#fe azure moon spoilers

[a-pale-azure-moon]

I'm a day late on this, but happy 5th anniversary to FE3H, the game that unexpectedly rewired my brain chemistry!

I've been a Fire Emblem fan since I first played Blazing Blade back in 2003 (yes I'm old), so when 3H was announced, I immediately pre-ordered it. I purposely stayed away from rumors, leaks, and most official information about it because I wanted to enjoy it spoiler free. (Much of Fates got spoiled for me and I didn't want a repeat of that.) The most I indulged in was watching the trailers for the individual houses when they came out. And that trailer. You know the one.

So I got the game shortly after launch, once Amazon shipped it to me, and I had no idea which House I was going to pick. I was slightly leaning towards the Golden Deer, largely from Claude's design and how he seemed "different" from previous FE lords, but I was truly undecided when I started. It was really a coin flip between the Lions and Deer right up to the point where the game forces you to choose. What ultimately made me pick the Blue Lions was actually Mercedes; I wasn't aware that recruitment was a thing yet and her Live to Serve skill stood out as particularly useful to me. Healer who can keep herself healed? Yeah, I want that on my team!

If I'm being honest, I didn't find anything about Dimitri particularly special right away. I certainly liked him, mostly because of his amazing voice (thank you Chris), but I recognized him as a Marth clone right from the start, so a lot about his character felt "generic" to me at first. The tone around him was considerably more somber compared to previous lords, and I was curious about why that was so, particularly since the timeskip trailer had spoiled that he goes through a dramatic transformation later in the story. So I was paying close attention to him as the game unfolded, but it wasn't until his breakdown at Remire in chapter 8 that it hit me just how radically different he was compared to previous Marths. That's where I got super invested in his story and started sacrificing sleep to play the game so I could find out what happened next. By the time I finished, my whole brain had been transformed into this:

(I forget where I first saw this image, so my apologies to whomever made it.)

2019 was a difficult year for me; my mom was going through some health issues, and my dad wasn't being particularly helpful in the ways she needed, which left me to pick up the slack (my older sister lives out of state and was/is busy with her three kids). I was also still trying to break out of a festering creative slump that had gone on for way too long, but changing that mindset is hard, especially when you've convinced yourself that everything you write sucks (and that therefore you suck).

So 3H and Azure Moon in particular wound up being a great comfort to me through an emotionally draining year (and then the pandemic hit...). Dimitri's story and character arc resonated with me in all the right ways, and it lit a new creative spark inside of me, the likes of which I hadn't felt in a long, long time. I almost wish I hadn't picked the Lions first, because the other routes wound up being a big disappointment to me when they failed to reach the same emotional high. I think I would've become a Lions stan even if I'd saved their route for last. It left THAT strong of an impression on me. I mean, I became obsessed enough that I wrote a freaking book, lol.

I'll be the first to admit that this game isn't perfect; some of its mechanics are wonky, classes aren't well balanced, there's not enough map diversity, Maddening Mode was definitely not properly play tested, and there are genuine flaws in some of its writing. I won't even get into the trashfire that is 3H discourse (which is somehow still a thing after all this time). I don't even think it's my favorite overall game in the series, but it's in my top 3 with Awakening and Path of Radiance. But the impact the game left on me is difficult to understate. I'm so happy it's a thing that exists and that it helped guide me to my current path.

[nowis-scales]

FE Liveblog Updates

Hey hey! It’s been a little while since I last did any live blogging — and maybe you care, maybe you don’t — but as I have… a lot of potential live-blogging to do, I wanted to give some updates, notices, and minor thoughts. So if you’ve been following along with any of them, here’s where you’ll get your info. Yay!

‣ Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia:

Hmmm… what is there to say about this one? I need to continue it, first of all. It should hopefully be picking up sooner rather than later, finishing off Act 2 in Celica’s path, and then presumably switching back to Alm. I don’t have too much to worry about here, just making sure that I’m getting a healthy dose of support conversations! If I don’t by the end, I may just play again and see what else I can gather. Otherwise… I’m considering a more stack-em-up style to my posting like the other playthroughs, just so it’s less of a spammy feeling. If you have any opinions, please do let me know!

‣ Fire Emblem Engage:

Yep yep, I’ve already got a liveblog of this one set up! As I write this post, I have just beaten Chapter 3, so you will soon be able to find the liveblog under #koto plays engage , and avoid spoilers with #Fire Emblem Engage Spoilers. I’m very excited to share my thoughts so far, so it should be super fun to share! I don’t know when exactly I’ll get that set up, but probably towards the tail end of the next liveblog I’ll be talking about…

‣ Fire Emblem Three Houses: Crimson Flower: I think, with my desire to introduce an Engage liveblog, continue the Echoes one, and someday continue this one… I might get back to this one sooner than I anticipated? I’m still somewhat iffy on this one, just because… well, in the event that you’re new here, let’s just say that CF as a route is just very much not for me. That’s not to say that I look down on or would chide anyone who enjoys it — my rule is, forever and always, as long as you’re kind I don’t mind — but it’s just not the most positive playthrough. So while I’m leaning more towards yes to going back to it, I want to make sure that it’ll be an okay experience for everyone involved.

The good news is, I have newly set up some measures to keep all of the critical stuff contained where you want it. Firstly, I have a new tag I’ll be using to tag posts with the super critical stuff (#Fódlan Fault Finding) and of course I still have the tag meant for criticism in relation to EdeIgard’s character writing in the route (#Shut up about Del). I also have a series of emblems I’m going to be using, to mark each section of the post based on how critical it is. So for example, if you only want to read the positive stuff, you’ll look for a flower with both black and white on each petal, like this: ❃ There’s about four total, ranging from positive, neutral, joking criticism, and hard criticism. That way, you can pick what you like, and go from there!

Otherwise, I think I have about 12 posts already (some of them are leftovers I missed before I stopped before) built in a Google Doc just so I had time to organize my thoughts and review them for sharpness. I’m considering posting them twice a week just to get things moving along so I don’t have a gazillion playthroughs ongoing, but let me know if you have any good ideas! I could even intersperse the posts with live blogs of the other games just to keep things cheery, if that’s preferable.

‣ Fire Emblem Three Houses: Azure Moon & Silver Snow:

These ones, I am… stumped on. I’d like to chronicle them as well, I find live-blogging a super fun endeavour (even if I realize the live-blogs mostly entertain me instead of all of you), but again that’s something to run at the same time as all the other liveblogs. I could wait until Echoes concludes, I could just pick Azure Moon up once CF concludes, or I could intersperse playthroughs with CF and AM to balance out negativity like I just mentioned. It’s hard to know exactly what to do, and even in posting AM, I’m wondering if I should just post SS at the same time… I think probably not, as that would get really confusing, but it’s also the nature of just not having so many on the go. So… yeah, I dunno! Just like for the others, thoughts are welcome.

As you can see, at the moment, it’s all just a matter of figuring out where to put what!

[bigklingy]

Well I guess this could be sorta fun. Also, spoilers here. 1. It was a Fire Emblem game. 2. No, and all of them but the original FE1 and FE2. 3. Chris Hackney got robbed HARD of Best Performance at the 2019 Game Awards. 4. Azure Moon. 5. Verdant Wind. 6. Azure Moon. 7. I made a tier list on my tumblr a while back but I'm too lazy to search for it. 8. Kronya should've been a recurring villain, instead of dying half a chapter after killing Byleth's dad. Imagine if the BLACK KNIGHT went out like that?? 9. Ahem, "Dimitri's motivation is maxed out." A.k.a "Dimitri goes bananas." 10. Swordmaster for being better than its intended promotion somehow. 11. I forget, which kinda says something. 12. Sofibeth Arts did fanart of a memetic NPC from my first playthrough, Blilda! https://sofibeth-arts.tumblr.com/post/188826204925/thank-to-bigklingy-we-have-discovered-three 13. I don't read 3H fics. Too much discourse. 14. I have a silly Dimitri x Edelgard parody fic. 15. Have a hypothetical P5 crossover in my head. 16. Grappler Hanneman, Seteth, Flayn, Cyril, Alois, Catherine, Shamir, Manuela, Normal Hanneman, Rhea, Gilbert. 17. Ferdinand, Hubert, Edelgard, Linhardt, Petra, Caspar, Dorothea, Bernadetta. 18. Dimitri favourite, Dedue least, everyone else tied. BL are all so good it's hard to choose. 19. Hilda, Lysithea, Marianne, Lorenz, Ignaz, Claude, Raphael... lol I forgot Leonie entirely. (Sorry Leonie fans) 20. Manuela. 21. Sylvain, maybe? 22. Rhea. She doesn't strike me as someone interested in romance at all. 23. Well, Blilda (Green unit in AM Chapter 19 replacing Hilda if she's recruited) is a Female War Master... 24. Yuri I guess? 25. I don't feel Byleth's sexuality is conventional, but I don't have a specific label for it. 26. Dimitri, obvious pick is obvious. 27. Off the top of my head, Ignatz? 28. Bernadetta. While I don't agree with Edelgard ideologically, that's different from disliking the character. Bernadetta, I feel the game ends up fetishizing her abusive past to a disturbing degree. I'm aware this is a hot take. 29. Jeralt, Kronya, Claude, Rhea. 30. ANNA. A character with absolutely zero supports in a modern FE game should not exist. Worse, they're DLC. Skipping all design questions, would require me to look through tons of art and I don't have a good sense of design aesthetics anyway. 37. I seem to remember someone had funny dining dialogue but I forget who. 38. Felix liking cats made me lol. 39. Hilda I guess. 40. Dorothea always offers to join without me even trying. I'm not sure why. 41. Claude ships Edelgard/Dimitri and distributes his fanart and fanfiction during the war as propaganda. 42. Azure Moon has the best writing for Edelgard. 43. Sylvain/Mercedes. 44. Edelgard/Dimitri is HILARIOUS and my coping mechanism when discourse bothers me. 45. Sylvain/Mercedes. 46. Unsure. 47. Hilda. It's really the ONLY one I've done, but it was fine. 48. Hilda/Marianne, I'M SORRY. I just don't see it. 49. Dorothea/Hanneman. WHY is this romantic and explicitly mentions them having children, when his endings with all other students are platonic?? 50. FEMALE BYLETH/MERCEDES, easily. Compared to the other female bi options, I feel this is rarely talked about.

50 Questions of FE3H

The ultimate FE3H ask game - Send me an ask and reblog to play!

What drew you to / made you pick up and play FE3H?

Was FE3H your first Fire Emblem game?  If not, which other games did you play?

Who is your favorite FE3H voice actor?

Which route did you play through first in FE3H?

Which route did you play through last?

Which route is your favorite?

Which side quest / paralogue was your favorite?

What storyline threads should have had more development / been further explored?

What is your favorite scene in the game (can be in the main story or a support convo)?

What’s your favorite combat class?

What’s your go-to weapon or spell in combat?

Post a link / reblog your favorite FE3H fanart (no reposting / credit erasure!!).

Post a link to your favorite FE3H fanfic.

If you’ve posted your own fanart or fanfic, post a link to the piece you are most proud of.

If you are an artist or writer, are you currently working on any new FE3H content (art or fanfic)?  If so, will you share a sneak preview?

Rank the Church of Seiros characters from your favorite to least favorite.

Rank the Black Eagles from your favorite to least favorite.

Rank the Blue Lions from your favorite to least favorite.

Rank the Golden Deer from your favorite to least favorite.

What character do you headcanon as bi?

What character do you headcanon as poly?

What character do you headcanon as ace or aro?

What character do you headcanon as trans?

What character do you headcanon as genderfluid?

What character do you headcanon as another sexual orientation or gender identify not listed above?

Who is your overall favorite character?

Which character do you feel “meh” about?

What character do you not like at all / hate?

What character should have gotten more development?

What characters should have more support options and who should have been their support options?

What is your favorite pre-timeskip character design or outfit?

What is your favorite post-timeskip character design or outfit?

What is your least favorite (or hated) pre-timeskip character design or outfit?

What is your least favorite (or hated) post-timeskip character design or outfit?

Which characters would you like to see switch pre-timeskip designs (for fun)?

Which characters would you like to see switch post-timeskip designs (for fu0?

Who are your favorite dining partners?

Who is your favorite teatime companion?

Who is your favorite / most used combat unit?

What character do you always recruit, no matter which route you are playing and why?

What is a favorite character headcanon (can be one you came up with or one you liked / adopted from someone else)?

Do you have / are you willing to share a possibly controversial opinion or headcanon you have about a character?

Who is your favorite in-game ship (meaning they have supports and a confirmed romantic ending card)?

Who is your favorite headcanon ship (meaning they either have supports but not necessarily a romantic ending or they may have no supports at all)?

Who is your FE3H OTP?

Who is your FE3H poly ship?

Who is your favorite Byleth ship?

What is a popular ship that you don’t care for / don’t like?

What is a general (not necessarily popular) ship that you don’t care for / don’t like?

Which ship do you wish was more popular / had more content available?

[darthlordcommie]

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd: Victim, Killer, King

Starting this analysis off is the house leader of the Blue Lions, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. Spoiler warning for Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Trigger warning for discussions of mental illnesses and violence. 

So, Dimitri was born as the only son and heir of King Lambert Blaiddyd of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus. From a young age, Dimitri was trained to be a warrior, with physical and martial training taking precedence over anything else. Part of this is because he was the prince of a kingdom, and part of it is because of the culture of Faerghus. As a kingdom, Faerghus prizes martial strength, knighthood, and martyrdom. It prizes the idea of dying bravely in battle, and instills that idea in most of its children. However, Dimitri was a naturally kind person, and was not particularly suited to the kingdom he was meant to lead, at least in personality. 

Despite being an only child, Dimitri actually possessed a stepsister, Edelgard von Hresvelg, the heiress to the Adrestian Empire. For a year when they were children, they became good friends, leading him to gift her a dagger when she was forced to return to the Empire. This relationship would come to define more of Dimitri’s life than he would have believed. 

When Dimitri was 13, he, his family, and their guards went on a diplomatic trip to the peninsula of Duscur, allies of Faerghus. However, while traveling in Duscur, they were attacked. Dimitri’s father and one of his close friends died, and his stepmother vanished, presumed dead. Dimitri escaped with his life from the incident that would become known as the Tragedy of Duscur. At this incident, Dimitri saw, for the first time, the figure known as the Flame Emperor. 

In response to this tragedy, Faerghus decimated Duscur, assuming them to be responsible, despite Dimitri’s pleas and claims that they weren’t. Ultimately, Dimitri was able to save Dedue, a boy from Duscur, from being killed in the misguided slaughter. Dedue proceeded to become Dimitri’s retainer, and one of his closest friends. 

However, the Tragedy marked Dimitri in ways he hadn’t realized. Dimitri had psychosis, a mental disorder that showed itself with several symptoms, including entering a psychotic state when he was exposed to triggers from his trauma, and delusions that led him to believe that he was haunted by his fallen loved ones, and that taking revenge for them was the only way they would be able to rest. This was mixed with a trait of Dimitri’s that Dedue noted within the game: Dimitri was too kind to be a king. He cared so deeply about people, even the dead, that he was driven to rage trying to help them. 

During the next 4 years, Dimitri grew up, guided by his father’s old friend Rodrigue Fraraldrius, and grew more and more disgusted by war. In his first battle, Dimitri found a man he killed with a locket containing a portrait of someone. He had a revelation that everyone who fought in wars were people with lives, and over the years, grew to despise war, and view it as the last resort of anything. 

Ultimately, Dimitri entered the Officer’s Academy at Garreg Mach Monastery as leader of the Blue Lion house, in order to seek out his family’s killers and achieve revenge. At this point, he reunited with his stepsister Edelgard, though she failed to remember their time together at this point. During an exercise outside the monastery, he, Edelgard, and the third house leader Claude, were attacked by bandits, and sought help from a band of mercenaries, including Byleth Eisner. 

This is the point when we are introduced to Dimitri, and he starts off by appearing to be a polite, trusting individual, and one who cares deeply about his fellow students. As the game goes on, we see more of Dimitri’s thoughts and views. When we are confronted with the injustices of the Crest system, Dimitri is revealed to believe that the world should function on merit, rather than birth. When Byleth’s father dies, he empathizes, and offers understanding. 

When we are sent to Remire Village, that is the first time we see Dimitri’s psychosis manifest itself in-game. Triggered by the carnage, Dimitri enters a murderous state, where he orders his fellow students to “kill them all.” After the mission, he demonstrates a level of understanding, noting that that sometimes happened to him. It is also at this point that Dimitri admits that he seeks revenge for the Tragedy. 

After the death of Jeralt, Dimitri and Byleth overhear the Flame Emperor speaking with Kronya and Solon. Hearing them move, the Flame Emperor threw a dagger at them, despite missing. After they leave, Dimitri takes the dagger, and is shocked to recognize it.

When the Blue Lions descend into the Holy Tomb with Byleth and Rhea, the group is confronted by the Flame Emperor and Imperial soldiers. In the ensuing battle, the Flame Emperor’s mask is knocked off, revealing it to be Edelgard. At this point, Dimitri demands whether it is a “twisted joke”, and his psychosis manifests again, leading him to fly into a rage, tearing through the Imperial soldiers to try and kill Edelgard, only for her to escape. 

After this, the battle of Garreg Mach happens, and Byleth, Dimitri’s friend and mentor, disappears for five years. In this time, Dimitri’s fortunes take a turn for the worse. The Faerghus royal advisor Cornelia, secretly an agent of Those Who Slither in the Dark, kills Dimitri’s uncle and frames Dimitri for it, sentencing him to death. However, Dedue sacrifices himself to save Dimitri, and Dimitri disappears from the world for the five years. 

During this time, Dimitri wanders Fodlan, hunting and killing Imperial soldiers wherever he finds them. With his only companions being the voices of the dead, Dimitri sinks deeper and deeper into his guilt-fueled rage, until Byleth finally reappears before him. While initially believing Byleth to be another apparition haunting him, Dimitri quickly realizes that Byleth is in fact alive, and soon after, the two are found by Gilbert and the Blue Lions. At this point, Dimitri is solely focused on killing Edelgard, and tears through whatever opposition he has to deal with, including an Imperial general. While still lost in his rage, Dimitri reunites with Rodrigue, but remains resolute in his insistence on killing Edelgard, no matter the cost. 

It is at this point that an event occurs that begins Dimitri’s path away from revenge. In a battle to cross a bridge into Imperial territory, Dimitri is reunited with Dedue, who is revealed to have been saved by men from Duscur, and had spent these past 5 years hiding and recovering. At this point, Dimitri orders Dedue to live, and to never sacrifice himself again. 

Following this, comes the second event. After the Battle at Gronder, the sister of the Imperial general Dimitri had killed attempts to assassinate Dimitri. However, Rodrigue throws himself into the blade’s path, saving Dimitri, and allowing Byleth time to kill the assassin. Full of grief, Dimitri mourns Rodrigue, and claims that Rodrigue should not have had to die for Dimitri’s sins. In his last words, Rodrigue implores Dimitri to live for his ideals, rather than for the dead. This grief is what jars Dimitri away from leading the other Blue Lions down his path. 

Following this, Dimitri attempts to depart in the night, in order to try and kill Edelgard, but is confronted by Byleth. In the following conversation, Byleth helps Dimitri finally begin letting go of his guilt for surviving the Tragedy, and his need for revenge in order to quiet the voices in his head. This final push is the third event that changes Dimitri’s path. 

Afterwards, Dimitri apologizes to the Blue Lions for endangering them, and proceeds to turn towards Fhirdiad, capital of Faerghus, in order to liberate his kingdom from the Empire. However, Dimitri is never without his psychosis, and there are times where he begins to enter a rage when triggered. Despite this, his friends help him stay grounded, and he makes earnest strides towards atonement. 

After saving Claude from the Empire, Claude dissolves the Leicester Alliance, and gives the lands to Faerghus, with Dimitri as the king of all of it, despite believing that he is a monster with bloodied hands. 

Before the final battle against Edelgard, Dimitri and Byleth meet with her, in an attempt to sway her from her path. Ultimately, Edelgard refuses to change her course, and Dimitri, filled with revulsion over the war she started, refuses to allow her to have her way. Before parting, he returns her dagger to her, causing her to remember their friendship as children.

After the battle to take the Imperial capital of Enbarr, Dimitri attempts to offer Edelgard one last chance, but she forces him to kill her by attacking him. He then is crowned king of all of Fodlan. 

Ultimately, Dimitri’s story is of a boy falling into darkness, and of eventually rising out of it as a man. He is witness to atrocities that scar him for life. In his five year rampage born of grief, rage, and psychosis, he kills and murders numerous people. When he begins recovering, he becomes a deeply considerate man, offering his enemies chances to surrender, and mourns his stepsister’s death at the end. The lesson Dimitri is forced to learn is a difficult one: You can’t save everyone. 

At heart, Dimitri is a good man, albeit one who commits terrible crimes. His heart was too big for his time, and attempting to save as many people as he could, even the dead, led him down a path of revenge. However, he brings a lasting peace to Fodlan, helps restore Duscur, and acts as a kind king for the rest of his life. Dimitri’s story is one that tells that no matter how dark a place you may be in, you can always reach for the dawn and rise up. 

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

All I'm saying. Is that Sylvain and Ashe bonding over the fact that they got their shittiest family drama aired out for the WHOLE SCHOOL TO SEE is peak fucking content. And for this reason I will be picking it apart extensively in my fic.

At first it's like "Oh, damn, Ashe had to merc his dad :/" then it's "Oh, word?? Sylvain had to thrash his morphed brother??” And people start a bet on which Lion is next up for the drama, yet none of them will ever know that Mercedes' brother was the dude in the mask that yeeted when Flayn got nabbed, or that stoic ginger with a cardboard box for a jaw is Annette's DAD, and oh yeah Dimitri is having a meltdown because his stepsister is somehow connected to the death of this family.

Like imagine being a non-Lions student...watching this shitshow of a house unfold

[a-mastroeni]

I’m guided by time’s flow.

[theblackmuse]

Incorrect quote for the end of Azure Moon, from one of the all time best Christmas movies…

*Dimitri holds his hand out to Edelgard*

Edelgard: “Dimitri… I would love to live with you in your castle forever just like a fairytale…”

*takes out dagger*

“I just couldn’t live with myself… So don’t pretend this is a happy ending.”

[flameperor]

nothing could have possibly mentally prepared me for the genuine pain i felt after seeing what edelgard says to byleth when you send her to attack her...

[sadbisexualhours]

i’m sorry for making this

[princeazurathepathetic]

Fates memes? Anybody? I got some Fates memes????? Idk if anyone still likes these???

[warrenwaskilledbyadeer]

Dimitri: Tell me Edelgard, do you recall the Tragedy of Duscur?

[holydragon2808]

My Personal Opinion on Edelgard (FE Three Houses) SPOILERS FOR THE GD, BL and BE Routes

Fire Emblem Three Houses has pretty much consumed the majority of my free time since its launch. Someone on reddit made a topic regarding their opinion of this controversial character, and I commented on it. I figured I’d copy/paste my response there here too, just for the hell of it (and I’m curious to see what anyone else has to say or think on the matter). There will be spoilers for three of the four routes in this post, so read at your own risk. Final Warning.

Personally, of the three lord characters, Edelgard is my least favorite so far (I've played the GD route and the BL route and now I'm working on the BE route, and eventually going bookends with the Church because its similar to the GD route). Mainly because I feel the whole "tormented by awful memories of the past" thing was done much better and was much more compelling with Dimitri. Yeah, he definitely snaps and loses himself in all other routes not his own, giving into his mental despair and inner hatred (and like Edelgard, dies in every route not his own), but on the Blue Lions route, not only can you pull Dimitri back from the brink, but he ultimately makes the conscious choice to move forward, realize the suffering he's caused and atones for his actions.

He stops with the whole "violent revenge is the only way forward" (in his case) and resolves to fight and live for what he truly believes in (mirroring the exact same speech he once gave you when Jeralt was killed five years ago), and eventually he rises to be the benevolent king he always had the capacity to be, because he chose to put his past behind him (on his route). He chose to actively find another less violent way to end the conflict (we take a huge, but still necessary detour back to the Kingdom of Faergus to save it from the Empire on the Blue Lions path). And the romance between Dimitri and a female Byleth felt very organic to this arc IMO. Huge Dimileth shipper here lol.

Edelgard, on the other hand, had already made up her mind that violence is really the only answer, and thus, doomed herself to a lonely grave in every route not her own. And, even in her own route, all you're really doing is helping her be less cold. We're still committing massive war atrocities, and far too much sacrificing/murdering for my liking personally, especially having played Claude and Dimitri’s routes beforehand.

With Claude, he actually has very similar ideals to Edelgard, and similar views about crests and a very similar desire to create a more equal world, but he takes it a step further to include tearing down ALL the barriers across the world, not just Fodlan. The major difference between the two of them (and why Claude can potentially survive all four routes and Edelgard dies in every route not her own) is that he's willing to compromise and work with others, admit his faults, and adjust his methods. He's also willing to admit when others might be better suited to change the world than him (i.e., not picking his route.). I’ve actually seen people claim that Claude is a “gary stu” character because he’s the only lord who can survive all four routes. Uh....no, just no. 

AND unlike Edelgard, he's 100% opposed to sacrificing/killing his friends for the greater good. If anything, his constant (and admittedly sometimes questionable) scheming is all in the interest of his closest friends and family surviving (and he's willing to do other things aside from war and slaughter that might still be morally wrong if it means saving his friends, which I found to be very interesting and why he's one of my favorite FE characters. I'm a sucker for the lovable rogue type, and I did a romance with Claude and loved it too).

I find it extremely ironic that Edelgard says that Claude isn't the best qualified ruler because he doesn't know much about Fodlan's history, when it truth, the GD route easily has some of the most world building and truth discovering. Another thing is that Claude is willing to take the time and do some research and learn/seek out the truth rather than just assuming he knows everything already. He doesn't have the same level of hatred towards the Church of Seiros that Edelgard has, so he's more willing to look beyond what others have established or what he's merely heard, and one could argue that Claude's mixed Fodlan/Almyran heritage and his lack of bias actually makes him more qualified to attempt this sort of dynamic change in the world, as well as Dimitri actively making the conscious choice to not let his past, his hatred and his anger rule his every action, becoming a well loved and benevolent king on his route to be frank.

Edelgard never once questioned if the Empire itself might have distorted history. She’s actually the one who's the most misinformed about Fodlan's history, the true conflict between Seiros and Nemesis (it was WAY more than just a "minor dispute or misunderstanding", and the ancestors of Those Who Slither in the Dark were clearly the aggressors in the conflict between Seiros and Nemesis (and it started with what the ancestors of TWSITD did to Sothis and the rest of Seiros' brethren and the TRUE nature of what the hero's relics are. Oh yeah Edelgard, they were "man made" alright....), not the other way around, and actually a more potentially dangerous enemy than the Church, but that's another discussion altogether).

Edelgard is so caught up in her "my way or the high way" mentality that she just flat out won’t work with anyone who doesn't share in her views completely and utterly. She's so convinced that she’s the only one capable of changing the world, and that it has to be her and only her, that she literally runs herself into the ground in every other route (she dies). Again, I'm aware of her trauma, but we all have a choice in how we live our lives going forward, and Edelgard chose war so....).

She's not wrong in her views that the Church of Seiros was stagnating the world and hiding a lot of dark secrets, particularly "Rhea", but she was (and is since this is my current route) completely wrong in being so arrogant to believe that she was/is the only one qualified to exact change, when not only are Claude and Dimitri perfectly capable of doing the same, but they do so with far less bloodshed than Edelgard does (well, once Dimitri comes around on his own route. That was the second one I played. I'm working on the BE route at the moment, then I'll go back and do the Church of Seiros. So far, it's readily apparent to me what Edelgard's flaws are and why her own hubris is typically her downfall in all other routes outside her own, even if some of it has to do with trauma).

Again, Edelgard's route is my least favorite so far because of how arrogant she is really (and I really didn't appreciate her rather rude and arrogant worded speech to me only mere days after Jeralt was killed either compared to the other two lords. Had it taken place at the end of the month, it would have worked better, but just a few days after was her overstepping, future Emperor or no). I get where she's coming from for the most part, but I find her far too narrow minded and far too ready to sacrifice everyone and everything around her for her ideals for my liking....just all my opinion though. I actually found her more compelling on both the Golden Deer and Blue Lions route (the latter in particular), but that's another discussion altogether. I'm glad the BE route is the shortest. Probably not gonna play it ever again personally. Despite how all this sounds, I don't "hate" Edelgard, so much as I just find the other two lords far more compelling.

[beyblaiddyd]

Hegemon Edelgard’s design was disappointing to me and many other ppl I know so I took a stab at a redesign. 

[knuckle]

Rodrigue: I said something really horrible to Felix when Glenn died and he's never forgiven me for it

Me: King of growth? A regretful parent who both acknowledges what he did wrong and sees his child's resentment as a natural reaction? for a transgression that was an overall difficult situation to begin with and wasn't really abuse or anything?? Hello sir I have Gilbert on the other line can he jump in front of that dagger instead

[hannahthedragon]

My favorite part of video games has to be people telling stories of things unique to their playthrough. It's just so magical to hear about all these different memories from playing the exact same story. So with that here's a Fire Emblem Three House's fic based around my experience with chapter 17 of Azure Moon. Changed slightly for story reasons of course.

Warnings: Mild gore, death, and of course spoilers for that chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hill I'll Die On

It was a fight just like the one they had oh so long ago. The battle of the eagle and loins. An odd choice of names since all three houses were to partake in it, and this fight was no different. Almost identical to the last one except this time it was no game, and any injury taken would be more than a trip to a healer. Edelgard sent Bernadetta up to a hillside covered with a wooden fortress, her skill with a bow meant she would be the one manning the ballista as defense against the two armies out to kill them. Bernadetta wasn't sure if she could agree with Edelgard, but she held so much power that Bernie couldn't dare speak against her. She couldn't even speak to her when they were simply classmates. It wasn't long before the blue lions approached, which were the only real threat they had to worry about, as it seemed the deer kept to themselves for the most part if she didn't engage. The Loins seemed to have the same plan of following the namesake of the battle and had eyes only set for their army.

Before she could even get a good look at the enemies Dimitri was engulfed in a blinding light, someone used magic to teleport him next to the base of the hill. She swallowed the terrified shriek that she wanted to scream so badly. She has only heard whispers of rumors about the beast the prince had become, but that could not describe the horrid husk approaching, not a semblance of humanity left on his face, clutching his lance so hard it looked ready to snap in half. He wore an eyepatch under the locks of unkempt hair, finally a physical scar of all the trauma he has gone through. She couldn't find the courage to shoot at him, instead aiming the ballista at only half familiar faces, the pair of green hair and single wyvern indicated it was the siblings from the monastery. Her shot crumbled the ground around them, keeping them in place for sometime. By the time she had finished the shot however Dimitri was already at the top of the hill, she stumbled backwards as tears began to cloud her vision, ready for the beast to end her. But to her surprise he didn't attack, he didn't say a word to her, simply turning and spearing another soldier clean through the chest, dead in an instant as the spear pulled back through their body and returned to his side. 

Just now reaching the hill as the rabid prince continued cutting through enemies was Linhardt, someone who once belonged to the same house as Bernadetta. It seemed he was still loyal to the professor even after all these years. Now fighting on the opposite sides of the war. He warped Dimitri ever closer to Edelgard as she continued to think of the past. Maybe things could have been different if she had gone with the professor too. Maybe if she hadn't been such a coward and left her room she would have been invited to join. Now that she thought about it she was invited to join. The last month at the school when everything was in chaos. The professor took time out of their day to sit down and have tea with her, she remembers the berry scent it had, her favorite type. They had asked if she wanted to transfer to their class, an odd question so close to the end of the year. The professor likely understood what would happen to those still with Edelgard. Of course she had to be a coward and reject, any change was too much change for her. But it was too late to regret her decision, and now was the time to protect Edelgard. Bernie spun the ballista around the other way and aimed at Dimitri. Linhardt could be ignored for now, if nothing had changed he was still a simple healer, and likely still had the same distaste for bloodshed. She fired at Dimitri ready if for nothing else to hold him back for a minute to slow his advance. The bolt flew towards him, hitting him right on the shoulder. Yet. He didn't even flinch. Did it not hurt him at all? How strong was he! Or does he truly feel nothing anymore? He kept walking.  eyes with nothing but pure hatred on them.

Luckily she was right about Linhardt, when she finally could take her eyes off the unstoppable force of a man he was simply healing a far away ally. However two more people approached, the professor themself and the only person who could rival Edelgard in her hatred of Dimitri, Felix. Before any of them had the chance to exchange anything with each other whether it be combat or words, Edlegard shouted a command to her army. Or maybe a threat to the enemies. It was hard to hear only making out the words crimson flames. Those words were quickly met with an explanation as a hail storm of fire rained upon the wooden structure. It hit with a massive explosion hurting everyone who stood upon the hill, now turned ablaze in an instant. Bernadetta fell to the ground as wooden chips sprayed into her leg, and the smoke made it hard to see let alone breath. The first sight she saw looking up towards the other was Linhardt. His eyes terrified and frozen in shock. Not everything had changed in 5 years, or since he left her class, just as she expected the sight of so much blood in an instant made him quickly lose consciousness, she reached her hands out to instinctively even if she couldn't do anything, luckily he was surrounded in a similar light that Dimitri was and was quickly pulled away from the danger. Now leaned in the arms of the young girl who had not aged a day since the war, trying her best to wake and calm him as her brother already headed towards the fire, safe from the air. Next her focus was brought to the two actual fighters, Felix had shielded the professor from danger as they desperately searched for a way out of the flames. This was it, this is where her story was going to end. Edelgard had sent her up here by herself only to pose as a trap. A sacrifice for what she would call a noble cause no matter what. Suddenly everything didn't seem so noble. Bernadetta's fears turned to rage for what had to be the first time in her life. Rage towards Edelgard, rage towards the church, rage towards every person who fought in the war and most importantly rage at herself. For every little choice she could have made to not be here right now. If only she weren't a coward. Now was her time to finally act. If she didn't she would never get another opportunity. Bernadetta grabbed the bow from her back, stood up ignoring the sting in her leg, and armed it, facing the weapon towards Felix and pulling back. He was defenseless, training his sword everyday would mean nothing from this distance. She wanted to yell something at him, shout her feelings at the top of her lungs, but all that came out was a scream as she let go. Right into his back. It didn't kill him, but the next shot would. The professor reacted in shock, ready to be the one to protect him, but before they could Felix pushed them aside and pulled out a shining bow on his own.

"When… when did he learn that." She thought as he let go. "Things have changed haven't they Bernie? This is war after all." Another thought as the silver tipped death approached. "I'm sorry professor…" She mumbled as it entered the side of her stomach. Her angry scream now turned to a scream of nothing but pain. The loudest anyone had ever heard her. The loudest they ever would. She collapsed to the ground, the crackling wood scorching her half conscious body. Burns spreading across her exposed legs, and lighting the wooden arrow still in her body on fire with it. She couldn't breathe anymore as the smoke and charcoal turned the scene black, or maybe her vision did that all on its own. Her tears evaporated instantly in the heat. "I should have said yes…" was all she had the strength to say, as everything went dark, and the fire turned cold.

[iturbide]

I think Hegemon Edelgard is Edelgard while using both of her crests at the same time. Does that mean Lysithea could get a similar form if she used the power of her two crests at the same time?

I don’t agree with this, personally.  I don’t believe that Hegemon Edelgard is the product of using both Crests “simultaneously” -- because frankly, she’s always been doing that.  Crests aren’t something you can just turn on and off at will: the fact that a person with the appropriate Crest can activate a Hero’s relic simply by holding it implies that Crests are always active -- which makes sense because they’re an ingrained part of that person.  You can’t turn off your immune system at will, so why would they be able to turn off their Crests?  Just because they sometimes flare and display special properties (Indech’s duplicated actions, Riegan’s health restoration, etc) doesn’t mean that they’ve been dormant, it’s just that sometimes they exhibit exceptional abilities under stress, just like adrenaline will trigger shocking speed or strength in a normal human.

Another little canon nod to the idea that Crests are continuously active is the Crestbearers’ “quirks.”  In Catherine’s supports with Lysithea, she mentions that her own Crest of Charon always seems to bring a downpour when she most needs sunny weather (something Lysithea also runs afoul of when she’s doing laundry).  Her B support sums it up nicely: “...each Crest is unique in how it impacts the bearer's life.”  For Catherine and Lysithea, it’s inopportune storms; for Dimitri, it’s super strength that he struggles to keep under control.  I really would have liked to see more of these quirks in action, personally, but what can you do. 

So with that in mind, Edelgard has always been using both her Crests at the same time.  She has no choice in the matter.  And so has Lysithea: I’m pretty sure that if you give her both Thunderbrand (Charon relic) and Thyrsus (Gloucester relic), both will glow red at the same time, indicating they’re both active.  Hegemon Edelgard has to be the result of something else, and I’m fairly certain it’s one more product of Twisted interference, since in the final cutscene of Azure Moon chapter 21, there’s a very brief conversation between Edelgard and one of the Imperial Generals, who says “the anomaly should present itself shortly.”  This implies to me that Edelgard consented to some kind of treatment from the Twisted that induced the change, rather than it being something she was ever able to bring on by her own will.