#by virtue of being Nabateans

[randomnameless]

While it would have been a cool moment if Edelgard killed Byleth at the end of CF for being related to the goddess and, as such, having no place in the world she envisions, i somewhat like the implications of her allowing Byleth to continue working for her even after she finds out they're part-Nabatean; it's even more evidence that, when push comes to shove, she's more than willing to stomp on her own supposed ideals if doing so benefits her.

Those implications are already here, with some of her lines in her supports and Hubert's own - they know what Billy is, but still sprout the same shit, even if the Goddess herself (or at least her vessel) in on their side.

Supreme Leader's ideals imo is only about being on top, and being the Supreme Leader of Fodlan.

To reach that goal, she will ally/do whatever she must do, even if she doesn't like it. Enlisting Billy - a lizardspawn - 's help? Okay, because they have the SoC (and then maybe uwu romance). Siding with Uncle'n'pals? Okay. Nopes wise, siding with the Church for one chapter, to get rid of Uncle? Okay.

Everything is alright, as long as she becomes the Supreme Leader of Fodlan in the end.

The rest are just, uh, loose ends that will be dealt with.

I would have loved for Billy to be one of those loose ends - even if they swore to listen and to follow her, because Billy can eventually turn against her and become, in turn, a Supreme Leader of the world in her stead, she'd deal with them.

With a lot of sad uwu, of course.

Granted, idk if her fantastic racism is just, uh, usual racism or if it has roots in the belief that Nabateans, because they are "stronger" than humans, can become "Supreme Leaders" and humans cannot as long as they exist.

Hubert alludes to it in his Billy support, he calls it hypocrisy because he obviously drinks the kool aid of "might makes right" and the strongest being should rule, which is his and Supreme Leader's vision of what a ruler is supposed to be.

[butwhatifidothis]

'Damn Nabateans, doing all that ruling and oppressing from a remote village in the mountains. Their parents aren't even from around here. Nemesis should go over there and kill them all because immortal superpowered god-kings are preferable by virtue of being the same race as me and would be easier to overthrow, despite Nemesis specifically requiring an almost sixty years long war to remove in which Nabateans played a crucial part'. Bruh what are these takes why are people like this

I can't begin to explain what the hell is wrong with all of these people coming out of the woodwork to justify the evil genocide man. While simultaneously IN-FUCKING-SISTING that they're totally definitely not justifying him (as they paint the Nabateans as evil and in need of complete removal by any means necessary)

[kyogre-blue]

CF, let's go!

Immediately more amusing than SS by virtue of the fact that I care about the enemy units. Yes, Rhea looks so cool, Flayn is so cool, Catherine yeeeeeah. Very nice, I'm very happy.

Jokes aside, CF is looking very interesting from the perspective of speculating about 3H's production process.

From what I recall of the interviews, it seems they added CF comparatively late, due to simping reasons. That's interesting in itself, because Edelgard was given a lot of focus in development, given stuff like the early drafts of her also being able to Divine Pulse. But I guess it was only later in that they realized that, yeah, giving her a route would be cool and probably the most unique thing they could do.

Anyway, given its weird development, CF has a lot of strangeness about it. It's the shortest route by a good margin (VW and AM have 10 chapter each, SS has 9 due to Gronder being cut, but CF has only 6). There is only one actually unique map, I believe (Tailtean), but the chapters are reshuffled in completely different order from VW-SS-AM having basically the exact same progression. At the same time, is a very obvious lack of pre-rendered cutscenes and even in-engine scenes to some extent.

So the impression I get is that it was added late, so they couldn't produce certain assets like cutscenes or more than six chapters, but at the same time, they had a lot more passion for it, since they created a unique progression and honestly Edelgard has been emoting more in one scene than the entire Academy phase.

My dudes.... perhaps you should have started from the villain route and just gone full in, instead of the limp-wristed SS stuff, which supposedly was written first out of everything.

Live blogging notes:

I like how Edelgard is in her school uniform during the pre-battle scene in the Holy Tomb, but is then in the Flame Emperor outfit post-battle. Girl took the time to change, I see. It's not really a huge deal, but it's so lacking in attention to detail, sigh.

Man, furious antagonist Rhea is so cool. Very nice.

The Immaculate One is just a still here, where it was always a cinematic in the other routes.

"The monsters that have controlled Fodlan in secret for far too long" Edelgard again attributing things the Agarthans have done to the Nabateans.

We book it. Only respect for Rhea.

Hum... all the BE students escape with us to one of the Imperial army's provisional camps. Except Flayn, obviously. The students give a mix of reasons why they're siding with Edelgard, and they're fine. Kinda mild, but whatever. The music really gets me. Cute bubbly track while everyone is like "well, I wasn't thinking and just ran" or "I have political reasons" and then it switches to Edelgard's imperial march theme, and man. It's really something.

Yeah, Edelgard's anti-Church pitch is kinda... lol. Given that her own henchmen was like "steal all the bones! desecrate those graves! kill everyone!"

"[The Church's] control over the lords of the Kingdom and the Alliance is nearly absolute" L M A O

This is hilarious. Admittedly already more fun than SS.

Edelgard admits to being well aware of how much chaos and destruction she is bringing about based on just her own will. She knows she is the cause of countless deaths. But she still says she wants to bring down the church.

Except, of course, the Church hasn't done anything to her lol Edelgard's manifesto will expose "the foul practices of the nobles from the Kingdom and Alliance" like what tho

Byleth is going to lead a special "Black Eagle Strike Force"

oh ho.... we're exploring a non-monastery area! very nice

Quickly noting: We skip the entire last month of Academy Phase, going from 2/29 for the Holy Tomb directly to 3/30 for the pre-assault camp.

Edelgard B: takes place in her monastery bedroom, which is funny at this juncture. She talks about how she'd like a day to just idle away and eat sweets, and also how without Byleth she would have become a harsh leader with a heart of ice (ok, sure) and how everyone else always treated her as an untouchable princess or emperor, didn't look her in the eye, etc. Ferdinand does not exist, I guess. It's very staple as a concept, but the details aren't really in place for this. At best, you can say this hinges more on her own perceptions -- she never respected anyone else until Byleth enough to let them approach her as anything except pawns and vassals. Self-imposed trials and all that.

Roundup of the kids: Ingrid wants to try to persuade her father to join Edelgard but thinks he probably won't, Caspar's father is leading the "western units" and he'd have had to fight him if he stayed at the monastery, Linhardt calls out that the biggest nobles in the empire stripped Edie's dad of his powers but are now supporting her to smoothly take the throne (weird!), Ferdie acknowledges that his father is greedy and arrogant but feels that he did a lot of work for the empire only to now be disgraced (stripped of his rank and under house arrest), Bernie has less thoughts in her head than Caspar, Felix has like two lines lol, Leonie is just directly with Byleth and no one else, Ashe emphasizes that he can't trust the Church after Lonato and Christophe, Sylvain is kind of mess, thinking of his father, Dimitri, how he might die in the fighting, etc.

Hubert says it's not up to Edelgard to bring the students to our cause, which is... kinda wild. Why is it not up to her. Based on the rest of the dialogue, he means the recruited students from other houses, but uuuh given 3H quality, I expect he says this even if you haven't recruited, and also the phrasing is very vague to begin with.

Garreg Mach has never been attacked, so no one really knows how well it can stand against assault. Edelgard is confident in our power "from a mathematical standpoint."

Ladislava leads Edelgard's personal guard. There's also Randolph von Bergliez. His mother married into Caspar's family but this was after his birth. Unclear if this means he's from a previous relationship of hers, or if he wasn't legitimized despite being from a Bergliez fling. That explains one random battle line I got from him when attacking as Caspar on SS.

There's a couple stray comments from NPCs about Rhea turning into a beast (which happened down in the Holy Tomb where only a few people were, so... curious an NPC knows) and about not entirely believing Edelgard but supporting her for now.

Overall battle plan for the assault: Edelgard (+Byleth) leads an elite force that strikes as close to the monastery as possible, planning to draw attention of the elite Knights and Rhea's ire. Meanwhile, the main forces that marched in from the capital will surround and "annihilate" the remaining areas.

Another still of the Immaculate One after the battle, no CG. The entire scene is just one still, headshots of models talking and some filter to show that "the castle" is "crumbling." And that's it, wow.

Without Rhea fighting Thales and trying to save Byleth, she's well enough to flee to Faerghus. Nice!

Dimitri is King <3

Claude "strategically stirs up conflict between Leicester lords in an effort to maintain neutrality" lmao

Sothis is cool with you even after the Edelgard simping shenanigans, I guess.

The Imperial Army is holding the monastery, which is different from the other routes.

Edelgard emotes?? At the reunion with Byleth. WOW

Another still, no cutscene.

Edelgard's dialogue here... has almost the exact same beats as Claude's which is a bit funny.

Recap again that Dimitri is King and supporting the Church, Claude is being neutral, though Edelgard makes it clear this is a negative. His leadership "has thrown the Alliance into chaos."

OK, so Edelgard directly says we're going to eliminate the Church, the Kingdom and the Allaince. We're out to get them all, and the first target is Claude because Riegan has been standing against the Empire. To secure a route for imperial troops into the Alliance, we'll take out the big bridge first. At the same time, we'll take out Judith and since her territory is on the border with the Kingdom, getting her out of the way will be useful too.

[fantasyinvader]

Remember how in the Japanese version of Safflower, Dimitri will call out Byleth if they engage in combat by saying that they're following the path of the beast? The path of the beast is tied to the three poisons/flames, the things that you must purge yourself of in order to achieve nirvana. Hatred, greed, and ignorance is one way of labelling them, or delusion, attachment and hatred is another. Each one of those poisons is linked to an animal: hatred to snakes, greed/attachment to birds/roosters (roosters when taking the Chinese zodiac into consideration), and ignorance/delusion to pigs.

You're following a path, according to Dimitri, represented by a pig, a bird and a snake. TWSITD are the snake, fueled by their hatred of the Nabateans. The game does link Edelgard to being a bird, with the lyrics of Edge of Dawn and Hubert/Byleth's supports. Her path is one of greed or attachment, greed because she views all of Fodlan as rightfully hers while attachment is the player's. By having enough of a connection to Edelgard through supports, we unlock the Enbarr scene that gives us the option to go down the Flower route. I can't think of any pig, but considering the devs confirmed the setting was designed to support Silver Snow's story, ignorance is at play.

So, if Flower is meant to be the path of the beast, what does SS represent? There are three virtues that are meant to counter the poisons. Ignorance and delusion are countered by wisdom (like Claude in VW), greed and attachment by generousity (like Dimitri post-Moon), and hatred by loving-kindness (Rhea and the teachings of Sothis). Those are what leads to enlightenment.

[raxistaicho]

Flayn: Innocently Insensitive at best

Something I see fairly often among Nabatean discourse is a distinct lack of critical analysis of Flayn’s character. After all, why would anyone dislike her? She’s an adorable little cinnamon roll that just wants to nom fish and extol her own virtues!

Well... no. There’s actually some fairly sinister things going on just beneath the surface, and I’d like to expose them here today.

Showing her privilege and disconnect

The scene “Imperial Invasion” in Silver Snow is a pretty jaw-dropping parade of Flayn’s disconnect with ordinary people.

From her taking at face value that the Church of Seiros is a necessary pillar of Fodlan society:

Or assuming that people would not agree with Edelgard out of turn:

Or displaying bafflement that anyone might dislike the Church of Seiros:

But that’s hardly her only yikesy moment. Here’s Flayn preparing to kill to achieve her aim on the streets of Enbarr while castigating Edelgard doing the same:

“Twisted morality” indeed. But after all,

Superior green hair

Similarly to Rhea, Flayn seems particularly drawn to Byleth’s changed hair following chapter 10. Her changed hair color being, naturally, a mark of Byleth’s drift toward the Nabatean side of their heritage.

From her B and A supports with Byleth:

It’s worth taking a short break to her alternate line in her B support, which, if anything, is a trip into nightmare fuel:

This suggests that, unlike Seteth, Flayn might actually know Rhea had dabbled in human experimentation. As this conversation shows, as early as the Wyvern Moon (when her B support unlocks), Flayn suspects she may share kinship with Byleth. She then says to Solon, after Byleth is lost in Zahras,

It’s fairly undeniable that Flayn thinks Byleth is special in more ways than their connection to an endangered species, and that specialness is, in all ways, derived from the Nabatean side of their heritage, which is symbolized by the green hair they share with Flayn.

Entertain me, human!

Nearly all of Flayn’s supports with any of the humans begin with her demanding they teach her something or amuse her in some fashion.

In Ferdinands, she comes to interrupt him while he’s busy tending to armor, in Dedue’s, she asks him to teach her how to cook, in Felix’s, she badgers him cut wood with his sword for her entertainment, in Raphael’s, she constantly interrupts him with updates on her war cries, in Manuela’s, she asks her to sing on the spot, and Ignatz’s is simply a long stream of her egoistically hyping herself up.

Dimitri’s is an exception in that they share a connection over losing loved ones, and simply begins with him eating some of her suspicious food, and with Linhardt’s, she gets a taste of her own medicine with HIM badgering her with questions.

While her support partner seldom takes issue with her behavior, this does lend to a trend of her not holding the precious time of her human companions in very high regard.

[gascon-en-exil]

Crimson Flower lets Edelgard institute all her progressive reforms, and puts a definitive kibosh on both the Agartheans and the dragons. Various other character endings describe the slitherers resurfacing and being foiled again. Dmitri the emperor, and he's a well-meaning lad who probably makes reasonable strides against racism and systemic crest bias, but he largely keeps things going as they were. He makes it very clear that he hasn't thought very hard about his position in the world.

Edelgard, on the other hand, is justified in everything she does by virtue of her circumstances. At no point does she have any options other than declaring war on the continent or dying, because she has been in the clutches of the Agartheans her entire life. They want to use her as a figurehead, but make it very clear that they will bump her off if she steps out of line. She cannot prevent the war, so she instead makes it her own, and rallies her forces until she's can make a move against them.

Dimitri is a hereditary autocrat who secures his family's grip on the entirety of a continent, 2/3 of which he obtains through conquest. Really struggling to see the 'not an autocrat' angle here even if he does some positive reforms later in life. Like we get a fairly decent look at how non-traumatized Dimitri acts in CF and it all sets up that he entered into a political marriage and had a quick child to secure the inheritance. Hereditary monarchy is a scourge even if you have a 'good' monarch

FIrst, let’s get the most obvious thing out the way: there is no evidence that Dimitri has a political marriage and an heir in CF. 

The line about the Blaiddyd line continuing almost certainly refers to his uncle Rufus, who is killed in Cornelia’s coup in the non-CF routes but is presumably still alive in CF because she never gets the chance to carry it out. In the Dimidue death scene Dimitri expresses regret for not being able to get revenge for his family among others, so he’s still thinking of family in terms of his slain father and stepmother. I’ve also pointed out several times that Dimitri’s fondness for orphans is noted in story text and in AM’s ending tapestry, such that it’s entirely reasonable to conclude that he adopts regardless of circumstances as a way of diminishing the role of Crest-based inheritance. In CF his circumstances seem to be nearly identical to the Dimidue paired ending where there is no queen in sight and Dedue is a royal consort in all but name. I highly doubt they chose to adopt while fighting a war that’s by now been dragging on for over five years, so the conclusion about Rufus stands (even more so because he’s noted elsewhere to be a shameless womanizer so it’s likely he’s got one or more bastards somewhere). If you’re looking for a hereditary monarch who founds or perpetuates a dynasty, that would be Claude, or Byleth in various VW/SS endings. Quibbling over monarch vs. emperor has little meaning in this context, especially when Edelgard stepping down after an indeterminate amount of time and naming a successor is fully in line with real world dictatorships. Non-democratic systems of government are the standard for all of FE, although the beginnings of a representative government mentioned in Dimitri’s solo ending might be the single closest instance of a significant movement away from that even if it’s only a constitutional monarchy with the heir to the throne a Crestless adoptee. This follows naturally from the years of the timeskip where Dimitri was homeless and in and out of the slums of the Kingdom, where he saw the suffering of the common people firsthand and, as seen in the AM parley, came to understand their needs better than Edelgard ever attempts. In conjunction with Claude’s ignorance of the lives of the Almyran people as seen in his Cyril supports, it’s actually reasonable to conclude that Dimitri has thought about his position relative to his subjects more than either of the other leaders.

And speaking of Claude, Dimitri does not conquer the Alliance in AM; rather, Claude hands it over to him unexpectedly after the Kingdom army comes to his aid and fights off the Imperial army invading Derdriu. If Hilda is recruited in AM her monastery dialogue the next month reveals that the Alliance council peacefully agreed to go along with Claude’s decision to cede their territory to the Kingdom. This is incidentally a much better deal than the Alliance gets in either VW or SS, where Claude disappears either at the end of the game or after Gronder and it’s given to Byleth with no further discussion (and the same thing also happens to the Kingdom in both routes). The Empire at the end of the game is in much the same situation as every other antagonist nation in FE, with no one to rule it following the counter-invasion from the protagonist nation(s) because they’re all dead. Similar to Genealogy the picture does open up a bit depending on who’s alive, with Ferdinand, Lorenz, Marianne, etc. governing their respective territories if they’re recruited. Ditto unseen noble heirs like Holst and Caspar’s older brother who are still around to inherit their titles even with Byleth or Dimitri ruling the continent. As far as the Empire is concerned the two of them are as much imperialists as Marth, Seliph, the Renais twins, etc., a far cry from Edelgard in CF invading and conquering two sovereign nations without provocation, predicated in part on the basis that centuries prior they were part of the Empire so it’s acceptable for her to conquer them.

Now, onto Edelgard. You must be aware that Edelgard chose to ally with the Agarthans at Hubert’s suggestion, and she continues to make that choice for nearly a decade without any attempt at checking them despite knowing all the terrible things that they’re getting up to behind the scenes at the monastery and that they enacted earlier without her direct involvement to destabilize the continent and make her conquest easier, like the Tragedy of Duscur and the death of Claude’s uncle. As myself and others have noted attempting to spin her as a helpless victim of their machinations only makes her look incompetent and terrible in her choice of allies - not just the Agarthans themselves but also known murderers Hubert and Jeritza whom she cannot fully control with one frequently going behind her back and the other openly disobeying her multiple times on the battlefield. This in combination with Hubert’s status as the Manfroy to Edelgard’s Arvis leaves me very much in doubt of the Agarthans being truly eradicated in the postgame. Not only is this unsatisfying for the player, but given Hubert’s use of dark magic and dabbling in the Agarthans’ experiments (plus that he was the one who suggested the alliance in the first place, for all that he grumbles about Thales ordering him around) it’s more likely that he eradicates their leadership and then installs himself at the head of the remaining cult, folding them into his established network of spies and assassins. Hubert is one of my favorite characters in this cast, but he’s anything but trustworthy especially if his primary motivation really is wanting Edelgard to sleep with him when it turns out she never will, not even in their paired ending. In keeping with his status as the pathetic hopeless suitor pining for this game’s headlining waifu despite her overt attraction to the self-insert, sexual frustration is built into his character even if he gets a wife or if he and Ferdinand become the most notorious lovers in Enbarr.

Plus, if you look Edelgard actually does rather than what she says she aligns more with what the Agarthans want than the stated goals of her own propaganda. She completes their genocide of the Nabateans and unifies the continent with Agarthans in positions of great power. On the other hand she doesn’t eradicate the nobility as a whole but only replaces those who would oppose her seizing absolute power, which goes to support that it was the Insurrection of the Seven and not the Agarthan experimentation that truly shaped her worldview and motivations. The stated reasons she wants to destroy the church are provably incorrect - she knows they didn’t create Relics or Crests thanks to secret Imperial knowledge passed down from Wilhelm, and she must know that they aren’t all-powerful as the Empire disbanded the Southern Church completely a century before the events of the game with apparently no pushback from Rhea or anyone else - and one must therefore conclude that she instead targets them because they, like the Imperial nobles she replaces and like Claud e and Dimitri defending their nations, would oppose her solitary rule of the continent. It’s just awfully convenient that this goal also accomplishes the Agarthans’ main goal of killing or driving into hiding all of the remaining dragons. Saying that the war was inevitable because the Agarthans were slinking around setting it up to happen doesn’t absolve Edelgard of the responsibility of choosing to ally with them and playing right into their hands, especially when her conquest only noticeably improves her own situation, and possibly Hubert and Jeritza’s now that they have a license to kill, torture, etc. for an entire continent. All of the other Eagles go on to inherit what they would have inherited anyway, and all the reforms mentioned in the CF endings are the same or better in endings for the other routes only your side didn’t start a war and complete a genocide to bring those about.

[inkhandart]

About - Sanar Barako

 Cheers for the tag @elfsidian​

More under the cut, this is a lot of text

Name: Sanar Barako

Aliases: Rose

Gender: Fluid, but primarily they/them

Age: They’ve been 19 for a long time now

Species: Manakete/Fell Dragon

Zodiac: Virgo

Abilities/Talents: Very proficient with a range of classical weapons, particularly with blades and polearms. They’re also adequate at both offensive and healing magic, with more skill in offensive spells like Bolganone and Sagittae. Very athletic with a wide range of physical combat capabilities and observant, but prone to not noticing an injury. They’re very skilled at riding wyverns, having done it their whole life, and greatly enjoy being around and caring for them. They’re also very good at getting unruly wyverns to obey, which transfers to their commanding skills.

{Personal}

Alignment: Neutral Good - they’ll do good when they think it’s worth it, but won’t try to indiscriminately save people

Religion: Sanar isn’t devout to either Naga or Grima, in their childhood they were more partial to the views of the church of Naga. Now though, they tend to avoid organised religion as much as they can, especially the Grimleal or devout followers of any religion.

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience

Languages: Plegian, Ylissean, Rosanne (idk what it’s called), Nabatean

Family: Sanar has two younger brothers, Gerome and Morgan, although Gerome is only younger by 7 minutes. Both of their original parents are dead or otherwise indisposed; Robin was taken over by Grima and Cherche was the first casualty in the ensuing war. Sanar was able to grab their parents’ rings and ran with both their brothers, but Morgan got separated and they couldn’t him again. The twins were 10, Morgan was 6. In the past, both younger versions of their parents are fine, and the younger Sanar and Gerome are almost a year old.

Friends: Sanar is generally friendly enough with the other future children, although they tend to stick mainly to Gerome, Lucina and Inigo. Some of the louder kids, like Cynthia and Owain, irritate them enough that they will often glare them into submission before even thinking about it. Others, particularly Severa and Laurent, they simply can’t stand being around and will only be near them in any capacity in battle. Sanar attracts like-minded people - straightforward, and more focused on the pressing situation than on alleviating tension - and has an unintentional habit of creating a flock, generally of those too young or nervous to be on the front lines. Anxious soldiers feel soothed, seeing them dispatch foes with grace and confidence, so they’re very good for morale, although they actually haven’t noticed this.

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Relationship Status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating/ IT’S COMPLICATED (they’re too focused to split their attention like that, but they’re amiable to a fling every now and then)

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average / low / very low / non-existent (they’ll more than happily kiss someone and get their hand up their shirt, but they aren’t the most comfortable with sex)

{Physical}

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other (pink)

Eyes: brown / blue / green / black / other (grey)

Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other

Height: 181cm / 5′11

Weight: 75kg

Scars: A lot of minor scratches and blade marks, with clusters on their feet ankles and hands from mishaps with polearms. More scars from various blades on their legs, hips, left shoulder, collarbones and neck. A very rough scar on their lower right abdomen, from a messily healed sword wound. A lot of faint scars on their fingers and hands, and a starburst scar on their right elbow from a small explosion.

Facial Features: Sanar’s eyes are quite sharp, with long eyelashes and slope down at the outer corners. Their nose is long and straight with a round tip, and their eyebrows are thick and set in a neutral frown. Their lips are full with a prominent dip in the middle and the corners of their lips turn down. Sanar’s jawline looks soft from most angles, but when their hair is out of the way it’s clear that it’s quite strong. Also, they have two black horns protruding from either side of the forehead and curving down towards their chin, very similar to Grima in full Divine Dragon form.

Tattoos: None yet

{Choose}

Dogs or Cats? Animals both love and respect Sanar, probably something to do with the being a giant dragon god

Birds or Hamsters? Why else would you shapeshift into a wyvern if not to let a bunch of birds hitch a ride?

Snakes or Spiders? Reptiles hell yeah

Red or Blue?

Yellow or Green?

Black or White?

Coffee or Tea?

Ice Cream or Cake?

Fruits or Vegetables?

Sandwich or Soup?

Magic or Melee?

Sword or Bow?

Summer or Winter? They lived in Plegia for quite a while in their childhood, so deserts and heat are something they’re quite accustomed to. Plus, dragon, giant reptile, heat is good.

Spring or Autumn? There’s nothing they love more than Spring in Wyvern Valley, seeing all the newborn wyverns and playing with them.

The Past or The Future? The past is a something Sanar actively avoids, it’s just too many missed opportunities, regrets and painful memories. They need the future to be better, or nothing will have been worth it.

[omgkalyppso]

Giving them their coat and Soft face brush(?) I have. Bad short term memory you'll have to forgive me if i got those wrong bddheyeybbdu💞

You didn’t! Thank you! It made me write SOMETHING. Claude x Fae feels.

Giving them their coat.

With Nemesis defeated, the remaining forces were returning to Garreg Mach, to confirm their victory, and that no further threats had reared their heads. It was late in the evening when, astride his wyvern, Claude had raised his arm to signal to Hilda and her battalions that they should land, and she’d absolutely shrieked in horror. The rush of the wind had been so familiar, that he simply hadn’t noticed that his shirts were torn from elbow to hip bone.

“Thank goodness we’re landing!” she called in relief, settling on dry earth next to her friend. Claude rolled his eyes and smiled.

“It’s not that bad, Hilda.”

“You can’t fly in to Garreg Mach like that,” she chastised, unbuckling herself. “You’re the Grand Duke of Leicester, and possibly the next ruler of Fodlan. It would be undignified for your whole armpit to be hanging out when we get back.”

“Are you offering to patch me up?” Claude taunted, jumping to the earth. “She isn’t, is she?” he cooed to his wyvern, tapping on either side of her snout.

Hilda was rubbing the side of her own wyvern’s neck as she tossed her head back. “You know we have people for that, buUut Mercedes would probably work fastest, and her hands wouldn’t be exhausted from bowstrings or battle axes.”

“I’m not going to ask Mercedes to—” Claude was saying, but Hilda was already marching away, surely in search of her, and so Claude scoffed and repeated some of the relief he’d shown his wyvern earlier in the day for her tireless work.

They dressed Claude in one of the grey tunics usually reserved for the injured, and while Mercedes, Hilda and Marianne chatted away in his open tent by candlelight, Claude sat out by the fire. He distracted himself from the chill by watching the way the sparks danced up to the heavens above, and by rubbing his thumb back and forth of the sash in his lap.

“Claude?” Fae called as they rushed up to meet him, and he heard the concern in their voice, and smiled.

“My friend,” he answered, waving them closer, “were you still working?”

“I was just checking on the distribution of potions, I wasn’t sure if we’d have trouble getting the Leicester quartermasters to share with the Adrestians,” they explained, sitting next to him. Their large eyes roamed over his face and shoulders, and Claude blushed softly, letting them the time they needed to ask. “You’re not injured, are you?”

“No,” he assured them, folding up his sash. “No, I’m fine. My shirts were torn, and so the ladies are repairing them.” He nodded to his tent, where he could hear Hilda giggling, and felt himself melt as Fae smiled at the sight of the gathering.

Fae sat next to him, both closer and further away than he’d like. The crackling wood popped, and Claude turned his attention to it.

“You’re awfully close to the fire,” Fae observed. “Are you cold?”

“I don’t think—” Claude cut short when he felt a warm hand on the side of his face, swiping a curl back. Despite feeling it and knowing what it was, and — by every God in the Heavens — wanting it, he jerked away, his hands twisting the sash in his hands as they balled into fists on instinct.

“I—I’m sorry.” Fae worried, and then said very quickly, “But you are cold.”

“What? No, I’m fine. There’s really nothing you need to…” Claude trailed off this time, as Fae stood beside him, pulling out of that long grey coat. He’d had so many nightmares of that coat, found empty at the bottom of a chasm, cold and lifeless, coated in blood. Instead he found it being draped over the back of his shoulders, not quite fitting, but not needing to, warm, smelling of sweat and battle, but … alive.

Claude scrunched up his nose in a smile, trying to joke, so that he didn’t burst with confessions and declarations and desperation, “You spoil me.”

Fae smiled as they resettled next to him, and took their turn looking at the fire. “Now we’re even.”

“Are you suggesting you’re done working with me?” Claude prodded, crossing his hands at the wrists to hold either side of the coat tightly around him. “With Nemesis defeated, our partnership ends?”

“I hope not. We,” Fae turned to look at him, and hesitated. “We fight so well together.”

“We do,” Claude agreed. He hummed. “Besides, weren’t you going to help me with my dream?”

“Of course,” Fae said, smiling and sighing. “I guess there really is so much left to do.”

‘If only I could do it from here. From your side,’ Claude thought sadly, lowering his right hand to the sash in his lap. ‘Let me be with you, if only now, if only for a little longer.’ He ran his thumb over the pocket of the sash, stitched closed, to secure his mother’s ring.

Soft face brush.

It was unusual by both Almyran and Fodlani standards for so many people to be present for a birth, but the twin princes had been a strange case for months now. Seteth had been there, with two Almyran healers and one from Fodlan, and Claude. He’d felt his heart sink through to the heart of the earth when Seteth had looked at him with an expression that Claude was still uncertain of being horror; but it had been nothing, not really, not that anyone would overtly comment upon. The twins were born with elfin ears and shocks of neon green hair, but not Nabatean blood, so far as Seteth had determined some hours later.

Claude had understood Seteth’s distress.

They were small, both by virtue of being twins, and a month early, and Claude’s heart ached to look at them. Magic and medicine were only so deep in his control. He was told it would be at least a week before they would feel secure leaving the children without twenty-four hour supervision.

As such, there was a healer in the room where Claude hovered over his and Fae’s babies. They’d been warned about holding them, but he had washed his hands and donned gloves and a mask as requested, so that he could touch them, just for a moment. Fae had shrieked and cried when the healers insisted the babes be instantly contained, leaving Fae no opportunity to properly see or hold them. Claude and Seteth had promised that both children were alive with their every breath afterwards, until Fae had finally sobbed themselves to sleep.

Carefully, Claude swept a fingertip across the forehead of one babe, trailing his thumb over the ear of the other.

They were so small. Claude swallowed, and with one nervous glance back at the healer, opened his mouth to quietly pray to several different Gods as he lay his hand around the side of one of his children; that they would survive the week, the year, their lifetime; that they would play in the rain and sleep in the sun, and learn to travel by the guiding stars. He rolled his fingers over the back of the shoulder of his other little prince, and continued his pleas; that they knew nothing of war or assassination, that they lived to mock him and his generation for things that they would know as petty squabbles and useless fights. When his child twitched under his touch, Claude shut up and pulled away, both to try and keep the babe from whining, and because he was still in wonder of it, to have children. He and Fae had been preparing and planning for months, and years, of course, but for the twins to be here and present and reacting to him and breathing was another matter entirely.

“Just keep breathing,” he whispered, he begged. He laughed. “And thank you, for being gentle on your Ren and each other. I appreciate all the strength you’ve shown so far… Just be strong a little longer for me, okay? Then I can take over. I promise to take care of everything.”

[ncfan-1]

Seteth and Flayn for the character meme please :3c

Seteth:

How I feel about this character: He frustrates me a fair bit for reasons that will be elaborated on below, but overall, I do like him.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I don’t particularly ship anyone with this character.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Rhea, probably

My unpopular opinion about this character: Seteth’s role in Fodlan’s affairs by the time the game starts can be succinctly summed up as “the good man who does nothing, and by his inaction allows tyranny and injustice to triumph.” It is not enough for him to merely be uncomfortable with the damage wrought by the Crest System. If he wants to do better, he needs to actually do something about it.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Among my many other wishes for Silver Snow (that Rhea hadn’t been captured and had been the Lord of the route, that draconic degeneration was foreshadowed better in this game, that Rhea’s twelve children appeared as minibosses in the final battle to cap off how apocalyptic Silver Snow is as a route), I wish that Silver Snow had had a real character arc for Seteth. As you can imagine, my ideal Silver Snow arc for him would have involved forcing him to come to grips with the role he’s played in propped up an oppressive government and societal structure that’s screwed over every last person he cares about whose names aren’t Rhea or Flayn, and having a moment when he finally does something with his discomfort regarding Rhea’s actions and the societal structure she’s propped up and resolves to reform Fodlan into something kinder and healthier, even if that means having to go against Rhea to do it.

my OTP: Don’t have one.

my cross over ship: Again, don’t have one.

a headcanon fact: Seteth was, before everything went to hell in Zanado, pretty laid-back and easygoing, and had a drastic personality shift after the murder of his mother and the vast majority of his brothers and sisters, and another dramatic personality shift after his wife was killed and his daughter was nearly killed and spent the better part of a thousand years in a magical coma. I mean, if anything’s gonna change your personality...

Flayn:

How I feel about this character: Precious, must be allowed to live her own life and experience the world on her own terms.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Hmm. I do like her with Ferdinand

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Byleth. I noticed the fact that Byleth gets a boost to might from a grand total of five supports in this game. There’s the three house leaders, which is what you’d expect, along with Yuri, and the fifth is Flayn. This little gameplay mechanic has always seemed to me a signal that they have a bond that goes deeper than what the game always willing to tell us. And I like the idea of the only two human-Nabatean hybrids in the world sticking together.

My unpopular opinion about this character: While she may look younger than she actually is and her lack of experience of the world makes her naive, she definitely has the wisdom and maturity of an adult, and anyone who seriously looks at her and thinks “that’s a child” probably sees Seteth’s face when they look in the mirror.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I really wish there was a way for Flayn to join us on Crimson Flower. I don’t think it should be easy to meet the requirements for that, and I don’t think she’d be happy with every last thing that goes down (definitely not killing Rhea, that’s for damn sure), but she’s such a compassionate and caring person, and I wonder exactly what Flayn thought of the world her aunt had wrought while she was sleeping for nearly a thousand years.

my OTP: Ferdinand, by virtue of being the only person I really ship with her.

my cross over ship: Nobody.

a headcanon fact: Flayn does embroidery. She finds it soothing and it helps her think.

[randomnameless]

Typing a reply made me re-check Big B's paralogue

And I remembered this post where I ranted about some stuff

Big B goes :

It's not exactly a real Relic, per se. Nope. It's a replica. Crafted after the War of Heroes. It's a secret family heirloom of sorts from my mom's village.

Now, we know the weapons "similar" to Relics were used during the War of the Eagle and the Lion by Loog's side, so yes, Relics (even if they don't belong to the Elites, they are still powered by Crest Stones and made of Umbral Steel unlike Aymr!) were still being made post WoH.

And that makes me think...

In the earlier post, I was kind of trying to make sense of Willy's conquest and came up with the idea of him brutally putting to the sword/axe/whatever he used the clans and people who knew how to "craft" relics, aka "seeking more power", but also, just people who know because this secret must be hidden at all costs.

Willy's callous actions might have been done with the best intentions (protect Nabateans) but it still led him to slaughter people whose only "sin" was... knowledge.

Fodlan games being what they are, we will not know if Vajra Mushti was made of "material" that was "already harvested" in Zanado, or if a Nabatean - post Zanado - was trounced to craft it, like a random one who was not present during the initial genocide and ultimately was killed for the same reasons. We know Pan was most likely an Agarthan person, was he the one who gifted "new golden weapons" to Loog's side? Were those weapons from "freshly harvested" Nabateans, or made from the "previously harvested" ones whose bones were in the barracks?

Now, concerning Balthus' in particular...

This relic is, per his words, something crafted after the WoH and it was treated as a heirloom in Kupala. Mmkay.

But we also have this :

There's a story they tell where my mom grew up. Long ago, the village got in a squabble with some folks looking to conquer the place. A village elder gave some holy red stuff to their wounded soldiers. Some kind of liquid, who knows... After she did that, some of them made a complete recovery, against all odds. The rest of them were changed, but not for the better. They up and vanished before long. Crests suddenly manifested for the ones who survived.

The Apostle Chevalier left Garreg Mach after the Rite of Rising and went in the mountains, most likely Kupala.

Then, he gave his blood because some people tried to conquer the village (tfw Kupala is located near the Almyran border?), some people got crests and the others, well, didn't (Balthus wonders what "vanished" means, but maybe it means they were turned in demonic beasts?).

And then... Balthus says the gauntlets were "crafted" (so he calls them replicas) so it's knowledge they were "made" and we know what kind of "material" was used.

Assuming Chevalier was a Nabatean (since the only occurences of people healing and getting a crest thanks to magic blood come from people who got their transfusion from a nabatean, Nopes!Seteth mentions how an Elite was supposedly "cured" after getting a crest...) - this would mean he fails the rite of rising and retires in the mountains, live in a village with humans, humans are threatened so he saves them -

and then he is fucking harvested and crafted in a weapon

(Vajra-Mushti has two crest stones (tfw gauntlet) so maybe some random Agarthan gave them the second "crest stone" if Chevalier only had one)

Nabatean Chevalier helps humans and is harvested as a result by the same humans he saved and who knew they could "craft" weapons from him.

(in the best course of action, just like Aubin, Chevalier died "from natural causes" and humans later used his bones to craft the relic, instead of killing him)

Wouldn't this mean, at the end of the day though, that Willy would be, in this theory, right?

If humans know how to craft "golden weapons", they will craft them, regardless of the nature of the "material" used - the people of Kupala were saved by Chevalier the Nabatean... and they show their gratitude by desacrating his remains to build a weapon and treat "it" as a "family heirloom"

(if not straight up killing him to craft said weapon!)

Given how fond Yuri was of old man Aubin, I picture him having the same reaction as Edward from FMA who found out the "being" he transmuted wasn't his mother, when he will find out "what" is the nifty relic he uses.

(granted, given the age of all parties and how the Fetters of Dromi were previously in Dagda, I wonder if Aubin was the one who was turned in an accessory, or if it wasn't another snow dragon...)

In the end - current Fodlan (or post WoH fodlan) - isn't safe for Nabateans because humans will always seek new "weapons" so what was is the solution to adopt, now that this "knowledge" is out in the wild?

If Willy picked the "erase those who know" option, he slaughters innocent people and doesn't even manage to bury the secret, since Chevalier (and maybe the ones from the Loog War?) was harvested, so he just killed a bunch of people for no results.

Rhea's lie about "gifts from the goddess don't think about it"... was sooner or later not going to work anymore, one of her scholars nearly managed to pierce this secret but desisted, and the few relics that "appear" spontanously, called "replicas" or what not throw a wrench in this narrative (just like crests gifted via transfusion!).

No wonder why Rhea thought only Sothis could find a solution - but anyways, what is the solution in this situation???

[randomnameless]

Edelgard's such a sore loser in AM that she tried one last time to kill Dimitri while he's offering his hand to her. Despicable child.

?

I wouldn't call her a "sore loser", but she's very stubborn and this route depicts it the best, it's her way or her death - and every route, she isn't killed in battle, but she dies in a cutscene because she cannot accept losing (asking Billy to deal the final blow bcs uwu even in VW).

I like this trait of her, especially since it's the other side of the coin of the "indomitable will" Rhea praises and remember Willy for - in a way, yes, both Willy and Supreme Leader are/were stubborn or, put in a good light "wilful/strong-willed" and it plays with the general idea of a certain quality being a default at times - Dimitri is compassionate and has empathy for people, but it drives him too far, to the point of forgetting himself, Supreme Leader is "strong-willed", and she cannot accept a world where she loses/where her path leads her to wall, so she'd rather die.

TBH, I prefered that end for her - staying true to some of her convictions (she is so desperate to be right that she will even turn herself into an icky non human!) - than what Nopes did in AG, stripping her of agency for fanservice (because the 3 lords must always be alive in the Nopes routes, even when it doesn't make any sense!).

[randomnameless]

One thing I realized when it comes to the meritocracy proposed in CF/SB is that you kind of have to get rid of crested people and Nabateans. Like Dimitri is regarded as a powerful warrior due to his crest and training‚ he would dominate any physical career (‚ not to mention Hilda as well since in GW she blocks his strike). And while I don't know the exact process of getting crests‚ first gen (non-Nabatean) crest-bearers live a really long time (Willy‚ Jeralt‚ and Yuri) with no perceived (1/2)

That's what I've been saying since day 9 lol

Crested people skew the "meritocracy" angle because, even if the game did its best to curb down the ludonarrative experience - unlike FE Jugdral where HB means an unit is better than a non HB unit - it still exists.

Flayn with her crest will always be able to heal a fractured lung by clapping in her hands, when Ignatz would need to use all of his magic because he doesn't get the "boost to healing spells" Flayn's crest gives her.

Same with extended lifespans - let it be training martially, being "wise" or even being a polyglot, by sheer virtue of having at least 200 years on "regular" humans, first gen crest bearers and nabateans would... have more knowledge than Leonie's grandma.

--

Jerry questioning Rhea about bby!Billy is one of those things that, even if the 10 years of lore existed and were revealed, would never be developed because it was done at the cost of that world's consistency.

As you mentioned, regardless of Jerry knowing what Sitri was or not, Jerry knows he "oddly" older than everyone else and might have the same longevity as the Elites, he should have seen people like him around (cardinals), he lived through the Alliance's birht and Nopes reveals he was around when Rhea faked the death of the "blonde archbishop who was painted by an Adrestian and loved birds".

So unless Rhea indeed called the baby "mother" - which would not match with all the later interactions she has with Billy - there is so much "weirdness" going on with Jerry and/or around him that... suddenly being afraid of Rhea and ditching everything to become a merc with a newborn is either stupid, or plot contrived.

[randomnameless]

i was reading your old posts from before, but why do you think it wasn't an issue if byleth had no heartbeat?

Oh.

For several reasons!

FE16 isn't your usual high-school setting in bumfuckville in the real world, it has people who can shapeshift in giant reptile like beings and Doro, a human who is supposedly one of the most "like us" out of the bunch, can clap her fingers and heal a broken wrist after singing at the church twice. So the usual arguments starting with "in real life when a baby doesn't have a heartbeat it's a serious health issue" are, imp, completely baseless.

In real life, even after reading 250 books, I still can't summon meteors from the sky :'(

"But random, even the random nurse Jerry contacted said it was not 'normal'!"

-> Byleth is not like Doro, by virtue of having their mom be some sort of "people who can shapeshift in a giant reptile-like being who have literal rocks for hearts". So what is "normal" for Dorothea might not be "normal" for Billy, who descends from a "sort of Nabatean" mother. Maybe being part 'sort of' Nabatean explains why Billy is able to live in relative good health even without a beating heart?

(obviously, the game refuses to tell us if Nabateans have heartbeats or to show us Sitri's ears... because that would make some fan favourites, or characters who are supposed to be fan favourites look really, imo, bad.)

Anyways, seeing as Billy is being able to exist without a beating heart but a rock in their chest - as their mother before them (for the rock in their chest acting as a heart part) - saying it's an issue Billy has no heartbeat is basically saying - if Sitri had none either because Nabateans (even pseudo ones like Sitri) have rocks instead of organs in their chests - it's an issue that Billy inherited their mother's condition - or is able to function like their Mother.

And if you want to push it a bit far, given how being able to function with rock instead of an organ might be a staple of Nabatean biology, the argument is basically saying "Jerry complains that his baby is part Nabatean aka biracial".

Tl;Dr : Billy is alive even without a heartbeat, has feelings even before Sothis wakes up (FEH Billy mentions how they don't like their "Ashen Demon" nickname! and that lack of "expressing feelings" was retconned in Nopes to have been something Sitri too had but gradually bypassed as she interacted more and more with the people living in the monastery, despite Sothis never awakening in her!) and their stunted state, that might have been caused by the transfusion, was nurtured and enhanced by the crappy lifestyle they lived before joining the Monastery (in FE16 at least!).

So in a world where Billy is related to a guy who can transform in a giant turtle and has, too, a rock acting as their heart, I don't see how this is supposed to be, at least fandom wise (if this is what you were meaning anon?) an issue.

[randomnameless]

Does that mean Mercie and Supreme Leader could be distant cousins potentially? Guess it might be an idea in that 10000 year lore.

You have no idea how many cans of worm this AU opens anon -

AU where Dimi marries Mercie, and the resulting Blaiddyd heir has... a crest of Seiros :(

No one understands why, maybe it's a Hresvelg curse for destroying Adrestia?

With time, the Crest of Seiros is known as the Crest of Hresvelg (to Rhea's chagrin) and is now seen, in the Kingdom's folk legends, as a curse that befell humanity when it became too greedy.

AU where it's Papa Martritz's line that is a branch line from the Hresvelg House -

Ionius not managing to roll for crested heirs with his different wives jumped on the occasion to destroy House Martritz (even if it has a heir! in the over, but it exists still!) and put an end to eventual pretenders to the Imperial throne, if his "lady friends" can't give him an adequate crested heir :(

And even if the baby survives, it has a chance of not getting a crest of Seiros, and by virtue of not being a noble born baby, people might believe it's just a random bastard and not a legitimate threat to his dynasty

(Imagine if Baron Bartels got his seiros crested bby with Mercie though - hopefully, Emile made sure that plan would never see fruition!)

Ultimate combination AU : Mercie and Emile can tolerate Zanado fruits

Just like Constance!

Somehow, before being turned in a pincushion, lizard!Lycaon befriended Lamine's 9th daughter, who returned North when he "suddenly died" and Hildegard I (who descends from Willy's human children, the ones he got when he had his crest but from human women!) took his succession.

The resulting kid had no pointy ears but was "human passing" enough (only 1/4th Nabatean!), then said kid got kids - sometimes with a crest of Seiros, sometimes with the crest of Lamine - and their kids got kids - and they ended up in Adrestia, becoming Mercie's mom family.

Mercie will notice something strange because her parents recipe (that was influenced by her mom's cooking) always featured putting slices of fruit in the shape of a star on his various cupcakes - but then, those disgusting fruits Flayn, Seteth and even Lady Rhea nibble on occasion, when sliced, look like stars ? Granted, she never tried to eat any since everyone knows they're inedible! She tried to put a slice on a cupcake and ate it, to Annette and Dedue's surprise, she didn't threw up like everyone else, nor collapsed, even if Annette scolded her "Mercie, what are you even doing?! Those things can't be eaten!"

Overhearing Mercie's recipe history, Seteth frowns like never before - Lycaon used to hold hands with a scion of Lamine who joined their side (he told Seiros the Warrior to watch out because he was too young to hold hands, she ignored him, again!).

This will make Billy start to question themselves, if Rhea considered Mother like her daughter, and Mercedes is the child of the child of the child of the child (etc) of Rhea's son, is Mercedes their sort of nephew?

[randomnameless]

@zeroabyss replied to your post “Tbf to the "how can Bernie hurt and kill Nabateans...”:

At some point story segregation is inevitable if they can’t properly convey feats into gameplay. Like Dimitri super strength shoul reasonably mean his str growth and cap is so absurd no one could reach it, but that wouldn’t be fair to the others would it? But at the same time they add more and more ridiculous feats that it SHOULD be that high, like how Hopes says he had strength training. In cold Faerghus. In Armor. While SWIMMING. At that point it’s absurd.

​It'd basically be Jugdral 2.0, but given how IS completely knelt in front of the Ayra wank to make Mareeta - a major crested carrier - apparently weaker than her, even in her "ascended" aka "peak" state, I'm afraid character wank will now always triumph over story integration in gameplay.

Jugdral - FE4 and even FE5 - wise basically tells her characters with major blood are demigods and their prowesses cannot be matched by regular people, or even people with minor HB. It sucks - Leif complains about this - but it's like that

(FE5 is all about Leif realising he can be a hero by doing heroic things, rather than merely being born with the right concentration of "magic blood")

End of her journey, aka, Ascended!Mareeta and base!Galzus already mastered Eclipse (since in FE5 Astra and Luna can be combined!) and, by virtue of having the highest concentration of "magic blood", are "stronger" than Ayra, just like Shanan is.

But Ayra wanking means if Leif had a pair of tits and was a tall woman with long black hair, he would handle lances better than his major blooded sister.

Tl;Dr : in FEH : popularity >>>>> FE Jugdral's lore and mechanics.

and I fucking hate it

[randomnameless]

Re :

Thinking about that Lycaon I being half-lizard who mysteriously dies so Willy’s human descendants take the throne AU -

It would be dramatic because while Seiros the Warrior and pals focused on the people who had relics and all, the Mole People already “infiltrated” Adrestia that early -

And instead of having deep Earl Grey, let the mole people play on preexisting biases and dark thoughts, thus Lycaon wouldn’t be killed by mole people, but by his “siblings/nephews” who really wanted that throne -

Why?

Because meritocracy gone wrong!

Willy said people with best interests at heart should rule/become nobles, and let’s say Lycaon, by virtue of having been raised by his mom and what's left of his maternal fam, has them.

What about the other “humans” who also have those best interests at heart, and really want to help the people? Why shouldn’t they inherit the Adrestian throne?

Comes the Meritocracy angle, and by virtue of being a Nabatean, Lycaon I is the better fighter (compared to his siblings/nephews).

Lycaon I would be the perfect king/emperor candidate, popular, talented, wise beyond his years (that’s the catch, he isn’t a regular teen, he is older) -> he has the most merit, so what is supposed to happen to the “human” Hresvelgs?

They will always feel inferior to their “brother/uncle”, and never be a match for him - worse, they will never sit on Enbarr’s throne.

Coupled with maybe Solon suggesting that of course Lycaon would think of them as inferior and lesser beings, because he might be their brother/uncle, he is first and foremost not a human, a descendant of a beast who inherently feels superior to them. Why would he even bother with his “inferior relatives”?

(Something like the Hresvelgs being on the verge of falling down a cliff, and finally falling with a push from a mole man)

Lycaon is thus killed by his siblings (or their descendants) and Willy, who heavily suspects the “jealousy” reason - if he was an Enbarr Lord, maybe he knew all about those political assassinations or something - gives up, he’s just here to see the next Emperor and maybe crown her, but then he fucks away.

If he partly (?) fought against Nemesis because he thought Nemesis was the reason why Nabateans and Humans cannot coexist peacefully, then he is slapped in the face as he sees his own blood killing itself for petty reasons and just, jealousy.

What would that mean for Rhea though...

Maybe Lycaon’s death would be the turning point where she thinks only Sothis can guide the land, and ultimately launch her on her “rez sothis plan” because Nabateans can’t guide the land (it lead to the first agarthan war), humans obviously can’t (remember Nemesis?) and “Human and Nabateans” together failed, since Lycaon was assassinated, so it only leaves Sothis. Maybe Wilhelm also came to the same conclusion, and he passed away while they were building Garreg Mach, furthering Rhea’s determination to resurrect Sothis and have her “repair” the world.

Even if, in that case, I don’t think Wilhelm would tell Rhea everything, maybe just something like “Lycaon was killed” and not who killed him, and why. Rhea drew her own conclusions (humans because he was half-nabatean) which weren’t wrong, per se, but not as petty as "third niece thrice removed Martha had him killed because she wanted to sit on the throne".

As for Adrestia, meanwhile, it would explain why an Aegir thought he could become Emperor of Adrestia by challenging the current one to a duel - even if the Hresvelgs are supposed to be Emperors because they descend from both Willy and Seiros the Warrior - if that Aegir knew the current Emperor became, well, Emperor after getting rid of Lycaon, and, in a way, usurping the title, it's free real estate to run for the title.

Tldr : someone should have smashed Willy's nuts to save Fodlan.