelgard's route is all about hidden conspiracies and knives in the dark. The main plot is against the Church and Rhea who has been puppeteering all of Fodlan for the last millennia. Arundel is secretly a major cause a lot of the bad stuff to happen in Fodlan in the last 20 years (as he is impersonated by Tales), and its in Edelgard's route that he has the biggest role (he also screams bad vibes). Unlike in the other routes where you are fighting Adrestia, in Edelgard's route you are against not only the rest of Fodlan, but also Agartha. The situation creates a unique sense tension where Edelgard is fighting enemies from within as well as without. Because of this Crimson Flower also feels like half a story where it has all this build up of "oh no the church is actually bad! We must take them down at all costs" plus a whole other secret dark organization that has been influencing Fodlan from the shadows. There is a lot of mystery and set up, it makes the player think a on a lot of questions, but the pay off isn’t quite there. The closest thing to answers we get is Edelgard's speculation on Byleth. For a route about tearing down those who have been ruling from the shadows, its ironic how little you find out and how little transparency Edelgard’s regime ends up having.

Claude's route has the opposite problem. This route is all about figuring out what’s really happening in Fodlan, what is the big picture of the war. And the last 2 chapters deliver that in concept. The final battle being against Nemesis and the 10 Elites is as a concept *chef’s kiss* because you are literally fighting what started off the crest system. However it doesn’t quite have the narrative weight it should. The last 2 chapters should have had more set up than "hey there’s some being darkly dressed mages on the map". There are little personal stakes for the last 2 fights besides "hey a bunch of people might die" which is true of any fight.

On another note, the purpose of 5 year time skip was to allow the students to grow into themselves without Byleth around, so that when you are reunited its on more equal footing and you can see how they have changed as people. That said, Byleth falls into a hole and sleeps for exactly 5 years??? what. Now its established that when injured and exhausted Nabateans will enter a sort of stasis where they wont age and sleep off their injuries (like the Wind Caller, Cethaleann, and Sothis), a possible in game reason that Byleth slept for 5 years and didn’t age is that they were severely injured in the battle of Garreg Mach. and this is where the game could have done better. It’d be cool to have Byleth fight waves of enemies on their own and be whittled down to nothing. But no, the  Immaculate One pops up or like one guy attacks you and down the hole you go! What I’m saying is there could have been more dramatic tension for the finale of act 1.

This can all be friendships but I do like the idea of a potential Edelgard and Claude romance in this route.

[gascon-en-exil]

FE16 Black Eagles (Edelgard) Liveblogging

Chapters 15-16. The plot, among other things, explodes.

I was wondering where all the Eagles character paralogues were, and all of sudden come Chapter 15 three of them get dumped on you. Edelgard’s is a fight on the border against Nader and the Almyran remnant. Wyvern riders are unusually overpowered in this game, even as enemies. They’re not a unit type one expects to be so fast. Hubert goes back to the Sealed Forest to save Those Who Slither from their own failed creations. Both of these paralogues play up Hubert’s own talent for slithering in the dark: the first because it’s heavily implied that he poisoned Hilda’s brother so he’d have to rely on the Empire to push back the Almyrans, and the second because he’s been investigating Those Who Slither on the side all the while your army is being strong-armed into doing their bidding.

Petra and Bernadetta’s paralogue meanwhile has been the first map on this route that I haven’t seen before, a heavily forested section of Brigid. Bernadetta’s role there is almost completely random, but it comes together in the end in a way that feels satisfying. The chapter itself on the other hand features a cheap fakeout win condition, thankfully avoidable via Divine Pulse, and another appearance by the OP Catherine.

Playable kills: Flayn and Seteth from the church, Felix and Ingrid from the Lions. Now that the Alliance portion of the story is done I notice that Raphael and Lorenz skipped out on showing up this time, along with Marianne who doesn’t appear in the Lions’ Part 2 either. Actually, I’ve read that she’s the only playable character who doesn’t appear in Part 2 at all unless she’s in your army, with the implication that her depression and/or the dark story surrounding her Crest killed her or drove her to suicide in the timeskip. That’s...something.

I’ve also read that if you don’t recruit Shamir and Alois they show up in Chapter 15 to be killed...and that Manuela and Hanneman only do so on the Lions route in Dimitri’s paralogue for some reason. Weird.

I can confirm that the dark merchant does not sell Dark Seals. He’s only available in the second to last exploration month of Edelgard’s route, so you can’t get much use out of him anyway. Sucks for Hubert, but if I’m understanding correctly how you can buy classes with Renown the next time I use him I can just certify him for dark mage that way and get one seal for dark bishop. 

The brevity of this route sticks out more and more the closer I get to the end. Not so much for the story which is moving along at a brisk pace to match Edelgard’s resolve and concrete goal in contrast to Dimitri throwing everyone off with his unresolved personal issues, but for the gameplay. A bunch of my units aren’t going to make it master classes at this rate, and I’m tempted to not even touch Edelgard’s emperor class when it randomly becomes available after Chapter 15 (seriously, her armor just arrives from the capital? Are we timing lord promotions by the speed of parcel delivery now?) because there’s no timing and making her armored is kind of awful.

Story/Character observations

Chapter 15 opens with a bizarre interlude of Byleth coming upon Edelgard in her room at night, and an attempt at humanizing her by...telling us that she draws pictures of Byleth. That’s not even organic Avatar worship, come on. From what I remember her A support is more of the same, so I’m not holding out much hope for her big bi S rank.

Thankfully her two dorky subordinates salvage the character-based charm of this route. Ferdinand pokes a hole in the fourth wall and asks Byleth if they’ve thought about a world in which they chose another house or chose to side with the church, and while I can see the similarities with Conquest constantly dumping on Corrin’s choice this incident is isolated enough that I’m not feeling condescended to. Ferdinand’s A support with Byleth reveals that the first king of Faerghus - you know, the one with the very close *nudge nudge wink wink* friend akin to Felix - had a second very close friend who was just as indispensible but didn’t desire notoriety and so didn’t make it into many history books. Ferdinand compares this to what both he and Byleth are to Edelgard (I imagine this support is phrased very differently if gotten on any other route), but my mind went right to Kris, the shadow Avatar at Marth’s side who got left out of the original game historical accounts. While I believe that Byleth’s ending on Edelgard’s route actually is fairly out of the public eye, in other routes they’re either the archbishop or the ruler of the united continent. Byleth is very much not that type of Avatar who can just disappear at the end because how else could they sleep with the whole cast?

I can’t forget about Hubert either. Apparently he’s the one who gives Those Who Slither their infamously unwieldy name - thanks a lot, Hubie - during his investigations on how to out-evil them. When he’s not doing that he’s engaging in absurdly cute support conversations with Ferdinand where they’re both blushing and exchanging gifts with romantic music in the background. I also noted that they’re one of the couples who get special meal dialogue that evolves along with their supports. See, this is what I mean when I say that M/M and F/F subtext are on completely different playing fields. Dorothea will just come out and ask Manuela if they can live together and forget about finding men, or give Ingrid a ring and joke about owning her, etc. For the guys it’s watching them sputteringly make friendly gestures toward one another while blushing, or make promises to die together, or insist on the other using their given name (but in private!) to indicate that there’s going to be dick touching.

Nader dies during Edelgard’s paralogue. In combination with Judith’s death in Chapter 13 I think this is meant to indicate that this is the one non-Deer route that does not feature a large Almyran invasion after the credits roll. Even if you choose not to kill Claude as I did, without any of his close allies (who are also his parents, in the case of those two?) the implication is that he won’t have the strength to pursue his own dreams of continental conquest. Good on him to outright admit that he has them to Edelgard, though.

Speaking of the game admitting things that otherwise only go implied, let’s talk about those explosions. The Black Eagle Strike Force feints toward Fhirdiad but moves instead to conquer Arianrhod, with Edelgard and Hubert’s target being specifically Cornelia. Cornelia in this route hasn’t betrayed Faerghus to the Empire yet, but according to Arundel she was planning to as a member of Those Who Slither despite lacking their characteristic pallor. Arundel responds by using “pillars of light” - more likely those anachronistic ballistic missiles seen in a church route cutscene - to blast the fortress into oblivion and kill a bunch of people inside.I’m ignoring how petty it seems of Arundel/Thales to nuke a valuable military installation just to get revenge on Edelgard for killing a minion who was going to help Edelgard do what she’s about to do in the last two chapters anyway. No, what fascinates me about this situation is how Edelgard and Hubert immediately spin this for the rest of their army, saying it was Rhea’s doing and using it to motivate the Strike Force to conquer Fhirdiad as quickly as possible. Ever since I got her C support I’ve been curious as to why Edelgard harbors so much personal hatred for the church when Those Who Slither were the ones responsible for torturing her and her siblings for Crest research. Here she’s deliberately making that misdirection, which....doesn’t answer my question at all but does at least demonstrate that the writers are aware of it. How it will all play out, or if this is something that only makes sense when considering information learned from the church and/or Deer routes is yet to be determined.

Looking at this from the perspective of the Strike Force though I can see why they’d need some additional pushing to get invested in how evil Rhea is. She’s done very little so far to follow up on her creepy authoritarian vibes from Part 1, and the scene of her grieving Seteth and Flayn’s deaths only makes her regain some sympathy because of how personally she takes their loss. They have to be saving it all up for the finale. There will have to something to the antagonists we’re about to fight, because so far DImitri in this route has been even more of a non-entity. Of course I know that Chapter 17 brings not one but two flavors of gay tragedy, but in-universe I doubt anyone on the Strike force is squeeing over the Tempest King and his very devoted vassal.

[professor-tammi]

ok time for some more Three Houses babbling (Blue Lions stuff still!), I have more THOUGHTS to share, with the void of the internet

spoilers for post-time skip stuff (I mostly talk supports and some monastery convos here, not so much story stuff :D)

Dimitri finally stopped being too emo for supports so I got his A rank with Dedue and it’s adorable... he’s SO genuinely upset that Dedue considers himself more vassal than friend and then when Dedue finally calls Dimitri by his name instead of by his title he blushes as he says it. thank you for the blessed cute lord/vassal content IntSys

also if spoken to in the monastery, Dedue claims he doesn’t find Edgelord Dimitri to be any different from the “old Dimitri” and says he was always the type to care too much for the fallen due to his kindness, which is one way to view his murderous behavior haha. I guess it simply shows Dedue understands him best, though :D!

I found out that if you recruit characters from different houses, they’ll actually have route-specific dialogue, which is really interesting! Lysithea will talk about how she doesn’t approve of Dimitri’s actions and is happy once he uh, gets over it, so to speak, and Caspar discusses Dimitri’s treatment of Randolph (as they’re related) and, again once Dimitri comes to his senses, says that he came to him personally to apologize for what he’d done (which makes a lot of sense given Dimitri literally tortured the guy, yeesh)

also in the mission right before Dimitri stops being antisocial there’s a random soldier who mentions he saw Dimitri patting the head of an orphan and seems surprised the prince is even capable of doing something like that which is the saddest random NPC dialogue. I Cry

anyway back to supports I got the Felix/Sylvain A+ support and it has Sylvain faking being near death to mess with Felix who actually buys it and is completely beside himself with worry... Felix is such an idiot I love him?? (also he even claims he wants to hug Sylvain in the support and Sylvain’s really happy he said that and they like. blush about it. HELLO)

I recruited Marianne specifically bc I was curious about her supports with Dimitri, and I love them too!! the B rank is already a bit interesting as Dimitri tries to tell Marianne he relates to her insecurity in herself and she seems a bit confused as to how he could possibly relate (which I like as it takes her out of her shell a bit), and the A rank has them bonding some more over their trauma and is just kind of really sweet in general and I really want some Dimitri/Marianne content but I feel like it’s going to take a long time people get around to realizing their supports even exist... anyway one day someone out there in the world will draw some cute fan art of them and I will be happy. I believe

(no I can’t just draw stuff myself that’s silly)

I feel like I should mention something about Annette/Mercedes bc it’s the only A rank between two women the Lions get but while their A rank is very cute I found the chain overall a bit lacking, and the continuity also feels weird (I triggered the B rank before the time skip and it ends with them having a fight, so having them only make up post-time skip felt really off??)

honestly the lack of good F/F content in the Blue Lions may be my only issue with them but I guess that’s what Black Eagles are for

THAT SAID the Ingrid/Dorothea stuff in the paralogue is Good and very blatant, Dorothea canonically would marry Ingrid in a heartbeat and I love that!! I love Dorothea in general... the Yuri Queen tbh...

Dorothea/Felix A+ is also cute bc Felix can’t hold a conversation with someone to save his life and Dorothea is just. trying so hard to talk to him like a normal person how is Felix so consistently the funniest character in the game purely by virtue of his non-existent social skills

I like Ingrid as a character and I feel her supports are quite decent overall but at the same time none stand out to me as a favorite? I rather liked the Mercedes ones as they bond over their families trying to marry them off against their wishes but it ends at a B rank :( help who do I pair Ingrid with (tbh I think the game wants me to pair her with Sylvain and their supports are cute enough once you reach A sooo)

I recruited Caspar bc I was curious about his Ashe supports and the support chain is just them becoming cat dads which. okay it’s not terribly interesting but I can’t say it’s not cute

my verdict on Ashe as a character: the goodest boy

for Annette I’m kind of hoping she has a platonic paired ending with Gilbert where the whole family reunites bc I did their support chain and it’s sad but really cute, I’m so weak for family drama

I’ve also noticed some pairs of characters have unique dialogue for when you make them do group tasks, dine with them, etc etc and some of it also changes post-time skip and this just makes me want to find all of the unique dialogue in the game!! somebody stop me

some pairs who have dialogue like that: Dimitri/Dedue, Dimitri/Felix, Ingrid/Sylvain, Annette/Mercedes, Catherine/Shamir, Manuela/Hanneman... I’m sure there’s lots of others

[fireemblems24]

Are there any characters that are you going to recruit in certain routes?, there are really good different reactions depending on where do you recruit someone.

I’m definitely recruiting. My priority is any support a route-locked character has (like Petra for Claude). I also want Lorenz on all my routes because of his paralogue weapon lol. My friend also INSISTED I recruit Felix into the Black Eagles but not Sylvain or Ingrid (I’m scared, but listening). Otherwise it’s all based on unlocking paralogues like Leonie for Linhardt or Caspar for Mercedes, etc . . . But I don’t want to recruit everyone - not this time at least. I do want to do full recruit runs for all routes, but not until I get the DLC.