#golden wildfire route

[megashadowdragon]

[megashadowdragon]

Look, Rhea is a tragic figure. I feel for her. Her trauma at the hands of Nemesis and the Agarthans is vast, and the slaughter in Zanado is completely unforgivable.

But until she's healed from that trauma and doesn't blame all of humanity for that nightmare, there's absolutely no reason she should be in charge of anything. Much less the very people she resents.

The Empire was created when the Church named Wilhelm its emperor, and the Kingdom is literally called the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus because it was founded by the Church as well. It's only by looking at the Alliance where you can see how the commoners especially feel about the Church's practices when they haven't been indoctrinated.

When the priest from The Eastern Church is trying to stress how they're different from the Central Church, he says:

Their church doesn't have an order of knights.

They don't believe in using force to chastise believers.

A noble house keeps order in their territory, and they have forbidden the use of any soldiers, even for self-defense.

You can reverse engineer these to describe how they see the Central Church in Leicester: Militant, violent towards its followers, and deceitful (claiming self-defense as a shield for its violent ways).

This is correct. The Church has a standing army and a school used to train child soldiers. It punishes criminals with execution more often than not. And it actively warps major events to make people see them in a certain light.

Yes, Rhea chose to keep the peace rather than openly hating humanity. That's not exactly a kindness when she 1) makes sure most people are reliant on the church for basic needs 2) restricts access to education based on who she can control (nobles vs. commoners) 3) bans advances in technology like the printing press so she can more easily prohibit the spread of knowledge and 4) creates clones and experiments on babies.

I understand she is traumatized. I understand she is in pain and trying to protect her people from another slaughter. But the simple fact is she's not even doing that well, because she's refused to heal. Everything she does against the Agarthans is basically whack-a-mole, and she only ever punishes who they manipulated.

Hubert found TWSD in 10 years! She's had centuries! I can't even say he's healed from his trauma to make that happen, but at least he directed it to something practical that got results. So no one would suffer like he had.

But Rhea? She's content to punish and oppress humanity for being manipulated by the Agarthans. Meanwhile, TWSD experiments on children too and the Church does nothing. When Lysithea and Edelgard are the sole survivors of murky circumstances, one would think that the Church would get involved. Even for aid. But no. They had their chance to make this right, and they chose to turn a blind eye.

I cannot rightly believe that she really cares about human beings when she treats the people most loyal to her so horribly. Even Seteth! She's telling Catherine to burn down a city with people inside in the Black Eagles route, she's never once tried to get anyone to teach Cyril to read and write (Seteth was the only one interested in doing that for him), and she hid all of her atrocities from Seteth because she knew that what she was doing was wrong.

Her compassion as the archbishop ultimately comes from a place of indoctrination and control. Understandable though it may be because of what she experienced, it's still wrong. And she shouldn't be in charge of anything because of that.

[lilblueorchid]

Verdant Wind 

In our Golden Wildfire...

I’m back form the deads and to no one’s surprise I’m still in love with Mr Claude Von Riegan. I know there has been a lot of ruckus about the game (I'm active on twitter so,,, boy,,,) but I personally liked Golden Wildfire a lot! Such an interesting take on Claude’s character and the struggles he’s constantly faced with. I also love how it contrasts nicely with Verdant Wind down to the ending.  Unlike Dimitri or Edelgard, Claude’s role is not locked, with the addition of 3hopes, he has taken pretty much every side of the war and I really find this cool for his character. King, I have your back no matter what, even if you gave me white hair for half of your route. 

[casvonriegan]

Je te laisserai de mots.

CHAPTER 1

Warnings: Major Character Death Fandom: Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes/Fire Emblem Three Houses Pairing: Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra Characters: Hubert von Vestra, Ferdinand von Aegir, Edelgard von Hresvelg, Ladislava

War is raging across Fódlan, and the Empire must make a choice. Taking risks gets results, but of course, the consequences are not always worth it. In a mission gone wrong, one of the Empire's most esteemed generals pays the ultimate price in order to protect the ones they love.

And I leave you these words, my dearest Hubert...

Ladislava entered the room. Her clothes were torn and stained beyond recognition, blood and dirt caked deep into the fabrics. Bruises and scrapes covered every inch of exposed skin, and she walked with a lameness in her gait. She cleared her throat to get the attention of the two others in the room, unable to keep the despair from seeping into her face.

“Lady Edelgard. Lord Vestra.”

Edelgard looked up from where the two were scouring over some battle plans, her face immediately falling.

“Ladislava?” Edelgard abruptly stood from her seat. Hubert regarded her with his usual cold demeanor, his face devoid of any and all emotion, perfectly crafted to hide the swell of anxiety and unease he felt inside. 

“We did not expect you back so soon. What has happened?” he asked cooly. But the fear bubbled beneath the surface, threatening to rear its ugly head and break through. Any breath, any sound could be the one to give him away. His skin prickled with discomfort, for too much, too much was out of his control.

Ladislava remained silent for just a moment too long. Edelgard continued in her stead, her voice laced with desperation.

“What of Ferdinand's forces? Have they returned? Why is he not with you?!”

Ladislava’s shoulders slumped, her composure crumbling.

“Your Majesty, I… must regretfully inform you that our reinforcements arrived… too late.”

Edelgard choked on a breath. “What do you mean ?”

…What?

Too late…?

Hubert's heart felt like it had come to a complete stop. He grunted in discomfort, but it was quiet enough that neither of the others in the room paid him any mind. There was no other tell that could yet give him away. He was still protected behind his unfeeling, unthinking mask.

“I am so dreadfully sorry, Your Majesty,” Ladislava continued, voice shaking. “Upon arrival we were already overwhelmed by Riegan’s forces. Ferdinand and his battalion were completely bested. It was all we could do to get ourselves back alive.”

Hubert trembled where he stood. He tightened his grip on the battle plans he’d brought to Edelgard for review.

“My own battalion suffered major losses. It was clearly Claude’s intention to entrap us in Alliance territory from the beginning. He and Lord Gloucester must have planned for this to happen exactly as it did.”

Edelgard cursed, falling back into her seat. “I should have sent another general with him… Damnit , I never should have let him go alone!”

“Please, Your Majesty. This is not your fault. It is mine. I could not move quickly enough. It was my duty to put a stop to this, and I failed.”

Edelgard was silent, quiet tears falling from her eyes onto the papers strewn across her desk. Hubert stood unmoving next to her, barely breathing. He stared into the nothingness of the ground, fearing that any attempt to speak, to move, to breathe would result in him completely falling apart.

“Ferdinand,” Edelgard choked out finally. “He's… he's…?”

“I’m afraid so, Your Majesty…” Ladislava said solemnly.

“How can you be sure?” Edelgard demanded, slamming a fist down on her desk, the words thick with desperation.

“I watched as Claude himself delivered the finishing blow to General Aegir. I… I tried your Majesty. I moved as quickly as I could, but I… I was too late…”

Too late.

Reinforcements were called as soon as they'd received word from their stronghold against Gloucester territory that the Lord had retracted his allegiance. How did they not make it in time. How had Claude managed to pull together such forces in such a small amount of time?

...Ferdinand…and his battalion…bested…

His battalion? Sure. They'd been hand-picked by the man himself, but perhaps they were not as skilled as Hubert remembered. Surely even if none of the battalion made it, Ferdinand was absolutely skilled enough to best Riegan and make it out alive.

…

But the Ferdinand he knew would never abandon his men, would he?

His mind was at war with itself, Hubert realized. Trying, in vain, to match sense and logic with desires and desperation. To look at all the facts that had been presented to him and promptly cast them aside, instead opting to believe what he so badly wanted to be the truth and make up evidence to support it.

Ferdinand… you fool. How could you do this…?

Hubert brought a shaking hand to his chest, willing his damned lungs to take in air. He couldn't breathe. But no, he was breathing too much, too quickly, too shallow. The oxygen couldn't make it to his brain. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think .

“Ladislava, you are dismissed. Please inform the others. And, please see to it that no one comes looking for us for a while.”

“Consider it done, your Majesty.”

…

“Hubert?” Edelgard asked softly. The man hadn’t moved an inch since he’d asked Ladislava why she was here.

Finishing blow… General Aegir…

Hubert choked on a sob and his body finally gave in. He fell to his knees, the paperwork he’d been desperately clinging to falling from his grasp and fluttering across the floor in front of him. His heartbeat thumped in his ears. He couldn’t hear anything else. He didn’t want to hear anything else. Damn it all , he'd heard more than enough.

Lies. It all had to be lies. Hubert could not stand the words otherwise. Ladislava was simply mistaken. There was no way that Ferdinand von Aegir fell to the likes of Claude von Riegan. The notion was laughable. Asinine. And this was no time for jokes, damnit, they were in the middle of a war!

“...ubert…!”

Claude was a devious schemer and a brilliant tactician, this much praise was due. But Ferdinand could never, would never fall to the likes of him. Ferdinand was a brilliant fighter, his quick wit and sound decision-making saving them on multiple occasions. His prowess on the battlefield was truly unmatched. Even the Empire’s most skilled fighters couldn’t best him in their training. Ferdinand himself had felled general after general of high standing in both the Kingdom and the Alliance.

“...Hubert!...”

…

It was Edelgard’s voice. Somewhere out there, trying to reach him. He wanted to grab for it, to latch on to it and never let it go. What he should have done when Ferdinand insisted that he and his battalion take the initiative to begin marching through Gloucester territory.

“Do you not trust me, Hubert?” Ferdinand had demanded, sporting his typical half-pout whenever Hubert had tried to talk him out of charging forward into enemy lines. Hubert had to give him credit, though, he was particularly motivated to get moving on this mission.

“You need to use that head of yours to think sometimes, Aegir ,” Hubert had scolded. “You’re a general; your topmost priority needs to be the survival of yourself and your troops.”

“I will be in Gloucester territory, Hubert. They’ve sworn fealty, and will undoubtedly send reinforcements should we require them.”

Edelgard had agreed then. “He’s our best chance to actually make some headway into Alliance territory while they’re still reeling from the split with Gloucester and Phlegethon territory. We have to trust him, Hubert.”

“Then let us send additional Empire forces,” Hubert had countered, his tone almost desperate. “One battalion won't be enough to counter Riegan’s army should the worst come to pass.”

“So that's it then, you don't trust me!” Ferdinand accused. “You don't think I can handle this!”

“Ferdinand quit spouting nonsense, you know damn well you're one of the only people in this world that I do trust,” Hubert bit back. “It is Riegan that I wouldn't trust half as far as I could throw him.”

Slight color had dusted Ferdinand’s cheeks. “Well, to be fair Hubert, you could probably throw him quite far.”  

“Ferdinand, this is truly no time for your dreadful jokes.”

Edelgard stepped in then, resting a reassuring hand on Hubert's shoulder. “We cannot afford to part with more forces right now, Hubert, we are already spread so thin. We have to trust in what few allies we’ve made. It is the only choice we have.”

Hubert had finally sighed in resignation, dread weighing heavy in his heart. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He turned and walked away, having nothing else positive to say on the matter.

Ferdinand offered apologies to Lady Edelgard before running after him.

“Hubert, don't you think that this is a little ridiculous, even for you?”

Hubert had bit his tongue and kept walking. Ferdinand groaned in frustration, running to catch up to him.

“Hubert, for the Goddess' sake, will you slow down and talk to me?”

“I doubt I have anything to say that you wish to hear, Ferdinand,” Hubert bit back. 

“Then will you at least stop and hear me?”

Hubert stopped abruptly, Ferdinand nearly tripping over himself so he didn't collide into him. Ferdinand had muttered something under his breath as he regained his composure, moving so that he and Hubert were face-to-face.

“Look, I know you don't trust Claude. And to be truthful Hubert, neither do I. And I'm sure Lady Edelgard has her own reservations. But this is war, and sometimes we need to take risks.”

Hubert crossed his arms. Since when was Ferdinand the sensible one, leaving him to be the dramatic? He despised the way their roles had been reversed. “Risks that involve one of our most skilled generals practically throwing himself to the wolves?”

“Hubert, please,” Ferdinand had truly begged, his pleading gaze holding Hubert firmly in place in front of him. “I need you to trust me more than you distrust Claude.”

Hubert took a deep breath. “Ferdinand, of course I trust you. You know damn well you're the only one I think capable of pulling this off other than Lady Edelgard or myself.”

Ferdinand had smiled then. “My men are skilled fighters. Even in the case we do cross blades with Claude’s forces, I know that we can hold our own. Especially considering we've got you on the back swing.” Ferdinand gave Hubert a playful nudge. Had anyone else dared touch him, they'd be reduced to atoms. But, seeing as it was Ferdinand, Hubert could only fight the smile that threatened to make its way to the surface. In vain, of course. Ferdinand beamed brighter when he saw the small smile tugging at Hubert’s lips.

“This is going to work, Hubert, I promise.”

Hubert shook his head. “No, I need you to promise me something else.”

Ferdinand tilted his head in question. Hubert took Ferdinand's hands into his own, the latter blushing from the gesture and from Hubert's intense gaze.

“You must promise to return to us. Unscathed if you can, but you absolutely must return to us. To me.”

Hubert hadn’t entirely meant to include the last part, but he dared not take it back. Ferdinand was astounded by Hubert's serious demeanor, paired with such blatant, genuine concern for his well-being. Usually Hubert's care came in the form of snide comments and back-handed compliments. This was… uncharacteristic.

Ferdinand would be lying if he said it didn't unnerve him. But, steeling his resolve, he gave Hubert’s hands a comforting squeeze.

“There is nothing in this world that could stop me from returning to the Empire. Rest assured, Hubert, this isn't the last you'll see of me.”

“Hubert, please, look at me.”

He looked up. But he could not see. His vision was completely clouded, as though they’d been shrouded in the densest fog. 

“You were right. I should have listened to you," Edelgard began, voice quivering. "Oh, Hubert, I am so sorry.” 

He felt the warmth of Lady Edelgard’s embrace around him, her body shaking with the force of her sobs. He hugged her back, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He could not remember the last time he'd broken down like this in front of her. He could not remember the last time he'd broken down like this period.

Edelgard continued whispering desperate apologies to him as they both cried.

Eventually the tears stopped and they sat there, their quiet, ragged breaths the only sounds in the room. They were oddly grounding, in a way.

“Hubert,” Edelgard asked softly, her voice hoarse.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

He was shocked with the clarity of his own voice despite having just sobbed harder than he had in decades.

“Can you ever forgive me?”

Hubert’s head fell, the smallest hint of a chuckle on his lips. “Oh, Lady Edelgard, there is nothing to forgive.”

“It is my fault-”

Hubert immediately stopped her. “You made the call that you believed was best for the Empire. You mustn't begin to doubt yourself now. Ferdinand surely didn't. And neither do I.”

Hubert looked up, and his heart cracked at the sight of her. Her eyes were red and wet with fresh tears. He hadn’t seen her this broken since… since she'd come back from Those Who Slither in the Dark all those years ago. 

He failed to protect her then. He must protect her now.

“Hubert…” 

“Lady Edelgard, you have spent your whole life fighting for what is right. You inspire all of us to fight with everything we have, to see your vision come to pass. Ferdinand was surely honored to fall fighting for a better future for the people of Fódlan. He would not resent you for this.”

“But what about you, Hubert?” Edelgard asked desperately. “I didn't listen to your concerns, and now, the one you held most dear, he’s…”

Without thinking, Hubert took Edelgard’s face into his hands.

“My Lady, there is not a thing in the world you could do that would make me resent you. He… Ferdinand is not the only one I hold most dear.” 

Edelgard visibly melted in relief, falling back into Hubert's arms as fresh cries tore their way from her lips. Hubert held her tight.

“His death will not be in vain. We will continue to fight for the Empire. For Fódlan.”

[softquietsteadylove]

The tiny cellar. The door slamming shut. The darkness. Gils claustrophobia. The DRAMA!

For the wildfire one please! ❤️

"Someone! Anyone, please!!"

Thena walked a little more briskly. It had reached her ears so quietly and muffled at first, but there was no mistaking it now. Someone needed help. "Hello?"

"Please, help me!"

She picked her pace up to a light jog, the scenery looking much more familiar now. She kept telling herself she wasn't coming back to Gil's cabin - again - she was just...in the area. Her perimeter routes had changed, that was all.

It wasn't that she missed the place, or the host.

"Someone!"

"Gil?" she called out, looking around for him. She couldn't figure out for the life of her where he was. She walked around the side of the cabin, but he wasn't by the wood pile, or chopping out front. He didn't seem to be inside, based on how she was hearing him.

"Please!"

"Gil, are you okay?!" she shouted back, her heart starting to beat faster. What the hell had happened to him? "Gil!"

"Help!!"

"Gilgamesh!" Thena ran around the other side of the house. There wasn't much over there except the storm cellar door and where the water connection was. He had showed her the water main so that she could help herself to the shower in case he was away and had shut it off.

The doors rattled, being pounded on from the inside.

"Please, please, please!"

"Gil!" Thena shouted back, rushing to pull them open. They weren't locked, but the wood had warped over the course of winter, and now were wedged together in just such a way that made them seem impossible to get open now that they were slotted together.

"Thena, please!"

She slammed her foot on one door and pulled on the other one, stumbling back as it finally cracked open. If she didn't know him so well, it might have been terrifying, seeing someone as large as Gil come tearing up and out of the cellar in that state.

"Thena!"

She tried not to fall over as Gil sank to his knees, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his face into her stomach. He was bawling like a baby, clearly having been hyperventilating in the cellar by himself. She huffed. "Gil."

"Thena, oh thank god, fuck, I-I thought-"

Thena tried a few times to try and pat his head - or something - without feeling weird about it. He was clinging to her like he'd faced down his worst nightmare, which perhaps he had. He wasn't being dramatic, or his big, sensitive self. He wasn't well. "It's okay, Gil."

He screamed into the material of her shirt, his whole body quaking. He was such a bear of a man but he truly seemed fragile, on the verge of crumbling. "I can't...I can't..."

Thena finally gave in, letting her hands fall over him as gently as she could manage. He flinched, and it only made her feel worse for him. But she rubbed his shoulder, ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm here, Gil. You're okay."

He took slower breaths, steadier with each slow inhale. He slowly sank lower until he couldn't even hold onto her anymore, seemingly ready to lie down on the forest floor.

"Gil, hey," she said gently, trying to have more than her usual charisma (lack thereof) with him. She knelt with him, holding his shoulders and making him look at her. "What happened?"

He groaned, his throat raw from screaming for however long he'd been in there. "I-I was checking on some stuff in the cellar. I always have the doors wide open, but they must have gotten blown over, or maybe something wandered by and closed them--I-I dunno."

"Okay," she nearly whispered, nodding and watching him closely. His eyes were bloodshot from crying, but his pupils were responsive. He was no longer gasping for air, his chest no longer heaving. She wouldn't be surprised if he was lightheaded. "It's over now."

He groaned again, rubbing his face. "Ugh, Thena...I'm sorry."

He was apologising?

"I didn't mean to freak out and," he blushed, typical Gil, "throw myself at you like that."

She tilted her head at him, and he looked truly ashamed and remorseful. "You never told me you're claustrophobic."

He shook his head, ruffling his own hair now. He looked like he'd been through hell. "Doesn't come up much, I guess. I don't exactly get put on cave duty that often."

Thena furrowed her brows. She would think that if his phobia was this severe that he wouldn't be put on cave search duty to begin with.

"Thanks for rescuing me," he smiled limply at her as she rocked back on her heels and flopped back on her butt across from him. "Sorry you had to come all this way to do it."

"I was," she shrugged, hoping she seemed casual, "passing by."

Whether he believed her or not, he chuckled and nodded, "well, you really saved me, so..."

Thena sighed, keeping an eye on him. It didn't feel right to just...leave him like this. She inhaled, poking him in the shoulder, "okay, hey, c'mon, get up."

He blinked at her as she pulled herself up and dusted off her grey jeans. "R-Right, you must have to-"

"Get inside, I'll make your disgusting leaf water for you." As soon as she said it she wondered if maybe she could see why she was known as a 'stone cold bitch' at the station.

Gil brightened like a dog being offered a treat. He looked up at her with those big brown eyes of his, "really?"

She turned away from him; he acted like she had asked him to marry her! All she offered was to make him some tea! "Today, Gilgamesh, before I change my mind!"

Maybe she could be a little nicer to the man whose life had flashed before his eyes in his own storm cellar.

But Gil picked himself up, hopping to fall in step beside her. He nudged her shoulder gently with his, "thanks."

She bit the inside of her cheek. He was making such a big deal about it. "Thank me if I make it right."

But even now, her growling did nothing to dissuade him from inviting her in. If anything, when she whipped the door open and stepped in ahead of him, he held the door open over her shoulder. Such a little gentleman (she rolled her eyes).

"Gil," she started while on her way to the kitchen.

"Yeah?" he asked, already kicking off his boots in favour of his sandals.

She lingered by the doorway between the kitchen and the main body of the cabin. "Next time you need something in that cellar...just call me."

"Huh?"

She resisted the urge to press her forehead to the fridge door, feeling her face growing warm. "Just wait for me and I'll do it for you! You don't have to go down there again, is what I'm saying."

She continued on her way, digging out the kind of tea that was his favourite. She didn't know what kind it was, but she supposed she had smelled worse teas. And she knew how to put the kettle on. Maybe she would make herself a single mug of instant coffee with the boiling water while she was here.

"Thanks, Thena."

He was probably smiling that dumb smile that was kind of endearing. And she refused to go out there if he was going to catch her looking flustered over it. He could wait for his stupid leaf water.

This was why she was off search and rescue. Saving just one person made it feel worthwhile to do it again and again.

[frogadir]

Forcing myself to finish three hopes 😔😞😖

Cutscene with sylvain 😱🤓😍🥰😘😋

He would not fucking say that 😑😑😑

[all-pacas]

life's a beach!

I started this fic ages ago, just after 3 Hopes was released and I was all about Claude's hot girl summer, and then I never finished it? But I still really liked it? So whatever, I don't know if I can ever come up with a proper ending but it's still 2k of pretty good so

-

By the time the Federation army returned, blistered and exhausted, to camp, Shez and the Ashen Demon had already become fast friends. Well: Shez was chatting away at the Demon’s right, and the other woman did not seem entirely disinterested.

Lindhart had been in the Federation Army longer than even Holst. Lindhart also liked to use his technical status of Prisoner of War to get out of tiring, sweaty battles, particularly messy situations like Empire generals going rogue and attacking Federation forces despite us having a very clear treaty about that sort of thing. Still, it was impossible to go for more than a week around here without listening to Shez bragging about how she was totally gonna defeat the Ashen Demon someday.

“Are you friends now?” he asks as the women stroll by, the Ashen Demon following her father, Shez and for some reason Alois like ducklings in tow.

“Of course!” Shez says proudly, slapping her palm to her chest.

The Ashen Demon’s expression does not change.

“I thought you were going to kill her. Dramatically. Theatrically.” Not that Lindhart wants that, you understand. But Shez says that sort of thing a lot.

“Nah, I’m over it,” Shez says cheerfully.

The Ashen Demon’s expression does not change.

Claude, a manic gleam in his eyes, materializes out of nowhere. “Lindhart! Just the man I wanted to see. You’re going to help me write a strongly worded letter to Edelgard.”

“Alas, I am merely a prisoner of war and—“

Claude hooks him around the neck with an elbow, and Lindhart doesn’t resist. What a mess. Claude pauses. Stands with his bait hooked and runs his free hand through his hair in the off-chance that will help.

“I trust you found your new contract in order?” he asks Jeralt with reasonable formality.

Jeralt tries not to smile. He’d had a six-month contract with the Empire and knew their new boss was half a kid herself, but never had occasion to meet her Imperial Majesty. But this kid is in charge of Leicester? Goddess above, Byleth’s got at least a couple years on him, and Jeralt still thinks of her as half a baby. Claude has the sleepy-looking fellow in a headlock, just brushed his hair back, and already has a cowlick again. Saints. “Terms were fine,” he says calmly. “Generous, even.”

“Well, I know better than to let an opportunity pass me by, and after the troubles your men have given us these past months…” The kid’s gaze falls on Byleth, observing quietly.

“I mean, trouble is putting it strongly,” Shez interjects. “I could have taken her. They didn’t give us trouble. At most, a little —“ she falters, looking for a word.

“Trouble?” Byleth suggests.

“My neck hurts,” the man in a headlock complains.

“You guys buddies now?” Claude asks, gesturing at the women who had, to the best of his and the camp’s knowledge, been sworn, fated, and dramatic foes until two days ago.

“‘Course!” says Shez, slapping her chest with her palm.

-

Claude sends a diplomatic party south with a letter expressing dismay that Edelgard would allow one of her generals to invade and attack her most recent and trusted ally. He details, politely, the damage Fleche had caused (minimal), and the worries sprung anew in his breast (insignificant) that Edelgard was not taking this alliance seriously, that she would condone such a traitorous act (unsurprising), and that recently two Imperial armies had been lost in Federation lands through no fault of Claude’s own and he hopes she remembers this fact (threat).

He has Lorenz read the letter before it goes, testing to see if Lorenz will mention the obvious: if he cannot resist, Edelgard certainly will not. Then Claude asks Judith. Then Holst. Even considering Nader, drumming his fingers against the meeting-hall table while watching Holst read the documents — not that Nader will give a shit, he knows that, but…

He’d asked Marianne to prepare Fleche’s body and armor for transport home; he’d needed it handled by someone he trusts. She’s helping load the wagon when he finds her, rearranging some goods and bullion they’d promised Edelgard weeks ago.

Makes polite small talk. Helps Marianne with the lighter goods. Fleche is being held in a box iced with magic, to preserve her for the journey, and Claude finally comes up with an excuse to see her. A kid, still in pigtails, her hair carefully cleaned and brushed.

After a while, he leaves again.

-

Jeralt had told Byleth to look around camp and get to know their new company, and so she had, taking note of the number of mounted soldiers and Pegasi (lower than typical), mages (average), wyvern (high), and archers (very high). Each lord of the Alliance, great and small, had sent at least a few men. Riegan, Goneril, and Gloucester more. Many were mercenaries, which was typical for the Alliance, who could pay for men more easily than field them. Defenses were adequate, supplies and pay were good.

Jeralt frowns when she reports back. He had meant the other kind of get to know.

Byleth makes another circuit of the camp.

-

Lindhart returns to the camp a few weeks later with a chest full of books and a letter from the Emperor, both of which Claude immediately requisition for himself.

“I thought you weren’t coming back?” Hilda asks, catching Lindhart in the mess a little later. “Wasn’t the whole point of Claude sending you back to the Empire you getting to go home and not keep loitering around camp with us?”

“Why would I want to do that?” Lindhart asks, puzzled, reading one of the books he’d taken before Claude could get his hands on it. “Edelgard would just send me to fight on the front lines. As a prisoner of war, I can sleep all day.”

“Well, now you’re just tempting fate,” His Royal Highness, Claude, Duke of Riegan, first of his fake name, additional titles to be figured out at a later date, says, plopping himself down on the bench opposite Lindhart and Hilda. “Front line medics are in high demand, and I’m quite touched by this display of loyalty to the Federation. What’re you reading?”

“Kings should be open handed and generous with their belongings,” Lindhart says, not looking up from his stolen book.

“Is everything cool with the Empire?” Hilda asks, concerned: she hasn’t heard anything in the hours that Lindhart has been back, and camp gossip has been getting wild lately: half of the army thinks the alliance with the Empire is just a lie to keep them from invading again, and the other half thinks the same thing except for the lie part.

Holst calls it pragmatism: the Federation is still plenty mad at Edelgard for starting the war in the first place, but they’d smacked her on the nose and played the bigger man in offering terms. Baltie says it’s all a trick, and that Claude didn’t wipe out two Imperial armies and generals accidentally. Marianne, meanwhile, thinks it’s all a hopeful sign, recent Fleche debacle aside: peace and alliances are a good thing. Hilda, who once saw Claude enact petty revenge on Lorenz six months after the fact, figures all the gossip is probably true.

“Forgive and forget,” Claude says lightly, taking a bite of a pear. “We don’t mention Edelgard sanctioned an attempt on my most-important life in violation of our treaty, and in return we get to invade the Kingdom.”

“Uh, usually, when you say in return, you get something nice back, not a brand new war.”

“Who says destroying the Central Church isn’t a reward? Certainly not her Imperial Highness.”

-

On Claude’s orders, the army packs up and heads to the North Sea to await some mysterious fleet of ships.

“When I heard beach, I had something else in mind,” Shez grumbles: the shoreline is rocky, beach pebbled, and the ocean itself is reliably freezing. She kicks a couple of rocks to illustrate her point.

“Yeah, this is…” Leonie sighs. Not that she doesn’t have more important things to do than sit on a sunny beach and swim, you understand. Even still. She shivers, as a cold wind picks up.

“I think it’s pretty,” Byleth announces, having previously announced that she prefers her given name to The Ashen Demon, or that girl with no facial expressions; she’s not that bad, I promise. Ever since the women had gone with Jeralt and Alois to Leonie’s village for a couple of days, they’d been thick as thief-hunting mercenaries, and recently Byleth had been experimenting with having and expressing opinions.

“It’s super pretty!” Leonie hastens to reassure her. “In a sort of bleak, end of the world kind of way.” She looks out at the water. She’s never actually seen the ocean before, and it’s a little bit of a let down: you can see land off in the distance, and the waves are small and choppy. She knows they’re in small bay, that this isn’t what the whole ocean looks like. Still.

“I guess we could try to go swimming,” Shez says doubtfully. “It’d probably make for great endurance training.”

“You three crack me up,” Hilda says cheerfully, crunching up to the forlorn with a parasol and beach towel slung over her arm.

“Hildaaaa, we wanna go to the fun ocean!” Shez whines, making grabby hands. “Take us to the fun ocean, please?”

-

Holst announces that it’ll be a week or so before the mysterious secret transport ships arrive to pick them up, and that they’re all officially on light duties until then. They’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, which puts a damper on the free vacation, but Ignatz at least is excited. Once tents are set up and ditches dug, he changes out of his armor and extracts his pencils and sketchbook to do some sketches: he’s always loved the vast, barren landscape of the sea and rocky shore. Like he’s on another world, in a different time.

He takes a leisurely walk through the scrub grass and over boulders the size of castles before he reaches the ocean itself, walking along the shore and looking out at the water. He hears voices: women chatting, and Raphael’s distinctive boom. Sees them a minute later and almost turns back around, blushing, but Hilda spots Ignatz first and summons him over instead.

They’re sunbathing on cloaks and in small-clothes — Leonie in shorts and chemise, Shez in almost nothing, Raphael a gleaming mountain of muscle. Hilda is under a parasol, in a frilly swim-suit, sipping a fruity drink.

That the day is cloudy goes without saying. “It’s not bad,” Leonie says doubtfully. “All these rocks underneath make it kind of like some kind of massage.”

“Next time, we’ll ask Claude to invade somewhere warmer,” Hilda jokes.

Ignatz sketches a posing Hilda, praying Holst won’t happen along them. Byleth is taking a nap. She snores.

-

Bernadetta is located in an old drying shed and brought, protesting, to Claude’s tent. By this point, most of the camp had long since forgotten she was another of the Federation’s prisoners of war, although Marianne chances a wave as Bernadetta and Holst pass.

Claude is much smaller than Holst, which makes him a bit less frightening. But it’s apples and pears. Dragons and wyverns. Death by fire or by drowning. He says hello and Bernadetta squeaks.

“Sure,” he says.

They’ve been camped in and around a fishing village for a week now, and Claude’s tent is twice the size of the others, as befits his status. The inside is bare but for a pile of crates and a bed. Both are piled with books. She spots his relic, Failnaught, leaning against the cot.

“Did you know your father has been named the new Archbishop of the Church?” Claude asks. He passes her a sealed letter and an opened one. She recognizes her father’s handwriting on the first. “Edelgard is asking for your return. I told her she could have Lindhart as well.”

Bernadetta wants to read the letters just as much as she wants to go swimming in the North Sea, fight in another battle, go home, stay here, talk to Claude, or talk to her father. Which is all to say, she doesn’t. Her hands are shaking.

Claude is waiting for her to say something. Anything, really. He has more than half a mind to keep her, if only because bargaining chips seldom come stronger than the Empire’s preferred Archbishop’s daughter. But he’s willing to hear her out. Unlike Linhardt, Bernadetta hasn’t exactly made herself at home in the Federation. If she truly wants to return home… favors owed can be almost as good as prisoners.

She says nothing. Just stares wide-eyed at her feet.

“Okay. Well. You’re welcome to wait out the war in peace,” he says. “I’ve spoken with Margrave Edmund and he will take custody of you —“

There is a knock on the canvas of Claude’s tent. Bernadetta watches him spring up. “Come in!”

It’s Holst. And Shez. “Ships ahoy!” Shez says. Her hair is in a very messy ponytail, and the backs of her arms and neck are red with the imprint of beach rocks.

She walks Bernadetta back to her drying shed. The ships are distant, but visible in the bay, and the camp has sprung into sudden life of packing and shouted commands. The first few smaller boats have landed, bearing banners of green and gold.

“Um,” says Bernadetta. “What banners are those?”

One of Shez’s particular skills is being able to identify any house’s banners at fifty paces. Particularly while drunk and yelling in the mess hall on a leave day. “Almyra’s,” she says.

The banners show a bowman on horseback. A few are crowned. “Oh,” Bernadetta says.

She really doesn’t want to be the first one to say it.

“It is definitely not weird!” Shez says, which isn’t any better.

“N- no! Not at all!”

-

Claude does not eat in the mess that evening. He skips dinner entirely. They’re leaving at first light, the camp a flurry of activity. Judith looks everywhere she can think of; asks Shez; Holst; his friends, but there’s no sign of him.

“Are you searching for something?” The Ashen Demon asks her, as Judith prepares to embark on her third lap around the camp.

“The sorry kid calling himself king around here,” she says.

Byleth points off inland, away from the camp and ships.

“I thought you were looking for a lost item,” she confides as they walk together. Byleth pats a satchel she has slung across her body. “There are many lost items around camp.”

Judith notices her facial expression does not change once as she says this.

“How do you know where the boy went off to?” She asks.

“I saw him leave,” Byleth says. “I asked him if this bracelet was his. Is it yours?”

“Never seen it before in my life.”

After crossing a few fields gone fallow, they enter a small stand of trees. Claude is peppering an aspen with arrows. He sees the women from a long way off and thinks briefly of running.

“Faster ways to chop it down, kid,” Judith says. Claude hadn’t drawn any sort of target on the trunk, nor was he aiming at any spot in particular. She sees a second tree he’d been using as an earlier target. “You’re wasting good arrows.”

Claude’s fingers are stiff and bleeding, his arm aching. His cheek is red and raw.

“Can’t a man sulk in peace?” he asks, going back to his bushel of arrows.

“Care to tell me how you got the Almyran royal fleet to play ferry?”

“Take a guess,” he says, his voice stiff. He shakes out his hand, his smile unmoving.

Byleth peers at the aspen, and he peers at her, and Judith watches him, her mouth tight. She doesn’t approve. She’s mad. What else is new? Who approves of anything he does?

I have so many gods damned secrets, he wants to yell. Sometimes he wants to. Just say them all, let it all go at once. Burn everything down. Ruin his own life. King Claude, what a joke, but worse in Almyra. Everything he does, someone dies, someone looks at him like that, with disappointment, with distrust.

The Ashen Demon turns to look at him, her eyes dark and guileless. “These are some nice shots,” she says.

He laughs.

[hapigairu]

For the record, I truly am sorry for anyone who comes across this nonsense.

[chainreh]

guess who just finished three hopes lol

[maslosstuff]

The more time Linhardt and Caspar are separate the worse Caspar mental state gets, Caspar has no one to comfort him when Linhardt's gone and talking to his dad isn't going to help properly going to say "Linhardt never loved him anyways" or "He's a betrayer to the empire"

[themisteriousentity]

"Golden Deer is boring though it's lackluster, the characters aren't as strong as the other paths there's less conflict-"

You fool. You absolute buffon. Golden Deer is perfectly designed. Not only does it feed into the whole "alliance" theme well by having the characters still work together despite their differences and feelings well before hitting those A supports, but it's ALSO the only route that actually puts the focus on YOU the player. Or, rather, Byleth themself

Black Eagle is about whether or not you can agree to Edelgard's ideals of acceptable sacrifice and perspective that there's only 1 way to do things. The branching happens when you decide whether or not you agree, but ultimately it just explores opposing or agreeing with Edelgard. Anything more than that is really just incidental to that main concept, whether it's Crimson Flower or Silver Snow, the entire time you're focused either on helping Edelgard achieve her goals or you're focused on showing her how wrong she is alongside the Black Eagles who think it's their duty to correct Edelgard's wrongs (and I have a whole separate thing in regards to how the cast acts in Crimson Flower verses Silver Snow). It works really well for characters designed around an empire, a domineering form of government where (usually) a singular ruler determines the course and focus

Blue Lions is focused entirely on working on past issues and learning to bring yourself into the present, but it's done almost entirely through the cast more than the player. The Blue Lions themselves all have their own traumas and deep-seated past issues that hinder or help progress. While both Blue Lions and Black Eagles have a lot in common when it comes to traumatized characters and ideology, the ideology is front and center, while in Boue Lions, their interpersonal conflicts are front and center. This shows especially in the final (non romance) scene, where Dimitri decides that his personal attachment to Edelgard and past memories still matter, and he reaches out a hand, despite her immediately trying to kill him. It's fitting for a route designed around a kingdom, which is usually built entirely on interpersonal dealings between the ruling class

Golden Deer, however, is designed very differently. Unlike the other 3 routes, the player, or more specifically Byleth, is put as the driving force instead of the Lord. And this is actually what makes Golden Deer such a good route and one with the best ending of all of them. Claude has ideals, but he isn't a person who wants to force others to follow his path like Edelgard. Claude has lived a life of strife where his past motivates him, but it doesn't chain him the same way it does Dimitri. Instead, he works on understanding everyone around him and working together towards agreed upon goals, while taking on stuff that isn't agreed upon onto himself. But more than that, while all the Lord's value your opinion, Claude is the only one who actually takes what Byleth wants (rather than just what they think about specific matters) into consideration for his plans. Repeatedly you tell Seteth in Silver Snow that you don't want to kill Edelgard, but he pushes that you have no choice. Pretty much the entire first half of Azure Moon is Dimitri ignoring you. And in Crimson Flower, you've all but completely submitted to Edelgard's will with a couple of exceptions (which actually proves my point because it's specifically in regards to the Golden Deer because you can fight the entirety of Crimson Flower while sparing all of them except for Judith). But in Verdant Wind, Claude doesn't hide that he has a problem with the church and wants Rhea gone. In Golden Wildfire, without Byleth, he's more than happy to just get rid of her without a second thought. But when Byleth is the protagonist, he goes out of his way to accommodate your wants into his plans and goals. When you express as the player that you want to reason with Edelgard and ponder if you can't walk the same path, Claude agrees with you and says he'll make it happen if he can, with the other Golden Deer mostly agreeing. When that,can't happen you both lament the fact that Edelgard gave you no choice together. He makes finding Rhea a priority, mostly because as curious as he is in general, he wants to help you find out answers only Rhea can give you. And all of the Golden Deer do this to some extent, with each other but also with you as the player. I think Hilda and Marianne's A supports with Byleth show this best personally, but that's a personal opinion. And it just works so well for a route designed around the idea of an alliance, people coming together and agreeing to work towards a goal bigger than themselves

And that's not to say the other routes aren't as good as Golden Deer, they're all equally well written, but it just makes me sad when I see people giving the Golden Deer route grief just because the characters aren't the same when it does its theme so beautifully

[megashadowdragon]

reddit comments

Something I love about Golden Wildfire is how the significance of siding with Edelgard is baked into the route name.

Verdant + Crimson/Scarlet = Golden

As mentioned in this comment, Golden Wildfire establishes a key Deer parallel with the Eagles, where they can either side with the Church or with Edelgard. Verdant Wind is their Silver Snow, Golden Wildfire is their CF/SB. Note how siding with the Church is "Silver", while siding with Edelgard is "Golden".

Some other things I discuss in that comment, for context:

The idea of "the goddess" existing beyond Sothis, in a greater and more abstract sense

Various implications Edelgard has the goddess's blessing, and can be understood as the "true Seiros" in a sense

A different part of the Book of Seiros is available in each Hopes route, Part V featured in Golden Wildfire

Part V is about the Five Eternal Commandments, and emphasizes at the end:

"Follow her example and, in doing so, abide her laws."

This idea, along with Shez's dialogue about "shining bright" from following Edelgard, helps further contextualize the "Golden" in GW. By following Edelgard's shining example and walking the same path, Claude and the Deer are shining as well.

This is especially significant for the Deer, which include quite a few devout characters. Ignatz and Marianne are the only two characters who have "the goddess" listed under the "Likes" of their profiles, and Judith being a devout believer is also emphasized.

I'll elaborate a lot more on this in the future, but note how certain details fit into the theme of "following her example":

Early in Houses, Sothis expresses her disapproval of sending children into battle. Judith expresses a similar sentiment in GW.

The goddess "cares for... all that is beautiful in this world." What do Ignatz, Marianne, and Edelgard all have in common? An appreciation for the beauty of nature.

Wind + Blaze = Wildfire

Another interesting detail is how "Wildfire" can be understood as a combination of "wind" and "blaze". The Crest of Flames is the crest of the goddess. Therefore, it should be clear how the route names "Blaze" and "Wildfire" corroborate with the idea that Edelgard has the goddess's blessing.

comments that was linked

The Edelgard/Altina harmonic was announced a week prior to the Hopes release as if to help contextualize the game by drawing attention to certain ideas.

Reading the reactions on the FEH sub, many were confused/annoyed by this pairing with complaints Altina isn’t even much of a character so why pair her with Edelgard. I think it serves a specific purpose - to imply Edelgard has the goddess’s blessing (and other Altina parallels which I’ll talk about elsewhere).

But what is the goddess’s blessing? Isn’t Sothis “the goddess”? These questions are a gigantic rabbit hole that I don’t want to get into here, and ultimately we are given no definitive answers anyway. Personally, I think the games (FEH included) imply “the goddess” exists in a panentheistic sense, where Sothis is a face of the goddess rather than the “entire” goddess.

Whatever the case may be, I believe the idea of “the goddess’s blessing” is meant to be meaningful, whether as something purely symbolic or something more real.

Radiant Justice

One thing I highlighted in the image is the emphasis on the word “radiant”. Notably, it’s mentioned in a couple other instances in Houses which I couldn’t fit into the image.

First, there’s Ignatz’s explore dialogue before the Holy Tomb chapter.

What if she really appears? What if I finally get to gaze upon her radiance? I’ve always imagined the goddess—how beautiful she must be!

Second, there’s Rhea’s dialogue in a scene after Byleth’s transformation.

I prayed that one day the radiant power of Sothis, which bathes Fódlan in its celestial light, might reside within you.

In both these cases “radiant” is used in a goddess-specific context, which fits right into the implications I’m talking about here.

Altina’s dialogue talks about “radiant justice”, and it’s interesting how the CF ending art (especially in context of the sun symbolism) fits with this idea. The privileged bow down, the commoners rejoice, and the “sun” shines victorious, poised to wipe out the darkness for good. Radiant justice.

The Book of Seiros

One of my favorite subtle details in Hopes is each route is associated with a specific part of the Book of Seiros:

Scarlet Blaze with Part I

Azure Gleam with Part II

Golden Wildfire with Part V

Each part fits its respective route/characters in certain ways.

Scarlet Blaze / Part I (The Revelation)

Similar to its Biblical counterpart, “The Revelation” can be understood as prophetic and, therefore, future-oriented. Fitting for Edelgard.

If people were told a Fodlan character would have a harmonic pairing with Altina and had to guess who, I’m pretty sure most would guess Seiros. The fact that it’s actually Edelgard corroborates with what I’ve been claiming for years: Edelgard is the “true Seiros” in a sense. (Which is why there are Edelgard references in the Tome of Comely Saints)

“As the goddess’s sword, Seiros wards away evil.”

OG Altina refers to herself as “the swords of the Goddess” in her lvl 40 convo, and also says “We must give no ground. Every last trace of darkness will be purged from this land!” When declaring war on the Church in Hopes, Edelgard says “we purge the world of their evil forever!” The true Seiros, with the goddess’s blessing, declares war on the false Church of Seiros.

Edge of Dawn is called “Girl of Hresvelg” in Japanese which is why many consider it to primarily be Edelgard’s song. “Edge” can also mean sword, i.e “Killing Edge”. Ashunera is the Goddess of Dawn, and the translated lyrics of “The Spirit Dais” also associate the goddess with dawn.

“Edge of Dawn” therefore can be understood as “Sword of the Goddess”. The Girl of Hresvelg is the Edge of Dawn - both titles refer to the same song, and the same person.

The Hopes version of Edge of Dawn even has a very religious tone to it, with what sounds like a church choir singing the melody.

“As the goddess’s voice, Seiros spreads the word of love.”

“To love is to will the good of another.” This quote from Saint Thomas Aquinas is a good way of understanding how Edelgard “spreads the word of love” on a grand scale by bringing about true peace for the people of Fodlan, implied to last for generations into the future. She mentions “nurturing her people’s well being” in Hopes, and the sun/plants metaphor described in the “Sun of the People” section represents this dynamic, the people able to grow into “great trees” under the loving warmth of the sun.

Keeping with the emphasis on love, Edelgard has a heart-shape motif in a couple of her outfits, positioned most prominently in Hopes. The heart shape is also associated with the goddess, for example on Sothis’s headpiece.

Sothis refers to herself as “mother to all who call Fodlan home”, and the Shez/Dorothea support associates Edge of Dawn with an ancient lullaby, Shez saying it makes them “feel warm inside… like a kid again, with my mom.” W!Altina tells Sanaki in their Duo conversation, “I would wish simply to hold you, and to comfort you, as a mother does her beloved child.” Thus we can see various implicit associations between Edelgard and maternal love, which ties back into “nurturing well being”, the sun/plants metaphor, and even stuff like Linhardt calling her an overbearing mother.

Final sentence of Part I: “May the blessings of the goddess follow you, always.”

Sounds about right.

Azure Gleam / Part II (The Creation)

“The Creation” is about the past. Fitting for Dimitri.

It’s also fitting because Nemesis was king of the Faerghus region, the Ten Elites seem to have been from northern clans, and the emphasis on Crests and Relics as tools of war is reflected in Kingdom society especially.

Final sentence of Part II: “The goddess grieved and, heartbroken, hid herself in the heavens from whence she came…”

What a perfect reaction to what happens in Azure Gleam.

Golden Wildfire / Part V (The Five Eternal Commandments)

Golden Wildfire establishes a key Deer parallel with the Eagles, where they can either side with the Church or with Edelgard. Verdant Wind is their Silver Snow, Golden Wildfire is their Crimson Flower. Note how siding with the Church is “Silver”, while siding with Edelgard is “Golden”.

Final sentence of Part V: “Follow her example and, in doing so, abide her laws.”

If Edelgard is the true Seiros, then following her example is akin to following the goddess’s example. This is why Golden Wildfire has various parallels with Crimson Flower, from Claude ascending the throne and centralizing power halfway through the story, to its very own Tailtean Plains chapter.

To drive home the idea of “following her example”, let’s go back to certain ideas from Part I.

As the goddess’s wings, Seiros elevates her people.

There’s some base camp dialogue emphasizing the difference between the Eastern and Central Church:

The Eastern Church doesn’t keep an order of knights because we do not believe in using force to chastise our believers… I hope it is now abundantly clear how different we are from the Central Church.

When discussing the pact between the Federation and Empire, Margrave Gautier says this about the followers of Seiros in Leicester, with some particular wording:

They’ve certainly severed ties with the Central Church, but it seems they have elevated the Eastern Church instead.

The Leicester faithful sever ties with the false Central Church, and elevate the non-militaristic Eastern Church. Seiros elevates her people.

As the goddess’s sword, Seiros wards away evil.

The invasion of the Kingdom commences in Chapter 11, titled “The Sword Swings Wide”. “Seiros” can also be understood as a collective, not just a single person. In allying with the Empire against the false Church and its puppet state, the Federation is now part of the goddess’s sword.

The Caspar/Balthus support alludes to this idea.

Balthus: Hey, it’s okay to have ambitions and junk, but… if you ask me, I think there’s more value in winning with someone than in smashing skulls alone. When it comes to a fist, the more people behind the punch, the stronger it gets.

The more people behind the punch, or the swing of the sword.

The False Goddess

By acting like they are the only ones who have the goddess’s blessing despite operating in ways that violate both the letter and the spirit of the goddess’s laws, the Church is effectively stealing the goddess’s authority to serve “the false goddess” of its own interests.

The situation has parallels with a radical critique of “the God of the Apartheid State” from a group of South African theologians in 1985:

“This god [of the State] is an idol … [it is] the god of teargas, rubber bullets, sjamboks, prison cells and death sentences.” In other words, “the very opposite of the God of the Bible”, which is, theologically speaking “the devil disguised as Almighty God.”

Extra readings and ramblings

Some ideas about “the goddess”, religion, etc. that I didn’t want to dump in the main comment. Exploring a bit of the “giant rabbit hole” I mentioned earlier. There will be a bunch of explanations pasted from other sources (mostly the SMT philosophy wiki). This stuff is obviously not meant to be definitive explanations of anything, but more like food for thought that can help contextualize the seemingly contradictory nature of Edelgard having the goddess’s blessing, being the “true Seiros” and thus associated with divinity in a sense, etc.

One way “the goddess” can be understood is through the lens of Process Theism and Liberation Theology:

C. Robert Mesle, in his book Process Theology, outlines three aspects of a process theology of liberation:

There is a relational character to the divine which allows God to experience both the joy and suffering of humanity. God suffers just as those who experience oppression and God seeks to actualize all positive and beautiful potentials. God must, therefore, be in solidarity with the oppressed and must also work for their liberation.

God is not omnipotent in the classical sense and so God does not provide support for the status quo, but rather seeks the actualization of greater good.

God exercises relational power and not unilateral control. In this way God cannot instantly end evil and oppression in the world. God works in relational ways to help guide persons to liberation.

One of the most interesting things here is how well “God seeks to actualize all positive and beautiful potentials” fits thematically with the games. I’ll again reference the Edelgard/sun symbolism and the people/plants metaphor in the Houses opening narration:

As they celebrate the dawning year, the people pray that they may realize their full potential, just as a tiny sprout hopes to one day grow into a great tree.

The actualization of a beautiful potential is also represented by the blooming of a flower, which is exactly what the Edelgard/Bernadetta support concludes with:

Bernadetta: Hey, look! This flower’s just about ready to bloom.

Edelgard: Ha! So it is! I can’t wait to see its true colors…

And is more broadly symbolized in the name “Crimson Flower” - where both Edelgard’s and Fodlan’s beautiful potentials are fully actualized.

When I say Edelgard is the “true Seiros” in a sense, I mean something like this:

Process theology, being naturalistic, does not see Jesus as inherently someone different than any other being. Process theology views Jesus Christ as different in degree but not in kind from other creatures. His “divinity” consists of his embodying the self-expressive activity of God (“Logos”). What this means is that just like any other way that specific potentialities are instantiated, Jesus instantiated qualities we associate with divinity through his actions. This does not mean in a magic sense, but is a kind of moral claim of his ability to reflect the nature of God and divinity to us through radical action.

I also see Death of God theology as a likely influence in the writing. The final bolded paragraph sounds like what Edelgard says early in SB - making a miracle happen rather than waiting around for one:

Death of god theology, sometimes called Christian atheism (though not all forms identify as atheist as such) is a theological position in which the belief in the transcendent or interventionist God is rejected or absent in favor of finding God totally in the world, sometimes after a literal death of God (Thomas J. J. Altizer) or following Jesus in a Godless world (William Hamilton).

Despite being a bizarre fringe theology, the idea of christian atheism obviously has a direct representation in various megaten games, most obviously smtii.

Fighting against God is a given on some other endings, but in II, YHVH is still the end boss even on law, after which aleph is still represented as the messiah of the messian church, and the implications are that you are still following and working with its theology, after a literal death of God. This meaning of course that what it is that its religion is is something that can work without the literal presence of YHVH, or which even if he is present (in universes where he is corrupt) focus on him as an absolute has to be moved past in favor of focus on the world of peace in and of itself. (the “false goddess” of the Central Church = Fodlan version of “corrupt YHVH”)

These themes are even more present in the new law route in strange journey redux. In the new route, zelenin swears off submission to the god of law, and kills shekinah who at the time functioned as its embodiment, ultimately talking about how the world was freed from its rule.

Despite this, she still uses christian symbology (CF ending art), upholds the lawful goal of a world of peace (CF’s true peace), and is an angel. Focus is placed on how humanity cannot rely on god to save them, but have to work to save themselves. Albeit still receiving supernatural aid in the form of zelenin’s song, and the sacred light that they created from the schwarzwelt.

Death of god theologies, either literal or metaphorical, have strong focuses on the immanence of divine meaning, and the urgency of personal action. Viewing reliance on a literal god as a deus ex machina that people often use to make up for personal solving of problems, death of god theologies take the idea of god, focusing on the importance of individuals fulfilling the role they previously ascribed to God.

“If humanity stands strong and people reach out to each other, there’s no need for gods” can be understood in context of the above bolded paragraph. As can the Holy Tomb decision, Byleth fulfilling the goddess’s role in protecting Edelgard.

Certain details in CF endings can also be understood in that context. For example, this passage from the Bible:

The Lord will surely comfort Zion    and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden,    her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her,    thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

And what happens with Galatea in the Byleth/Ingrid ending:

Through hard work, pure grit, and a truly knightly dedication to the people, they were able to transform the barren landscape into what would, decades later, become known as the most fertile grounds in all of Fódlan.

[crows-of-buckets]

Anyways I think all my playthroughs this time are gonna be on normal bc I wanna unlock all unit supports but NEXT time baby we are so doing a cf maddening no recruit run I'm gonna make me hate this game so hard

Fire emblem three houses gets me mentally pacing around because I love it so MUCH and I miss it and it's my favorite thing ever and NO I don't want to open the game right now <- guy who is grinding supports on normal mode

[touyas-multi-purpose-saline]

DAY XIII. — OVERSTIMULATION

cw: Dub-Con Implied, Overstimulation, Torture, Manipulation, Gaslighting, Gore, Violence, Bodily Harm and Incapacitation, Unhealthy Relationships, Yandere, General Dark Content Not Suitable for Immature Audiences, Fem! Reader. Reader discretion is advised. 18+ Only!

author's note: I can't stop thinking about the different possible routes that a relationship with Overhaul would look like. Would he be so distant and confusing yet needy and desperate at the same time? Would he be completely transparent and firm to the point of torture? Would it be a mix of anything and everything—just never good? I like to explore different aspects of how he could be. I do not condone unhealthy behavior in any sense! This is strictly fiction! Do not force yourself to read if you're uncomfortable.

word count: Approximately 1.6k words.

“P-Please, Kai, stop!” 

But your plea goes ignored, hidden within the thick gusts of smoke and murky shadows that spill from Kai’s mouth. He’s breathing so thickly against your skin, head buried within the bend of your neck and folding his lips over the prickly flesh. You gasp whenever his teeth graze you, but it’s lost whenever Kai thrusts in again—hard—and your eyes shutter before you whimper. 

“Kai, I can’t take this—can we please stop? Can we—” 

“We can’t stop.” 

His response is curt, each word clipped and sharp. You’re taken by surprise, left dangling by his sorrowful tone, suspended by those deep and husky chords that guitar their way into your silly mind. Kai sounds apprehensive, but it doesn’t make sense, so you’re positive that there’s something more underneath the shoddy threads. What does he even—but his cock is sturdy and rough whenever it retracts and shoves itself back into your cunt, punching through your guts and making you sick. How long has he been laying into you? Time keeps fumbling through the edges of your fingers, and you find yourself left perched on a dangerous balcony. 

“W-Why can’t we? Kai, it’s… this hurts so much … !!” 

At your words, Kai’s thrusts slow down by half a mile but he doesn’t stop rolling his hips, sawing through your velvet walls with hissing agony. His head is no longer hidden within the depths of your neck, instead he hovers, eyes wide and imploring. Those golden honey hues glowing in the dark of the night, small, pinpricks, impending needles filled with chloroform and doxepin. It’s almost like he’s stopped breathing. 

“It can’t hurt. Why would this hurt? You’re still wet, aren’t you?” 

Those strange and unusual thinking patterns, a depression that compresses your lungs and makes the back of your ribs flare in protest. Kai’s become nothing short of a total stranger lately. It’s like you don’t even know him anymore—or, maybe, maybe you never did in the first place. Sometimes when he talks to you, it’s like he’s become a shell of someone long gone, a gravestone chipped and faded underneath a stormy gray. It’s always like this whenever you have sex with him anymore. You stutter. 

“It’s because I’ve—already cum a few times. A-And haven’t you?” 

Kai’s eyes never waver. 

“Yes.” 

Bold, firm, and absolute. That one word makes your head spin, makes you swallow. 

“Th-Then isn’t this, umhh, haa, getting to be a little too much for you, too?” 

Those eyes seem to shrink. 

“No.” 

You’re left gaping. 

“K-Kai. I… don’t…” 

Kai’s hips have started slowing down, like the dying embers of a candle wick, fading, dreamy. His eyes just continue to grow, grow, grow, and they’re full moons, they’re stars in the universe, galaxies filled with unknown territory and possibilities. A needle threads his brows, a line down the center of his face. 

“This is all I’ve ever wanted and more. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted. Don’t you need this as much as I do? Why would you make love to me in the first place if you didn’t?” 

Oh, Kai’s so gone, he’s the hurricane, and there is no eye that you can ground yourself in. It’s all sweeping planes, underbrush and wildfires. 

“Please d-don’t say it like that. I did want you—” 

You can barely comprehend what’s happening before Kai’s cock slices through you, through your heart, thirsty for you, rust and dust crumbling over you, seasoning, and his arms are caging your head. His elbows dig into your breasts, his paws are scratching into the frame of your face. Terror frosts through your veins, phosphorus and venom, a headless snake in the grass. Kai grits his teeth together so loudly that you hear them squeak, he’s shivering, he’s trembling, and he’s breathing faster than ever. Tornadoes of insanity, hyperventilation that slips into those hooked fingers. 

“Did want me? What are you trying to say to me, angel? Do you not want me anymore? Is there something wrong with you? Because I can’t understand why you’d back out of us now.” 

Shaking your head is difficult, claws. 

“That was—Kai, God, of course, I still want you—I just. Kai, that was just a slip of my tongue, I—I don’t know, but I do want to have sex with you. I do, but you’re hurting me.” 

Your eyes are wide and lifeless as soon as those words leak over your lips. The haze from your orgasms, from the highs that kept you bouncing cloud to cloud, everything happy, and every tickling sensation that nibbles away at the edges of your nervous system—gone, vanished before your being. Time is still, everything is still. If you prayed hard enough, could the Universe wink back in on itself—because you can feel it, can feel the pressure building up beneath the surface. It’s an emergency, urgent, and it starts to swell, an infection ready to implode. Kai isn’t human anymore. 

And then, 

An anguished yell, something furious, tearing through the bottom of his throat, screaming, vibrating behind clasped teeth. Kai rips his hands away from your head so that he can lean back on his haunches, the smiles of his fingernails raking down your abdomen to your hips so that he could easily drag you along with. And maybe you scream too, something silvery and scared, but Kai’s growl rumbles dangerously. His cock is thumping inside of you again, rocking, riding, and he’s thrusting into you with a fever that makes you cough and choke on your own spit, hot tears trickling down your cheeks. 

“What the hell do you mean I’m hurting you? This is all for you—I’m all yours and I’ve always been all yours, but now I’m hurting you? I can’t…” 

He doesn’t finish his train of thought, too focused on pounding into your abused and aching cunt. The heartbeat of your clit is buzzing through the walls, gone and pained, and you feel bloody and raw—full but so empty. Kai’s abhorring words—the blame that slices through your skin, that’s a dagger hitched into the center of your soul. You should have stayed in the shallow end, you should have just let him keep pouring himself into you, you should have just let Kai finish, you should have just kept your stupid fucking mouth shut. 

“Angel.”

Your eyes are all on him. 

“Angel, do you not want to be with me anymore?” 

Each time the head of his cock finds the dead end of your cunt makes these stepping stones of gasps dry on your lips. You start violently shaking your head. 

“I do. I do want to be with you, Kai—” 

Kai interrupts you with a thunderous thrust, stars and bullets that zip into fireworks, making the whites of your eyes show their underbellies. He’s all the way in you, he’s in your tummy, he’s in your everything. 

“I’ll make sure that you don’t lie to me.” 

It’s like a trumpet that sings into the night sky, modulating, and electricity that blares into your eardrums. Nothing feels real whenever your eyes roll back down and you meet Kai’s deranged visage. Your lips are quivering, your body is, your cunt is, your clit is, your heart is, your brain is—you can feel yourself losing yourself, amplitude. And yet you can still focus on his cock inside of you, primal and divine. 

His hands leave your hips, palms flat on the home below your belly and above your mound. Kai never looks away, never leaves. He presses down once, twice, and whenever you open your mouth to speak—it’s everywhere. 

Confetti, strings of flesh torn up and serrated, blood swimming like a school of fish, weightless and flying around your intertwined bodies. And it digs deep, and horror and tears and a barely shaking head watches in disbelief as the you below the origin just explodes into nothing but something. Screams, high-pitched and feminine, something animalistic, something begging, something so unbelievably afraid that vomit shoots into the back of your mouth and your bladder twists. But before you can comprehend it, before the trauma imprints on the carpet of your brain—it all comes back together, neat and tidy. 

Kai is crying. You don’t understand why he’s crying. What is he always crying for? He’s stopped thrusting into you, but the faded chemicals and emotions from your timeless sex make you dizzy and confused. 

“K-Kai, what—” 

Your legs won’t move. 

You blink. 

“K-Kai! W-What’s wrong with my legs—what did you do to my legs? Kai, Kai!” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll… I’ll fix you once you prove that you don’t want to leave me. Now you can’t leave me. You can’t leave me.” 

Your fists are bound around his wrists, sinking in, and you’re yelling. The palpitations of your heart send your body into the atmosphere. 

“Kai! No, no no nooo, no! Please fix me now, please, Kai—fuck, Kai, I was never going to leave you—I just, I just needed to stop having sex for a little bit. Kai, Kai, Kai! Are you listening to me? Kai—Kai!” 

He starts thrusting again, and the insanely subtle feeling of wet cotton and plumage start to tickle up your body, dead weight sagging you below the surface. 

“You can’t leave me. You can’t leave me. You can’t leave me. 

You can’t leave me. 

You can’t leave 

You can’t

You…” 

[alexissara]

5 Years Of Three Houses, 5 Years Of Loving Edelgard.

5 Years ago today, I was first able to enter the continent of Fodlan, I meet Edelgard and from there I fell for a character in a way I never had before. I was already a professional writer with published worked and focused on Character driven work but I was still blown away by what an amazing character Edelgard was. 5 years ago, I got Engaged at a queer con, I was playing my 2nd route of three houses having played from Three Houses. The game was with me at this wonderful landing point in my life, it was there during the rough covid era struggles, when I was deeply, deeply sick, I was sicker than I ever been, not with Covid but with stomach issues and was hospitalized multiple times in one month ending in a surgery. I ran a roleplay inspired by Three Houses in Thirsty Sword Lesbians which I played for many years, I dated one of my exes through the whole campaign and grew a lot closer to one of my current girlfriends through it. I refined a version of one of my favorite OCs Ever Lena to do a Three Houses OC AU version of her for a different roleplay and while that fell through she did end up being used for that previously mentioned TSL game.

I reviewed Three Houses after finishing all four routes, I wanted to be really through and experience every route, every story, every FF romance arc, etc before I reviewed it. I gave the game a 7/10, I think now I'd give it an 8/10 maybe but a review score is what I think of the game as an overall package. The life changing power of Crimson Flower was really the big deal for me. That was 10/10, that was peak, it was just that the other routes were nowhere near as good for me. Edelgard the revolutionary who is happy to cast herself as a villain if that's what it takes to change the oppression in the world, something that was so strong, so powerful that it was reflected into our world. She was so good at being a character who impacted a fictional world, the only reason things happen at all that people to this day get angry about people loving her, discourse about her, cast her off, make up shit, show their political asses, etc. What a fucking character to be hated so strongly, for so long by this rabid group. Keeping love from a small fan base over time is hard but maintaining hate as a fictional character, that's harder especially with a 24/7 culture war of new women to hate. However, she also maintained love, Edelgard is the most popular character in all of Fire Emblem, in the 5 years she's got the most fan art, the most votes in CYL, she clearly makes nearly the most money in the gacha given how often they make new versions of her or rerun her, she is the moment.

Of course, it is not just Edelgard I love but the Black Eagles as a whole from the classic roster to the extended family of Mercedes, Lyesthia, Shamir, Leonie, to the Hopes additions of Monica and Shez. Edelgard stands so tall but she doesn't overshadow her amazing allies in changing the world. Even the men, me a famous not man enjoyer, finds at worst like, kinda boring rather than like repulsive. Plus I really love Hubert and Jeritza both as characters and think they are lovely, brilliant characters I wouldn't want to see replaced.

Three Houses hit me in a way "better" games haven't hit me in. I still think about the characters, the world, the politics, the ideas, the lore, the romances, everything so often, daily. I love so much art, most of this little blog is me talking about art I engaged with and I struggle to think of another piece of art that took me by storm in the same ways that Three Houses has. I'd love to have another game sweep me off my feet and have me giggling like someone who just met their idol but even if it doesn't happen again I am glad it happened with Three Houses.

Then there was Three Hopes and I fucking love Three Hopes, it only exists in the context of Houses but Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire blew me the fuck away. Both routes do a ton for the characters in the series, the plots are fantastic, bringing Monica back and making her one of the best characters in the Fire Emblem series was so fucking great, and I adore the Warriors gameplay. Three Houses was a gift that not only gave itself but Hopes which really just furthered helped put Houses in focus, tie in way more lore, way more context, and way more information. I could explore the world of Fodlan even more honestly, I still hope for Hopes DLC because I just love this game.

It was so amazing to see Edeglard freed of Those Who Slither in the dark and the way her revolution works if she could just have saved her lesbian best friend and probably girlfriend. I loved to see the new amazing paralogues, the way the war shakes out, how she operates free of enemies resting in her house, how the nobles react when Edelgard is a free agent, the way the church fights back in this new time line. It really exciting and it is fun to see how the world once again revolves around the actions and moves of Edelgard and how she sets Fodlan Ablaze with change but now with more time to do things more carefully. It is such a great alterative look.

I don't have enough glowing things to say about Three Houses but I do have some things to say for the future of my favorite video game series. I deeply hope the future of Fire Emblem is more like Houses and not like the games around it. Houses was a return to form and the first story that blew me away since Radiant Dawn. I want more games that have the style and budget and scope and ambition of a Houses. I don't really trust intelligent systems to bring me that kind of story, so I hope they work with Koei again in the future and let their writers do their thing,

I love the smaller scale Fire Emblems but I can play indie games and smaller budget SRPGs and get the scope and ambition of a smaller scale Fire Emblem but only Nintendo money can bring the kind of game Houses is to the table. I really want to see the expensive class system brought back hopefully without the sexism and the big roster of characters and so much of the little things that made houses so charming. I don't need multiple routes but I would like a good political message like Crimson Flower to be in the future. I don't know if I'll ever love a character not made by me or my loves ones as much as I love Edelgard again but I want them try and I want them to pull it off.

Happy 5 Years Fire Emblem Three Houses, you are something special. If you want to see more of me gushing about houses you can read my fics here https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexisSara/works?fandom_id=23985107