#fe3h lords

[squeaky-potat]

Lights of Fódlan

[shadowshrike]

3 Hopes: A Lord's Downfall

Since 3 Hopes is all about tradeoffs and choices, I thought it would be fun to write up how the 3 Hopes lords could be seen as cautionary tales of different leadership types. Their imperfection is shown in the contrast between how they garner support and where, in a non-storybook world, they might fail to deliver in the end.

Disclaimer: This is just a fun thought exercise about the hypothetical problems with these types of leaders, not a personal endorsement of or attack against any of them. I know lord discourse is all the rage, but please keep things chill.

Edelgard - The Inspirational Radical's Endless War

Charismatic and easy to rally behind, this kind of leader's message is straightforward. Simple, even. We must end The Bad Thing™ to improve your lives.

It appeals to common sense, peoples' desire to assign blame, and their hunger for justice or revenge. It makes them feel like the inherent unfairness of their world could be made fair if someone tried hard enough. And now they have a leader who can do that.

But then, you win. And the world is still a messy place because ending The Bad Thing™ was never a fix-all answer. This leader still wants to do good, to fix what ails those they lead, but their platform is built on external responsibility for their people's suffering. What is left but to find another enemy?

First, it is TWSITD. Then the Church. Then the Kingdom and Alliance. Many could be turned on next if reform stagnates. Nobles who step out of line. Foreigners who are deemed too influential in Fodlan. Commoners called too lazy to reach their potential.

Ultimately, the Inspirational Radical relies on a battle of morality between Us and Them to unify. It can spark loyalty and change but also perpetuates conflict when that change doesn't live up to the perfect utopia they promise.

Dimitri - The Servant Leader's Endless Toil

This leader believes in the people's voice above all. They will lower themselves to stand alongside those they rule, listening to every quibble, no matter how small, and try to fix it.

They are idealistic about their personal responsibilities but realistic about what they expect from others. They inspire their followers by preaching it's the duty of the "haves" to help the "have nots" until those categories are eradicated, leading by example.

This leader's changes are slow but effective. Yet, for all their steps forward, the people are never satisfied. They ask for more speed, more goods, more power, more fairness. And as is human nature, they are selfish and shortsighted, wanting for themselves before their neighbors.

Protecting the Church. Seeking justice for Duscur. Stabilizing the country. Improving relations with Sreng. Elevating commoners. Removing reliance on Crests. A neverending pile of conflicting priorities is doomed to crush them as they seek to own blame for every imperfection.

The Servant Leader will inevitably collapse from the strain of shouldering the strife of all their followers. When they do, no one can fill the thankless role they leave behind because it requires living for nothing but the people they serve.

Claude - The Ignorant Dreamer's Endless Maze

This leader can see a perfect world off on the horizon. A beautiful one where people could all work together if they only acted rationally and kindly to others.

It's pleasant and easy to speak of, appealing to those who want to believe in a peaceful resolution to life's ills, where common ground can be found if everyone tries hard enough. However, their fantasy is incomplete and unclear, hampered by ignorance.

Over time, reality sets in. They make sacrifices in the name of that big dream with the promise that it's for the greater good. Their cloudy vision can't stand up to the dogmatic drive of other leaders, so they incrementally warp their ideals and dream to fit reality until it only half resembles where they started.

Almyran peace is sidelined. Power is consolidated. Friendships weaken while appeasing conflicting desires. Distrust is sown within their own borders with the Archbishop's death. More war seems inevitable, though they march onward, believing in the slim hope it will end.

The Ignorant Dreamer remains a beacon to others through message alone. They forever drag their people through an ever-more-complex maze in hopes of finding a dwindling exit that leads to that utopian dream they sell their followers.

[dvrtrblhr]

study of waldmuller's portrait of louise mayer, but featuring edelgard. it might look like i deviated a lot from the original, but actually the whole skin is pretty much based on it.

i wish i had more time to refine this... but i have so much to do today (and i got distracted by dmcl what's new)

[rorah]

To celebrate the Anniversary, I redrew the first thing I did for this game and gave it cohesion

... And played with it. Here are all the individual pieces 💙💛❤️💚

[enlightningbugs]

This was from Cyril Week 2020. Three years... at last... fruition...

The theme for this day was "growth." Tall Cyril agenda.

[lilac-knight]

all the holo prints currently available in my shop ~

[stupitunclehal]

you don't understand how fucking MANY of these I've accumulated over four years this folder is a MESS

[cosmosnout]

Fuck it we ball, golden route were they all team up and rule over Fódlan together. Canon won’t let them be happy and alive together so I have to do it (+ soldier,poet,king reference since it’s literally them)

[eightkaramis]

Aaaaaand I finished :'3

Da timelapse

[nitw]

he's actually so fucking funny and it's not even on purpose. him being the legitimate heir of the aegir family doesnt have anything to do with this he just wanted to remind you

[azelfandquilava]

”Local Church Man handed keys to an entire County”

Behold! A lore-accurate 3H edit of the real Volkhard Arundel and Ionius IX. Given that House Arundel wasn’t actually a thing until Anselma and Ionius married I’ve had this silly mental image of Volkhard suddenly being made a Lord and not knowing what to do.

(Ionius edit by shadowshrike2 on Twitter)

[maslosstuff]

Happy anniversary to them! I enjoyed playing this game so much and replaying it I fell in love with them and I was never the same afterwards. They stole me and my sister’s heart

[thirteendaysintaunton]

“And remember, the truth that once was spoken: To love another person is to see the face of God.”

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

in general I think Byleth is the troll of the FE lord friend group. they're the most entertaining person to watch play Among Us (they eventually stopped constantly killing Ephraim because that was getting boring). now they're doing shit like standing between two bodies without reporting, randomly voting ppl in meetings for no reason, calling their friends on the phone for "tech support", venting in front of large groups of people, unmuting in the middle of the round to goad someone into killing them, etc. they're banned from Ultimate Chicken Horse for making the game straight up unplayable. their Mario Maker levels are infamous for softlocking ppl. Duck Duck Goose is the funniest shit ever when they get Party/Pelican. they are the silliest little guy

-- 👻 horror anon

.

[digitalcyborgquestblog]

[19-bellwether]

Several years late but half the reason Edelgard generated so much discourse is because there's two versions of her everyone tried to characterize as one. Initially Edelgard didn't have a route; you could not ally with her for the second half of the game and were forced to join the church. So you could only fight her as an antagonist, a war-mongering conqueror who betrays allies and shows no remorse. A clear villain.

Then they added a route for her after the other three were written. It's rushed and short, but most notably, they make her sympathetic. She has noble intentions and strong critiques of the status quo, and the evil influence of TWSITD is much more pronounced. Now she's an anti-hero. Perhaps the writers didn't want a true villain route available to the player. But the villain version of Edelgard still exists in other routes.

So the fandom discoursed endlessly, trying to reconcile what's little more than a rush-job to add nuance to the antagonist. It's understated how much the first route you play influences your view of her (and Dimitri's route being the most popular + the most villainous version of Edelgard doesn't help). In-universe you can argue that Byleth's presence kept Edelgard's morality intact, and there's nothing wrong with doing textual analysis to reconcile the two versions. But they're ultimately different characterizations that exist for wholly different purposes.