#dimitri and dedue's relationship is so important to both of their characters

[bastart13]

I might have controversial opinions on the "Faerghus Four." Mostly that it doesn't exist, and at worst, it exists to exclude Dedue.

Yes, Dimitri, Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix grew up together, but that was as children. While that history is significant to their relationships, it ignores everything after. With the tragedy of Duscur, Dimitri and Dedue became inseparable while Felix was sickened by them, Ingrid couldn't overlook Dedue's connection to the tragedy, and Sylvain's apathy grew.

Past the age of ~15, you can't ignore how Dedue and the tragedy affects their relationships. I don't see just the four of them as a friend group, especially not without him because he's so important to Dimitri and the themes of Faerghus.

[emblemxeno]

If we're being honest, I got a lot of issues with Ingrid because I feel like she has the wrong character development

Her support with Dedue is realizing that she shouldn't apply her negative view of Duscur onto every Duscurian indiscriminately

That kind of thing works for Oboro because Nohrians really did kill her parents

But, Duscurians didn't actually cause the death of Lambert or Glenn, so her development should've been to learn that all those years of hatred were misdirected, and she hated them for no reason

It also didn't help that Dimitri states multiple times that Duscur didn't commit the crime, and Ingrid is still ignorant about it

I have this unhinged hatred of the Faerghus Four as a concept because every time, it's like they're consciously refusing to acknowledge the importance of Dedue in Dimitri's life in the present "Oh, these are Dimitri's childhood friends. Of course, they're close." Yeah, sure.... They're totally closer to Dimitri than Dedue is in the present.... *Internal screaming*

Combining these because my answer to both is similar!

In my opinion, it showcases how 3H's writing philosophy is ultimately shoddy in its foundation. The backstories, supports, and character-to-character dialogue itself is great in theory, but execution it clashed with what both FE usually tries to do and what 3H desperately wants to do.

FE typically has characters join chapter to chapter, with important ones having plot moments, while side characters fall to the background once their designated chapter is up. But this isn't at the cost of character interaction, pre-established relationships, and the micro-to-macro worldbuilding precisely because they're not overly important. You can have canon romances, friendships, familial relationships, etc. because that's all supplemental side material.

3H was written in a way in which the characters were all connected to its grandiose world, to the point where Fodlan itself can be almost considered a character. Multilayered backstories that infer key points in the narrative, each character no matter how trivial having opinions on how the world works, shifting dynamics, etc.

The problem though is that these two philosophies clash already at base, but also run into the problem of FE's gameplay integrated story elements.

None of the Faerghus Four can meaningfully comment on their relationship with Dimitri during a story cutscene because they can die. Ingrid can't meaningfully change her perspective on Dedue or Duscur beyond her supports because she can die. Therefore, all you get are (admittedly pretty good) supports, the monastery dialogue, and other tidbits intentionally disconnected from one another so as not to be important enough to write around potential death. The comments they do get in cutscenes were intentionally written in a way to be surface level and easily replaced. Look at the FEdatamine site for example, where conclusions are reached by Byleth, the lord, the unkillable retainer, and other important story figures, with numerous possible instances of "if X character is alive they comment this, but if X character is dead this line is skipped."

That is proof of how sloppy 3H's writing is in foundation when you think about it long enough. The game that has such an intricate world, thorough details, and fascinating story beats, is actually extremely bad at delivering a story, especially an FE story. Being the judgmental and petty cunt that I am, 3H gets a pass most of the time a) most don't care or bother to care about actual stuff like this and b) the game has the aesthetics of being a down to earth, gritty, serious narrative. The foundational issues don't matter when you have Edelgard yapping about "THE CREST SYSTEM", dark character circumstances, and intriguing mysteries to solve in part 1.

People want the appearance of sophistication, especially after Awakening and Fates bent a lot of rules to fuck around with their respective stories. It's why Engage, despite not having nearly as many basic issues at conveying its plot and is actually extremely good at being a Fire Emblem story (e.g. more character being able to actually die, pre-established relationships, chapter to chapter joining, not nearly as much centering on Alear as the ultimate decider on a character's fate compared to Byleth), is panned because... why? Its bright aesthetic? Its good dragon vs evil dragon plot? Its softer or humorous moments?

Hell, even its call backs to past FE games is called cheap, soulless, or a gateway to gacha (one video I saw even described it as something like "when art becomes obligation" or some such nonsense), despite it LITERALLY being the prime anniversary title. The main character is the Fire Emblem, and the writers-through Lumera-wish a happy birthday to Fire Emblem!!! What about that is lacking heart and soul?

But yeah, again, I preface that I'm a judgmental asshole who proudly proclaims that the audience (at least the western one) has for years been too obsessed with yearning for darker serious aesthetics of FE's past (despite said past being wackier than they remember), that when a new game has them in overflowing spades, the many fundamental video game writing issues do not matter as much anymore.

Aesop for the day: Serious tones and aesthetics are not automatically better than lighter, heartfelt, or funny ones. You still have to write well for a story to be good.

EDIT: Funny enough this is also why Three Hopes is a more comfy environment for the Fodlan cast's in terms of tangible development, because the things the writers want to do with that game's story complements its gameplay. Because KT is better at making Warriors plots than FE plots.

[yellowocaballero]

It was cool seeing a bit more of Dedue this chapter, cause like his dynamic with Dimitri is just so interesting yk? Like alongside the loyalty and devotion, Dedue also genuinely cares about Dimitri and Dimitri very much so cares about him in turn, but there's also the added layer of Dimitri being basically his only hope for the justice and restoration of his people and that adds even more of a power imbalance (outside of just the general future king and his vassel imbalance lol). And the way that in their supports they both had said that the other had saved them and Dedue calling Faergheus abhorrent with Dimitri as the exception. There's just a lot of depth there, and I really like the way you're showing that so far in the fic.

YEAH BABY. I know I went on for WAY too long about Dedue in a comment, did I do it here??? I don't think I did? I'll more or less repeat what i said.

You're so right. Dimitri and Dedue's relationship is so complicated, and Dedue is so complicated, and I think the nature of Dedue's character is that he is very, very quiet about how complicated it is.

Dedue and Dimitri genuinely love each other very, very much. They're so devoted to each other, they would do anything for each other. I think they 'killed off' Dedue because Dimitri would not have lost all hope if Dedue was alive. Blaming himself for Dedue's death fucked Dima up bad. Dima genuinely, actually cares a ton about saving Duscur and helping the people his country hurt, about helping Dedue with his life goal of giving the country freedom. I also think Dedue is...um, bad for Dimitri.

You can't forget that Dedue is a single issue voter. He is a genocide survivor. The goal of his life is to save Duscur. Dimitri is his only method of saving Duscur. Dimitri is the only person who cares. Dedue has to make Dimitri king. He's thrown his hat into Dimitri's ring and he has to keep it there. Dedue knows every secret Dimitri has - his hatred, his mass murdering tendencies, his sickness - and he doesn't tell anybody, because that would get in the way of making Dimitri king, and that would put him at odds with Dimitri and what Dimitri wants. He enables continuously when what Dimitri needs is an intervention. He actually openly tells Felix that, should Dimitri start burning down a village and murdering women and children, that Dedue would help him. Dimitri would do that because he's nuts, but Dedue would do it fully aware of what he's doing and completely willing to do it, because Dimitri told him to, and Dedue needs to make Dimitri king, because Dimitri is going to save Duscur.

The power imbalance is a big thing, yes. It's huge, and it's understandable but silly of Dimitri to want them to be friends. But I think Dimitri is extremely reliant on Dedue. When somebody depends on you completely, when they share everything with you, you have power over them. Dedue had the power to help Dimitri, and he chose not to.

I don't blame him. Dedue had his own ways of coping too, and this was how. I think he put the salvation of his people over Dimitri's happiness, and...that's fine. The sad white boy is not the most important person in the world. In the fic, I draw an explicit comparison between Dedue and Byleth: that they needed Dimitri to be a king and a leader and alive, and they didn't need him sane for that. But it was the actions of two people who loved Dimitri so much that they were willing to do anything to keep him alive.

I always kind of wondered if Dedue had THAT MUCH internalized racism, or if he just knew that he had to be careful with his words and show the world the right face. He talks a lot about how ashamed he is of Duscur's So Awful Bad Actions We Killed Your King :(, but...he also privately shares that he finds finds Faerghus abhorrent. SO MUCH of Dedue's lines in his supports are just severely internalized racism, and I just kind of wonder how honest it is...same way that you have to wonder how honest Petra is. I think they're both doing what they have to in order to survive, and that they have to protect themselves and this is the way they have to do it, but...it's not...good...

He's a fascinating character in a way I don't think is immediately obvious, and I think he's kind of slept on in that way! Dedue portrays his own actions as very simple and straightforward, but I really don't think they are. Unfortunately, due to the story, this is the last time we see Dedue play a very active role in the narrative. I was sad about it (I also dislike writing out POC, but such was the story). Thanks for the ask, though - I think if you drain out all of this complexity about Dedue, then you're really missing the point. And the Dedue you'd be creating is somebody who has no internal life or motivations or faults or strengths outside of Dimitri, and who also just has so much internalized racism. Which is lame.

TL;DR

FELIX, AS USUAL, YOU'RE RIGHT BUT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY IT LIKE THAT.

[calamari-inari]

Playing this game (without the likes) 🫶

1. enemies to lovers, best friends to lovers, lord and their knight ❤️

2. Not sure if these are tropes, but yandere lover (just not a very big fan of yandere), obsessive love (treating their partner as a possession), misogynistic attitudes or abusive power in a relationship (basically a partner defining what their partner, whether it be a woman or man, should do or behave, and the victimized partner finds it hot???)

3. Gradual mutual understanding for one another! I also learn more about the characters' personalities this way!

4. One or both partners experience withdrawal when they're being separated from each other lol. True feelings often emerge from such situations and it's adorable...

5. Multiship! So far, the only ships I really think about now are from FE3H and a few from Engage and TGAA. Here's a list of several multiships I enjoy!

FE3H (Apparently Dimitri is very shippable to me LOL)

Hubert x Ferdinand

Hubert x Edelgard

Sylvain x Felix

Sylvain x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Ferdinand

Dimitri x Felix

Dimitri x Dedue

Dimitri x Claude

Byleth x any lord

Engage

Alear x Alfred

Alear x Diamant

Diamant x Ivy

TGAA

Kazuma x Ryuunosuke

Barok x Kazuma

Barok x Herlock

6. I like both rarepairs and mainstream! Most of the rarepairs I like don't have any canon interaction, so I like to explore the "what could've been" situations.

7. Monogamy. Not much to explain here. It's just my preference lol

8. Using my favorite pair ferdibert, they are reversible, but I have a really strong preference for dom Hubert and sub Ferdinand. However!! I'm not a big fan of where Ferdinand is written or drawn very femininely. This applies to any MxM pair. I'm not against the concept of femininity in males, but when used in a stereotypical fashion, it rubs me the wrong way. Just a subtle depiction of their relationship dynamic is perfect to me! I'm alright with seeing SFW artwork of the reverse and reading said fics, but NSFW is where I draw the line

9. Thinking about the games I've played, I can think of at least one pair I like to see romantically, so yes 😂

10. Not at all important! After all, my favorite is romantic fluff 🥺 Depending on the intensity of my liking for a ship, the NSFW aspect becomes more bareable since I'm still personally embarrassed consuming such content lol. I am vanilla. Ferdibert is highkey the only one I consume NSFW for

11. A lot of my MxF and FxF pairs are platonic to me! This is likely due to my aegosexuality, which is the closest explanation I can identify with. Not everything needs to be romantic. I find close friendships very heartwarming too 🥺

12. My top favorites right now are ferdibert 🖤🧡, sylvix ❤️💙, and diminand 💙🧡!

13. My favorite pairs from fandoms that I'm not really engaging in now are:

Madeleine Cookie x Espresso Cookie (Cookie Run Kingdom)

Victor x Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Link x Zelda (Skyward Sword version)

Reyn x Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles 1)

Chrom x M!Robin (Fire Emblem Awakening)

14. Domestic fluff is really cute, but the official legal bonding of two partners isn't on my "must have" list for any romantic pairing. I really love seeing creations of my favorite pairs marrying though! Gives me the tingles every time and I just feel so happy 😍

15. As someone that made OC fan kids in the past, yes that is totally fine and I love seeing other people's interpretations for the same pair (if they don't have canon children). I've even made some for ferdibert before but I never fully flushed them out lol

[faroreswinds]

Guess that guy forgot Dimitri's support with Dedue where the crux of the conflict was that Dimitri and wanted to treat Dedue as equals but Dedue wanted to be seen as a vassal.

People use Dedue as some sort of "gotcha" character to prove how terrible and racist Dimitri is. How dare he keep a marginalized, colonized man of color as his vassal.

This completely removes any agency Dedue has himself. These people don't actually like Dedue. They only like what they perceive to be legitimacy to their argument.

They often ignore:

He is not forced to be by Dimitri's side. He actively chooses to be there.

Dedue was not just a prize for Dimitri to cling to. Dedue and Dimitri both relied on each other for recovery from shared trauma, and what one faced, the other faced with him.

Dedue is the one who chooses to keep the relationship professional. Dimitri actively begs him to treat him as an equal, not a superior.

They are both the most important person in each other's lives. They would die for each other.

In the rare cases Dedue chooses to leave Dimitri's side, Dimitri encourages it.

And so on.

A bit of a side-bar, but I noticed that many people in the thread also lamented that Yuri couldn't support Claude or Edelgard. I guess they feel that Yuri has something in common with them.

I don't see it. Yuri may be a rouge who chooses life and winning over morals, but he is also a church-boy at heart. He never expresses hatred for the church or crests the way Edelgard or Claude do. I don't even think he actually hates nobles, he just sees them as pawns for his schemes.

Claude and Edelgard "care" about the common folk but Dimitri walks the walk. He's the only one who actually gets into the dirt with the commoners, walks among them and interacts with more than just his inner circle of commoner friends. This is what Yuri values the most- his people, the down trodden. Of COURSE he would support Dimitri over the other two.

Also, Yuri is from the kingdom, and he doesn't hate his homeland. Which I'm sure some people would insist he should since it's a backwards country or something, idk.

[gascon-en-exil]

Something interesting I noticed about the three lords and their relationship with the avatar, retainer and rival. Dimitri is the only one that explicitly marries Byleth in their paired ending & it goes into detail about their relationship, Edelgard's paired ending is pretty vague on their relationship with Byleth but they tell you that no one knows how they privated enjoyed life together and Claude's ending with Byleth ignores their relationship entirely and only tells you that there was another final battle and Claude returns. With the retainers Claude explictly marries Hilda, Dimitri and Dedue's paired ending is pretty homoerotic but isn't confirmed in how homoerotic it is and Edelgard's ending with Hubert tells you that it was platonic and didn't evolve into a romance especially in Japanese. With the rivals, Edelgard explicitly marries Ferdinand (and he's the only man she explicitily has children with), Dimitri married some no name woman but Felix's anguish at Dimitri's death being greater than the queen's makes it come off as homoerotic and Claude's relationship with Lorenz is pretty platonic and just them setting up a meeting. tldr; In concerns to the paired endings: Dimitri only explicitly marries the avatar, Claude only explicitly marries the retainer and Edelgard only explicitly marries the rival. All other relationships with the avatar, retainers and rivals are homoerotic to vague to completely platonic. I feel like this was on purpose by the devs but to what end, I have no idea. Thoughts?

None of that is terribly surprising, and I don't think there's a greater pattern or anything. Same-sex content is always going to be worded more vaguely, especially with major non-Avatar characters. Even with Avatars, the implementation is so lazy (one or two word swaps, at most) that the effect is practically the same. As for Edelbert, it's probably meant to be a meta joke about how Edelgard won't even look at Hubert twice as long as her teacher is around, even when he's delivering her a continent on a silver platter. The player is simultaneously Byleth, who can reach for Edelgard's hand because they (presumably) paid money for IS's product and are thus the most important person in this universe, and Hubert, the horny incel who can never be with Edelgard because of reality interfering.

Claude is straight, and he's such a mystery even up to his S rank that of course the Claudeleth ending isn't entirely satisfying. Hilda, not being the player, can be filled in offscreen.

Dimitri is bi with numerous marriage options although the narrative of both games favors his relationships with men - including, technically, m!Byleth who only misses out on the S rank conversation.

Edelgard loves the self-insert, but if Byleth doesn't pick her she'll settle for marrying Ferdinand or Caspar or having "an affectionate and fulfilling relationship" with Hanneman or remaining unmarried and close *coughs* with Manuela. All of these further the joke at Hubert's expense.

That's how I've always looked at these.

[atomatowriter]

What kind of music do your OCs listen to?

OC you most struggled to make?

What are some things that inspired your stories? Real events? Maybe a dream?

Music: So I actually think a lot about this. Let me answer sort of modern AU for the Time's Sacrifice and the Come Home brothers:

Music is not as important to Celin as it is me, but her vibe for me resonates with a lot of Vienna Teng or early Ingrid Michaelson.

Alasdair would love a lot of moody, theatrical kind of music. Florence + the Machine, The Amazing Devil, Lorde, Hozier, etc.

Nico would be the sort of "if I have music going in the background, it's instrumental bc lyrics distract me" person if he's working on something. Some rock, as well.

Rhys would listen to a lot of indie and maybe some folk. He'll listen to other genres but that's what gets him In His Feels, which he often is.

Cassidy listens to a bit of everything, but he definitely has long playlists of his favorite video game music. Man he'd LOVE Transistor like almost exclusively for the music.

OC Struggle: Nico is absolutely one of the hardest. Partly because I had a good idea of what I wanted for Alasdair, I'd had Celin for a while, so I was kind of building Nico FOR them? And partly because he's so incredibly reserved. To this day, even now that I'm writing Nico POV chapters, it feels hard to chip away at him because he's just so private.

Inspiration: So both of the stories I'm working on right now came from D&D games. I've talked about Time's Sacrifice but YOU'LL HEAR IT AGAIN. Some spoilers for the ending of the book though I've never kept it super secret, but be advised.

I made Celin as a PC for a game Cressida was running set in the world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. She was Faerghan, became friends with Prince Dimitri in like session 0, and she and Dedue quickly became a budding sort of romance. Cressida also wrote and writes a lot of fanfic with Dimitri, typically where he's gay and polyam. So at one point I joked to Cressida, "Okay AU where Celin and Dimitri get married because they're friends and it makes sense politically and Celin is like 'Hey I know you're in love with your friends, you know I'm in love with Dedue (and you are also in love with Dedue), we can make this work.'" We never did anything with it but my mind kinda ran away with it and so I decided to turn it into a book. But I didn't want it to be Fire Emblem fanfic with different names, so I came up with new characters for the prince and the bodyguard. I made Alasdair a soft boy who wasn't much of a physical fighter and I made Nico a lot grumpier and angrier, though still with a secret soft side. I built a world that would make sense for the journey I wanted them to go on and voila. And over time the "school for nobles" setting changed to just getting some training at court. Gonna self-promo real quick bc book one is on sale now if you wanna check it out!

Rhys is from a sort of small-town-with-secret-magical-fae-bullshit D&D game. I made him on a whim, he's just a sort of soft farmboy type of character, but I quickly got attached to his relationship with his older brother. He's also lived his entire life knowing he was sort of a replacement for his older sister, who went missing before he was born, and that's impacted a lot of his relationships with his family. So at one point, Cressida and I watched Onward and I got very emotional and, as is my usual way for processing emotions, began to daydream about this idea of Rhys finding out he was a changeling who was traded for his sister and running off into the fae forest to try to get her back - and then his brother coming after him. Thus Come Home was born.

Writer (& Artist) Ask Game

[ragamuffinsage]

Edelbert and Dimidue were two of my first Fire Emblem Three Houses ships (yeah I have a type), and over the four years the game has been out I’ve noticed they get a very different treatment, fanwork-wise. Within the context of the story, both relationships are very different in terms of how the characters came to know each other, but specifically from a meta perspective, there’s a pretty obvious double standard. Edelgard and Dimitri both have significant positions of power over their vassals, and both of them do their best to treat them as equals regardless. They go out of their way to humanize them even while being surrounded by a society that would encourage otherwise. And while that’s not the norm of the culture they grew up in, and it reflects well on both of them as people that they defy that, it’s should still be considered basic human decency. Especially if you’re writing them in a relationship.

With most Edelbert fics I’ve read, Edelgard’s treatment of Hubert tends to be treated as more of a given. While their uneven power dynamic is often a point of conflict, Edelgard sees Hubert as a peer and a confidant, and she’s not usually portrayed as a saint for doing so. With Dimidue, I’ve seen a lot more fics that focus on how wonderful and giving Dimitri is for doing things for Dedue. And I’m not saying it isn’t meaningful or significant that Dimitri cares deeply about Dedue’s wellbeing. However, making the main focus on a fic about their relationship how much Dimitri does for Dedue- especially when Dedue is much more likely to be written as a satellite character than Hubert is- can feel like it’s playing off white savior tropes. And this goes double when everything Dedue does for Dimitri feels minimized in comparison.

Again, Dimitri is doing genuine good by standing up for Dedue and seeking justice for Duscur. And it’s work that the rest of Faerghus isn’t doing. The problem arises when their relationship is explored solely via the lens of Dimitri being the most amazing person just for wanting justice for a people subjugated under the kingdom that he will inherit. Reparations for Duscur should be a priority regardless of his personal relationship with Dedue. There’s also the issue of fewer writers focusing on everything Dedue does for Dimitri. He cares for his health. He fights for his legacy. In Crimson Flower, he literally gives up his humanity and dies for him. All while having not even a fraction of the societal power or resources Dimitri does. Even more egregious is when fic writers put so much emphasis on what Dimitri does for Duscur without going into everything Dedue canonically does for his own people in his endings.

The ironic part is Edelbert doesn’t actually need to be written as nuanced as it often is. It’s a relationship more inspired by medieval fantasy tropes than real world power imbalances. If you want to romanticize the hell out of their power dynamic or turn it in to a cut and dry sexy master-servant relationship, I won’t stop you. I don’t think it’s particularly in-character, but it’s not really playing on tropes that are actively harmful. Dimidue on the other hand needs to be written with more thought put into how these characters are being portrayed because their canon relationship is informed by racial politics that reflect the real world. The discrimination Dedue faces at the hands of Faerghus isn’t allegorical or fantastical; it’s a much more realistic portrayal of scapegoating and genocide than is typical for Fire Emblem as a series.

There’s a lot of great Dimidue content out there, but it’s uncomfortable to see fics and headcanons that essentially boil down to “isn’t it sweet and romantic that Dimitri thinks racism is bad?” get attention when Dedue constantly has his importance to the narrative- and to Dimitri- diminished.

I’d love to get other people’s thoughts on this too; just please don’t turn this into a generic house discourse post. I have my own options on the different houses, but this isn’t meant to be a petty ‘beagles stans are better writers than blions stans’ post or whatever. It’s a post about how characters of color and stories that don’t center a white European narrative tend to get shafted by fandom across the board.

[fieldsofvarley]

Hubert importance to the plot is kinda underlying sexism of the game. Dimitri and Dedue get retainer that follow them and don't question their moral, but Rhea and Edelgard got men presented as more rational than them that critize in some way their course of action? Hubert get to be quite a center of the plot, to the point where he's more the one making the incredible plan than Edelgard, nearly being more the center of the rivalry with Claude than her. Edelgard is portrayed in some way as the emotional one who still has hope and dreams, making relation with other people and being the figurehead compared to the down to earth Hubert who's here to remind Edelgard to be more rational and who's actually doing the meat of the war through strategy. ( There's more, stopping here to focus on the main point )

I'm not saying retainer should be like Hilda or Dedue, Seteth and Hubert are more interesting in many way... Hubert is an amazing character that people keep misunderstanding, and his relationship with Edelgard as well as his place in fe3h story is good in many aspect. But maybe Hubert having more importance wouldn't be a good thing in the current state of fe3h?

( Sorry for the rant )

i will preface this with saying that a) that was just a silly post i made in the middle of the night of me wishing we could see more of a character i really like. it wasn’t a long thought out analysis of the game or the politics of it b) i have not played blue lions, nor silver snow, so my knowledge of dedue and dimitri’s and rhea and seteth’s relationships is very bare bones. i don’t know half of anything, and none of my opinions are set in stone. i’m always willing to hear out other takes and ideas! however:

i don’t want to get into the whole politics of sexism, i don’t have sufficient knowledge of all the lore to make judgement like that; i don’t know how dedue handles dimitri, but my favourite lord is claude, so i feel quite confident in saying that he does get challenged - albeit in hopes, because his 3h writing is what it is and there was simply not much to challenge there at all, because they did not really bother to give him as much conflicting emotions as edelgard and dimitri. i can’t think of anything claude needed to be challenged on. as for hilda, she’s only ever truly been a retainer in name only, because, as much as i love her, she really does nothing - claude appoints judith and nader as his retainers and advisors, and we do see pushback from them both in houses and hopes.

don’t want to comment on rhea’s rationality or lack of it, because i know it’s a sensitive matter and i do not wish to be swarmed with more discourse - all i will say is that i do not care much about the church folk, really, at all. much like dimitri, there are gaps in my knowledge of the dynamics there.

hubert being more plot-centric makes sense. he was there for it all, and as we know edelgard does not remember a lot of things - and i wouldn’t call her irrational or unable to make her own calls. she’s severely traumatised and affected by the experiments. she has blinds spots hubert covers, as someone who was close to her, the imperial family, and the insurrection. edelgard’s an emperor. her role is to stand as a figure head, as an ideal, a leader that inspires and marches forward and stands ever tall. she does not need to be worrying about every small detail and plan; she has people to do that for her. but regardless of the war, my point was hubert’s importance to the slithers plot only - because that’s His war, his house’s, Not edelgard’s. the game tells us that explicitly.

as for him being more in rivalry with claude than edelgard, i just simply don’t agree with that. i do not really see a rivalry between them, anyway; not a true one, at least. their goals are the same. and they should have been allies in every route, just like in golden wildfire.

i guess it all boils down to if you consider edelgard a main character regardless of route. every other lord’s situation changes dramatically depending on the side you choose - but she’s there always, moving the plot forward, being the reason for it all. if you do agree with that, then hubert being ‘above’ other retainers is a no brainer. he’s another catalyst. house vestra is tied to horse hresvelg in a way no other retainer is to their lord. you can’t separate them like you can dimitri and dedue or claude and hilda.

if you subscribe to the idea that each lord is a main character in equal measure, and the rest are supporting cast, well, then i suppose we won’t really see eye to eye. which is fine :) it’s a massive game that makes a big point of ‘no side is the one truly right side’. we can all coexist with different views on things just fine.

again, that was just me wanting to see more of hubert’s dealings because i enjoyed it. i really don’t want to discourse about the politics of it if i don’t have to. the game’s done and over - there’s no weight to anyone’s wishful thinking, anyway. we can play with it however we want. nothing will change.

[splatoonpolls]

^^^^ This is also why the other fandom flanderizations i've seen, both in and outside the splatoon fandom doesn't feel as uncomfortable to me. And now I will engage in fire emblem spoilery and it may be discourse in some people's eyes, we can't escape it can we. But the way Marina is treated reminds me a bit on how the fire emblem character Dedue is treated. Both are characters with a complex and deep relationship to their race. (And many fans have different interpretations of Dedue's ethnicity. I read him as north african as playing, many viewed him as native american, some view him as Sibierian). One of Dedue's most popular ships is with Dimitri, and Dimitri is on one angle what Pearl is for Marina. Though three houses is very open to showcase how Dedue feels like he is a monster for his race, he will straight up say to several characters that they should not be near him because he is Duscurian (probably the wrong term). Compared to splatoon which does show more than tell.

I was always a bit ehh when it came to Dedue x Dimitri. I have two ships I prefer with him. But also how people especially at the fandom's peak (it is so calm now bless) would flanderize Dedue's relationship to Dimitri akin to Marina's relationship to Pearl. I started to question "I love Pearlina, but I am just fine with Dimidue. But they are pretty similar,"

That hit me actually. The problems with the ship was more on how they treated Dedue. I've seen people who dislike Pearlina for the exact same reason as someone may dislike Dimidue. Both are characters who have an important part of their identity either used for angst or just ignored because that part isn't as relatable and like. Their relationship with this person of the racial majority is so hot and gay.

We can also talk about how the lore part of each fandom is also different (the comp side of splatoon and the strategy side of fire emblem are very different than the lore sides of both their respective fandoms). In fire emblem, the horror of war is the most common theme throughout the series. While splatoon is really light hearted. Which also reflects how the fandoms handle darker themes. These do include racism. If you are playing a game where Dedue's identity as not only a POC, but a genocide survivor is heavily mentioned throughout the game. You can't just go "yee your college class does a chaotic dnd campange the game". While splatoon is a very colorful and cheerful game with that "2kool4skool" attitude. Racial identity is still a thing that does get mentioned. But it isn't given the same "horrors of war" treatment you see in fire emblem. If you do not or rarely experience racism in the way someone like Marina would. It becomes way easier to ignore that. Because splatoon is mainly viewed as the "silly game with colorful squids" both by fans and non-fans.

a really long analysis about fanon Marina and the flanderization by fandom she has gotten

fanon marina (the version created by the fans) mainly focuses on two things, her being autistic coded and her being basically confirmed to be a lesbian. And I do think this has to do with her being VERY much like a typical splatoon fan in many people’s eyes. Her being a nerdy queer neurodivergent person. This is also why other parts, especially her relationship with her being an octoling gets often locked away. Subconsciously at least

if Marina was a book, several chapters would focus on her identity as a dome octoling. Her being autistic would probably pop up here and there, but it wouldn’t be a whole chapter. But her very much gay relationship with Pearl would definitely have a few chapters. But with people focusing on those few lines and chapters rather than the whole book. People would slowly ignore the other chapters, get shocked like Adam Sandler learning Pac-Man was the bad guy in the hit movie pixels.

the splatoon fandom’s western side is mainly white Americans and Europeans. Which is one reason why the fanon Marina doesn’t focus on her identity as an octoling, but also on how many details are not really told to the player. Marina barely shows her ears, which can both be read as her having sensory issues (which is a super valid headcanon(, but also her not feeling super comfortable with her body. With her ears being a reminder of her “you are with people who still think you are only going to steal stuff”. Her tentacles may be weird, she may lack the eyeliner an inkling has. But those things can simply be a stylistic choice. Her ears can’t be one. They are too different. I also know the DLCS focuses more on her identity as a dome octoling. However many can understand how her arc as a whole can be paralleled to the real life experiences of people belonging to marginalized ethnic communities. I also want to point, while writing this. I realized (which many people probably already did). Dome octolings you see outside of the domes (splatoon 2 octolings, Marina, Acht, Paul), are all refugees. They are all characters who grew up in a society that had been shunned for decades, even centuries. That society ended up being oppressive both due to external and internal issues. They know the society they’re living in is no longer a good place to live in. So they escape. Hoping to find a place that will take them on. For agent 8, Marina, and Paul. They found a safe place. Acht wasn’t super lucky however. They were told they could find a “promised land” only to be left in even more ruin before. So not only does Marina’s character arc focus on her being a part of an ethnic minority, but a refugee at that. so why does fanon marina usually avoid that part of her? Well as a mentioned before. Marina has three things that makes her very relatable. While the more backstory focused things are less relatable to a way smaller margin of the splatoon fandom. A way smaller part of the fandom are poc in a very white country. And a very small percentage are refugees.

if we removed Marina’s backstory. We would still be left with the fanon version. A nerdy autistic lesbian who deeply loves Pearl. I love how Nintendo got a game that also isn’t afraid to show a society that cares about queer people if not is queer centric itself. Which is probably why many people cling to that part of Marina. But if we removed that part. What would we be left with? Well, we would have an octoling refugee who is a trained soldier and can create weapons of destructions (and she would still be in love with Pearl, it is an important part of her backstory). im not saying the splatoon fandom’s openness to lgbtq and neurodivergent people is a bad thing just because they boil down one of the most plot heavy characters down to those things. It is actually a really great thing to have a fandom that is open to these marginalized groups.

i just want to say, due to this love for Marina being a character you can relate to. It feels like certain parts of Marina’s character (which can also be very relatable to some) is being drifted away to the more lore centric side of the fandom. Which will lead to a sort of fandom flandarization which is very unintentional and just done due to a love of Marina as a character.

If you’ve read this an disagreed, that is fine. Character writing is a very subjective thing

[randomnameless]

Then why don't Dimitri marry Dedue 😕? This ain't about avatar-centricity it's about whether or not characters are written in a way that suggests the traits people claim they have are intentionally part of them. And I think "I'll get with a person but not their literal genderswap" is the single most definitive way to characterize sexual orientation. But then I've never found the concept of "sexual orientation" a helpful way to understand ppl or even myself.

Anon,

I don't think characters have to be written "in a way" to suggest if they are bi or not.

I have watched enough stuff from the 80s, 90s and early 2000s to know that when people wrote someone coded as "queer" it was an excuse to fit as many offensive tropes as possible onto them.

I guess we both agree on this, so, on the main topic.

Dimitri and Dedue follow a tradition of "very devoted knights and their lieges" from the saga, you can trace them back to Finn and Quan from Jugdral, to Elphin and Percival from FE6 and the weird... fixation Frederic has with Chrom, if you want to reach a bit.

They blush when they call each other's name, they rub ointment on the other's body, Dimitri calls him "cherished and irreplacable" and Dedue lit says he cannot fathom a life where he is not by his side.

It is way closer to Siggy "a fate without deedee is not a fate I will accept" than, say, "hey Cousin Seliph, I know I suck because I'm not a Crusader, but I'll do my best to help you so we will put an end to this war together".

Dedue is burried next to Dimitri in their ending, and if we don't even want to take Dedue into account, Dimitri has a deep and meaningful bond with Felix, that is so important to Felix that he cries more than Dimitri's wife when Dimitri dies!

So while I do not think it is purely a discussion and concept about Dimitri's sexual orientation, if the label straight could have been misleading (maybe Fodlan doesn't really have the same notions about sexual orientations, a bit like what happened in Rome it's just two people holding hands, one has his hand being held, while the other holds the hand), Dimitri definitely has "strong romantic feelings" for at least 2 male characters, and I suspect they're holding hands in his royal chambers.

Dimitri can have strong feelings for women and men - as for why he doesn't marry men, part of me wants to say they did not want to put "important male characters" in a bi relationship because, even in 2019, "peepee on peepee" action is still seen as uncomfortable by some people around the world, unlike "pure girls with pure girls giggling" which is, idk, more acceptable because sexism. So IS, a company from Japan, makes a lot of circumvolutions to avoid saying Dimitri'n'Dedue married, even if they take care of orphans, have their "eternal rest" next to each other and are on a first name basis while blushing like school girls.

For real life examples, it's just like Emperor Hadrian and his "friend" Antonin. They were not married, not at all, and historians from a certain era really really tried to paint them as friends.

But then morals evolved, so History was revised.

Other part is because Dimtri takes the Mandate from House Hresvelg - thus he must create a dynasty and that is just the way it is in FE.

Tl; Dr : while sexual orientation is, imo a trait and not a character, Dimitri is heavily coded to have "strong feelings" for both men and women, even if he doesn't marry his two male "love interests".

[professor-tammi]

3H Importance Markers, Ranked: Blue Lions

Koei have always used importance markers in the form of various unique dialogues to signify key relationships in their games, and Houses and Hopes are no exception to this rule. I’m obsessed with analyzing these because it’s the closest we’ll ever get to the writers going “actually, Character A’s most important person is Character B!” at you, and I, for one, think that’s fun!

I’ve (to the best of my ability) compared these little unique dialogues for the Lions students across both games. Here they are, coupled with some explanatory stuff and a little bit of analysis:

Importance Markers Explained

Importance markers in Houses are quite simple: there’s unique dining and tasks dialogues, which may or may not change depending on Support level; there’s Weeding / Rubble clearing dialogue, which is typically limited to one pairing per character (so, for instance, since Dimitri has unique Weeding / Rubble dialogue for Dedue, he can not also have unique dialogue for another character, nor can Dedue, with very few exceptions to this rule); and, finally, there’s endings.

Hopes, being a Musou game, is a little more complicated. As in Houses, characters have dining and tasks dialogues which either change or do not change at high Support (CB or A), plus training dialogues (which are static and not reliant on Support level). But in addition to these, there’s a large variety of possible unique in-battle dialogue, which includes the following:

Adjutant Dialogue: when assigned as active unit; when assigned as support unit; when performing a follow-up attack for the active unit; when guarding the active unit. Not reliant on Support level.

Partner Specials: when initiated as active unit (may change depending on Support level, CB or A); when initiated as support unit (may change depending on Support level, CB or A).

Boss Dialogue: when encountering character as an enemy in Record Keeper mode; when defeating character as an enemy in Record Keeper mode. Not reliant on Support level.

Praise: Praise lines have two variations, one which seems to trigger every 200 enemies defeated (and not every 1000, as the game claims) and one which triggers for other situations. I’ve dubbed the former Praise KO and the latter just Praise. These may both vary depending on Support level, with some characters also only gaining praise lines at high (A) Support (which means they will not praise the other character at a lower Support level).

To keep things somewhat readable, I’ve not included Boss Dialogues, partly because characters will always have this for other characters they have more significant importance markers for and partly because it is a pain to parse whom lines are addressed to due to how obtuse the Voice Line viewer is; I’m also not listing relationships between characters who exclusively have Boss and Praise lines for each other and nothing else, as most will have them for the entire rest of their class, making them fairly weak importance markers. (… and also because the voice line viewer is, still, bad.)

Dimitri

Houses:

Dedue: Dining + Tasks C / B, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Felix: Dining + Tasks C / B / A, Ending

Gilbert: Dining + Tasks C / B, Ending

Sylvain: Dining + Tasks C / B

Hopes:

Dedue: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Adjutant Guard, Partner Special (Support CB / A + Active CB / A), Praise (CB) [IV], Praise (A) [II], Praise KO (CB) [Possibly III?], Praise KO (A) [II]

Felix: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support CB / A + Active Any), Praise (CB) [V], Praise (A) [III], Praise KO (CB) [IV]

Rodrigue: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise [VII], Praise KO (A) [IV]

Sylvain: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any); unsure about Praise lines, as the only possible options are [VIII] and [IX]

Ashe: Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [VI], Praise KO (CB) [V]

Thoughts: Dimitri’s most important people are kept relatively consistent between games, save for Rodrigue essentially taking Gilbert’s place and Ashe being added to the list in Hopes. Dimitri’s only unique Adjutant Guard bark is reserved for Dedue, and, more generally, he pretty much has the full gamut of possible unique in-battle lines for him. Felix isn’t too far behind in terms of unique dialogues, though.

Sylvain being marked as a key relationship to Dimitri is curious and something fans rarely discuss, perhaps partly due to the lack of a paired ending between the two; these markers exist in both Houses and Hopes. Note that Ingrid is completely absent, suggesting that, despite all four being childhood friends, Dimitri is closer to Sylvain and especially Felix.

Dedue

Houses:

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks C / B, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Hopes:

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Adjutant Follow-Up [I and/or II?], Adjutant Guard [I and II?], Partner Special (Support CB / A + Active CB / A), Praise (CB) [II], Praise (A) [II], Praise KO (A) [II]

Ashe: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [III], Praise (A) [IV], Praise KO (CB) [II], Praise KO (A) [III]

Thoughts: Dimitri being Dedue’s most important person in both games is entirely unsurprising, but Dedue gaining importance markers for Ashe in Hopes is a nice touch (and quite fitting, given various dialogue in Houses already suggested the two are fairly close).

Felix

Houses:

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks C / B / A, Ending

NOTE: Felix has pair-the-spares Weeding / Rubble Dialogue with Ashe.

Hopes:

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Adjutant Guard, Partner Special (Support Any Active CB / A), Praise (CB) [II], Praise (A) [II], Praise KO (CB) [II]

Rodrigue: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Adjutant Guard, Partner Special (Support Any + Active CB / A), Praise (CB) [VI?], Praise (A) [V?]

Sylvain: Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [IV], Praise (A) [III], Praise KO (A) [III?]

Ingrid: Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [V], Praise (A) [IV], Praise KO (A) [IV]

Thoughts: Well, given Felix’s one-track mind for his boar, Dimitri at the top is also not terribly shocking. Hopes gives Felix a decent amount of importance markers for Rodrigue, which makes sense given they’re family. His importance markers for Sylvain and Ingrid seem completely equivalent, so there’s no indication of which one of the two he’s closer to (and I suspect that’s quite intentional).

Ashe

Houses:

Caspar: Dining + Tasks C / B, Ending

NOTE: Ashe has pair-the-spares Weeding / Rubble Dialogue with Felix.

Hopes:

Yuri: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support CB / A + Active CB / A), Praise (CB) [VIII], Praise (A) [V], Praise KO (A) [V]

Dedue: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [III], Praise (A) [II], Praise KO (A) [II]

Dimitri: Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [II], Praise KO [II]

Thoughts: Quite the change between games! Houses!Ashe only had importance markers for Caspar – a rare instance of cross-house unique dialogue.

Hopes changes things up drastically. He now has unique dialogue for Dedue, which seems quite fitting (possibly due to the writers realizing their relationship was fairly popular with fans?), and just a few importance markers for Dimitri, likely due to Ashe being under his direct employ in Hopes… but there’s little doubt that his most important relationship is now marked as being with Yuri, whom he didn’t even get to support in Houses. That said, Ashe gaining these stronger relationships in Hopes greatly enhanced my enjoyment of his character, so I’m happy to see it!

Sylvain

Houses:

Ingrid: Dining + Tasks C / B / A, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks C / B

Hopes:

Ingrid: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Adjutant Follow-Up, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [VI], Praise KO (A) [IV]

Dimitri: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [III], Praise KO (CB) [III]

Felix: Partner Special (Support Any), Praise (CB) [V], Praise (A) [III], Praise KO (A) [III]

Thoughts: Ingrid being Sylvain’s most important person shouldn’t come as a surprise, and I’ve already discussed Dimitri’s placing here. Hopes also gives Sylvain some importance markers for Felix (one could argue it’s a bit odd Houses lacked any in the first place), though this does not include any out-of-battle dialogue.

Mercedes

Houses:

Annette: Dining + Tasks C / B / A, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Jeritza: Dining + Tasks C / B, Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Constance: Dining + Tasks C / B, Ending

NOTE: Mercedes lacks Weeding Dialogue for Jeritza as he’s not playable before the time-skip.

Hopes:

Annette: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [IV], Praise (A) [III], Praise KO (A) [IV]

Jeritza: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (A) [IV?], Praise KO (A) [V]

Constance: Dining + Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any [Sun / Not]), Praise (CB) [VI or VII?], Praise KO (CB) [IV]

Thoughts: Mercedes’ key relationships are kept exactly the same between games, so there’s not a lot to add here. Jeritza is one of very few exceptions to the “only one unique Weeding / Rubble dialogue per character” rule, which is quite fair, given he and Mercedes are family.

Annette

Houses:

Mercedes: Dining + Tasks C / B/ A, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Gilbert: Dining + Tasks C / B, Ending

Hopes:

Mercedes: Dining Tasks Any, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [VI], Praise (A) [IV], Praise KO [V]

Thoughts: There’s not much of a change to speak of here, outside of Gustave being relegated to NPC status. Annette’s most important person is still Mercedes. Unfortunately, Hopes didn’t give Annette much new to work with in terms of relationships.

Ingrid

Houses:

Sylvain: Dining + Tasks C / B/ A, Weeding / Rubble Dialogue, Ending

Hopes:

Sylvain: Dining + Tasks CB / A, Training Dialogue, Adjutant Dialogue (Assigned, Active + Support), Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Defeated [V], Praise (CB) [VII?], Praise KO (A) [IV]

Felix: Partner Special (Support Any + Active Any), Praise (CB) [IX], Praise KO (A) [III]

Thoughts: Sylvain at the top is a given, but Hopes also gives Ingrid unique lines for Felix. You can piece together some hints about the Faerghus Four dynamics from these little rankings: Dimitri is closest to Felix, then Sylvain, and perhaps moreso just acquainted with Ingrid; Felix is closest to Dimitri, with Sylvain and Ingrid seemingly sharing the second spot; Sylvain is closest to Ingrid, then Dimitri, then Felix; and, finally, Ingrid is closest to Sylvain, then Felix. (... yes, this is quite the contrast to how they’re often portrayed in fanworks, but nevertheless...)

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Confession time! I was very anti Dimiclaude for the longest time. But not for reasons you may suspect. You see, my first 2 routes were AM and VW. After AM where Dimitri saved Claude at Derdriu, I was very disappointed by how little Claude did to help Dimitri in VW. Dimitri is killed completely off screen at Gronder, and Claude doesn't care much about Faerghus or Fhirdiad afterwards. Now I'm sure Claude was sad to hear of Dimitri's death, but the plot just continues as normal anyway. (1)

all four parts received!

To me, this was a huge downgrade from AM where it's part of Dimitri's arc to save Fhirdiad and Derdriu. It felt almost like if Dimiclaude existed, it was pure one sided on Dimitri's part and Claude didn't feel the same way come VW. This made me feel like it was a pairing that had little basis in canon because Claude didn't care half as much. But I'll admit, there was some salty stuff involved too. I got mad when Dimiclaude fics shafted Dedue and Felix (who matter to Dimitri's arc way more) (2) To me, it felt like Dimiclaude shippers wanted to "replace" Dedue with Claude cuz Claude is more conventionally attractive while still being a person of color. It also felt like Dimiclaude shippers wanted to minimize Dedue and Felix's importance to Dimitri by acting like Claude was more relevant to Dimitri's arc instead. This admittedly made me sad… kinda angry, I swore off Dimiclaude as a result. I'm confessing for several reasons. A) you are super nice & I've liked your Dimiclaude meta (3) You have also given more extra perspective on Dimiclaude shippers who like and appreciate Dedue + Felix and also multi ship Dimidue+ Dimilix. B) Hopes upset me so much in terms of Claude. I liked him in AG but playing GW made me hate Claude more than anything, and it only seemed to reinforce how much Dimitri and Faerghus don't matter to him. I guess I'm able to face my anti Dimiclaude feelings head on in light of Hopes now. It's complicated, confusing, messy. But I wanted to share with you. (4)

Thank you for your confession! I'm glad that my blog is a secure enough space that you could confess this to your friendly neighbourhood dimiclaude-enjoyer lol.

Honestly, you do have a point that there's a trend I see in fic, sometimes, where certain canonically important dynamics will take a backseat to whatever romantic relationship is at the forefront. It's not exclusive to dimiclaude fics, but it's annoying as all get out whenever I do see it. I adore Felix and Dedue; they're both crucial to Dimitri's character. I won't lie and say "I can't write dimiclaude without them!!" because I have, and there's a line to cross in that regard too, but if it's a serious piece that goes into their characters, and Claude manages to be the most important person in Dimitri's life, I uh . . . hm. That'd be curious. I've seen it--oh boy have I seen it--but it's certainly a choice.

I've addressed the whole "Claude does nothing for Dimitri on his route" (and not routes because GW is a lost goddamn cause, in every capacity) thing before, and given my take on it, so I'll just say that not really being into them for that alone is kinda fair; at that point you'd have to treasure the dynamic enough to look past that, and for someone giving it a passing glance, there's no need to look that far into it.

Anyway, sorry that dimiclaude has lost appeal for you in the wake of Hopes' butchering one half of it lol. I've learned to just treat it like a mistake and move on but being upset about it is way more than fair.

[dmclemblems]

Some super quick explanations for some of them included!

Love A Lot:

Miklan: for those of you who may new be here/have not seen many of my posts about him: had a lot of headcanons confirmed in Hopes that I held from Houses. he needed someone/people to steer him in the right direction. when he had someone/something to fight for, he was loyal. his behavior growing up and afterward were a result of being given no direction on top of overwhelming jealousy and spite that turned into hate. even if he wasn’t able to entirely forgive his family/the system, he did get over it and find a goal for himself that he really wanted to reach and more or less moved on (see: fuck you, Gwendal).

Rodrigue: see: my rodrigue tag that’s all i can tell u or this will be an essay also i adore him

Sylvain: his writing is WAY better in Hopes than Houses. he has genuine relevance to the plot itself and is extremely important to Faerghus’ army and politics it in all routes. I love him in Houses but in the main story his relevance is honestly abysmal and there are way too many offhand flirtatious comments on a constant basis. he matured, but not even remotely like he did in Hopes. Hopes’ Sylvain is everything I would want and expect from his character (Felix is basically in the same boat).

Love:

Sothis!fused Byleth: more development to her personality at this point and she’s actually very cute! I love her sassy little crossed arms lean thank u. also, I really feel like her and Dimitri (in AM) really worked well together as characters and grew together. seeing them both grow emotionally with each other’s help was really sweet.

Ingrid: much more development for her in general, and her relationships are expanded upon (not just scolding Sylvain, is good friends with Dedue, doesn’t have an utterly crappy friendship with Felix that survives off nothing but childhood friend willpower, actually has conversations with Rodrigue that are both about and not about their shared history and show more than one side of their relationship, etc). much less bland of a character in Hopes.

Gilbert: BOISSSS HAVE U SEEN THIS MAN IN HOPES MY GOD HE IS THE MOST LOVING AND DOTING FATHER THERE DO BE OUT THERE shit man im jealous like my parents didn’t dote on me like that when i was in my early twenties ajkfgsgjs also, he’s actually a well written character with a good past and present in both games. I’ll write up a long post another time probably. I do like him a bit more in Hopes, but I’ve always liked him a lot at the very least in Houses.

Rhea: it was between Like A Lot and Love, and since Seiros!Rhea is below her for reasons explained below, I had to bump up her a bit.

Like A Lot:

Male Byleth: idk why i like female byleth more, maybe bc i just like girls more irl and she’s rly cute when she gets more development like i don’t dislike byleth but u kno there is just somethin else about titty teacher

Serios!Rhea: she’s really cool in the opening cutscene! I like her generally speaking, but I feel like they made her batshit in CF just to excuse making her out to be a villain (kinda like they did in SB’s bad ending for Claude). I like her in Hopes in GW a lot though - it’s just the CF nonsense that makes me like ???. I get Edelgard pushed a lot of buttons, but Rhea has always been about protecting innocent people. setting Fhirdiad on fire is so out of character for her. she’s vicious and violent at times when it comes to people who attacked the Church, harmed innocents, etc, but she never otherwise harms citizens for any reason. what happened in CF just felt like an asspull to make her a villain.

Thales: I like him as a villain, not a person, but Hopes also gave us more insight into him. he’s just an interesting villain to me, really. most of them in this universe are pretty eh to me as villains, which leaves me to base my opinions off who they are/their character, which... most of them are lolz. not even much to go by. Kronya is just some kill obsessed clown lady who was afraid to die in Houses and was just in denial about it in Hopes and that’s... that’s it. Solon just has a grudge against the bloodlines I guess.

Like:

that’s abysskeeper and baron dominic not generic npcs lmao

Claude: it was really between Like and Like Slightly because a good half the game is just normal Claude, and we did get a lot of good background info on him, Almyra and his family relationships (even if indirectly, like when Nader is talking to the Almyran soldier about how Claude is the favorite child). the things about Claude that I didn’t like in this game (especially bad ending SB which is massively just ??? wtf ??? eh wot nani the fucc fuccies mcdoodles ???) I have very strong opinions about, but I think the bullshit parts are outweighed by both normal Claude and a slightly differently characterized Claude who didn’t get to spend a year at school (there are still bits and pieces of that difference in him even in AG, though they’re a lot more subtle and he’s more on the fence about what to do after everything is over in comparison to GW/SB).

Hilda: way more character and actual growth as a person. she grew a little bit in VW, but overall there wasn’t that much change. she didn’t feel like much of a character and it felt like she never had anything useful to say that didn’t involve being lazy and wanting people to do things for her. she’s lost a lot of that behavior and attitude in Hopes and actually has humane dialogue in Hopes.

Mask!Jeritza: just less characterization overall. he’s still funny tho. still funny.

Monica: idk, I feel like she kinda lost of the cool parts of her character with what little bit we did get in the prologue chapters (any route). I still like her and it’s not even about her devotion to Edelgard being a little (read: a lot) overboard, and let’s face it, I’m beyond overjoyed that a ship I shipped long before the existence of Hopes actually sailed and it sailed so hard it’s on the other side of the world now. idk what it is tbh that really makes me prefer her in the early chapters (not counting Kronya!Monica in Houses, who I left out since it wasn’t really Monica).

Shahid: good villain, some background detail, and useful for drama. that’s uh that’s it tho really lol

Like Slightly:

Cornelia: an actually good villain aside from Thales, which is a rarity in this universe. terrible, horrendous, nasty person, but sometimes you need that! she’s/he’s (i.e. not really Cornelia) also actually smart and not so kill happy that she’s just stupid about it. she has a lot of contingency plans and backups, and she managed to convince Faerghus for a good long time that she was still the real Cornelia. it’s rare in this game that we get an actual villain with a brain.

Erwin: lbh Hopes saved his purple ass. he’d be down in dislike-hate otherwise LOL. Hopes really did do a LOT for him though imo regarding characterization. all we really hear about him in Houses makes him sound like a horrendous asshole and makes you wonder what Lorenz even sees in him to respect him. Hopes gave him an actual personality/character and showed us intellect. I think he’s done some pretty crappy things and he’s been shady, but in Hopes his assessment of Claude isn’t really that wrong or far off, so I can’t hold that against him the way I do in Houses. he’s also a very caring and loving father, whereas in Houses I was more under the impression that Lorenz was just his heir and that they didn’t necessarily have much more than a respectful relationship. I feel like in Hopes there’s a lot more to unpack with his character and it did him a lot of good for me. since of course Houses is also the “main” canon and whatnot, I can’t really say I like him all too much, but Hopes definitely gave him a lot more to work with.

Lonato: Good dad vibes, but I think it’s super questionable that he’s willing to fight/kill Ashe out of his desire for revenge for Christophe. What I would’ve hoped they’d have done with Lonato is that like in Radiant Dawn, if two characters were on opposing sides but had a strong relation, they would refuse to fight each other (an example of this is Brom and Meg, who are father and son but won’t fight each other. Even though you have control of Brom, you can’t use him to attack Meg because he just won’t do it). He did so much for Ashe and basically saved his life by taking him off the streets, even despite that he’d be taking in three kids, and yet... he’s now willing to kill this kid he took in just because this kid is enrolled at the school at the monastery headed by the archbishop he hates. Couldn’t really put him higher because of that. They always talk so highly about him in the game, so he seems like a generally good dude but then... I also don’t like he’d kill Ashe for Christophe, and tbh I don’t think he’d do that the other way around and kill Christophe for Ashe fi the situation was reversed.

Matthias: Not a bad character and definitely loyal to Faerghus. Heavily in politics and is a good person to have helping run the country. Rodrigue says he changed after his first wife died so I guess that’s where he got his argumentative and more practical side, though I feel like he tends to be practicality above emotions at all times and definitely doesn’t have a balance for it (to the point where Rodrigue has to be the one to tell him to go to apologize to Sylvain to something he said to him instead of Matthias choosing to do that on his own). Not gonna bother talking about the whole “bad did” stuff because... that’s general knowledge lmao.

Rufus: He’s a semi-good villain, and I’m not sure how I’d feel if he got more time in the game. As for who he is as a person, he’s a pile of trash to be taken out into the dumpster to await the trash trucks. I am putting that lightly.

No Opinion:

Aelfric: A pretty low-tier villain imo. I like the way he planned things out and how he got everything together, but his overall goal and how single minded he was about it was kinda lame.

Anna: Sometimes she has pretty nice things to say, especially regarding the war, but otherwise... she’s just eh in the boring sense.

Kostas: Tbh we don’t really know much about him or why he’s a bandit. We know Ashe used to be a thief because of his situation, so I don’t want to assume Kostas is just scum of the earth based on being a bandit since it seems like he just takes jobs for money. The guy you meet in Abyss who is hiding there and says he has a family waiting for him at home also insisted they didn’t know the real details and all that, so I don’t really... hate Kostas? I more wonder if he wouldn’t turn himself around if given the chance. I don’t like him or dislike him since we don’t really know enough about him personally.

Tomas: I’m assuming the persona Solon had of him was as close to the real thing as he could get if he wasn’t detected all that time, so judging by that I guess I’m like sure why not about him. Not super interesting but a nice dude.

Eh:

Caspar: This version of him is literally totally brainless and he doesn’t do anything except fight and care about fighting. He literally has no morals or care for anything and it’s baffling to go from Houses Caspar (either version) to this Caspar. He’s worse than Raphael in that sense because Raphael at least has times when he’s shown to have other traits, but this version of Caspar just doesn’t feel like Caspar to me.

Hegemon Husk Edelgard: Not enough information. Just a husk! At least the name in and of itself proves a whole lot of my points about her...

Ludwig: He actually cares about the Empire, so... kudos for that. Obviously he wasn’t super terrible to Ferdinand and the Empire at large if Ferdinand grew up idolizing and respecting him. He’s not like Bernadetta who is actively afraid of her father but wouldn’t want him to just straight up die, and is in fact sad in both games about Ludwig dying. He can be pretty shitty and be involved in shitty things so he doesn’t really get a pass from me, but he gets above the hate scale.

Marianne: I get she has the whole issue with her Crest and thinking it’s a curse, but jesus christ if she’s not annoying about it. When people just want to have a conversation and not even really get involved with her she’s too quick to push people away and leave them thinking they did something wrong. Overall I just found her response to a lot of things very annoying. I don’t hate her but I’m too annoyed and bothered by that stuff to say I’m neutral.

Myson: Not enough information on him as a character. He kinda ended up with Sandima (FE4) syndrome where he was a main lackey and not much else. You see him, you get used to him being there, but you don’t know enough.

Randolph: He’s lucky Hopes happened or he’d be one tier lower or worse lol. That whole nonsense conversation he had with Dimitri in AM would’ve kept him a tier or two lower, but he had at least some semblance of a character in Hopes. Putting the two together, I just don’t really like him. Like, yeah, sure, he’s kinda a nice dude... but wanting to distinguish yourself and your house so much that you’d take live on a battlefield and be grateful for the war for that purpose doesn’t sit right with me. Also, being part of the force that initiated the war makes me see it with an even more critical eye. Imo he’s way too deep into wanting to be a distinguished name and it seems like he doesn’t really... have any morality in doing so. As far as Houses goes, YIKERS. He really had the audacity to say he was fighting for his sister and home (as if other people aren’t also doing that???) and so he didn’t want to die. Y i k e r r r r r s. It’s like, when HE’S on the verge of death he wants mercy, but he’ll cut down any number of other human beings to have his name known/have a (political) house and won’t spare their lives just because they have families waiting for them. He’s a hypocrite who’s hyperfocused on his own deeds at war, and the fact that he thought he could spew insults at Dimitri and act like he was A Pure Bean would have kept him on the shit list forever if not for Hopes. He’s one of those people where he’ll do bad shit and keep doing it until what goes around comes around and when it’s finally his turn, he begs for it to not be his turn. At least Dimitri owned his shit in their conversation. Randy here did not, refused to and literally thinks that fighting for his supposed good cause is justification for his actions. Big yikes, yikers, yikees. No want, no like.

Raphael: I just kinda threw everyone in alphabetical order so it’s not that I like him less than Caspar as I brought him up briefly in Caspar’s description. My main issue with him is that also largely lacks morals in this game. Marianne is the one who keeps questioning all the killing, and Raphael doesn’t give half a fuck most of the time. He just wants to fight and they wrote him like he’s too stupid to understand having morals while at war. It doesn’t feel like Raphael to me. He was great in his paralogue, but other than that he was just... devoid of character outside of his overblown traits. It’s like they took Houses Raphael and just stripped away any characterization except for two of his traits and went “ah yes, much better”. He’s still a kind guy, just... kind of a shell of Houses Raphael.

Male Shez: Idk lol he’s just like... more childish and brainless to me than female Shez? For sure I think it’s the delivery in their English lines, but there’s just something about him I’m not really caring for.

Sothis: Lord almighty did I find her annoying. In Hopes I’m super eh about her because she’s kinda... bad/mean/evil/what have you? But just in general in Houses I didn’t really care for her. I didn’t hate her and I definitely don’t think she deserves to disappear or something, but her attitude just typically bugs me.

Dislike:

Arval: He’s just... annoying lol. Annoying, smug and tries to pressure Shez into things that they clearly don’t want to do.

Bernadetta: I hate that she’s played for laughs, but I also hate that characters can’t even speak to her without her screaming something completely unrelated. She has issues because of her dad, sure, but to be afraid of every single stranger and all her classmates to the point where she didn’t even remember what Claude, a house leader, looked like? To the point that nobody can even speak to her because she never listens? Annoying. Literally the most frustrating character I’ve ever seen in any franchise. She’s better in Hopes, but in Houses, especially in at the first half... Y I K E S.

Gwendal: Bad adoptive dad, traitor, also killed Miklan in Hopes. 0/10, I have Yuri kill him in Houses in every time.

Ionius: Him being a seemingly good dad is the only thing that kept him from being any lower tbh.

Leonie: Rude, annoying, and not a personality I’m into. Got better, but like Bernadetta I can’t stand her in the first half of Houses.

Dislike-Hate:

They all suck but I don’t feel burning rage of hatred lol.

Hate:

Fleche: Basically her handling of revenge in AM knocked her to rock bottom for me. Nothing in any other route in either game could save her from that lol. Let’s be clear: Byleth killed Randolph. It doesn’t matter why. It doesn’t matter if it was a mercy kill. At the end of the day Fleche clearly did not know who exactly killed her brother. She just wanted to kill someone for revenge, regardless of whether or not she targeted the right person. Now mind you, not ONLY did she target the wrong person, but she murdered a man totally uninvolved in her revenge. MIND you, she went on about boo hoo revenge for her ONLY LIVING FAMILY BEING KILLED and then murdered a man’s ONLY LIVING FAMILY because she TARGETED THE WRONG PERSON in her revenge. Yes, Dimitri wasn’t all there mentally, but no, he did not kill Randolph. My issue with Fleche is that this told me she wasn’t really in it to get actual revenge on the person who killed her brother (like she did in Hopes in all routes). It’s that she didn’t care WHO she killed or HOW MANY people she killed in her path to revenge. To her it never mattered who died. She’s selfish, apathetic, and doesn’t care about other people outside her own family and their standing in the Empire. She doesn’t care about the truth or who did what. She just wants to murder people. That’s her revenge. She attacked Dimitri and attacked like a literal pos toward him with that sarcastic shit, again, not her brother’s killer, just off the assumption that he did it merely because he was... the leader of the army, I guess. He was going to capture Randolph, and honestly from there someone could have convinced him (someone: Rodrigue) not to torture Randolph because they could have used him as leverage or gotten information or what have you. This isn’t to say Byleth was wrong for killing Randolph - it’s to say Fleche did not give two whole hoot hoots as to who actually killed her brother and just wanted to cause havoc regardless because boohoohoo someone killed your brother AT WAR when you all know what the consequences could be AT WAR during the war your uwu emperor started.

Really need to write a fanfic one day where she gets away and then Felix seeks her ass out and slaughters her and goes “uwu u killed my only living family during war so i wanted revenge uwu and hey at least im killing the right person for it instead of being a lil baby and killing whoever the fuck just bc im uwu mad” because FCKN D A M N Y’ALL THAT WOULD BE THE 👌 CATHARTIC 👌 SHIT I NEED. ...don’t worry he’s not gonna say uwu that’s just the implication of a mocking tone so felix’s mocking is the last thing she hears because he slays her

being a rodrigue fan is hating fleche’s entire being alright xoxo love u roddyrod

Edelgard: we’re not getting into that LMFAO it’s all over my blog anyway if you can find it among my love and affection for other characters

[butwhatifidothis]

I think the Dimitri stuff feels so bad because it’s so blatantly hypocritical. Giving Edelgard all kinds of mental health issues and treating them with the utmost importance - nothing wrong with this. Doing that, and also going with Dimitri being CRAAAYYYYZEEEEEEE and an evil man and needing to be put down - bad!

FOR FUCKIN' REAL DUDE LIKE

Dimitri is literally everything Cap'n wants Edelgard to be. Compassionate and empathetic to a genuine fault? Check. Feels immense guilt for things out of his control? Check. Has hurt others close to him and makes a genuine effort to make up for it and redeem himself? Check. Has his mental health issues be a real, visible part of his life that he must learn to not let consume him? Check. Kind and caring? Check. Cares for the people under him? Check. Has multiple close relationships that help ground him and better himself? Check.

LITERALLY ALL OF THIS is what he is trying to portray with Woobiegard, but she can't hope to match up to canon!Dimitri because Dimitri had to actually face the consequences of his actions. He had to actually grow as a character. He had to actually own up to everything he did. His mental health issues actually affect him and are actually integrated into his character.

He's not just a pile of traits that never collide with anything or interact with anything, he is a character whose traits are woven into everything he does. His trauma isn't tucked away only to be used for big, dramatic moments - like, for example, he can rarely ever taste things and that is present in his mealtime and teatime conversations, it's present in his relationships with Dedue and Flayn, it doesn't magically go away when it's inconvenient in his uwu romance with anyone. His strength is present in his supports with multiple people and is consistently presented as something that he must keep an eye on or else he'll break something/hurt someone on accident. Again, this doesn't go away as soon as any romantic scene comes up.

Cap'n takes a look at all of this and says "oh, he has flaws? He has to grow? That must mean he is a morally inferior person to those around him." BECAUSE LIKE, even if we take his stupidass "Dimitri is rude because pronouns" shit that is already based on a misunderstanding of an entire language, he makes "is kind of rude to people" and turns it into "actually he has no mental illness, it's all toxic masculinity and his arc as a character is to stop being a toxic person" like bro what?? How do you get that from a guy being kinda rude??

So seeing Dimitri portrayed as someone he "truly" is, as someone with his "mask off" - as in, a maddened beast with SPITTLE FLYING OUT OF HIS MOUTH - when Dimitri never does anything half as heinous as Woobiegard does IN HIS OWN FIC, it's more than a little blood boiling. Dimitri is damn near the reason it takes so long to read this damn thing, because when he crops up I legit have to stop reading for hours at a time to take a break from just how excruciatingly horrible Dimitri is.

ESPECIALLY WHEN HE'S RIGHT LITERALLY ALL OF THE TIME AND IS ALWAYS PORTRAYED AS THE ONE IN THE WRONG that's just the cherry on top oh my fuckin' god. Dimitri tells Sylvain that he has a responsibility as both a noble and one who bears a Crest to protect the people under his care - that gets turned into "Dimitri thinks people should be used like tools." Dimitri tries to pardon Sylvain and Ingrid by convincing their families to take them back if the two of them apologize for betraying their people, family, and homeland - that gets turned into "Dimitri doesn't care about how his friends' families treat them." Dimitri points out that Woobiegard is showing more care for Miklan that for Miklan's victims - that gets handwaved away entirely to make it about how Dimitri "cares more about the state of the Relic than about his friend." Dimitri says that he hates Woobiegard for her involvement with the Tragedy, something that she has by WORKING WITH THE PEOPLE WHO DID THE TRAGEDY - that gets handwaved away entirely to "reveal" how "truly crazy and obsessed" Dimitri is. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN Dimitri is right and is then shat on for daring to be right meanwhile I'm just over here bein' like "I'M WITH YOU KING CALL ALL THEIR ASSES OUT"

[faroreswinds]

As an enjoyer of both Dedue and Gilbert ironic I know hated how they were handled in three hopes. The retainers no longer feel like there as important as they originally were. Dedue in the original game had badass moment’s were he marched to Enbarr to kill Edelgard and turned himself into a demonic beast is very memorable in such a cluttered ass chapter as cf 17. Also the intrigue of Dedue not seeing the difference between fallen Dimitri and savior king is completely gone along with his own 1/2

desire for revenge being completely over shadowed by Dimitri and Shez. I don’t feel thats a good thing for Dedues character. But Gilbert had his whole arc off screen and Annette became irrelevant. Its just oof. I want the badass Dedue and depressed Gilbert back Koei. 2/2

Why is it ironic? I like them too. I am a shameless Gilbert defender. 

I mean, I haven’t finished AG yet so I can’t fully comment to your issues with them. I have been very busy these past few days (lots of walking, developing blisters, you know, the good stuff). 

I like Gilbert, but I was always irritated that he took what should have been Dedue’s spot in AM, because Dedue is honestly far more important to Dimitri’s life than Gilbert is. Not that Gilbert isn’t important. It’s just that Dedue holds a higher spot. 

In a way, I’m ok to see him take a step back. I get to see him have a healthy relationship with Annette, and I’m finally seeing the fandom warm up to him as a result. That’s a win in my book. 

I understand the sentiments though. I just can’t fully say much until I’m done with AG.