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dimiclaudeblaigan · 2 years ago

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I find the whole premise of the war in Houses very sad.

Rhea is being targeted because "everything is the fault of Crests" according to Edelgard. Rhea has no power over Crests themselves, and the blood that enables Crest bearers to use Relics is dragon blood. The Relics are the bones of her brethren.

According to Edelgard, whose every ounce of information is fed to her by the Agarthans (why does she even believe anything her captors say again?), Rhea is an enemy... but why would Rhea condone anything related to Crests and Relics? Also, Edelgard didn't stop the Agarthans from kidnapping Flayn for her blood, allowing them to create demonic beasts. On top of that, she later uses demonic beasts for her war, so she uses Agarthan technology, etc, to turn regular humans into demonic beasts while saying that Rhea is the one at fault.

Rhea, who actively tries to stop Relics from falling into the hands of people who will turn into a demonic beast if they use them. She gets mad if Byleth says they won't turn over the Lance of Ruin to her, and it's one of the few times she openly gets mad at Byleth - because she knows the dangers of it falling into the wrong hands. Her only relief came from Sylvain - not Byleth - who said he would take the Lance of Ruin and assured her he wouldn't let it fall into anyone else's hands. He was also pretty convincingly honest about it, because she wanted him to remember the dangers of it and he says he "won't soon forget". Coming from him it was likely the most honest response she could've gotten out of anyone else in the monastery, so she let it go.

And also, here we are, with Rhea, one of the very last of her kind, being told she can't exist because she's not human, thus proving all her fears and worries about her identity correct. In CF, the last straw for her was that same person "taking" Byleth, Sitri's child, from her (i.e. even if Byleth "chose" that path, there was someone that was the cause of that decision. Without the war starting, Byleth wouldn't have decided that, so in Rhea's eyes it's Edelgard's fault, but she also isn't letting Byleth get away with it either).

It's also sad that Rhea's only chance to tell the truth (i.e. to Claude) was when she was already dying. There was no chance for her to tell the truth, be free of it and still feel safe. In this case she also wouldn't have died if the war had never started, because her five years of captivity by Edelgard left her weak and it kept her from being at her full strength when it came time to fight the Agarthans.

It's very frustrating for me too that we have Claude who does what he can to find out the truth, but Edelgard never does any such thing and just immediately believes what the Agarthans believe. Instead of her thinking her captors might be lying, she allies with them to kill Nabateans, which is exactly what they want. Why not try to find out the truth, or talk to Rhea to figure out what her side of the story is? Why just take the side of your tormentors both by information and in a war of your creation? Edelgard was a puppet on Thales' strings and willingly went along with it for years.

But somehow everything ever is Rhea's fault. See, even if Sothis was uwu BaD and stuff, I'm still not sure how any of that lands on Rhea, besides for her being Sothis' child and thus the children of the parent must die simply for who their parent is. Either way, it comes down to Rhea not being human, and thus Edelgard blaming her for every problem in Fodlan ever. It's sad to me because it really is that simple in terms of Rhea getting blamed for everything.

Rhea lied about the Crests and Relics, calling the people she hated heroes (something Edelgard could never do about the people she hated) to avoid more tragedy. It's almost like her lying for the benefit of humanity worked against her, which in an ironic way is like saying the humans were the enemies all along. She does good things for them and they just turn on her. It's kind of like, maybe she should've seen them as enemies all along, but she didn't. She accepted the ones who didn't hurt her or her kin. She accepted the people who had nothing to do with any of that.

Idk I just wanted to mention Rhea's place in the war because I've never really brought it up. It's just sad to me that she did everything she could to stay safe while not viewing humans as an enemy, but her kindness was part of her downfall. It makes me wonder if she'd told the truth eventually that people would've understood better. When she tells Claude, he realizes all the lies Rhea's been telling weren't hurting anyone, but instead allowing the power of the dragons to continue to exist in humans. If it had been her decision, she never would've allowed that because it was her family that was killed for that.

But like... apparently it's all her fault. Apparently everything is all her fault.

I know the Fodlan games have a huge glaring issue with victim blaming, but it's very sad to see that the victims are at fault right until their death (mainly on CF, but if you factor in Hopes, SB and GW too). They're blamed for their coping for how they suffered, and they're blamed for every little thing they do or don't do from then on. There's no winning. If you're a victim, you're a villain. Edelgard used to be a victim, but she stopped being a victim when she started making victims and siding with the people who tormented her in the first place.

Imo the story should've had Edelgard side with Rhea against the Agarthans and still have done four routes. Like... sometimes I think of what Edelgard could've been, how she could've turned on the Agarthans after pretending to work with them, and end up telling Rhea everything. She could've been a kinder person who had the same "ideals" (quotations because they're empty promises in canon) and could've been equally as resolute and strong.

She could've told Dimitri the truth that she hid from him despite having an entire year to tell him. She could've told Claude what she knew about Rhea after talking to Rhea, since he was looking for answers. She could've been a really awesome lead where CF/SS were similar routes with different perspectives (not necessarily identical), but those routes were her and Rhea working together. At the end, she could've taken responsibility for any time she worked with the Agarthans and moved on.

It's also sad how the fandom does the exact same thing to Rhea. She does something, she's bad. She doesn't do something, she's still bad. All she has to do is exist and she's still bad. If she reacts in any way because of her trauma, she's bad.

The fandom's views on trauma are pretty disgusting though tbh, because the general vibe is that if you have trauma you can only uwu about it. If you have any other reactions, including violent ones, you're horrible and need to be "put down" because you didn't have a "proper, correct" reaction to your trauma. If you don't shut up and deal with it, you're a bad person.

I feel like CF was a mistake with its writing and justifying the actions of ableism and imperialism both in one route. A mistake as in, now people actually believe that stuff is all well an good (despite the other routes saying otherwise).

Anyway that's it for this. I'm sure someone out there will call me a Rhea apologist now even though I'm not and even though she's not even remotely my favorite character lol.

#DCB Comments #and no I'm not here for arguments if someone somehow sees this in a for you page #I'm just expressing I find the premise of it all very sad and not here to argue about the reasons for the war #you all know that shit is old ass arguing that's been done for four years now #I like the game and want to talk about it without people boohooing that it's not completely in favor of their pixel waifu #Three Houses

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raxistaicho · 2 years ago

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“Red Lady stoopid”

Who wants more Fantasy Invader?

... Well I don’t either, but he is a darkly amusing source of content to debunk.

Next we’re diving into a... fever dream where FI tries to convince everyone Edelgard’s a stupid, stupid little girl who was lied to and tricked.

Because Edelcrits don’t even respect that Edelgard is aware of what she’s trying to do unless they convince themselves she’s just trying to take over Fodlan.

Sadly, I’ve long forgotten what he was replying to. Judging from usual trends, probably something RandomNameless said.

Anyways, Aegir was working with the Agarthans, so that’s a distinction without a difference.

Fascinating how, when it’s time to deny Edelgard’s agency and portray her as a stupid little girl in over her head, they actually listen to what Thales said during that cutscene in White Clouds, but when it’s time to blame her for Duscur or justify Dimitri’s irrational assertion that she did Duscur, they just take it at face value when he says Duscur was done for her. In actuality, the Agarthans did Duscur for themselves.

First off, Aymr has nothing to do with the secret history unless you’re Fantasy Invader and you think “Devil Arcana! Devil means EVIL!”

Secondly, if Aymr represents the Agarthans having control over Edelgard in SB (you know, the route where she betrays them and kills them...), why do you get it in the story branch where Byleth - Sothis’s avatar - doesn’t die? Wouldn’t it be the other way around?

This’ll come up later (FI has a lot to say about Claude and GW in future posts) but FI does actually just cut to the quick and says the player getting Blutgang in GW is further “proof” of it being a bad route. So yes, Marianne’s Crest is a sign of corruption and she was right to hate herself. And naturally, this story branch gets the Blue Lions the “good” item, because if FI didn’t have double standards he wouldn’t have any.

No. I’ve touched on this subject before, but knowing the secret history (for god’s sake, stop it with the “sekrit”, you sound like a petulant child who realizes he’s already lost the argument and is resorting to being petty) is not what motivated Edelgard to go to war.

Secondly, here’s the full quote where Edelgard tells what she’s learned:

Edelgard: Professor... Do you know the true story behind the legend? The Relics were created by the hands of mankind. Seiros collected them after killing the 10 Elites. Seiros manipulated the people of the world and defeated the all-powerful King Nemesis.

This is all true.

Rhea created the Empire to get revenge on Nemesis. She admits to deceiving her followers herself:

Choice 1: I thought he was corrupted by his power?

Choice 2: Why would she do that?

Edelgard: That's the history the Church of Seiros maintains. However, it was little more than a simple dispute. The church maintains the false history that he was corrupted and turned evil.

Completely true. Nemesis was not corrupted by “evil gods”.

However, it was little more than a simple dispute.

In this, Edelgard’s mistaken: it was far more than a “simple dispute”. However, if you want to blame someone for Edelgard’s misunderstanding, blame Rhea. Neither Nemesis nor the Ten Elites had any clue why she was fighting them until the end.

As I’ve said before, the importance of this scene is NOT what Edelgard knows, but what she doesn’t know, the implication behind her not knowing it is that even Wilhelm didn’t know Rhea’s motives for wanting to fight Nemesis.

Should the one leading the people of the world be someone with humanity or a creature that can merely masquerade as a human at will? In the end, Seiros was victorious. The Immaculate One and her family then took control of Fódlan. I know this because that knowledge is passed down from emperor to emperor. And that is the because the first emperor is the human who cooperated with Seiros, allowing humanity to be controlled in secret.

This seems to be why Fantasy Invader thinks the secret history is why Edelgard fights Rhea, but it isn’t. She fights her out of an understanding that the Church of Seiros is the cornerstone of Fodlan’s horrific system of Crests and aristocracy.

It’s more of this recurring trend from Edelcrits where they want to de-legitimize anyone’s reasons for fighting Rhea. Edelgard wants to fight her because she was lied to, the Western Church want to fight her because they’re racist, and Claude at first doesn’t like her because he’s ignorant and needs enlightening by the white dragon pope (we’ll get to that...)

Jesus christ “her simp”. How fucking old is Fantasy Invader? 16? Am I justified to call Dedue a simp now? Probably not. I actually hold myself to standards.

And yeah, FI still thinks Hubert is an Agarthan.

And “Jeritza the serial killer”. How come when Dimitri falls to his violent psychosis he’s given infinite sympathy and chances to redeem himself, but when Jeritza becomes desperately mentally unwell he’s a “serial killer”. They’ve accused me of ableism just to do it themselves.

Ah well, good opportunity to shill a pretty old post of mine that got big last year.

But now to cycle back to the “willing to turn a blind eye” portion.

Fantasy Invader never sources anything he says (which means I then have to research what the fuck he’s even talking about), but I believe he’s referring to Edelgard’s B support with Hubert in Hopes.

To open, Hubert’s lamenting that Rhea escaped into the Kingdom because they didn’t surround Garreg Mach and tear it apart when they had the chance. Edelgard admonishes him;

Hubert, that idea came from Lord Arundel... That is to say, Thales. And it’s an impractical idea at that - one based on unreliable experimental assets that had never been tested in battle.

That’s really it. We don’t know how much she knows of the nature of the “assets” or how they were even going to be made. Given how alarmed she is at the sight of Remire, it’s very unlikely she was aware of the full scope of the devastation the Agarthans planned to cause.

She never said Nemesis was the hero. She doesn’t make any moral statement on Nemesis at all, just that he wasn’t corrupted by evil gods - which he wasn’t.

She can see with her eyes that Rhea has enormous influence over Fodlan, and that she was a cruel beast to screamed her intent to murder Byleth in an exceedingly violent way the moment Byleth turned on her - funny how Edelcrits never seem to notice Edelgard only calls Rhea a “cruel beast” on the route where she behaves with extreme violence.

Something to recall about Edelgard is that she’s a very dramatic person; she tends to make grandiose statement that fall short of her actual intent. See her saying she would “obliterate” Rhea, just to then offer her terms of surrender.

And lastly, she probably doesn’t believe the legends that her family claims descent from Seiros - and she’d be right to, given we know House Hresvelg has its Crest of Seiros through blood transfusion, not from Rhea boinking Wilhelm.

Also, fucking “Willy”...

No, she’s not descended from Rhea. When Rhea says she “shared blood”, she means that quite literally, not in the usual metaphorical sense. Unless you want to propose that Flayn had kids with Linhardt’s ancestors, you creep.

So what FI is talking about on the second point comes from the original Japanese reading of Edelgard’s A support with Byleth in Houses.

Now in this regard I have to rely on machine translation, sadly, but;

I'm relieved that even though you're so far from humans, you still have a human side.

Well, in the same way, I may have drifted away from ordinary people a little.

In much the same way Céline uses “human” when talking to Alear,

Edelgard’s not saying she and Byleth aren’t literally human, just that they’ve grown apart from ordinary people.

(Unless you want to accuse Céline of being racist against dragons, which would be a pretty hard sell, I have to say).

The Divine Dragon in Engage and the Nabateans in Houses and Hopes occupy a similar space; they’re treated like gods, not another species. In this regard, “human” means not the species but the trait of being approachable and limited. Mortal, not divine, which is the crux of Byleth’s dichotomy.

Additionally, Edelgard, who is human but has grown detached due to her experiences and trauma, is comparing her experiences to Byleth’s. How on earth is Edelgard being metaphorically distant from her fellow man comparable to Byleth supposedly literally not being human?

Maybe Fantasy Invader thinks Edelgard is applying the “one drop of blood rule” to herself. Yuck.

Oh, and Byleth’s not half-Nabatean. Jeralt was human, Sitri was neither.

She’s creating a world for the Agarthans by... killing the Agarthans.

Again, Fantasy Invader seems to think Thales’s plan was:

1. Kill Rhea.

2. Spend the next thousand years binging Netflix at my pad in Shambhala.

Nah, he kinda wanted to take over the surface, too, and he fails at that in Crimson Flower.

Edelgard isn’t achieving the Agarthans’ goals for them if she completes step 3 of their plan and then turns on them and kills them with steps 4 through 6 still in progress.

Fantasy Invader is exhausting to deal with sometimes, lol. It’s all half-formed gish-gallops with him, it reminds me of the angry ranting car vlogs Logicked debunks on You Tube.

Luckily he sticks to the same points so frequently that I can often just point back to earlier posts I made and go “nuh-uh”. Also I enjoy the rhetorical exercise.

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #fire emblem three hopes #edelgard von hresvelg #edelgard #edelgard positive #edelgard discourse #Fantasy Invader #the analyzer

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randomnameless · 1 year ago

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At this point several people wondered if AG had different writers from the SB/GW team and... well, I can't exactly disagree lol

Felix asking the right questions - asking if they can trust Claude. Annette doesn’t trust Claude. Ingrid neither, but doesn’t think he’s as bad as Annette and Felix. Gustave and the Knights of Serios are keeping the Alliance in check

I know he hasn't done a thing (well...) on this route to warrant that much scrutiny, but damn if coming from GW and seeing the Faerghan peeps have doubts about him feel so earned, lol.

Of course we will have devoted fans using the uwu racism card, but it's still telling something that Claude, in the other routes, allies with Supreme Leader, and here, doesn't have a formal alliance with the Kingdom...

Once again, people asking if Dimitri can kill his step-sister. But Dimitri’s like, guys, I killed Rufus. I can handle it

Fratricide is BaD -

Except when you are in GW and Nader doesn't give a crap about Claude basically killing his half-brother and fellow Prince, and in SB, parricide is a virtue, at least to Hubert lol

a letter from Patricia? If it doesn’t have new info, why bring it up? Something disturbing. Confirmation she was always bad. Yep, she helped plot Duscur. I mean, we all guessed she was an awful human being, so now we know. Like, I don’t blame Patricia for missing Edelgard or whatever, but setting your child step-son to get butchered alongside tons of other innocent people is straight-up evil.

But she was so desperate to see her daughter... who still doesn't seem to give a fig about her.

I swear between Sothis not giving a fuck about Rhea who misses her a lot and Edel not giving a fuck about her mom who missed her a lot, this verse has an issue writing mother-daughter relationships lol.

Hopefully we can still use the "b-but Slithers" and Cornelia as an excuse, or maybe Patricia/Anselma is the person whom Edel got her "oh I planned this but I didn't think it would be that awful. Anyways, what next?" reaction in Remire?

Dimitri’s worried about Shez, and she’s opening up to him. It’s pretty sweet. It’s also so sweet how much they trust Shez even if she doesn’t trust herself.

Remember how Shez had to earn her allies's trust in SB?

I swear, AG and SB are written to be polar opposites at times.

Shez would rather die than kill her friends 😭

Save Shez, they were infected by the evil and backwards "I want to save my friends even if that must kill me" ridiculous cultural notion! Rememer, Chivalry and dying to protect your loved ones is BaD, as Claude and Edel say!

Shamir just went up in my books. She said as a mercenary she’ll get hired to kill anyone, but prefers killing bad guys, like the Empire. I love it. She hasn’t said anything like this in GW or SB.

This makes all the more ridiculous her decision to stick with the Empire in SB, given the, uh, conditions to recruit her. I like Shamir as a concept, aka someone who is a mercenary and pretends to enjoy her attachment free life, only looking for the next job being very #cool and #badass.

But here, in some CF quotes (iirc she says when she dies trying to retake the monastery that she acted on sentimentality which is unlike her...) , she actually enjoys being part of the KoS, let it be to rekt bad guys, do "partner things" with Catherine or, just, have allies who rely on her and whom she can rely on.

A shame Nopes retconned Alois to oblivion, and forces Shamir to be on GW by default so we can't see more of that side of her, and instead we're left with a #cool #badass and pretty #ungrateful character - idk if you triggered them, but her quotes against Cyril are... something, really.

seeing Shez want to just play and have fun with the Blue Lions.

Why don't we see anything similar with the other two houses lol? Oh, I know, it must be because Shez fell for the stupid and backward Faerghus culture that promotes and values camaraderie and friendship - or, in another house, because they would have to wait for their turn behind Hubert, Monica, Doro and the rest of the court to spend time with Supreme Leader... (since you've ended her route, you know how it ends, right?)

Mercedes and Dimitri talk about how open minded the church is and give credit to the overall teachings (lamo, eat shit, Claude) Mercedes is grateful to Dimitri to taking in the Central Church because it helped the village out. It’s why she brought him there, so he could see the good that comes from protecting the church.

This support hurts given how a later "support" can be unlocked between Dimitri and a certain someone...

AG is basically having characters tell and show (?) what the Church does, but SB and GW have characters ranting at the Church for putting mayonnaise in their sandwich, or for having created human greed, and we're supposed to nod.

I won't say we have different writers because that'd be presuming too much, but... let's say in the other two routes, you aren't really supposed, imo, to think about what you're doing.

Sylvain knows painting styles (he knows it’s not a common Faerghus style). But ofc Sylvain is interested in how pretty the woman in the painting is lamo. He’s curious about the woman’s identity, but it doesn’t seem in a fuck boy way,

I love how the fact Miklan's mom being from Adrestia isn't just a thrown away line here or there, but it is referenced through this support - it helps tie some random plot points, and actually paint a much more complete picture of Fodlan than "uwu culture bad let's invite my rampaging buddies" or whatever happens in SB.

Seeing Edel and her gang we're supposed to think Adrestia hates Faerghus a lot and would never want to associate with their lot, but in AG we learn that Rhea's monastery is a dating app some Adrestians could become friendly to people from Faerghus, even marry and live, as far as we know, happily with them without bemoaning their culture or whatever makes the Edel gang rage at Faerghus.

It also gives more tidbits about worldbuilding, aka, at some point, Adrestia didn't hate the CoS and some of their artists painted, well, stuff for the CoS!

Which of course raises the issue of why Supreme Leader didn't face any civil war or internal dissenssions when she declared war on the CoS, FE16 tells us she used propaganda, but we know Hubert so... maybe in FE16 potential rebels were turned in demonic beasts?

As for Sylvain finding that totally random woman in the painting pretty in a non fuckboy way - I thought it was a nice throwback at a mention he had in FE16 ; granted, Ignatz's Nabatean radar seems to have caught something so...

Yuri trusts Seteth with his crest secrets (partly because he knows Seteth already knows, and partly bc Yuri has taste)

Or we could also guess that Yuri being - even if the DLC events didn't happen - close to Rhea or at least one of the few people on Fodlan who doesn't hate her because the plot commands so, he might feel "safe" with Rhea's right hand man ?

of course we couldn't have yuri talk to rhea in this game bcs she has no supports...

Seteth encourages Yuri to cherish his crest and the power it brings So is Yuri the son of an elite or something?

In his backstory, Yuri and his mom helped a kind old man, the kind old man "saved Yuri's life" afterwards when Yuri became very sick (remember the Faerghan plague?) and then Yuri got his crest. Does it remind you of someone?

I like how Seteth can finally tell someone to cherish their crest and the power it brings, without having the traditional "uwu crust system uwu" nonsense - given what crests are to him...

It's this more -uh - questionable side of Flayn that keeps her from being a one-note, overly sweet character. I love it

Yep! Flayn knows what she wants, and will come up with "schemes" to get it, or at least, sometimes, force her way through, as we can see in her Ignatz support. It's nothing nefarious though, but still fun to note.

So a hostage that grew up in Faerghus is now leading the raid. And Margrave Gautier treated him well even though he felt bitter about Sreng killing his wife.

Meanwhile, in Glorious Adrestia : Petra is compared to an animal and has to learn the language on her own.

Adrestia must conquer Faerghus asap, to bring them new values and get rid of the influence and corruption of the CoS!

Aww, Sylvain is dedicated to reaching peace with Sreng. Of course his dad is harder edged because they killed his wife

And we have a nice parallel in GW! Sylvain hates foreigners who kill and trample lives to invade Faerghus, following in Matthias' footsteps after... Claude killed Matthias because Rhea BaD or something.

Dimitri being more understanding of the Empire nobles who’’ll follow any leader that promises them more land than Edelgard does him and the other Blue Lions He’s thinking from the other’s perspective, how it looks to them, not what it actually is - Claude and Edelgard could never

This is one of the pet-peeves I had in AM during the "parley" scene too, I know they want to show Dimitri being an understanding leader or at least someone who tries to understand and to know why the frick people are invading his land -

In a vacuum, there's nothing wrong with this mindset, I actually like it because you can't stop wars and start to build peace without trying to know why that war started - but we get to play as the morons who are attacking, who are either Make Adrestia Great Again, Rhea BaD bcs she exists or Nader's cultural pillages and rampages with a side dose of "your culture is backwards I must save you from your outdated values".

We don't have Dimitri's reaction upon learning that the war, or at least some people wanted to join this war, because they want more land since they're imperialists and think your people are second rate people, or because Rhea is BaD (well... about that...).

So while it makes him look good in AG and this scene, when we know in GW Nader pillages for fun, what are we even supposed to think? Can you really discuss or come to an agreement with the Almyrans who see Fodlan as a giant treasure to be looted? With Ferdie the Imperialist, or Caspar who foams at the mouth at the prospect of fighting people running and or defending their homes and loved ones?

I love so much that the importance of his friends’ support is stressed so much more in AG

I'd love to hear your thoughts about end of AG Dimitri and end of AM Dimitri, but the Nopes writers said they didn't want to write a story where the characters would end up in a better situation/state than they do in FE16 with Billy's guidance - AG!Dimitri relies on his friends instead of Byleth, sure, the conditions and context are different, but imo, I agree that it felt nice to see a Dimtiri who relies and is supported by his friends in AG compared to AM!Dimitri where his friends cannot reach him, or don't even try... (and Dedue is fridged for reasons).

Manuela’s defeat quote is that she won’t die single. Ngl, glad she just retreated

I still to this day don't understand how she is a SB exclusive, bar to sate Supreme Leader's teacher kink.

I'm high on copium and pretend Manuela is in the Empire but actually a spy, using the opera company and its spectacles to give intel to her old CoS friends. but that's just copium and headcanon :(

Glad they’re bringing up that if they don’t do this, Adrestia will not stop until Faerghus is destroyed

B-But the war will stop if Rhea dies?

Oops, wrong route.

Felix got angry with Rodrigue when he said all the blame for invading will fall on Dimitri

lololol

Rodrigue predicted the state of Fodlan discourse - apparently Dimitri BaD for invading and doing the later things he will do in Adrestia.

Rodrigue says he’s only Dimitri’s retainer, that’s so false. But he says Shez is in a unique spot since she’s a friend first, then he’s her leader.

See the earlier Billy comment and AM in general as a route - is Billy able to sway Dimitri in AM because they are his teacher, not affiliated to Faerghus and a friend before being a "retainer and friend" like Ingrid'n'co?

Rodrigue says though that Shez’s background or powers aren’t what’s important, it’s about who Shez is as a person. I love so much how the Blue Lions keep repeating this idea, that it’s not Byleth’s or Shez’s power. It’s their worth as a person that matter

I love how this messages erases 80% of the "crest system" and "crest bad" spiel from FE16 - that couldn't be voiced too loud, else some route(s?) wouldn't make sense.

Azure Gleam Ch 11

Spoilers below for AG Ch 11.

STORY

RODRIGUE is back. You have no idea how happy I am that he got more screen time (and is now playable!)

Ashe's not happy that some nobles kept their titles after turning coat, but they can't afford the chaos changing things would create right now, but they plan to in the future.

I am living for the Big Dad energy Rodrigue always has.

Do we get to kill Caspar's Dad? Please let me kill Caspar's dad.

Felix asking the right questions - asking if they can trust Claude. Annette doesn't trust Claude. Ingrid neither, but doesn't think he's as bad as Annette and Felix.

Gustave and the Knights of Serios are keeping the Alliance in check.

Once again, people asking if Dimitri can kill his step-sister. But Dimitri's like, guys, I killed Rufus. I can handle it.

Ohh, a letter from Patricia? If it doesn't have new info, why bring it up? Something disturbing. Confirmation she was always bad.

Yep, she helped plot Duscur. I mean, we all guessed she was an awful human being, so now we know.

Like, I don't blame Patricia for missing Edelgard or whatever, but setting your child step-son to get butchered alongside tons of other innocent people is straight-up evil.

Dimitri's worried about Shez, and she's opening up to him. It's pretty sweet. It's also so sweet how much they trust Shez even if she doesn't trust herself.

Honestly, Dimitri and Shez are so cute, as friends or more, it doesn't matter, they have a great relationship.

Shez would rather die than kill her friends 😭 We won't let that happen (it better not happen)

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

Seteth said he trusts me 😭😭😭

Rodrigue got to say two things this time, which means he made up for lost time last chapter.

Ok guys, Shamir just went up in my books. She said as a mercenary she'll get hired to kill anyone, but prefers killing bad guys, like the Empire. I love it. She hasn't said anything like this in GW or SB.

SHEZ & RODRIGUE B

LAMO, omg, I love Shez.

So it starts with Rodrigue taking Shez very seriously as Shez talks about how the war may be over by next winter because she . . . wants to have a snowball fight, like all the Kingdom kids got to do.

It's actually kind of sweet, seeing Shez want to just play and have fun with the Blue Lions.

Rodrigue, of course, love the idea.

And takes snowball fighting too seriously, talking strategy. Of a snowball fight. OMG I love this. I love him.

He'd do full-out battle with Lambert and go with kids.

Rodrigue lost, lamo.

So Lambert would rush into battle alone, and Shez thinks like father like son with Dimitri.

I also love how Rodrigue thinks Gautier is cowardly for laying and ambush for Lambert, but is totally fine with his own sneaking and waiting to strike.

It ended with them getting cussed out by Ingrid's dad for not taking the mountain seriously.

Shez can invite Rodrigue to join in.

Oh, man, I wish I got to see this fight. I can only imagine Felix when he realizes Rodrigue is involved and thinking it's dumb for taking it seriously, then taking it seriously. Ingrid being an absolute tyrant ordering people to follow her strategies. Dimitri scared he'll knock someone's teeth out. Mercedes being absolutely savage. And so on...

DIMITRI & YURI C

Excited for this.

Yuri's told a "funny knight" who's really strong is helping everyone out who sometimes sounds sheltered and obtuse and sometimes not. Yep. It's Dimitri.

Yuri's not happy seeing Dimitri in dangerous allies. Worried about him. But Dimitri wants to learn how the commoners live so he can help them rule better.

OMG, Yuri's like "you don't have an heir," worried about the civil war that will happen if Dimitri dies.

Yuri is determined for Dimitri to live a long and happy life because the people of Faerghus like Dimitri and Yuri likes the commonfolk of Faerghus.

Also love how Yuri points out that if war breaks out, nobles will die, but commoners get slaughtered. Wish he'd tell Edelgard that.

Haha, he says to bring Dedue at least.

OMG, I love Dimitri. He then just asks Yuri to be his bodyguard.

And Dimitri won't ask Dedue because he knows Dedue will just forbid Dimitri from coming, like a nanny, lol.

Yuri's entertained that Dimitri asked him to be a bodyguard.

SYLVAIN & DEDUE B

Dedue is impressed with Sylvain for interacting with a woman like a normal person lamo.

"Don't expect praise for merely doing your job." I love Dedue. That's savage af.

Sylvain was motivated to mature by Felix and Dimitri. He said they're both like brothers, which is why he wouldn't get left behind. I love this group.

Oof, Dedue "had" a sister. And now we're getting to learn about her. 😭 She liked flower crowns and was determined when she set her mind to it.

Dedue wants Sylvain to visit Duscur after the war, to visit her grave together 😭

SYLVAIN & FELIX A

Felix got into a fight with soldiers . . . . because they were making fun of Sylvain.

Felix called it the "worst decision in his life." Of course. Felix being Felix.

Felix didn't tell Sylvain because he was worried about Sylvain hearing the details about what people said about him.

I love the idea of Felix getting into a fist-fight with people insulting Sylvain lamo.

Sylvain thinks he deserves his bad reputation because of who he used to be. Felix challenged why Sylvain didn't change sooner. Sylvain has no defense lol.

Felix is ok with people making fun of Sylvain, but only certain people lamo.

Felix is blushing after saying something nice lol. Now he's pissed at Sylvain. And insulting him. Very typical Felix.

Sylvain says he's 7% more cunning than Felix lamo.

This one did go more into ship bait. I was surprised how un-shippy their C was, but I'm sure Sylvix fans loved this one.

DIMITRI & MERCEDES A

They're traveling to a village together. It's the one Mercedes used to live in. Dimitri likes how calm it is.

Mercie called Dimitri her friend 😭😭

Dimitri claims he's a king's knight lol. He catches himself. Also village woman finds Dimitri handsome. She has taste.

Mercedes and Dimitri talk about how open minded the church is and give credit to the overall teachings (lamo, eat shit, Claude)

Mercedes is grateful to Dimitri to taking in the Central Church because it helped the village out. It's why she brought him there, so he could see the good that comes from protecting the church.

Mercedes plans to show him around the town and introduce Dimitri to her mother and the priest.

Dimitri's nervous lol. Hahaha, Mercie says she'll tell him he's someone "very important" which flusters him lamo.

She made him laugh and smile.

This support was adorable. (and feels like it couldn't possibly be the same writers as SB and GW lamo)

MERCEDES & DEDUE B

Sad they only get one support. Their Houses one was amazing.

Mercedes is teaching cooking. The little girl gets scared of Dedue when he arrives to fetch Mercie.

Poor Dedue frightens children and animals :(

Mercie says lots of the kids are orphans, so they're scared, and that Dedue looks intimidating. She has a plan to make him not look as scary.

I KNEW IT! He's handing out flower crowns. I was going to say it was something with flowers.

Now all the kids love Dedue. Good. He's the sweetest man in Fodlan.

Dedue teaches them how to make the crowns.

Dedue is happy with Mercedes, but Mercie says it was Dedue's kindness who won them over. Of course they both give each other credit.

They both have such strong mom and dad energy.

SHEZ & ANNETTE A

Annette's up late working on music lol. Shez thinks the notes look like bugs lol.

Annette won't sing it though :( Her songs are legendary.

She wants a song that makes people feel happy when they sing it. Very Annette.

She heard the song Shez passed around getting sung by a dying mercenary, who died happy though because they appreciated the song. It made Annette appreciate the song more.

She is such a sweetie.

It's sweet to have a whole support revolve around Annette realizing her songs make people happy and help people. She'd love that.

OMG, I love Annette. Her new song is about a feast, then they go to get more ingredients, and then get into a death battle with a bear. Truly a child of Faerghus.

RAPHAEL & FELIX C

Raphael is drooling over Felix's food, so he gives it to Raphael, and Felix offers to go buy more.

Felix thinks he hears thunder, but it's just Raphael's stomach.

Felix is being nice, lol, insisting Raphael eat some of his food.

But now he's annoyed that Raphael called him a "meat buddy" or a bit. Felix likes the idea of hunting that Raphael suggested.

Raphael is so nice not even Felix can manage to get mad at him.

SYLVAIN & IGNATZ C

Sylvain feels bad because he interrupted Ignatz painting. He wanted Ignatz to look at a painting he brought home.

Sylvain knows painting styles (he knows it's not a common Faerghus style). But ofc Sylvain is interested in how pretty the woman in the painting is lamo.

He's curious about the woman's identity, but it doesn't seem in a fuck boy way, but a curiosity over a favorite piece of art way.

That Sylvain is into art just made him even cooler.

Religious art often has their symbols in the art (and Flayn's is fish lamo, good).

As a major art fan, I love this support adding little tid bits about Fodlan art.

Lamo, Sylvain studied art to impress ladies at first, but now he actually likes it.

SETETH & YURI C

Yuri chatted with a scholar, wanting to learn about the 10 elites because he didn't get a good education.

It's a support to explain how crests came to be and their powers

Yuri trusts Seteth with his crest secrets (partly because he knows Seteth already knows, and partly bc Yuri has taste)

Seteth encourages Yuri to cherish his crest and the power it brings

So is Yuri the son of an elite or something?

FLAYN & SHEZ B

Flayn thinks Shez looks good because she's dirty and that suites her lol. I love Flayn.

Flayn is wearing perfume. Seteth probably doesn't know lamo.

Flayn talks about how perfumes coming in trend shows that even in dark times, it's not all consuming. Very Flayn of her.

We're going trend shopping. She doesn't get to shop often.

Flayn is straight-up making shit up, lamo. She invented that Shez wanted to shop to raise Shez's spirits, not hers.

It's this more -uh - questionable side of Flayn that keeps her from being a one-note, overly sweet character. I love it.

CATHERINE & SHEZ C

Count Charon asks Catherine for more soldiers, but only Dimitri or Rhea could give that order.

Shez didn't know Catherine's family. She stays vague about it when Shez asks about her past.

Catherine, unsurprisingly, says she'd fight for Rhea if had to choose between her or her family.

Catherine asks why Shez is here. Oh, I can pick too - for friends, money, or to fight Byleth. Def picking friends. I think that suits AG Shez best.

Catherine looks happy with that answer.

Oh, I like that, live in a way that makes your past self proud.

ASHE & FELIX B

Their only support.

Oh, Felix is confronting Ashe about how he's a knight working for Dimitri. Should've known it would be about this.

Ashe defends Felix when he calls Dimitri a boar and tiresome lol.

Ashe says Dimitri does his job for him, omg, Dimitri, stop (but that's he's getting better).

Felix is like - you have to steal your job back from him!!! Use force if you have too - I love this, lamo

Dimitri promoted a lot of commoners to be knights, and there were some minor misunderstandings at first, but now no one cares

Felix asks Ashe if he's a noble or commoner, and Ashe is like kinda both actually, which is true

Awww, Dedue comes to Ashe's aids when he needs it (and Dimitri, but Ashe mentioned Dedue too)

And now Ashe is singing Dedue's praises, and ofc Felix insults Dedue, saying that blind loyalty will get him killed

And omg hahaha, Ashe is like that's sweet Felix, that you care about us, I always knew

I love how almost no one takes Felix's tsun seriously. They're all like "aww, look, he's chewing my old slipper!" energy

Ashe putting Felix in his place round 2, I love this. Ashe and Felix is always gold

Felix is like, it's just because more work for me if something happens to you!

Then he's finally nice, telling Ashe he does a good job

ANNETTE & SYLVAIN B

Their only support

This time it's Sylvain who catches Annette singing. Annette seems relieved rather than embarrassed.

Sylvain thinks her song is creepy (covers that, saying creative) and that only Annette could make it (affectionate - maybe)

Why is Annette always singing about swamp beasties?

Sylvain wants a song about something cute instead, so Annette naturally jumps to huge bears lamo

We need an Annette Bernedetta support about finding creepy stuff cute

Annette doesn't seem upset with criticism

Also, this is the second time Sylvain talks to Annette like a person and doesn't really flirt with her, more like siblings vibes it's cute

Annette's next song is even creepier lamo But Sylvain likes it anyways

DIMITRI/RODRIGUE/SYLVAIN PARALOGUE

This one is easy since all 3 are leveled up. I want to do other ones, but I may wait to save some cash lol.

They're up north, so Sreng? Yep.

So they're preparing for a Sreng raid.

So a hostage that grew up in Faerghus is now leading the raid. And Margrave Gautier treated him well even though he felt bitter about Sreng killing his wife. So Miklain's mother?

And now the Sreng hostage is using Fodlan knowledge against them.

Haha, Sylvain was going off about being lazy forgetting his dad was right there lol.

It's cool seeing papa Gautier and Rodrigue together.

The Sreng commander really came across like a dick. Rubbing in Miklain's death, not caring about all the men he got killed.

So did Claude do this in AG too? Incite Sreng? They guess Cornelia and someone from Adrestia too, which could be the case in AG.

Gautier takes credit for the fall. Sylvain got through to the guy apparently.

Dimitri's just happy they share a language now. He would know how important that is since he learned the language of Duscur.

I'm glad they fight over land. It's way more interesting and realistic than whatever the hell they did with Almyra.

Aww, Sylvain is dedicated to reaching peace with Sreng. Of course his dad is harder edged because they killed his wife.

Sylvain being so bent on peace and diplomacy just makes the people who claim he makes sense in CF make even less sense.

I had Shez believe in Sylvain, because AG!Shez is nice Shez.

Sylvain and Dimitri both hate resorting to violence and using warfare first. Both want to avoid it at all cost. I like the future of these two both being important in Faerghus.

Oh, cool, talk between Rodrigue and Matthais. I love the little stories we get of all of them. They were trouble makers lamo. They snuck out the night of the festivities.

Lambert wanted peace with Sreng and Duscur. Dimitri's half-way there, and he and Sylvain are working on the other half.

Gautier now agrees with Sylvain, Lambert, and Dimitri and a pathway to peace.

Aww, Rodrigue advised that he apologize to Sylvain, and he's going too.

Oh, I got the lance of ruin! Cool. Sylvain has his weapon now.

FINAL BATTLE

Not Dimitri being more understanding of the Empire nobles who''ll follow any leader that promises them more land than Edelgard does him and the other Blue Lions

He's thinking from the other's perspective, how it looks to them, not what it actually is - Claude and Edelgard could never

Shez is like, no need to feel guilty, hell yes

Felix is worried about Dimitri, in his very Felix way, meanwhile Dedue is like "we trust you"

I love so much that the importance of his friends' support is stressed so much more in AG.

Oh, I get Constance and Linhardt this battle. Cool.

Felix got lectured by Rodrigue lamo, he wanted to break ranks to chase after Monica

Lamo, Manuela's defeat quote is that she won't die single. Ngl, glad she just retreated.

It's really something that the Blue Lions show way more sympathy towards their enemy than the other routes do. They're the only ones that feel guilty for "invading." When the others are invading.

Glad they're bringing up that if they don't do this, Adrestia will not stop until Faerghus is destroyed.

Rodrigue has such a nice voice.

Felix got angry with Rodrigue when he said all the blame for invading will fall on Dimitri, but then Rodrigue said it's up to Felix to support him through it. This really is Dimilix the route, lamo.

Felix is like, duh.

Why is Shez talking to Rodrigue while it's late. I'm getting flashbacks. He died last time this happened.

They're both worried about Dimitri. And it's cannon that Dimitri falls asleep at his desk. Sooo much fanart of that lol.

Apparently Lambert did the same. Like father, like son.

Lambert had a shorter temper than Dimitri, but are very similar. Unlike Rodrigue and Felix. I get to disagree with Rodrigue there, so I will. Because I think they're more alike than they both think.

Ok guys, we finally got it. Why Felix is miserable outside of AM. He can't live without a great purpose pushing him forward. And in SS, VW, and CF he finds no great purpose, unlike in AM where working with Dimitri towards his version of the future does work.

When Lambert died, Rodrigue struggled to find another reason for being. So he devoted himself to his promise to Lambert, to make sure he sets his won back on his proper path is he loses his way.

Shez feels like Dimitri's been helping her, but she's helping Dimitri too. Like what Rodrigue is doing.

Rodrigue says he's only Dimitri's retainer, that's so false. But he says Shez is in a unique spot since she's a friend first, then he's her leader. Which makes me happy.

More teasing about Shez's origins.

Rodrigue says though that Shez's background or powers aren't what's important, it's about who Shez is as a person. I love so much how the Blue Lions keep repeating this idea, that it's not Byleth's or Shez's power. It's their worth as a person that matters.

Arval just called Rodrigue a wonderful human being. Based.

xxxx

#fireemblems24 #3 Nopes #Church is so BaD they help people :(#if it wasn't for an optional scene I'd call this route the best one out of the Fodlan games #save shez from Faerghus' backward culture! Bring them back to Adrestia!#AG seems to have characters tackle issues that exist in all three routes but in the other two we dgaf #how are we even supposed to compare them??#it's almost as if they aren't in the same game

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bi-leth-eisner · 2 years ago

Note

I know this ain't a discourse place but there's a trend I've noticed in the 3..H fandom that I think needs a bit of a vent/discussion.

We've seen how the fandom engages in bi-erasure by claiming bisexual characters like YKB, Dorothea, Mercedes, etc are lesbians, but there's another uncomfortable bi-erasure that I've noticed: the bi-racial erasure.

I've seen this when it comes to Byleth and Claude especially: people supporting Byleth rejecting their Nabatean/Goddess heritage and embracing humanity in C///////F and then framing it as them "rejecting their destiny". And likewise people wishing Claude would reject their Fodlan side and fully embrace their Almyran heritage or even wish that he was full Almryan along with wanting to change his eye color.

It goes without saying this type of mindset is disgusting and to see the fandom embrace this almost unironically is just sad.

the bisexual erasure just makes me sad, don’t get me wrong. like, as a bisexual person, it just sorta hurts after a while. but the more pressing issue, to me at least... the race stuff. (i’d just like to preface that i am not mixed - fully Inuk, rather - but holy shit it’s still fucking racist to say “i wish this character wasn’t mixed race” even if they would go from half-poc-half-white to fully a poc)

i’ve said it already, but i won’t stop until it’s heard: i’m just gonna assume you’re actually straight up just racist if you think the Nabateans need to die because they aren’t seen as human, or aren’t human enough for you.

Byleth being half mortal, half Nabatean, but not “fully human” until they’re rid of their Nabatean half according to these See Eff people really discomforts me. why is someone of the race that founded the Empire, which split off into the entire continent of Fódlan (and therefore has been there from the very start,) only seen as a heartless beast? and why are people who are even just associated with her to blame as well? they’ve gone into hiding (their identities at least) so their bones wouldn’t be harvested like the rest of their race, their home was essentially made entirely unsafe for them for a thousand years. put yourself in their shoes. imagine having to hide who you really are so you wouldn’t be killed like your loved ones were. imagine never being able to see them again and being constantly reminded of their deaths because of the Crests - which is their blood - and the Relics - their bones, which are STILL MOVING. they’re just trying to survive after tragedy after tragedy that befell them. their goal isn’t to Rule Over Humanity, they want their goddess back, because maybe she’ll be able to make everything better. their world fell to ruin as she was killed, after all. i won’t go into why this is important for me (i’ve done so once already,) but i’m tired of people seeing Ms. Emperor dehumanising the Nabateans as a “good thing, actually.” it’s fucking not. it can make real life people who relate to them for whatever reason feel unsafe.

which brings us to Byleth “defying their destiny.” Sothis is gone after she fuses with Byleth and there’s no way to ever get her back again. the story cannot progress until Sothis is gone for good. Sothis was never meant to come back. Byleth’s destiny to be the goddess reincarnated was broken right then and there, since they’re unable to do much other than do what Sothis granted them: turning back time, of which use is very limited. they do not have the power to raise or entirely tear apart land or sea or sky or anything of the sort. so what they do afterwards is wholly up to them. (i’m of the firm belief that See Eff isn’t canon at all here.)

Rhea comes to accept that Byleth isn’t Sothis, nor will they ever be (in Silver Snow, which i see as the most canon route.) she knows then that Byleth is their own person. so their life is up to them, not some destiny.

and some people wanting Claude to be fully Almyran is something i can certainly understand, however... forgive me, i’m not a Claude expert by any means, but... isn’t him being mixed race a huge and important part of his character and route? him wanting everyone on BOTH sides of his family to accept each other instead of needlessly fighting each other? wanting to fix relations with each other and everyone else? his Fódlan half is just as important, for lack of a better word, as his Almyran half...

#asks #getting really tired of the Rhea hate #...technically?#also! my blog is a safe place to vent about this stuff! don’t worry!

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butwhatifidothis · 4 years ago

Text

Things I noticed

You gain support points with Claude if you ask him if he wants Rhea dead and he is deeply suspicious of her throughout the entire game, but in every route it’s always his men who locate her and he ends up being the lord (if you consider 3H as having a lord trio and don’t see Seteth as a lord) closest to Rhea by the end of the game. Edelgard says that her war is against Rhea and the Church and their tyranny, but in every route she invades every nation in pursuit of conquest and in 3/4 routes she holds Rhea captive for five years and still continues with her war regardless.

Claude collecting every scrap of information regarding the Church, until one source proves itself to be evil and he then cuts it off and reconsiders his goals. Edelgard saying that if she knew that Remire would happen she’d have tried to stop it but making no attempt to stop TWS from everything else she knew they were going to do (and already showing she’s willing to actively help them such as with Flayn)

Claude saying he wants to be supreme ruler of Fodlan but never having a hand in Fodlan’s rule in any route and always leaving it to his friends, even leaving before Byleth’s coronation as revealed in his S support. Edelgard saying she’ll hand the Empire off to someone else but only ever does so in her later years and will rule for her entire life if cured of her Crests

Claude saying he only does things to benefit himself, but then showcasing selflessness/deep compassion towards others to no benefit to him (acting as a shield for Derdriu in AM/CF, telling his men to retreat if things are dangerous and to not fight on, Raphael pleading with Claude to look after his sister if he dies at AM Gronder and Claude promising him he would, mourning being unable to save Ignatz at AM Gronder, opening up about personal trauma with Marianne to make her feel better, not pushing Flayn after Remire despite suspecting her of hiding something, asking if Raphael wants to be sure he doesn’t want to go back to his family and instead be stationed at Mryddin). Edelgard saying she cares for the people and that her war is to help end their suffering, but then showcasing carelessness/apathy regarding their wellbeing (begrudging people as weak for relying on others to help them, thinking religious people lack strength of character/resolve, letting her people starve, letting Arundel conscript them under threat of death, setting her men on fire to gain an edge in one battle, referring to people who die due to her war as sacrifices multiple times)

Claude unifying Fodlan under an entirely new name (United Kingdom of Fodlan) and acknowledging that trying to force Faerghus and Adrestia to bend to Alliance culture and its lords’ whims would likely start more war. Edelgard unifying Fodlan back under Adrestia (as she puts it, under its rightful place), with Faerghus, the Church, and Leicester “vanishing from the people’s memories” (adding Leicester due to Edelgard stepping on their flag as well as Faerghus’ when the narration says this), heavily implying she forcefully erased their cultures.

Claude hiding that he went to Almyran soldiers to help with Merceus but then admitting to recognizing he felt the need to hide it from them due to Almyra and Leicester’s bad relations and then revealing his long held, deeply personal dream to his friends, trusting them to believe in him and his dream and believing that this action was a step towards making that dream come true (if Lorenz is dead at this point, Judith replies that people probably understand but that it’ll take time time to accept what Claude says, to which he has no objection). Edelgard hiding that Arianrhod was bombed by TWS and then putting the blame on the Church instead of admitting to her friends that some of their allies aren’t really on their side, showing a lack of trust despite everything the BE students stand through with her

Claude initially seeing Byleth as a means to further his goals but by the end of pre ts admitting to seeing you as an equal, with Claude being the only lord Byleth reveals to having Sothis reside in their mind in the meantime (Dimitri and Edelgard receive “The Goddess gifted me her power” instead). Edelgard only ever admitting to seeing you as an equal in her S support, as well as a scene in CF where Edelgard wants to tell you of your connection to Sothis which showcases that Byleth at no point told her that themself and that she had to find it out on her own

Claude not personally liking religion but acknowledging its importance to many people and the Church remaining an important facet of Fodlan life. Edelgard actively detesting religion to the point of persecuting and exiling people of the Seiros faith from Adrestia and with the Church only standing in few of her endings and always under her supervision

Claude being willing to retreat to save his life and fight for his dream another way another day (unless, interestingly, he’s guarding Derdriu in CF, in which case you must spare him in order for him to live instead of him retreating before it got that bad). Edelgard thinking not being willing to die for your cause means you never really believed it to begin with exemplified by her refusing to accept Dimitri’s offering of peace in AM

That’s it lol, saw a few posts detailing how Claude and Edelgard foil each other and when I thought on it they really do contrast each other immensely

#anti edelgard #Anti-edelgard #just to be safe #Edelgard discourse #Edelgard critical #feel free to add more or disagree with any of the points if you want

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kendrixtermina · 4 years ago

Text

The “Genocidal Edelgard” Shallowtake

I was not going to make a post about this because it’s most likely futile and not going to convince anyone nor do I believe in dinifying the purity police with attention, but maybe it will let some ppl know that they dont have to let themselves be shamed for liking the wrong video game character

Whatever might have been the case in the distant past when Nemesis was around, by the “present day” the Nabateans are not at all some commonly oppressed stereotyped minority - the setting is chock full of characters that fit that bill a lot better like Dedue or Cyril. Characters that are ordinary humans not magic dragons.

And even that is more founded on general purpose xenophobia than from the specific, relatively new early modernity construct of racism. (the dedue situation probably comes the closest)

Sure, Seteth and Flays have to hide from their old enemy the Agarthans, I see how some might find that relatable etc. but most of the population isn’t aware that they exist at all. They hold high status positions, are worshipped by the local religion and Rhea all but rules the entire continent (and says so herself to Byleth in that speech about how she was just “ruling this wayward country in your stead”, “you” being Sothis) - though that is mostly Rhea’s doing of which Seteth and Flayn are relatively innocent.

The interviews pretty much confirmed that the Nabateans constituted the local aristocracy and that many humans genuinely saw the Elites as liberators - though there was definitely also an element of ppl going around killing random Nabateans to gain superpowers, not to speak of Nemesis’ very obvious very unambiguous mass murder. Not wanting to be ruled over by foreign powers is understandable, though obviously killing them all down to the last civilian was just flat out evil - its certainly not a simple situation, we can all agtree Nemesis & the Agarthans were evil but there is no clear defined good guy.

There are historical conflicts you could compare this to, perhaps some conflicts in Africa or the middle eastwhere different groups took turns being the ruling class after the latest war, but it’s not at all like the modern USA or early modernity colonialism, and forcing every real or, in this case, imagined scenario inherently dependent of fantasy elements, into this one framework from the present or near past isn’t conductive to understanding at all.

And in the present day, by the time Edelgard is alive, we are talking about three specific people that she has good reason to dislike individually. Not any sort of group at all.

She calls Rhea a cruel beast because that’s all she’s ever seen Rhea to be. She’s the shadow tyrant who rules her world, who created the crappy world Edelgard grew up in. It’s no different Cubans thiking badly of the castros after suffering through famines - or, no need for such extreme examples really, ppl call their least favorite politicians monsters all the time.

She’s wrong to assume that Seteth & Flayn are wholly on board with this, but on the other hand, it’s not at all a far-fetched assumption to make: They hold high positions in the church though they ostensimbly just appreared out of nowhere one day. Do you have to be an evil bigot to assume that the brother and right hand man to the tyrannical god-queen is condoning & supporting her actions?

The truth is of course that underneath her pseudo-parental facade Rhea is sort of a scared girl, very lonely, very afraid, and ashamed, in a shallow, childish way, for “breaking the rules” just because they are rules. She says she can’t trust anyone, that she feels lonely & isolated... and while no one can blame her for distrusting humans after the slaughter of her people, but the reason she can’t trust Seteth is that she’s keeping her bad deeds secret from him. He wasn’t there the whole time, he just showed up a few decades earlier.

She sees herself only as filling out for Sothis and doesn’t quite grasp that she’s in charge, very much a follower personality bent on stasis & regularity.

Is Edelgard obliged to try & unravel the complex psychology of the tyrant who rules her home to correctly deduce why she would deceive even her own family? By all intents and purposes, Edelgard is the one getting rid of an oppressive government that doesn’t let ordinary humans let a say at all. A government where ppl of others faiths and nationalities are typically oppressed unless they work directly for the church.

It’s like having a disdain for, say, Ivanka Trump. She holds a high position in her father’s administration despite having no obvious qualifications, she appears to be profiting & making bank from her father’s atrocities, she certainly hasn’t done anything to stop him or disavow him the way that, say, her cousin Mary did - if you suffered under Trump’s regime you’d be very justified in assuming that Invanka is probably a bad person.

Flayn only looks young (She might not if we saw her in other clothes). I mean, Kronya could badly impersonate a schoolgirl. At the very least they’ve supported the regime by refusing to question their own side and they show some however benevolent belief that it is their duty to “guide” the people. Leaving her to the Agarthans is certainly questionable, but no more so than doing it with Rhea herself, under the assumption that she’s guilty and that it’s a sacrifice that will prevent larger chaos. The agarthans had their plan long before they created Edelgard as we know her, and she couldn’t stop their plots all on her own.

You could say that it’s callous, distasteful or a deal breaker - as the death knight is her direct subordinate & she makes a personal appearance in mask, I would argue that she definitely knew & sanctioned the kidnapping - but she’s no more callous towards Flayn than towards anybody else.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re evil, or that they deserve to die.... and Edelgard would agree with me. She doing all this to prevent death – flipping the lever on the trolley problem so it crushes one person instead of five so to speak. She always gives her enemies the chance to surrender, unwilling allies the chance to leave, and jails enemies whenever leaving them alive wouldn‘t lead to further death… even the ones she has the most personal reason to hate, like the PM.

As servants of the church who have chosed to back her enemies, she’ll certainly kill them if she has to, but not any more than any other enemy. At no point anywhere in the story does she say anything like that they need to die on principle. Nowhere at all. Indeed there is much evidence to the contrary.

The church paints her as being completely against the religion or even wanting to set herself up as a satanic godess cause it‘s good politics & they don‘t get what she‘s doing – to an extent her own credibility & messaging is compromised by her secretive and at times unscrupulous actions, no one said she was perfect. In truth all she wants is to have the church out of politics, you know, what we have in nearly every modern country outside the vatican and saudi arabia.

You can absolutely let Flayn & Seteth go on CF and there is no word, no fuss about it anywhere. No „make sure to kill em all“ which would certainly be there if the narrative wanted to portray Edelgard that way. It requires the mediation of Byleth as someone they would talk to & not immediately assume the worst of, but, they see the church as the embodymet of all that is good & fighting its enemies as their sacred duty so of course it wouldn‘t be possible for just anyone to talk them down. It‘s framed as Flayn letting Byleth go cause they saved her life once, even if we know from behind the screen that she wasn‘t going to survive a fight to the death against the player-controlled faction.

Heck, even when it comes to Rhea, the one most guilty that Edelgard has the most reason to loathe, she‘s ultimately surprisingly gracious. She gives her the option to surrender – and this is not a lie, she discusses this with Byleth in a lecture question, and seriously ponders the possibility. Here Byleth gets a range of options like „stab her in the back“ and „keep the church under imperial control“ but you know which one nets you the support points? „Strip her of her authority so she can‘t interfere in politics“. She wasn‘t gonna mess with the religious folks & their religion at all, just make it so it‘s separate from government. Rhea could even keep being pope, if she could be satisfied without having complete supreme authority (and ripping her precious artifact out of Byleth‘s chest) – even when she puts her down she‘s not 100% without pity, telling her that „Your duty is done“ (the translators mucked this up)

Couldn‘t be any further from „lets kill them all on principle“.

What really annoys me is how ppl go and twist everything Edelgard says out of context to ascribe a motive to her that just isn’t there.

Common examples:

„If you have Flayn or Seteth fight her she‘ll say they need to die because they‘re nabateans“

Actually what she says is this: „You are a child of the godess. You must not have power over the people!“ Not getting to be privileges rulers anymore =/= being opressed. Stay out of politics =/= Diediedie. Also, this is from the VW/SS boss fight, where they have literally come to get her in her own capital.

„Linhard & Leonie don‘t tell her & hubert about Indech, probably cause he expects that she‘ll go & kill him„

What he actually says is: „Lake Teutates is a place that concerns the saints of the Church of Seiros. It may become bothersome should the two of them find out...“

„It may be bothersome“ as in, „we might get in trouble“, for doing the possibly very inadvisable thing of waltzing into what could possibly be an enemy location to satisfy personal curiosity. If it‘s something related to her agenda she might take over and Linny wouldn‘t get to investigate as he pleases – at very most you might construe it as Linny fearing that they‘ll be accused of consorting with the enemy, but „bothersome“ suggest possible annoyance not imminent murder.

The whole scene ends with Linhard telling Byleth to fill her in later. Doesn‘t sound at all like he expects her to go back with a harpoon.

„She said Claude isn‘t fit to be a ruler cause he‘s a foreigner“

What she actually says: „I understand your ideals are not so far removed from my own. But without knowledge of Fodlan‘s history, I cannot entrust its rule to you“

Now without the additional contexts that Claude won‘t get until after the fight, it might easily feel a bit like the former with the raw spots he‘d have from his backstory, but what she means is that he‘s ignorant of the Agarthan threat – which he is. Edelgard is all for making peace with Almyra and sees fostering isolationism & prejudice as one of the many faults of the church.

Once Claude basically kills Edelgard for information, he winds up having to take care of the storm she had been holding back. But to his credit, he DID „finish the job“ and get the info. But he didn‘t have it at that point.

And I don‘t mean any of this in the least bit as a diss of Claude - He is the smartest character, so there would be no plot if he got easy access to the info. At this point, they both think they can probably do better, and more importantly, both their backstories have made them so that they won‘t let down their guard far enough to cooperate in this scenario.

That‘s also why the outcome in CF is contingent on Byleth‘s choice. - You‘d sort of have to trust that he will also act so as to minimize casualties.

Very disingenious since many players wouldn‘t necessarily trigger these dialogues.

I guess because Adrestia got a vaguely central-european aesthetic (partially; all the countries are hodgepodge mashups and there’s more than enough spanish or ancient roman vibes there) and central europe existed only for those 12 years of tyranny I guess, even though many other places have had similar BS happening, including the US that delights in making craptons of movies about their faraway victory because their governments haven’t added much of value to the planet as of late. -.-

Faerghus (vaguely french/ russian - not at all places where nothing bad happened ever) has actually annexed some territory from their northern neighbors in the recent past, not to speak of the whole Duscur atrocity - but no one seems to go around laying that at Dimitri’s feet, because it would be nonsensical - he was a child at the time and as an individual he is super against it and champions a policy of reconcilliation if he gets to rule. after all, there wouldn’t be much of a plot if the characters inherited three perfect faultless problem free countries.

Edelgard, too, is completely against the previous administration under Duke Aegir (which was in charge during the Bridgid war). She deposed him and is plotting to do the same with Arundel once she can politically afford to do so. For all that one can understand why she would chose the other path (depending on how much she knows about what Edelgard’s doing and why) it makes all the sense in the world for Petra to support her on CF or if not recruited, because again, she got rid of that previous administration.

#edelgard #edelgard von hresvelg #fe3h #fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem three houses

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juneiswriting · 5 years ago

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Open Heart: Second Year, Chap 9 Commentary

Author’s note: This is my feelings and thought after reading the chapter, so major spoilers ahead

Finally OH is back!! I’m so excited, today’s chapter is great and drama filled!

By the way, if you are up to read something else, I got you covered! I am writing another story and need beta readers there, see if you are interested? LINK

Kyra

My heart sinks when Kyra wanted to give up on her treatment like in book 1 and when she decided to get back to work. I don’t want anyone to die. But seeing there is a funeral scene in Chap 1, I guess someone has to… Then I would rather be Kyra, at least I see it coming, if it is someone else, my heart won’t take it well…

Bryce

His idea for the operation is very brave, although I can’t help the thought that it may fail and lead to Kyra’s death, which ends in the funeral scene in Chap 1… I do hope the operation goes well and Kyra gets to live longer…

Esme

Our intern is great! Probably the only normal one within the friend group. I like how she is observant about MC and asked whether s/he is fine and offered to help. Echoes how MC was observant about Ethan in book 1. I hope we get more time with her, although her story line seems to be more simple than other things that are currently in the foreground.

Sothy

I don’t even remember this guy’s name, haha… I wonder how he gets into the program, like one of the options MC can ask about. I guess Edenbrook has to figure out a way to get rid of those book-smart but can’t do practical work… Hopefully Elijah will give him the talk he needed so Sothy can perform at the level he needs to be at as a doctor.

Elijah

Happy to see we finally get time to talk to him, although the talk is already long overdue. I like the part when MC recalled what Ethan said, about how one’s professional development is too important to put something else above it, whether you romance Ethan or not, he still have great influence on s/he and is pushing him/ her to be the better doctor. MC proves that she could still help Elijah, giving him the lecture he needed, while being his friend. When will Ethan understand he is already doing that, things he does with MC is more than friends already…

June

This is getting more disturbing than before. Although it is not explicit in the story about the coma patient, I am quite confident it was June now, seeing how she is working with Tobias. Maybe her sleeping with Tobias does mean nothing to her in terms of their relationship, seeing how she is good at manipulating people, but I still think there’s something behind it, she seems to be trying to drag Ethan into trouble, although MC successfully escaped. I think we will get to know the next chap, with the chap summary already out.

The scene in the supply closet, I want to punch June more than the wall or the door. After book 1, I started loving to see pixel characters punching people… I blame PB for this. June is very inconsiderate there, even MC is a doctor, things can still be hard, people have emotions… but June doesn't, so I guess that’s just how she is… I saw the option if you let her slap MC, she actually does that! I was expecting her to do it playfully, but I guess it isn’t the case…

Baz

As always, he is so funny! I can't imagine what Zaid's reaction was when he knew Baz pretended to be him and told Naveen to hire Baz.

The scene where he and MC bumped together when escaping the guard is hilarious.

Rafael

This is an interesting turn of event. It seems there are a lot of plot points about him that are currently off screen. But I am still standing by my prediction earlier, Rafael is still a LI, but PB wants a twist there. With how the ending of the chapter is, we should be getting a scene with him next chapter. Given how Rafael doesn't work in the hospital anymore, it is acceptable we don't see him around a lot, although I look forward to more scene the gang get together.

Aurora

I kind of feel bad for her. Maybe MC was a bit harsh on her in the scene, I hope they have a chance to talk it out. Maybe I should do a rewrite for that, let yu know by then. She shows how much she really tried to be friends with MC. Tobias is the jerk that dragged her into the trouble that was caused by him all along, no surprise though.

Ethan

We leave the most important one to last, yay! You all know I'm biased, right?

Once again he was convinced to join MC on their adventure, first the softball game, now pouching a patient from MK, of course he is favoring them a lot.

He is the supportive one mc gets that gives the support they need and knows something is wrong. The scene he comforted mc in the MRI room is so cute, if only the situation is better…

The supply closet scene in MT is hilarious, somehow he forgets hiding in one with mc in book1 when they tried to sneak into the lab? Let's fix that in a rewrite!

While I don't see PB doing a reconciliation plot for him with Tobias, Ethan remembers quite a lot of details about their past friendship. This is kind of sad how the friendship went down as the competition went heated. At least PB didn't forget this part from book 1.

In the admin office, that’s epic. Of the many ways to dance out from being discovered by the MK nurse, Ethan decided that making out and kissing will be the best choice. I laughed so hard, but that is also great. Taking the tally, from holding hands in the car, kissing in from of his apartment, hugging mc to comfort them and this, it is quite a streak of Ethan taking the first move. I hope they will get to talk about their relationship soon, I need to see that!

And pulling up to pick up mc and Baz? That’s a spy master we get there!

Prediction for next chapter (which are most likely wrong XD)

Given the chap description, I think Tobias may show up, and the we will get to see what June is secretly planning. Or maybe the attention we are getting have something to do with the senator.

We may also get a diamond scene with Rafael, seeing how he is the only LI left without one for himself.

We may also get a scene with Sienna, who doesn’t show up in this chapter, I hope she can get control over Mitch soon.

Most likely Kyra wont show up next chapter though, just so PB can build some more tension. Or if the operation failed, Kyra will show up at the end of chapter like in chap 8. I am guessing Kyra will still go down maybe in chap 11 or 12 and we can get a diamond scene of one of the LI comforting us, but that will be after we sought out with Rafael.

PB seems to have a tendency to have a diamond scene where Ethan will at least show up, I don’t think there will be one with his mother next week, so maybe combine that with Sienna’s, like Ethan catch Sienna helping Mitch too much and MC jumped in to bail Sienna out? Ethan has no problem being mean at the same time mc is good at getting her way from him XD

By the way, if you are up to read something else, I got you covered! I am writing another story and need beta readers there, see if you are interested? LINK

#open heart #open heart fan fic #ethan ramsey #open heart fandom #open heart 2

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imthepunchlord · 5 years ago

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What I wish for FEA

On the off chance Fire Emblem Awakening got remade for the switch (which can handle far more than the 3DS), things that I really hope for. I really would love if it did get remade for the switch, it was a lot of fun, a lot of great characters, an interesting set up that they could’ve done a lot more for. It’s not a perfect game, so a remake would be good to polish it up, and do the update that’s needed.

And this is more for me, been holding this in since playing FE3H and finally decided to share it.

- More supports for Chrom and Sumia

For someone who insists about standing for friendship, he doesn’t have a lot of supports, I also would’ve loved to see some other romantic options for him; like him and Flavia could’ve been great. I’d also be intrigued to see Lucina as a half taguel or manakete. And Sumia has no excuse for her small support pool. While I love Cordelia and Stahl, I also really wanted to see Sumia and Stahl, if they had a support.

And set it up that, whoever Lissa marries, that opens up a support between Chrom and his brother-in-law, if he doesn’t have one open with them. My otp is Lissa and Henry, I’d love to see the support between Chrom and Henry, that could be so funny. And have this extend to potential aunts and uncles between Lucina (Lucy’s younger sibling) and Owain. There are interactions we’re not getting but should be.

- Model edits for half races

Speaking of Lucina being half taguel or manakete; do actual edits of their models so they have those traits; I was bothered to see Morgan lack those traits. Also to see that Morgan is just a copy of her mother’s model. Taguel, ok, I can let fly since gender seems color coded for their armor, but manakete, seeing 3 different colors (yellow, pink, and white); its not hard to tweak the color. Morgan could’ve been black or purple (and on the off chance we ever get manakete!Lucina, blue for her).

- Plegia

This is a big one. While FE doesn’t have the best history with their poc, 3H was a step in the right direction, I would like this added to FEA.

Don’t make things so black and white, especially with Plegia and Ylisse. Plegia is overwhelmingly framed as the villains and Ylisse is just pure good. Never mind the fact that Ylisse did a mass genocide on Plegia that still effects it to this day. While it is acknowledged, it also feels swept under the rug too and Plegians are portrayed bad for responding as they do. And to my knowledge, Emmeryn didn’t do much to try and make up for her father’s actions outside withdrawing troops. Its a complicated situation I want to see addressed more, for there isn’t an easy answer to this. She’s not her father and shouldn’t be blamed for his sins, but she also can’t just bow her head and try to let things be, leave them to lick their wounds in peace; that allows anger, hurt, and resentment to fester that lead to Plegia lashing out. Actually one thing that could’ve been done is make use of Robin being Plegian and Emmeryn using them as a means to make up for how bad things got. Give us more on Emmeryn, and address that complicated situation.

Also, really address Robin being Plegian. Aside from later story detail, its something very forgettable and its a huge disconnect from Robin and their character. Robin is an amnesiac, yet there’s nothing of them trying to learn of their past. I would love to see Robin delving into being Plegian, their culture, and what it means to them to work with the Shepherds. While the Shepherds has been kind to Robin and embraced them to be among the flock, Robin canonly does still face suspicion after serving Ylisse loyally (Frederick). Realistically, Robin should be facing far more prejudice in Ylisse, which can help break this black and white set up between Ylisse and Plegia. This would also be really interesting to see for Robin as a character, acknowledging their Plegian heritage, what it means for them, where does loyalty lie, do they want to go to Plegia and try to find their past? Validar even hints that Robin’s mother is alive (potentially); where’s Robin trying to find their mother? To learn of their past and see what Robin was like before losing their memories, what happened that got them separated from their mother?

And not everyone will agree or like this, but remove being able to change up the avatar’s appearance. Because they want Robin blank for the player, this makes Robin lackluster as a character, and doesn’t work since there are actual conversations between the avatar and other characters that won’t match with the player’s views. Say you don’t like Chrom, but your avatar does and there’s nothing you can do to change this, its a set conversation between two characters. Let Robin exist as their own character, no changing up the design, and keep Robin as a person of color. I can say you can change the color itself from light to dark, but no making Robin white. This extends to Tharja, Noire, Henry, and the Morgans. All Plegians that are “good” and that can recruit are white, which doesn’t help things. Keep all Plegians dark skinned, it will help remove that light skinned people are “good” and all dark skinned people are “bad”, especially when majority of Plegians are dark. So keep Robin, Tharja, Noire, Henry, and the Morgans all poc, and let Robin become their own character, for they are meant to be but also an insert for the player and they aren’t a good insert. They can do what they did with Byleth, have a potential reason why Robin starts out so blank; maybe Grima reaching out to Robin is what set that off, and the further into the story you play, the more of Robin’s true personality shines through. Tharja reveals that knowing someone’s true name allows for hexes to work, and its a wonder if Robin is their true name or if they have a true Plegian name.

And what becomes of Plegia when you beat the game? Is Plegia left broken and never rebuilt, becoming part of Ylisse? Does Robin (and their spouse) go to store Plegia and become new rulers and help forge friendships between them and Ylisse? Or does Tharja or Henry go to become the new Queen or King of Plegia with their respective spouse? House does Plegian monarchy even work? Gangrel was a peasant that survived the genocide and stepped up, then Validar just took over and now we don’t know who rules or if Plegia is just left forgotten and broken.

Speaking of Grima, lets get more into them and Plegian culture and religion. They’re a largely worshiped god that promises doom upon the world, why are they so worshiped when it means many Plegians will die as well? Are they based on the Egyptian culture, believing that there is an afterlife after death, and that it will be better than their present life? Do they believe this world is the actual hell? Is there more to Grima in worship than just death? To play off their old name, is Grima known as a creation god, for destruction is a form of creation, paving way to renewal or new things to rise from creation. Aversa mentioned “gods”, so Grima isn’t the only god that is worshiped. Who else do they worship? Are there believers of Naga? What other gods are out there?

And Grima’s mention that they and Robin are one and the same, it doesn’t get addressed or explored as much as I’d like. To what extent are they the same? Is Robin just a human reincarnation of Grima? Could Robin become Grima without the possession? Are they a dark and light counterpart to each other? Does this mean that Grima is like Robin, started out good and open to the world and just wound up corrupted or went down a dark path, that Forneus potentially pushed Grima down? Or was Grima always evil at the start? Does that mean Robin actually started out evil and then the amnesia hit and they became good?

Its said on the wiki that Robin often experienced nightmares, which we didn’t see in-game, Grima could be set up to play a similar role to Sothis, an inner demon sitting in Robin’s subconscious, trying to manipulate and scare Robin down a darker path. And if Robin can potentially explore their own mindscape, could use this to lay hints to Robin’s past and Grima’s.

- Also go ahead and expand on the lore of the world

Plegia is the one I’m interested to see more of, but would like more on Regina Ferox, more on Ylisse and their views of Plegia presently, of Valm, of the taguel and of the manakete.

But just expanding this world, for there are a lot of interesting things and details set up that are left unanswered. Actually there are some paralogue that can be doen to expand on characters and give a little on their history.

Like, Nowi revealing that she was stolen from her parents. Are they possibly still around? Who stole her? Why doesn’t she have a support with Tiki?

Is Panne really the only surviving taguel or are there more?

Is Donnel potentially part manakete since his father gave him a stone that has a “hidden power” and Nah can use it as her dragonstone to transform. So was his father a manakete or did he just find that stone?

- Take the new features from Three Houses

One of the things I really liked about 3H was being able to explore the church and talk to characters, see what new thing they have to say for each month. I’d love to see the barracks explored and talk to characters in your army and see what new thing they’d have to say to you when you go about talking to them, what their thoughts and views can be.

I’d also like to build up points like 3H does, have lunch or a drink with your army, do little things for fun and build up supports and stats.

I also adore characters being fully voice acted and seeing the cutscenes play out. I’d love for them to stay and be used for FEA.

And while very unlikely to be done, I would love them doing another take on divide paths. Two possible routes to go, there’s going with Ylisse, or going with Plegia. Have Robin decide if they want to stay and assist the Shepherds or go to Plegia and learn of their pasts, see more of characters we didn’t get to see much of, see Plegians’ life and potential struggles after that genocide and being under Gangrel and Grimeal’s rule. Maybe have a complicated goal of improving things for Plegia, work at becoming the new Queen/King of Plegia, see how things stay the same or play out differently with you there.

It is very unlikely though, so at most I’d hope for an expansion on lore and culture, and make things far more grey than the black and white set up they did.

- Update characters

There are characters who haven’t aged well and require a major update in design and personality. Tharja is creepy but has a secret heart of gold, which clashes with what Noire tells us in the future. Inigo is a nice guy and is extremely annoying. Nowi has the mentality of a child and its extremely uncomfortable to pair her up with anyone, and I’d like to see her updated to be more along the lines of Flayn, still child-like in a sense, but also mature and wise in her own way. Her daughter Nah I don’t remember liking much either and would like to see adjusted. This is one of a few I think really need a tweak in personality and design.

- Allow for same sex endings

Now, this is unlikely since female characters (minus Chrom and male Robin) are the ones with future kids, but I would like to see that some same sex characters could have endings together, though there’s the issue of no child from mlm pairs. This can be solved by adding a handful of future kids to certain male characters, and can open up more sibling supports. its also realistic for some parents to have more than one kid.

But that means adding more children and I don’t know if they will. I would love to see more child characters and more sibling interactions, but yeah I don’t know if they will...

- Remove allowing Robin to pair up with a kid from the future

No. Just no. That should not have been a thing.

- Allow me to have both my children

Future Past dlc all but confirms that Morgan has a twin that exists, let us have them both. I adore them both, and I would love to see them work off each other.

- Give Flavia and Say’ri their own kid

Very salty that these two woc don’t have their own kid as well and a very small window of supports. Which ties into the next point.

- Update supports

It is very annoying that some characters don’t have supports with each other. Not just Chrom being picky about company despite boasting about friendship and bonds and Sumia being picky about spouses (for some reason); but Lon’qu and Basilio can’t talk, nor him and Say’ri despite coming from the same region. Nor any support between Nowi and Tiki despite Nowi having a fear of being alone, here is another manakete and yet no interactions between them? And on the off chance they keep in extra recruitable characters, why don’t Emmeryn have a support with Chrom and Lissa and Frederick?

- Chrom

So I know Chrom needs a wife for Lucina, but my god its the most annoying thing to deal with him till past a certain chapter, especially if one of his few potential wives I want to pair with someone else. I know its a must, but I would like it updated and adjusted. Because at the start of the play through, everyone has to avoid him like the plague less he goes and steals someone’s wife.

Another issue is him being the Exalt, we don’t see him being the Exalt and most of his time is spent away from his kingdom, making him lackluster as a ruler and leader. Who is he leaving in charge of Ylisse when he’s about when his potential wife, Lissa, and Frederick are at his side? Is any of the people of Ylisse bothered or nervous about him being vacant to rule? 3H the heirs feel like actual rulers and leaders, Chrom doesn’t. I’d like that updated, see what he is like as an Exalt, and what issues there are for there is no perfect ruler. What are his goals and how will he act them out? Does he have any? is Ylisse ok enough that he hardly needs to actively govern it?

And I think that about covers it for all things I’d hope to see added/polished up for FEA remake, if it ever happens for the switch. I really hope so, it got me into Fire Emblem, and while a lot of fun, it needs polishing up, and could use some updates and add ons.

I hope one day I will get to see it on the switch, and to see it updated and improved upon.

#fire emblem awakening #long post #wishes and hopes #shared issues #its a game with a lot of potential and good ideas #but could've been better done #and some of it is limitations on being on the 3ds #but on the switch there aren't as many limitations #so here's hoping for a remake one day #I really would love to see it on the switch

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crackimagines · 5 years ago

Note

Hate to be this anon, but child!Byleth’s reaction to when Jeralt dies?

EDIT: Child!Byleth Post Masterlist here!

Aw damn it! You stole my thunder before I could wri-

I MEAN FOR SHAME, ANON! HOW DARE YOU ASSAULT THIS BLOG WITH A HEARTRENDING ASK I TOTALLY WAS NOT GOING TO WRITE!

for real though, thanks for the ask, anon! I hope you enjoy!

And since I was going to do this anyway, this ask is gonna get some extra goodies!

—-

Tears (FE: Three Houses Short Fic)

Child!Byleth Professor AU

—-

Bonus: Aftermath Talk with House Leaders + Flayn

It all happened so suddenly, Byleth barely had any time to process what was happening.

Monica had just stabbed Jeralt’s side with a dagger.

Not letting even a second go by afterwards, he immediately shouted in his head, probably the first time he had in a while.

“SOTHIS!”

Without needing to say a word, Sothis reversed time to right before Monica had attacked.

Byleth drew out the Sword of the Creator and lashed it forwards, only for it to be blocked.

Byleth’s eyes went wide as the dagger went into Jeralt, just as before.

Not even reversing time itself was able to save him.

The man and Monica were saying something, but he didn’t care, it was all just white noise right now.

All he cared about was seeing his father fall onto the floor in pain.

They teleported away, and Byleth immediately sheathed the sword and bolted for Jeralt.

“DAD!”

He dropped to his knees and tried to angle him to where he could fix the wound. Wasting no time, Byleth reached for his cloak to make a bandage, but Jeralt grabbed his hand.

“S-Sorry…Looks like…I’m going to have to leave you now.”

Byleth didn’t say anything. He knew that meant Jeralt was going to die for how serious the wound was.

He felt tears coming out, as his mouth slowly opened wanting to say something, but unable to find any words.

“…Heh. To think that the first time I saw you cry…your tears would be for me. It’s sad and yet…I’m happy for it.”

“Dad…!”

“…Thank you, Byleth…”

As soon as he heard Jeralt call him by name, he felt his heart shatter into a thousand pieces, seeing his eyes close.

—-

“HEY!”

That was Sothis’ voice.

Byleth quickly sat up, breathing heavily as he felt sweat and tears.

“You looked like you were about to scream…You’re dreaming about it again, aren’t you?”

Byleth didn’t say anything, instead grabbing his stuffed bird and holding it tightly, trying to wipe the tears away.

It had been at least a week since it happened.

This was the first time Byleth had ever cried in his life.

The first time he ever felt pain and grief. And he absolutely hated it.

He wanted to never feel anything again just so he didn’t have to deal with this.

He didn’t want to lose his dad.

Byleth quietly got out of his bed, still holding onto the bird and went to walk out the door. He didn’t bother to change out of his night clothes as it was midnight. Everyone was asleep by now. Sothis sighed and slowly floated behind him.

(Sothis) “If you must cry, chi-…Byleth, then I will be here for you.”

Byleth shook his head as he walked off.

(Byleth) “It’s not going to help, Sothis.”

(Sothis) “Then why are you going to his grave, knowing that?”

He didn’t reply.

Instead, he kept walking towards the graveyard. He had been buried right next to his supposed mother, which he was grateful for.

Double checking to make sure no one was here to see him like this, he knelt down in front of the grave and let the tears come out.

Byleth quietly sobbed, holding onto the bird even tighter.

That stuffed bird was one of the only things Byleth had left to remember Jeralt.

Sothis stood near him, knowing she couldn’t physically comfort him, but she wanted to be here in spirit at least.

After a while, he heard footsteps approaching, and knowing he wouldn’t be able to hide away in time, he rubbed his eyes with his arm, trying to make the tears stop. It didn’t work.

He then heard the person approaching him talk.

(Black Eagles Route - Edelgard)

“Professor…”

Byleth stood up, not facing her.

“Excuse me, I was just leaving-”

“No, you weren’t.”

He didn’t say anything as she walked closer.

“…That toy was a gift from him, wasn’t it?”

Byleth nodded.

She made him sit down, and he didn’t have the strength to resist, and sat down next to him, looking at the grave.

“I can only offer my sympathies, Byleth. I’m…afraid I can’t do much more than that.”

Though he wasn’t saying anything, she could hear his sniffles while tears continued to run down despite his wishes.

“It is not childish to grieve someone you loved, Byleth.”

He looked down, ashamed that she had to state the obvious.

“Byleth…no matter what, we will make sure that your father is brought to justice.”

“…T-Thank you, Edelgard.”

“Of course…The Black Eagles are your family now. You’re not alone, and you will never be, Byleth.”

His crying gradually grew louder and louder, curling up his knees to his arms.

“I know that I must move on but…but…!”

She put a hand on his shoulder.

“Mourn, Byleth. You are right, you cannot stay like this forever…but for tonight, let it all out. I’ll be right here for you.”

(Blue Lions Route - Dimitri)

“You’re here again.”

“…You knew I’ve been sneaking out, Dimitri?”

He stood next to Byleth, looking at him.

“Yes. I’ve been concerned with how you’ve been shutting yourself away, Professor. Though…I can’t say I blame you.”

He looked towards Jeralt’s grave, recalling his own painful memories.

“Me, Ingrid and Felix did the same thing when the tragedy of Duscur happened…I just wanted to my world to just…shut off. That’s how you’re feeling too, aren’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

Byleth hugged his bird tighter as the tears fell.

“I know it’s hard to believe right now, Byleth but…you will prevail. You are by far the strongest child I have ever seen. There is none that could hold a candle so that’s why…That is why, you will get past this. And when you do, I will be ready to help you, professor. I know what it’s like losing people you love, and wanting to avenge them…”

Dimitri knelt down to eye level with Byleth and clenched his fist, slamming it against his heart.

“I will help you kill those bastards for what they did to Jeralt. We’ll make them pay…!”

Byleth nodded, and once he did, Dimitri held out a hand to him.

“But for now…you need rest, Byleth.”

Hesitating for a moment, Byleth took his hand, and let himself be led by Dimitri.

He looked back with a smile, though there was a hint of sadness to it.

“I’ll order Mercedes and Annette to bake some brownies first thing in the morning for you, Byleth.”

Byleth couldn’t help but smile a little when he heard that, letting out a chuckle while he wiped some tears away.

(Dimitri) “Well…that’s a good step in the right direction.”

(Golden Deer Route - Claude)

“…Hey, teach.”

Though Claude’s voice seemed nonchalant, to Byleth it held nothing but worry.

“Figured you’d be sleeping right now.”

Byleth didn’t reply.

Claude sat next to Byleth, looking out into the starry sky above.

“I can’t imagine the pain you must be feeling…I’ve…never been great at these things. I never lost a parent or anything like that, so I’m afraid I don’t have words of comfort in that regard.”

“…”

“But, I can say this. All of us care for you, professor. You stuck by our class, despite every single one of us being a pain in the ass to deal with. Hilda with her laziness, Lorenz with being himself, Marianne with her self deprecation, Leonie with…well you know. Yet, through our worst, you always made sure to care for us, despite our words. So, know that we have the same care for you as you do us. We’ll be here in your father’s place.”

“…Thank you, Claude.” Byleth said through tears. “Hah…all this time I tried not acting like a child in front of you…and here I am, crying…”

“Hey now, you know I’m not a jokester all the time, teach!”

Byleth smiled a little, which in turn made him smile.

Claude shook his head, even though he knew Byleth he couldn’t see it.

“Besides, there isn’t anything mature about holding in tears. As nuts as it sounds…it’s good that you are crying. It means you’re not lying to yourself, Byleth. It’s okay to feel scared, not knowing what to do. Us adults feel that way too.”

“…Really?”

“Hah, really…”

He patted Byleth’s head, looking at the grave.

“Besides, no matter what you do, or how adult you try to be, you’re still going to be our little Professor.“

(Flayn)

“Byleth, there you are!”

Flayn went down the stairs quickly and stood next to him.

“I’ve been worried sick, I haven’t seen you in days and…”

She realized that Byleth was crying, shaking while holding his bird.

“…I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay, Flayn. Don’t apologize.”

He turned to Flayn, tears glistening in his eyes. She nodded, kneeling down with him.

Flayn was one of the only people to talk to him normally at the Monastery. Perhaps it helped that she seemed to act about the age as Byleth, whatever that was, it was still young.

Most of all though, that meant he didn’t care that Flayn was the one to see him like this. He was relieved it was her, in fact.

Which means, he didn’t have to hold back.

“It hurts so much, Flayn…!”

He began sobbing louder now, barely able to see the grave.

“Why…Why do I feel this way?! HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP?!”

He hugged the bird so tightly now, it started to hurt, closing his eyes and crying loudly.

Flayn took Byleth into a hug, grateful that no one was around to hear them.

She stroked his back, shushing him and whispering things to calm him down.

“It’s okay, Byleth…”

After what seemed like a while, his crying eventually did calm down. She let go, and Byleth stared at his stuffed bird.

“It’s going to take a while but…I promise it does get better. Seteth and I talked about our mother when we went to dispel the Western Church members, right?”

Byleth nodded.

“My father and I were in a similar state but…there’s one thing mother always told me. ‘We cannot turn back the clock. We must live our lives fully in the present moment.’ Though we miss her greatly, it is how we carry on.”

Byleth looked at the grave and though it wasn’t Jeralt’s words he heard. It was Sothis speaking to him.

“She is right…Even though we can turn back time, we cannot change fate. You must go forth.”

“And forgive me if it’s presumptuous of me to say but,” Flayn continued. “I’m sure Jeralt’s told you something to that effect.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“As to how to make the pain stop…That’s a good question. I still have never really gotten over that pain myself.”

She laughed at herself.

“Perhaps it’s all the fish I keep eating that reminds me of her so much…”

Byleth laughed as well, staring at the bird.

“I’m…sorta in the same boat. This was a gift Jeralt had got me this year, actually. Here I am asking you how to make it stop, when I’m holding something that’ll hurt me everytime I’m looking at it.”

They both smiled at each other, realizing they probably wouldn’t get over the pain truly when it’s something they hold so dear to them.

“Live in the present moment, huh…?” Byleth said quietly.

“Yes. Now, you have something else to live for. Your class needs you, Byleth…”

She hugged him for a moment before smiling.

“I need you too! The classes would be too boring without our tiny professor!”

He smiled at that and nodded.

“Thanks, Flayn. For being here tonight.”

“Of course. If you need anything at all, I’ll be right here.”

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses spoilers #fire emblem three houses imagines #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem three houses headcanons #spoilers #byleth #child!byleth #edelgard von hraesvelgr #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #claude von regan #sothis #flayn #jeralt #jeralt reus eisner #writing #imagines

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randomnameless · 4 years ago

Note

I don't know if this has been asked before, but I was wondering what your thoughts on Rhea are.

Oh, I don't think someone asked it, but I remember a character meme.

Rhea's in the Julia tier : you're expecting things and the game doesn't give you any.

you asked for thoughts so this is long and rather unorganised even if i tried a bit and i feel like i repeated myself a lot so meh

If Edel and Rhea have one thing in common, it's being shafted by the need to make Billy the most special being every with the monstrous "I was lonely before you player-chan uwu".

Seteth'n'Flayn ? In the same trashcan Hubert went in.

Catherine, Shamir, the randoms living in the monastery? Dgaf but still she's willing to die for them so does she really gaf or not? Rhea's willing to give her blood and crest stone shards (to this day I still don't understand what those are) to trusted randoms who would become cardinals? "uwu player-chan". I know I've written a bit about it with the seirelm anon, but with the Canon-ish info? Post Zanado Rhea told a random dude she could turn in a dragon, gave her blood to the same dude and remained in his empire/fighting by his side for at least 30 years. Still “lonely without U Billy <3″

I've written this in the meme entry, but Rhea has her own net of relationships. They're not as important as Dimitri and his childhood friends, but erasing them for the sake of "player-chan" feels wrong.

Role and goals

Rhea's in an interesting place, being a former "legendary hero" like Athos, Sephiran etc.

Still her fight isn't over, she only defeated Nemesis and couldn't end the mastermind behind (a bit like Seliph if you only kill Arvis or Roy when you forget to pick up every legendary weapon). Also, if Seiros killed Nemesis, she hasn't won. In the current Fodlan, she still has to pretend to be a human, the Nabateans as a culture/population are dead. They're still 5 (ish? I think the apostles are lizards), she's still afraid humans will dice them if they learn the truth. Has she won? Idk. Could she win and make a Fodlan were lizards and humans could live together? I don't think so.

Her role as the Archbishop? Well, the game really liked Rhea as a red herring during white clouds and the way FE16 is built, around the monastery, reinforces it. Rhea's the head of the monastery, so she's the head of your world. Everything wrong with the world is automatically linked to Rhea.

So, when Marianne complains about people wanting to kill/ostracise her because of her crest, thinking it's a curse, we of course wonder "why Rhea can't tell to the randoms that no Marianne shouldn't be killed/shunned because of her crest?". Completely forgetting that, hey, Marianne's from the Alliance and heiress of Edmund, so if some people should intervene, it should be her dad "why the fuck are you trying to kill my daughter" or the Alliance council "Duke Riegan, could you please make a public statement about my daughter and how she isn't some sort of demonic beast so stop throwing rocks at her?".

Same thing with the Empire, why should you blame the church and the crests instead of the people doing shit? Hanneman's brother in law? Like is marriage so absolute that a husband can force multiple pregnancies on his wife to the point of literally killing her? The von Essar aren't as important as the Bergliez, but Hanneman's sister dying like that should have rang some bells? Hanneman's dad didn't care? No one wanted to appeal to the Emperor or something? If Jane the random or Karen the peasant died this way, it’d be usual class nonsense. But a noble woman??

Rhea should have done more to prevent crest abuse. She wrote tenets in her Bible and apparently doesn't discriminate in her monastery. But in the other countries? Idk. Her tenets are interpreted like your shopping list by Gloucester Sr "and add a part where interacting with foreigners goes against Seiros's teachings what yes I know better than those dunces from the eastern/central church".

It's not because Riegan Sr and Ionius aren't doing shit that she should do nothing too, but ultimately it falls on the usual landmine about Rhea's influence and power over Fodlan and if we consider Fodlan isn't just the Monastery we see but a continent made up of 4 autonomous states...

The so-called status quo isn't upheld by the church alone (if it is upheld in the first place!), but also by the empire and the Alliance... Lambert was toasted before making any changes, the Alliance is that weird thing where money is anything and crests/old nobility doesn't matter anymore, and the Empire is... Well. The Empire.

Regarding this, I find it really strange that Rhea went to Goneril and rescued one of their slaves, with how much she cares about protecting her monastery and not antagonising anyone, picking Cyril up, risking the ire of house Goneril, feels really risky from her perspective.

Imo WC doesn't sell me the "church rules over the continent" take.

Ultimately it doesn't matter because Rhea thinks she should have done more, and abused her position as the archbishop to rez her mom - I understand the "abused her position" as regretting her various omissions, like helping more people around etc etc.

I also feel like Rhea’s got a big survivor complex, and tries to fulfill impossible tasks. "leading/guiding the world?" she won't take an active role in it, but still resents the state of current Fodlan and wishes Sothis could restore some order (crest abuse? Or relics popping up right and left meaning more sibs dying). She wants to :

1/ guide the world and make it a better place (why complaining about the wayward Fodlan otherwise?)

2/ protect randoms who live under her protection

3/ make sure no one learns the truth about her appearance and relics at the same time.

I don't think it's possible given her current role and especially not possible on her own.

About 3/, call back to FE9 or not, but Rhea's paranoia is... Actually, not proven to be exaggerated in the game.

Ranulf was lynched in Crimea when he was discovered to be a laguz? In a certain route, Rhea's called a cruel beast due to her appearance, accused of not having "human" feelings and is depicted as a creature masquerading as a human. Hate and attack the woman all you want for things she did or might have done, but getting rid of her because she's not human? Rhea's right about not revealing her true nature, because, relics notwithstanding, humans will try to kill her for being a nabatean. Relic wise, in the DLC, we learn Aubin was recently turned in a relic, so that's even more reason to hide.

On 1/, wanting to promote peace in the land? National bias at play with rewriting history “to promote peace” issue. Rhea also built the officer's academy (if nobles from different states can live and study together surely they won't try to kill each other when they return home because they might have become friends?) and with help from the everyone in Fodlan (even the empire iirc?) built the locket to fend off Almyrian invasions. Not saying this is the best way to protect your borders but at least she tried to help instead of staying holed in her monastery.

Imo if Rhea didn't care about Fodlan, she'd have followed her bros and fortified herself in her monastery without accepting random humans to live with her, wouldn't have written a book about how everyone had to get along "unless it goes against the goddess" and wouldn't basically run what seems to be the biggest orphanage/place for the needy/and whatever is the abyss in the continent.

Not saying she doesn't have a priority, but Rhea tries to care, on her scale, about Fodlan's randoms.

About said randoms (and 2/)...

Well there's this bout with Lonato's rebellion and another herring where Rhea's all "I will destroy anyone who takes arms against the church and its believers" and it's extreme, I can’t deny. But if Lonato took arms and mounted a militia to attack Ositia's castle and its randoms? Hector'd have Armads'd Lonato without a second thought. Elincia had qualms about taking her weapons against her own countrymen who were used by Ludveck, but in the end, she took up her weapons to defend her castle, even if it meant she had to kill militiamen. Rhea's line seemed random and cold in the context, but it's the same general idea, attack her people and she will kill you. Still, if you don't take weapons against her, she won't react violently. Duke Gerth is apparently dick waving with Aubin's relic, but Shamir wasn't sent to recover the thing or to get rid of Gerth.

Ultimately Rhea blows her cover and abandons her dream to reunite with her mother to protect the monastery and its inhabitants in 3 routes (arguably in CF too). Someone once made a post about the differences between Seiros's and Edel's crowns and the symbolism of wings - the IO's wings are meant to protect. The IO is the guardian/protector. Rhea tanks missiles and buys time for the students to escape at the cost of her life.

Relationships

Rhea and Sothis? someone made a post summarizing my thoughts about their relationship, or lack of, and if we can argue Sothis was shafted by the devs like Rhea and Edel, ultimately the only important person to Sothis is Billy.

Billy doesn't warp Sothis's preexisting net of relationships, Sothis doesn't have relationships with anyone save for Billy. Rhea wants to meet her mom more than anything else (save for protecting randoms) but Sothis will never address that plot point. She only does in SS and off screen, and it ends up with Rhea wondering if she should live... so take it as you want, but to me it mustn't have been the "hug and pat on the head" kind of reunion.

Ultimately we see Rhea is able to let go of her dream (rez mom) in several routes, she understands and acknowledges Sothis will never return and Billy has her powers now, so either she dies more or less at peace knowing she can trust Billy with Fodlan's future, or she can return to Zanado and live peacefully with Catherine.

Which leads me to the Billy relationship,

As much as I hate player pandering, it makes some sense that Rhea would support Billy and not, let's say, Caspar. I still hate it though because Billy exclusive support means we were robbed of Rhea's other supports with, idk, her fam, Cyril, Catherine, Shamir, Alois, Hanneman, Manu etc etc.

In the beginning of WC, Rhea's pretty sure Billy's Sothis but without memories. Then in the non-cf chapter 12, she tells Billy they know what they are and thus must guide Fodlan, also telling Seteth Billy's a vector for sothis's powers, but not Sothis herself. In SS's finale she calls them "mother" but in her S-support finally acknowledges Billy's their own thing.

In CF Rhea's vicious in her trash talk but immediately jumps to the conclusion that Billy cannot be or hear Sothis, because, to her, logically, Sothis wouldn't side with Edel and her Agarthian allies (stealing the crest stones, Flayn, etc etc). Billy is something that stole Sothis's crest stone and sword and wants to finish what Nemesis started. I don't think CF Rhea snaps because Billy isn't Sothis, CF Rhea snaps because, again, someone is using her mother to kill her.

Rhea's also supposed to have been fond of Citrus to the point of talking to her remains (something she does with her mom) which could explain her sympathy for Billy regardless of the Sothis project.

Jeralt's a different issue, apparently they worked together for more than 100 years but Rhea never told him the truth about her nature, only about how he was saved. Still, Jeralt betrays when his baby is "weird" and unlike regular human babies so... Would he have ran away if he learnt what rhea was? Dumped Citrus if he knew she was an artificial being? Idk.

Catherine Shamir cyril and pals (Alois)? We don't know bcs the game dgaf about anyone not named Billy. As I said above, It’d have been nice to get more interactions with randoms she is working with, or at least showed some care, but nope. “Player-chan uwu” strikes again.

Seteth'n'Flayn? Rhea's close to them, she gets out of her room to look for Flayn and Cyril and Catherine note how she seems close to Seteth (who's totally her bro), but again, the game hates us. FFS don't think she has a line with Flayn!

Secrets and explosions

Tied to 3/ and 1/ from earlier, Rhea keeps a lot of secrets which could justify her lack of relationships/supports with the others... but this argument falls flat, because she’s not the only one with a secret and if Flayn doesn’t seem to care that much about hers, Seteth does and is still able to support students and staff members. Which leads to tragedies.

The Christophe incident is not well documented, and while we learn Rhea was the target of Christophe’s attempt because Western peeps told him so, it is not very well explained why she didn’t execute him on those grounds instead of falsifying charges about involvement with the Regicide. We are told it was to stabilise the Kingdom, but I still don’t know how the Kingdom would have suffered backlash if Rhea told the truth (maybe it would have led to open conflict between the western church and the central church in the kingdom, when the kingdom needed stability at that point? idk).

Still, Lonato wants revenge for Christophe, not because he was executed on false charges, but because he died ; imo, if Lonato learnt the truth, he’d still be out for Catherine and Rhea’s head.

Aelfie’s gambit is more of a direct result of Rhea’s secrecy, because she had “no words” for him about why Citrus was still in pristine condition, he gave up and tried to rez her. Would it had been different if she told him what Citrus was (and by extent, what she was)? Idk. Maybe, maybe not.

Still, Rhea doesn’t keep secrets from everyone every time - she once trusted Willy and told him about her alternate form and it exploded 1k years later, when Willy’s descendants are out for her head because she’s a creature masquerading as a human (I know mole people also played a part, but I guess it sticked more with Edel and the gang who already knew Rhea was a dragon ; trying to convince a random that “hey, this woman is a dragon !” would be more difficult). CF-wise again, Rhea trusts Billy with the SoC and, again, it explodes. In CF Rhea feels betrayed, she trusted some people and now the very same people (or their descendant in Edel’s case) are trying to kill her.

So it’s not a case of someone never trusting anyone, it’s someone trusting some people and regretting it afterwards (in both routes + CF at least, even if I firmly believe the “evil lizards ruling over the world” spiel doesn’t come from Willy, but from later emperors influenced by mole people).

There can also be a point made for Aelfie, who might have been able to merge with Citrus to create an umbral beast because he had Rhea’s blood and a crest stone shard - Citrus being a fake Nabatean and Aelfie having a crest stone + blood might have produced CS’s final boss? Rhea trusted Aelfie with a crest stone shard and her blood, and he became an umbral beast.

Interestingly, Rhea is hell bent on keeping her secrets regarding her identity, in SS Seteth has to beg her to reveal everything to Billy when Billy is the most important person in the world “uwu” or at least, the only person Rhea supposedly opened to. Even the “uwu” factor isn’t enough, on its own, to make her reveal the truth about her identity.

She gives Claude half-truths, and has to be on death’s door to tell him everything - still occulting Seteth’n’Flayn, to the point where Claude later wonders if there are other children of the goddess around.

Vengeful Rhea?

Rhea isn't a stale piece of bread like Julia. She says mean words to Nemesis but also brutally kills him. Rhea cannot forgive the Elites. I know it's very different, but Julia "dad is the kindest man I ever knew" making a 180° “i must atone for what dad did eff him” will always make me throw up - she doesn’t have to be vengeful or try to stab Seliph with a butter knife, but no acknowledgement of “dad’s the bestest” after his death, or even, of his death is meh.

To Rhea, Nemesis and the Elites are a trigger point, and everything related to Zanado. CF!Billy using her mom’s powers is like Nemesis, CF!Billy + Edel pillaging what remains of her siblings in Nemesis’n’Dudes. Flamey doing his shit with Flayn also parallels that. There’s the usual “vengeance sucks” speech to be given, but also the Tellius verse where Laguz aren’t depicted in a bad light when they want to destroy Izuka or when Tibarn learns Lekain was responsible for Serenes’s massacre.

Still, unlike Tibarn’n’pals, Rhea, unlike Macuil, doesn't seem to hold a grudge against descendants of the Elites. Maybe she had faith in them when she told them not to abuse the power of their crests, but then their descendants forgot or didn’t care and we’re in the so-called crest system.

In SS, Seteth asks the BE students if they want to return home to the Empire and how he won’t hold it against them. Seteth’s being Rhea’s right hand bro in this situation, I doubt he’d have proposed this solution without her approval.

She is vengeful and ready to pursue for more 90 years someone to kill them, but she won’t target that someone’s descendants or potential allies. I’ve read some takes about the Western Church being razed to the ground after Catherine’s paralogue, but iirc, Rhea’s only going to execute the Bishop there ; they appoint a new bishop in hopes to ease the relationships between the central and western church. There’d be no point to appoint someone to rule over a body that doesn’t exist...

Grey waves

Wave 1 : Another parallel with Edel is the will to sink in troubled waters to reach their goals.

However, Rhea stays on the surface.

Aelfie thinks Seiros failed to rez Sothis with the chalice because she didn't take more blood from the apostles. Blood rituals are creepy and gave an umbral beast. Seiros didn't pursue and sought another mean to rez Sothis without killing her bros. Rhea makes homunculi to host Sothis's soul? It fails but the homunculi isn't destroyed asap to make another one, hell, Rhea cares about them (which is all kinds of fucked up on its own).

AM wise, iirc, Seteth and Catherine say Rhea'd never forgive them if they run to save her instead of saving randoms first.

Still, making homunculus to create a vessel for her mom - making artificial lives - is problematic, she’s ashamed of it “i did questionable things” and Seteth berates her on her “questionable” experiments.

CF!Rhea eats babies during the final map. She burns the city to make her last stronghold and refuses to run away. CF!Rhea, at the end of this route, completely abandoned goal 1 2 and 3. She wants to survive, yes, but to recover Sothis, no matter how. She still seems to care about humanity, but takes everything too literally and is persuaded humanity and humans are after her to hurt her and her mother (i’m pretty sure uncle Arry was waiting with his Agarthan tech suitcase for Edel to deal with the beast in the background). Contrary to CF’s chapter 12, Endgame!Rhea doesn’t have lines when Catherine and Cyril fall. She’s still siding with humans, but she’s in this for herself now.

Of course, CF!Rhea is special, because CF!Rhea lives again through her trauma, CF!Rhea lost her home, her bro and niece a few chapters ago, she lost her human allies, apparently some peons from her church are deserting and Uncle is waiting with his portable electric saw to turn her in a shiny sword, because she trusted a corpse with Sothis’s heart and spine and trusted a human 1000 years ago with her secret. And now said corpse follows someone who rings at her door with an army, wishes to obliterate her unless she surrenders (?) and works with Uncle and his dubstep pals.

In the other routes, Billy doesn’t want to killer her with her mother’s spine and tries to defend her home, Seteth’n’Flayn aren’t forced into exile or dead and depending on the route she gets to see Uncle and his dubstep friends being buried under rubble.

Troubled waters to reach her goals also include slowing Fodlan’s technological advancements (but was it really slowing down Fodlan’s R&D’s department or cliking “no” when Mole People offer a free (for now) new technology that makes you advance from bronze age to the industrial era in one go?)

Wave 2 : Rhea’s anchored in the past, she wants to return to happier days with her mom and her family, but also wants to help randoms in Fodlan

She doesn’t seem to mind the present where humans do whatever they want, and yet will protect her people and tries (or tried since it’s history) to keep Fodlan safe.

I think the game wanted to tell us Rhea’s stuck in the past, but she also manages to form bonds (albeit fickle) in the present with Catherine, Shamir and, arguably, Cyril. Seteth’n’Flayn accept the past and try to move forward, Rhea cannot and yet is making baby steps forward, or at least to live in the present. “uwu factor” is supposed to mean Rhea’s stuck in the past and can only see Billy for what they are once she accepts to live in the present, but Rhea’s already fond of Catherine, calls Aelfie her child, was fond of Citrus and Jeralt, makes time for Cyril, etc etc. It’s not as clear cut as drinking tea with them but it’s still something that quashes the “lonely B4 U player-chan uwu”.

Rhea thinks her biggest grey wave is how she didn’t do enough for Fodlan and feels inadequate to walk in Sothis’s shoes as the guardian/protector of Fodlan - she could have done more, but she’s busy juggling with three goals, rez mom, protect fodlan, protect the fam.

I think one of her main issue (but the game was also made this way so) is to try to reach those goals alone, save for the “rez mom” goal, everyone in Fodlan, especially the heads of the three states should be concerned with keeping peace in the continent!

Lambert was BBQ’s, Riegan’s busy shitting on Gloucester and Ionius is... well, Ionius. Add to that Mole People starting up shit all around the continent and you have the recipe for a disaster. I’m not saying Lambert and Ionius should have participated to the “protect her family” goal, but at least not trying to eradicate them to turn them in relics would have been nice, sadly Ionius’s bro in law was an Agarthan.

Even if she is nearly immortal compared to a human, Rhea can’t do everything on her own. That’s why I ultimately think a SS ending is doomed to fail, Billy will try to be Rhea 2.0. and in 1000 years it will fall apart again.

AM ending? Billy will become like Rhea was post War of Heroes, but when Dimitri’s descendants start to do shit, his Kingdom disappears and humans start to return to their usual shitty selves, what will Billy do?

VW ending is kind of the same, Claude wants to open the borders and make everyone able to live regardless of their differences, but what if 940 years later an Almyrian president decides to build a wall between Fodlan and Almyra and make Fodlaneses pay for it? What is immortal Billy, who knew Claude and his ideals, going to do?

Wave 3 (lol i nearly forgot but remembered when i was rambling in the tags) : Rhea and technology !

The DLC book and Word of God said she slowed advance of technology in Fodlan to protect peace etc etc. But there’s a book where a cardinal said “eff to autopsies else people won’t rely on us with faith magic” which is... kind of weird. There’s a reason why Rhea might have approved that ban (Why does Freikugel look like a hip bone?) but it still deprived Fodlan’s randoms from the scientifical advance of autopsies... and made people reliant on faith magic.

Actually, the book goes

“Though it is widely believed that this is medically relevant, such actions upon a corpse are considered desecration of the dead. Since white magic can be used to a similar end, autopsies were deemed taboo. A notable cardinal asserted that if medical science were to excel over faith-based white magic, it would destabilize the foundation of the church “

I already pointed out the WTF between faith and white magic (Seteth doesn’t believe his mom is real so he has no faith boon) but interesting to note “desecrating the dead” is still something of an argument nowadays, not regarding autopsies but other practices like anatomical theaters etc etc. Maybe White Magic isn’t intrusive and yields the same results? idk.

Interesting to note, it’s a cardinal who edicted/justified that ban (Rhea as the head of the Church would have given her approval oc). As pointed out with the Freikugel example, Rhea’d have a personal interest in preventing humans to know more about anatomy (goal 3/). Would people stop looking to the church to be healed if “medical science” progresses too much? Maybe. From what we see in the curren Fodlan, it doesn’t.

Also, French version translated the “foundation of the church” as “stability” of the church - would the church become unstable or challenged if people could heal without using white magic? Again, we ultimately know that it doesn’t, magical science and medical science coexist, Manuela gives a short summary of the two - they have different effects.

As for things Rhea herself banned : Telescopes, Oil exploitation and Printed Press.

Telescopes were banned because Rhea thought it would increase violence during wartimes and would make it too easy to snipe from afar (TFW mages with bolting can do the same without telescopes, but they’re limited by their range and if they have a gloucester’s crest by Rhea’s sister’s femur’s range or whatever is Thyrsus). We know the mole people use (and most likely used before during the Sothis war) this technology. The “lessening the mystery of the goddess” thing is noted by Edel herself who wonders if the Goddess could really have come from space since it’s super far away. Edel doesn’t know the Goddess is an alien dragon-thing though.

Oil exploitation : “Misuse could result in accidental death” tfw random Faerghus countryman thought it was water and died :’(

Used tactically by those lacking magical abilities - like gambits? Was Rhea thinking that a random human cannot set fire to an entire city (lol) on his own with his limited spell pool/uses, but if he uses oil then he would only be limited by the quatity of oil? So it’d be easier to cause mass fires? Or whatever Robin did in FE13 with the ships and the Valmese army? Also, if Rhea thought oil could replace humans with magic, does it mean humans with magic were supposed to do everything oil can do? Like making a lamp or they still used something else as fuel? “Competition for it could cause strife” Rhea acknowledged that if humans discovered this ressource they’d deem it as essential and try to get their hands on it, even if they had to wage war?

Metal molding Printing Machine : “after careful consideration” Rhea banned it because it’d be useless for illiterate randoms - well yes, but why should this be an argument? You don’t ban something because it’s useless, look, no one banned airpods - risk of mass circulation of false information or rumors : rhea wanted to prevent redshit from existing This is a way to control information, but funnily enough in the game, we see the results or someone deliberately using manifestos spreading misinformation - risk of “increasing disparity between church branches” (fr version has “rivalry” instead of disparity) what does it mean? The central church would have more means to print books than the eastern church so the eastern church would be jealous? Or the Western Church could mass print its doctrine and have more zealots than the central or the easter church?

Ultimately, all those bans were lifted with time, Manuela performs Jeralt’s autopsy, Edel’s imperial science division managed to guess the distance between the Blue sea star and Fodlan, Oil is apparently used in several gambits, Edel’s able to send manifestos around the continent and Seteth can write children books and sell them without difficulties. Hilda can also lose books which would be a big no-no even if you are a noble if books weren’t, kind of, mass printed.

So why those bans? To protect Fodlan and the fam, but since they were lifted with time, I don’t think Rhea abandonned her goals, most likely, she thought humans were making small steps to discover those technologies, slowly learning about them so they won’t have them when they’re not “ready enough” to use them.

The “ready enough” thing sounds paternalistic or what can be expected from a more technologically advanced alien, but technically Rhea’s part alien and she lived through (or not?) an episode where humans received technology and did shit with it (mole people) so maybe she won’t hand them the car with the keys this time, and instead let them figure out how to build the car.

Still, this is HC because, as usual, the game doesn’t let us talk or question Rhea about those things, so we can only infer, read between the lines or between pixels.

****

TBH, I didn’t care a lot about her when I played, but when she had to eat babies in CF I grew more interested. Other bloggers already pointed it out, but Rhea’s a Tiki, but also a “traditional FE lord” in the sense she avenged her mom who was killed by the king of another kingdom, lived in exile and raised an army to fight against the King.

Still, Rhea didn’t end up as the leader of the world, or as the first Empress of United Fodlan, or something like that. She let Willy do his thing. Why? How? Why didn’t she became an integral part of the Empire, if she had been politically important, or a kind of seer/oracle, it would have been difficult for the Empire to go against her!

But nope, Rhea figged away in her mountains to rez her mom, sprout some “doctrine” (she could have done the same as an Emperor/Seer/Oracle) and watched over randoms who made up her “church”. She sometimes tries to intervene in Fodlan’s best interests, but it failed. Because Rhea doesn’t want to rule. She feels like she has to be a guide, but when humans don’t follow her? Well, what can she do? FE16 doesn’t show us Rhea sending her knights against the Empire when the Empire kicked out her Church and basically said “fig” to her face. FE16 doesn’t show us Rhea being angry and punching Gloucester in the face because he doesn’t show “real piety” and sprouts doctrine out of his rear.

Still, when she has to take a more hands-on approach and cannot be a distant figure/guide, she complains about maintaining a certain image as the Archbishop and how she cannot socialise with students or even walk around without Seteth randoms guarding her. She feels her mother would do a better job and tries to act as a proxy. Imo, Rhea’s bound by duty to her mom, to her sibs dead and living, and to Fodlan. She doesn’t reject her role, she accepts it, she doesn’t like it yes, but if going Gandalf in non-CF chapter 12 shows, she will fulfill it.

What’s most saddening though, is how her duty is a self-imposed one. Rez her mom? She personally took the challenge, because she misses Sothis the most and feels ashamed of this feeling to the point of not telling Seteth about it (interesting enough, Indech seems to be aware Billy’s Sothis incarnation and didn’t jump to the “Billy must be one of Nemesis’s kids with the crest of flames” conclusion, as if he knew Sothis could “incarnate” one day, but was he thinking Sothis would incarnate on her own or Rhea would trigger it? Flayn also suspects a thing about Billy being related to them because of Rhea). Rhea personally thinks she has to lead/guide Fodlan and make it a better place, ignoring the heads of the 3 states who should also be concerned with this goal. Rhea will create a false history to protect her living siblings when Macuil and Indech won’t give a fuck and live in their bestial forms somewhere, and when Seteth hides, but made it clear his only wish is to protect Flayn and the apostles, if they were really lizards, disappeared in random villages.

FE16 isn’t interested by Rhea’s story though.

That’s why I’m desperately waiting for a War of Heroes DLC or prequel of BSFE or whatever because I don’t really care about Fodlan in 1180 and who can have a perfect tea time with Billy or not.

I’d like to know why Birdie and Indech figged away, why Rhea thought letting Willy control the entire continent when he knows she’s a dragon was a good idea, why the Apostles didn’t take part in the Nemesis fight, why Fodlan’s humans decided to side with Willy in his brand new Empire instead of staying with King Nemesis, did Sothis have a previous faithful and what happened when she disappeared, were the Nabateans tyrannical rulers over humans which made some with Nemesis’n’pals, what were they supposed to do when they left Zanado, etc, etc.

So just like Julia and the baijilions AU ideas I came up with, Rhea’s a fuel for AUs because her base game dgaf about her.

#anon #replies #long reply #FE16 #Rhea stuff #the julia tier #everyone hates that tier #it's when you have something interesting but you're not supposed to care about it #fuck the uwu factor ffs #burn it to oblivion #i really really hope next FE won't have an avatar #eff billy #tfw you could have Tellius' herons but Reyson's more interested in Billy than in explaining what happened in the forest #what happened in the forest will only be explained in an infodump at the end of the game #i hate it #relics? we don't care #the equivalent of AU where Julia gets her memory is AU where Rhea is playable and gets 10 chapters #i read somewhere that bar Edel'n'Hubert CF warps every character to their worst selves #Endgame CF!Rhea doesn't care about wanting to keep peace or protecting her fam she wants her mom back she litterally screams it #banana point though #depending on your PT she might not have any family left save for Birdie and Indech #i won't say rhea did nothing wrong though #but i hope i didn't forget a thing #i like her #less than hilda of course bcs Hilda is my fave #FE4!Hilda of course #give me a WoH DLC IS or even a manga at this point i'm desperate even a Seiros alt with 5 lines #Rhea parallels the 3 lords but won't talk to them #only claude could but then Nemesis rang at their door and we wasted that convo with a billy reveal like fuck idc #like 'relics were made from my family bones but also billy's not a human' and the only reaction is 'omg billy's not a human???'

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randomnameless · 1 year ago

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Considering the game is trying to present Rhea as "pure," it doesn't make sense that it tries to blame her for the war via the false history.

I agree in general with your post, and if the Fodlan games were only about their own subtext, then I guess we wouldn't get half of the headaches we have when trying to determine what was the intent behind the game.

However, we still have that part in the support :

Though my intention was to keep the peace in Fódlan, I still propagated a false history and deceived my faithful followers. I also took advantage of my position as archbishop to further my own selfish goal of seeing my mother again. If my foolish actions had anything to do with the war, I—

Of course Rhea self-depreciates here because she literally opens the conversation with "should I be happy that I survived" - note how, her own POV contradicts the devs' interview, here in this support where she is written at her lowest (or one of her lowest states because CF is a thing! - but here, she's basically asking for death apparently listing all the reasons why she shouldn't be happy to have surived...) - to self-depreciating!Rhea, the rez Sothis plan was her own selfish goal to reunite with her mother. But per Word of God, Rhea's obsession with reviving Sothis isn't only her "selfish goal" to see her mother again, but it has a deeper meaning to her, as a Nabatean : she wants to bring the Creator, aka her Goddess, back.

Maybe the writers wanted Billy to, not play her game and straight up give her the answer "we're happy you're here so please stop saying you feel like living is something you shouldn't do" instead of countering everything she said to end up giving the same message...

But in a game riddled (even if SS is the basis!) with Church BaD, with "Can't we walk uwu with her uwu" and, basically, a humonguous Rhea shaped scarecrow that is never truly revealed to have only been a red herring because we know what kind of Tea wouldn't have sold otherwise...

Maybe it's me, but it still feels somehow wrong that, Rhea, who maybe heard all the insanities Supreme Leader parroted, isn't allowed in her supposed "big moment", her S-Support, to be treated as a victim (she was tortured for 5 years due to this racially oriented war against her ffs) or at least not an accomplice to her own torture. The game is very cruel to make her believe, to her who lovs Fodlan and its inhabitants more than anyone else, that she is the one responsible for Supreme Leader's war, that bled the continent.

And so, the subtly raised issue about the previous war and who started it is subtly ignored, with the grace of a french drunkard, to assure one of this war's victims that while it is nice she survived and everyone is happy... well,

We're still avoiding the "difficult" questions, and thus, she will continue being a scarecrow for the remaining 80 seconds of this route.

In the same vein...

By triggering the S Support, you've accepted that you're romancing a dragon but that dragon, owing to Rhea's role as a protector, has saved your life and the lives of others twice while being captured or severely injured as a result.

While it serves as a good foil (?) to CF - I still feel like the two situations cannot be compared.

You mention that you (as in, Billy) accept that you're going to live with a dragon who saved your life and the world - but in CF, you - as Billy - aren't accepting a thing, Supreme Leader is the one sprouting her racist crap, and while we can suppose Billy agrees with most of it... they still disobey, if given the occasion, with Seteth, Flayn and Indech.

Removing Billy here, we have CF!Supreme Leader who thinks Nabateans are cruel beasts and monsters who should die and cannot live with humans... and in this route, we have SS!Rhea who thinks her "other form" should be a reason why she should die :

Tell me... Is it wrong for me to be happy that I escaped death? (BIlly either says they're happy or Rhea should be happy) Can you still say such things to me, even after witnessing my...other form?

We know Billy nods or says yes, because Rhea later thanks them. But curiously, this is off-screen or not mentionned at all, Rhea just thanks Billy so we can only supposed they nodded/said yes.

And yet, I guess, if the game really wanted to part from a certain someone's idea that Nabateans are beasts who should not interact with humans because of their race - we could have had something more, anything than an implied nod from the player/avatar/character!

I'm not of Ike so I'll ignore him for Eli-Roy duo - but what would have been the biggest "i'm your inverse" slap to CF, an implied nod that dragon or not dragon we're happy to see Rhea, or a character saying on-screen that race doesn't matter and people are happy to see Rhea, let her have scales or not?

By purposedly avoiding even voicing (well, writing) anything that would mean Nabateans are loveable, even if they are not humans, the game, far from acknowledging - even in SS which is supposed to be the most "life discovering journey" and "enlightment" route! - that you can marry a dragon, it's again the old tale of the french drunkard who gracefully avoids spilling any tea :

I would seriously have loved a bit more this S-Support if it was only, as you said, about the symbolism, the colors, Rhea supporting Billy instead of the inverse, not marrying the hegemon who will continue to War, but the Guardian who will usher a miraculous era.

And yet, because of that damn screenshot, Rhea's S-support is another way to push for the scarecrow/red herring we've heard and that was apparently, but never too loudly, debunked throught the route, with a good dose of victim blaming because that's Fodlan's bread and butter.

I was thinking more about the symbolism surrounding Rhea I was talking about last night, and her S support. Considering the game is trying to present Rhea as "pure," it doesn't make sense that it tries to blame her for the war via the false history. Sure, Rhea spread a false history but despite what Edelgard says it wasn't done out of an attempt to rule humanity. It was done in order make peace with the Elites and end the war of heroes. Because here's the thing, the history Edelgard believes isn't the truth either.

Wilhelm wasn't tricked and betrayed humanity, he started the war in order to unify Fodlan and stop all the violence and bloodshed that Nemesis caused. It was Edelgard's family who ruled Fodlan, not Rhea's, and the Empire was broken up by the Slithers in preparation for this war. Rhea doesn't control the nobles, most nobles ignore what the Church preaches. Likewise, she taught people not to abuse their power and work to help others, only for the nobles to fixate on obtaining power by any means which included through Crests.

Yet Rhea still worries, not because she's guilty but because she cares. She cares about the people and is upset that her actions may have caused this war. This is in contrast to Edelgard, who has dehumanized the casualties of her actions as "necessary sacrifices" that will be smaller in number than the hypothetical people who will benefit from the war. In addition, it also stands to reason that it's meant to put Rhea into a better light by contrast, as Edelgard has a tenancy to shift the blame for whatever bad happens onto others in order to not take responsibility.

Even Rhea treating her other form serves as a contrast. In Flower, Edelgard's anti-Nabatean rhetoric has Byleth telling their allies to kill them if they can't hold onto their "humanity." Not to mention how Edelgard turns herself into a monster in Moon yet still acts like she's qualified to rule the world. By triggering the S Support, you've accepted that you're romancing a dragon but that dragon, owing to Rhea's role as a protector, has saved your life and the lives of others twice while being captured or severely injured as a result.

And let's not forget, if Rhea hadn't tried to bring Sothis back then there would have been no Byleth and in turn Edelgard would have won.

Not to mention, that the ending acknowledges you're there because of your own free will and the choices you've made. You decided to seek out Rhea to get her support rank up despite her not being a party member, your choices either rejected Flower or prevented you from going down that road, and finally you chose to be with Rhea at the end. And because of that, Fodlan sees reforms and advancements that is said to be nothing short of miraculous while Byleth ends up being leader because of their merit.

You achieve what Edelgard promised by hooking up with Rhea.

The ending serves as a contrast to Edelgard's, where you are required to call her by a nickname that's also a title for a god. Whereas Edelgard celebrates having wiped out the Children of the Goddess, allowing TWSITD to win their war, Rhea is more humble in the face of the Nabatean victory. Whereas Edelgard is now free to rule Fodlan as she sees fit, Rhea is prepared to assist Byleth. If Flower is the path of the beast and of thorns, then Snow is the path of Enlightenment and of righteousness.

It really is black (Edelgard, leader of the Black Eagle Strike Force) and white (Rhea, the Immaculate/White One) when you understand what the game is saying through it's symbolism. And of course…

youtube

#fantasyinvader #i really agree with some of the things you wrote in the post #but that S Support feels so wild to me lol #maybe it's just a gut feeling and with time it'll fade #in a way the game keeps on blaming Rhea for things she didn't do or overplays what she did #and she even does so herself in her S support! And we have to get a nintendo interview #aka word of god to get anyone trying to explain her motives and not you know the person she's talking to #i know FE16's Billy is pretty static #but the writers couldn't even give her the 'no the war wasn't your fault and you tried to help people' using the arguments you've raised #what could that game have been without the constant need to push Supreme Leader down our throats...#FE16

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msbluebell · 5 years ago

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I read on the wiki that because Sothis had a strong bond with Byleth she could have erased their consciousness and taken over their body, but didn't because she didn't want to because it would be the same as murdering Byleth. How would everyone react if Sothis did do just that and came back in Byleth's body? What will Sothis do now she has a physical body? Another thought is rather than Sothis disappearing she can randomly/purposely swap control with Byleth, would be funny if they try to hide it

I think the thing to remember here is that, if you choose to romance Sothis, she can totally separate hers and Byleth’s consciousnesses again, and before then she never fully disappeared. She and Byleth are one, a single person separated into two sets. Becoming one wasn’t so much Sothis dying or killing herself as it was letting Byleth’s personality take control of everything. Which, okay, you could call it murder if you wanted, but I think it’s a bit more complicated than that because personalities are subject to change, and, also, you can never really lose something that’s a part of yourself.

So, if the reasons Sothis could have overwritten Byleth, for lack of a better term, was because of their deep bond, than I doubt she would want to permanently write off Byleth. So, we have to think what would make Sothis choose to risk erasing Byleth.

I’m going to say it’s pure confidence she can bring Byleth back, and a lack of trust in Byleth’s ability not to fuck up right now after purposely walking straight into a trap to get to Kronya. And, to be honest, I don’t even blame her because that was a pretty stupid move.

So, in her head, it isn’t so much Byleth disappearing as, “Okay, I’m going to take control, get us out of here, and wait until I’ve replenished our power enough to separate our consciousnesses again.” So she does just that...

...except she forgot about the students...

...and the fact that she feels the things Byleth feels...

...and she’s a lot more expressive with her overwhelming emotions whereas Byleth was reserved enough that they weren’t overwhelming...

Yes, what I’m suggesting is a Disaster!Sothis trying to get a handle on her way too strong emotions while also dealing with missing Byleth, Byleth’s very much distressed students, Rhea’s general weirdness, and basically all the weird shit that goes on at Garreg Mach.

Sothis just never realized how much all the students were like baby ducks with Byleth until she was forced to deal with them herself and was faced with the sheer distress they all had at the thought of their professor being overwritten.

They also miss their usual weekly gifts.

And their tea-time.

And knowing that if they lose something Byleth will most certainly find it.

Sothis, while not a terrible teacher, also isn’t as good at explaining things as Byleth, so the students and she are often left frustrated by the sheer lack of communication there.

It’s not that the student’s don’t like Sothis, they do, and she likes them, but they would all feel better if there was a guarantee that Byleth was back.

Also, Sothis has never been in love as humans understand it before, so she’s a total mess around Dimitri. She doesn’t understand the butterflies in stomach, chest aching, touch yearning, “I would die for you” feeling that she gets when she’s around him. She thinks she’s allergic to him. (Once she’s he observer and not the interactor again, she’s going to call herself a fool for being so oblivious).

She doesn’t fish, that was Byleth’s thing. She’s not adverse, but she thinks that she’s more interested in exploring the world around her with hands and feet.

She eats everything. She never needed to eat much before, but this body is accustomed to it, and she indulges herself. She never considered eating for taste and pleasure before, but finds she likes it.

She likes smelling the flowers in the garden. The smells had never seemed so...strong before. The colored of the flowers had never seemed so vibrant. Perhaps she had truly not given a thought to the benefits of being human over being a god.

She likes soft things. She likes to run her hands over silks, and animal’s fur, and patting the student’s heads just to feel the texture of their hair. She just likes to touch things in general.

Also, she totally get’s her dances she wanted at the ball.

She gets pretty attached to everyone. She already was, but this time she’s actively interacting, and they sorta like her too. I mean, they don’t want to choose between her and Byleth, but they DO like her.

(But she and Byleth are one, so it would be silly to choose.)

Still, she brings Byleth back the moment she feels she can. Much as she likes the world, it’s not worth it to live it in Byleth’s life.

Still, if Byleth lets her have control of the body every now and again after that, then no one is complaining.

#fe3h #Sothis #byleth eisner #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #asks #Dimileth #Kinda #Sothis is Byleth

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imaginefodlan · 4 years ago

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I have something! How about a feral Dimitri x fem Byleth one? During the war, Byleth has had to restrain and keep Dimitri under control, which includes him privately abusing her and emotionally insulting her, even using her body for his own needs. Each passing day, he breaks her over and over. After the war, when it was decided that she would be Archbishop, she breaks down and is ready to run far from Fodlan when Dimitri stops and comforts her.

Precursory Disclaimer: TW for Stockholm syndrome, a bit of gaslighting, verbal and physical abuse, and generally a lot of toxic behavior.

Okay, so Dimitri. Sweet baby Dimitri. He’s just not the same after Byleth disappears. He’s completely feral, driven mad by grief over all the people who’ve given their lives to protect his. He hears their voices everywhere he goes, haunted by the memories of his dear friends and protectors telling him how worthless he is, how unimportant he is, how unfortunate it was that they had to die for his sake, above anyone else’s.

This seriously fucks with him, to the point that when Byleth does reappear, five years later, he can’t bring himself to believe it’s really her. He feels a bit better that way, because if it’s not really her, he can take his aggression out on her more easily than if he were to believe it was. He worships Byleth. He doesn’t want to hurt Byleth. But at the same time, he doesn’t really believe this is her. He can’t. What if it’s some shapeshifter like Kronya, here to take away everything he ever cared about from him all over again? So in public, he keeps his distance. In private, he berates her, slanders her, curses her. He tells her over and over how she isn’t needed, isn’t wanted here. How she abandoned him, abandoned the war efforts when they needed her most. How she’s the reason he lost his eye.

Anytime they’re alone, especially in the privacy of his chambers at night, he finds some sick sort of relief in belittling her in any way he can. He grabs her by the wrist, by the hair, by wherever he can grab her. He manhandles her, and forces himself on her more times than Byleth cares to count (she doesn’t exactly say no out loud, but is more than passive enough to indicate she isn’t offering enthusiastic consent - more that she’s just going along with it in hopes it’s what he needs to help get him back to normal). If this is what he needs, if this is how she can prove she’s here, for him and him alone, then she’ll put up with it all for him. She’s dedicated to him, to giving him what he needs from her to understand that he’s not alone anymore. But over time, it weighs on her that he seems to hate her, and seems more than willing to torment her than to show her any sign of affection, and eventually, she just can’t deal with it anymore.

She puts up with Dimitri’s horrific behavior behind closed doors from the moment she returns tp the Monastery until the moment the war ends and Dimitri is officially crowned the King of Faerghus. The moment she’s told she’s meant to be the next Archbishop of the Church of Seiros, to rule alongside him, though? She’s out the door faster than anyone could imagine, sprinting toward the Monastery gates. The Gatekeeper can hardly call out “Hello Professor!” before she’s out the gates. She runs as fast and as far as she can, until she reaches the Red Canyon, and enters the ruins of Zanado.

She cries there for a long while, hidden amongst the ruins, just wishing Sothis could tell her what she should do now. She hopes more than anything that being there, in Sothis’ home, will help her hear what Sothis thinks she should do, although it’s to no avail. She gets no response, of course. As much as she wished she would, she knew she wouldn’t get a response. But Byleth can’t handle more of Dimitri’s abuse, she can’t lead a nation with him when he clearly doesn’t trust her or care about her in the way she does him. She can’t handle being alone with him anymore. She can’t keep putting herself through it, no matter how much she’s loved him over the years. So, she resolves she needs to leave.

It’s a few hours later when she hears the hoof-beats of a lone horse pounding into the ground. Tucked away in an alley, she peeks out to see who is riding toward her.

It’s Dimitri. Byleth can’t fathom why he’s come here. He wouldn’t come looking for her. He hated her, or at least, that’s how he acted. Why would he come looking for her? She withdrew deeper into the alley, hiding in the shadows, until-

“Byleth? I know you’re here. Come out, now.” His voice rumbles, soft and deep. “We clearly need to talk.” Byleth barely suppresses her surprised gasp at the lack of abusive language, at how much he sounds like the Dimitri she once knew, long before the war. He’d hardly said a single sentence to her that wasn’t full of aggression or abuse since before the war began, all those years ago. She hesitates, but slowly creeps out from the alleyway into the main path through the ruined city, to hear him out, and eventually, to tell him she was leaving.

“Wh-what do you want, Y-your Highness?” Byleth stumbled over her words, too anxious to speak without stuttering. She didn’t want to risk setting him off, but she wanted- no, needed, and frankly, deserved- answers.

Dimitri looked over the woman before him, how she trembled like a leaf, observing how her tearstained cheeks quivered with anxiety as she stumbled over her words, just to try and convey to him a simple question. It was as if he suddenly understood what he’d been doing to her from the moment she came back into his life. “I understand you’re scared. I- I’ve been horrible to you this last year, and I... I know I can’t atone for that. But I need you to know, as selfish as it is, that I want you here, with me. I want you to rule at my side, to be my advisor and my companion. I want you to stay with me, so please... Please, don’t leave me alone again.” He rambles, trying not to cry himself at the thought that the woman he had loved for years might leave because of his disturbing, awful behavior.

Byleth couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her. “I- You-” She hesitated, looking away from him. She spoke carefully, her voice low, devoid of emotion as she steeled herself against him. “What happened to me not being needed, or wanted, King Blaidyyd? What makes you think I’ll be willing to stay for you, when you’ve treated me so terribly? Why shouldn’t I walk away right now?”

Dimitri was shocked at the cold tone of voice and the unfamiliar title she used to address him. “Byleth, have I not shown you my love over the years? I’ve made love to you numerous times, shown you how I feel.” He couldn’t comprehend that his behavior was completely uncivilized and unloving, despite how he had interpreted and intended it.

Byleth laughed harshly, scoffing at him as her eyes blurred with tears. She had to stand her ground now, or she never would. “Your love? You think that’s what you’ve been showing me by abusing me with every aggressive word that leaves your mouth, with every bitemark and scratch and cut you’ve left on me? With every time you’ve rutted against me for your own release and played with me for your own entertainment? You think that’s love, now? The Dimitri I once loved would have known better than to call that love.”

Dimitri frowned, biting back a curse. “Is that what you think? I- I know I’ve been harsh, and crass, but have I truly been so unbearable that you can’t see how much I care for you still?”

Byleth shook her head. “The fact that you can’t understand that you have done nothing to show your care, shows just how long you have to go before you’re ready to truly love someone. I’m leaving, Dimitri. I can’t stay here and take more of this from you. I can’t lead the church and deal with you at the same time. Goodbye, Dimitri. Maybe one day, our paths will cross again.”

She moved to cross his path to leave, but as she did, a hand reached down and settled on her head. She flinched, expecting him to grab hold and pull at her hair. She could feel the panic rising in her again, seeping into every crevice of her mind. But the expected pulling never came. Just a large hand resting firmly upon her head, stroking her hair in a surprisingly gentle way. The first gentle physical action he’d taken toward her in years.

“I understand your urge to leave. I cannot blame you for it, because I caused it. But please, I beg of you, consider staying. You are powerful, intelligent, and beyond brilliant. You are what the people need, more than I, or any other leader. Fodlan needs you to lead them, and I need you to lead me. I swear by all that I know and all that I hope to learn that I will never willingly hurt you. Never again. I want nothing more than to worship you, and to serve our people together, for the rest of our days. I know I cannot reassure you, or make you trust me. But I put my faith and trust in you, whatever you choose to do. You can lead the church, and you can lead Fodlan. Together, there is nothing we couldn’t do for our people.”

Byleth sighs softly, looking up at him with slightly warmer eyes as she addresses him with a sort of fondness in her voice, a tone reserved for the Dimitri she knew all those years ago. “I promise you that I will consider your words thoroughly. For now, though, I must still leave. There are too many wounds that need time to heal before I’m ready to lead anyone properly. But I will return when it is time for me to take up the mantle of Archbishop, be it a year or five or ten from now. And when that time comes, we will talk again.” And with that, she pulled herself away from his touch, and walked away.

Five years later, Dimitri finds out through whispering rumors that a woman with mint green hair has returned from the eastern lands beyond Fodlan, and found her way to the Garreg Mach monastery. Not long after, he received word from Seteth that Byleth had finally returned to take her place as Archbishop, and would be visiting Faerghus to discuss unfinished personal matters with him at a later date.

He can’t help feeling a sense of anxiety and giddiness at the opportunity he’s been blessed with to see her face again, and to speak with her once more. Whatever was to come of it, whether she would claim him as her own or not, he was ready to face her once more, and to show her he had taken his own time to heal and become a better man, a more deserving man, one who could be worthy of her love and affection, and who could reciprocate those feelings healthily.

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withlove-so · 5 years ago

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My Light, My Dream

An Asheleth Tangled AU fanfiction!

Part 1/?

[Inspiration]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

—

A/N: (Made this before I decided to make it a series but figured I’d keep it, hehe!)

Hey ya’ll seen this Asheleth Tangled AU @lecheyan did?

Cause I wrote something.

It’s one in the morning and, rather than sleeping, I decided writing a Tangled x Fire Emblem fan fic was the best thing I could do.

I might continue it, or maybe I’ll just make headcanons after, I dunno, I just wanted to share cause I love this AU 🥰👌

— — —

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A princess is kidnapped and stored away in a tower. She must wait until a valiant knight comes to rescue her, or maybe even a prince if she’s lucky. Once her savior finally arrives and brings her back to her kingdom, the armor clad soldier and the delicate princess are wed.

Such fairy tales are common place, it gives young girls the chance to imagine their own knight who will come along and sweep them off their feet. However, not all princesses get a knight in shinning armor. Sometimes, the princesses are stolen in the dead of night, with no chance of discovery. The knights could search for years and years, and yet there wouldn’t be a trace. A family would be forced to mourn the loss of their lost love, their one daughter. All because a knight couldn’t find his princess.

Why don’t their stories get told?

No one speaks of the poor lost princess.

The one lost one tragic night.

The one where her loss is mourned the same day, each year.

And she doesn’t even know it herself.

“Mother. Why do those lights always appear on my birthday? Are they for me?”

“If that is what you desire, my sweet little lily, then it can be for you.”

A beautiful, almost unreal woman. Her skin showed no signs of aging, yet her eyes spoke for themselves. She gazed at the young child- her young child- with seemingly genuine affection. As if a child could tell the difference.

The woman stroked the young girl’s soft, light green hair, almost caressing it. She hummed a sweet melody, the same melody she always sang when she brushed the young princesses hair. She paused for a moment, glancing slightly down at the small child, “Byleth, my delightful little rose, please promise your dear Mother Rhea something.”

“What is it?”

“Promise to never leave me. You can never leave your poor mother by herself, do you understand?”

“... Yes, Mother.”

— — —

“Oh you silly girl, you don’t have to listen to that woman. You’re going to be an adult soon, you can do whatever you want!”

“You look more like a young girl to me. Can you even call me that?”

Byleth always felt like something was weird with her imaginary friend. She conjured up Sothis when she was just a child, most likely because she didn’t have any real friends. Yet, somehow, she felt so real. Like she could reach out and touch her if she wanted to.

“But that’s beside the point. I can’t ask Mother to leave.”

“You’re absolutely right. You need to DEMAND her to allow you to leave!”

“No.” The answer was short yet effective. Sothis looked positively cross with her, and she couldn’t blame her. Of course Byleth wanted to leave the tower. Despite all the things Mother said about the “Dangers of the outside”, she only found herself more intrigued by the idea of leaving. The problem was getting past Mother herself. She hasn’t let her leave the tower since she was born, obviously she wouldn’t let her leave just like that.

But maybe, just maybe, if she was lucky, Mother might allow Byleth to go if she accompanied her. It was really the best shot she had of ever seeing the world outside of her tower.

“Oh Byleth! Let down your hair!” The familiar voice of her Mother rang out from the bottom of the tower. Just like clockwork, Byleth trudged over to the edge of the window and carefully put her hair over the edge to allow her mother to climb up.

“Welcome home Mother. You seem well.”

“Of course I am, my little lily, I’m with you after all! Here, I brought you your favorite stew, all the way from the lands of Faerghus! And just in time for your birthday as well.” As she finished her sentence, Mother happily hummed to herself while she put up the rest of the food in different pantries.

“My birthday... Mother, I have a request. For my birthday. Allow me to accompany you outside.”

The reaction was not pleasurable, to say the least. As soon as those words left Byleth’s lips, the food her mother held was crushed in a death grip. She turned her head, her gaze cold, “You want to leave? Sweetie, you can’t mean that. You know what I told you about the outside world, it’s dangerous for delicate little flowers like you. So just stay at home, where you’re safe and lo-“

“Mother.”

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking Byleth. It’s rude.” Her tone was meant to sound like she was scolding her, yet it just sounded... threatening.

“Mother. I refuse to stay in this tower. Please. Let me leave, just once.” This wasn’t going how Byleth had hoped, and yet exactly how she expected.

“If I let you leave once, you’ll want to leave again and again and again until you’re never here! You’ll leave your poor, helpless mother all by herself.” She took a few steps toward Byleth, softly caressing her hair between her fingers. She gave a meaningful tug and the few strands she held. “You don’t want that, now do you?”

“... No... Mother. Of course not.”

“Good. Then don’t ever try to ask me that again.” She released Byleth’s hair and resumed her task from before like nothing happened. Even humming the same sweet tune.

“My my... She sure is a handful.” Sothis gave a little tut next to Byleth’s ear, “But there’s still another way.”

“Mother. I think I have something else I’d like for my birthday. Not leaving the tower, of course.”

“Oh, my sweet girl, anything for you! What can I do for you?” Despite her words, her gaze was hard and stern, as if she was daring her to ask to leave again. Luckily, Byleth isn’t so easily taunted.

“Albenian jam. It’s very rare I get to enjoy it, since it’s in another country. I think I’d like to have that. If you’re able.”

“Albenian jam? My my, that’s a long trip. It would take me 4 days just to reach the port. Are you sure? That’s such a long time to be separated.”

“I’m sure. I’ll be 18, I can take care of myself.” Say yes, say yes, say yes!

“Hmm... well, if it will make you happy, how can I possibly say no? I’ll leave as soon as possible, so we can be reunited sooner, my little sweetie. But before I go...”

Byleth already knew what she wanted. Her hand brushed across her hair, and as she hummed softly once again, a light began emitting from the strands.

“Of course, Mother...”

— — —

The loud clambering of feet mixed with hooves was deafening among the people in town. This was a common occurrence at this point, and it was always the same old thief that they could never seem to catch. It honestly made the knights look bad from how long he’s been escaping their grasp.

The familiar blur of blue and gray zipped past the towns people, followed by the pursuing knights, shouting out orders among each other and curses at the uncatchable thief.

By the GODS! I’m going to die. This is going to be my resting grounds, I’m going to die here.

Fearful thoughts ran through the poor boy’s mind, this was the first time the knights had ever gotten so close. One of the knights had barely missed grabbing his arm while he was making his escape. And now they were on horse back. There was no way he could out run that. He was going to have to out smart them.

“You menace! Return what was stolen, or we will be forced to take harsh actions!” A white haired knight, who was surprisingly on foot, spoke directly to the thief.

“As if my punishment wasn’t going to be harsh enough. Thanks, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” The thief took a moment to press his hand on his bag to check if it was still there.

Bingo

The familiar shape of the intricately shaped crown made it easy to identify. As soon as he confirmed it was there, he was quick to climb up the buildings surrounding them. The cavalry was, understandably, furious that their best and only tactic had been bested by such a simple plan. As they ran around town, desperately searching for the thief, he disappeared into the woods, seemingly unnoticed.

Almost unnoticed.

Once in the safety of the trees, he took a moment to catch his breath. The adrenaline rush was still fresh and he could hardly breathe from how fast his heart was pounding. But he got what he was after, and that’s what was important.

He trekked slowly through the unfamiliar woods, spotting a few wanted posters along the way. He sighed, “They never get my nose right. Does it really look that big? I don’t think so...” He shoved the poster into his bag for future reference. At this point, there was no telling where the man was. He was just thankful that he lost the-

A whiny. The clopping of hooves. And a small voice, “What is it Dorte? Did you smell something?”

Fear once again pierced his heart. How had they found him so quickly? He was sure he hadn’t been followed, they couldn’t have. It was impossible, there was a misunderstanding, surely. But he wasn’t going to risk it.

Immediately he began a mad sprint. He wasn’t going to risk being caught over a misunderstanding. He quickly ducked behind a rock, risking only a few peaks to check if he was safe. As the hooves became closer, the thief instinctively sunk back, slowly and-

He fell. He collapsed right through the rock. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. He quickly sat up and looked around, it was a cave, the front part covered by a thick layer of vines. He sunk back a bit more, moving himself completely behind the vines. Just as he did so, a silhouette of a horse passed by, Dorte was it? It looked around for a moment before slowly trotting along. The man let out a small sigh of relief before picking himself back up.

Where was he? He walked into the cave, slow at first. When he saw a light on the other side, he walked a bit faster, wondering what could possibly meet him at the other side.

A tower was the last thing he’d expected to see.

[Next Chapter]

#fire emblem three houses #byleth eisner #ashe ubert #ashe duran #byleth x ashe #asheleth #not an ask #tangled au

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