#fe randolph

[theeeveetamer]

Here's the hot side of the "characters I couldn't fit into a specific faction" category

Remember, I don't want the one you like the most. I want the one you'd fuck

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I'm a little disappointed we didn't get to see more of Randolph, Ladislava, and Metodey. I think it was a missed opportunity to show us why people outside of the Black Eagles would follow Edelgard and the Empire. Also, look at their designs. They're pretty. I want to see the pretty designs more.

.

[gghero]

Azure Moon AU where Caspar recognizes Fleche and... intervenes after the whole Rodrigue debacle

Caspar now has to answer for an extremely traumatized teenage prisoner of war as tensions and resentment escalate around camp. The Faerghus Four are really conflicted about the whole thing but mostly stay out of it. Mostly. Others are not so charitable

But Caspar sees the good in everyone and is determined to not give up on Fleche... He knows he could never replace Randolph. He knows Fleche hates him and thinks he's a traitor. His own side of the family was never close to Randolph's due to the inheritance feud, but none of that matters now. He is tired of fighting family and friends and if there's anything he can do for her then you bet he is going to try to save this one person

[gascon-en-exil]

"dubiously moral or outright evil royalty and their unfathomably devoted personal servant/knight/advisor is simply one of the top ships of all time." // I saw this tagged as dimidue and... honest question, when was Dimitri Morrally Dubious or Outright Evil in 3Houses? I get he's one of the final bosses of Crimson Flower, but if that = morally dubious... I don't see it.

Also, doesn't he die in VW/SS and he stops being "feral" shortly after Dedue is recruited? When was Dedue doing Dimitri's evil bidding in game?

It's a massive stretch to try to paint Dimitri as such, even for fans who actively want dark Dimitri content. I've seen people on the anon meme complain about much the game forces you to reach for some serious, ahem, "dark fuck prince" Dimitri stuff, since when you get down to it the only people we ever see him do anything to beyond series-standard violence are 1) generic soldiers or 2) Randolph, who belongs to a very broad category of FE bosses that are next door to generics for how easily the games reduce them to cannon fodder. The DLC even walks back that angle a bit with a comment from Yuri about Dimitri becoming a folk hero in Faerghus during the timeskip, which really undercuts the thought that he might be out there killing random civilians or whatever. Crimson Flower certainly doesn't sell it, in large part because it just doesn't have the time to develop any of its four separate antagonist factions well in only six chapters. Dimitri has, what, two scenes or so before he's faced as a boss in CF? Silver Snow and Verdant Wind are no help either, with his sole appearance in the former being possibly a hallucination and his appearance in the latter being followed by Dedue basically turning into Finn from Jugdral and devoting himself to avenging his fallen lord/lover.

Pretty much any dark Dimidue content with even a small basis in canon is going to pull from that Dedue/Felix support where Felix posits several hypothetical terrible things that Dedue would commit for Dimitri. Felix is being obviously antagonistic, and none of what he claims is ever realized in the story, so it's really hard to take that conversation as anything but Dedue telling Felix what he wants to hear because he knows the guy is working through his own issues and possibly wants to get in for some throuple action and also understands through their years of mutual trauma bonding that Dimitri would never order him to kill children. You really have to work for in-character dark Dimidue; they're actually an incredible sappy couple (have you seen some of their lines to each other?) who's going to go on to adopt like twenty kids together, with the sole caveat being that both of them will completely lose it if their massive Do Not Separate sticker is ever violated.

(One could also apply similar observations on fandom trends to Catherine/Rhea, but I'm less familiar with that pairing.)

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Persona Timeline Pt. 1: Pre-Canon

Gonna add references like we're in the Tardis Wiki. If you know, you know.

Events that only took place in the Other Side will be marked with a "🟠". Events that only took place in This Side will be marked with a "⚪️".

For extra fun, you can read only the general and 🟠 events, then when you hit the Timeline Reset in the P2 Timeline, start over but this time reading only the general and ⚪️ events in order to progress to P3. The full Tatsuya experience, some might say.

[LAST UPDATED: JUNE 2024]

BEGINNING OF TIMES

- The Great Reason created the Amala Multiverse, including the Persona timeline (Game: Shin Megami Tensei IV).

4.5 BILLION YEARS AGO

- Nyx, a Star Eater, took damage when she collided with Earth (Book: Persona 3 Club). The debris created the Moon and, while Nyx' psyche was trapped on Earth, her body was enclosed in the Moon.

- Fragments from Nyx' body, called Plumes of Dusk, fell on Earth (Book: Persona 3 Club).

- Nyx began the long process of healing her physical body.

- In order to fight Nyx' psyche, the primitive life on Earth indirectly created the Collective Unconscious (Book: Persona 3 Club), connecting all the souls on Earth through the Sea of Souls. Nyx' psyche was sealed here.

2 MILLION YEARS AGO

- Humans came to be.

- The Expanse was formed to house all the gods, spirits, mythological beings, shadows, and demons created by humanity (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

350,000 YEARS AGO

- Philemon and Nyarlathotep came to be; Philemon representing the good of humanity, and Nyarlathotep the evil (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Erebus was created as a manifestation of humanity's grief and negative emotion (Game: Persona 3 FES). He began to look for Nyx' psyche, which was still scattered across the Collective Unconscious.

710

- The Kuzunoha Clan of devil summoners was founded (Game: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army).

BETWEEN 1336 AND 1573

- The Nanjo Group was founded (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

1430s

- The Tarot Deck was invented.

BETWEEN 1467 AND 1590

- As a consequence of rumors created in 1999 Sumaru, a historical warlord named Kiyotada Sumaru conquered the land what would become Sumaru City (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- A vassal of Kiyotada named Tatsunoshin Suou organized an assassination attempt against him with his lover, Princess Maihime Amano, and his retainer, Junnosuke Kuroda (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Kiyotada gored Maihime with a spear, and Tatsunoshin cut off his head. Devastated, Tatsunoshin ordered Junnosuke to flee Sumaru Castle and burn it down as he fled (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Junnosuke recovered Tatsunoshin and Maihime's remains from the burned down castle and mummified them (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Junnosuke changed his name to Fuyou and founded the Mokujinken school of martial arts (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Fuyou died of natural causes, and his spirit remained in limbo, awaiting for the day Tatsunoshin would call upon him once more. Until then, he protected Maihime's descendants (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

BEFORE 1752

- Igor, a doll, was given life (Game: Persona 3 FES).

- Philemon created the Velvet Room and recruited Igor to his cause (Game: Persona 3 FES).

1752

- Nameless covered his eyes. It is possible he became a denizen of the Velvet Room around this time (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

1874

? ??

- Randolph Carter was born in Boston.

1875

July 26

- Carl Gustav Jung was born.

1883

? ??

- Carter gained the gift of prophecy.

BEFORE 1895

? ??

- The Shirogane line of detectives began (Game: Persona 4).

BETWEEN 1909 AND 1969

? ??

- The Demon Painter was born and raised in Sumaru City (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

1913

? ??

- Possible date for Jung to have met Philemon, or at least began to have visions of the Velvet Room and/or Expanse.

1914

July 28

- World War 1 began.

BETWEEN 1914 AND 1918

? ??

- With Philemon's help, Jung wrote the Red and Black Books. The Red Book was a record of the origin of Personas and Philemon's power, while the Black Book recorded everything about the Sea of Souls. The Red Book granted limitless power and free manipulation of people's consciousness and unconsciousness, while the Black Book could harvest power and take others' Personas to summon and create beings for various purposes (Manga: Persona Tsumi to Batsu).

- In order to seal the Books' ridiculous power, Philemon created special keys (Manga: Persona Tsumi to Batsu). A fraction if their power can still be used with the Books closed, though.

- Jung finished the Red and Black Books and gave them to Philemon, who introcued them to Igor (Manga: Persona Tsumi to Batsu).

- Philemon set free the Red and Black Books along with their keys from Kadath Mandala, awaiting for a human who showed the abilities the Books provided (Manga: Persona Tsumi to Batsu).

- Igor began to make an effort to get to know his guests (Manga: Persona Tsumi to Batsu).

1916

? ??

- Kosei High School was founded (Game: Persona 5).

1918

November 11

- World War 1 ended.

1927

? ??

- YHVH gave the demon Thor the missiom to destroy Japan in order to cleanse the world (Game: Shin Megami Tensei).

- Thorman, a reincarnation of Thor, was born (Game: Devil Summoner).

1929

Between May and June

- Bunkichi Kitamura was born (Game: Persona 3 Reload).

1931

? ??

[Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, takes place]

1932

? ??

- Raidou XL possessed Kaya's body with the goal to destroy Tokyo to prevent the Great Cataclysm (Game: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army).

- Raidou XIV exorcised Raidou XL, dooming him to wander forever as a lost soul (Game: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army). The domino effect that would eventually prevent the Great Cataclysm began.

[Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, takes place]

1937

Between February and March

- Mitsuko was born (Game: Persona 3 Reload).

BETWEEN 1937 AND 1946

? ??

- Stephen was born (Game: Shin Megami Tensei).

1939

September 1

- World War 2 began.

BEFORE 1944

? ??

- Kouetsu Kirijo was born.

1945

April 30

- Adolf Hitler escaped to Antarctica with the Last Battalion, growing his forces and waiting for the time to strike again (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

September 2

- World War 2 ended.

? ??

- Kozo Saeki founded the Saeki Group (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

1946

? ??

- Masataka Amano was born Book: Persona World Guide).

- Tatzusou Sudou was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

- The Nanjo Zaibatsu was dissolved (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

1948

? ??

- Jyun Owada was born (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

BEFORE 1950

? ??

- Kensuke Kandori was born.

BETWEEN 1950 AND 1953

? ??

- The Saeki Group profited from the Korean War (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

BETWEEN 1951 AND 1976

? ??

- Munehisa Iwai was born.

BETWEEN 1956 AND 1976

? ??

- Sojiro Sakura and Wakaba Isshiki were born.

BETWEEN 1958 AND 1967

? ??

- Stephen began the Terminal System project and became the first human to initiate contact with the Expanse. However, a shadow crossed over and, since Stephen didn't speak their language, was crippled by it (Game: Shin Megami Tensei).

- The event with the shadow inspired Stephen to begin the creation of the Demon Summoning Program (Game: Shin Megami Tensei).

BEFORE 1960

? ??

- Setsuko Sonomura was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BETWEEN 1960 AND 1962

? ??

- C.W. Nicholai was born (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

1961

June 6

- Jung passed away.

BEFORE 1962

? ??

- Akinari Kashihara and Maya Okamura were born.

1962

Between January 20 and February 18

- Junko Kurosu was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

BEFORE 1963

? ??

- Steven Silverman and Kankichi Mishina were born.

1963

? ??

- Masayoshi Shido and Takeharu Kirijo were born (Game: Persona 3 / Game: Persona 5).

BETWEEN 1963 AND 1968

? ??

- Toranosuke Yoshida was born.

1964

? ??

- St. Hermelin High School was founded (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

1966

Between April 20 and May 20

- Ginji Sasaki was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

? ??

- The winning streak of the Special Investigations Unit began, mostly aided by forged evidence (Game: Persona 5).

1967

June 13

- Kaoru Saga / Baofu was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

? ??

- Miki Asai was born.

1968

July 28

- Kyouji Kuzunoha was born (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner).

November 8

- Takahisa Kandori was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

? ??

- Chizuru Ishigami was born.

BETWEEN 1968 AND 1976

October 1

- Zenkichi Hasegawa was born (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

1970

May 16

- Ryotaro Dojima was born (Game: Persona 4).

? ??

- Mayo Miyashita was born (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

BEFORE 1971

? ??

- Philemon and Nyarlathotep made a bet on whether humanity would destroy itself or become enlightened beings (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Nyarlathotep cursed Sumaru City so strong rumors would become reality (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

1971

? ??

- Tatsuya Sudou was born with Nyarlathotep whispering in his head (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- First art contest in St. Hermelin High School (Manga: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BETWEEN 1971 AND 1974

? ??

- Saeko Takemi and Tomomi Fujimori were born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BEFORE 1973

? ??

- Eiichiro Takeba was born.

1973

December 30

- Katsuya Suou was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

1974

June 1

- Taro Namatame was born (Game: Persona 4).

November 30

- Ulala Serizawa was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

? ??

- Misuzu Hiiragi was born.

BEFORE 1975

? ??

- Shiori's older sister was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

1975

January 14

- Shiori Miyashiro was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

BEFORE 1976

? ??

- Yoichi Hanamura was born (Book: Persona Club P4).

1976

July 4

- Maya Amano was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

1977

April ??

- Junko began attending Seven Sisters High School (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

BETWEEN 1977 AND 1908

? ??

- Junko became the first Miss Sevens (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Kashihara and Okamura began to teach at Seven Sisters High School.

BEFORE 1978

? ??

- Shuji Ikutsuki was born.

BETWEEN 1978 AND 1986

? ??

- Sadayo Kawakami was born (Game: Persona 5).

BEFORE 1979

? ??

- Kunikazu Okumura was born.

1979

April 9

- Yukino "Yukki" Mayuzumi was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

June 4

- Maki Sonomura was born with an unspecified illness. She would be hospitalized various times through her childhood and early teenage years (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

July 11

- Masao "Mark" Inaba was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

August 18

- Reiji Kido was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

September 21

- Eriko "Elly" Kirishima was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

October 2

- Kei "Nate" Nanjo was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

December 24

- Kazuya and Naoya Toudou (P1MC) were born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

? ??

- Shunsuke Fujii was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- The New World Order was founded after a small company led by Tatsuzou unearthed Kiyotada's head in the soon-to-be Honmaru Park, which spoke in their heads advice to control the country (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

AFTER 1979

? ??

- Yukki's younger siblings were born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona Digital Collection).

BETWEEN 1979 AND 1998

? ??

- Tatsuzou became the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

1980

January 1

- Hidehiko "Brown" Uesugi was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

March 3

- Yuka Ayase was born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

March ??

- Junko graduated from Seven Sisters High School and became a famous actress.

August 13

- Tamaki Uchida (SMT:If...MC) was born (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

? ??

- Yumi Shirakawa, Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi, Akira Miyamoto, Ideo Hazama, Akiko Yano, and Ryuichi Sakamoto were born (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

- Chisato Kasai and Yosuke Naito were born (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

1981

? ??

- Junko and Kashihara got married (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

May ??

- Upon realizing she was pregnant, Junko retired from stardom (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

July 27

- Tatsuya Suou (P2MC) was born (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

October 25

- Miyabi Hanakouji / Kozy was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

? ??

- Reiko Akanezawa and Takuya Miyashiro were born (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if... / Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

- Tadashi Satomi was born.

- The first Satomi Pharmacy opened its doors (Book: Persona 1 Club Book).

- Atsushi Nagano was born (Novel: Persona 2: Tsumi ga Ataeshi Batsu).

BETWEEN 1981 AND 1983

? ??

- Mitsuo Shimazaki was born.

BEFORE 1982

? ??

- Shinichi Yoshizawa was born.

1982

February 14

- Jun Kurosu / Jun Kashihara was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

May 4

- Lisa Silverman was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

Between October and November

- Anna Yoshizaka was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

November 15

- Eikichi "Michel" Mishina was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

? ??

- Gekkoukan High School was founded.

BETWEEN 1982 AND 1985

? ??

- Sayoko Uehara and Noriko Kashiwagi were born (Game: Persona 4).

BETWEEN 1982 AND 1999

? ??

- Junko returned to stardom (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

1983

? ??

- Naoya got a cold and Kazuya, in an effort to make him feel better, went with their mother to buy him manga. On the way home, Kazuya was hit by a truck and died (Manga: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Naoya began to act like Kazuya to comfort his mother. Her mental breakdown made her stay at her parents' house while Naoya was taken care of by a housekeeper and the Sonomuras (Manga: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Hiroki Sugimoto, Mami "Sheba" Shibata, and Miho "Mee-ho" Ogishima were born.

- Mayumi Yamano was born (Game: Persona 4).

BETWEEN 1983 AND 1984

? ??

- Noriko Katayama was born.

1984

February 1

- Tohru Adachi was born (Game: Persona 4).

April ??

- Kandori began attending St. Hermelin High School (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona). He would become president of the student council.

? ??

- Chika "Chikarin" Ueda was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Masataka Amano entrusted Mr. Bunbun to Maya while he went away as a war correspondent (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Masataka died in the Soviet-Afghan War (Book: Persona World Guide).

BETWEEN 1984 AND 1997

? ??

- Sasaki became part of a one-hit wonder band (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). After fading to obscurity, became a record producer.

1986

April ??

- Sudou began attending Seven Sisters High School (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- The rumors spread about Sudou made his mental state worsen (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

July 6

- Owada won his first term as a legislator.

? ??

- Akari Hoshi / Ixquic was born (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Saeki founded the Tokushin Association (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

- Hidehiko had a bowel movement accident that earned him the nickname of "Brown" (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

[Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei and Digital Devil Story 2: Warrior of the Demon City take place]

BETWEEN 1986 AND 1989

April ??

- Saeko and Tomomi began attending St. Hermelin High School (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

? ??

- Kumi Hirose became the first victim of the Snow Queen Curse (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BETWEEN 1986 AND 1992

? ??

- Ideo and Reiko's parents got divorced. Their father kept Ideo and their mother left with Reiko (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

- Reiji gained his scar when his father hit him with a golf club while protecting his mother (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

? ??

- While in England, Kandori learned about the Great Old Ones from a cult (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

[Megami Tensei takes place]

1987

March ??

- Kandori graduated from St. Hermelin High School and began studying at Oxford.

BETWEEN 1987 AND 1990

? ??

- Michiko Matsudaira became another victim of the Snow Queen Curse (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BETWEEN 1988 AND 1991

? ??

- Yuriko Yamamoto became another victim of the Snow Queen Curse (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

BETWEEN 1988 AND 1993

? ??

- Shido became a metropolitan assemblyman, beginning his career in politics (Game: Persona 5).

1989

? ??

- Kashihara became a substitute father for Sudou (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Kashihara, believing that the Maiyans aliens were speaking through Sudou, wrote all the messages in the book "In Lak'ech" (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Suspecting infidelity, Junko hired detective Daisuke Todoroki to follow Kashihara (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Junko began to spread vicious rumors about her husband, weakening his hold on reality (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

March ??

- Sudou graduated from Seven Sisters High School.

- Tatsuya, Jun, Michel, and Lisa met each other in the Alaya Shrine. They began to call themselves the Masked Circle (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Maya met and befriended the Masked Circle, becoming a surrogate older sister to them (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Maya taught the Masked Circle the Persona Game (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

Between March and August

- Jun gave Tatsuya an engraved Zippo lighter, while Tatsuya gave him a silver wristwatch. The two made a promise to be friends forever (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Kashihara fell in the Seven Sisters clock tower and was crushed by the gears (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Nyarlathotep took on Kashihara's appearance and replaced him (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

April ??

- Katsuya began attending Seven Sisters High School (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

August ??

- Maya, after revealing she would be moving away, was locked inside the Alaya Shrine by Michel and Lisa. Tatsuya was locked in as well (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- The Alaya Shrine was set on fire by Sudou, who cut Tatsuya with a knife and made Maya develop pyrophobia. Tatsuya took Sudou's right eye off with his Persona (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Sudou killed and dismembered Takuya (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Jun, Lisa, and Michel mistakenly began to believe that Maya was killed in the fire, and hid away their masks (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- The trauma made Tatsuya, Lisa, Michel, and Maya forget about the incident and about each other (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Nyarlathotep made Jun believe that Maya was killed by his friends, and began grooming him to become Joker (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

- Tatsuzou stopped the investigations of Tatsuya's father into Sudou, using his influence to discredit him and end up with Tatsuya's father leaving the police (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin / Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

- Tatsuzou sent Sudou to the Morimoto Sanitarium (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment). ⚪️

- Maya moved away from Sumaru City with her mother (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

? ??

- Akira Konoe was born (Game: Persona 5 Strikers).

- Elly's twin sisters were born (Book: Persona 1 Club Book).

BETWEEN 1989 AND 1992

? ??

- Tomomi became the last victim of the Snow Queen Curse, carrying a grudge against Saeko for knowing about it and not saying anything (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Principal Ooishi ordered the Snow Queen Mask to be put away (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

March ??

- Saeko graduated from St. Hermelin High School (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

1990

February 18

- Owada won his second term as a legislator.

March 3

- Akinari Kamiki was born (Game: Persona 3).

1991

May 8

- Mitsuru Kirijo was born (Game: Persona 3).

August 11

- Shinjiro Aragaki was born (Game: Persona 3).

Between August and September

- Mamoru Hayase was born (Game: Persona 3).

- Nozomi Suemitsu and his fraternal twin were born (Game: Persona 3).

September 22

- Akihiko Sanada was born (Game: Persona 3).

? ??

- Ulala failed a grade and had to repeat a year (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

- Naoya pierced his ear as personal proof that he was not Kazuya (Manga: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Saori Hasegawa, Ichiko Ohya, and Kayo Murakami were born (Game: Persona 3 Portable / Game: Persona 5).

- Naoya had a cold for the last time in his life (Manga: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

1992

? ??

- Kensuke Kandori died while campaigning due to heart failure (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

- Kandori learned of Reiji's existence from his legal advisor (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

Between January and February

- Keisuke Hiraga was born (Game: Persona 3).

March ??

- Katsuya graduated from Seven Sisters High School and became a police officer, dropping his dream of becoming a patissier to clear his father's name (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

April ??

- Maya returned to Sumaru City to attend high school.

Between September and October

- Andre Laurent Jean Geraux / Bebe was born (Game: Persona 3).

October ??

[Only the first portion of Shin Megami Tensei takes place, being resolved before martial law is declared]

- Ambassador Thorman had a heart attack (Game: Devil Summoner).

- Gotou got arrested for hoarding weapons, with a possible psychiatric evaluation pending (Game: Devil Summoner).

October 19

- Yukari Takeba was born (Game: Persona 3).

Between November and December

- Kenji Tomochika was born (Game: Persona 3).

December 22

- Fuuka Yamagishi was born (Game: Persona 3).

? ??

- Ulala met Maya.

- Minato Arisato (P3MC), Rio Iwasaki, and Natsuki Moriyama were born (Game: Persona 3).

BETWEEN 1992 AND 1994

? ??

- Shinji stole someone's bike, which earned him the nickname "Charlie" (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

BETWEEN 1992 AND 2003

? ??

- Miki Sanada was born.

1993

January 16

- Junpei Iori was born (Game: Persona 3).

Between March and April

- Yuko Nishiwaki was born (Game: Persona 3).

May 24

- Mitsuo Kubo was born (Game: Persona 4).

July 18

- Yoshida was voted into office.

- Owada won his three term as a legislator.

Between October and November

- Chihiro Fushimi was born (Game: Persona 3).

? ??

- Saki Konishi was born.

- Sae Niijima was born.

- Yoshida missed a legislative meeting to take a personal vacation, was accused of embezzling party funds, and called a voter an idiot in an open forum. This earned him the title of "No-Good Tora" (Game: Persona 5).

- Kandori joined the Saeki Group as part of the Saeki Trading Secretariat (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

- Mayo met Kandori, and the two would eventually begin a relantionship (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

BETWEEN 1993 AND 1994

Between July and August

- Hidetoshi Odagiri and Kazushi Miyamoto were born (Game: Persona 3).

BEFORE 1994

? ??

- Takuto Maruki was born.

1994

April ??

- Yukki began to attend St. Hermelin High School (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

June 22

- Yosuke Hanamura was born (Game: Persona 4).

July 30

- Chie Satonaka was born (Game: Persona 4).

December 8

- Yukiko Amagi was born (Game: Persona 4).

? ??

- Kenji's sister, Yu Narukami (P4MC), Kou Ichijo, Daisuke Nagase, Ai Ebihara, and Tomoe Sayama were born.

- Kaoru and Miki ran an investigation on Tatsuzou and the Tien Tao Lien mafia for money laundering (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

- Tatsuzou ordered the assassination of Kaoru and Miki, with Kaoru only surviving thanks to the awakening of his Persona (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

- Kaoru changed his name to Baofu and vowed to avenge Miki (Game: Persona 2: Eternal Punishment).

BETWEEN 1994 AND 1996

? ??

- Hanako Ohtani and Yumi Ozawa were born.

- Kou's birth parents may have died of an unspecified sickness. Kou was placed in an orphanage (Game: Persona 4).

BETWEEN 1994 AND 1997

? ??

- Dojima saw Yu for the last time before he came to Inaba (Game: Persona 4).

BEFORE 1995

? ??

- Kouetsu discovered the Plumes of Dusk, began to look into their origin, and amassed a collection for benevolent purposes (Book: Persona 3 Club).

- Some mean kids pulled Michel's pants down in front of Miyabi and told him she hated fat people. Out of guilt, Miyabi began to let herself go and become chubby (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin). 🟠

1995

? ??

- SEBEC began to work on the Dimension Variable Accelerator System (DVA System/Deva System) to achieve teleportation (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

March ??

- After graduation, Maya began to work as a reporter for the teen magazine "Coolest" (Game: Persona 2: Innocent Sin).

April ??

- Yumi, Charlie, Miyamoto, Hazama, Akiko, and Ryuichi began attending Karukozaka High School (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

- Maki, Mark, Nate, Naoya, Brown, Yuka, Chisato, and Naito began attending St. Hermelin High School (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Reiji began to attend an unnamed high school (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

- Elly began to attend an unnamed high school in America (Game: Megami Ibunroku Persona).

April 27

- Naoto Shirogane was born (Game: Persona 4).

June 1

- Rise Kujikawa was born (Game: Persona 4).

December ??

[Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner takes place]

- Kandori became the head of the Mikage-cho branch of Saeki Electronics & Biological Energy Corporation / SEBEC (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

- Kei met Kandori at his appointment party and disliked him (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

- Reiji made another of multiple attempts to kill Kandori (Novel: Megami Ibunroku Persona: Kandori no Yabo).

? ??

- Kouetsu began to experiment with shadows to create a time manipulation device (Game: Persona 3).

- Hazama began to face bullying at school (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

- Hazama confessed his crush to Akiko, only to be rudely rejected (Game: Shin Megami Tensei: if...).

- Naoki Konishi, Ayane Matsunaga, and Sumomo Ujima were born.

BETWEEN 1995 AND 1996

January 2

- Kanami Mashita was born (Game: Persona 4: Dancing All Night).

BETWEEN 1995 AND 1997

? ??

- Michel pulled Sugimoto's pants down in middle school, causing the latter to swear revenge.

BETWEEN 1995 AND 1999

? ??

- Kouetsu became a nihilist, which was only fueled by his discovery of The Fall (Game: Persona 3). The Kirijo Group began to dedicate their efforts to bring about The Fall.

[randomnameless]

It's still wild to me that people will go to bat for the nothing characters that are Randolph and Fleche as proof of Dimitri being bad; we know next to nothing about them, they have miniscule screentime, what little we do know of Randolph paints him as human scum who'd do horrific things if it meant a chance at a promotion, and Fleche illogically only ever holds a grudge against someone for killing her brother if that someone is AM!Dimitri, with her completely vanishing from the game in every other route.

Eh,

I'd say they play the same purpose than this random child in TS in Roland's story - at this point, both lords want vengeance, and they have to face someone who also wants (misdirected!) vengeance at them, smth smthg like war sucks because people die.

But it's completely wasted in FE16, because, as you said, Randy isn't a random or a civilian or a war orphan, he is a general leading an attack on refugees/civilians/randoms to gain more fame, and dies in the process.

Now, can we say Flèche's anger and death are ultimately directed at Randolph, who died for nothing and took his sister down with him in his quest for "muhrit" ? Or are we supposed to think that this scene is important because Dimitri, the Blue Lord, isn't supposed to fall as low as the Imperial Army - something he comes close to (apparently?) ?

And yet again, it completely fails.

Because for one Randolph - who also had a family and loved ones - we have 50 Waldos and Baldis, whose lives aren't given any fuck about.

We don't see a war prisoner, or an Adrestian civilian accusing Supreme Leader of having sent her/his wife/husband/daughter/son to death with a conquest they never asked and trying to off her.

Only Dimitri receives this backlash from - invaders who wanted to invade and suddenly remember they have loved ones so are very sad when their loved ones dies - Flèche, but not Claude nor Billy, as you rightfully pointed out.

And Supreme Leader never receives any backlash - or wake up call - from a real third party/civilian/casualty who could have done the exact same thing.

Emile mentions how, during her attack, the Holy Grounds near Garreg Mach were turned in a slaughterhouse, why don't we have any civilian who survived from that try to take a jab at Supreme Leader? Waldi's best friend? Baldo's mother? A war captive from Leicester/Faerghus or a conscripted Adrestian?

I laughed about it with friends earlier, and again with the teatime paralogue, but it truly feels as if only 1/3rd (since the church doesn't count) of the cast will face consequences for the war and suffers backlash from the constant fighting (they didn't even start!).

Whenever you have to deal with serious stuff in Fodlan, it'll be for the BL members.

The rest? Will sip tea, talk nonsense, try to solve "mysteries" and live as if nothing is happening in the background.

Just imagine how both deer routes could have been much more impactful and interesting - instead of being a recycled Billy route with a different infodump at the end - if Raphael's sister popped up to a War Council, asking Claude to stop coddling the Empire because their lands were invaded, her grandfather put to Aymr and her inn destroyed by the Imperial Army, or how Ignatz's older brother discovers how Adrestia is burning pieces of art and history and every material related to Leicester and Faerghus history because they want to push an "Adrestia Eternal" narrative. Heck, Claude could even discover more "lore" by picking a Leif route, sort of rescuing the people "handpicked" to become new Baldos and Waldis, discovering the secret of the artificial crest stones and maybe having an infiltration map where, lo, instead of receiving an info dump, they maybe witness Rhea being turned in a relic or used to "produce" artificial crest stones.

War BaD, but only when we can make the BL suffer for it, for the rest, it's just a bgm.

And even then, it can't be too critical of Supreme Leader, because she was made to sell alts in FE heroes or dubious Cipher Cards.

"Supreme Leader", "cute girls" and "I want to see how Faerghus and its knights will deal with the aftermath of the Tragedy while defending against the invading forces".

Tl; dr : Flèche and Randolph are named, which is a cheap way to make people care for them despite their role in the plot, but the demonic beasts and the civilians dying aren't mentionned nor talked about.

Hell, why do you think I gave names to the artificial demonic beasts? The game doesn't want you to think too much about them, but if I talk about Baldo and Waldi, maybe the fandom will?

[arrestdujour]

Ivey, Randolph David

Meridian, ID

Age: 61 Arrest Date: Thu 4/11 Time: 1:45 AM Status: OUT

Agency Ada County Sheriff

M Failure to Appear for Misdemeanor Citation I19-3901A Warrant

Ivey, Laura Lee

Garden City, ID

Age: 58 Arrest Date: Thu 4/11 Time: 1:45 AM Status: IN

Charge Count: 2

 Register for notification on changes to inmate's custody status.

Ada County Sheriff

Revocation of Bail - Violations of Conditions of Release I19-2919(1)_F Warrant

Revocation of Bail - Violations of Conditions of Release I19-2919(1)_F Warrant

Ivey, Lynn M

Garden City, ID

JID Number: 01109853 Age: 46 Arresting Agency: Garden City Police Department

Charge Count: 8

 Register for notification on changes to inmate's custody status.

F Controlled Substance w/intent to deliver Criminal Charge $100,000.00

F Controlled Substance w/intent to deliver Criminal Charge Included

M Drug Paraphernalia-Use or Possess With Intent to Use Criminal Charge Included

Probation Violation - FE Return to Custody $1.00

Probation Violation - FE Return to Custody $1.00

Probation Violation - FE Return to Custody $1.00

F Drug-Trafficking in Methamphetamine or Amphetamine (28 grams to Less Than 200 grams) Criminal Charge $250,000.00

F Possession of a Controlled Substance with the Intent to Deliver Criminal Charge Included

Bail Total: $350,003.00

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (25 Feb - 2 Mar 2024)

nancy is the superstar of this show. she's in it for 5 seconds, drops the best line, steals the scene

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 What I Used To Be (thepinupchemist) - 117K, stucky, omegaverse trauma recovery fic - a relatively light tone, mostly escapist fic focusing on the recovery, not dwelling overly much on trauma details, kidfic but I really dug it

😍 The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1) (Shannon Chakraborty, author; Lameece Issaq & Amin El Gamal, narrator) - just gonna KJ Charle's review bc she's better with words than I'll ever be: "Good god, this was incredible fun. Absolutely cracking. A sort of take on Sinbad but with more historical accuracy (apart from the demons, marids, etc), with a middle-aged retired lady pirate getting the crew back together to take on a Frankish coloniser/sorceror/baddie. It's just fabulous exuberant fun." I cannot wait for more!

😊 The Werewolf Companion (MargaretKire) - traumatized derek hale, intriguing larger worldbuilding, hot, wet, messy sex that really leaned into the 'definitely not human' aspect of werewolf fucking without going full xeno. super enjoyable

🥰 My Man Jeeves (Jeeves #1) (PG Wodehouse) - our intro to Bertie & Jeeves 💖 [via Serial Reader app]

💖💖 +50K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

A Fine Cure from Fennel Seed (Lucius Parhelion (Parhelion)) - original work, 10K - absolutely delightful amuse-bouche of an original fic; short, hot, slapsticky hilarious, set in the '30s

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Matt Berry and Peter Capaldi read a FIERY letter exchange

Hot Ones - Quinta Brunson

D20: Adventuring Party - s3, e1-5

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "The Mystery of the Haunted Subway" (s7, e3)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "We Need to Talk About Cody" (s7, e4)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Trouble at the Tunnel" (s7, e5)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Collaborators" (s7, e6)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Parade of Peril" (s7, e7)

Ghosts (US) - s3, e3

Um, Actually - s9, e1

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival" (s21, e8)

D20: Adventuring Party - "I See Your Butt Plug and I Raise You a Fist" (s16, e8)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Up First - The Sunday Story: The Diaspora's Troubled African Dream

How To! - How To Let Go of a Friendship

⭐ Switched on Pop - Beyoncé's Country

The Sporkful - Gary Gulman’s Ice Cream Joke Was A Cry For Help

Overinvested - West Side Story (2021)

Consider This from NPR - How The Underground Railroad Got Its Name

⭐ It's Been a Minute - Da'Vine Joy Randolph on 'The Holdovers' and becoming a matriarch

⭐ 99% Invisible #438 - The Real Book

⭐ Vibe Check - Be Forreal!

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Wendy Williams

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Jerry’s Hat Museum

Short Wave - Is It Possible To Feed To World Sustainably?

Decoder Ring - The Gen X Soda That Was Just "OK"

Off Menu - Ep 228: Ray Winstone

⭐ Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - All About That Bass

I Said No Gifts! - Oscar Montoya Disobeys Bridger

Throughline - The Right to An Attorney

The Assignment - Polyamory Is Having a Moment

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Black History in Plain Sight with Places Editors Jonathan and Michelle

Short Wave - Could Dune Really Exist? What Scientists Think of Our Favorite Sci-Fi Worlds

What Next: TBD - The Supreme Court Takes on Content Moderation

Dear Prudence - Am I a Bad Father If I Don't Want to Acknowledge My Kid Publicly? Help!

Welcome to Night Vale #243 - Lost and Found

You're Dead to Me - The Inca Empire

Today, Explained - It’s Shotime!

It's Been a Minute - Three ways to think about journalism layoffs; plus, Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation

Consider This from NPR - Are We Alone In The Universe?

99% Invisible - Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe As It Is

Under the Influence - Seeing is Believing: The Power of Demonstration Commercials - Part 2

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

CREDITS: Carole King

Chromeo Radio • Party

Pop Radio • 1990s

"Easy" [Commodores] radio

Steely Dan Mix • Focus

'90s Dance

Billy Joel Radio • 1980s

[childofaura]

Last of the FE Echoes VA ask but what do you think of Ben Pronsky?

He played Atlas and Randolph.

We’ll have to wait until Randolph gets into FEH (which, at this rate��� it could take a while), but I can talk about his role as Atlas at least!

Performance? PERFECT. He’s got a good rugged energy and enthusiasm that he brings to Atlas, but at the same time, he’s laid-back and confident. I want to say his take on Atlas is a parallel to SA2/Sonic Heroes Knuckles when he was voiced by Scott Dreier; an assured, easygoing voice (that doesn’t need to push that super-deep brawny tone) that can get rough and tumble at the flip of a switch. I appreciate that about his voice for Atlas, especially since he was a fun recruit for me. We just need an Atlas alt sometime soon.

I think he fits Atlas perfectly, especially with his “TIMBERRRR!”

Won’t say much on range until Randolph gets added to the game. We’ll just have to wait.

So no official score, but personally he’s an 8/10 to me. Hopefully Echoes will get more alt recognition soon.

[cafeleningrad]

alright, actually I wanted to stay out of any FE 3 Houses discourse because some arguments seem to wrapped into 11 layers of previous fandom dramas and I still have to finish Azure Moon, and still have to go through Silver Snow.Also, as someone who's in the ASOIAF fandom, having to read takes about morally grey designed characters, and conflicted moralities about an RPG which is way more barebones in worldbuilding and sides (although clearly inspired by GoT), it does seem tiring to me.

On the other hand, I did scroll over a post in the vain of "[Edelgard was so wrong to start a war against the Church of Seiros.] Actually the crest system isn't bad. If it really was oppressive then Mercedes and her mother wouldn't have been fallen into poverty. Constance too, btw." Apart from somehow trying to argue the fact that the crest system, a system which privileges social status automatically by bloodline, is a not subtle stand in for a nobility based social hierarchy, the game pointing it out as a problem in the very early chapters, there was also a glaring overlook of systematic sexism in the game. Or in other words, it finally clicked to me, someone who avoided fandom discussions, why such arguments are brought up, and to an extend why the Edelgard vs Rhea discourse (TM) exists in the first place: This fandom doesn't like women. Or to rephrase, this fandom doesn't like women who're not written in a morally conflicted manner. Women who's trauma, decisions and behavior can not be couched into sweetness or quirkiness. Say, women afforded agency but therefore all the pitfalls and nuance that comes with consequential decisions.

The crest system is as much a problem in Foádlan as much as sexism is. These two systematic problems are interlinked.

I think everyone is allowed their space to like or dislike a certain kind of character but I find it very interesting how the most discussed character are women (Edelgard and Rhea) in a role, in hindsight of the fandom's history, usually a man would have in an FE title as villain with a cause - and fun thing, these men are barely talked about or praised for their nuance (Lyon). At least I've not seen much discourse about Randolph starting a war because of Duma's impending downfall. (And I get why "actually that female character is the best, all she does is amazing" is annoying when in the text the character is actually flawed. On the other hand, I get the reactionary sentiment because fandom spaces in general like to dump down on female characters more aggressively than on any male characters, most of the time.)

So, sexism in Fódlan. Clearly, FE 3 Houses is not the first tile to tackle systems as the problem rather than ghoulish non-creatures by force-of-darkness-dragons. But it is also true that in it's history, women of the title series were victim of sexist writing. In Awakening the Aversa on the evil side isn't only dark skinned but also clad in sexy latex, the darkest character we get is Tharja who's creepiness in repackaged as quirky yandere behavior. Eirika is a)not even cleverly duped by Lyon's schemes leading to the dark hour in her route b) not afforded the moral conflict with Lyon's complicated, ambiguous motivation like Ephraim, excluding Eirika from any more layered storytelling. And, 3 House's predecessor, Echoes, oh boy...! Listen, I like Echoes but this there're is such a load of sexism in in it. Celica is given the more difficult choice how to deal with Mila's absence while also being manipulated by Jedah. Her mistakes get punished by death, which Mila ex-machina-fied but from Alm's route. In Alm's route we do not have only one but entire four damsels in distress, in Celica's route, counting herself it plus her being brainwashed, two damsels in distress. Oh, and all the endings where only Silque is granted autonomy, every other girl is pushed into a cozy marriage with childbirth. (And ouch, Faye still being hung up on Alm with own family.)

So yeah, I kinda understand why the fandom is, in a historical sense, not used to women with agency or narrative conflict. Even less so with tackling sexism within the narrative. Women in the title series are barely unpleasant, and if they're on the "evil" side it comes with sexually aggressive character design, and not much character depth.

But whereas the game is very explicit in pointing out that arbitrary birth lottery systems like the crest system is bad by displaying the Church's enforcement of the crest order, and reasons why people might want to turn against it with Lord Lonato, and Miklan in Chapter 4 and 5, the problem of sexism is not named this explicitly. Yet it is constant theme and source of struggle in the life for the female cast. Interestingly, the most freedom of choice about a life is afforded to women within the Church. Most women who're not depend on a men to have a career as cleric, or warrior like Shamir, Catherine, and Manuela (her dependence on a man is entirely for romantic purposes and played as a joke) is in the Church. Well and of course, Rhea as century long leading Archbishop. In contrast, most women outside the Church don't have that freedom, in fact their crest becomes a problem.

The only exception might be Leonie: Outside the church order, lowborn, choosing a career as sellwsord on her own. What is also strikes me as interesting detail is the fact that Leonie is by behavior, interests, and design rather gender non-conforming. And well Petra, who's culture lies outside the faith and system of Seiros.

But already with Dorothea, another lowborn girl, the problem of a woman's position in Fóadlan becomes very apparent, especially in her exchange with Caspar: Without a crest (for which she was discarded on the streets), without a high social standing, even as a famous singer in the opera company, not being securely married means an incredibly unsafe future. For Caspar, the male equivalent of having neither crest nor remarkable, is making a career in the military - in spite of him being born as a noble.

Dorothea's problem gets mirrored so often in the life of noble women. Dorothea has to find a got match, the noble women are forced into it, and they can't get opt out of participating in the system. Ingrid's constantly pressured and guilty to marry and pass on her crest - otherwise her family will fall from their noble position. Part of the reason Ingrid's still hung up on Glenn is the fact that she a) genuinely liked him b) without his existence her future, a marriage with a noble who would've also accepted her wish to become a knight, therefore her family's future is incredibly uncertain. Her family does all to present her as good match, to the point of likely starving in order for Ingrid, the crest bearer, to survive. In spite of Ingrid describing her father as kind, on sidequest reveals how urgent the matter of marrying Ingrid off is to him that he possibly overlooks less favourable candidates. And Ingrid herself feels incredibly guilty for prioritizing warfare, the liberation of her kingdom over making a match.

There're so many unseen women in the story who's tragic stories revolve around the crest system. Hanneman's sister died due to the burden of the crest system, Balthus's mother's crest was not seen as something prestigious she was chased away from the happy marriage with Lord Albrecht. The crest didn't protect her. Balthus himself gets continuously harassed by his stepmother because she sees his crest as a danger to her own son's fortune. Also note, the one's suffering physical abuse due to having crests are all women: Hapi, Edelgard, Lysithea. They've explicitly fallen victim to human experimentation because of their crests. The Agartha's are those who conducted the experiments on the three, but in Edelgard's and Lysithea's case those who handed them over in the first place were the Adrestian nobles. Who actually get retaliated against with stripping their power when Edelgard ascends the throne. (Just to make it clear, this is not a pro-Edelgard point, it is to point out that the text explicitly names that human (male) nobels very much exploit the crest system for their own.

Also, there's Marianne. Instead of being cared for, and helped through her fear and guilt caused by the crest of Maurice, her uncle expects her to act all the noble part. While both of them seem to be in agreement to not talk about the crest of Maurice, for Marianne it brings too much pain, Marianne is left alone with her sorrow which might have not been resolved if not for the support and care of her classmates.

And let's get to Mercedes because the comment that the crest system isn't at fault for Mercedes' and her mother's social downfall is so crassly overlooking the text for an easy "gotcha" against a disliked character who is waging war against a system. Because yes, sexism and the hierarchical unfairness link in Mercedes' story. As mentioned before, lowborn women either marry or go to the Church for a more autonomous life, noble women with crests, like Ingrid are pressured into marriage. And the latter is very much true for Mercedes and her mother. Lady von Martritz only remarried because the Bartels wanted her to birth a crest bearing heir (Emil). Her entire function was serving a prestigeous childbirth. They both fled House Bartels because they got treated badly after their function to baron Bartel's was disbanded.

When Mercedes became of age she was viewed as an access to prestige not as a noble person. The problem here isn't that the crest system doesn't make a person not privileged. the problem is, that women in Fóadlan aren't given a personhood outside male dependency/inside the church. Even though Mercedes desperately tries to remain within the sanctity of the church her own stepfather, and a greedy merchant try to pry her away from it in order to exploit Mercedes as crest producer. (I mean, despite Mercedes' so gentle demeanour, her story line is extremely oppressive. The reason for Emil murdering his own father was because to protect his sister from getting sexually exploited.) So the Ladies of House Matritz, like Ingrid, are seen only as valuable as in they can pass on crests. It's sexism that lead the poor treatment of the remaining members of House Matritz - because the crest system interlinks with sexism in making women only as valuable as the crest they bear.

(Note on Constance why House Nouvelle fell: Well, she's a woman, duh. No but seriously, partly Constance is an unfortunate position because she's an additional DLC character who needed a bit of liberation from the Adrestian Empire in her actions because the Ashen Wolves are written as outcasts. Within the text, her proximity to Mercedes is interesting as she basically was befallen the same social downfall situation as Mercedes. And well yes, she's a woman who didn't receive any help, like Mercedes didn't receive any.)

In short: Whereas Miklan is an exemplary in the story why the crest system as class issue leads to abuse and neglect of human lives, notice how many women are victim to forced marriage, bad life conditions by failing to bring up the expected crests, or not having one. The crest system only gives women so much value as their crests are considered worth passing on. The crest itself doesn't protect women, within the events and background stories of FE 3 Houses it was only cause for exploitation and (physical) abuse. Last note: Whereas for Sylvain his struggles stem from the cycle of abuse passed on from Miklan to him because of the crest system, it is interesting how for many male characters other issues like poverty, racism, false ideals are more at their personal forefront of the many systematic problems Fóadlan entails for them. For the women, most issues are caused by the crests they bear. (Even Flayn/Cethleann isn't spared from it, although in her case it's a bit more complicated.)

Unsorted note on my thoughts on women the FE 3 Houses fandoms likes to bash on: (In a more tame version, it can be seen how some people despise Ingrid. Sorry, but in a game which has many sideplots about people growing together, out of the systematic barriers they're caged in, it is quiet unrealistic that only face- and nameless NPCs are perpetrators of systematic problems like racism. Ingrid being first abrasive to Dedue because of bias and unresolved trauma about Duscur, to later fumble her way in seeing her mistakes and doing better to Dedue is like... part of the theme? And funny enough, Hilda brushing over the fact that Cyril was previously enslaved by her family doesn't get as much scrutiny.)

[indigowallbreaker]

Top 3 FE characters you think deserved better than what they got

In no particular order--

Randolph and Ladislava: Unwritten characters that you're meant to care for but ultimately die no matter what you do. I would have given anything for any sort of solid ground for these two to stand on. Mile for mile, I think you're given more information about Randolph than you are Ladislava, but I'm still grouping them together because both make me want to grab the writers by the shoulders and shake them until lore comes out.

Emmeryn: She needed to have support conversations with Chrom and Lissa (and a number of others but most importantly those two). Everything else about her part in the story and post-story is fine (I'm even fine with her losing her memory) but she should have gotten to talk to her siblings and reconnect with them!!! Her only supports are with Robin and (if she married M!Robin) Morgan. Which is NOT ENOUGH!

Mother Fraldarius (unnamed): You're telling me that I have to play Three Hopes to even know she's alive? Absolutely not, I'm not doing that. Felix has a whole falling out with his father that you hear about from both sides in 3 Houses-- and not ONCE do either think to say something along the lines of "My wife/mother wishes we were on better terms but blah blah blah...." to tell us players she's even a factor. The mothers in 3 Houses get the short end of the stick overall but I'm especially pissed about Mama Fraldarius getting the shortest end >:(

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Don't kill me but what is por

Also which popular ships and characters don't you like? (I literally just had surgery and am in pain so I will take anything that distracts me from reality! Even discourse)

PoR is Path of Radiance, the ninth FE game. If you're still unsure, it's Ike's first game.

I hope you feel better very soon! Please take something to knock out some of that pain!

Popular ships I don't like rly do be like (disclaimer: i may still write some of these for comms bc unfortunately we all need money to live)

D1miM@ri (another anon asked me abt why I don't like it but I haven't finished my reply so it's been sitting in wait...)

D1midu3 (I have a LOT of strong feelings against this one)

D1miF3lix

L1nCas (I don't... hate but it's reeeally not for me)

Don't rly care for F3rd1ebert, it's rly whatever for me but I can't reasonably see it ever working out bc Hubert would never leave Ed3l for him, and I can't imagine a feasible world where Ferdie would aid her and actually be in character (did you see him in three hopes lol they REALLY trashed his ENTIRE character and brain so he could simp for her, I'm not even kidding)

Mercie/Ann3tt3 (damn if girls can't just be close friends in media or they're automatically shipped romantically smh)

Cl@udel3th (so many nos for me on this one. not gonna explain why bc it's my personal pref and I rllllly don't feel like going over it but noooo no no no. Particularly F Byleth, I have an incredibly massive aversion to Claude paired with F Byleth. idk why my brain decided to have such a drastic separation based on M or F Byleth but it did)

Cl@ur3nz

R@phn@tz (is it popular? idk I don't like it lol)

H@pi/C0nstanc3 (p much the same issue as Raph+Ig and Mercie+Annette)

I have them written all weird to keep them from showing up in the searches bc the search engine will pick ship names that are just written in a post even if they're not tagged. I know it wouldn't be my fault for that but I'm aware it's an issue and that it might be seen by those shippers just trying to search for content, so I'm writing them abnormally in hopes the searches won't pick them up.

I don't hate them all with a burning passion to the point of being disgusted when I see them, BUT I do feel that way with four of them. I guess three and a half really bc one is like yes it bothers me a LOT but I don't think it's on the same level on the other ones?

I just have Preferences and Feelings and for some reason sometimes those feelings are like yeehaw you don't like this ship.

Characters:

We Know The One (Edgelordturd)

Berandetta (one of my most hated characters in the franchise. Tolerable in Hopes)

Marianne

Lysithea (I don't have like, absolute disgust for her, but... yikes)

Leonie (MUCH more tolerable in Hopes and a significantly better character there)

Fleche (not just related to the whole AM route thing, but in general I find her to be extremely repulsive as a person)

Randolph (less hate than his sister, but damn sonny, this is the face of a man who is spoiled, selfish and has no care or consideration for anything in the entire universe except his status and his uwu sister)

Ladislava (exists purely to uplift uwugard and literally, absolutely nothing more to the point we don't even know what this supposed backstory of uwugard saving her was, so she's just another pawn to make someone look good and has no characterization of their own)

Note how the randoms from the Empire are pretty popular but they don't actually do anything to make them actual characters? they just support uwugard and do absolutely nothing else in the entirety of two games and are adored by the fandom for it LIKE NO LITERALLY and that also heightens my burning, deep, engrossed hatred of all three of them. they did nothing to deserve being such popular characters except their absolute and utter obsession with uwugard)

I don't think I'm missing anyone else who is supremely popular and utterly adored in the fandom whose face I hate seeing in and out of game but there you go, nonnie!

Lysithea is probably my least despised in the sense that I only dislike her overall but I don't just outright loathe her? She pisses me off a ton and I would literally slap her square in the face for bullying Ignatz in their Houses supports :), but sometimes she's a decent person. Sometimes. Not usually though.

No, trauma doesn't give you the free pass to be a piece of shit to other people. May as well say "I was bullied in school so now I too have gained the right to bully random innocent people I don't really know simply bc uwu it happened to me". Which... isn't okay. At all.

This is my like... lowkey and mellow version of my massive loathing of those characters LOL.

Marianne is a tricker one to say I outright loathe because I don't loathe her so much as her behavior as well as how the writers handled her character. I couldn't stand her or even remotely tolerate her entire existence in the first half of the game, I shit you not. She got better and that's the only reason I can see her and not be totally repulsed lol.

YES I KNOW I SAID IT'S MELLOW AND USED HELLA STRONG DON'T-LIKE-THIS LANGUAGE BUT! I am expressing the strength of those feelings while not being super duper extra yeehaw about it!!!

And bc I don't wanna go into detail, esp right now because to actually go over that kind of thing I have to really sit and write about it.

And like, no hate to people who like or love fictional characters. I just don't vibe with those particular characters and am forever tormented by how popular they all are lol.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

randolph shouldve been playable and he should also be the most popular fire emblem character ever of all time everyone vote randolph in choose your legends now

umm. i may have been a little late when it comes to postingcthis...

[gascon-en-exil]

Do you have any thoughts on Engage mostly doing away with minor bosses and having you repeatedly fight the Hounds instead?

FE16 was already headed that way anyway, with a bunch of one-off bosses (Lonato, Miklan, Randolph and Ladislava) getting a modicum of story development to disguise the fact that they were indeed one-offs. This had annoying knock-on effects in the discourse with people acting surprised that the writing continues to treat these characters like the cannon fodder that they still very much are, but what can you do?

Minor bosses like that are a necessary evil of FE being structured the way it is, and they're unmemorable as a rule unless they're particularly hard (ex. several in FE6) or become memes (ex. Batta, Gheb). Engage had the additional need to work in bosses with Emblem effects, so it makes sense that they'd reuse the Hounds as much as possible to make that happen. It's not terribly interesting...but it's not like the alternative is any better, really. Let's not forget that quite a few of those old games resort to extensive palette swapping for their one-off bosses; at least fighting the Hounds over and over doesn't leave the player with the impressive that most of the game's bad guys are sets of identical twins/triplets.

[whitepolaris]

The Battle of Los Angeles

With Pearl Harbor fresh in the nation’s mind and war jitters at a fever pitch, Los Angelenos were jarred out of their comfy beds shortly after two a.m. on the morning of February 25, 1942, by the sound of air-raid sirens and antiaircraft fire. It was the first time in history that an airborne enemy had been engaged in the continental United States. But just which enemy was it? Officials and civilian witnesses were never entirely sure what they had seen. Nevertheless, defense batteries opened up form their bases in Inglewood and Santa Monica and other south bay locations that were never pinpointed, since “loose lips sink ships.” Shrapnel and a few unexploded shell fell from the skies, smashing into sidewalks, driveways, and even a few homes. Miraculously, only five deaths were reported, and all but one of those were due to traffic accidents and a couple of heart attacks. 

Although newspaper continually referred to the invaders as planes or possibly blimps, no one could agree on their size or even the number of targets. Reports ranged from one object to perhaps fifty. At two twenty-five a.m., a general blackout was ordered and lights began going off from the northern L.A. down to the Mexican border. Though residents were asked to stay indoors, many could not resist the show and crowded outside onto sidewalks and balconies. There even was a “blackout murder” as one killer took advantage of the darkness to beat a forty-year-old woman to death in a rooming house. 

Army observers looking at the celestial fracas through binoculars from atop a tower in Culver City thought they saw a group of silvery objects, which they assumed were airplanes. All witnesses agreed that the things came in from the northwest (probably from the ocean) near Santa Moncia and moved southwest in a leisurely fashion until they disappeared somewhere south of Long Beach. Because all lights in the city had been turned off, stars shone on the moonless night with an intensity most Angelenos had never seen. 

Just before the firing started, a woman identified only as Katie said that she received a call from the local air-raid warden at her home near Santa Monica, telling her to look out the window and see if anything unusual as there. There definitely was. What Katie saw was some huge object in the early morning sky. Jeff Rense reports on the sighting in The Most Incredible Mass Sighting Of All? 1942 “Battle of Lost Angeles” (http://rense.com/ufo/battleofla.htm): “It was just enormous! And it was practically right over my house. I had never seen anything like it in my life!” she said. “It was just hovering there in the sky and hardly moving at all.  It was a lovely pale orange and about the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen. I could see it perfectly it because it was very close. It was big!” 

When the “attack” began, powerful searchlights lit up the sky, converging on the object (or group of objects) so that the gun batteries could get a good bead on the thing. The UFO never changed direction or speed, even with the combined firing of hundreds of antiaircraft guns, many of which scored direct hits. The whole thing lasted for about a half hour, as the mystery planes took their sweet time traveling twenty or so miles across the night sky. 

Optical physicist Bruce Maccabee performed a detailed analysis one of the dramatic original negatives from the Los Angeles Times. Taking into account the size of the searchlight beams, the angle of incidence from the ground, and the reported altitude of the target, he estimated that the UFO measured anywhere one hundred to three hundred feet from end to end. (Check out his findings at http://brumac.8k.com/BATTLEOFLA/BOLA1.html.)

The strange thing about contemporary news accounts is glaring lack of any concrete guess as to what exactly was floating over a metropolis of three million people that night. 

William Randolph Hearst’s L.A. Herald Express summed up the strange happenings of the early morning hours of February 25, 1942, with this jingoistic feature.

WAS IT A RAID?

An analysis of the first report on the firing in the Los Angeles area early today fails to give convincing proof that any enemy planes were over Los Angeles during the disturbance. It is significant that “no bombs were dropped and no planes were shot down.” It may be also stated that persons equipped with powerful glasses failed to discern a plane or planes at the apex of the searchlight beams where many people feel sure they saw a moving object or objects under the fire of our batteries. If a moving plane or object was caught in the light beams, it seemed to move too slowly across the sky to have the speed of a modern airplane, such as our own planes which flash across the sky so rapidly. This newspaper, at this time, is unwilling to hazard even a guess on exactly what transpired in the skies above Los Angeles last night, but certainly the city was given a splendid practical lesson on what to do in case of attack. 

Hearst’s editors also reported a “rising chorus of demands that the Untied States Government immediately evacuate from Southern California all Japanese-alien and American-born alike.” Curiously, the only quotes from the “chorus” were attributed to two Congressmen from Santa Monica calling for “concentration camps.” This of course actually happened a few months later. 

[randomnameless]

Is the whole "Matthias sacrificed himself to save his friends and family because Faerghus' toxic culture of chivalry brainwashed him and that was a bad, stupid and pitiable thing for him to do, but when someone on our or Adrestia's side does the exact same thing it's a good, brave and praise-worthy thing to do" fiasco the most flagrant example of hypocrisy in the Fódlan games?

That's one of the main issues I have with those games, are they so badly written, or are they written in a way that showcases the protags (Adrestia/Leicester) as hypocrites?

Is this on purpose, or not?

Imo the biggest offender would be the Rhea BaD scene where, after a trial (but uwu no fair trial because Rhea doesn't respect article 6 or the ECHR :'( ), the game has the nerve to give you students/people reacting strongly to an execution, of people who tried to kill them (and killed other no name no face students).

But during Map 2.1 or 2.2., or hell, even in every FE game, you kill red units who are trying to kill you.

And even out of the battlefield, when Supreme Leader behead a defeated and on his knees Dimitri, Bernie isn't wondering if she does something "bad" Supreme Leader might execute her! Hell, Ingrid who seemed to have doubts about the "punishment" the peeps from the Western Church got, isn't saying a thing when Billy beheads Randolph or when Flèche is terminated after trying to kill Dimitri and successfully killing Rodrigue.

Raphael thinks those "guys who got caught" got the axe and it was brutal, but I don't remember him saying anything similar when the army bissects Supreme Leader after defeating her.

Tl;Dr : Rhea BaD > Church BaD > Kingdom BaD >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Ionius was a weak ruler