#byleth is a troll

[deathbirby]

Wonder how Byleth's life would be if Rhea told Jeralt the truth regarding Sitri and Byleth so that Jeralt doesn't jump the gun and leave with Byleth. A Byleth raised at Garreg Mach....

Rhea and Jeralt's relationship is also pretty interesting and a bit tragic, I think

I feel like Jeralt would be still be very put off by it all. Like what do you MEAN my wife was a homunculus made by using the heart of your dead mother?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN RHEA???

[noisyinternetballoon]

I'm sorry, but I find it dumb that people think "lore history doesn't matter because it isn't canon to my favorite route". Like that's not how storytelling works.

Especially if they're going to show some of that lore in all 4 of the routes. It's one thing if each route had its own beginning cutscene when you select a new game (or have their own route to choose when you start a new save file) but it doesn't. It's the same storyline and history. The only thing that changes is which class B//yle//th chooses to teach and who they side with.

Just feels like copium because people think liking a route that is considered a villain route makes them bad people when nobody cares until you try to defend racism, terrorism, imperialism, and genocide just because your fave engages with those tactics to get what they want.

[gascon-en-exil]

Considering the undeniable fact that Edelgard was written for men and not them, what do you think that says about her lesbian fans? Are they following the wrong character? Or better question, does she truly have a significant sapphic fandom to begin with?

This is a difficult question for me to answer directly, because I'm not a lesbian. I've gotten a variety of comments from queer women addressing issues related to this on my relevant videos, with the range of responses being overall mixed. Even those who can enjoy Edelgard as a bi option (and/or her other F/F prospects) are usually still aware of IS's blatant misogyny in the way they handle their female characters, and acknowledge that these conversations are useful to have.

I think Monica's writing in Hopes sums up very well just how little the writers of these games are thinking about lesbians when they craft these characters and situations. Monica's attraction to Edelgard is treated as one long joke at her own expense, one that Edelgard appears to humor at best but never really understands. It's especially galling because this is the same game that takes a remarkably sober approach to Shamir's attraction to women, both in general and to Catherine specifically. There's also the matter of the M/M subtext, which as ever exists in a blind spot of straight male writers. With Dimidue alone, we have a situation where men are saying stuff like "You are irreplaceable, cherished" and "I cannot know happiness without you by my side" and holding hands and each other's gazes for something like fifteen seconds in an animated cutscene...and still expect us to believe that that's only platonic devotion. (As far as lord + retainer ships go, hold up Monigard and Dimidue side-by-side, and it's very obvious that IS is laughing at the former and isn't aware that the latter could even have romantic dimensions.)

The majority of IS's sapphic material exists in a different, though comparable blind spot: that lesbians exist as profitable titillation for straight men, and are always subject to the male gaze and the potential interposition of a male proxy for the audience (the Avatar, usually) because women's attraction toward one another isn't something to be taken seriously. Out of the various examples of F/F subtext and text in the entirety of FE, I feel like I could claim Heather from Radiant Dawn as maybe the only instance where the writers were thinking of actual queer women - and even then Heather is still mostly mild comic relief.

(As far as "following the wrong character" goes re: the fandom faction wars, there's always been the consistent irony that Rhea is subject to much of the same open objectification, ex. her summer duo alt with F!Byleth, and even gets to be a same-sex S rank as well. Humorously, this parallel or its implications is pretty much never brought up whenever Rhea's getting roasted as the Worst Ever.)

It's difficult to tell exactly how much of Edelgard's fanbase is sapphic. Of course Tumblr and AO3 skew queer as a rule, but those are just two sites; there's also Twitter and Reddit and SF and GameFAQs and 4chan and art sites like Pixiv and DeviantArt. We also know for a fact that at least two of the most prominent and combative elements in the pro-Edelgard side of the fandom are straight/bi men producing F/F Edeleth fanwork...which I remark on only as a counter to the frequent accusation that Dimitri fans are all horny fujoshi. How that does or doesn't play into what you're asking is hard to say - although one of them tends to get rather pissed when anyone brings something like that up and may still be stalking my blog.

It'll be interesting to see what troll anons I get now.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

in general I think Byleth is the troll of the FE lord friend group. they're the most entertaining person to watch play Among Us (they eventually stopped constantly killing Ephraim because that was getting boring). now they're doing shit like standing between two bodies without reporting, randomly voting ppl in meetings for no reason, calling their friends on the phone for "tech support", venting in front of large groups of people, unmuting in the middle of the round to goad someone into killing them, etc. they're banned from Ultimate Chicken Horse for making the game straight up unplayable. their Mario Maker levels are infamous for softlocking ppl. Duck Duck Goose is the funniest shit ever when they get Party/Pelican. they are the silliest little guy

-- 👻 horror anon

.

[butchcraftwrites]

We often discuss Black Eagles Rhealeth, even Blue Lions Rhealeth. But where is my exploration of Golden Deer Rhealeth. Where is Claude silently judging and yet playfully egging his teacher on. Where is my schemer of a man finally deciding that he will support Byleth's desires and help her woo Rhea. Where is his surprisingly good relationship advice mixed in with all of his horrible trolling? Where are the rest of the Golden Deer, one by one, realizing that their teacher is definitely banging the Archbishop?

[semi-imaginary-place]

Someone called the golden deer boring

Goldeen Deer are the oddball group both in terms of dynamics and backgrounds as well as gameplay. Unlike the other Houses they're pretty much all strangers besides Ignatz and Raphael, who grow to become comrades and friends and you get to see it in real time which doesn't really happen in the other Houses. In a lot of ways they have... louder initial characterizations, first time I've ever heard them described as "dry". The character writing is just as good as every other House every character has surprising nuance and depth even Lorenz and Raphael who may at first appear to be joke characters. 

 Claude is the only lord with an equal relationship with Byleth where they aren't emotionally dependent on Byleth. With Edelgard and Dimitri the Byleth supports are a tool to revel more of their character and backstory to the player. Claude's support and the route as a whole meanwhile are about the actual friendship between Claude and Byleth so much so that there is an actual game mechanic mid way through. It's a very compelling story on the themes of trust, from misunderstandings to taking the first step that leap of faith in placing one's trust in another. Personally my some of my favorite supports in the game are Claude-Shamir and Claude-Petra for their interesting philosophical discussions. Claude and Lorenz is a fan favorite, their character interactions are fun as Lorenz starts out incredibly hostile towards Claude and they come to appreciate each other, also Claude trolls him. 

 Every person is drawn to different characters but some popular supports are as following. Hilda and Claude for a very funny snappy dynamic it's a joy to have both of them in the same room. Marianne has excellent and touching supports with Ignatz and Lorenz that show different sides of the boys especially. Marianne herself has unique character development in Verdant Wind that is absent if recruited on other routes. Minus Dimitri she has the biggest change part 1 to part 2 from someone who sees her existence as a loathsome burden on others to someone proactive and choosing to live. Leonie has a great support with Ignatz. The Leonie Lorenz support is popular for snobbiest noble interacting with very normal rural upbringing commoner. Ignatz and Raphael is one of those heavy feels supports. Lysithea and Lorenz was also very sweet and touching. Ignatz and Lorenz I enjoy as it's about them appreciating each other and showing different sides of their multifaceted characters. (Ignatz is like the 3rd most changed character). Lysithea and Cyril is a favorite in the fandom for it's genuine interactions and humor. All the gd supports are good in my book really. Hilda and Marianne is another fan favorite and the laziest person on the planet who loves shoving work onto others goes above and beyond for Marianne. 

[randomnameless]

The Fe fandom keeps on complaining about incest but really though... the only canon incest ship in the entire franchise is Arvis x Deirdre and it portrays incest negatively. The rest is brother complex and sister complex trope. Then comes the Avatar that gets a special treatement, with IntSys auto censoring themselves by removing themselves the incest they put with a canonical excuse because they know it would attract less people of it was actual case of fictional incest. In Fates you had the letter with the Hoshidans Royal, and "it's not that creepy to marry the children of your kidnapper !" In 3 houses, it is whatever you can do to explain Byleth and the Nabatheans despite the narrative never claimming anything in that regard. And in Engage, well. In normal times it would be the classical "is it incest if it's your alternate half siblings ?" but in Engage, multiverse explaining why Nel and Rafal aren't Alear's alternate siblings due to shenanigans and sue so that they can bang unlike with Veyle who is platonic . Intsys can't go too far themselves because Japan too isn't a big fan of glamorzing incest between siblings even if anime have less problem with it with America until your remember Games of Thrones. But Fe games are shounen games rpg fantasy mostly directed towards teens, not towards adult even if it can tackle dark topics. So saying Intsys support incest is kind of unfair seeing that it's limited to either dark portrayals, jokes that never paid off since Eirika can't marry Ephraim, and then the Avatar having fake incest options. Really nothing harmfull here.

Even in Asoiaf it's not portrayed positively, the Tagaryen's madness is heavily implied to be linked to their incestuous pairings, the Lannisters blowed over their family, screwed their dynasty and House and ultimately caused a war because of it... And in the greyjoy family, Euron's incest doubled as sexual assault against his younger brothers !

So even in this more, uh, popular media, sibling incest is displayed in a fucking bad light !

Brocon and siscon are common anime/media tropes in japanese entertainment ? But reading some "jokes" especially about the Fe8 siblings makes me wonder if some people really believe siblings can't love (not romanticaly given the topic !) each other and must always fight !

Ultimately yeah, someone saying fe supports incest either reveals a lack of playing the games this person is deriding, or that someone doesn't want to acknowledge that "cousin incest" is authorised in large parts of the world, like the one where IS resides, or they're just trolling.

[thirstyotakuimagines]

When Byleth makes all the test answers “C”

Inspired by some fanart of Byleth making a multiple-choice test where all the answers are C (because he’s a troll and we all know it).

[clockworkreapers]

 I got to do a commission of this dope character owned by @felixphillips88 ! 

[setethsbigbaratitties]

what do you mean this isnt what happened when byleth woke up after the time skip

[edie-of-the-empire]

Edelgard: Dorothea, why do you keep telling everyone the professor and I are engaged?

Dorothea: ...because I am hoping once Byleth catches on, she'll finally have the nerve to propose. You think you are struggling! I am on the outside looking in. This slow-burn is torturous.

Edelgard: ...

Edelgard, mumbling: ...keep up the good work...

[mayhem-ensues]

In love with the fact that in the three demo chapters alone the Black Eagles route in Three Hopes definitively deconfirms like half of the really dumb bad faith Edelgard takes. You know the ones like “none of the Black Eagles would side with Edelgard if Byleth wasn’t there” or any of the really dumb stuff they say about the Slithers/Church situation.

I mean, I don’t actually expect the people who have made hating a fictional character their entire personality to care about the fact that their arguments have no basis in canon. After all they’ve already spent the last three years ignoring Three Houses canon, but it’s still nice to see so many stupid troll arguments dashed.

[fireemblems24]

AM review! I loved hearing what you thought of the route, and I was wondering about your favourite quality of each Lion? 👀 - travelling-on-the-octopath (via main)

I am so so sorry this took so long to write, but I really ended up taking my time thinking about what I love about all the Blue Lions so much. Bonus I also included Rodrigue and Gilbert.

Dimitri - 

Oh, geeze, only one thing? Well, since I just posted about his sense of duty and how he doesn't pull the "woe is me for being so privileged" card, I'll talk about his compassion instead. I love how this is both his greatest strength and weakness. How he gets so influenced by other people's hurt and doesn't know how to put healthy barriers up. But it's also that side of him that emphasizes so strongly with Byleth and coaxes the emotions out of her, the side of him that finds it in himself to forgive Edelgard. I also love how amazing his character arc is, and how he loves helping people so much, and I could keep going lol.  

Dedue - 

He's both the gentle giant who loves gardening and cooking, but utterly terrifying and completely badass in his loyalty to Dimitri. I also love how he handles Duscur. He admits to hating Faerghus for what they did, but that doesn't blind him to total prejudice. When confronted by Ingrid, he doesn't feel the need to personally carry the weight of her prejudice and "teach" her differently, letting her come to her own conclusions. I just think it's neat to see a character who experiences racism that isn't the one pressured to change, it's everyone else who has to do that leg work. 

Felix - 

I love what his character arc changes say about his character and that he even gets them, but that's too long for this. My favorite thing about Felix is how tragic parts of him are. Felix cares about his friends and family with his entire heart, but has no skill at communicating or processing complex emotions. He hates seeing them all hurting, hates himself for being unable to do anything, and ends up hurting everyone he cares so much about. It's what makes his arc so powerful in AM that he matures out of that. 

Ingrid -

I love how she takes a common FE character tick (massive eater), but turns it into something serious. But more than that I love how realistic her struggle is. She has her own dreams and passions and naturally wants to pursue them, but actually addresses and acknowledges the benefits of a political marriage rather than just waxing poetic about wanting "romantic love." Bouns points because her struggle isn't "I want to marry for love", but "I want to be a knight" wayyyyy cooler. 

Sylvain - 

I'm going with the expected answer here with his complexity. His excessive flirting isn't treated as a joke, but a side-effect of a serious psychological damage and treated as a serious issue too, not as a wish-fulfillment trait. But he's also one of the best and brightest leaders in this game, and is so painfully loyal to his friends and family. It's a crime against his character that he's so easy to recruit. 

Mercedes - 

She embodies that "I'm a healer, but . . ." meme. Mercedes is incredibly sweet and cares about everyone, but she's not a boring or one-note character and her gentleness doesn't make her a pushover either. She is not afraid to share her mind. I also love how she enjoys trolling everyone with ghost stories. You know Annette and Ashe suffered many a night because of her. 

Annette - 

I love how determined she is once she sets her mind to something. Whether it's her studies or trying to find her father, Annette goes after what she wants and puts 100% into everything. Not being the best at studying doesn't deter her either, she just admires others who don't have to try as hard and tries to learn from them.

Ashe - 

I'm cheating and using something from Hopes. I love how Ashe decided to fight for what he believed in. He worried about and considered what Lonato would do, but ultimately chose to follow his heart and do what he thought was right, and that takes a lot of courage. 

Gustave -

How he's able to overcome his immense depression when needed. Gustave is still racked with guilt, still believes himself unworthy of his family and Faerghus, but he's able to work through that and ultimately come through in the end. 

Rodrigue - 

His ability to balance being himself and an effective duke. He seems to know when it's ok to just be a father or just Rodrigue and never comes across either too married to duty or like he ignores his responsibilities for his own desires. He seems quite mature in his outlook on life. 

[gascon-en-exil]

The problem with Edelstans is related to a problem with Tumblr-style social justice in general: Ambrose Bierce, in his satirical work Devil's Dictionary, defined a Conservative as "A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal who wishes to replace them with others." Basically Edelgard is correct that there are some problems with the Church of Seiros, but her actions just replace them with NEW problems, and Tumblr activists can't admit this also describes THEM.

I hesitate to ascribe actual political leanings based on discourse, as there are all sorts of others factors at play here that I and other have examined over the years.

Nonetheless, you're right that the superficial activism encouraged by various social media platforms turns everything into a game of who can sound the most progressive. It's quite tiresome, not to mention reeking of insincerity - which is why I'd love to watch some of these trolling sorts try to go after the anti-Studentleths or Khalidstans or their ilk. They too center their fandom presence around alleged progressivism, but they're critical of the things that Edelstans think are so very revolutionary - often to absurd degrees (these are the "Byleth grooms their students" people).

The back-and-forth wank would be delightfully entertaining, if nothing else.

[timesnewnoir]

jpop au fe3h where i turned blue lions (dimitri) into king and prince, black eagles (edelgard) into nogizaka46 and claudeleth as their die hard fans

some infos:

claude (22m):

- on his last year as undergrad at garreg mach university - is a big fan of black eagles idol group especially the leader edelgard - loves to troll people on twitter - gets into discourse with byleth every week over the best jpop group ever existed (affectionately)

byleth (25 nb): - just started their postgrad at garreg mach university - ride and die for blue lions idol group especially the leader dimitri - fight claude seriously at first but befriended him - attends concerts tgt with claude <3

edelgard/el (22f): - fearless leader of black eagles - very talented and pretty all around - cool beauty type - actually dimitiri’s sibling but doesn’t tell anyone - enjoys seeing fans fight over her group and dimitri’s - parasocial flirting as a joke, watching fans goes slightly insane for entertainment similar to watching exotic animal behind glass

dimitri/dee (21m): - charismatic leader of blue lions - very handsome and nice - boycrush type - joins rival idol group agency so he can bested edelgard - firm fan and artist boundaries

[kisant]

I have reached the Goddess Tower in my Verdant Wind playthrough and I have some Claude thoughts. I have commented before that I liked that Claude is such an inquisitive character. There is a big duality aspect with him, because Claude really hates when people and institutions hide the truth from him, and yet he hides his own name, past and ambitions from everyone else during White Clouds. The conclusion that I have reached with Claude, in short, is that Claude is someone who starts out with the mentality of a spy in a hostile country, but gets attached to the Golden Deer and to Byleth during his year at Garreg Mach.

Analyzing Claude’s growth in contrast with Edelgard’s and Dimitri’s during white clouds, I’d say that all of them start closed off, and get attached to their new relationships in Garreg Mach, much like Byleth grows as a person through their role as a teacher.  Edelgard starts out hiding her agenda of revolution against the church and her future betrayal of TWSID due to necessity. If she gets caught red handed, she would get executed on the spot, as we saw in the Holy Tomb. She yearns to forge genuine bonds with Byleth and the Black Eagles, but she’s also resigned to have to leave them all except for Hubert behind. Edelgard is grateful and surprised when Byleth and the Eagles choose to take her side in the Holy Tomb rather than blindly following Rhea’s commands.  Dimitri doesn’t hide information out of fear of discovery, he simply takes a while to trust Byleth, and the reason for it was the Ashen Demon. Dimitri initially fears Byleth because Ashen Demon Byleth seemed to kill without guilt or a conscience. When he sees that Byleth is simply a stoic person, but that they feel deeply and care about their loved ones and their students, Dimitri opens up about his past and his objectives.  Claude differs from the two of them because he starts out pretty hostile and mean spirited. For example, he intentionally attempts to use Edelgard and Dimitri as human shields and distractions to cover up his escape from the bandits in the paralogue, and goes for the emotional neck in the mock battle, needling Edelgard about her fear of rats and Dimitri about having a crush on Edelgard. And this is because Claude is, initially, a spy for Almyra.  Claude has his own plans and his own ambitions. He takes the chance of becoming Duke Riegan’s heir and studying at Garreg Mach because doing so would help him further his own ambitions. Basically, it’s a one in a lifetime opportunity to look for key information in the usually isolationist Fodlan. As Claude von Riegan, he can study in the monastery, meet the heirs of all the important noble houses, investigate how the weapons of Fodlan work (crests and relics) and try to uncover the secrets and history of the Church. All of this information would put him in an advantageous position once he took up his role as one of the princes of Almyra once again. 

So Claude begins the WC year as a spy in a hostile territory. He’s mean spirited, he’s closed off, he deflects all attempts to have a sincere conversation with him. And, gradually, he gets attached. He lets Byleth in as a friend, and gets excited about showing them the interesting information that he is able to dig out of the church library. His conversations and interactions with his classmates get progressively kinder, he stops trolling as much and starts to empathize more. And it all culminates in making the promise to meet again as a class in five years. 

For Edelgard, this moment represents the faint hope that Byleth and the Eagles will have chosen to side with her in the war that she intends to start. For Dimitri, it’s the hope that the relationships that he has made as a student will endure the test of time and distance, because what Dimitri wants is to be understood, and for his precious people not to leave him. And for Claude, this moment is also incredibly important as a character, because it means that Byleth and the Golden Deer have grown on him, that he has grown to value them as people rather than as convenient tools for his ambitions or information sources on the secrets of Fodlan. 

In five years, and without taking into account Edelgard’s war (something Claude didn’t think would happen), Claude wouldn’t have been Archduke Riegan or the Leader of the Alliance. He would have been Prince Khalid of Almyra. And he was hoping that the Golden Deer and Byleth would still welcome him back even as the prince of an “enemy” nation, that he would be able to come back to Garreg Mach as himself. That’s the “great ambitions that grew throughout the year” that Claude refers to when he talks with F!Byleth at the Goddess Tower. 

Edelgard and Claude similar in this way, because both fo them long for the people who they have grown close to in Garreg Mach to still accept them once they drop the masks and reveal their true identities.