#feth meta

[megashadowdragon]

[indigowallbreaker]

No one asked but one of my beefs with Three Houses is that what the fuck was the Forbidden Spell of Zahras

Like, it was obviously the Forbidden Spell of MacGuffin and only serves as a plot point to make Byleth stronger and is never mentioned again but I ask you, what the fuck is it??

Solon lures Byleth to a very specific place (technically behind enemy lines because it’s in the church’s back yard and I’ll talk about that in a moment) and uses Kroyna’s heart to cast this spell to send Byleth into eternal darkness. I already have so many questions.

Then after Byleth comes back, Solon expresses shock that they got out of the darkness of Zahras and, after being killed, declares that “Thales will carry out our mission, somehow...”

AND THEN IT’S NEVER BROUGHT UP AGAIN.

Thales/Volkhard never mentions trapping Byleth, using an ancient spell, or even says the word Zahras himself! If this game wasn’t already studded with plot holes and the like, I’d just chalk it up to good communication within TWSITD. “Solon tried trapping them in the infinite darkness and they popped out all green.” “Right, so we’re obviously not trying that again and there’s no need to even go over what went wrong. Moving on.”

But there’s no mention of pulling out evil, long-forgotten magic tricks ever again! They go right from ritual sacrifices to Big Mech Tech Titanus’. What a leap. 

Who/What is Zahras? Is that darkness a separate plane or the opposite of wherever space Sothis occupies? Who else knows how to do this spell? Does it HAVE to be used in that spot? Is it in a book somewhere in Shambhala with instructions? Do you have to be Agarthan to use the spell or can anyone learn it with enough dark magic potential? (re: could Lysithea/Hubert/Constance/Other Dark Mages figure it out if given time?) 

Does any of this matter? No. But it leaves a loose thread that the story glosses over in the wake of the whole ‘is the Professor the Goddess??’ stuff and it’s always nagged at me. 

The only thing I can say for certain is that the church/Rhea knew that place was significant to TWSITD. Catherine tells you during the chapter 9 explore phase ��Eh, Garreg Mach has lots of places that are blocked off for one reason or another. That's true of the underground Holy Mausoleum as well as the northern woods. People call it the sealed forest, but as far as I can tell, it's nothing special. Just a forest.” 

It’s for sure blocked off, but no one is told why. The only thing there is a shifty looking plaza and lots of sinister rocks. Maybe Rhea didn’t know what they could be used for but she must have known they were important to the enemy or else why keep everyone away from the place?

My last thought --I promise-- is the name Zahras. After some digging, the closest I could find was the name Zahra. In Arabic, it can mean “beautiful, bright, shining and brilliant.” Nothing to do with darkness or evil magics. Every other name in this game was given great attention (I would know, I have spent hours looking them all up for fun/ fics) so I’m inclined to believe this name was chosen ironically.

OR because every other aspect of the MacGuffin plot point is not well planned and quickly tossed aside, it could just be A Name They Picked. “Hey my daughter’s name is Zahra and I want her to be in this game.” “Can do. How do you feel about eternal darkness?”

In conclusion I’m going to write so many fics that InSys will be forced to hire me for the next game and I can fix everything wait and see.

[vanquishedvaliant]

Three Houses and Three Ages; An analysis of the perspective of Time in the ideology of each Lord's Route

META ESSAY TLDR: Each house leader represents the idealized preference of a certain period of time; Claude is the Past, Dimitri is the Present, and Edelgard is the Future. Their routes enforce these time periods as what one should prioritize when making decisions, and what is most important when society is revolutionized.

Playing through Three Houses, it's quite clear that each of the three main Lord routes is a unique story with more differences between them than which maps are cleared or what nation you fight for; each of the stories is rich with themes and symbolism asking questions to careful readers, and offering different solutions based on the ideals and values of the characters you choose to follow.

Many have suggested before some strong themes these routes carry, most notably the question of "Do the Ends justify the Means?", and what place memories of the dead should have on the actions of the living. While these hold true on many levels of the story, it never seemed to fully encompass the whole of what the story had to say.

Reading more broadly across the entire text, I have come to think about their messages on a different alternative angle; that each route and lord is also representative of a method of thinking and decisions making that is based on their perspective of Time, ultimately asking the question of where you should look in time to decide what is right when the world is at the brink of revolution.

I propose that Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard are each defined utterly by the answer they can be seen to represent; the Lessons of the Past, the Reality of the Present, or the Promise of the Future. 

Below, I will go into each character at length and provide specific evidence from the text for my proposal. This breakdown includes detailed spoilers for all routes*. 

Claude von Riegan - Correcting the Mistakes of the Past

Claude, heir to the sovereign dukedom of Leicester, is a man defined by the past. Born of the mixed heritage of two different nation's noble castes, he inherited the expectations and responsibilities of both, and neither. This disconnection from both sides frees Claude from each of their cultural momentum, and lets him to step back to see a global and historical perspective without the biases of a man with a true stake in either.

Coming to be known as the 'Master Tactician' and a brilliant schemer, Claude's harsh biracial youth cultivated a careful and contemplative attitude in him. He learned about others so he can act according to their expectations and fill the role that they want from him. As an adult, Claude uses this friendly attitude as a mask for his true intentions in order to gather information, and then uses his detailed knowledge of people, places, and events to manipulate their behaviour to his benefit.

Claude also makes his decisions based on extrapolation of other’s behaviour based on what they have already done in the past, and he values the lessons learned from their failures. Claude is the only lord to express interest in learning about the history of the Church, and why they came to be the way they are. He is the only lord who confronts Rhea, to ask questions about history, and learn most of the truth of the original sins and offenses that lead to the conflicts taking place in his time.

As the war progresses, Claude goes so far as to forsake his own nation's flag to lead his war, and instead flies the flag of the Crest of Flames. Mimicking the army of Nemesis in history, Claude steps into the past and uses established symbols to his benefit, using the popular story of history to rally support for his goal, but revising the positions to create a more positive result.

As we learn about his own motives, he tells the player he wishes to create a land where people from different nations, races, and creeds can live together without conflict. Claude's revolution can be seen as addressing and correcting the history that lead to these conflicts, rewinding the sins of the original war between Agartha and Nabatea to a time when all of Fodlan was said to coexist under Sothis, and stepping back further in his long term view to encompass the world beyond their continent. He wants to build a world where those conflicts in the past were resolved intelligently, with all they've learned since, and to do so, he must learn why and how those events took place, and he uses his knowledge of history to present a story to accomplish this.

At the climax of his route, Claude comes face to face with the resurrected Nemesis, a literal embodiment of the conflicts and mistakes of the past. He faces down this foe with knowledge and planning based on his fighting style and the heroes under his command, and defeats him by anticipating and counteracting his movements in battle, placing an arrow in advance right where Nemesis will attack. He immediately claims that the victory will be hailed by Historians as a new dawn, and the narrative ending text references changing the history of Fodlan no less than four times in quick succession.

Each of Claude's actions are careful, planned, and considerate. He takes every factor into account, learns everything he can from the way things were, and takes action to reproduce the victories, and correct the mistakes others have made in the past. And because of this, Claude thoroughly represents the decision making perspective of learning from Lessons of the Past.

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd - Conserving the Values of the Present.

Dimitri, crown prince of Faerghus, is a man with his eye locked firmly on the now. Burdened by the death of his family in the Tragedy of Duscur, Dimitri is unable to move on from events that happened in his past, and doing his best to do right by the people around him day by day. Dimitri is unable to rest when things he perceive to be unjust happen around him, and is the first to rush into action heedless of the repercussions.

As the story progresses, Dimitri confides in the player that he regularly witnesses vivid hallucinations of his deceased family members, describing them as if they are still there with him even 4 or later 9 years after their deaths. These memories encourage him to act, to find some kind revenge or salvation as he laments that he was helpless and unable to do anything on his own in the moment of that tragedy.

This manifestation of his trauma is emblematic of how he sees the world, still carrying the despair, anger, and helplessness of that time with him and unable to separate things that once were from things that are now, without properly grieving or accepting their fate. For Dimitri, the past is still happening in the present, and no matter what he does, he can't separate them.

Dimitri is determined to act upon this revenge without delay, and eventually confesses that his ulterior motives for all that he does, including attending the academy, are part of an ongoing plan to enact his revenge. When the perceived target of his revenge is revealed to be Edelgard, Dimitri immediately attacks her in that moment, with no need to confirm the truth of past events, or consider the consequences for the future.

As the war progresses, Dimitri's condition worsens and his anger overtakes him. His decisions become extremely impulsive and reckless. He charges into battle with no regard for the safety of himself or others, refuses to build connections with those around him, and is blinded to everything but what is immediately in front of him, acting on it the only way he knows how; with violence.

Dimitri's decision making during the first part of the war phase represents this need for instant-gratification. Dimitri directs the war effort directly into enemy territory, obsessed with achieving his revenge "Now" and either unable or unwilling to consider that his actions will affect the future of his people or his country.

As Dimitri regains composure and works to put the past behind him by learning the truth of the Tragedy of Duscur, Dimitri makes decisions with more consideration, no longer blinded to the past and the future, but now actively choosing the present. He chooses to return to Fhirdiad not for sake of the future or the past, but because his people are continuing to suffer in the now, and he chooses to continue the war in the fight to bring peace as quick as possible. Dimitri's personal values uphold his priority of the present; he values the culture of chivalry that Faerghus currently embodies, fully believing in their established norms of noble knights and a glorious king protecting the weak and guiding the lost, and correcting injustices happening in the present with direct action wherever possible. Dimitri does not believe that the systems that govern their society are inherently flawed, and that problems can be solved by addressing them one at a time.

One such issue he faces is the prejudice against those of Duscur, which is strongly tied to the Tragedy and his personal motivations. Dimitri wishes to correct this injustice, and acts immediately with whatever power he has to further this goal. In Dedue’s paralogue Dimitri will rush into battle to prevent his own nation’s soldiers from slaughtering Duscur troops, and he expresses intent to immediately address the prejudice. However, Dimitri proposes no definite actions for these reforms, showing that while Dimitri is insistent to act, he does not have a long term plan for the future of reconciliation with Duscur, and is taking things one step at a time. Dimitri is not convinced by promises for the future, and he is not influenced by lessons of the past. He values how things are right now, making decisions based on the good and bad with only the information and ideas at hand. And for these reasons, I contend that Dimitri utterly represents living solely in the Reality of the Present.

Edelgard von Hresvelg - Breaking New Ground for the Future

Edelgard, Imperial Princess of Adrestia, is a woman unflinching in pursuit of her goals. Devastated personally and politically by the corruption in her current government and the manipulation of evils from the past, Edelgard turned the trauma of the gruesome torture and suffering she was made to endure into strength, resolving to 'cut her own path' to the future she envisioned.

Edelgard thoroughly rejects the tradition and culture of the world as it is. She sees the suffering of those in the present, and traces it back to decisions of the past. Seeing how the lingering resentment of both the Church of Seiros and the Agarthans continues to damage the world, she rejects both as wrong, and instead chooses to craft new and revolutionary solutions to combat problems and inequalities and develop a plan for a just society free from their influence.

In everything she does, Edelgard is determined to move forward. Edelgard voices respect and even solidarity for those that resist conventions and forge their own paths, even when she is compelled to oppose them, complimenting the leadership of the disgraced noble turned bandit Miklan, and commending the resolve and bravery of Lonato and his rebellion, refusing to treat them as victims for fighting for change they believed in.

Constantly adjusting her plans with new information at every moment, Edelgard frequently changes course when the costs are deemed too high, or the plan unworkable. Edelgard abhors the experimentation done by Solon in Remire, and long plans to turn against the Agarthans that Slither in the Dark, enacting her vengeance on them during the course of the war.

Support conversations with Manuella and Ferdinand display her understanding of the role of faith in the lives of the spiritual, and the need to produce an environment to uplift individuals. She alters her plans for the future to take both into account; dissolving the church without rejecting the Goddess, and developing plans for universal education and training, understanding the role each of these plays in developing a stronger society with educated and enlightened citizens.

When providing support for the player during their moment of crisis and despair, Edelgard encourages them to look forward. The advice she gives is that world will always move forward, and being held captive by the tragedy of the past, or accepting the present as it is is fruitless when time moves forward for everyone. The only thing one can do to change the past, is to do their best to work for the future, and help others to move forward as well. When Edelgard's true plans are revealed, she dictates the manifesto of her revolution; dissolution of the Church of Seiros, and the abolition of the crest-bearing nobility, two traditions of ancient history which continue to define the world in the present and which are perceived to be sources of injustice and inequality. These burdens of the past, the Church's anger and punishment of mankind, and the legacy of the Crests that persists from the tragedy of a society long since dead, are cast aside in favour of putting all thought towards the future.  Edelgard goes so far as to declare war; determining that the grueling tax of war and destruction in the present is preferable to allowing suffering to continue across society for years and decades to come. She concludes that moderate change is ineffective; and her experience shows this. Political reform in Adrestia was unsuccessful and was met with a coup that separated her family and stagnated their government, allowing further negligence and evil to thrive. Edelgard concludes that the only way for true change to occur is through decisive action, and the need for change outweighs the short terms costs of lives, finances, and industry that war demands. In her personal affairs, Edelgard encourages others to never be satisfied with how things are, and instead work to improve them for the future. She commends Ferdinand and Caspar for constantly striving to improve themselves, she implores Petra not to settle for what is expected of her, and is frustrated by Linhardt's disregard for the fruits of his efforts. All of her relationships are influenced by her constant forward motion and desire for betterment. Edelgard is unsatisfied with the inequalities and inadequacies of the present, and chooses to reject the decisions of history that led to it, not accepting its effects on the actions of those dictating the future. For these reasons, I contend that Edelgard unequivocally represents working hard to chase the Promise of the Future.

Conflicts Between Each Lord.

With each character's ideology established, we can also examine how they interact with each other, and how their perspectives collide to create conflicts between them.

Claude and Dimitri, despite finding themselves against a common enemy, are not able to properly ally in either of their routes, as Dimitri's total concern for the present blinds him to the possibilities of cooperation. In Dimitri's route, he is impatient to assault the Empire, unable to overcome difficulties in communication caused by an enemy from the Past he is unaware of, and chooses to fight through the Alliance army and destroy it rather than be delayed. Claude later implores him for aid, but the history of the Leicester alliance is sacrificed for the needs of Faerghus' war in the present. In Claude's route, Dimitri is likewise unable to communicate, heedlessly rushing into battle without consideration that his brave war does not match the united front that the Kingdom possessed during its first war with the empire, and is defeated utterly. Dimitri and Edelgard, the most directly at odds, represent the greatest contrast in ideology. Dimitri is unable to reconcile the death and destruction that war causes in the now, and does not believe that violent revolution is just. Edelgard is unable to reconcile the disparities and suffering of the present, and does not believe that allowing inequity to continue to thrive is just. These ideals can be summarized most succinctly in dialogue between the two during the conclusion of Dimitri's route, wherein Dimitri states; "We must defend the present... After all, it is all the we truly have," prompting an enraged Edelgard to counter, "We must trample the past underfoot, and move onward to a brighter tomorrow." Each succinctly states the priorities that inform the core motive of each side of the war, and echo their statements in previous discussions. Claude and Edelgard's conflict is far more subtle and nuanced. These two lords fundamentally share the same goals; the revolution of current society to be more equal and just, but they differ greatly in their methods and reasoning. Claude believes that no future can be built without considering history; a future without the flaws of the present cannot be forged without respecting how those injustices came to be. Edelgard on the other hand believes that true change cannot be enacted while you are still beholden to the past; if you are afraid to discard tradition and history, you can never create something truly new. In each of their routes, these Lords bring their conflict to conclusion, and while their methodology and fates differ, each of them ultimately entrusts the future to the other, with Claude offering the Alliance and his allies to forge Edelgard's future, and Edelgard (via Hubert) informing Claude of the true threat rising up from the past. Their methods and their perspectives conflict, but they both accept the present as unacceptable and seek revolution, whether it be through solving the past, or by creating an independent future.

In Conclusion;

Three Houses is ultimately a story about a societal revolution that spans the continent. It involves breaking the old society into pieces, examining all of its strengths and weakness, and piecing it back together in the method of your choosing. Like a forest fire can cause death and destruction, but also breath new life into its ecosystem, so too does the war in Fodlan provide a means for a new beginning. Through the examples given above, I believe that one of the overarching themes of Three Houses, and questions posed in each of it's routes, is what is most important when you are rebuilding that society in the aftermath. Do you look to the Past, like Claude, and learn from what those in history did right or wrong to make the decisions with thousands of years of wisdom? Do you stick to the Present, like Dimitri, and preserve things the way they are, taking small steps in the now to enact gradual change? Or do you fight for the Future, like Edelgard, making sweeping changes and reforms to create a future that is truly new in the pursuit of betterment. Each of these routes, and each of these characters poses a different answer to this question, without providing any answer that is absolutely correct. The endings of all three of these routes are portrayed as good, happy endings, the most idealized crystallization of their ideology. No matter the player follows, what they decide is what will prevail. There is no wrong answer, and no right answer. Simply solutions with a different priority.

And through these options, a full completion of the game asks the player to decide for themselves; what is really most important to their decisions?

The Past? The Present? Or the Future?

--

If you've read this far, first of all, thank you very much! This is almost totally a full length literary essay! You're a real trooper. I hope you've gained a new insight on a method of interpreting the story. I think there's a lot of different levels to Three Houses and I believe examining it from all different perspectives with a fair and even approach is important to getting the most out of it. I think it's the mark of a truly great story to provide this kind of depth of discussion, and posing multiple themes and questions that the player can think on.

I've found a lot of the same ground tread over and over about the means to an end, fascism vs democracy vs monarchy; (sorry guys, but that ain't it. Edelgard ain't a fascist, Claude ain't democracy, and Dimitri's a monarch... so....), and I've wanted to take it at a wider angle. The quoted lines from Azure Moon really stuck out to me as incredibly poignant, and when I looked back into Claude more i found more and more reference to his interest in history and learning the truth.

I didn’t go into details with Silver Snow in this essay because... well, it doesn’t have a Lord. It shares half of its route with Edelgard, and half with Claude so it poses many of the same arguments, despite contradicting each other. You could consider Seteth to be a pseudo-lord as a replacement, but It’s my personal belief that the themes and motivations posed by that choice aren’t strong enough to provide a story truly distinct from either Verdant Wind or Crimson Flower. One might argue that Seteth stands for “Upholding Tradition” rather than Claude’s revising it, but I don’t think there’s enough evidence. It’s just as likely that Silver Snow has little message, or simply stands as an isolate rejection to Edelgard’s choices. It’s something to explore another time, but I think the bonds between the three lords are what is most important.

So hopefully this gives some juicy fodder for further consideration, and more discussion to last for time to come! Thanks for reading! 

-vanquishedValiant

[kingjinxii]

Mental Illness and FE: Three Houses

Warning: Early-Game Blue Lions Spoilers

So I made a joke about Dimitri needing medication before but...there’s an actual sidequest in the game devoted to giving medication to student who have mental health issues. 

Obviously, being a medieval fantasy game, the world of FE:3H doesn’t have pills or say “this student has Major Depressive Disorder/General Anxiety/ADHD”. Instead, medication is supplied through healing herbal remedies, and diagnoses are more vague, but can be inferred. 

There are two types of herbs you are given. “Calming Herbs” for “people who can’t help but make mistakes.” They will “help them being a little calmer and more careful.” And the other is “Fortifying Herbs” for “people who can’t overcome feelings of sadness.”

In my personal opinion, the descriptions sound like they help people who have ADHD and depression respectively.

ADHD is defined by “persistent inattention, hyperactivity, and sometimes impulsivity”. In a medieval fantasy story, they’d probably describe it as someone has trouble remaining calm and focusing on tasks at hand. 

Depression is easier to define, and FE:3H does it pretty well. A person with depression has trouble overcoming feelings of intense sadness and emptiness.

Medication is often used to help with this issues in real life, and it appears that that’s exactly what’s happening here.

While I’m on the Blue Lions route and I haven’t played any of the others, so I’m not sure if this optional side quest is int those routes, I think it’s fair to point out which characters these medications are for.

The “Calming Herbs” are for Annette, a plucky girl who is an aspiring magic-user. She’s known to be a little clumsy and maybe a little hyper. But she’s endearing and has her own important plotline.

The “Fortifying Herbs” I actually saw coming. One of the early missions in the Blue Lions route involves you beating back a rebellion in the North. A rebellion lead by the adoptive father of one of your students, Ashe.

He clearly was unhappy with the results of the siege, and couldn’t wrap his head around why it had to happen. His characterization during that chapter and the one after in which they find out his father was set up, is extremely well written, and definitely won Ashe a special place in my heart.

And officially, Ashe has depression.

FE:3H is filled with worldbuilding from the different characters, unnamed NPCs, and sidequests. But I never thought I’d actually see worldbuilding surround people with disabilities and mental illnesses and how they are treated.

Annette and Ashe aren’t defined by what they have. Annette’s still best friends with Mercedes and is a cheerful and outgoing friend. Ashe is still seen as kind and a bit dorky, but a good, valiant guy with strong morals. And they both have things they struggle with.

As someone who has both, it’s just heartwarming to see that people like me can officially see ourselves in video games, stated practically outright.

So thanks, FE:3H. I can’t wait to play more.

[melohax]

Honestly

Some people in the FE fandom say and write seriously ableist things when it comes to Dimitri.

I’ve said before that I’m all for freedom of expression in fiction and etc etc and I meant it but some of the trends I see regarding the treatment of Dimitri’s mental illness by people in the fandom do kinda disturb me, ngl.

I’m talking about how his mental illness often either gets sexualized and fetishized for smut or people talk like he needs to be put down for his own good like a rabid animal.

Like, I’ve read a surprising amount of people make the argument that killing him is for the best and/or justified cus he’s mentally unstable. The implications of statements like that are pretty fucking awful.

The fact that I’ve seen people who find him hot when “feral” also at the same time go all “he’s better off dead cus he’s a violent unstable man” is just... He gets to live only as long as his mental illness makes him hot? No. God, just no. I have no words for how much I hate that.

I srsly hope the people who say those things don’t actually feel that way towards real living mentally ill people cus jfc.

[sacredsymbol821]

Lets have a discussion about Blue Lions route. Specifically, my hot takes about it. This post is not going to be spoiler free, so be warned for spoilers under the break

THIS IS YOUR LAST SPOILER WARNING BEFORE THE BREAK

Okay lets get to it. I want to address the conception that this is the "typical FE route". While I see how people came to this conclusion, I don't believe that Azure Moon is a typical FE route, but the biggest subversion of it I've seen. Dimitri is not your protypical FE Lord, as we all know, but let’s not talk about him for now. It's how the narrative treats him that I'm interested in. Let’s fast forward to right when timeskip happens. In the 5 years Byleth's asleep, Faerghus gets taken over by Cornelia in a coup, Dimitri's uncle is murdered and he's blamed for the crime. This is one of the many consequences he suffers during the game, but I feel this is the most important to point out because Cornelia cannot kill the acting Regent and blame it on him if he's acting, well, not consumed by vengeance. Then, he escapes, Dedue "dies" protecting him, and he's on the run for years, fighting and killing for survival. It's a hard knock life for him, definitely, and thinking that your friends abandoned you when they think you're dead doesn't help matters. He spends the next 5 years killing, slaughtering, and doing what he has to do to survive, the whole time falling deeper and deeper into despair because of his survivor's doubt and trauma. He seems like he's lost, and he is, but yet he shows up to the monastery 5 years later anyway.

I will admit this didn't make much sense for him at this point at first, and his actions don't exactly betray he wants to be saved. When being healed, he says "A wasted effort" because he thinks so little of what he's been forced to do to others. But, he shows up anyway, despite his dark outlook. The only reason for this needs to be because there is a little part of him that believes he can be saved and that Byleth is still alive. Now, other lords have had this dark moment where they question everything, sure, but it’s usually solved in one to two chapters and then they're fine.

This isn’t the case with Dimitri. He ostracized himself, choosing to spend all his time in the Cathedral and not interacting with ANYONE. You can't even grow his relationships with anyone at this time, a brilliant choice of a gameplay mechanic in my opinion. He doesn't even show up to training/ planning meetings, and this is illustrated beautifully because there are two seats open next to Byleth during this time: the left seat on the corner of the table two seats from Byleth, reserved for the retainer of the group (like Hilda on GD, and Hubert on CF) and the right seat on the corner of the table two seats from Byleth, where the lord of the route sits (Claude on GD, Edelgard on CF) since Dedue is “dead” during this time. I don’t know if it’s because of playing Golden Deer route first, or because I’ve played so much Fire Emblem prior too, but having my main lord missing from very important meetings made that spot on my and Byleth’s right feel like a void. I felt naked, vulnerable, and just not right because that hadn’t happened. Byleth is leading an army basically by themself this time, and I felt every moment of this, especially dealing with Dimitri’s antics. One scene that really stands out in my mind is the scene right before Myrddin Bridge, where Dimitri accuses Byleth of being the same as him because of his desire for revenge. You can agree or disagree depending on your choices, but that scene is so poignant because it shows just how far off his path he should be, among the other things listed here. Other lords would have been sad for a minute over what they’re doing and called it a day.

Let me go back to Dedue for just a second here, because he’s another huge reason why I don’t believe Azure Moon is the classic FE route. Do you remember when I said he’s “dead”? He stays that way unless you do his paralogue in the pretimeskip phase. Then, and only then, does he return in chapter 16. No retainer has ever stayed dead, if I recall correctly. They are some of the only units in Fire Emblem that have plot armor, even if they’re defeated. 

Dimitri’s redemption is when the route finally starts to feel like a classic fe route to me, but I think everything else that happens before it makes Azure Moon a subversion of the classic FE model, and not a following of it. I do believe there are routes that follow this model, but I do not think Azure Moon is it. 

[megashadowdragon]

024sep said: the last sentence is the best way to summarize everything about his situation tbh.

jeritza-von-hrym said: Uh, Cyril doing such “because he wants to” is hardly a want and more of a fear that he’ll be discarded? He’s speaking of fears that people in extreme poverty or Give & Take relationships have where Cyril has expressed so much fear and anxiety of anyone finding out that he can’t read that he hides that. Moreover, Cyril displays so many trust issues that he’s rude to people.

jeritza-von-hrym said: Like? He’s a kid and omg - keeping a child alive with food, shelter, and clothing is literally the most basic “Congrats on keeping your child alive - now what are you doing to aid their social and emotional development?”

Cyril was just an indentured servant to gonerils all the stuff Cyril does for church was of his own choice rhea freed Cyril so edelgards talk about church having too much power amounts to them freeing a slave

Anonymous asked: Cyril was freed from slavery by rhea every one of his chores he chose to do

I'm not really sure what prompted these asks since I don't remember really talking about Cyril ever. I try not to go into this because it uhhh.... well there are just so many problems with how Cyril is written that it actively inflicts psychic damage on me to watch his supports. There's... a lot to unpack here. I guess we're opening many cans of worms on this day.

Regarding the church, Whether or not the church does good things and whether or not the church has too much power are two completely different issues. You can make your case for one or the other, but they are not the same topic! The fact that some people find value in what the church does is something that Edelgard even acknowledges in her supports with Manuela and attempts to reconcile with her plans. A story that does much more to grapple with the complexities of the church is Mercedes, who values what the church stands for even while admitting that it essentially sold her off for her crest. It's certainly not a black and white issue, but that doesn't mean there aren't major corrupting factors in the church's structure.

As I've said before, my problem with the church is its institutional power. Institutions can be oppressive even as they do good work. This is especially common for powerful religious organizations. As for Cyril himself... I find it really difficult to ascribe much consent to a traumatized former child soldier who is still literally a child at the start of the game and who repeatedly tells people that he has nowhere else to go. Cyril has been an orphan since he was five and served in the Almyran army when he was less than 12 and then was made a servant to the very people who killed his parents and was clearly not treated well by them, so yeah! Of course he likes his life better now! Of course he's grateful to the person who gave him a safer and more comfortable place. And that is legitimately a good thing that Rhea gave him a better life. And it is clear that Cyril himself chooses to go above and beyond in his duty to her out of his own sense of obligation rather than being forced to. That much is true. But he also takes Seteth aside and reminds him that he has nowhere else to go. Cyril works as hard as he does because he's afraid of losing his place. His laser focus on repaying his debt to Rhea is something that even Seteth himself flags as excessive. Because it's not normal or healthy to, for instance, take on other people's chores on top of his own, and refuse any and all help out of fear of no longer being seen as useful, and hide any struggles he has to complete his tasks out of fear of being perceived as inadequate. It is very clearly a trauma response from growing up with so much horror and instability. Cyril has had to spend his whole life surviving and he has not left that survival mode behind because he still doesn't feel safe enough to do so. Can Cyril really be considered free to make his own choices under these circumstances? A 14-year-old war orphan on the wrong side of the border who is desperate to remain in the good graces of the person responsible for his job, food, and lodging? The fact that losing his position would mean losing his home and the knowledge that an underaged Almyran isn't likely to find a position anywhere else in a hurry? And sure, being a servant isn't a terrible life. Somebody does need to clean the toilets no matter who is in charge, and as long as they are treated well and adequately compensated, there is nothing wrong with that. But what I always come back to is this:

Rhea runs a school and yet Cyril can't read.

[memorygp]

Shortlist of book suppliers in Upper Highway Kwazulu Natal

Shortlist of book suppliers in Upper Highway Kwazulu Natal

Shortlist of the most popular book suppliers for the Upper Highway area of Kwazulu Natal

  Berea, Durban Ikes Bookshop  031 303 9214   [maxbutton id=”13″ url=”http://ikesbooks.com/” ] 

Chatsworth  CUB BOOKS  Phone: 031 404 6644  [maxbutton id=”13″ url=”https://cubbook.wixsite.com/website” ] 

Hillcrest Bargain Books Phone: 031 765 2940   [maxbutton id=”13″ url=”https://www.bargainbooks.co.za/store…

[megashadowdragon]

on recruitment in three hopes

Unlike in Three Houses where you could recruit almost every other student except the opposite house leaders and their retainers to your house, Three Hopes has a lot more students who are locked to a specific route when they weren't previously this time around (Ferdinand and Caspar in Scarlet Blaze; Felix, Ingrid, Sylvain and Annette in Azure Gleam; Hilda in Golden Wildfire). This could be because unlike in Three Houses, everyone's stay at the Officer's Academy was cut short due to the political affairs of their respective nations and the school closing down, meaning they never had the chance to explore other possibilities outside their comfort zone, unlike in Three Houses where they spent the full year at the academy.

This also works in a different way - the characters in Three Hopes are recruitable during the war because their bonds with others are nowhere near as strong (and those whose bonds are established, are not recruitable). Meanwhile, in Three Houses, the only character who is recruitable during the war is Lysithea, and even then only because of her Commonality Connection with Edelgard.

Another aspect that is important is the time frame. In Three Houses, most of the students at the Officers Academy had some kind of idea of their future, and were studying there to prepare for it, or to at least look into a potential future. If they joined Byleth's class, the war starting completely changed their future and so they stuck to their Professor due to believing in them. In Three Hopes, the students are only at the Officers Academy for a few months before returning home, where many of them are suddenly thrust into important roles because of the turmoil caused by the altered timeline. So while in Three Houses they had time to make new plans, here they get none, and become better entrenched in their nation's system. Notice how a number of the characters you can recruit in almost every route are ones who aren't in super high-ranking positions (the Ashen Wolves, Petra, Ashe, and Ignatz to name a few), making it easier to defect to other sides. By contrast, characters like Ferdinand, Felix, and Hilda are effectively put into important roles that make them unlikely to defect.

The method of recruitment is also quite different from Three Houses, where most recruitment was done via a character asking to join Byleth out of admiration of them as a teacher and warrior, with no higher stakes at the time other than the house they belonged to. In Three Hopes almost all recruitment is more persuading the character to surrender and join the opposing side instead of dying for their faction during the war. For specific characters, some more specialized persuasion may be used, such as offering them special knowledge or opportunity to do something that matters to them personally (Hapi getting revenge on "those who slither in the dark" and Lysithea finding a means to restore her life expectancy), or using an already recruited friend of theirs or knowledge of their family's wishes to convince them. That the recruited character stays loyal afterward no matter what is at least partly explained by most of them holding the view that changing sides once may be justified or explainable, but doing so twice would render them untrustworthy for life. Much as the story of Three Hopes leans further into Gray-and-Grey Morality, so too do the methods of recruiting. Many of the characters will express they don't know who is really right in the war, and ultimately decide to fight for whoever they think will end it more quickly while giving them the biggest chance to personally survive. The biggest irony in all of this is that Three Hopes uses classic recruitment methods, persuading an opposing unit to switch sides.

Also consider how many students of each nation actually defect. The Leicester Alliance, due to its fractured nature, sees all of the students outside of Hilda able to be recruited in the other routes, mainly due to self-preservation as they see that the Alliance is unable to fend off the invading countries, though Lysithea and Leonie will not join in Azure Gleam. The Adrestian Empire, as the country that declared war, sees Petra, Dorothea, Bernadetta, and Linhardt able to be recruited to either route, citing their disagreement with Edelgard's war. Finally, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, due to how close each student was to begin with, only sees Ashe, due to his loyalty to Lonato, defecting to either side, and Mercedes, who will join her brother Jeritza in the Imperial Army.

This could also be because unlike Byleth who joined the Officer's Academy as a Professor; Shez joins the Officer's Academy as a student alongside them meaning that Shez lacked the status and renown that Byleth had that would inspire a student to switch houses. This also works on a personal level too: Shez's supports with the students only start during the war phase as opposed to Byleth's which started during the school year itself.

plus the kingdom of faerghus  culture values loyalty which would be instilled in to felix and ingrid etc unless broken ( them being able to defect doesnt mean they are less loyal or caring to edelgard  edelgard permitted it 

The fact that some Adrestians are able to surrender isn’t a sign of disloyalty to Edelgard just as the Faerghans mostly being unwilling to surrender isn’t a sign of their rock-solid loyalty; it’s a sign that the Adrestians value their lives and have an Emperor who values theirs, while the Faerghans grew up in a culture that values death in service.

Edelgard actually permitted Petra to surrender if the worst should come to pass. Edelgard chose her bond with Petra over her duty as Emperor here

when she’s defected? She doesn’t want to fight the Empire

raxistaicho . tumblr . com/post/689798004439384064

[indigowallbreaker]

If you could only add FIVE supports to fe3h, which ones would they be? (Between characters that didn't get supports)

Boy it’s a good thing you stipulated “characters that didn’t get supports” because there is a laundry list of characters I think should have gotten A supports. But not counting those, here’s my list (not in any specific order):

Edelgard and Sylvain and/or Marianne-- I’m cheating lumping these together as one but anyway. Basically I want Edelgard to have conversations with the other Crest-hating students. Sylvain openly resents his Crest and Marianne considers hers a curse; Edelgard wants to destroy the current nobility/Crest system. Give them matching jackets.

Yuri and Ashe-- They obviously know each other??? The DLC characters honestly lack many supports but this was is so annoying. They have unique dialogue in the DLC! Right in chapter one! I know Hapi and Ashe have a support so why not these two?? 

Petra and Dedue-- Both from not-Fódlan. Both homesick and unable to go home (albeit for different reasons). I think there’s a lot of potential here. Plus Dedue and Hubert, both route-exclusive students, have such a small pool of supports. I think this is one friend Dedue could use. Petra would enjoy Dedue’s company; she still struggles with the language and he’s endlessly patient with people. 

Flayn and Annette-- I’ve talked before about Flayn needing more female supports (she has two counting Fyleth) and I think Annette would just be fun. Both are cheerful, young girls with lots in common. But Flayn is a young girl in appearance, with many years behind her. I’d love to see supports where like Annette talks about something and it reveals how old/from-another-time Flayn is.  

Byleth and Judith-- Judith isn’t a playable character, fine, whatever, but we get scenes with Rodrigue in the Blue Lions route. Like, mandatory plot-adjacent scenes. Could we not have those with Judith also. Or proper support scenes. L et mee t a l k to pretty lady plz 

[sessiznotafan]

Gıyaseddin Eb’ul Feth Ömer İbni İbrahim’el Hayyam veya Ömer Hayyam, Fars şair, filozof, matematikçi ve astronom. Hayyam Nişabur’ludur. Yaşadığı dönemin ünlü veziri Nizamül-Mülk ve Hasan Sabbah ile aynı medresede zamanın ünlü alimi Muvaffakeddin Abdüllatif ibn el Lübad’tan eğitim görmüş ve hayatı boyunca her ikisi ile de ilişkisini koparmamıştır. Bazı kaynaklar; Hasan Sabbah’ın Rey kentinden olduğu Nizamül-Mülk’ünde yaşca Ömer Hayyam ve Hasan Sabbah’tan büyük olduğunu ve buna dayanarak aynı medresede eğitim görmediklerini belirtmektedir.

Benim varlığım senin yaptığın bir nakış Ömer Hayyam

Bu kubbe altındaki bin bir belayı gör Ömer Hayyam

Canların canı dost, gel etme, dinle beni Ömer Hayyam

Dünyada olan biteni ben de görmedeyim Ömer Hayyam

Ey özünün sırlarına akıl ermeyen, Ömer Hayyam

Ezel avcısı bir yem koydu oltasına Ömer Hayyam

Gülün yüzünde çiy incisi nevruzun ne hos Ömer Hayyam

Gülün yüzünde çiy incisi nevruzun ne hos Ömer Hayyam

Kimileri laf dünyasında şişinip durmuş Ömer Hayyam

Kimileri laf dünyasında şişinip durmuş Ömer Hayyam

Olanların olacağı belliydi çoktan Ömer Hayyam

Vefasız dünya diye yakınıp durma Ömer Hayyam

Odunla Namaz Kılan Deli

Ömer Hayyam Sözleri Gıyaseddin Eb'ul Feth Ömer İbni İbrahim'el Hayyam veya Ömer Hayyam, Fars şair, filozof, matematikçi ve astronom. Hayyam Nişabur'ludur.

[kingjinxii]

Cursed FE3H Things That Make More Sense The More I Think About Them

Ashe would be a COD/military shooter fan

[malatyasonsoz]

Türk Bayrağı'nı PKK'lılara Vermeyen Kahraman Kadın Konuştu

Türk Bayrağı’nı PKK’lılara Vermeyen Kahraman Kadın Konuştu

Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın İngiltere ziyareti sırasında terör örgütü PKK’nın saldırısına uğrayan Fethiye Kubal IHA’ya açıklamalarda bulundu. Yaşanan olayın şokunu üzerinde hisseden Kubal, Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan’dan gelen telefonun ardından kendini daha iyi hissettiğini söyledi. Kubal PKK’lıların saldırı anını şöyle anlattı:

“Kötü şeyler tabii ki çok çok kötü. Biz Sayın Cumhurbaşkanımız…

[okunurnet-blog]

Büyük İskenderin Feth Edemediği Tek Yer: Termessos

Büyük İskenderin Feth Edemediği Tek Yer: Termessos

Büyük İskenderin Feth Edemediği Tek Yer: Termessos

Termessos Türkiye’nin en iyi korunmuş örenyerlerinin başında gelmektedir. Antalya’nın 30km kuzeybatısında yer alır. Kent Güllük Dağı tepesinde adeta doğal bir platform üzerine kurulmuş bu yüzden kente ulaşmak için büyük bir çaba sarf etmek gerekir.

Termessos

Bu bölgenin insanlarına Solymler denilmektedir. Solymler diğer antik kentlerdekinin…

[megashadowdragon]

[megashadowdragon]

Info on the painting:

Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France.

Delacroix depicted Liberty as both an allegorical goddess-figure and a robust woman of the people. The mound of corpses acts as a kind of pedestal from which Liberty strides, barefoot and bare-breasted, out of the canvas and into the space of the viewer. The Phrygian cap she wears had come to symbolize liberty during the first French Revolution, of 1789. The painting has been seen as a marker to the end of the Age of Enlightenment, as many scholars see the end of the French Revolution as the start of the romantic era.

The fighters are from a mixture of social classes, ranging from the bourgeoisie represented by the young man in a top hat, a student from the prestigious École Polytechnique wearing the traditional bicorne, to the revolutionary urban worker, as exemplified by the boy holding pistols. What they have in common is the fierceness and determination in their eyes.

The figure of Liberty is also viewed as a symbol of France and the French Republic known as Marianne.

The "mound of corpses" reminds me of Dimitri's line from CF Ch. 17 - "This future of yours is built on a foundation of corpses and tears!"

Not gonna elaborate on the above in too much detail, but you can see how various things fit. The painting symbolizes the end of an era, the fighters are from a mixture of social classes (appropriately, one of them a student from a prestigious school), and the "allegorical goddess figure" fits with all the religious undertones of her character.

We can see ironic allusions to the "goddess" thing in certain dialogue, such as when Dimitri accuses Edelgard of intending to become a goddess herself. In contrast with her intentions, the game does portray her as a metaphorical goddess of Liberty.

The bit about Marianne is interesting because of how much Marianne admires Edelgard in CF. It already makes sense that the timid, supremely unconfident Marianne would look up Edelgard, but this additional context further ties it all together. Her admiration works on both a personal level and a symbolic level.

Historical context surrounding the painting

More on Charles X, who was overthrown in the revolution the painting is based on:

Charles X was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, Charles (as heir-presumptive) became the leader of the ultra-royalists, a radical monarchist faction within the French court that affirmed rule by divine right and opposed the concessions towards liberals and guarantees of civil liberties granted by the Charter of 1814. Charles gained influence within the French court after the assassination of his son Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, in 1820 and eventually succeeded his brother in 1824.

His reign of almost six years proved to be deeply unpopular from the moment of his coronation in 1825, in which he tried to revive the practice of the royal touch. The governments appointed under his reign reimbursed former landowners for the abolition of feudalism at the expense of bondholders, increased the power of the Catholic Church, and reimposed capital punishment for sacrilege, leading to conflict with the liberal-majority Chamber of Deputies. Charles also initiated the French conquest of Algeria as a way to distract his citizens from domestic problems.

Rule by divine right, power to the Church, capital punishment for sacrilege - all things Edelgard opposes and seeks to eliminate from Fodlan.

The part about the French conquest of Algeria is quite interesting, and it seems like one of the main inspirations for the Tragedy of Duscur. It fits well, considering that Faerghus partly represents France, both surface appearance-wise and also in the Meiji Revolution metaphor.

Following the conquest of the Regency of Algiers, the Pacification of Algeria was a series of military operations which aimed to put an end to various tribal rebellions, razzias and massacres of French settlers, which were sporadically held in the Algerian countryside.

During their pacification of Algeria, French forces engaged in a scorched earth policy against the Algerian population. According to Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison, the colonization of Algeria lead to the extermination of a third of the population, due to multiple causes (massacres, deportations, famines or epidemics) that were all interrelated.

Not gonna get into it too much but you can read more on the Pacification of Algeria if interested.

A brief note on Christian symbolism in the CF art

In the section about the painting, I linked a thread that analyzes the ending art of all the routes.

These observations from the OP especially stuck out to me:

Some interesting symbolism can be noted here. Palm branches, typically in real world media, is often associated with Christianity symbolism. The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life. Angel's can have a variety of symbolic meanings, such as being a messenger of god.

More on the palm branch:

The palm seems to have been adopted into Christian iconography to represent victory, i.e. that of martyrs, or the victory of the spirit over the flesh.

I've been talking about how this game frames Edelgard as a Christ figure in various subtle ways, and here's one of them. In CF, the martyr is victorious.

www . reddit . com/r/fireemblem/comments/dli0qt/japanese_history_three_houses_and_crimson_flower/

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: The Church, Garreg Mach, Rhea, Nabataeans, and TWSITD

Part 3: The Empire, Edelgard, Black Eagles, Enbarr, Derdriu, The Alliance, Almyra, and Claude

Part 4: The Kingdom, Blue Lions, Dimitri, Arianrhod, Crests

Over a series of posts, I'm gonna talk about just how much it seems the developers have pulled from a turning point in their own country's history, and how basically everything - Fodlan history/society, the Empire, the Kingdom, the Alliance, the Church, TWSITD, Almyra, other countries, Crests, key characters, key locations, and the war phase of the game - ties into this.

Speaking of the war phase, much has been said about how oddly quick Crimson Flower's is. You stomp through the opposition with minimal effort and end the war more quickly than any other route. Did the devs just run out of time?

Maybe, but here's my theory, and I'd bet good money on this one:

Much of the sociopolitical situation of the game and the events that unfold in the main plot is based on the waning years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which eventually culminated into a civil war called the Boshin War.

This war involved two principle factions - pro-Imperial nationalists seeking to fast-track Japan's modernization by unifying the country under Imperial rule, and Shogunate loyalists defending their lands and old way of life against the Imperialists. The Imperialists won this war relatively easily and ushered Japan into the [Meiji Era]

Fun fact: Nintendo was originally founded during the Meiji Era in 1889 as a company manufacturing playing cards called "hanafuda" (flower cards).

This analysis is mostly about the broad strokes. Certain things fit really well, but if you get too nitty gritty there will obviously be a lot of stuff that doesn't match up, which makes sense because Three Houses is very much its own story with tons of fantasy elements, and this is just about the Japanese historical inspirations behind various things.

And certain concepts, rather than matching up, are instead completely opposite to how it was in Japanese history, which to me still suggests authorial intent; the concepts are there, just flipped in some way.

Even the outward appearances of certain things is relevant to this period of history and ties nicely into the allegory - for example, France notably sided with the Shogunate during the Boshin War; Faerghus (which also represents other things such as the Aizu clan and the Ezo Republic, will elaborate in future posts) is outwardly based on France.

At the end, I'll bring it all together to support my claim that Crimson Flower's war phase is essentially a Boshin War re-enactment, connecting stuff like troop movements, shifting allegiances, and overall order of events. I think you'll be surprised how well some stuff ends up fitting.

The circumstances leading up to the war: Japanese History vs. Three Houses

Japanese History (Super simplified version, still long because real life is complicated... what can I say?)

Europeans make first contact with Japan in 1543. There's trade and cultural exchange, resulting in the introduction of a lot of Western tech to Japan. This tech included stuff like firearms and new ship-building styles, and on the cultural side, Roman Catholicism. This period of trade/cultural exchange is known as the Nanban trade period. (On a not-so-serious note: Nanban... Nanbaneans... Nabataeans? Hm. Yeah I know Nabata was a thing in FE before, but hey)

Tokugawa shogunate eventually comes into power after the Battle of Sekigahara. They institute an isolationist policy, severely restricting trade/relations with the outside world. They also enforce a strict class hierarchy. These policies are essentially to help maintain order. The period where the Tokugawa shogunate reigned is called the "Edo period" or the "Tokugawa period". Another word for the shogunate government is "bakufu". (Just an FYI on certain terms, they might come up later)

Fast-forward to the mid 19th century. Japan had been an isolationist, feudal society for ~220 years, so their technology is behind that of Western powers

Western imperialists are threatening Japan's sovereignty. They use demonstrations of their tech superiority as thinly veiled threats, bullying Japan into opening itself to trading with them. They force Japan into a bunch of unequal trade agreements.

Some Japanese Daimyo (nobles) are pissed off about these unfair trade agreements and see it as a sign of the shogunate's weakness

Western culture, technology, and overall influence are becoming increasingly prevalent in Japan. Nationalist sentiment and xenophobia are brewing in response to this foreign encroachment.

Following this was a period of minor nationalist uprisings and various attacks with little regard to public safety i.e domestic terrorism. Foreigners are often targeted with violence, and Japanese civilians are also caught up in the attacks. One of the defining slogans of the time: "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians" [(Sonnō jōi)] (en . wikipedia . org/wiki/Sonn%C5%8D_j%C5%8Di) Some of these nationalists hate Christians. The shogunate responds to these uprisings with military force.

Soon after, the Boshin War occurs where an alliance of several daimyo rise up with Emperor Meiji and various nationalists to unify Japan under Imperial Rule.

You can see how a lot of this stuff factors into Three Houses' plot.

Sothis arrives in Fodlan from a faraway land, creates Nabataeans, they share knowledge and spread religion.

Ok so this is where I need to clarify stuff due to the fantasy element here of Rhea's lifespan. Rhea is the shogun in this allegory, but she doesn't initially have the political power that she has in present-day Fodlan. Fodlan history is sort of like Japanese history in how Imperial influence waned over time, eventually giving way to the period where shoguns ruled Japan. And I'd say Fodlan really starts looking like the Tokugawa shogunate in ~980 with the establishment of the Garreg Mach Officer's Academy, will elaborate on that later.

Fast-forward to the "present day" of the game. Fodlan is an isolationist society with a strict class hierarchy. Almyran invasion attempts are threatening Fodlan's sovereignty. And a sort of unfair "agreement" is being imposed on humanity (i.e the truth about the Church and its teachings that mostly nobody knows about). And you could also argue that Rhea being in control of the continent indefinitely is also a type of "unfair agreement".

Adrestian nobles/TWSITD are pissed about the situation and they've had enough. Furthermore, there's a lot of discontent overall with the current state of things - Claude alludes to stagnation, etc.

Thus begins a period where TWSITD instigates various rebellions/uprisings/incidents, with little regard for public safety. I'm not sure how much TWSITD really cares about "revering the Emperor", but they sure as hell want to "expel the barbarians", and maybe do a little more than expel. TWSITD also hates "Christians". The Church responds with military force.

Soon after, the war phase begins where an alliance of Adrestian nobles/TWSITD rise up with Edelgard. They seek to unify Fodlan under Imperial rule (and in TWISTD's case, just fuck shit up in general I guess).

Hopefully a lot of the similarities are clear, despite some key differences as well.

If this still seems too far-out for you, check out the basis for the plot of the anime Gin Tama, which is based on this period of Japanese history (I'm not familiar with this anime myself, just thought it was a good example):

The story is set in an alternate-history late-Edo period, where humanity is attacked by aliens called "Amanto" (天人, "Sky People"). Edo Japan's samurai fight to defend Earth, but the shōgun cowardly surrenders when he realizes the aliens' power. He agrees to an unequal contract with the aliens, placing a ban on carrying swords in public and allowing the invaders to enter the country. The samurai's swords are confiscated and the Tokugawa bakufu (shogunate) becomes a puppet government.

You can see the similarities - aliens come from a faraway planet and eventually control the land. They proceed to impose an "unfair situation" on the people. The Nabataeans are a lot more well-intentioned and sympathetic, but the point is to illustrate some precedent for the whole "aliens-are-the-shogunate" thing.

In general, Japan loves basing stuff on this period in their history. Japanese history in a Japanese game, an anime game no less. Not too crazy, right?

But if you're still skeptical which is understandable, there will be heavy elaboration in future posts. Feel free to correct me on whatever, I tried to get all my facts straight but there's a lot here.

www . reddit . com/r/FireEmblemThreeHouses/comments/gpep33/comment/frpdw4e/

www . reddit . com/r/fireemblem/comments/dnkt3u/felixs_cf_arc_combined_with_his_paired_ending/

If you're a fan of Rurouni Kenshin, you may have noticed a lot of similarities between the moral conundrums that Rurouni Kenshin and 3H focus on in respect to killing, protecting people, etc.

There was a great thread a while back analyzing Felix's character arc in Crimson Flower.

It references some of Felix's support dialogue, such as this line in his C support with Dedue:

Felix: Blind obedience. You're right. I did misunderstand. I shouldn't have called you a lapdog. You're a rabid cur. You and the boar prince make quite a team—two crazed animals.

Re-visiting some of the stuff Kenshin said in his youth, this line stuck out to me:

A human being who feeds on his brother is not a man anymore - he is a mad dog.

The contexts are kind of different - Felix is talking about blind obedience resulting in senseless massacre, while Kenshin is talking about bandits/pillagers preying on the weak. Nevertheless, this manner of judgmentally comparing others to crazed animals is distinctly similar, and in both cases it's in response to the general idea of innocents being harmed.

Furthermore, Felix's realization that in the end, he was just a big hypocrite, mirrors Kenshin's character arc quite closely. Felix starts off thinking he's somehow doing the "right" thing by joining the Imperialists, only to realize after killing so many people, that he's just a mass murderer himself.

And Kenshin, thinking he's doing the "right" thing by joining the Imperialists, eventually comes to the same realization as well. Even the way he's remembered is a testament to this - not as "Kenshin Himura, protector of the weak" - but instead as "Battousai the Manslayer", a mass murderer. This guilt haunts Kenshin for the rest of his life, and he decides the only way he can try to atone is to vow to never kill again, and takes up the life of a wandering swordsman who protects the weak.

These similarities were not obvious to me at first, and didn't occur to me when I initially read the thread about Felix's CF character arc.

However, I slowly started piecing things together when I noticed other things I thought seemed suspiciously like Rurouni Kenshin references.

I noticed that Ingrid had similarities with both Tomoe Yukishiro and Kaoru Kamiya, the two main love interests of Kenshin.

Like Tomoe, Ingrid loses her fiance. Tomoe's last name, "Yukishiro", means "snow white", while Ingrid's last name, "Galatea", means "milk white".

Like Kaoru, Ingrid loves swordsmanship, and like Kaoru, Ingrid loves food, especially meat.

Those Ingrid observations had me curious - is this shit just a coincidence? Could there be something more to this, or am I just crazy?

I looked through some of Ingrid's endings, and there it was:

Even after the war's end, skirmishes continued to break out across Fódlan. Learning that there were still places where he could fight, Felix abandoned his noble title and chose to make a living with his sword. Unwilling to leave him to travel alone, Ingrid, too, relinquished her claim to nobility, and they both became wandering mercenaries. They skirted the line between life and death countless times in their dangerous work, but once they had a child, they settled down in a small farming village far from their homeland. With all but each other left behind, they began a warm and tranquil life as a family.

This ending seems like the only ending in which Felix explicitly has a child, and it's pretty similar to the ending of the Rurouni Kenshin manga where Kenshin and Kaoru have a son and happily live out the rest of their days in a peaceful village. Plus, the whole "wandering swordsman" thing following the war. Felix and Ingrid both relinquish their claims to nobility; Kenshin and Kaoru are both commoners. And Kenshin and Kaoru both "skirt the line between life and death" many times throughout the story.

At this point, I started looking for other clues. Maybe this is still all just a coincidence.

And then I saw it: Felix and Ingrid's middle names, and the characters that make up Kenshin's name: 剣心.

剣 (ken) means "sword".

心 (shin) means "heart/mind/spirit".

Ingrid's middle name is "Brandl".

German (Brändl): from a pet form of the personal name Brand

What does Brand mean, then?

English, Scottish, Scandinavian, North German, and Dutch: from the Germanic personal name Brando, a short form of various compound personal names containing the element brand ‘sword’

Hell, we don't need that definition to know that "Brand" means sword. Just look at "Thunderbrand", the sword wielded by "Thunder Catherine".

Felix's middle name is "Hugo". What's "Hugo" mean?

Hugo is the Latin form of Hugh, as well as the typical form in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Scandinavian countries. The name derives from the Old German hugu meaning "heart" as well as "mind," "spirit," "soul," and "thought."

Everything matches up. How could this all still be just a coincidence?

I see other Rurouni Kenshin similarities sprinkled around as well, such as Dimitri's desire to protect others while having some "Battousai the Manslayer" aspects to him. His role as the sole surviving royal in the tragedy of Duscur seemed quite similar to how Kenshin is the sole survivor in the massacre at the beginning of Trust and Betrayal, and the imagery of young Dimitri surrounded by bodies instantly made me think of that opening scene. Dimitri's character arc of redemption in AM also felt kind of similar in spirit to Kenshin's - the death of a loved one is a catalyst for gaining a better understanding that fundamentally changes them for the better, and they go on to live lives of virtue. And his obsession with vengeance is very reminiscent of Enishi, in the way he hunts Edelgard like Enishi hunts Kenshin. They both do the crazed eyes thing. And it's also kinda funny that Dimitri and Ingrid look like they could be siblings, like Enishi and Tomoe.

And speaking of Edelgard and Battousai the Manslayer - they're both red consequentialists on the side of the Imperialists. And like Enishi, Edelgard's hair turns white due to childhood trauma involving the death of sibling(s). That one might be a coincidence though.

All these little things I associated with Rurouni Kenshin are what set me down the path of analyzing Crimson Flower as an allegory for the Meiji Revolution in the first place.

And it makes sense they'd include some Kenshin tributes in the game in terms of the manga's era. The Rurouni Kenshin manga began syndication in the mid 90s, which is also the period when FE4 came out. I'm pretty sure the writers grew up with that stuff.

It's actually surprising how much Rurouni Kenshin influence there is in the game, considering all the characters it involves are quite prominent. Then again, it seems quite appropriate considering how much of this game revolves around the concepts of "trust" and "betrayal".

www . reddit . com/r/Edelgard/comments/g4irvf/the_yin_and_yang_of_dimitri_and_edelgard/

We know that Dimitri and Edelgard are defined in opposition to one another, and I believe yin and yang is one of the primary inspirations in that regard. In the introduction, I'll talk about what yin and yang symbolize, and then I'll discuss how Dimitri and Edelgard consistently align with yin and yang elements, respectively.

The implications of this yin/yang thing are enormous. I believe it goes a long way in helping confirm that we are indeed on the right track in our various theories, that it can help assuage doubts that we're just falling into confirmation bias - because what are the odds that all these details would align so consistently? Either it's the biggest coincidence ever, or there is authorial intent behind it.

Introduction: Symbolism and stuff

Yin/Yang symbolism explained:

Yin is the black side, and yang is the white side. The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and a valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the "sunny place' or "south slope") is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed.

Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity, and night time.

Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and active; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime.

Furthermore, yin is associated with fall and winter, and yang with spring and summer. Source 1 and Source 2.

In summary...

Dimitri/Yin Edelgard/Yang Fall and Winter Spring and Summer North of mountain South of mountain Passive and slow Active and fast Femininity Masculinity Water Fire Moon and night time Sun and day time Earth Sky/Heaven Yielding Solid Dark Light I'll elaborate on every row of this table, but those last 2 rows are pretty abstract so they'll be more speculative as you might expect.

The seasons

For anyone unfamiliar, each game's route is associated with a certain season, as /u/captainflash89 explains here:

The Japanese title (of the game) is 風花雪月 fuukasetsugetsu or "Wind-Flower-Snow-Moon." Hence the four route titles-Verdant Wind, Crimson Flower, Silver Snow, Azure Moon. Now, this a reference to a very old Chinese poem where Snow represents Winter, Moon represents Autumn, and the Flower represents Spring. The developers added Wind to represent Summer.

So we've got Azure Moon -> Fall, and Crimson Flower -> Spring.

Furthermore, Dimitri's birthday is on winter solstice, and Edelgard's birthday is on summer solstice.

Even the tone of the music in the final cutscene of each route matches this. Light and Shadow (AM) and Wailing (SS) are rather somber, while A World for Humanity (CF) and A New Dawn (VW) are upbeat and triumphant.

North and south of the mountain

This one is really cool because even Fodlan's geography plays into it. The Oghma Mountains sit in the center of the continent - The Kingdom to the north, the Empire to the south.

Passive/Slow and Active/Fast

Dimitri favors slower, gradual change within the system, while Edelgard is proactive and wants to enact change by tearing the system down. Dimitri believes he should only take the throne when the proper time comes, whereas Edelgard just goes and takes the throne ahead of schedule.

Femininity and Masculinity

Dimitri is a man and Edelgard is a woman, so this might seem like a contradiction. But there are quite a few ways this actually makes sense, with certain feminine/masculine traits that stick out particularly noticeably in contrast with what one stereotypically associates with their genders.

I'm only listing what comes to mind at the moment, I'm sure there are more examples if you delve deeper into the game text.

Also, I wanna emphasize that I'm speaking in terms of tradition/stereotypes here. When I say something is "masculine" or "feminine", I don't want to have to keep qualifying it with "traditionally" or "stereotypically" because it gets annoying and clunky. So just keep in mind, whenever you see the word "masculine" or "manly" or whatever, what I really mean is "traditionally/stereotypically masculine/manly". Same goes for "feminine", etc.

For Edelgard and masculine traits:

Emperor.

Conquerors are traditionally men, which is acknowledged by the devs in the Nintendo Dream interview.

Edelgard suppresses her emotions and dislikes "losing control", trying her best to make rational decisions as a leader. She's practical and solution-oriented.

Edelgard responds to Byleth with "tough love" following Jeralt's death. I know there's a lot of nuance to her response that's lost on her detractors, but I still think it's fair to say her advice can be condensed into "Wallowing in sadness ain't productive, you gotta man up and move forward". Which is clearly a masculine sort of mindset.

Edelgard is proactive and assertive. We can see this in big ways, like how she starts the war, and in small ways, like how she interrupts Dimitri after the prologue asking Byleth to lend their services to the Empire before Dimitri gets the chance to make his own proposal.

Edelgard can be brash, proud, and arrogant in her speech. She's competitive and likes to talk shit. "No matter the tactics you devise, we will destroy you. The best thing you can hope for is to learn a thing or two", she says before the mock battle early in the game, just as an example. Again, this is more of a male trait.

Edelgard is strong, courageous, and ambitious, with an indomitable will. Manly stuff right there.

For Dimitri and feminine traits:

Dimitri is very humble and self-effacing in his speech, which is a typically feminine trait and strongly contrasts with Edelgard's boastfulness. He's always like "if it's not too much trouble", "if that's alright with you", etc. Not gonna pull up examples but this is obvious for anyone familiar with his dialogue.

Dimitri is sensitive to delicate social situations. For example, in the explore phase before the Miklan mission, he comments on how he thinks it's insensitive of Rhea to have Gilbert tag along with them, given how awkward that must be for Annette. This sort of thoughtfulness is more of a feminine trait.

In his support with Flayn, Dimitri claims to like her cooking and asks for seconds, despite the game making it pretty clear that her cooking sucks. Furthermore, we know Dimitri can't even taste it because he lost his sense of taste, so he's basically embellishing things to make her happy. This sort of conduct in such a social situation is more of a feminine thing.

In their support, Hapi mentions that Dimitri is uncannily similar to his stepmother in his mannerisms. We don't really know too much about what kind of person Patricia was, but it's fairly safe to say this is a pretty strong statement about Dimitri's feminine aspects.

Dimitri is more emotional than rational, which is one of the more offensive stereotypes against women but I just gotta mention it anyway cuz it fits with this analysis lol

Dimitri is overtly gentle, caring, sensitive, and compassionate, all qualities associated with femininity.

Water and Fire

There's the obvious blue/red association with their respective color palettes, and with their route names: Azure is a shade of blue, Crimson is a shade of red.

Edelgard has the literal Fire Emblem (i.e the Crest of Flames).

You can also see the opposite affinities referenced in their "dislikes": Dimitri dislikes scorching heat (fire), Edelgard dislikes swimming (water).

Moon/Nighttime and Sun/Daytime

Now the second half of their route names is relevant: Moon and Flower (flowers grow towards the sun).

This part of Edge of Dawn is especially relevant:

I look to you

Like a red rose

Seeking the sun

No matter where it goes

I long to stay,

Where the light dwells

To guard against the cold

That I know so well

There's also The Color of Sunrise which plays at the end of Crimson Flower.

Earth and Sky/Heaven

I want to make something clear: even though that part I quoted in the introduction said "yang" is associated with "sky", "yang" is also associated with "heaven". This isn't just me making stuff up, you can google "yang heaven" and you'll see plenty of stuff about it. Edelgard -> yang -> heaven is extremely important to the "CF-is-pro-faith" analyses we have going on here, since it corroborates with them. The Chinese concept of "heaven" is different from the Christian view, but I am very confident the game conflates these ideas.

Here's a simple example - the final sentence in Byleth's solo CF ending:

With his/her legendary blade in hand, he/she will never stop standing against those who slither in the dark until Fódlan at last knows everlasting peace."

Thought "true peace" was a powerful statement? How about everlasting peace? Of course, the language here doesn't claim "everlasting peace" is actually achieved, which makes sense because that's pretty unbelievable. But I just want to point out the sheer religiousness of the phrase: when I google "everlasting peace", all I see is stuff related to Christianity. Byleth's solo CF ending is the only ending where this phrase shows up. Heaven indeed.

Anyway, on Dimitri -> Earth:

"Dimitri" means "devoted to, dedicated to, or follower of Demeter (i.e mother-earth)".

"Blaiddyd" means "wolf-lord". And lions, like wolves, are also land animals. More earth stuff.

On Edelgard -> Sky/Heaven:

"Reach for my hand, I'll soar away"

Eagles. 'nuff said.

"Hresvelg" is based on "Hræsvelgr", a giant eagle that sits on the edge of the heavens according to Norse mythology.

"El" means "god" in Hebrew

The Mandate of Heaven is a Chinese concept kind of similar to the European concept of divine right of kings. Intrinsic to the concept of the Mandate of Heaven was the right of rebellion against an unjust ruler. "Mandate of Heaven" literally translates to "Heaven's will" which ties surprisingly well into the theme of Edelgard's indomitable will.

I've written before about how SS/CF is based on the Book of Revelation/second coming of Christ. /u/ramix-the-red I'm telling you bruh, there's something to it lol!

You can even see this idea in the game's OST, with the song Between Heaven and Earth.

Yielding and Solid

So this is getting abstract but I'm gonna take a shot at it. In what way is Dimitri yielding while Edelgard is solid (i.e unyielding)? I'd say it's in their willpower. (Edelgard straight up has a Cipher card with the title "Unshakable Will of Flames")

Definition of "willpower":

control exerted to do something or restrain impulses.

We know that Edelgard doesn't enjoy doing any of the bad things she does - she cherished her peaceful days at the monastery, wishing she could stay (Edge of Dawn makes that clear). And before Byleth kills her in SS/VW, she tells them, "I wanted... to walk with you". IMO if there's any reason to prefer SS over VW, it's this - because it makes Edelgard's willpower all the more apparent. The entire time, she wanted to walk with Byleth, but to Edelgard, it's not about what doing what she wants - it's about doing what she believes is right. If her friends are in the way, she hates fighting them, but she'll force herself to do so.

In contrast, boar Dimitri is unable to avoid yielding to his sadistic impulses. His self-loathing shows he's aware shit's fucked up, but even so, he can't control himself from doing what he believes is immoral. To be fair to him, my understanding is this condition is due to a combination of trauma and enantiodromia.

We can speculate all day about this stuff because we can frame the idea of "yielding vs. unyielding" in all sorts of ways, so let's move on.

Dark and Light

See how the CG where Edelgard executes Dimitri fits with this. Also note that the final AM cutscene which shows us a similar situation with their positions reversed, is titled Light and Shadow. In the cutscene, there isn't any blatant light/dark symbolism like in the Crimson Flower CG, making it more ambiguous. Hmm.

I'm assuming y'all are familiar with DnD (Dungeons and Dragons) alignments, where Law/Chaos is on one axis, and Good/Evil is on the other. People have tried to use DnD alignments to classify 3H characters, but it doesn't seem appropriate given that 3H is supposed to be a story with a lot of moral ambiguity.

However, there's another alignment system we can use, from a series closely affiliated with Fire Emblem: Shin Megami Tensei.

The SMT alignment system is kinda similar to DnD's, but instead of a "Good/Evil" axis, there's a "Light/Dark" axis. I'll let the SMT philosophy wiki explain:

The axis from light to neutral to dark has to do with people's emphasis on the greater good, to normal scale, to egoistic action.

See how well this fits for Edelgard: Light -> emphasis on the greater good.

As for Dimitri, this is interesting because this seems to align very well with what /u/captainflash89 has written about Dimitri's egocentrism. This also makes the sheer Dimitri-centricness of AM make sense in a meta sort of way.

I cannot understate how serious I am about the Shin Megami Tensei influences. I've realized a huge SMT-related detail that further validates the "true peace" of Crimson Flower, along with some other theories, which I'll elaborate on in a future post because I don't want to pack too much stuff in here lol.

A common use of darkness and light as literary devices is to symbolize ignorance and knowledge, foolishness and wisdom, delusion and truth. This doesn't mean that Edelgard is right about everything and Dimitri is wrong about everything, but just in certain key plot points and important disagreements about the way of the world.

For Dimitri, there's the whole Edelgard/Duscur misunderstanding and the "King of Delusion" moniker. But there's also a bunch of stuff he says after his redemption arc that just sounds extremely naive.

One example is that he takes issue with Edelgard's methods, claiming that they will never work and can't truly change the way of the world. And yet the Meiji Revolution, which restored Imperial rule to Japan and transformed the country from an isolated feudal society to a modern industrialized nation state, was spearheaded by the nobility. Even if people headcanon that CF's ending is a bad ending, Dimitri is still proven wrong by real history.

I could list more of my reasoning why I believe central aspects of Dimitri's views are naive/wrong, but since this is the Edelgard sub it seems like beating a dead horse, so I'm gonna move on to talking about Edelgard.

Similar to the above paragraph, I could list my reasoning about why I believe central aspects of Edelgard's views are correct and well-reasoned, that she knows the truth about the nature of the world and thus what has to be done, but again it seems like beating a dead horse on this sub. So I'm gonna just point out some small details indicating her interest in science and history, that she values and desires knowledge.

There's this science-y advice box question from her:

People used to believe the goddess once fell here from the Blue Sea Star, but according to astronomical research, the light from that star takes millions of years to reach us.

One of her "Likes" in her character bio is "debating historical viewpoints and strategies". And another advice box question of hers is about what to do on a hot summer's day, where she likes the answer "focus on reading to occupy your mind". The CF Hanneman/Manuela ending is also the only version of their paired ending where Garreg Mach offers classes on "a wider variety of practical subjects".

I'm aware of the all-too-common view that Edelgard "blindly believes TWSITD's lies", probably due to her questionable claims in her declaration-of-war speech. This view of Edelgard as a "naive, stupid, gullible puppet" completely flies in the face of what all this symbolism suggests. Knowing Edelgard's character, I think it's pretty obvious she doesn't just blindly believe what she's saying, and that a lot of it is calculated propaganda on her part.

For example, she claims that the Church wants to "rule the world". This might seem like an indefensibly incorrect statement, and if you interpret "rule the world" as "military conquest of the entire world" then yes it's obviously wrong. However, the Crest of Flames's in-game description is "the crest of the goddess that governs the world", and we know that Rhea is trying to revive the goddess. If Rhea wants to revive the goddess that governs (i.e rules) the world, with the intention of having said goddess guide humanity, then is it not "technically correct" that the Church wants to "rule the world"?

This is obviously dishonest, and in some cases she might even be completely lying (I don't recall any in-game information indicating that the Church played a role in splitting the Alliance from the Kingdom for example, although maybe she could be right, we just don't know), but the critical point here is that Edelgard is not ignorant or naive, and therefore this does not contradict her association with "knowledge". Perhaps she is in fact incorrect about some details of the true history involving Nemesis and the Elites, but again people just blow that stuff way out of proportion because they're desperate to nitpick.

But "Black" Eagles though!

I don't like leaving obvious inconsistencies unaddressed, so I want to mention this one: the introduction mentioned that "yin" (Dimitri) is the black side, and yet the color in the house name of the Black Eagles is, well... black.

There could be a lot of reasons for this and I'm not gonna bother speculating why. But regardless of what the reason might be, I would argue this is merely an exception to the rule, rather than a critical detail that invalidates this entire analysis, given all the other details that consistently fit.

Conclusion

Hopefully I have provided sufficient proof (or at least, really compelling evidence) of the authorial intent here with all the symbolism. I plan to reference this essay in various future essays, because I think all these details in tandem help establish a compelling basis for believability beyond mere confirmation bias and wishful thinking. To reiterate what I said at the beginning: How could it be a coincidence that these details align so consistently?

I'll leave you with this famous passage:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way

www . reddit . com/r/Edelgard/comments/fioae1/separation_of_church_and_faith_choosing_edelgard/

So this post may come across as the ravings of a nut job... but what better way to subvert that than starting with a bible quote.

The story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22)

God tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his ass, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which God had commanded him. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off. And he said to his young men: Stay you herewith the ass; I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have worshipped, will return to you. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together, Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust? And Abraham said: God will provide him-self a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together. And they came to the place which God had shewn him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. And he put forth his hand, and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. And behold, an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake.

The binding of Isaac is one of many acts of faith stories recorded in the Old Testament. Interpretations in the past viewed Abraham’s faith in God such that God would either resurrect Isaac, or stop Abraham just before his sword fell on Isaac. However, for the existentialist Soren Kierkegaard this wasn’t the point of Genesis 22. For the point then, was that Abraham must have meant to suffer the loss of Isaac forever. For Kierkegaard, Abraham must have had faith in God and God’s plan, but not have had faith in God’s plan to save Isaac.

He calls this the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical. From Kierkegaard’s perspective the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, are dependent on God and God alone, not mortals. The argument holds that one ought to suspend their ethical code at the behest of God, but for this to happen there are stipulations:

To understand freedom and the consequences of sin, one must have anxiety engendered in them (one ought to feel angst)

Eternal salvation or damnation hangs over monumental existential choice; where one holds the burden of choosing for eternity, the other holds the exhilaration of freedom and choice

Over against God, we are always in the wrong. To always be in sin is the condition of faith; it must be instilled in us by God and only God

Faith cannot be mediated by the clergy or by human artifacts, it must be an individual subjective passion

What this means then, is that the act of Abraham killing Isaac was a morally just act, if and only if, he: fears and trembles at the thought (1), he chooses to do it (2), his faith is in God and God alone, he truly does not believe that God intends to save or resurrect Isaac (3), and that his faith was not mediated to him through another mortal or via human artifact (4).

Christian dogma embodies paradoxes. Central to this claim is that God, the eternal, infinite, and transcendent being became incarnated as a temporal, finite, human being (Jesus). Kierkegaard gives us two attitudes we may hold in response to this: we can have faith or we can take offense. What Kierkegaard says we cannot do is hold to virtue of reason. To choose faith then, is to suspend reason in favor of something that is even greater than reason. This is Kierkegaard’s virtue of the absurd. Recall now Genesis 22, where Abraham is given reprieve from killing his son Isaac. Kierkegaard says that he must have had full intention to kill his son for this to be a true test of faith; It is thus, by the virtue of the absurd, for his fear and for his trembling (for his angst) that Abraham is given this reprieve.

Oh right, this is a Fire Emblem post

Many of you probably see where this is going; this post is about the events in the holy tomb. Byleth is Abraham, Edelgard is Isaac, and Rhea definitely isn’t God.

It is here that Rhea tells Byleth to sit on the throne and receive a divine revelation- and there was a revelation alright. Here Byleth is presented with two choices, and critically, this is the point in which time and eternity intersect- for here Byleth as an individual creates a temporal choice which is judged for eternity. If Byleth chooses Rhea, certainly (1) is fulfilled. That’s about it. Yeah. This is r/Edelgard btw lmao. However, Byleth choosing Edelgard is much more complex and difficult to articulate. At the very least we can say (4) is met by the very nature of going against Rhea.

When Rhea orders Byleth to kill Edelgard in the name of the Goddess Byleth knows this is bullshit as he/she knows Sothis cannot give this order because of events earlier. It is important to point out here that whether Sothis wants/doesn’t want Byleth to kill Edelgard is irrelevant. I cannot stress this enough; one cannot speak on behalf of God. For the Teleological Suspension of the Ethical to be applicable Sothis must command Byleth herself.

Sothis is the in-game equivalent of God, but she is not the Christian God. She does not order Byleth (Abraham) to kill Edelgard (Isaac). The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical is not applicable because Sothis did not demand an existential test of faith- she did not put Byleth in a position of monumental choice (the choice itself could be called monumental, however) in which eternal salvation or damnation hung over them. Byleth ought not feel angst at her decision (1) because it was not an invocation of the virtue of the absurd. It was a monumental choice in which time and eternity intersected, but it was not a choice God ordained to be a test of faith (2). (3) is not applicable as Sothis tells you otherwise. It is Rhea who gives you commands, not Sothis (4).

Faith and religion is so much more than regurgitating church dogma. It is the spirit in which these tenants are respected and practiced. These are Serios’s tenants you can find in the library:

The Book of Seiros, Part V The Five Eternal Commandments

• Dare not doubt or deny the power or existence of the goddess.

• Dare not speak the goddess's name in vain.

• Dare not disrespect your father, mother, or any who serve the goddess.

• Dare not abuse the power gifted to you by the goddess.

• Dare not kill, harm, lie, or steal, unless such acts are committed by the will of the goddess.

I’m going to do what you should never do when you write anything: I’m just going to assume people can spot the hypocrisy of the one who literally wrote these five commandments. It is here that she uses church dogma (again, that she wrote herself) to justify her actions. But there is a point that should be brought up here; Rhea probably wrote this with the best of intentions. None of these commandments are particularly offensive, but she uses them in a way in which violates the very spirit in which she probably wrote them in. Further, there is irony here in that Sothis, in instructing Byleth to choose their own path, also gave out a free pass to Byleth.

Byleth and Sothis embody something similar to the Christian paradox mentioned earlier. Sothis, the Goddess of Fodlan, is incarnated in the body of a mortal. Moreover, she instructs a mortal to choose their own path. The paradox encompassed then is a divine being ordaining a mortal can do no wrong here. The very nature of this paradox is offensive to reason, that a higher divine being can bestow upon a lesser being the aspect of freedom without sin. Recall then that we have two answers to this; we can take offense or we can have faith. What we cannot do is believe by virtue of reason.

(Small note here: when we refer to morality, we aren’t referring to modern notions of consequentialism, Kantian, or anything of the like. In the context of Kierkegaard and theology what is morally right is similar to Aquinas’s theories of action. What is morally right is what brings us closer to God.)

The rational being ought to choose what is best for them. In the context of the holy tomb, it is a monumental existential choice in which time and eternity intersected for Byleth. To choose Edelgard over Rhea is to throw away eternity, rulership, power, and hedonistic pleasures in favor of rebellion and the exhilaration of freedom. To choose the church is to choose for eternity; it is with great angst that Byleth must strike Edelgard down. But that’s not what this choice ought to mean. Sothis had given Byleth the burden of choice. But what is choice? The rational being ought to choose the church for promise of ease and leisure. To rule behind the most privileged walls in all of Fodlan. But for Dostoevsky this is a farce. If the rational being ought to have chosen one decision over the other, did they make a choice at all? He calls this the most advantageous advantage. Or rather, it is the ability to fuck it all up. It is the active human ability to choose what is bad for one’s self in favor of something else. It is the ability to choose something worst, or to choose for something greater.

There is one question that I have avoided answering: why faith? to that end, why choose Edelgard? Remember the beginning of the game in which Sothis forces Byleth’s confession: ‘I am a mortal’. Remember that Sothis tells Byleth to choose their own path. Five years later, after Byleth’s monumental existential choice, we see Crimson Flowers ending... yet on a metaphysical level this didn’t happen five years later. When Kierkegaard says that time and eternity intersected, he meant that at the moment of choice is a temporal decision that will be judged for eternity. When Byleth made the choice to choose Edelgard this was both going to happen, but also happened immediately. It was the moment in which Byleth was judged for eternity. It is in Crimson Flower, at Edelgard's side, that this all comes to fruition; As the burden of choice fades, so to does the green from Byleth’s hair. As the feeling of angst leaves, so to does the green from their eyes. For in this moment all reason is suspended. It is the ultimate expression of faith: by virtue of the absurd Byleth’s heart begins to beat, for faith leads to unlocking one’s true self.

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First, holy crap this is awesome. I love Kierkegaard, and I hadn't considered the idea of the kill/protect choice in the context of the Abraham/Issac sacrifice. This just articulates so much of why CF works so well for me as a route, so thank you.

I'm going to springboard off of this to talk about the theological implications of the Abraham/Issac moment: the testing of Abraham acts as a means to demonstrate that the Hebrew's God is different than other "pagan" deities. There was not the linkage of morality with gods that exists in popular Judeo-Christian consciousness today. A god commanded an action, and the individual obeyed it, because they were a mortal.

Abraham being requested to sacrifice Issac would be an action that Abraham would follow, not because it had anything to do with right/wrong, but because it was commanded of Abraham. When Abraham goes to kill his son, Yahweh stops him because that action is not right. Abraham instead is told to sacrifice a sheep, because as Kierkegaard articulates, asking a man to sacrifice his own son is a monstrous action, and one that would mark Yahweh as barbaric, and the relationship between Yahweh and his followers as one where Yahweh's commands are followed solely because of His power, instead of His goodness. It also is inherently contradictory-Yahweh promises Abraham his descendants will rule nations, yet tells him to kill his son.

In other words, the real choice is to ignore what is commanded, for what is right. And this is what we see in the Holy Tomb as well. Byleth, according to the Church's teachings, must not disrespect those who "serve the goddess", Rhea. Yet by doing so, they will be killing Edelgard in cold blood. By refusing to kill Edelgard, Byleth makes the seemingly non-moral choice to ignore the Goddess' teachings, but in doing so, they are truly following Sothis' command to "cut their own path" like a mortal, as OP points out. The actual path of the Goddess.

It's phrased as "protecting" Edelgard for a reason-it's the morally correct thing to do, despite Edelgard's many sins. By ignoring the false morality that Rhea commands, and instead choosing what is truly moral. Byleth finds their own humanity, and again like OP says, becomes human.

BTW, if anyone is going, “OP is reading too much into this.“ Byleth (Beleth) and "El" are both ancient demons/pagan gods in the Old Testament. The biblical references were in the writer's heads. Guaranteed.

www . reddit . com/r/Edelgard/comments/eg8fa4/comment/fc6o2tg/

In terms of Christian symbolism, I have a theory about how the Silver Snow ending art is rather sinister.

Protestant Reformers, including John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Thomas, John Knox, Roger Williams, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and John Wesley, as well as most Protestants of the 16th–18th centuries, felt that the Early Church had been led into the Great Apostasy by the Papacy and identified the Pope with the Antichrist.

So here we have a solid basis for the idea that Rhea, the "Pope" of Fodlan => Antichrist/Satan/whatever. This view is part of Historicist interpretations of the Book of Revelation.

And it seems like the game deliberately alludes to this idea, with people accusing Rhea and the Central Church of apostasy.

Notably, one major figure Historicists associated with the Pope/Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon. For people familiar with Shin Megami Tensei, this is the demon Mother Harlot.

She appears as wearing a purple robe. The color purple was associated with the Roman Empire, as well as the garments of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the Harlot and her beast can be seen as an allegory of the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Empire respectively.

The Harlot is seen riding on the seven-headed beast as she represents the apostate church, The Roman Catholic Church, which rose to prominence on the back of the power of the Roman Empire.

Note how this fits Rhea/The Church, which rose to prominence on the back of the power of the Adrestian Empire. And overall this seems appropriate because 3H is full of SMT influences.

The really important thing to take away from that description is the color purple.

The Book of Revelation also describes Satan as "the great dragon who deceives the whole world".

Now let's consider what we see in the SS ending art.

purple dragon banners (i.e Satan/The Harlot is victorious!)

Purple dragon wheel thingy on the side of Byleth's carriage

Byleth's clothes (or at least, their cape) is white on the outside, but purple on the inside

the person with a bunch of purple colors climbing onto Byleth's carriage. Is that guy a jester? I can't really tell, but that's what it looks like to me. If so, it kinda seems like a diss, like the game telling you "lol you're a fool". And in any case, the imagery seems to allude to Mother Harlot

Let's take this a step further and look at some passages from the Book of Revelation about the fall of Babylon. Note that Babylon is essentially a metaphor for some sort of sinful nation/land/city which has earned the ire of God's wrath.

“With such violence    the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,    never to be found again. 22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters,    will never be heard in you again. No worker of any trade    will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone    will never be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp    will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride    will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people.    By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people,    of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.” I feel like the SS ending art alludes quite a bit to this passage.

On the right side of the art, we can see people playing trumpets/pipes and a harpist.

We can see a couple of lamps on the right side as well

The dark skinned dude and the woman with the purple shawl at the bottom of the picture look like a bridegroom and bride to me

You could even say the SS ending art looks lightly based on this famous artwork of Alexander entering Babylon.

The immediate next chapter in the Book of Revelation talks about the Battle of Armageddon. Note that a lot of this is HEAVILY metaphorical but check it out:

11 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”

19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

Okay, so like I said a lot of this is HEAVY on metaphor. And obviously there are TONS of differing interpretations on what this actually means.

I could elaborate on a lot of things here but since this comment is getting so long, I'm gonna focus on just the Silver Snow part for now. The passage mentions "an angel standing in the sun" who announces The Battle of Armageddon. What do we notably see in the SS ending art?

An angel in the sun.

In conclusion, a lot of the imagery seems to point to the idea that the second coming of Christ and the Battle of Armageddon is right around the corner. To further tie into this, what route comes after Silver Snow in terms of the seasons metaphor? Crimson Flower.

Gonna elaborate "a bit" on the Crimson Flower part of my theory - the Battle of Armageddon is CF's Tailtean Plains chapter. The epic confrontation between the army of heaven and the combined armies of Satan and the kings of the earth.

What does the name "Dimitri" mean? "Earth-lover". Dimitri, the "king of the earth", joining forces with Rhea, the Antichrist.

And let's talk a bit more about why the BEs represent the army of heaven.

Eagles in the Bible are often used as metaphors for God's wrath against sinful nations, and God's protection.

"Edelgard" means "noble protector". "Hresvelg" is a variation of "Hræsvelgr" in Norse mythology, which is a giant eagle that sits on the edge of the heavens. So Edelgard's full name is literally something like "Noble protector eagle from heaven".

I'll end by quoting some Bible passages involving the eagle-as-God's-protection metaphor. Pay extra attention to the final two lines:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,    my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you  from the fowler’s snare  and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers,  and under his wings you will find refuge;  his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”    and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you,  no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you  to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands,  so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra;  you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

This theme of "peace" is pretty prominent in various CF endings. For example, Byleth/Hanneman and Byleth/Manuela paired endings both mention "true peace" while their non-CF paired endings do not. The Edelgard/Byleth ending also says "to ensure a lasting peace". IIRC the German translation of that ending is even more direct, saying that they create an era of peace.

Another one - what's the purpose of the CG from Edelgard's coronation?

If you ask me, the main purpose is the imagery of how it looks like she's praying to her father, like Jesus prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. Obviously, Ionius IX is NOT God, but the idea is just that the Jesus figure is praying to their father.

This ceremony makes Edelgard Emperor. If you check the wikipedia article about the title King of Kings, it specifically mentions that it's equivalent to "Emperor" and is often translated as such. Who is known as the King of Kings in Christianity? Jesus.

And Edelgard says some ominous shit following the coronation ceremony:

"Now that I'm the emperor, it's time to grasp my destiny. After the ceremony in the Holy Tomb, I must return to Enbarr. This may be the last we see of each other."

So yeah, I know a lot of this might sound like a stretch but whatever, just sharing my thoughts for fun. Make of it what you will! If at the very least I make people's headcanons more fun then that's good enough for me :D

www . reddit . com/r/fireemblem/comments/dhxbrw/the_meaning_of_divinity_my_issues_with_the_church/

In contrast, even just the name "Byleth" is a demon name (while "Edelgard" means "noble protector" - which sounds more appropriate for the true messiah?). In Byleth's Silver Snow ending, they're left hoping for true peace, while in Crimson Flower, true peace is actually achieved. A key aspect of the true messiah is they bring about an age of peace. This is why one of Jesus's names is "Prince of Peace".

Jesus's main antagonists in the Bible were corrupt religious authorities. He came out and accused them of being corrupt (like Edelgard accuses the Church), and in response the authorities pointed back at Jesus and claimed he was the wicked one (which is how the Church reacts after Edelgard declares war).