#dimeetwee awexandre bwayiddyd

[themoomoorn]

Vaguely Autistic RN Goes Back On Their FEW3H Bullshit despite having completed FEE: Azure Gleam Edition

This won't be a full-blown advertisement for blood pressure medication like the Scarlet Blaze(d) series, but I also got to the parts of Azure Gleam where I can now comfortably agree with some opinions of it having some really stinky parts.

Of course, the Azure Smell was slung on it in poo form by the other two routes, alongside Koei/IntSys because they're really trying to sell this plausible deniability and and and

uh

Anyway

So 3/4ths of Sreng is a winter wonderland, but designated corner where Macuil dwells is pure desert. Why not just make the place a snowy cold desert like the Katpana Desert and call it a day?

Ingrid continues to display her awareness and shame over her misplaced xenophobia, yet there's still static over House Goneril's racist history with Almyra being erased or...a lot of crap with Adrestia and how they view Brigid and Dagda...

Claude: Continues to scream about how Flayn and the church actually killed his half-brother while ranting how trade is apparently illegal despite plenty of evidence to the contrary

Dimitri: "Y'all hear sum"

Lambert's pitch of trying to play nice with at least one more neighbor, especially regarding the whole continued antagonism with another, is tyrannical madness to these limp-dick fuckheads. Please remind us why we should sympathize with both the western nobles or the western church, again???

Flayn continues to display Clark Kent-levels of disguise failure, but I suppose it can easily be passed as her being eccentric. On the other hand, this is yet another display of this universe's carelessness with its continuity, since Houses clearly established Macuil being the one blacksmith. On the other other hand, Indech is also established as being good with his hands, so them working together to craft stuff works just as well.

Still doesn't explain the logistics behind the Sacred Weapons though. Or how Labraunda wound up in some stockpile that the Empire plundered because they suck.

Miklan is a fantastic example of how these games run on the accidental theme of responsibility and how laying blame on one factor doesn't mean anything if the person laying the blame is a sack of doodoo, which is exactly what Miklan is.

Miklan was disinherited, but he was also always a dick, he was the son of Matthias' beloved first wife (her death being the catalyst for his cynicism), Matthias let him stay at House Gautier until his abuse of Sylvain went too far (which is arguably a dick move in and of itself since Sylvain had to put up with it for years), and Miklan himself here made the final move in fully severing his ties to the House. And he still blames Sylvain for his lot in life, as we see in Houses 5.

Eff Miklan.

So here we have one of the straws that broke the camel's back. Just as Dimitri is about to defeat and imprison Edelgard, Thales hijacks the scene, chucks a Crest stone of Maurice(!?) at Edelgard, turns her into the Hegemon Husk, and after that she lays waste to Arianrhod and is whisked back to Enbarr. During this scene, Edelgard accuses Dimitri of allying with Thales before it's shown that obviously isn't true. Oh, and she also throws out there that Thales killed his father, which is kind of manipulative given how she gives negative fucks about Duscur or how a later scene shows that yes, her mommy was one of the conspirators in the Tragedy after all (something that Houses waffles on).

It's also at this point that the game robs her of her agency and tries to convince the player that Agartha is behind everything, even when we get clear displays of Edelgard and the Empire clearly wanting to go Napoleon/Genghis on the continent for reasons divorced from what the Agarthans want.

Case in point.

Keep in mind that Edelgard gets a whole Support scene with Balthus that she's more than content in carrying out this war, because of Empire supremacy. Or how she tells Claude to his face in Zahras that no, she won't stop playing conqueror even once the church is stamped out. Or that she tells Monica, to her face, that her life is ultimately disposable to her and that if she had died like she did in Houses, then so be it.

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you want - it's still a pig.

Between this statement and Edelgard's and Ionius' in Houses and this journal entry about the Dagda-Brigid war, it's plain as day that Thales' manipulations aren't as all-encompassing as people want them to be. It's ridiculous to try and pass the buck when there's so much evidence proving contrary.

Clyde may be more opportunistic than he was in Houses, but in AG his one braincell stops shitting itself for five minutes and he actually does the sensible thing by teaming up with Faerghus. We even get a decent scene of these three strategizing how to retake Garreg Mach out of it.

I've heard criticisms about how the lack of trust in Claude is unwarranted here, but after actually playing this for myself, I'm inclined to disagree, as there's a clear scene before the Arianrhod battle showing outright that Claude's going to side with whoever winner of that battle is, even if one of said options could care less about his country's welfare. But then again, Claude looks down on his people half the time anyway, so meh.

And now for some positivity...

Ayo? 🏳️‍🌈

AYO!?!?!?!?!? 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Ay-Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

🏳️‍🌈???

Balthus, at this rate you should probably consider a career change if that's what you like doing.

[themoomoorn]

Dimitri is cute

Yes I have had some wine but he is still very cute shut up

Also he and Edelgard are not foils, but rather antithetical. They are antithetical in their approaches and ideals, but they also contrast visually.

Dimitri has very typically feminine attributes, and in the western sphere he is donned in a color that, in the Western sphere, was considered to be feminine for the longest time due to how it was tied to the Virgin Mary in Christianity. Divorcing from this religious imagery is how blue is tied to emotions such as sadness, and attributes such as faith, stability, sincerity, loyalty, wisdom, imagination, and sensitivity. Lighter shades of blue in particular are associated with delicacy. In the Middle East, blue is a color that denotes safety, protection, and spirituality. Krishna is tied to the color blue, and he is a god who embodies love and joy, and destroys sin.

Dimitri is gentle and tender and loving. He is a man who is driven by extreme empathy and a love for others, a need to protect like a mother bear. He lets his emotions flow freely. He loves and adores children. He even expresses interests in delicate and typically "feminine" hobbies as a way to counterbalance his extreme strength, but he also expresses a genuine interest in them. He is just...so very kind and sweet and warm. And also profoundly loving and probably bisexual.

Dimitri is a 6'2 maternal blonde bombshell soft boi and I love him

[themoomoorn]

I think with Edelclaude, the fact that the two are the way they are is one reason why few dare to criticize it. It also ties back to how their interactions are presented in the game.

Dimiclaude gets praised because the game presents plainly (key word here) facts that they're at least compatible in terms of ideals, and furthermore, they are amiable and respect each other at the barest minimum. Even when Dimitri is neck-deep in psychosis, he spares Claude no thought until Grondor, and even then he will even tell Claude to move, because You Know Boo is his real target. AM has them parting on good terms; VW has Claude mourning for Dimitri when he finds out he's been killed; CF has each of them fighting off the Empire in their own ways, but never each other, and for fairly logical reasons (namely in how the Kingdom and Alliance are respectively run, power structures, etc. etc.). To go meta, on the album cover for the Edge of Dawn/Maiden of Hresvelg single, Dimitri and Claude are amiably talking to each other while Edelgard stares out at a passing bird/the viewer.

The standom doesn't really seem to like how plainly obvious compatibility is visible in characters they don't like, which is the case with Dimitri and Claude. You can also find racist/fetishistic accusations slung at people who like this ship, much like with Dimidue and some of the Petra or Cyril ships.

Similarly, while Dimiedel is far rarer, it's out there, and as one would expect it gets railed against both for the obvious and also as yet another way to warp canon regarding Dimitri's behavior towards her (i.e "he wants to bone her and kill her at the same time"). The game, in turn, presents plainly that Dimitri strictly sees Edelgard as family before the reveal about what she's done, and as an enemy after the reveal, only switching back to seeing her as family on AM per his redemption arc. Edelgard, in turn, sees him as someone beneath her and as a nuisance, with her only real compliment being that maybe he could've been a good king, which in turn is dubious since it's lobbied at him in a gaslighting manner while he's defending his homeland from a conquest she started.

From what little Dimiedel content there is, I see people pair them because it's kinda hot, and to explore the rage mode angle they'd likely have, which, yeah, it is pretty fascinating. It's why I find Edeleth fascinating in the sense that Edelgard covets Byleth as something to possess, not as a person with their own needs.

Because Edelgard (bisexual woman/driving force of the game's main conflict) and Claude (biracial man) fit certain demographics, criticizing them is already thorny, but it gets thornier because unlike Dimiclaude or Dimiedel, the incompatibility that would mire them is not as plainly presented. Edelgard has no respect for Claude and views him as little more than a nuisance and a brat; Claude in turn doesn't hold Edelgard in high esteem either, and states multiple times that her conquering the continent goes against both his moral code and hampers laying down the foundations of what he wishes to achieve. But it's all spaced across the game (Edelgard's comments on Claude are primarily on CF, for one), and you get two throwaway lines about how their ideals maybe aren't so different. They also deal with their respective traumas in "respectable," not-ugly ways (which is just plain gross and abelist, and that's if you aren't someone who thinks Claude wasn't traumatized at all), and what they wish to achieve, while different, are all-encompassing and reek of "LET'S BURN IT ALL DOWN AND START OVER," which is something certain people really like, for better or worse. Furthermore, while this is me stretching, their routes don't involve the player proxy being made to feel uncomfortable, unlike a particular blue-clad prince - and let's be real here, player fee-fees play a role here too.

This is wordy, but I feel like this all encompasses why Edelclaude is almost never put under scrutiny.

(uncensored ship names in the anon lol hence the screenshot - oh hey, I remembered that this time woohoo)

Ahh, was about to say lol the dimi/claude art I tend to see has mostly positive reception, but I don't go to Reddit for dimi/claude art so yeah

But, I will say that I have seen more general fandom-wide dimi/claude criticism - whether dislike of the ship itself or how it's usually portrayed by shippers - more so than I've seen the same for edel/claude, which is mostly from the more EdeIgard critical side of the fandom. Which makes a certain amount of sense given the size-to-canon-material ratio dimi/claude has compared to a lot of other ships in the fandom; it's like, what, the third biggest ship for Dimitri, and the second biggest for Claude? I can see why some could annoyed with its prevalence looking at it from that angle. Compare that the edel/claude which is way smaller, the smallest of the lord x lord ships and by a good bit in fact, I think?

Plus, well, Reddit will Reddit and from what I've seen Dimitri's popularity there is. Uh. Something that could be higher, at least in some subreddits lmao, so that'll also bring over some negativity. And the popular idea that Claude would team up with EdeIgard because "similar ideals" which would then make it "make sense" that they could be a good couple (imo they have AMAZING vibes as a bitterly divorced couple, which is way funnier than what I usually see from the ship lmao). So I can see why dimi/claude would get more criticism/dislike tossed at it than edel/claude; doesn't really bother me that much lol, like it can be a bit annoying at time sure but overall it's kinda 🤷‍♀️

[themoomoorn]

*ahem*

Might I recommend an interpretation that is 75% likely how Dimitri and Hapi's ending went down. Or better yet, the hypothetical AM sequel where the "prologue bandits" you fight is just Dimitri and company clowning on Agartha as he rightfully deserves?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90OFZQx_7xI

I just want a stupid Azure Moon sequel that's just Metal Gear Rising: Reveangence, but its Dimitri dealing with the rest of the Slithers to heavy rock/metal. (probably some new slithers that rose up b/c of Azure Moon taking care of a lot of the high-level guys). And end on a 1-on-1 with Nemesis

Oh fuck yeah, Revengeance is such hammy fun, I'd like a Dimitri version of that too.

[themoomoorn]

The Flame Emperor not being a thing in 3 Hopes is pretty much why Dimitri won't see the worst in 'the Gard, as you said - what he has to deal with doesn't actually involve her directly aside from her having an Agarthan ally in Firdhiad (Cleobolus). The load also gets shoved of of 'gard because not only is there no Flame Emperor to whine "I had nothing to do with that!!!" while robbing a tomb, but 3 Hopes also implies that Rufus was the main force in causing Duscur, whereas 3 Houses heavily implied that it was 'gard's bio-mom Patricia who, at the very least, had a very heavy hand in it.

Meanwhile, you can make a case for Claude being a touch sentimental towards the Gard in 3H because of how he sees Byleth and how he spends a lot of time trying to dig up the underpinnings of the church, and while he still finds them incompatible beliefs-wise, even he will admit that maybe that, as those trying to bring about sweeping change (For better or worse), they sort of...(hard) maybe...have that in common. Hopes though? No church mysteries and tying that to his grandiose plans means Claude has negative sentiment towards her, and the fact that his fatherland actually does want to conquer Fodlan this time does not help, because Claude wants none of that. As khaloonies are convinced that they'd be besties/good romantic prospects, seeing him go ham on going against her is refreshing, to say the least.

As for Seteth, I can only chalk it up to deep denial at this point because he does the same thing in 3 Houses. Byleth can be explained by either being overly sentimental and likely experiencing troubling emotions over, well, having them for the first time ever, or if you played CF then it's also likely deep denial with a dash of self-loathing, although the latter is headcanon territory. And tbh, knowing that Shez is an otherwise ordinary merc who is 80% likely to be tied to Agartha in some way, the jury's still out on them.

I'm sorry but ever since someone pointed it out I can't stop thinking about it lol:

Seteth on SB: The Gard may be attacking us and driving us from our homes but she must have reasons!

Dimitri on AG: The Gard may be invading our lands but some of her reforms are so admirable!

Shez to The Gard in their supports: Your war might be ruining lives but you probably thought a lot about it and things were kinda bad in Fodlan anyway!

Claude on GW: IF IT'S A FIGHT SHE WANTS IT'S A FIGHT SHE'LL GET I'M NOT BACKING DOWN (with the "THE NERVE" voice line to back it up)

HILARIOUS how out of everyone in the routes, Claude is the one to take the most stout stance against The Gard's war, without anything trying to soften her up as "maybe not that bad you guyz" getting in the way. There's no "well maybe she has her reasons" there's no "well she's doing good here" there's no "well she's doing what she thinks is right" there is ONLY "She is bringing war to my land and I will not tolerate it." Not to overlook Dimitri's stance against her too - it's impressive in its own right - but it's nice to see someone finally not try to give her any slack after she's demonstrably proven she's not deserving of any. It's just a demo so who know what the full game will reveal, but in the meantime... so much for "Claude would totally side with her" lmaooo

Wanted to reach into the screen and RATTLE the Lion man because Dimitri !!!! What are you TALKING about! From what I can tell she kept the nobles where they are; she still has a church, and it's one he doesn't like--surprise surprise, because it's Imperial rule dressed up as religion. It seems like she's done literally nothing different from Three Houses--in fact, she's done more!--and we only have the context of her war without the explanation of her reforms. I'm sorry, but why am I supposed to care that she's reshaped her country and STILL decided she wanted to tear Fódlan a new one. I'm not gonna say she didn't? change Adrestia in an admirable way? Because I don't know what she did. But it's BECAUSE I don't know what she did that I can only stomach Claude's response lol. Like when someone is knocking at your door with the intention to invade the shit out of you, you don't care. You're going to fight them tooth and nail and you're going to make sure they know better than to ever show their face at your border again; that's how you keep your country intact.

Slightly off topic, but was I right to see that Seteth was all "because she established a church she made an enemy of us an not the faith!" My brother in Sothis...a church established by the state? Are we joking? 😭 Why are the writers so intent on giving her leeway when she has none. Really hoping he changes his tune when she comes for his ass when his only crime is being Nabatean.

What also gets me is that Claude is the only one who hasn't been irreversibly antagonized yet; his route starts in defending Myrddin, whereas SB starts PAST Myrddin, and Dimitri already has to take in refugees. And yet, Claude is the one to get scrappy with the Empir lol?? Dimitri does say that he's not going to tolerate the injuring of his people, or the war in general (they kept you intact, my baby 🙏🏻), so I'm curious to see if his appreciation for her reforms comes from the fact that he's dealing with quite the bit of infighting that anything looks better? Because I don't think Faerghus would be any better off for having changed to look like Adrestia.

I'm trying not to be harsh because...demo. but also. I'm so not in the fucking mood to explain away her violent conquest. Here's hoping they don't do that 🙏🏻

[themoomoorn]

In the grand scheme of fandom, I'm honestly a touch surprised that there aren't many transgender Dimitri HC's. Heck, even without that element, there aren't a lot of pieces of work that explore how this tusked, muscular french fry lich king shows a large arrangement of what could be typically feminine qualities, right down to the very color he's associated with (depending on the culture) - blue.

It's all laid out nicely in Azure Moon's ending mural too.

What does this epic, fur-lined, boar-like warrior king of an age do here? Stand triumphantly over his foes? Nope - he's happily holding and playing with children, with one even appearing to be from Duscur. He alludes to working well with children and wanting to care for them (even while thinking he's not good at it!) in both Houses (Byleth Support) and Hopes (Exploration topic).

Furthermore, no task is "beneath" him, whether it be hard labor like field work (Heroes) or an attempt at more delicate work like sewing (Mercedes Support in Houses). He is gentle, kind, emotional. It's the latter trait that even exacerbates his psychosis in Houses, as Dedue will tell you that Dimitri's combat prowess jacks up tenfold because of how much of a bleeding heart he is.

In a way, Dimitri is very maternal the way a mother wolf or a mother bear is. In turn, these traits could translate into a transgender exploration, or even an exploration of how his behavior contrasts with Faerghus' slightly macho undercurrent (which is amusing, seeing that if Faerghus has a gender gap, it's negligible in its width).

(Next time come see me scream about how Edelgard foils all this with her seemingly masculine traits, or how Claude's colors are both yellow and green and how it ties to his heritages, or how Byleth's whacky fashion sense is that way because of Jeralt's dank-ass parenting - )

I feel like it’s just a waste of an opportunity not to talk about Dimitri being mistaken for a girl in his youth.

Like, where are the fics of him bonding with his female classmates over makeup? Where are the fics of him talking about fashion trends? Where are the fics of him being mistaken for a girl, just in general??? Like, come on! He should be allowed to be girly, as a treat…

[themoomoorn]

When you toss in the symbolism of safflowers and temptation, then it really casts Edeleth in an uncomfortable light. I'm also probably crazy, but I feel like it's almost worse if you play Byleth as a woman, I don't know.

It's also a very interesting point of contrast with Claude's Support set too; Also note that he and Edelgard are the only two who get more than three (disregarding the S-Supports) Support convos with Byleth.

Like her, he also gets his C right after you get the Sword of the Creator, and contrasting her luring Byleth in with what may be a carefully forged half-truth backstory, he point blank insults Byleth while also encouraging them to stick by him under the pretense of them being "outsiders," followed by him buttering her up for the B (Edelgard does something similar in her C+, but with a different approach). But come Claude's B+, he starts to become a little more sincere, solidifying their bond with as much truth as he can muster in his A. The Key is that Claude's B+ actually crosses over to Part II, but if you gather enough Support points, then you can unlock his A immediately once Part II starts.

Edelgard's B, meanwhile, is locked to the point right after you choose Crimson Flower, and it's all about her having the audacity to complain about how being a leader = responsuhbiluhty, with another opportunity to lose Support points with her to boot. Then it can take a long time to accumulate enough points for an A, which has her insisting that Byleth is detached while claiming them as family at the same time. It's why I like to contrast them more than Edelgard and Dimitri - not that their contrast is a bad thing, obviously, but there's some fascinating meat to dig into.

And heck, Dimitri's role as a decon-recon-Marth is played in how he has a more straightforward three-tier Support chain with Byleth like the rest of the cast. And digging into meta regarding his mental state come Part II, you theoretically can get his A with enough points accumulated (and you can still build said points in combat too), but his shattered mind naturally hinders it until Chapter 18. Cool stuff.

in your recent post you put into words exactly what makes me uncomfortable about edeleth. very well said. sometimes i feel like I'm one of the only people who sees it that way so it's nice to see someone else who feels that way

i used to like edeleth a lot but then once i started looking at it closely rather than the ‘omg edel is obsessed with you how cute’ lenses it became apparent that it’s fucking garbage holy shit.

like. you can’t convince me that edelgard genuinely loves byleth. you can only unlock her c support when you get the sword of the creator and she talks to hubert that she’s found a new tool aka you. then she conveniently decides to trauma dump her back story onto byleth and gain their sympathy. like i thought edel was supposed to be guarded about her past? that seems heavy to dump on someone in your first meaningful interaction.

then when byleth’s dad dies she tells them to suck it up and be ready to move when she is. like hello? it’s been a couple of days since byleth first cried and hasn’t been able to function. shut up and let them grieve without making this about you. also it’s ironic that she relies on byleth for support but dismissed them when they need it.

then there’s the misc stuff of her telling the death knight that he can kill them, insisting that byleth is still emotionless even when they say they’re not, keeps them in the dark, and straight up hates their heritage.

from edel’s pov i think that while it started as a power play it definitely tumbled into feelings but in a ‘in love with the idea of love but not knowing how to show it’ kind of way.

[themoomoorn]

I think with M!Dimileth, the key to their popularity - Dimitri's strong character aside - is that unlike Claude and Edelgard, Dimitri's attitude and demeanor towards Byleth never changes by gender. Aside from not being able to marry a male Byleth, the only other instance where Byleth's gender is really acknowledged on Lions/Moon is when Byleth faints after Chapter 10. That's it. The rest of the time, Dimitri will do the following with both Byleths:

Speak softly and gently

Be ferocious and broken

Freely hold hands

Openly weep

Freely express his emotions and fears

...and Byleth reacts strongly to most of these, including early Part II having them show fear, sadness, and tenderness.

Combine all this with Dimitri's courtly demeanor with women versus his...heated relationships with many of the men in his life...yeah. The avatar factor of a male Byleth is a bonus. Both flavors of Byleth transition smoothly into Dimileth, making both ships believable in different ways.

Meanwhile, Claude (and Nader, in one scene) openly acknowledges a female Byleth's beauty at several points, and their behaviors around one another even differ by gender (how he takes their hand during the ball; female Byleth blushing when they reunite versus male Byleth barely reacting at all).

Edelgard, in turn, also has dialogue hinting her being more openly attracted to a male Byleth (Dorothea Support), and her childish drawing that she does during Chapter 15 will always resemble a male Byleth even if you're playing female. Pretty striking, even with her being able to S-Support both genders, but then again, most of her romantic relationships don't feel romantic at all.

I hope you see this as a positive ask but I remember you saying you were surprised at mdimileth being popular, and I’m saying this mostly from a JPN perspective…but it really is? And I’m surprised to see others are surprised about it. The common thread between most shippers is that even though they’re both powerful men, one is highly repressed, awkward, but very noble and kind and also very tortured and sad, and the other man is awkward but quiet, repressed but in a different way, and unsure of how to act. It’s very different from what the developers intended I think! We like that they both learn how to act together and how to find their footing. They come together to help the land and fight the empire. One is the Ashen Demon who finds his heart after he meets people he comes to cherish and protect, the other the One Eyed Demon who finds his heart after he almost lost it to despair. A lot of us are also Blue Lions fans so I don’t know where this accusation comes from that says we exclude the rest of the lions for Byleth (my second pair is sylvix and my third is Mercedes with Dedue).

I had to look up English fan dictionaries for this but it’s also because one is big but kind but also repressed and he can tame a man who was scary and feared for being a demon but if you think about it, he’s actually submissive and breedable and almost like a twink. You can call me a fujoshi, but apparently that’s a bad word here? I’m not sure. I think another way to describe what we like is if you take Beauty and the Beast but apply it straight and reversed to both men at the same time. I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself! I hope this explains our tastes well enough!

I hope you see this as a positive ask but I remember you saying you were surprised at mdimileth being popular, and I’m saying this mostly from a JPN perspective…but it really is?

I can't speak for others but... It sort of is to me. It's not a surprise that the ship exists, but I guess I'm surprised it's popular? Most shipping I've seen with Dimitri is with Femyleth since that's actually possible in the game, and Dimitri's other popular male ships are just with others, like Felix. I guess I always felt that the Male Byleth ship is simply just lost in the wave of others ships, especially since it's not possible to obtain. Say what you will about Dimitri's ending with Felix, it's still a possible ending one can achieve, while if you play with Manyleth then you are locked out with any ending with Dimitri entirely.

Don't get me wrong- I love Dimitri with Manyleth. I view Dimitri as a queer man, even if it's not intentional. I am not someone who just stamps queer onto any character I like either, I need either text or subtext to back this up. Without it, it just feels like I'm lying to myself. And since I feel Dimitri has adequate subtext, I feel that he should have been a male option for Manyleth and it doesn't make much sense that he isn't. Dimitri is pretty cute with Byleth period, and treats Byleth the same no matter what gender you choose. It would be odd to me that it only becomes romantic if it's a woman he talks to, when he's literally saying the exact same thing to the male one as well.

You can call me a fujoshi, but apparently that’s a bad word here?

I'm not sure where "here" is. Japan? Western fandoms? Well, in the West, it's not really a negative word. But I think most fujoshi's keep their tastes close to their chests. There is definitely a stigma against them, that they fetishize men and are unable to view male friendships without instantly shipping them. Which is so funny to me personally- I am asexual, but I love romantic stories about two men. I don't even care about the sex, I find something appealing about a two men being vulnerable to each other in a way that my culture is only recently opening itself up to.

I also find it funny because literally just the other day, I was chatting with a friend of mine and made a joke that Durin and Elrond from that terrible Rings of Power show seem more like an old married couple than the actual romantic pairings in the show at the moment. I don't actually ship them and honestly there isn't much subtext there, it's just the writing is so bad that they are the rare-pair actual interesting group of characters. My much older friend, who is NOT a fujoshi in any capacity at all, then made a comment how Sam and Frodo should have just kissed. She's clearly not fetishizing them at all, and is 100% capable of viewing male friendships as just friendships. Yet, she felt that Sam and Frodo were maybe a little more than friends, if you catch my meaning.

Sometimes, a chemistry is there, whether the writers intended it or not.

Anyways, point is- While I don't think fujoshi's are viewed negatively (especially since the West has been more and more open to queer relationships), it's still a private thing unless done over a blog where you can be faceless. That's my own experience though. Most of my friends in rl don't know I like mlm ships, save for two friends who are the same way. But in this regard, I tend to live in a bubble, so maybe someone else could educate me if I'm wrong.

There are definitely spaces where fujoshi are made fun of and ridiculed (like 4chan) but I don't even think most Western fans even know the term. It's becoming pretty common place to have queer ships just in general, especially in fandom spaces...

I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself! I hope this explains our tastes well enough!

Don't apologize! My tastes are not much different than yours and I get the appeal.

It's just that since Manlyeth/Dimitri is not possible, I just figured it wasn't popular in Japan all that much. I was sure it had a following, but not a HUGE following, if you get my meaning. Especially since Femyleth seems disproportionally more popular just... in general.

[themoomoorn]

Final results are in! The damaged eye theory seems to have prevailed (admittedly I've swung back and forth on "damaged eye" vs "empty socket"), and while it's true that the devs more or less threw it in for ~aesthetic~ purposes, a Tea Time quote does have him say his vision is "narrowed" a little, although he also says the "scar (over his eye) is healed now." I imagine that having total sight loss versus partial loss from a cataract or something would be a lot more crippling in combat. Thanks for joining in!

HEY LOOK IT'S DIMITRI'S EYEBALL ON A CAKE LET'S EAT IT

...and now that I have your attention, help me settle this once and for all!

What do you, viewers at home, believe lies underneath Dimitri's eyepatch during Part II of Three Houses?

[themoomoorn]

King shoulda done the deed in canon because Byleth did it on SS and Dimitri did it on AM...and @nilsh13 analyzed how it was a missed opportunity because how Edelgard reacts to Claude is vastly underutilized (and also completely misconstrued by stans and loonies) compared to how she reacts to Dimitri and Byleth, and that includes her responses to being at death's door with them.

On SS, she lays it on thick with Byleth about how she didn't walk with her, having a 2005 emo-fest over how her war is still raging on, and doesn't resist to Byleth smashing her head in. On AM, she feigns amiability when Dimitri willingly reaches his hand out to her, only to attempt to stab him in the neck; he retaliates by stabbing her in the chest. But VW? Seeing how she alleges that Claude is Not So Different From Her(tm) but then claims he has no right to rule over allegedly knowing nothing - when he's the one who gets to learn EVERYTHING - would likely have her reeling in panic and anger because she has to get done in by this upstart foreigner from a land that's hinted to be bigger and more powerful than all of Fodlan, and his obtaining the truth regarding everything about Fodlan's history spits in the face of all the fraudulent history the Empire and Agartha cooked up for her. Claude would likely respond in the sickingly sweet tone he's spoken to her in several times, and then snap her neck or something. True king shit that was disgustingly not utilized.

The utterly strange, hypocritical way Edelgard responds to Claude in general is something of a fascinating mini-essay in and of itself too.

seeing claude being the one to kill woobie instead byleth in this fic: wow king👑✨💛🙏

😍😍😍💞💞💞💛💛💛 we stan a king who'll get shit done ✨✨✨🙏🙏🙏👑👑👑

[themoomoorn]

There's also a darker contrast in how their respective answers to life's problems are rooted in a kind of selfishness.

Edelgard's is more grandiose and obvious (especially if you chuck the localization out the window wholesale): A "revolution" that's a big fat pretense about bringing the glory days of the Empire back, believing that they set the best example for the continent, believing that those dreaded dragons ruined everything for humanity, but also her, a woman who was spoiled and traumatized in equal measure. She believes she has all the answers because the Empire's warped history and what her father told her were correct, and because TWSITD's own history is very much against dragonkind and views Nemesis as an ally and tool, well, she's better off for it in a way. She has the slimiest and most dependable right-hand man for the job and could care less about the kinds of allies she has, unless they completely fall under her thrall the way Byleth does (if you don't accept the flagrant player-pandering that it's more meant to be, anyway).

Claude's is far more well-meaning - he almost has his nose turned up at Fodlan very early on in the story, as he believes that it's the church's influence alone that makes them cagey towards foreigners. Unlike Edelgard, he actually does change this view, moreso on his own route, as his dogged persistence yields him the truth behind some of the deepest wounds that Fodlan bears. Even then, most of his dreams stem from his own personal trauma of being persecuted and abused in Almyra by his family, and he views prejudices almost in a manner than can be vaguely described as "Fodlan vs. Almyra, and maybe the rest of the world." Note how he interacts with Fodlan's non-natives versus their natives, or how he notably diverts the subject of borders during the infamous scene at Myrddin - the scene where Cyril objects to being used as part of his agenda. He also doesn't pay much mind to the situation of said other foreigners (Petra and Brigid being the Empire's colony, Duscur, etc), although there'd probably be another DLC's worth of content to unpackage with that. Unlike Edelgard, though, Claude does genuinely care for the people around him, and while he still ultimately has Byleth act as his biggest chess piece, he also comes to care (or even love!) for her as a person. He's playing tug-of-war with his feelings for others, while Edelgard has no interest in doing so.

Dimitri may contrast Edelgard in how he asserts the need for unity and peace, his kindness versus her aloofness, feminine blue versus masculine red, his violence born from extreme empathy versus her lack of empathy - but he also contrasts her and Claude in how he wishes to reform only his Kingdom first and foremost - the fallout of the war was the only way that his wishes extended towards the rest of the continent. He initially doesn't do it for some selfish motivation, but because he wants to do right by others, protect others - and as it just so happens, helping others is his personal wish. In fact, his trauma being pushed to extremes was what it took to drown him in an extremely selfish goal in the first place (muderkilling Edelgard), and furthermore, he never thought he had the right to have any kind of self-fulfilling desire for himself. There's also the bonus of how he wishes immensely to restore Duscur's dignity, and this amiability extends towards outside of Fodlan should he take the throne.

I guess you can frame it as Edelgard vs. Claude, but also Edelgard vs. Dimitri in that Edelgard is selfishness incarnate and doesn't care, while Dimitri is selflessness incarnate and has to be taught that it's okay to be selfish in moderation (i.e tamper that revenge boner). Claude is also selfish in a way, but he also knows how to be selfless and wants to be selfless in regards to companions, but is also terrified of being shunned.

Brain vomit!

I know Dimitri and Edelgard are constrasted a lot in the story but I think Claude is meant to be her true contrast. He pretends to be a huge liar, she really is one, they have very similar end boss cutscene music, and they both want to unify the world but he wants to do it through acceptance and understanding and she wants to do it by force. If this has already been said on here, sorry

Oh yeah and another thing Edelgard and Claude have in common is their retainers are manipulative people. Obviously in different ways, Hilda charms people into doing what she wants because she’s lazy and Hubert threatens people into doing what he wants because he’s evil but I thought it was an interesting commonality

It has been, but I don't mind talking about it again lol it's interesting! Claude likes to talk big about how he'll do anything to win and how he's only ever out for himself, but looking at his actions it's obvious that he genuinely cares a lot for people and will makes sure they're safe. In comparison, Edelgard will talk about how she really cares for the weak but looking at her actions it's clear that she just sees the people as a means to an end. Claude wants to know the whole truth of Fodlan and sets out to search for it (and succeeds in doing so), meanwhile Edelgard thinks she knows the whole truth and thus never searches for anything about it (and never learns the real truth). Both think they have their dream locked down, but only Claude ever gets challenged about it and made to see that he was being narrowminded about his dreams while Edelgard never is. Like you mentioned, he wants peace through peaceful means while Edelgard wants "peace" through extreme violence. Claude wants to keep the Church around for those that need it, Edelgard believes the Church should be abandoned in favor of complete independence regardless of who needs it.

There's more, but you get the idea. As much as the game wants to say that they're not that different in the end, they are very different - that's what makes their dynamic so interesting!

But the idea of them contrasting even in their retainers is very interesting, because it goes a little deeper than what you said! I never thought about it before, but thinking on it some I can see it! Hilda manipulates people by making them feel as though they're being helpful when they do her work for her and she makes sure they feel good when they do, while Hubert will make those he manipulates know that he is the one in control and makes sure that they know they can't do anything but do what he wants them to or else. It's not so much the reason why they manipulate that's what makes them different (in a substantial way at least), but the means in which they do so

[themoomoorn]

Dimitri and Dedue on CF, providing you k-word Dedue before he transforms: "FORGIVE ME DEDUE...THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING..." "I WAS GIVEN PURPOSE YOUR MAJESTY...YOU MUST BE WEARY...LET US REST IN PEACE..."

Dimitri upon reuniting with Dedue on AM: "Dedue bb I swear to god if you EVER sacrifice yourself again I swear DEDUE STAHP IT I CHERISH YOU DEDUE -"

Dedue upon realizing that Dimitri was k-worded on VW: "I will avenge you, Your Highness...and then we shall be roomates to the grave!"

Meanwhile...

Pubert, at any time: "LONG LIVE HER MAJESTYYYYY:

Egg: "...y'all hear some:

just to point out something

Claude when news of a close one's death reaches him:

Rhea when news of close ones' deaths reaches her:

Dimitri when news of close ones' deaths reaches him:

EdeIgard when news of a close one's death reaches her... oh wait...

[themoomoorn]

I would even argue that her looks, while certainly above some of the 3H cast, even falls flat when you eventually stack her sorta-generic cuteness with Dimitri’s stark Part II grungy glow-up and how Claude has very unique and noticeable real life cultural motifs in both Part I and II.  Both men also really strike that difficult balance between animesque and slight realism in terms of their physical design (as opposed to Hilda or Lorenz or Caspar looking very much like borderline slateless anime characters); Edelgard doesn’t.  She has a decent Part II design, but it only stands out from the rest of the Red emperors by virtue of her being a young woman as well as that ram horn crown.  Her Emperor Master Class is also easily the least memorable of the unique Master Classes - and this is to the point that the shape of that outfit is actually the base of her Hegemon beast form, like that’s a little sad if you think about it.

Really, there’s a lot about 3H that feels like a massive happy accident, but because the not-happy-accidental parts (read: Edelgard) are shoved in your face, you need to hunt to see said happy accidents (read: Dimitri, Claude, Rhea/Seiros, design and music motifs, female Byleth being the better Byleth, etc.)

(Yes, I’m putting the Enlightened One getup above it because it’s so damn tacky that it’s hilarious, plus oddly fitting for what little tangible character Byleth does have - at least for the female, anyway.) 

I find it SO interesting just from a consequence-of-marketing standpoint that because Edelgard from the very start was the Lord the players should be rooting for and because of that the character who stands as the representation for everything she's supposedly against, regardless of whether or not Rhea actually becomes a sympathetic character, was branded pure evil while Edelgard becomes infallible. Like what kind of hivemind shit-

Honestly!! Like sure if you dodged spoilers and any and everything to do with the game pre-release this wouldn't be something that'd affect your opinion, but I can't imagine that many people were dead-set on coming in 3H with fresh eyes, so they have all the things that showoff Edelgard as The Lord of 3H - Dimitri and Claude are there, sure, but they Aren't Edelgard, the poster girl, the selling point, Edge of Dawn isn't about them specifically (even if you can definitely gleam them from some parts of the song).

And then you get into the game and you still get her shoved in your face - she's the bi lord, she's the one with the most immediately unique and stunning design pre-ts, she's the one who panders to the player the most is the most touched by Byleth's no personality impact on her life, she's the one Byleth saves from death that she almost caused to herself because she tried and failed to have Dimitri and Claude killed

You are hit over and over and over again with "look at Edelgard!! You should like her!!" both in and out of the game and some folks fell for it hook line and sinker. Who cares what her actual actions are, they can't be that bad because "everything" said that she was good! It's... very odd, to say the least

[themoomoorn]

Let's throw in some more to this disaster stew:

- While a localization can't do a 1:1 smooth translation of working around specific Japanese pronouns nd tics, there are ways of making it work, with Awakening's Vaike being one example. In 3H, the Flame Emperor uses the very old fashioned and pompous, arrogant masculine pronoun "wagahai" (我輩). Combine this with dialogue changes like "making the world what it once was," in tandem with Edelgard's dialogue when not dressed as the Flame Emperor, and it becomes clear that, whether or not one believes that Agartha truly has a leg up on her, Edelgard is arrogant and truly believes in both the supremacy of her Empire and her ideals.

- Another gendered language example: Ingrid isn't meant to be tomboyish at all in Japanese, but rather extremely feminine. Her inflictions, pronouns, and grammar structure are all very polite and feminine, and in Japan, dutifulness combined with prim and serious behavior pins one as feminine by default. She just happens to not care about hyper-feminine things like makeup and sewing, which is kinda justified when you consider that despite her noble title, her family is poor.

- Certain same-sex A-Supports that had romantic connotations were toned down, despite this game allegedly being a bastion of LGBT+ representation. The two most pointed examples are Felix/Sylvain and Catherine/Shamir, the latter being one that explicitly mentions the idea of the two of them getting married.

- More church demonizing: In an early Explore phase of Cindered Shadows, a resident of Abyss (or Linhardt, I can't remember who) will say about the surface-world library that "the church's library is...well curated" with derision, implying more censorship outside of Seteth banning content that fits one of two categories: Anything that would out the Nabateans...or smut. The original JP line instead states that a lot of the library's books were destroyed, citing the fire that took place around the time Byleth was born, and in a more neutral tone.

- Poor, poor Claude. tl;dr: The "sneaky schemer" bit was so overplayed in the localization that it borders on character assassination. There's also how they damn-near erased how his life experiences made him deeply cynical towards others; When it pops up in the localization (Azure Moon 19 being a good example), it feels weirdly disconnected.

- While Heroes does a better job (it's half-assed but better) in displaying how Edelgard is meant to be a villain, many of her alts still have more flattering dialogue, specifically her Fallen alt. There's also how the vocal direction for Byleth, for some damned reason, makes them sound like robots instead of emotionally stunted. Finally, the localized rendition of Brave!Claude has a weird aversion to not bring up Byleth, unlike in JP where he fondly does several times.

- To further hit home that she's part of the Red Emperor family of archetypes, Edelgard wears the term "hegemon" like it's going out of style in Japanese. The track used for her and the Eagles (localized as "The Leader's Path") is "The Hegemon's Path" in JP, and her personal Battalion (localized as the "Supreme Armored Co.") was originally the "Hegemony Armored Corps" (覇鎧隊). In Heroes, her Fallen Alt will have her boastfully mention hegemony in one of her lines, which the localization excises.

In general, what are the differences between the English and Japanese scripts?

I might not be the best person to ask this to, since I don’t speak Japanese. The most general answer I can give, from all I’ve seen translators talk about, is that Edelgard was toned down a good bit in the English version. She was localized to be someone who:

wasn’t as much in control as she was in the Japanese version (I believe Cornelia’s death scene - in CF? - has her saying that Edelgard had them dancing to her tune, for example. The English version implies basically the opposite),

wasn’t doing as many of the bad things she does (no information campaigns and in VW she was there to destroy the Crest Stones in the Holy Tomb; there were information campaigns and she was explicitly there to take the Crest Stones in the Japanese version),

somehow wasn’t as blatant in her want to kill all the Nabateans (this line is more clearly about obliterating the Nabateans specifically in the Japanese version, where this is far more vague)

There are also more things that tend to lean in favor towards Edelgard in the Eng version than in the Jpn version, along with more changes outside of Edelgard specifically. If you want a better answer I’d suggest going to someone who can properly translate the Jpn version, like (and sorry if you find this annoying bud lol) @garlandgerard who’s answered a lot of questions going over the differences between the two versions