#like Fodlan? so fucking good

[sleepy-bear-tm]

I can let a lot of inconsistencies in media slide if I find the world or characters interesting. I may go on rants about the writing but if it’s got distinctive lore? I will simply look away from aspects I do not like.

[slicksquid]

remembering how fucking insane the fire emblem three houses ost went

[emblemxeno]

If we're being honest, I got a lot of issues with Ingrid because I feel like she has the wrong character development

Her support with Dedue is realizing that she shouldn't apply her negative view of Duscur onto every Duscurian indiscriminately

That kind of thing works for Oboro because Nohrians really did kill her parents

But, Duscurians didn't actually cause the death of Lambert or Glenn, so her development should've been to learn that all those years of hatred were misdirected, and she hated them for no reason

It also didn't help that Dimitri states multiple times that Duscur didn't commit the crime, and Ingrid is still ignorant about it

I have this unhinged hatred of the Faerghus Four as a concept because every time, it's like they're consciously refusing to acknowledge the importance of Dedue in Dimitri's life in the present "Oh, these are Dimitri's childhood friends. Of course, they're close." Yeah, sure.... They're totally closer to Dimitri than Dedue is in the present.... *Internal screaming*

Combining these because my answer to both is similar!

In my opinion, it showcases how 3H's writing philosophy is ultimately shoddy in its foundation. The backstories, supports, and character-to-character dialogue itself is great in theory, but execution it clashed with what both FE usually tries to do and what 3H desperately wants to do.

FE typically has characters join chapter to chapter, with important ones having plot moments, while side characters fall to the background once their designated chapter is up. But this isn't at the cost of character interaction, pre-established relationships, and the micro-to-macro worldbuilding precisely because they're not overly important. You can have canon romances, friendships, familial relationships, etc. because that's all supplemental side material.

3H was written in a way in which the characters were all connected to its grandiose world, to the point where Fodlan itself can be almost considered a character. Multilayered backstories that infer key points in the narrative, each character no matter how trivial having opinions on how the world works, shifting dynamics, etc.

The problem though is that these two philosophies clash already at base, but also run into the problem of FE's gameplay integrated story elements.

None of the Faerghus Four can meaningfully comment on their relationship with Dimitri during a story cutscene because they can die. Ingrid can't meaningfully change her perspective on Dedue or Duscur beyond her supports because she can die. Therefore, all you get are (admittedly pretty good) supports, the monastery dialogue, and other tidbits intentionally disconnected from one another so as not to be important enough to write around potential death. The comments they do get in cutscenes were intentionally written in a way to be surface level and easily replaced. Look at the FEdatamine site for example, where conclusions are reached by Byleth, the lord, the unkillable retainer, and other important story figures, with numerous possible instances of "if X character is alive they comment this, but if X character is dead this line is skipped."

That is proof of how sloppy 3H's writing is in foundation when you think about it long enough. The game that has such an intricate world, thorough details, and fascinating story beats, is actually extremely bad at delivering a story, especially an FE story. Being the judgmental and petty cunt that I am, 3H gets a pass most of the time a) most don't care or bother to care about actual stuff like this and b) the game has the aesthetics of being a down to earth, gritty, serious narrative. The foundational issues don't matter when you have Edelgard yapping about "THE CREST SYSTEM", dark character circumstances, and intriguing mysteries to solve in part 1.

People want the appearance of sophistication, especially after Awakening and Fates bent a lot of rules to fuck around with their respective stories. It's why Engage, despite not having nearly as many basic issues at conveying its plot and is actually extremely good at being a Fire Emblem story (e.g. more character being able to actually die, pre-established relationships, chapter to chapter joining, not nearly as much centering on Alear as the ultimate decider on a character's fate compared to Byleth), is panned because... why? Its bright aesthetic? Its good dragon vs evil dragon plot? Its softer or humorous moments?

Hell, even its call backs to past FE games is called cheap, soulless, or a gateway to gacha (one video I saw even described it as something like "when art becomes obligation" or some such nonsense), despite it LITERALLY being the prime anniversary title. The main character is the Fire Emblem, and the writers-through Lumera-wish a happy birthday to Fire Emblem!!! What about that is lacking heart and soul?

But yeah, again, I preface that I'm a judgmental asshole who proudly proclaims that the audience (at least the western one) has for years been too obsessed with yearning for darker serious aesthetics of FE's past (despite said past being wackier than they remember), that when a new game has them in overflowing spades, the many fundamental video game writing issues do not matter as much anymore.

Aesop for the day: Serious tones and aesthetics are not automatically better than lighter, heartfelt, or funny ones. You still have to write well for a story to be good.

EDIT: Funny enough this is also why Three Hopes is a more comfy environment for the Fodlan cast's in terms of tangible development, because the things the writers want to do with that game's story complements its gameplay. Because KT is better at making Warriors plots than FE plots.

[randomnameless]

Why do the FEH devs insist on ignoring Nabatean lore so much?

I recently had a surprisingly cordial discussion on redshit with someone about the "nabateans = colonisers" take, and one of the main points raised was that the game was purposedly foggy around Nabateans/Sothis/their story because it would obviously favor a certain narrative (and thus make another narrative look, uh, not that marketable anymore).

To be honest, we still ended up with a product that had a lead go "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and yet that lead is still marketable enough to have raunchy cipher cards and 5 FEH alts, so I actually wonder if, while pissing on that lore had that purpose, it was ultimately pointless since Supreme Leader can still sell goodies despite her incarnation in FE16.

And not only Supreme Leader - but the entirety of WC where we basically have 70% of the cast crying/complaining about their "mixed blood" or lack of and basically adding their 10 cents to the "this race and its blood is the reason why the world sucks".

I mean, can you imagine Sylvain selling any goodies and alts if Flayn replied to his "wah wah people only are kind to me and want to fuck me because I have Nabatean blood :(" by some uncharacteristic "good for you, I have to hide my ears, had to dye my hair, have to lie about my family because if the truth is found out about my identity, I will be hunted and vivisected like an animal and harvested for parts by people who call my kin abominations - just like what happens in the game where the same people who call my kin "abominations" ally with a classmate who calls me a creature and pretends I am incapable of human feelings based on my race".

FE Fodlan's main selling point is its cast of students, for various reasons, but even if I tried to kid myself, Nopes and FEH made it clears : students are the main selling point.

If you spare more time and attention to the Nabatean plot/lore, the students either grow from "likeable" to "despicable" or worse, you won't gaf about them because yeah sure, Hilda might be upset because people expect things from her due to her crust, but it would feel like a "peanut" compared to Seteth's irrational (granted, it's not so irrational since GW exists) fear that Flayn's newest friends would dissect her if they learnt she was a Nabatean, and being conflicted by finally letting her have human friends and form bonds she crave, or protect her due to the trauma from the genocide of their species.

Don't get me wrong, I love peanuts, I mean, not everyone can have a tragik of loaded backstory!

And yet, given how this verse's DNA is "can you fight against the red emperor who uwus about you", they had to add copious amounts of Earl Grey to their games so there's no clear-cut factions :

The "Your alien blood and its influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command" vs "I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

is turned to :

"Your alien blood Crests and its your church's influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command"

"I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

Sprinkle with the cast's hammering here and there that the "reforms" might be needed - but never develop on what they are - and add a few baseless and groundless takes as a toping (basically everything Claude says about tolerance and the general "isolationism/foreign policy" stuff) and you get FE Fodlan where the Red Emperor's war isn't seen as the catastrophe it is in the other entries from the series!

Now, for FEH...

FWIW, the F!F!Billy's trailer had them try to explain that Sothis was a bit pissed about her slaughtered/massacred children when Nopes never gave any reason about why she was pissed - maybe on Billy's behalf bcs Jerry's dead, but come on, she would indeed deserve the medal of the worst parent in the franchise if that was the case, since Billy can murder her daughter without Sothis taking over ! - but given that they cannot write/go against the source game those characters are from.

They tried a bit, with B!Supreme Leader and Hegemongard's FB, but then it stopped (because she had no "new unit" released since then lol) and I can understand why : Hegemongard came out before the Supreme Emblem, and Hegemongard hates dragons who are seen/perceived as gods by some of their human followers. Come FE17, and now Supreme Emblem accepts Alear because they are "one of the good ones". We can come up with HCs and details and talk about what are emblems or if Hegemongard's views were only hers at the end of AM all day long... But imo, Doylist wise, it still feels it's a retcon because the devs from the main games tried to scrap and remove the most "controversial" traits she had.

For the other characters... Well, you see what Marianne is in FEH (but even in her base games), she's one of the few characters who reacts - in a way - to the partial history about relics and demonic beasts and all... only to give sad uwus to Maurice.

FE16 (and Nopes) refused to have any "student" character react to the Nabatean lore/reveal, about what are relics and all. There are no lines, Claude shared some knowledge in the explore section of VW's last chapter, but we don't have anyone muse or think or even talk about what are relics, what are crests, and what kind of fuckery their ancestors or the ancient humans of Fodlan did.

With that in mind, FEH can't do much : either they write Marianne in a retcon-y way like what happened for Hegemongard (and they're not afraid to piss on characterisation, look at Lyon!), or they flanderise her "character" and develop her around 3 lines she had in the game in her paralogue, and continue to give sad uwus about Momo when he was at best a guy who slaughtered and murdered so much that he abused the Nabatean turned into a relic to the point where he turned in a demonic beast even if he had a matching crest, or at worst, had been part of Nemesis's piñata party in Zanado and was something of a genocider.

Tldr :

Why FE Fodlan never gaf about Nabateans : earl grey + the marketable cast has to stay marketable and you can't sell peanuts at the same price you'd sell swordfish

Why FEH dgaf about Nabatean lore : they can't afford to retcon characters + they have to sell peanut alts with the same seasoning they had in their base game.

For what it's worth though, I think FEH is more daring than the base game(s) given how they gave more lines and screentime to Rhea - through her different alts - than GW. And they even designed her Halloween!alt's lines to piss on some of Claude's assertions, while the various FB involving members of the church also - indirectly - reply to some accusations thrown their way in FE16 when, FE16, never gave them an opportunity or lines to explain that those takes were full of dung.

*"but random, maybe she doesn't know that the crests she often decries is "dragon blood"!"

It's highly debatable, especially given what she and Hubert throw to Billy in CF - but even if she doesn't, Doylist wise we still have a character who, knowingly or not, says "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and who is never called out on her prejudice. That's more of an issue regarding the general writing though, she has to be a red emperor and took pages from Ashnard's book, and yet, the player must still feel bad and want to romance her, so her mindest/goal cannot be looked at too closely, because, I guess, even the devs thought it would be difficult to romance her (thus sell goodies!) if more light was shed on the "blood from this race corrupts our people" schtick -> which in turn would also make characters whose backstory and gimmick rely on "crying about crests" be way less likeable, thus marketable and able to sell goodies.

[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

[stormsbourne]

The most baffling thing about the Kotaku article, besides spewing out typical Edelstan talking points, is how it thinks Claude wants the "status quo" and has an "us vs them" mindset. I'm sorry, but what?! Have they actually played the game?

it doesn't make any sense for dimitri either, who says time and again that he finds the current system abhorrent and wants to cultivate an era where the strong aren't able to easily prey on the weak who can't defend themselves. the entire point of fe3h is that it's four different takes on what needs fixing in a fucked up world. some of the takes are wrong and some are ill-informed, but every "lead character" of each route (edelgard, claude, dimitri, and rhea) have a different view on what fodlan really needs to become a better place.

and in regards to saying edelgard is the only right one, or even the most right one, I think it's just a western thing to view conquest as inherently productive and I think it's an instinct we should interrogate! not to mention that fire emblem is traditionally about either recovering conquered land or defending your home, eventually taking the fight to the invaders but only because you got invaded first. so crimson flower is trying to tell us something by nature of it being a route where you are doing conquest. you are on the side of the initiator. all of the lords in 3h pull from very distinct archetypes (dimitri is a combination of a classic lord and the swordsman/nobleman with a dark past, your ravens and such; claude is a combination of the wyvern riding noble/prince -- often villainous -- and the wandering/itinerant prince like lewyn or joshua). edelgard pulls from the red emperor, an exclusively villainous archetype very, very strongly and has little else to her.

all of this is also without getting into that japanese game writers are just going to have a very different outlook on this shit than online western leftists in their 20s. I find it happens with a lot of non-american media specifically, where people have a hard time understanding, say, japan's relationship with the aesthetics of christianity or catholicism, because they've got the american viewpoint on those religions and what they mean embedded so deeply that it doesn't occur to them.

anyway I don't know how anyone playing through cf watches dedue Do That on tailtean plains while a dour war march plays, and thinks to themselves, yeah, I'm the good guy here

[yulgurr]

shoutout to the person who reblogged half of my good oc posts one by one but said they don't know lore of any of my guys, this one is for you. i hope you see this. i love you

i've been inactive recently but my brain cooker is always cooking, so i will do a small(a lie) recap of my stupid funy 3 houses main trio

look at these guys. war criminals

i will yap about them from left to right.. under the cut! because i yap a lot and it takes too much space!

Camille Adeline Gautier - her dominant color is red, so she is obviously from blue lions house. She's Sylvain's twin, she also has a minor crest of Gautier and she also likes girls, but her distinct difference is that she is a loser but gets super jacked post-timeskip (still remains a loser). She holds a grudge against Miklan but is also scared of him to death, but also wants him dead, it's complicated and she needs therapy. AND SHE GETS ONE and is able to live freely and happily despite still being a loser. She also has a suspicious magic tome with weird spells in a different language.. and her kit is agarthan spells only.. huh! weird!

Theodore von Menja - his main color is yellow, so he is, of course, a black eagles student. He is an illegitimate son of viscount Menja of the empire... except that HE ISN'T he is an impersonator and he is SO.BAD AT HIS ONLY.JOB of impersonating. He doesn't know nobles' etiquette, he can't write like a noble, he doesn't talk like a noble, he doesn't wear his clothes like a noble (they're a bit too big) AND his recruitment condition is you giving him 50k gold. He's good at killing though and his steps are silent. He is awfully observant and is pretty good at keeping his emotions and feelings in check, showing people a side of himself he wants them to see. Post-timeskip Theo is drinking a bit too much and often talks how "it's been 10 years" and he "just wants to go home".

Sienna Crane - her signature color is blue so she is from golden deer. She is the youngest child of Crane Guild of the Alliance, who are one of the biggest merchant guilds in all of Fodlan, and also have connections outside its borders. Sienna's biological father left early on, then immediately got married and became the best polo player in the Adrestian Empire, never to be seen by his former family ever again. Sienna's mother later remarried, and the guy turned out to be a head of the Crane Guild. Sienna then grew up without any financial problems, she was always provided for and always got what she wanted. She's not a spoiled brat in the academy phase though, she is just dumb (no better way to put it) and doesn't get the value of money, but she means well and wants to help everyone. Post-timeskip things get difficult for her, and she actively tries to find a partner. During these 5 years she fucked around and found out, lost her eye, got smarter and realized the most terrifying thing a girl can realize. Her parents have arranged a marriage for her with their friend from Morfis, who is more than twice older than Sienna, and they agreed on this arrangement when she was 13! Insane! Crazy! So she does her best to escape this fate, her parents and the guild that has eyes everywhere. And she fails.

hope this cleared things up! thumbs up emoji

In three hopes their stories are altered, obviously, but Sienna basically escapes from her wedding in a wedding dress and fights in it. why wouldn't she change? idk

[howi99]

So for the son of the blue lion au, How did Dimitri even meet Mama arc?

Well, it's really simple, Mama Arc is one of the other Blue lion. Like i said, Fire emblem X RWBY so the dimitri i talk about is the real one, from fodlan and all. i can be even more precise and say he is the one from after Rodrigue death so more sad then edgy. though for reason i will explain in the chapter i am writing, during the final fight against El, those who slitter in the dark use one final weapon so they wouldn't loose. that mean that indeed, we will see familiar faces, both good and bad. (if you know fire emblem lore, people shifthing world is not a new thing. in fact, 3 house exist because a fucking dragon decided to say fuck the old world and hello new land.) Some of the character you might see in the first Volume of RWBY might be: Felix, Silvain and some others.

but back to the question, who might be Mama Arc? i'll be honest, i don't know yet. though i really like Mercedese. and the question of why the name change? again, simple, they needed a new name since new world.

[deathbirby]

I don't know if Rhealeth is fully your thing, but like what are your thoughts

I eat Rhealeth for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I think they're neat. Being able to let go of a fantasy and truly see the person who was always there for you.

Also the meme potential... Jeralt tells Byleth to be careful of Rhea and Byleth completely ignores that and invites her to tea and yeeted gifts at her.

Or Byleth seeing Rhea reveal her true form and immediately going to help her when they see she is in trouble. They deadass do not care about what she looks like. Imagine them running down that hill while they're internally going "HOLY FUCK THATS HOT"

Or how Byleth is so fucking concerned for Rhea in SS (and VW) and just wants to find her. They're running around Fodlan looking under rocks and climbing in trees to find her you just know.

Oh and Byleth not escaping when Rhea blasts the nukes at Shambhala when they could absolutely do that. They're worried for their dragon pope...

Also Byleth running over to Rhea's unconscious form and holding them like that "you good?" "no" meme.

And before the battle they just look so sad when Seteth tells them they gotta ohko Rhea. They dont wanna do that damn ittt.

And then the final cutscene. Byleth deadass ran ALL THE WAY to the cathedral while SOMEHOW keeping up with this big fuck off dragon. They were determined to get to her in time. And then they hold her as she flatlines from peak fiction.

[fantasyinvader]

Found another Pat thing.

Remember Byleth’s solo ending in Flower, where it talks about how Byleth fights to bring about “true peace”? There’s another mention of “true peace,” and it’s an ending connected to the solo one. The Jeritza ending, where it’s shown that the “sword” Byleth continues to use isn’t the Sword of the Creator but the Sword of Seiros instead. These are final lines of the ending, translated through DeepL: “But one day, the two heroes disappeared from the stage of history. Never again would the menace stirring in the depths of Fodlan return. But the world will never know the whereabouts of the heroes who fought for true peace.”

Jertiza throws himself into the battle with TWSITD even in his solo ending, so there’s I think this would confirm that even in Byleth’s solo ending TWSITD is taken out despite the history texts saying Byleth will continue to fight for “true peace.” Now think about that context of the S support with Jeritza, where they talk about how they will one day fight each other after the Slithers are taken out and how this may be “love.” Their love, regardless of gender, will result in Byleth fighting a mentally ill man to the death and then disappearing. Hell, Jeritza disappears in his solo ending as well, so it probably happens unless he has a different paired ending.

I think there’s a deeper implication to this, however. Much like how various endings in Flower are meant to link together, to give hint to the truth of Edelgard’s rule (hell, the aforementioned endings pretty much state that Edelgard is rewriting history to make herself look good... while the Jeritza ending has them referred to as “heroes” in what the Japanese specifies as Adrestian history books), these endings imply that Byleth really doesn’t have anything to live for. Byleth takes out TWSITD in the name of “true peace” and then disappears. Never mind that Hubert is putting down rebellions against Edelgard, or that the Imperial army is marching on other nations, taking out TWSITD is enough for Byleth to be done and they’ll just fuck off. If the Jertiza ending is any indication... perhaps Byleth wants to see if Jeritza can kill them as well. Regardless of gender, Byleth has this option to enter into the mother of unhealthy relationships at the end of Flower with the game linking it to their solo ending.

Byleth is suicidal at the end of Flower, and we saw hints of this in the Hubert support where they say they need to be killed if they can’t maintain their “humanity.” Byleth doesn’t have a place of their own in Edelgard’s NWO, whatever life they live is fully dependant on their partner. Meanwhile, while Empire makes them out to be a hero, the texts at the end reveal that historians know about the shadow war, they call Hubert evil for what he does to support Edelgard, and we also get the implications that Edelgard’s reforms fail. The empire might call Byleth a hero, but to others they are the one who enabled Edelgard to conquer the continent and then invade other nations. The “Wings of the Hegemon” is not meant to be a good thing because it associates Byleth with the rise of a tyrant. Meanwhile, “The Flame that Seeks their Own Destiny,” the title Byleth gets for walking their own path, is instead changed to “Wandering Flame” implying they are lost in the world without Edelgard or the other lords.

Let's just look at Byleth's solo ending one more time. Adrestian history calls Byleth a hero according to the Jeritza ending, but we also have that same history saying that Byleth lost their powers due to an injury. This is discounted both by what we see, as well as the Japanese Sothis support heavily implying Byleth lost their powers because they broke Sothis' heart causing her to leave while leaving behind the Sothis that knew Byleth. Still, the Imperial history implies Byleth is still using the SotC, which is shown false in the Jeritza ending. Byleth fights for true peace in theirs, while is said to bring about true peace in the Jertiza ending before disappearing in the same manner Jeritza does in their solo ending.

But sure Pat, tell me that Edelgard is meant to be the hero.

[loki-zen]

So I'm enjoying Fire Emblem the Three Houses but i'mma rant on here about the stuff that bugs me about it to be clear if I wasn't enjoying it I'd just stop playing it anyway that said:

The worldbuilding is fucking incoherent - but the really infuriating thing is that a) it often really feels like it'd be interesting if you understood it more and (b) it sometimes is! Like there's stuff you are supposed to pay attention to and pick up on that will be something later, and also stuff that just isn't that well thought out and will never be explained, and there's no way of distinguishing between the two during one's first playthrough.

As a for instance: gender shit. It really feels like it wants to have it both ways?

So you've got female knights, and potentially a female protagonist with no question mark on that basis as to her fearsomeness as a mercenary and her suitability to teach a roughly gender-balanced team of students the various arts of war. Nor is there any suggestion that the female students should be studying something like needlework or even magic rather than swinging a massive axe. The dominant religion is monotheistic Goddess-worship and the more-powerful-than-nations Church has a female Pope. No profession has been textually/narratively referred to as single gendered thus far (although there are a few gender-locked character classes - nobody has said that only girls can ride pegasuses); and the most prominent merchant character is also a woman. There's no mention of gendered inheritance law or male primogeniture.

And yet... several of the female students at the academy, and (in my experience thus far) only the female students, are always talking about stuff around securing marriages and whatnot in a way that really only would make sense in a much more gender-stratified world than the one that is otherwise depicted!

Really kinda feels like it wants to have its cake and eat it (ie, do Generic Historical Setting personal plot for female characters, without preventing them from being good and varied units so you actually use and care about them). Or less charitably Fodlan's gender politics is whatever the current scene needs them to be.

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

Controversial Character Tournament Round 2: Light Yagami from Death Note vs Edelgard von Hresvelg from Fire Emblem: Three Houses

(remember that these characters are fictional and your fellow tumblr users are real. please be normal in the notes, i will not hesitate to block if you harass people)

Propaganda under the cut, may contain spoilers:

Light Yagami:

LOVE: - "He does some messed up things but have you considered: fucked up protagonists rock :)" HATE: - "this man makes me sick. ive genuinely had manic episodes over hating him. i have trauma from his existence in general. not even because of the murder. because hes a sexist cheater :(" - "My cousin and I frequently debate this. I think despite his 'intentions' he's ultimately a despicable character who cares for nobody but himself. She disagrees and says that he is just trying to do the right thing and making a difference in the world (she still thinks his actions are wrong, but she doesn't think he himself is despicable)" BOTH: - "I mean cmon man"

Edelgard Von Hresvelg:

LOVE: "People either claim she's the hero or the irredeemable villain with no in between. She's also my lovely wife who has never done anything wrong in her life." "I never even finished her route and remember nothing of what happens in that game but I DO remember the absolute warzone the fandom turned into because of her. She staged a coup and overthrew the head of the government/church and I think that's pretty cool of her. "But she committed war crimes!" God forbid women do anything." "I lied in the previous question. I don't hate her or love her in fact I have never even played this game. But I keep finding people making up Discourse™ featuring wild accusations of bigotry towards both Edelgard fans and Edelgard haters so I feel that she belongs here. (Also my friend hates her. but HER friend loves Edelgard. So even in my small social circle there is a clear polarization.)" "ok I don't have any solid propaganda because my opinion of her is more positive-neutral, but. she fits the spirit of this poll. trust me." "[three houses spoilers] Yes she started a war but it was the only apparent way to break the chokehold the church had over everyone in Fodlan. Also she’s the only lord you can gay marry so I’m hopelessly biased" "every time i go into the tag its either "edelgard is perfect no notes!!" or "edelgard is literally a fascist!!!". ive never seen someone with a neutral opinion of her. i yearn for battle." "I know very little about her to be quite honest! But good god. As a fire emblem fan for the GBA and engage. I have NEVER seen such a decisive character like Edelgard. Jesus Christ. I still find stuff in those tags. What the hell!!!" "I don’t even go to Fire Emblem but even I know that Edelgard has never done anything wrong, ever, in her entire life, and that if she did any war crimes they were a SUPER effective use of girl power. source: I am a lesbian. (realtalk I genuinely love a noble-minded extremist revolutionary and think Edelgard is a great character, so it’s kind of a shame that opinion on her seems to simply split down the line of “whether the person wants to kiss Edelgard or Dimitri more.”)"

HATE: "So on the one hand, she's fully willing to kill and burn and murder her way to a "better future" at the expense of the present, but on the other hand she's pretty cool and #girlboss. She's also a canon gay romance option, but idk if that makes her more or less problematic." "I just. I understand why people like her. I really do. And I don't have anything new to say for why I dislike her. Edelgard fans and stans have heard everything. She has great points and motivation, but her methods are wrong. She hitches her ideals to the first good opportunity and never reconsiders her allegiance when things go off the rails. She hates the church for "lying to people" and proceeds to lie to her own populace herself in her own route. She gives Claude an opportunity to live because she knows he believes in her goals. But Dimitri and his Kingdom are too beholden to the church to ever be offered such mercy. She herself acknowledges that the change she wants to see is more quickly enacted through war than subtle and slow societal change. She recognizes the human toll of her actions, but she justifies it through flowery language and an insistence that the change needs to happen now or it never will. I honestly find her so interesting, and I agree with a lot of her thoughts about the need for societal change in the world of FE:3H. But people latched onto her and propped her up as someone who can do no wrong. And that just never sat right with me. I just think she’s a hypocrite who got put in front of a shiny means to her end and was immediately blind to every other opportunity around her." BOTH: - "I dont even play fire emblem but I cant escape people not shutting up about how much they love or hate her" - "You said there were no hate answers for her...and I don't really hate her so it wouldn't be right but I wanted to balance things out some. She's the perfect storm of a character who sounds right and progressive and has a route all to herself that doesn't contradict that...but once you play other routes, it becomes clear she's kind of. full of misinformation. And attacking people who don't deserve it. Also a LOT of the divisiveness I'm willing to blame on the writers rather than her, for having her both be Evil Tyrant we NEED to take down and Sad Uwu Baby who just wants to eat cake and laze around and loves You the Player SO MUCH."

[koroart]

Honestly, I kind of wished Hopes adopted a system where if you beat a chapter at Max Difficulty and achieve an S-Rank for all of the maps, you'll be rewarded with a special cutscene of the events in the pov of different characters. For example; lets say you clear all of Chapter 4 at Max Difficulty and all S-Ranks, you'll unlock a special Pre-Tradegy showing off the relationship of Rufus and Lambert. These are completely optional, but they're extra meat for people really invested in Fodlan Lore. Rufus's inclusion in the story was short, simple and sweet—I think keeping the guy alive would damper the story than enhance it but I understand what anon meant—so this cutscene system feels like a fair compromise of getting more about the guy post-mortem

You my friend are a FUCKING GENIUS -- even though people would have to work for it ( but tbh, with Hopes, depending on the difficulty, it shouldn't be TOO hard to accomplish -- plus there would always be YouTube so you can watch it without doing the work LMAO ) I think it would have been a brilliant way to implement more lore!! Especially because I feel Hopes left us with more questions than answers regarding what lore we did get in 3Houses ( in all three routes tbh not just AG ).

Implementing that system, like you said, would be a good compromise to fill in the blanks without having take away from the main story which at this point should be our main focus!

[emblemxeno]

Once again Mr stalker raxy pal posted an ask of yours. What’s crazy about it this time is like? Dude edited it a bit I’m sure? Like? That is so crazy to me that effort is being put into this shit that you’d think these added seconds of time would help him reflect “hey maybe I should stop being a total loser and leave people alone”

Lol.

Conveniently leaving out this tidbit where...

Humans tried to exterminate manaketes after they had just protected them from degenerated dragons. Earth Dragons sucked for their pride and views of humans, but 1) they never chose to actively attack people, they degenerated and went feral, so 2) it's not equivalent to or worse than humans being fully aware of what they were doing when trying to kill manaketes and 3) none of what the Earth Dragons believed nor what they did once they were feral-i.e. not of sane mind-warranted innocent manaketes being attacked.

And the core foundation of the Archanea games is Marth, a human who's not a total fuckbag, stopping the dark cycle of hatred and retaliation. It's why his opposite is Gharnef, a human but also a fuckbag, who does awful things to people (causing both the War of Shadows and the War of Heroes) and uses dragons to achieve those things. It's why a major enemy is Hardin, a human who sunk into despair, sloth, rage, and jealousy due to his connection to Marth and Nyna. The reason why the War of Shadows got as bad as it did is because Camus was tragically attatched to his duty above his beliefs, and Micahlis had selfish, grand ambitions. It's almost like the pattern here is that humans do shitty things in the name of selfish ideals and good humans have to end conflict on behalf of the *remaining dragons wiped out due to aforementioned shitty things* and the other good people.

Similarly, Grima was made by a crazy fuck human who indiscriminately killed and sacrificed people for his own science project, and Loptous would never have even gotten to Jugdral were it not for Gair's power hungry ass.

Humans were also responsible for starting the Scouring and the Ending Winter, revising history to erase the Manakete involvement in Magvel, revising history and oppressing laguz in Tellius, and all of the fuckass business in Fodlan.

The only games that can be argued-though still with difficulty-to support his point are Valentia (which even then wasn't ashamed to whack the people themselves for feeding into their own reliance), Fates and Engage, the latter two he doesn't like, so... I reiterate, do they play any other FE games and not just screenshot stuff from wikis?

[randomnameless]

It's better to laugh than to cry, right?

Rhea BaD bcs she banned the technology to create Relics!

Or at least, makes sure no one in Fodlan knows how to craft them anymore :(

The Church LiEd!!!!

Will we ever know why the Church of Seiros hides the truth?

the FEH writers did their work, they wrote Claude being wrong while sprouting "evidences"!

Agarthium =/= Umbral Steel, because Umbral Steel is actually... something that you can find when you... defeat specific units like :

(tfw Agarthans harvested Agarthium from giant worms)

Come on Claude, we know what Rhea told you, and that shit you just sprouted wasn't what she told you at all.

She told you what "Umbral Steel" really was, surely you will finally reveal this to Marianne so she will stop uwufying poor Momo and give more fucks about the Relics, considering what, no, rather who they are, right?

...

go ahead Marianne, tell her what this "weapon" you're using actually is!

:')

This is a joke, right?

"I'll keep this tool in my hand for as long as I live, just like my ancestor Momo!"

But do you remember that Momo was turned in a beast, even if he had the matching crest, because he used Blutgang too much? This weapon is dangerous to use, even if you have all the requirements, because it's not really a weapon!

Apparently, no one gives a fuck!

:')

"but random, why are you so pissed? Rhea most likely came to the same conclusion when plot-wise, she gave the relics to the northerners in the first place, like the Laetitia Gautier!"

Rhea knows what the "relics" are, and much like she says in Nopes when fighting alongside a descendant of the Elites, if they use their powers with/for "good", then it's not a sin.

We can surmise* that Rhea knew what Sharon the Nabatean, turned into the Lance of Ruin, would want, like "help those people" so if Sharon and her powers - even if they were desacrated in the worst way - are used to do/protect something Sharon would herself do/protect, then it's an "acceptable" use.

something like "not only the will of the wielder" is important, but "the will of the person who was turned in this weapon".

But here?

There's no revelation about Sharon the Nabatean, Blutgang is just a tool, a sword that was maybe made with evil intentions, but ultimately just a mere sword, like Mareeta's blade.

In a series where some characters are berserked/weaponised against their own will (witches, feral ones, berserk people, etc etc) FEH refusing (but it follows the source material here!) to point out the "origins" of the relics is completely bullcrap.

We're on "ah yes, Ashnard has a big wyvern, doesn't he?" levels, without anyone to tell us that, no, this is no wyvern, but someone turned in a weapon against his will who had a name, a family and, in general, a history.

Imagine the Tales Series, where Lloyd never muses about the "shiny rock" he has even after he learnt that this shiny rock is basically what remains of his mother, or Genis not having his "I don't want to use this" moment when he has to use the shiny rock that used to be Marble - or a Destiny port where Stahn and his pals would only see the Swordians as, swords, and not as people they want to help.

That's basically Fodlan - you're not supposed to give a fuck about Marble, Anna, Dymlos or even Rajaion, they're just neat accessories/power ups, and that's all.

*of course it's only a hypothesis, because the devs dgaf about this issue and will never write about it

[butwhatifidothis]

1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 12 for rhea? :3

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

I like Rhea because her story brings with it so many interesting things to think about, and the choices she's made throughout it are also thought-provoking. Yes, she's tried to do the best she could with the options given to her, yes she's tried to do everything in order to bring peace to Fodlan, but that doesn't make her choices any less morally ambiguous or debatable - something she acknowledges, and even wishes to make up for when she's felt she'd made bad choices!

Plus her being fairly shy about mingling with others due to her status making her feel as though she'd bum down the mood gives her a real sweet quality to her lol. Makes me wish even more she was allowed to talk to more characters.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

That she put her identity out on blast in Shambhala in order to protect everyone. She also does this during the siege on Garreg Mach, but her initial transformation was away from everyone; in the second time she does is in front of everyone, but she cares about saving people more than her own safety at that moment. Considering how long she hid her Nabatean heritage from the world, it feels like a huge step forward for her, Nabateans, and Fodlan as a whole being able to put behind the horrific massacre of the Nabateans. She isn't deemed a monster by anyone, no one tries to kill her in her dragon form; they all just admire that she went so far to keep them safe! It's just a really good moment (that's uh, fucked by either her dying for sure on VW or her randomly going berserk on SS, but still!).

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

The above mentioned going berserk thing in SS is easilyyyyyyy my least favorite thing about Rhea's writing (because due to the nature of Rhea's character I don't really find myself outright disliking any aspect of her character). It's stupid, it comes out of nowhere, it makes no sense (even with FEH trying its damndest to throw out a reason), and it just kinda fucks with SS' pacing more than anything. She's only the final boss there because SS needed a unique boss and no other reason and it sucks major ass.

Even the suggestion of her going berserk on VW and Nemesis being the final boss of SS just kinda... moves the problem somewhere else, not actual fix what's wrong with it (the lack of foreshadowing that anything like this would happen, the fact that it doesn't happen on the other route where the exact same thing happens to Rhea but nothing happens to her there, the nonsensical nature of it, etc.). Definitely the weakest part of the writing of her character, imo.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Not the song question 😭😭😭 imma be straight up with you I do not think of any song for any character like almost ever sorry for the lame answer but I don't got shit for this question

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

We both love cats!!

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

i like when they write her in character I like when fandom allows for Rhea to genuinely grow close to other characters, rare as it is to see happen. She has such an interesting viewpoint and has a lot of similarities to a lot of characters, so seeing that get expanded on and not just have her be The One True Bad Guy Of 3H For Totes For Realsies Pinky Promise is always nice lol

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

On AM/SS after the war she lets herself openly baby Flayn as her aunt instead of withholding outright doting due to her archbishop position + hiding their familial relation. She gives her gifts and teaches her constellations on her star chart and does up her hair and tells funny story about Seteth that make him look silly - she just gets to be family with her niece!!