#but her personal responsibility is kinda brushed off by the narrative (she herself is presented as a good person even if she is literally

[silver-horse]

Bring back Ariane from witch hunt! She was literally the only one. sigh

my hope for da:d is a hot warrior woman that isn’t basically a cop

[larena]

Azure Moon and Women

I've been thinking a lot about how much the Azure Moon (Blue Lions) path of Fire Emblem Three Houses really failed to grab me, and why that might have been. There are, I think a number of reasons: I didn't connect emotionally to Dimitri, I don't like the Kingdom as a body of governance, and I played it after Crimson Flowers (Black Eagles) as my first playthrough which made it very hard to distance myself from my sympathies for Edelgard and her cause.

But I think a lot of my inability to connect to the plot of Azure Moon is actually that I don't think it does women very well.

We start with the fact that there are only three women in the house by default compared to the other houses' four, I played Female Byleth so that's four women total in the core cast. Obviously Flayn joins later as she always does, you can optionally recruit Manuela, Shamir, and Catherine, and any other female students you want. But their role in the narrative is limited.

Then, all the characters exclusive to Blue Lions: Dedue, Gilbert, and obviously Dimitri, are men. As well, the sole major supporting NPC, Rodrigue, is also a man.

So the gender ratio is already off. This will always be a mark against something for me, but it can be mitigated somewhat if female characters are given a lot to do and have deep characterization. And while the latter is true, I think, for every character in Three Houses, the former... Kinda isn't for the female character of the Blue Lions.

Obviously all of them are playable, so they do by the strictest definition *do* a lot, at least if the player allows them to. But within the core narrative... None of them truly contribute much.

Mercedes has an entire arc with the Death Knight, her brother, but it relies on completing a Paralogue that you have to recruit another man to unlock. That entire part of her character can optionally be completely unresolved. Annette has her relationship with Gilbert which is well-written and important to a greater metanarrative, but is also optional as it is mostly contained to their support chain. Ingrid, one of Dimitri's closest friends, doesn't do anything to help with his mental state besides be part of the peanut gallery, and occasionally express concerns to Byleth. None of them move the core plot of the route forward.

Granted, all of this is the way that it is because these characters can die, and so the story must not hinge on their involvement. The same is true of most of the male characters besides Gilbert. But then, they should have done more to make sure that there was a female presence in the narrative regardless of character death. Nothing mandated Gilbert or Rodrigue or even Dimitri be men.

The one case of a woman in the core cast who cannot be removed from the story is Byleth, if female. This is also not ideal because she can be a man. And her role becomes even more frustrating if she *is* female.

Much of Azure Moon revolves around Dimitri's breakdown and fragile mental state due to his trauma and feeling of betrayal from Edelgard. Most of the characters around Dimitri... Don't do anything to help him, really. Most of the rest of the Blue Lions can't do much because they may all be dead, Gilbert and Rodrigue don't do much because they are frustratingly loyal to Dimitri as the heir to the throne, and don't deign to go against any of his decisions, and Dedue *may* help somewhat, if he lives, but in a scene that is optional and is not reflected on very much in the succeeding narrative.

So we're left with Byleth, who is a largely silent protagonist, but does have personality and does take actions without player input. And if Byleth is a female character her actions regarding Dimitri become a problematic trope.

Byleth in Azure Moon cares deeply for Dimitri, regardless of player input. She wants to help him and is always there to be his emotional support. Which becomes frustrating when she is a woman who is, essentially, allowing a man to consistently verbally abuse her, in addition to a consistent threat of physical violence from him. She is a woman who exists almost entirely to be a sounding board for a violent man to work through his issues. Because that's really all a man needs, ultimately, a good woman to just be there for him.

The player is never given the opportunity, as Byleth, to push back against anything Dimitri says or does. The only options ever presented are understanding or silence. Even when Dimitri is telling Byleth that he will use her and her friends as instruments of war with no care for their wellbeing, Byleth *must* care about his.

Granted, all of this is exactly the same regardless of Byleth's gender, but if Byleth is a man, then it isn't better that the only roles this route can envision for women are side characters

Or villains. Azure Moon is the route that features Edelgard the most in her role as villain. In addition, it also features two other female villains in Cornelia and Fleche.

Cornelia is... Two-dimensional and shitty. She's a sexy woman who manipulates people and uses her position to only benefit herself. A deeply problematic trope that I don't think I need to discuss more?

Fleche meanwhile... Is a young girl, who (fairly) wants revenge against Dimitri for her brother's murder (so already her motivations revolve entirely around men) and when she finally makes her move to claim that revenge, it isn't tragic, the narrative does not care that she fails, it only cares that in her failure she killed Rodrigue instead.

Fleche's entire role in the story may as well have been fulfilled by a nameless enemy soldier, she is never mentioned again, even in the following scene where Dimitri starts to recover from his violent fugue, the focus is entirely on Rodrigue's death. Byleth strikes Fleche down without any input from the player. The player character of this game *kills a child* for wanting to avenge her brother, to protect a man who's killed ten times as many as she possibly could have. And it's brushed past.

Then there's Edelgard... I think Azure Moon actually does a good job of presenting Edelgards ideaology and motivations fairly and evenly when she is given opportunity to speak to them. But I don't think that's intentional. Based on Dimitri's response to her, dismissing her as "forcing her ideals on the commonfolk" (when he himself does and will *also* do that as king). The fact that her ultimate fate is turning into a mindless monster and being killed. The fact that the last shot of the game is Dimitri turning to look at her body and Byleth placing a hand on his shoulder as if to say she isn't worth it (or, admittedly perhaps to say that he needs to move forward, but i think both can be true). The route ultimately presents Edelgard as an extremist. An extremist with motivations that are understandable, but still an extremist.

So the only roles for women in this narrative, to sum up, are villains, peanut gallery, or motivation for the male lead. Meanwhile men, almost solely, drive the plot forward and have the most input on what the ultimate fate of Fodlan is. It's extremely frustrating and to be clear I don't post this to say that people who find something valuable in Azure Moon are wrong, or sexist, but just... To put it out there. Maybe there are people like me who dislike AM and aren't sure why, and maybe this can bring some possible reasons to light. And i think it is always a good thing to be critical, especially of things we love.

Oh also Sylvain is there a lot and he's extremely gross about women in every possible way.