#egglegard

[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]

Scarlet Blaze Salt Mine Highlights Because I Feel Like It(tm)

There's going to be so much petty salt that you'll probably need to get your blood pressure checked. Enjoy!

EDIT: Finished Scarlet Blaze, so I added more images. Part 2 is here.

The Sun Should Have Never Set on Our Empire(tm)

Somehow they made Faye but even worse. And unlike Faye, Monica is a garbage unit. Seems hard to pull off in a Musou game, but her spell list is a mess, as are her stats, and her personal skill is even worse.

They tried to erase her wanting to kill Rhea, but then she still says she wants to kill Rhea anyway. But devs said she's happier and nicer guyz.

Lorenz has siblings now I guess. Note that in his Lysithea Support, Hubert also mentions having a brother and a sister. but he's still the eldest. So why was he stuck to Child No. 9 again???

Labrunda was found in the Stockpile of Convenient Sacred Weapons That Exist Now(tm).

Not only does she still belittle the guy and think him unworthy of her time like in Houses, but come Chapter 14 (providing you kill Byleth's disaster dad), she apparently genuinely was upset that he betrays her. But then again, he happily licks her feet on Golden Piss, so meh.

...am I supposed to feel something right now

I'm beginning to suspect that the Koei devs were pissed that Byleth the Local Churchgoer was more popular than Edelgard.

Aegir has claim to a stretch of sea that doubles up as their trade route to Morfis. This specific trading relationship is also mentioned in one of the books that shares details about the Empire's territories.

Claude: "BUT FODLAN HATES FOREIGNERS AND THE MEANIE CHURCH SCREAMED AT THEM TO NEVER INTERACT WITH OUTSIDERS Now shut up Dimitri and let me raid your treasure vault you're only being ignorant of my customs."

Only Edelgard's feelings are allowed to be hurt, remember?

Also, whomever calls Byleth a block of wood again should probably take a look at Shez on SB, because calling SB!Shez a block of wood would be an insult to wood.

There's so much disturbing dehumanization of the Nabatean characters (and Byleth by extension), but sure, Arval's soooo sympathetic because he cares about his War Boys, I guess. Oh, and he denounced Thales! What a good lad! /s

Duma take the wheel

Cry about it

Look, I know a macaron is technically a type of cookie, but can't you just call it a goddamn macaron!? Bear in mind that this is the same game that conflates coffee with teff, and the localization actually made a good change by just calling the stupid drink coffee.

I murderkilled Byleth's disaster dad for this go-around and Byleth tips off Claude about...something. Of what, I don't know, but it makes Claude opt for an ill-fated betrayal. He lays it on thick with Byleth, and while Edelgard may get an extra chapter and a marginally better outcome by letting Walmart Greil live, the "what-if...ing..." if you will, is played up the hardest with Claude, which is really saying something considering the original game. And honestly, the what-if-ing does make a level of sense with Claude...but then, you have aspects of him that have nothing to do with Byleth at all perverted by the narrative, as detailed in this post.

Like seriously, even with something like having to murder a half-sibling who repeatedly says to your face that you're a mongrel who deserves to d*e looming over you, like...instead of making something potentially interesting, they derailed him so badly. Honestly, I feel for his Japanese VA struggling to get a good read on the character.

Anyway, end rant.

Even Byleth thinks he's laying it on thick.

I feel like this alleged duress of signing a pact with the Empire would've landed better if it actually was done in the span of days or even weeks, but GW and SB both state it took about four months, which would've been well after any dust settling from Shahid's second raid of the Locket.

Claude, the country you rule has like...almost zero culture.

Sigh.

No shit.

Fuck off, Claude.

Pictured: A "commoner's revolution designed to overthrow an opresuve sistum"

...seriously, why does this dude hate the Nabateans as virulently as she does? It's actually pretty ironic - folks will haw about Dedue or Catherine having no minds of their own, but it's Hubert who's really the most mindless one of all. He mostly lacks the rich inner lives and backstories the other two have.

Sylvain, 90% of the time, is C-Tier. 10% of the time, like right now though? SSS-Tier. Absolutely brutal. Wish we had even more of him.

YA THINK!?!?!?

Because I couldn't be bothered (and because the only Deer with exclusive Eagle Supports/incentives are Lysithea and Lorenz), I only got Shez whining about Claude betraying Egg. Most of the other Deer have unique dialogue doing the same. It's kind of sad how little most of them think of Claude, but then again, he can be a massive dick.

TBC Since I hit the image limit!

[themoomoorn]

Scarlet Blaze Salt Mine Highlights, Part 2 (Because I hit the image limit last time)

It's kind of a sad day when you're transitioning hyperfixations (Chainsaw Man and Tactics Ogre, in this case), because I'm tired of this game and I haven't even begun to cleanse by entire body with Azure Gleam. But I must!

Also I just wanted to finish this slog of a route so badly that I forgot to give away Shez's Merc Whistle. Oops.

Previous post is here.

He isn't wrong. If anything, between this and Egg reassuring Shez that no, betrayal totes wasn't gonna happen, this just reinforces the fact that Egg doesn't respect Claude at all.

Still, big oomph on Claude because his dreams don't even exist/make sense in this game.

Here lies the Tabletop Demon.

Kind of poetic/ironic that he's the only one who can truly die, while poor Dimitri, who gets dragged around like a wet cat in Houses, will always survive in this game. Egg mostly does, if you count her getting subjugated to the director's fantasies lobotomized in Azure Gleam as "surviving."

"Now what that ambition is, I simply do not know, but I will boldly assume it had to do with using bibles as toilet paper."

No Lies Detected(tm)

Sothis attempts to salvage this trainwreck with a quick and miserable death, but by plot dictation, she sadly fails.

Byleth's death here is on par with Dimitri's on Verdant Wind in how unceremonious and cruel it is. Devs, are you sure you're not actually mad at how popular Byleth is? Especially the one with the 200% Bustline Modifier?

We Stan a megalomaniac /s

The Agarthans never got to the Holy Tomb or the Holy Mausoleum in this game, and here we get the idea of the kind of crap Houses!Edelgard condoned.

Really, the one thing Rhea did wrong was not using the Aurora Breath on Edelgard during her coronation.

Like

Even now, Rhea knows Agartha is the true enemy here?????? Like back in Chapter...4?????

But no, per the Edelgard/Balthus Support, Edelgard started the war anyway, she knows that she's benefitting from the same megalomaniacs that have their hands in the Empire's politics, and she had farfetched history spoon-fed to her. She doesn't care. She still wants total power.

Bruh

Monica is talking about killing Thales, btw. Peak wlw representation, everyone /s

Linhardt is abhorrent.

Shez DGAF about anything, least of all on this route. But I suppose it's fine because they're not a weird nepotism teacher, or whatever.

So here's something I've noticed: Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire share several near-identical scenarios (the most obvious being the Chapter where Ordelia needs to be pacified), CGs (the still of Egg and Clyde shaking hands), and even video cutscenes (Rhea transforming into the Immaculate one; only the background is changed). GW!Claude knocks of a number of Edelgard's rhetoric and dialogue ("My hands are covered in blood and will never be clean again, feel bad for me uwu") and now we have a hollow knockoff of something poignant Claude says to Byleth on Verdant Wind.

There's also the general fact that because the Houses version of Claude ultimately became more heroic than intended, and because they had already delayed the game three times, they had Verdant Wind knock off most of Silver Snow...which is the default route for the Black Eagles.

There is a quasi-tumbleweedy-incestual bond between these two characters/routes. They fold into one another like brain proteins tangling on each other. This is not the case for Azure Moon (bar maps being shared, and even then the context differs drastically) and even more so for Azure Gleam.

Point is, I'm a Claude stan, but at this point, I feel like the Blue Lions route should be the canon one.

Local vampire simp and local masochistic noble boldly state their totally normal relationship with one another. I think I liked the Houses/Ending Card version more, because their bond made Edelgard jealous.

I did this strategy over the other two and it did absolutely nothing, by the way.

"ShE dOeSnT cArE aBoUt HiM" blah blah blah, we get it, you refuse to read the text and can't get over that Cyril and Claude are mostly incompatible when it comes to bonding.

I found a Khaloonie discover the flavor text for Seiros Tea (it's tea from southern Almyra and it got slapped with an in-universe localized name) and flipping out over it recently, funnily enough. Houses has been out for three years (as of this post) now, and you've only read that text recently???

"My daddy had stake over ruling the whole continent single-handedly first, you cut the line!"

Sothis please take the wheel -

Can confirm, they literally do almost nothing while Thales and Rhea tumble over that bridge. Very "Wormy Episode of Spongebob" energy right here.

"BUT SHE ENDED THE WAR FASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" /s

Good job Shez, you broke it.

The ending animation of the Crests rotating like planets changes depending on which route you picked, as that land's "native" Crests are what's displayed. Since the Empire's "native" Crests are that of the Four Saints (plus the Apostles Noa and Timotheos if you want to get technical), you get to bask in a kiddie pool of irony.

In the end, the standom's support of the Empire is akin to how many fans, from its inception in 1979, support the Empire of Zeon and factions similar to it across the Gundam franchise, I feel. Shame that Adrestia isn't as well-crafted as Zeon.

Speaking of worldbuilding, I suspect that there's a weird sort of hatred at how Faerghus is the most well-built (in a worldbuilding sense) of the three lands. This is pretty much proven by its first four chapters alone (having played the demo), and I can already tell I'm gonna be in for at least a decent time once I get to Gleam.

To cap off this shit-cake, here's what I find to be a pretty apt representation of how Edelgard is viewed/turned into during Azure Gleam's ending:

[lochnessies]

enough about egglegard it’s lady orbios time

[themoomoorn]

Koei and Company Dev Team: "Here's a continent with somewhat well-established lore, including an atrocity involving the desecration of the rights of living things (dragons) and necromantic-style magic stemmed from a darwinistic tech dystopia mixing their technology with the aforementioned desecrated remains of said living things. There are survivors of this desecration. One made a religion to preserve the memory of her mother/the same being that birthed all of these dragons, to mixed results. A cowardly Empire with a narcissistic Emperor willingly collaborates with the tech dystopia to make her Empire a superpower, as she eats up their propaganda about dragons in addition to genuinely believing that the other two countries surrounding the Empire have no right to exist. Her half-human military school teacher can be her ally, and she displays manipulative behavior to get said teacher on her side. Because that teacher's nonhuman half is tied to dragons, her behavior around them turns disparaging, even as she showers them with excessive affection that feels fake.

The same set of devs, having written themselves into a corner and are now panicking because they earnestly think Cao Cao is awesome and they are also enamored with their petite Emperor blorbo because women are "pure" or something:

Fr tho can you imagine if something like the Scouring in the Elibe games or the Serenes Massacre in the Tellius games were handled the way that the Nabatean genocide was handled in 3H??? The plots of the former games can’t function without those major events and yet people let 3H get off scott free with this major establishing event that created major plot critical items/powers and led to the backstory of the game’s main character (and is the reason why everyone’s favorite Arvis knockoff does what she does) getting effectively tossed to the wayside in all but one route.

And I get it, multiple perspectives and all that. One thing that matters in one instance to one character isn’t gonna matter in other cases.

But y’know what games also had multiple perspectives?

Sacred Stones. And Radiant Dawn. And Blazing Blade. And Echoes. And Fates. 

Which, don’t get me wrong, each of those plots have issues of their own, but none so grievous as “let’s make the inciting incident for why the plot starts like it does something that can be missed and ignored”, I’ll tell you that much.

[lochnessies]

You mean; You want Nyx's GF and Egglegard's brother.

exactly! i want lysithea and nyx on a team together and i also want dimitri on a team with his brave and fallen alts

[themoomoorn]

How many times have Dimitri and Claude edged out Edelgard in popularity polls now??? Other than an S-Support one, and Claude was still in third. But no, devs are snorting copium and pooping themselves that the face of their game isn't quite as popular as the other two.

This arguably applies more to a Female Byleth, because while you can argue on Edelgard being well liked herself (as it's still true), every poll I've seen has the female be more popular than the male. General polls, CYL, you name it. We get a bone thrown in Hopes, but guess what happens to Byleth in that game?

Homies, you think they're selling you the 3 lords of 3H?

Nah this thing is called "Edelgard's bracelet". It's Supreme Leader and 2 young men.

[themoomoorn]

This argument also falls apart by sheer virtue of Houses' Claude coming out the way he does even when Byleth doesn't teach his House. He isn't a simpering, tantrum-throwing idiot who blames the CC for absolutely everything wrong in his life and decides to take some merc's half-humored suggestion to heart and become a king. He doesn't insurrect a foreign power that was trying to make peace (and vice versa!) with its long-standing foe into invading because the latter "deserved it." He doesn't let his dislike of Rhea have him wipe out an entire religious branch that has real, tangible followers. He's a steadfast leader whose "schemes" aren't even really schemes. Saying that Claude was always dark-hearted is disingenuous.

This Claude isn't even a villain that stands on his own - Folks like this "dark-hearted Claude" by virtue that he's essentially Edelgard with darker skin, brown hair, and a penis. Furthermore, he goes about his plans in a manner that run counter to his desire for more open borders and understanding between multiple countries. As I have mentioned before, this behavioral shift can't be wholly blamed on what happens to Shahid either.

So then what your saying is, you DON'T actually like three houses. Both 3h and 3hw are 'badly written', and are written by the SAME PEOPLE. (Its literally said in the interview too).

The first 3h interview: "Yeah, Claude's actually not that great a guy",

Claude in 3hw: Isn't that great a guy.

You: Surprise pikachu face.

Bro that is literally not what the first interview said. The first one said, bolded mine:

Claude started with the keyword of “schemer hero,” and I thought he’d weave more plots behind the scenes, and you can’t hate him, but he’s still a bad guy… But as I was writing him, he ended up more of a pure good guy than originally planned (laughs).

It was not "he was always a bad guy" it was always "he was supposed to be a bad guy but didn't turn out that way." Meaning him being a bad guy is, in fact - and say it with me - out of character. If you're going to come into my askbox sounding so sure of yourself, it'd do ya good to keep your facts straight.

"So what you're saying is," I like the game, asshole. Don't try to put words in my mouth; I said what I said and meant it. Just because the concept of enjoying flawed things is apparently just beyond you doesn't mean shit to me - not my problem, that's all on you.

And also: dunno if you're the same anon, but here's a couple posts that very succinctly explain why "same writers" isn't completely accurate, made by someone who literally translated the interviews

[themoomoorn]

Compounding the "Almyra gets in-universe and out-of-universe Unfortunate Implications(tm) on steroids is how Shahid's invasion has Claude cry foul of him "ruining Almyra's reputation," and Nader cries foul of the same thing when you do Claude's Paralogue (the one you only get if Judith survives Chapter 10)...only for both Nader and Claude to belittle Fodlaners in the same Paralogue, on top of the aforementioned "BUT WHY WON'T YOU LET US PLUNDER AND RAID SHIT!? WEEEH" shitshow.

In-universe, on top of Almyra doing their border invasions for no real reason other than fun, it's implied that they're a very well-off nation and large in size, in contrast to the small colony Brigid, the subjugated-and-also-small Duscur, and the small, barren Sreng - with the latter's own raids being justified by, again, having soil and land that's even harsher than Faerghus'. Out of universe, this now has Almyra further stewing in extremely racist and long-standing stereotypes of Persian/Turkic civilizations being "barbaric" and aggressive - which, not-so-funnily enough, also happened to Persia-adjacent Verdane back in FE4. And for some reason, the Khalidloonies don't get this?????

Flaws that Claude had regarding his own ignorance of both Fodlan and the world at large is taken out to pasture, more or less. He's now little more than Edelgard's ignorant, man-child toady.

srsly, the thing about whether Claude is "written well" is actually kinda racist imo. we're talking about a PoC-character here, yet he is somehow only "written well" (in many of the edelstan's opinions) if he sides with the white woman unconditionally rather than following his own agenda

I’ll let people who are closer to the issue speak more on the racism angle, if they’d like… I do think it’s really unfortunate how Claude often gets treated as an accessory to the preferred lord in fandom discourse (especially the common perception that it’s ok for Edelgard to do whatever she wants “because Claude would agree with her”).

I do think part of this is a consequence of Claude just not being as well integrated into the story as he definitely should be… but it does bring some unfortunate implications along with it, at least from my perception. Hopes didn’t exactly help with their writing of him, but again since I haven’t played GW fully myself I won’t comment on that further.

[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]

The meta's been poisoned by how they executed Byleth too - I kind of see what's happening with Byleth being similar to the discourse with Ren/Akira, the Persona 5 Protagonist, and it's also a big fat talking point in general over the nature of certain kinds of avatar characters - those that are half player projection, half character with fixed traits.

One can chalk it up to players being in denial over possibly being insecure in projecting themselves onto Byleth, which was, y'know, the intent of the character. But at the same time, Byleth has malleable traits that are fixed, and among them that some players almost take offense to are spirituality, their love of Sothis as a maternal figure (not as a snarky yes-woman), and (the biggest one) their genuine concern for Rhea on 3/4 routes. There's also dissatisfaction from Edelstans with how Byleth's behavior reverts to stoicism on CF when they demand otherwise. On the flipside, while Byleth's emotions slowly blossom off CF, they go in directions that make people unhappy - on AM, they're constantly fretting but trying to keep the course and remain calm, which makes those who don't like Dimitri unhappy. On VW, they're visibly the happiest but not the over-emotive snark knight that some Claude fans want, nor do they condemn Rhea like the Khalid stans want. On SS, they're visibly shown being happy talking to Flayn and Seteth.

Combine all this with the fragmented storytelling how the devs botched up the whole Avatar angle for this game, and you get some buck wild reactions and takes.

Another contribution to the poisoned meta is also the localization, but that's been spoken about already.

@meanwhileinaditch

“It’s absolutely fascinating to see how much CF’s interpretations have poisoned the meta well. People speak with such certainty and authority about things that provably never happened, it feels like I’m getting gaslit by a videogame fandom.”

I don’t even think it’s the interpretations of CF specifically. It’s people wanting Three Houses to be one thing then reacting badly when it’s another thing entirely. One of the main points I’ve seen come up since launch was the idea that all the routes are simply based on differing points of view, and it’s up to the player to decide what is right and wrong…therefore the poster says Edelgard is right and that anyone who says differently can not read. Usually moral ambiguity is brought up while defending Edelgard as having done nothing wrong while everyone else is literally a certain Mr. Schicklgruber .

This is all based on people online, god only knows how many being adults above the age of majority, being unwilling to accept what a game created for middle-schoolers (CERO Rating B: Ages 12 and up) is trying to say. One of the most infamous pieces of meta, the teacher theory, was created when someone noticed how canon, specifically one of the two things Edelgard did that they initially conceded was evil, went against how he read the character and attempted to create an explanation to accommodate themselves (he also walked back the other thing as well). People actually say that Edelgard is out of character in every route but CF, and even talk about how they don’t like hearing information from the rest of the game. I have literally seen people try to argue the game lies in the non-CF infodumps, or that what’s revealed in those are not canon to the world of CF.

A big part of this is the fact players have to choose to join Edelgard, as Byleth defaults to the Silver Snow route. To many, because they didn’t choose to fight Edelgard this means that Byleth is an unthinking, moron who blindly follows orders. Not, you know, Byleth has seen the events of Part 1 for themselves, came to their own conclusions and follows what they believe is right. The player has to unlock the ability to make a decision in order to join Edelgard and her merry band, causing people to say the route is about free will and therefore good. These players don’t want to admit they decided to help the villains achieve their goals in the game, that they willingly followed a lying hypocrite. They want to believe that they are the good guys, if only to save face. Again, I have seen people argue stuff like “if you have to unlock the route, that means it’s better” and “the game wouldn’t allow us to join Edelgard if it was a bad thing.”

People want this game to be about Free Will when siding with Edelgard. They want it to be about toppling a tyrant, not propping up one. They want to claim the story is a matter of perspective, that what’s true and what’s right is up for the player to decide. And when the game’s creators have debunked this, they have resorted to trying to discredit them and declaring Death of the Author.

I personally can’t help but wonder if this is because people, I dunno, they crave post-modernism in their media. That they want characters to acknowledge tropes, snark and quip like they’re not taking things seriously, and for things to be left up to the audience’s interpretation. That they want to be seen as smart for enjoying such media, that they get it. They don’t want to take things at face value and instead to make things more complicated than they actually are. Throw in how people try to reduce Edelgard down to progressive, lesbian lord and Claude to PoC Lord, disregarding their entire characters in order to focus on aspects of their character that might not even be there. Just feels like people are using the game to make themselves look good, rather than just enjoying it for what it is.

I mean, I get that the game is so fragmented that to get a real understanding of it you need to find all sorts of pieces of info, some of which were damaged by the translation. But you’d think that as time went on and people dissected the text misconceptions would die out, at least within the fandom. Instead people champion fanfic over the actual text, the creators’ voices being shouted down by players who don’t want to be challenged, and people within the fandom are harassed and insulted for the crime of actually following the script.

Even if Three Hopes does spell out that Edelgard is wrong and she repents, it’s not going to fix anything. If anything, it’ll just increase the claims that “they didn’t understand Edelgard or the story, and they’re pandering to Dimitri/Rhea/Claude stans.” Three Houses’ original creators have said that she’s the villain, but that’s not enough for some people. I’d say it’s absolutely bizarre…but we’ve all heard fandom horror stories before. Hell, there were people who thought stories about MLP characters forcefully converting humans into ponies, waging a war to do so, was in line with the show’s messages.

Seriously, wth!?

[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]

In another fit of me finding unintentional happy accidents in the hellscape that is 3H, I find that Edelgard reminds me of a very bizarre rendition of the Phantom of the Opera (Directed by Darwin Knight, but often dubbed "the Staller Phantom" after the guy who plays the titular role, David Staller).

It's a very small detail at the very end of the musical, but instead of perpetually lusting after Christine after she chooses Raoul, this Phantom fixates on a young dancer instead, hoping to mold her as his next great project.

Somehow, Byleth is a lost cause to Edelgard. But wait, here's Shez! Perhaps they can be molded to become Edelgard's pet instead?

Anyway enjoy this bootleg project below. If it gets nuked to the abyss somehow or you'd rather see a tl;dr version, Musical Hell did a review on it.

People who think Edelgard won’t want to bone Shez will be disappointed shes already simping them so hard. In the trailer she gave them credit for encouraging flame emperor.

Yeah, she's already giving them the flowery language that she gave Byleth, and since supports are in the game, I expect her to fall for Shez somehow.

[themoomoorn]

Also consider this text vomit I made: https://missymoomoo.tumblr.com/post/643311335456768000/random-thot-46853

Edelgard addresses both during class in the game (it’s when you unlock her Axe-Armor EXP plan) and in Heroes that the only reason someone like her can wear heavy armor as well as she can is because she has her two Crests...with the second Crest being bought about by a more “refined” version of the Crest experiments Lysithea went under, per the March 2020 interview.  Combine this with her eventual Relic really being a special Agarthan custom piece and conspicuous lack of a background in combat and weapons training during childhood - something that Claude, Byleth, and especially Dimitri do have - and you have this notion that Edelgard, when you strip away the magic axe and the special armor and at least one of her Crests, is probably a lousy combat unit.  Under the right circumstances, Dimitri could probably swat away her axe while she flails it about like a twirling baton and grind her into a smear, and that’s not factoring the effects of his own Crest.

the cutscene where it's revealed that edelgard is the flame emperor and dimitri deadass almost ruins her entire fucking war scheme cause he throws a lance at her head and almost gets her. like lmao you can see the life flash before her eyes and im 90% sure he did it just to show off

[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 🤷‍♀️