#look i might have an edelgard bias

[gascon-en-exil]

Apologies in advance for the tangent I'm about to go on but to give more context on why the Deer are the way they are from a story-perspective and characterization aside(the writers have said they decided to have more fun and be more out there with the Deer to create silly outcasts), the explanation for the Deer's role is something a lot of Japanese and Chinese fans have already picked up on but comes down to the DNA of the story and the writers adhering too closely to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms so the third faction was always destined to feel this way because of what they were copying in that Leicester is Wu down to the primary conflict being between Wei/Adrestia and Shu/Faerghus with Wu/Leicester being a third wheel. The original novel was a story about 3 Kingdoms but it was by no means equal. It's just that the author of said novel wanted to primarily focus on the tragedy of the heroic underdog of Shu struggling and losing against the overwhelming more oppressive kingdom of Wei. So the novel had a pro-Shu bias with Wei being the villain and Wu being written as more positively when they're with Shu but portrayed more negatively when they're against Shu. Although real life history wasn't quite so clear-cut as that. ------------------ Side-note 1: I would actually say the inspiration affects characterization pretty strongly too but moreso in Dimitri's case and Edelgard's case. Like Dimitri's Azure Moon arc can roughly be mapped onto Liu Bei(Emperor of Shu)("virtuous" lord in a homoerotic brotherhood goes mad with vengeance near the end, realizing where they went wrong after a close friend dies and stopping themselves as well as apologizing and later dying of illness) although Liu Bei's lust for revenge near the end was directed at the Claude analogue, Sun Quan, not the Edelgard analogue, Cao Cao. Edelgard's character picks up a lot from Cao Cao(Emperor of Wei) . Although Fire Emblem's Red Emperor archetype in general just seems inspired by Cao Cao and Oda Nobunaga, the Great Unifier of Japan. Claude's role being similar to an amalgamation of Sun Quan (Emperor of Wu) and Sun Ce although the writers have confirmed that character-wise he's meant to be the perfect fusion of Rajendra(a snake of a prince that was looked down on for being born to a slave mother and who adopts a masks so it's hard to tell when he's sincere or not but cares about his ambitions the most but still better than his incompetent, purebred, snobby older half-brother, Gadhevi, who was the basis for both Shahid and Lorenz) and Yang Wen-li(a friendly humble average joe that just wants to live his life and teach history but is a military genius general) Side-note 2: Koei Tecmo's version of Cao Cao used to be like the novel's version where he's a cartoon villain but they eventually started to take from real life history to tone him down and later on he became whitewashed and a lot of Cao Cao fans would say he's the true hero in their later games which was around the time when they started writing Edelgard. Sorry again for the giant wall of text. Just felt that it might interest you or others to know some how Koei Tecmo's history with Romance of the Three Kingdoms intersects with stuff like this if they didn't know.

Thanks for sharing. I've been distantly aware of those references for a while, but it's nice to have them all laid out for anyone interested in them.

[fieldsofvarley]

let’s say you're right. suppose he did it to protect something he cared about. doesn't matter. doesn't change his actions or my judgment of them. my father was a traitor to house hresvelg and he deserved what he got. that was me protecting something i care about.

if what hanneman told hubert was true, if his father truly sided with duke aegir to protect his son, it would make for such a fulfilling and tragic story (regardless of whether the marquis was a ‘good’ man or not). there was never going to be resolution to the misunderstanding between them; hubert would never come to see his father’s point of view, no matter if they were able to discuss it or not. at that point, he was too traumatised and devoted to edelgard - a place he might have not ended up in if it wasn’t was for his father’s initial push. you told me to protect her, never leave her side, at the cost of my own life, now you’re telling me i shouldn’t stand by her at all? there is too much we don’t know about the politics of house vestra, of hubert’s father, his relationship to him, his mother, his siblings. i’m sure he was no father of the year by any means, but we have no way of knowing if he was truly so detestable, or closed off and willing to look the villain to protect those he cared about - just like hubert is. as much as he tries to come off as cold and rational, he is not immune to emotional bias - especially since he was so young when the brunt of it all happened. his father was a traitor that needed to be disposed of, to him. there was no way to ever change his mind, by then. but to what extent was that actually true? there are perspectives, events, influences and hidden truths neither us nor hubert have to ever make definitive judgment of the late marquis vestra.

[inkperch]

Im trying to decide what order I'd do my (stupidly ambitious and very much hypothetical-) novelisation with NG+ Divine Pulses in-

Like. Crimson Flower first, because A) Bias, B) a lot of the emotions of CF work best when Byleth hasn't had all the twists before, and C) because it's the only ending I can think to justify the initial reset from- Byleth chooses their path and they walk it to the end... and then the Crest Stone of Flames fades away as their destination is within their grasp, and Byleth wakes up the night before they met the Lords.

But I can't decide where to go from there- I was planning Golden Deer, because a Byleth that last saw the King of Delusion is not gonna wanna go for Dmitri, and narratively Byleth doing the route all about wanting to find Fodlans secrets while they try to find Fodlans secrets so they can reset time and recreate the world where they don't happen is. You can see where that's headed, right?

But like. GD Byleth gets the answers they're looking for, and GD is definitely the easiest route to launch a Golden Route from, Claude's personal stake in the conflict is that a war across Fodlan interferes with his own, entirely unrelated plans.

Kinda tempted to do a weird, half-SS route, where Byleth goes for SS to try and get answers the most obvious way, but can't bring themself to betray El post CF, so they reset before they have to see that look on her face and go with BL, because they're all 'oh, sure, I might get a little attached to a few of them, but c'mon, I know for a fact Dmitri's actually an absoloute madma- shit, I care about him too now-'

(BL's also gives Byleth more of a motive to find a Golden Route instead of a second CF run, too- no matter how the battle for Fodlan ends, Edelgard and Dmitri will strike one another down.)

[fantasyinvader]

I keep thinking about it, but I believe that the romanticism angle really explains the weirdness of Fodlan's writing. Far more than the idea that Edelgard's path is simply supposed to represent ignorance. It's a bit more than that.

Take for instance how romanticism favours being in awe of nature rather than trying to demystify it through science. It might not seem like a fit, but consider that science helps us understand the world around us. We know why certain phenomena happen, which allows us to anticipate and prepare for it rather than simply being at nature's mercy. But for the Fodlan games, this takes a slightly different turn. It's more about the social environment of the continent, giving the player the knowledge needed to grasp why Fodlan is the way it is, what truely ails it.

For Edelgard's romanticism to be preserved, the game can't simply state the facts. It gives the player the information in order for them to figure it out for themselves if they can see under the surface. Claude undergoes this as well in Verdant Wind, as that route represents his own obtainment of enlightenment. But for the player to side with Edelgard, they must choose to take what she says as the truth. To disregard what can be objectively proven through examination, and instead focus on a subjective bias.

Subjectivity is another thing championed by romanticism. Another thing is ideals, which fits Edelgard pretty well. After all, her Hegemon form is treated as (in Houses and Cipher) as her taking her ideals to their logical end. She is referred to as a servant to them, willing to throw away even her own humanity to see them made manifest. For a lot of people, this is the important aspect of her character. She is willing to do bad things, but she's doing them for what she believes is the greater good.

But one of those things Edelgard is willing to in service to those ideals is lie. Lie and manipulate those around her, including her closest allies. We see this in Crimson Flower after the fall of Arianrhod, there's a line about it the game's main theme song song from her perspective, and she'll even admit she tried to sway Byleth should they fight. Hopes made it abundantly clear, she KNEW what the Agarthans were doing during White Clouds, she COULD have stopped them but she didn't simply because what they offered was simply too valuable for her to refuse. This also means she allowed Monica, a close ally of hers, to be kidnapped and have her body stolen from her while Edelgard turned a blind eye.

Edelgard is so infatuated with the idea that she's the heroine that she can't look at the evidence that says otherwise. It's not just the past she has this romanticized view of, it's also her war. That it'll be worth it because eventually the people who supposedly will benefit from her rule will outnumber her casualties. That by restoring the Empire under a strong leader (i.e. Herself), she'll be able to fix all of Fodlan's problems which she blames on the Church and Crests while ignoring how the privilege offered to the nobility simply for serving her gives them the foundations for holding onto their power for untold generations. If the people fail to rise up, it's not because of her system being at fault it's because they're simply too coddled and weak (ignoring that her rule is said to oppress the common folk by her right-hand man Hubert). She idolizes her father despite his stories making no goddamn sense, instead painting him as a tragic victim. She's living it a world that the game's creators deliberately crafted to say she was wrong. Yet she's so enamored by her ideals, ideals presented as being her master, she averts her eyes from reality time and time again.

And it's not just Edelgard either. Since the game romanticized her as well, her fans follow in her footsteps. They'll claim that she's right in spite of the evidence, that her actions aren't that bad or deny entirely, that her route is the only path that will lead to a happy ending. They'll try to present her in the most appealing of ways, while misrepresenting those who stand against her. It's too the point that they'll claim a fanfiction is essential to understanding the story as well as her character, in addition to how the writer understands those things better than the game's actual creators. Said writer is known to start creating takes when Edelgard does things that go against his “reading” of her.

Over the years, I've talked about the Buddhist symbolism of the game. Despite how Hopes furthered this, people try to claim it's been debunked as you're not supposed to be able to lose Nirvana. But if that wasn't the full purpose, it makes more sense. The player chooses romanticism over their enlightenment, embracing ignorance to side with Edelgard. They already put Edelgard above the rest of their students to unlock Crimson Flower, foregoing a week of teaching them in order to accompany Edelgard at her request.

But everything ties into this. The Buddhist symbolism saying rejecting Edelgard is the path to enlightenment, the Christian symbolism connecting her to demonic forces and the idea she's a false messiah figure, the tarot symbolism painting her as a corrupting influence or that her form of enlightenment has been corrupted, the allusions to King Lear and the idea that we shouldn't just favor the ones who praise you the most... individually, any one of these would work, but when you put them all together they compliment each other. The point to one bigger idea than simply enlightenment and our choice as a player.

Do we seek enlightenment, even if the path isn't all sunshine and rainbows, or do we instead embrace romanticism and blind ourselves to the truth? The fact that Silver Snow, Verdant Wind and Azure Moon all have endings that point to there being real change as a result of the former, while the latter leads to endings that hint at the tyranny the game's creators said Edelgard's route leads to, really push the idea that the former is the favoured path. After all, this is a franchise that has, in the past, said that it's not what you preach that's important. The methods you use ARE the message, and Edelgard's message is not a pretty one.

The fact so many people choose romanticism over enlightenment, though, that’s pretty disheartening. Houses was made for players to immerse themselves in the setting, only for people to see it at a surface level.

[phoenixradiant]

WIP Question Game

My thanks to @aestheic-writer18 for the tag!

In this game, I'll be answering nine general questions for my current WIP, Kelovir.

1. What was the first part of your WIP that you created?

So Kelovir (though it went by a different name back then) was started back in NaNoWriMo 2022. I usually start WIPs by writing a scene or two that helps me build a plot and characters, but because of the time constraints of the challenge, the first thing I did was create a planning document (I wasn't doing any prose writing because the planning doc was in October). The first thing in that document was a main character summary, and the first MC I covered was Narra. Up until a week ago, she was the only thing in that document (sans names, I usually like my names) that was still accurate. I'm beginning giving her a rewrite, and once I'm done, that planning document will be 99% outdated

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the intro song be?

I actually did a thing and wrote one for that exact hypothetical (It's not very good) I have several ideas, but most of those songs were written for other specific pieces of media. Of the ones that aren't, there's three distinct emotions that tend to crop up (so if it were a three season show it could have a different intro every season, like some animes): Anger, Melancholy, and Hope, for which I'd respectively say

Evil Ways or When the Devil Calls from those "Dark Country" albums (don't remember the artists)

2. Good People by PMP or Streets of Gold by Aviators

3. Forward Motion by TFK

Though now that I think of it, Slow Farewell (from the Dark Country albums) might work well as a singular intro.

3. What other pieces of media could share a fan base with your WIP?

Given that I've shared very little of my writing, I don't really know who it appeals to, so instead I'm just going to list half-a-dozen of my influences (in no particular order, probably affected by recency bias) and hope that people who like what I like also like what I do:

Brandon Sanderson (a lot of thematic inspiration and a bit of character [Ik what it looks like, but I hadn't read Stormlight before the main trio and the idea of Brands were both fully formed, I swear])

Fire Emblem (Dauria literally only exists because of Sacae, Cellic takes a lot of inspo from Dimitri, Anesaru takes a bit of inspo from Edelgard [sorry El stans, I promise I don't treat her too harshly])

FMA:B (character inspo mostly, esp. Maiph)

LotR, ofc (thematic inspo, a few literary conventions like characters spontaneously bursting into song lol)

Firefly (dialog inspo)

FFIV (a lot of character inspo)

4. Who are your favorite character/s and why?

It's Cellic. It has been and always will be Cellic. I've harped on about him before, and for the sake of space here, I'll try to keep it concise this time. He takes the part of me that wanted to be a hero as a kid, and he embodies that heroism as he walks through the world I saw as a teenager, and, though he breaks, becomes the kind of person I want to be and befriend as an adult. He bears the Trace of Devotion and (spoilers) the Brand of Justice, and (also spoilers) passes the trial of Beauty, and (also spoilers but very predictable) marries someone who bears the Seal of Healing. He's archetypical in many ways to be sure, but his dependability and classic heroism are part of what makes him my favorite.

5. What has been your biggest struggle while writing your WIP?

The oft-mentioned lack of discipline that leaves me unable to actually progress. Apart from that though, probably the fact that my outline means that who I attempt to write my characters as and who they actually are as they evolve on the page aren't the same, and that can cause some sticking points.

6. How do your characters get around?

Mostly by running or flying. Four named characters have wyverns, another one has wings, three or so can fly w/ magic, and the rest just learn to suck it up and hike it out.

7. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

A lot of dragonkin. There's the aforementioned wyverns, two amphipteres, and one currently-though-not-originally-incorporeal dragon god. All of these are sentient, and all of them but two of the wyverns have dialogue. Aside from the dragonkin: there's several horses, sheep, goats, and boars for domesticated animals, and several more... interesting beasts for wild creatures. Particularly valrak, giant fusions of scorpion, wasp, spider, and beetle that eat everything and spread like fauna kudzu, and whatever demon things the summoners of Clan Anyraz pull from what is essentially the nether. For mythological reasons, wild animals tend to be hostile to people. You'll find the occasional neutral one, but animals have a surprisingly good reason for hating humanity.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

I'm working on my rewrite of Narra, which you can help give me ideas for here! Once I get that revision done I'm going to resume drafting, specifically I'm going to finish the flashback sequence where Cellic's mother dies.

9. What aspects of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

HOW DARE YOU FORCE ME TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT MYSELF!

Dialogue. I like to think I'm pretty good at it, both the funny parts and the deep parts (which are sometimes the same). My descriptive style is still evolving, but luckily I think it's changing for the better. Also, thematically it talks about things that I think are important, and I'm told that the enthusiasm of the writer often translates to enthusiasm of the reader.

Aaaand that should do it! I've seen this passing around a few times and ik several of the people I'd otherwise tag have done it already, so Imma just leave this as an open tag! If you see this and you want in, that means YOU!

[fantasyinvader]

I feel like Ferdinand probably does this better, especially when we take his route split into consideration.

I feel like first with Ferdinand we must consider his name. Ferdinand is the Germanic form of Fernando, which is important if we remember that Ferdie has a special link with a commoner named Dorothea. Ferdando and Dorothea together form an allusion to Don Quixote, where in the first book they work together with a priest to stop the local madman from his antics across the Spanish countryside. If we think consider this, it's more a sign that Ferdinand and Dorothea SHOULD be opposing Edelgard, especially when you consider that Ferdinand's paralogue is unavailable in the Flower Route.

That paralogue is kind of a big deal. In it, we learn a few things. We learn that the nobles took power in the Insurrection as a response to Ionius trying to consolidate power on himself and that Duke Aegir has been blamed for acts taken by Arundel/Thales, dying because of it. As Lysithea says, Aegir might have been a corrupt sleezebag but he wasn't a monster. This whole paralogue stands in direct contrast to Edelgard's claims about the Insurrection and Aegir's role in the experiments. If the Insurrection was to prevent the Emperor from obtaining more power, why would they then begin experimenting to create a strong Emperor to rule over Fodlan? Not to mention, we had Thales himself explain why they did the experiments in White Clouds, to create a weapon strong enough to take on the Goddess.

Hopes adds to this, saying Ferdinand could find evidence of his father's corruption but not the things Edelgard accuses him of. Hubert says that the lack of evidence is merely proof Aegir destroyed it, and should be executed ASAP. Guilty until proven innocent, as it were, and Ferdinand does end up fighting and killing his father in Scarlet Blaze.

Ferdinand wanted to expose his father's crimes in White Clouds, but he'll go along with what Edelgard says unless Byleth leads him away from her. He'll go on and on about the duties of the nobility, decry what the Flame Emperor does, and talk about how he needs to step in and correct Edelgard if she steps out of line, yet will fight for her in order to restore his House. After Dimitri dies at Gronder, he'll back this up, stating that his retainers needed to step in and stop him from running amuck and just as he's now trying to stop Edelgard from running amuck.

Remember Don Quixote?

A Ferdinand who fights Edelgard also makes sure to get the people who served his family out of the Empire when he abandons it and spends the next five years wandering Fodlan. A Ferdinand who fights for Edelgard is granted the title of general right at the start of the war despite not graduating, and his support with Edelgard has him saying that the nobility are SUPERIOR to the common folks due to the environment they're brought up in pushing them to excel and be superior. He doesn't consider things like equality or opportunities awarded to nobility and not commoners, especially concerning when a SB Shez has supports with Hubert talking about how Edelgard can't just put commoners into positions of power because if they fail it'll make Edelgard look bad to the nobility. Shez flat out says that Edelgard coddles the nobility while oppressing the commoners with these reforms, so it makes Ferdinand's beliefs sound out of touch (not to mention, they imply there was already a meritocracy to the Imperial nobility, with those deemed undeserving kicked out of their families).

Think about what the reversed Justice represents: law in all its departments, legal complications, bigotry, bias, excessive severity. That's a Ferdinand who doesn't defect from the Empire, doesn't protect the people like the Imperial nobility was supposed to do in Wilhelm's time. And if Ferdinand fights for her while Dorothea doesn't…

Dorothea: Oh, Ferdie. You opposed Edie for so long… I had real hopes for you, you know? Now you're following her. Is that your duty as a noble? Follow your master when they say to heel?

No wonder she's disappointed in him! Compare this to Ferdinand fighting Hubert in the Japanese script, a line that admittedly the translation got completely wrong. Ferdinand doesn't say "it doesn't matter what I think, I've got my orders" prompting Hubert to say he isn't worth killing. No. Ferdinand says in the Japanese Edelgard must be removed from power and he'll lay down his life to make that happen, impressing Hubert.

In short, Ferdinand represents Justice. If he fights Edelgard, he symbolizes equity, rightness, probity, executive; triumph of the deserving side in law. He's the noblest of nobles in the sense that he has more of a noble spirit than the rest of the nobility. But if he fights for Edelgard, he's the noblest of nobles in the sense he represents everything wrong with the current crop of them. He, like the devs said, is symbolic of the Empire's moral decline.

also can't talk about Justice without this song in my head

Justice & FE3H

Justice as an archetype is a reminder that there is a consequence to every action. What is fair is enforced by severe action (the sword). While the figure appears to be restful, the shoe peeking out from beneath her rich red robe tells us she is connected to the world and ready to act on a moment’s notice. 

Justice reminds us that what happens now is the result of one’s own actions. We must take responsibility for and acknowledge the effect we have upon the world. Interestingly, her positioning along with the drape behind her mirrors the High Priestess, with the exception that behind her seems to be the blinding sun, symbolising a connection to fire (ambition) instead of water (subconscious). 

The Crest associated with this card is the Crest of Cichol. The name possibly comes from Cichol Gricenchos. He was the first leader of the Fomorians, a group of monsters from the land and sea. Just like his brother, Macuil, the name Cichol draws from Irish mythology. Cichol Gricenchos was the first to arrive in Ireland with the humans, subsiding on fishing and fowling. 

The dragon associated with this crest is the Earth Dragon. It represents the solid objects of the world, things we can touch and manipulate. Things that can be depended upon. Just like his siblings, the Earth Dragon references one of the five elements of Japanese Godai philosophy. It represents both stability and stubbornness. 

Now that I’m looking at the card itself, I can see why it can be related to Dimitri (the woman looks strikingly similar to our blond heartthrob). However, I am relating it to Seteth / Cichol. 

Looking at the image parallels between Justice and the High Priestess, we can see that Seteth is very much similar to Rhea. They are co-leaders of a powerful religious group, and they embrace some of the same principles. Upholding peace and stability over sudden change, caring for the inner spiritual needs instead of leading by force or charisma. However, Seteth also reflects Justice in that he appears more approachable while Rhea is very mysterious. 

Seteth himself also embodies the teachings of Justice. He is living with the consequences of his actions during the War of Heroes. He acted irresponsibly, and lost his wife as a result. In the same war, his daughter became gravely injured, and spent nearly a thousand years resting to recuperate. He accepts the repercussions of his actions (or inaction? We’re not quite sure), and goes forward working to correct them, sometimes overcorrecting. 

His connection to Cichol Gricenchos is that he likes fishing. Just like Cichol Gricenchos, he and his family lived off of fish. Seteth also mingled with humans, just like his mythological counterpart. 

Finally, his connection with the Earth Dragon. Seteth is solid and stable, a father figure to most of the students at the Officer’s Academy. While he can be quite stubborn and even obtuse with Flayn, he is a dependable place to land on or push off from for most students. His supports with Hilda and Felix especially highlight the ways in which he pushes students outside their comfort zone while also being a solid foundation. 

Overall, Seteth is very well integrated with this arcana archetype, his namesake, and his dragon name. What are your thoughts? Any other cool connections I might have missed?

Previous: Wheel of Fortune

Next: The Hanged Man

[frozenartscapes]

I think Verdant Wind being added as Silver Snow copy paste dragged down the development. If VW wasn't added, then SS, CF, and AM could have all been more fleshed out (so Edelgard could have been shown killing Thales personally and Dimitri's arc would be gradual instead of him going from batshit crazy to "good boy" instantly). So I think either VW should have not been made or SS was scrapped and Claude could actually get a story about him.

So here's what I'm thinking for Verdant Wind, because honestly if it were up to me it would be a total overhaul, and if put into the context of the game's development might have had to be a DLC or something if they were as pressed for time as it seems.

You pick Claude and the Golden Deer and the first half of the game follows many of the same story beats. (Though one thing I would like to see in White Clouds is more opportunities to interact with the other Houses outside of free time, like maybe a couple missions where two houses are sent to the same place to back each other up. This would then allow for supports to form between characters who might not necessarily be in the same house).

Shit goes down, Edelgard is revealed to be the Flame Emperor, war is declared, Byleth falls into a ravine for 5 years.

You come back and things are in a similar place as they start off in VW. You meet Claude at the monastery, he fills you in on what's been going on, and you decide that action needs to taken. However, that action is not "let's go to war too" but instead more of a diplomatic move. You decide to meet with Edelgard in a parlay at Grondor and she initially accepts, but when you both arrive you discover Dimitri has come with an army of his own. Not believing this isn't some sort of ambush on Claude's part, Edelgard calls the parlay off and initiates the battle of Grondor. However, this time you and Claude decide to stop Dimitri and successfully manage to intervene in the Kingdom's attack. Edelgard and her forces still retreat back to Enbarr but Dimitri is able to be captured and (eventually) reasoned with. (In this version Dimitri hasn't fully lost it like he does in AM. He still has some old friends and supports so he doesn't end up completely feral. He's still deeply distrusting of Edelgard but he at least agrees to help Claude find out a motive before killing her).

The attack on Fort Merceus is basically the same. You succeed in seizing it only for the whole thing to be blown up by the Javelins. Everyone manages to escape, though, including notable people from Edelgard's army. They are just as confused and horrified about the strike as you and your team.

Edelgard isn't up for talking this time around so you are forced to lay siege to Enbarr. This also plays out very similarly to VW, but the end cutscene is different. First, Claude is there. Then, rather than killing Edelgard, you extend a hand out to her, instead. She's hesitant, but Claude manages to convince her that there are no schemes this time. They just want to talk. He mentions the Javelins and how even her own army didn't seem to know what they were. When she blanches at the mention, he realizes that these "allies" of hers aren't exactly the most trustworthy of people.

Edelgard then reluctantly tells you, Claude, and Dimitri about Thales and TWSITD. She's hesitant because this is all sensitive information but she doesn't have much to lose at this point, what with Claude's army basically occupying Enbarr. She reveals what happened to her and her family, why she has two Crests, and why she's been forced to work with Thales. It's Dimitri who approaches first once she's finished, moving quickly and reaching out a hand before anyone can react. Edelgard flinches but instead of going for her neck, his hand comes to rest gently on her shoulder. "Where is that monster?" Dimitri hisses, "So I can tear his head from his body."

Once the three leaders form a tentative alliance, Edelgard reveals where Rhea has been hidden. She tells them all that she tried to keep her from too much harm, but she didn't have much control over the situation. Rhea is released and initially weak from imprisonment. She is also briefed on what happened to Edelgard, and why she started the war in the first place.

With a new target in mind, the alliance of nations storm Shambhala. Rhea has been healed up enough to aid in this battle. You defeat Thales, and he responds by launching all the Javelins he can. Rhea goes on to intercept them as she does in the game, but this time things go differently. Hubert points out that as long as Thales has a hand on the rune activating the Javelins, they'll keep coming. So Edelgard charges him along with Dimitri. The two cut through any mage who tries to stop them, and ultimately Edelgard sees vengeance for herself and her family by killing Thales herself. This halts the Javelins before they become too overwhelming for Rhea, and she returns, a little hurt but ok.

Everyone returns to Garreg Mach for celebrations, and also political discussions because there are a lot of things that now need to be covered. Rhea reveals everything about the Nabateans, Crests, and the Relics. Once she learns the true history of Fodlan, Edelgard makes her case for her own goals. She still believes that society should move away from putting so much importance on Crests, especially now that she knows where they truly came from. But she admits that uniting the land under one banner and disbanding the Church entirely would be taking things too far. Dimitri agrees with Edelgard, despite some protests from Faerghus officials. But he decides that the Hero's Relics have served their purpose and it is time they let the souls of the dead rest. Claude is insistent on Fodlan opening up to other nations, to which the other leaders agree, too. Rhea also decides that it is time she steps away from being Archbishop, but she does not appoint Byleth to the role.

A messenger then interrupts with news that a strange and powerful army is currently sweeping across Fodlan. They connect the dots and realize that it is Nemesis. They all decide to confront him as a group, showing off the might of a Fodlan united under peace. Rhea, fearful of mass casualties, tells Byleth what she did when they were a baby, explaining why they have the Crest of Flames and can wield the Sword of the Creator. There isn't a lot of time to unpack all of that because Nemesis is basically at their door, but Byleth still thanks Rhea for telling them.

They confront Nemesis all as one united front and defeat him. There are many parallels in cutscenes that call back the first cutscene of the game. The difference this time is that Rhea isn't facing Nemesis alone. In the last cutscene after defeating him in gameplay, Claude's arrow fake-out kicks things off, but it also includes Edelgard, Dimitri, and Rhea charging him alongside Byleth. In the end, Nemesis is run-through by the Sword of the Creator, the Sword of Seiros, Aymr, Areadbhar, and a bolt from Failnaught. He goes down, his army dissolves into dust, and victory is finally secured.

After that it's revealed what happens in Fodlan: each nation stays as their own land. Dimitri takes his place as the King of Faerghus and works on moving the kingdom away from knighthood and militaristic practices. He devotes more time and money to revitalizing the land and towns, building better roads between cities, and expanding education and other important services. Edelgard also works on fixing and providing social services like education and healthcare to the Adrestian people. She forms a strong alliance with the other nations, utilizing the fact that Adrestia has so much viable farmland to ensure no one goes hungry. She also grants Brigid its freedom, and works closely with Seteth and Rhea in Church reformations. Claude leaves Fodlan to take his place as King of Almyra, though he promises to visit often. Lorenz takes over the Alliance, and like the other two leaders works diligently to provide a better life for his people. Rhea eventually steps away from her role as Archbishop. She does offer it to Byleth, but you get a choice as to whether or not you want to take it. If you don't Rhea says she understands and that Seteth will take on a temporary position until a human can be found to carry on the legacy. She agrees that an immortal being shouldn't hold that kind of power forever.

There's one final cinematic cutscene in which every character with a Hero's Relic solemnly returns it to the Holy Tomb, with Byleth laying the Sword of the Creator last. They glance up at the Throne with all the characters visible behind them, and they smile.

Now Sothis can finally rest.

---

A couple other fun things that could be included in this route:

Because of the mentioned supports between houses, it is possible to s-support any of the House Leaders, not just Claude in this route

To make things extra fun, every unit could potentially be playable in the final battle

Edelgard and Thales can have special dialogue where she basically tells him to go fuck himself before killing him with the axe he gave her

None of the Black Eagles who stay with Edelgard would actually die in the siege on Enbarr, but would have unique "oh no I've been captured" quotes

The cutscene with Edelgard's surrender could start exactly like it does in SS/VW so if people saw that first, they would at first think she was going to die. This would then make Byleth extending a hand out in peace that much more impactful

Every now and then Dimitri and Edelgard could make a comment about how odd it is to be working with each other, and how they are still surprised neither one of them died after all those years of war, a BIG wink to the camera regarding the other routes where one or both of them don't make it

Claude can bring in Nader and other Almyran reinforcements for the final battle, and as a result could result in unique battle quotes from Rhea and Nader with the two of them commending each other and realizing that tensions need not be so high between their nations

Because different supports can happen between houses, there isn't as much pressure to recruit everyone by the end of White Clouds

There could be different paralogues for characters, along with ones already in the game that might be route specific. Dimitri's paralogue where he takes on Cornelia can be a side event that helps strengthen the Kingdom's army in future battles. Bernadetta/Petra's paralogue would allow for allies from Brigid to join in future battles. Edelgard could get a new paralogue where they have to sweep out the last remnants of various TWS labs and lairs, and it's made clear just how bad it had been for her.

Like, I know this is a lot, and executing it as a playable section of the game would be a lot of work. This is all just hypothetical, of course. This would be what I would recommend for the game, but as I say this just know that I don't expect any of this to actually be made. These are just some ideas for how VW could theoretically be changed.

The game would still need a route for Claude, as he is one of the three main choices at the very start of the game. I don't necessarily think SS should be removed, either, because that choice of "kill or don't kill edelgard" is still an incredibly poignant moment that would be lost if SS was gone. But I do wish VW or SS played out differently or at the very least used different cutscenes. The fact that Edelgard dies the same way twice kind of sucks. (This, on top of Dimitri dying off-screen multiple times and Rhea basically being kneecapped and not useful in 3/4 routes)

But I like Claude's route being a Golden Route. It is the Golden Deer after all.

[dmclemblems]

I'm torn re: Edelgard's AG fate. I agree with you that it's absolutely what she deserves. She's essentially lost everything. It's almost as bad as death, and some might say it's worse even tho she's alive. And yet as you said, it prevents her from taking actual responsibility over her actions. Losing her memory and free will as a puppet is a consequence sure, but it's not a consequence of being a dictator/conqueror. It's only a consequence of opposing Thales. So she still gets off too easily.

I'm definitely torn about it because I think it's a mixed bag. In a way she (the personality we know) is kind of... dead? Which that stops the war, that stops innocents from dying, etc etc... but it doesn't make things better for the people who died. If this whole thing didn't happen to her then she might have actually had to take responsibility.

One of the biggest issues I take with the way she gets handled in both games is that, between all of Hopes and CF, she never has to take responsibility for what she does. Whether you like her or not, it's not fair that she doesn't have to take responsibility for her actions but everyone else does. Claude does nothing wrong in Houses (and I mean like, literally - he doesn't do anything or cause anything that he needs to take responsibility for), but yet he can literally die for betraying Edelgard in Hopes. If you recruited some of his allies, they all get mad at him and fight him for... betraying Edelgard. He gets killed for fighting back against the person who started the war and dies thinking of how he was trying to do the best he could but now look what he did to everyone (? seems more like they wanted to write him as a villain or something here even though the only one who suffered for it was him). The second he goes against her it's like oop gotta off him.

Even in AM, Rhea steps down as Archbishop and... goes into isolation. While I agree some of her measures were extreme, she didn't do those things to innocent people. While I think the western church's men who said "this isn't what they were told would happen" deserved to share their side and get a fair trial, it was at least her executing, you know, people who brought about harm to others/attacked the Church. It wasn't just executing some random guy off the street because he didn't like the Crest system or something. Isolation however is just too much and I don't think she deserved that, and it's part of the reason I feel like there's too much Edelgard bias in the writing.

That, in turn, loops back around to her fate in AG. That kind of bias kept her from having to take responsibility. While Seteth didn't really have any responsibility to take, hell, even in Houses he turns himself around and explains himself to Byleth after Flayn is saved (regarding why he didn't trust Byleth and was on edge around them). Every character that does anything wrong has to either make up for it, try to, die for it, or claim they have to right their wrongs that they didn't even cause (ex. Dimitri claiming he "started a war with the Empire" in Hopes which LITERALLY never happened and seemed like a writing excuse to prop up Edelgard as "not the villain").

In a way this is cruel for Edelgard because now she's lost everything. However, it's also true that, if my theory has any weight in canon, her entire war self might have been a persona created by Thales to begin with. He might have manipulated/erased her memories about Dimitri and created a different personality within her so that she'd hate the Church and go to war with them, so for Thales he can just watch his enemies fight each other. That means she might have been "reset" in a way with the dark magic removed from her, meaning she's not actually this horrible war starter etc etc.

While I'd agree that a twelve year old girl doesn't deserve to be killed or given punishment for if Thales was actually the one who created that personality, therein lies the problem. In the event that this wasn't the plan for Houses and the Edelgard we know is just... her as is, this is a cheap way to get her out of having any repercussions in Hopes. She either regresses to being twelve through losing all her memories of willingly starting war, OR her personality wasn't real the whole time.

If her personality was real, yeah, this is like a cruel twist of fate for her to lose everything, even her memories of who she was. I think she deserves something cruel to happen to her for the cruel things she did. Even with Dimitri, he technically had cruel things happen to him (physically and mentally), and he claims that over the five years in Houses he did cruel(? at least bad/not good) things. He still has some form of punishment. If Edelgard's fate in AG could be likened to if she died, sure I can tolerate that... though I still wish she had to take responsibility for what she did, even if that means rotting in a damn cell. Hell, even if she was pulled out of a cell years later only to be shown the happy world Dimitri, Claude, Seteth and Byleth (if it's Houses) created without her.

If the writers gave her proper repercussions, I wouldn't feel as strongly about what I think she deserves. The fact that the writers just want to help her evade what she did is frustrating. I don't like Hopes Claude in the second half but I don't think he deserved to die for what he did in non-Byleth SB. That, too, is an example of them giving repercussions that are more extreme than the person deserves. Meanwhile Edelgard is treated like a wonderful person who has no reason to be punished for her actions even in the routes she loses in in Hopes.

What I want from this game is for it to be written in a fair way to all the characters. I also don't like the whole concept of forced unification and war being the answer to everything, so that on top of her getting away with it at no cost is... annoying.

[butwhatifidothis]

I read tEatG along with you (why I do not know) and based on it, with Rhea I feel like Flash DOES like her. I don't think his analysis of her is very accurate, what's new, but I think he likes her the way he sees her. She's allowed to have vulnerable and sympathetic moments. No matter what he says, I do not think he likes Dimitri. He is constantly making him s much worse than he is in canon. He's had no sympathetic moments at all, down to even friendship with him viewed negatively. It's bad

Eh, I dunno. Rhea's sympathetic moments are less for Rhea and more for making Edelgard look more sympathetic - Rhea's tragedy is only ever used to prop up Edelgard. What makes it different from the others though - because pretty much every character is like this lmao - is that Rhea is always put explicitly beneath Edelgard when this happens.

Rhea's imprisonment scene is meant to showcase that Rhea is bad and crazy while Edelgard is better but abandoned by her friends. Edelgard wants to be kind to Rhea, but Rhea is the one refusing to eat and drink to spite Edelgard and her benevolent kindness. And remember, Edelgard only seems bad and she only seems ruthless on SS, but as per Chapter 36 the cast realizes that maybe they were the ones who were wrong to turn away from her and that she was more caring and right than they thought.

Rhea's moment in Chapter 36 with Byleth is literally her going "I was totally completely wrong to stand between you and Edelgard's perfect love, please kill me so that you two can have your perfect love story." While the other characters can't have their shit goin' on with them without it being brought back to Edelgard, Rhea has this be used to full on make a clear dichotomy of "Rhea bad Edelgard good."

I will say though, there is a clear difference in how her and Dimitri's trauma is handled. At least with Rhea, like you have, you can potentially argue that Cap'n might like her, but you just can not do that with Dimitri. Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix all make it out to be like hanging with Dimitri is a chore, Dedue is murdered because of his love for Dimitri making him do "horrible things," no one is ever comfortable around Dimitri (even Claude, despite how much they get along canonically), he's written to be so fuckin' goofy in his Hulk Smash moments, he's always the one in the wrong when arguing with Edelgard (even when he's literally right, in like every way) - y'know I think I just answered why Dimitri is so hard to read in this fic lmao, all of that shit right there. There's such a clear bias against him that makes reading through him an absolute olympic challenge, so I can definitely see where you're coming from when you say that

[randomnameless]

About Wilhelm and the Lion symbol. Something interesting I have noticed is that in houses after Byleth and Sothis merge, AM Byleth is the only version of them directly being compared with Seiros while Dimitri is the only lord who is associated with Wilhelm (this is the only choice that makes sense) in the same conversation. Not even Edelgard has ever been associated with Wilhelm. In fact, I think Edelgard is bit resentful of him for accepting the Nabateans.

Dimitri and Wilhelm have even more similarities if we look closely. Wilhelm was also a holy knight who wields a lance while Dimitri is the only lance user among the three lords. Wilhelm took Seiros in and offered his full support to her and their war against Nemesis who was working with TWSITD. Dimitri gives Rhea shelter when she has nowhere to go and fights against the Adrestian Emperor who is working with TWSITD in CF and every route in Hopes.

Watch out, Willy was a loser, his statue doesn't have a lance, it portrays him with a steel sword!

You're not wrong about Supreme Leader, the jp text makes it clearer but she thinks "Poor Dumb Willy" was manipulated by the lizard lady - or at least she says so to Billy - but without the manipulation angle... he is the guy who helped those cruel beasts against fellow "humans" so....

The biggest hurdle to the comparison with Dimitri, is Willy's war to unify Fodlan.

Was it to civilise the world, to stomp out Nemesis and make sure no one like him would ever re-appear, your usual brand of Imperialism, everything bundled in the same package - idk

What is more interesting, between the two, is how I'm 99,57% sure Wilhelm knew what the relics truly were, and knew Rhea and other Nabateans were, well, Nabateans.

AU where Dimitri and Willy are swapped, or AU where Fodlan gives a fuck about Nabateans : What would Dimitri, AG or AM Dimitri do if a certain someone (or a group of people) wanted to slaughter randoms to craft weapons from their bodies, to become "might makes right" warlords?

Would he try to organise a parley with Nemesis'n'Dudes to ask them to stop warring around and stop hunting Nabateans?

Hope they won't try to bring out their circular saw next time they spot Flayn? Or won't smash a baby on the ground, because "the strong prey on the weak" and it's natural order?

I've commented earlier on the, imo, "acceptance" theme of AG and how it ultimately felt flat, because the mole people and Nabatean angle is completely dropped to instead have the "parley" discussion be about sandwiches, the general concept of war and "ideals" - but now we all know IS (KT) backpedaled on Supreme Leader and her, uh, opposition to lizards based on the shape of their ears because she needs to sell -

But if another studio wrote that exchange, and Supreme Leader's racial bias towards people with pointy ears came to the light (like what happened off screen and managed to convince Clout), could/would Dimitri still let her return to Enbarr after that exchange, knowing well that someone is jailed in Fodlan's Gritnea and subjected to "things" that makes her unable to walk, even if that someone is one of the strongest beings alive on the continent?

Would he be able to let go of his hatred?

Back to the WoH - can there really be acceptance of "something different" when that something is, well, unacceptable because no matter what redshit or some people in their echo chamber parrot, racism and genocide really really suck?

When Word of God said Nemesis'n'Dudes didn't see Nabateans as people, but as "things to be looted" to become stronger? Seiros the Warrior couldn't accept it (i wonder why) and came to the conclusion erasing Nemesis'n'Dudes was the only solution.

Did Willy reach the same conclusion ?

But took it further, and thought that if he became the "Supreme Ruler" of the world, then no Nemesis or Dudes could pop up in the land, so no even like this would ever happen again? And he naively thought his descendants would follow him?

IDK.

Maybe we could have had a Willy mirroring Dimitri, but in the Watsonian POV, losing (kind of, like AG!Mitri) his way at the end because he isn't supported by Fodlan's messiah as to not, idk, alienate players who self inserted in Billy -

Doylist POV would of course notice that while Dimitri's archenemy Supreme Leader was scrubed of any heinous and racial prejudice, Nemesis cannot sell in a nightgown so Willy had to deal with him, and ultimately couldn't adopt Dimitri's AM's solution (which wasn't a solution anyways, since Supreme Leader inherited her stupid ancestor's "incredible will" and tried to kill him).

[fireemblems24]

Verdant Wind: Chapter 17

First off, it's weird only doing two routes this time, since SS skips over this chapter, and I'm not going back to CF until all the final chapters are ready.

Below's all my thoughts about VW's take on Gronder Field. 😭I was not ready. OMG. How could you do this to me?

Pre-Battle:

Oh dear, God, no, Hilda. Is this Fog of War?

I picked "I'm worried" for Byleth, but it's not for the reasons Claude thinks. It's because I know Dimitri's coming (it's clearly setting up Battle of Eagle and Lion Round 2), and I'm betting he's not doing so hot.

Oh, shit, yep, here he is. I'm not ready for this guys.

It wouldn't make sense to "kill" Dimitri, just to bring him back and kill him for real a second later though.

I'm clinging to that. But I still don't feel good.

It is kind of pathetic that Dimitri has a more interesting plot in VW than Claude so far.

Oh, crap, everyone's here. Mercedes, Dedue, and Bernie. Do I have to kill them? I'm going to avoid killing whoever I can. So much for "kill 'em all - I am pathetic. Except Hubert lol. I love the guy, but I don't feel bad taking him out.

OK - but like Dedue and Mercie? They are too precious to have fun with "kill em all." And Bernie was so sweet after Jeralt's death that I feel bad.

At the same time . . . Killing them all . . . could be fun.

But Dedue and Mercie 😭And then I feel bad excluding Bernie.

I wonder if my dancer!Felix can fight Dimitri. I'll make sure Claude fights both lords, but I'm curious to see if Felix and Dimitri get unique dialogue.

What if I said - I don't want to defeat Dimitri - but the game said - defeat all enemy commanders 😭

Ohh - cut scene! God, it's been forever.

Edelgard fire bombing everyone. Dimitri getting revenge for the dead. Nothing's changed.

Seriously, Edelgard? She's like "we were classmates, but not today" and looks so sad. Like, girl, you caused all this.

I'm kind of annoyed at how she always feels so sorry for herself, not going to lie. I don't mind the characterization, but just it's always so focused on her and never her victims. But I feel this is my annoyance with CF bleeding through.

Which makes me wonder how I'd feel about her if I played this game one route after the next.

"Kill every last one of them!" - Chris Hackeny is a gem.

Imagine how shocking that is if you didn't play AM. I'd probably quit right there and see wtf happened, since all the Kingdom drama + Dimitri's Disney death + mysterious reappearance with a totally new attitude and sexy eyepatch would just be too much.

I feel so bad for Claude though. I've spent more time talking about Edelgard and Dimitri than him. But they both get such interesting in-character stuff, and he's like "man this class reunion sucks." Only Byleth got less stuff.

OK - Edelgard got some points back with her chaotic warfare and smarts trying to block the Kingdom and Alliance.

Battle Thoughts:

I've got a million fliers on this team, and Bernie's range is just too long. I think I'm going to just have to kill her.

Eh, whatever. Let's kill them all.

Hubert doesn't think much of my strategy.

Dimitri's not holding back here. It makes it really clear how far he's actually come in AM seeing him in VW like this.

Lysithea nuked Dedue and he . . . retreated? Does Dedue get to live? 😭😭😭

Dimitri's "Shut up and retreat. You must live, Dedue." after Dedue insists on fighting 😭😭😭Again - even at his absolute worst, Dimitri always gives Dedue special treatment.

HOLY SHIT - Edelgard just lit Bernie on fire. Oh my God. Guess that means I'm killing her :(

LAMO - Claude crit Edelgard. Kinda deserves it after that.

Now to have him (and Felix) fight Dimitri. If they can. Apparently Dimitri can one-shot Ignatz (that was one use of Divine Pulse).

Can anybody explain why Dimitri gets the "effective against" warning against literally every unit??

It's too bad Dimitri and Claude don't just team up. The situation feels kinda forced, but it makes sense given Dimitri's state of mind. Still feels like the game is just forcing "no two lords for you!"

WTF is this? Dimitri's even got effectiveness against an infantry dancer.

So Dimitri told Felix he's not worthy and to get out of his sight. Then Felix crit Dimitri and told HIM to get out of HIS sight. No unique dialogue though. 😭😭

OK guys, I spared Mercie. I . . . just couldn't. Dedue got nuked but retreated? And Bernie got set on fire AND had a droppable Brave Bow. Sorry.

So . . . Did Dimitri retreat or die?

Post Battle Thoughts:

Oh, shit. Hilda's "I saw him" doesn't sound good.

Well that sucks.

😭😭😭😭😭😭

They really brought Dimitri back to life, only to kill him off two seconds later. It might be my Dimitri bias coming through, but that seems . . . kinda pointless tbh.

At least he's getting sympathetic treatment 😭😭😭

Dedue lived and he's all alone 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Why is it that Kingdom characters seem like they're getting a better story than poor Claude?

Lysithea's story is more interesting than Claude's 😭😭😭 Poor girl had it rough. Fuck the Empire.

Aww, Lorenz is the first one who said he'd follow Claude.

I love how on VW, Leonie and Raphael realize that the Empire's actions are a threat to the things they want to protect, but in CF they'll just toss that all into the wind because professor power.

Aww, Marianne's "I'll fight too." 😊😊😊I needed that after the drama with Dimitri and Dedue.

Why do we never get to see Holst??

Oh - so that's why Lysithea held off on her A-Support. It was waiting for that stuff with the mages.

Judith is so hot. I'm still mad I can't use her in battle.

All I need to take Fort Merceus is Dimitri - oh wait.

Is this the best the game could come up with for Claude's "schemes?" They dress up as Imperial soldiers and just walk in?

VW's tone feels too lighthearted for this game (esp after Dimitri 😭😭😭) , but at the same time it's a nice breather.

[patroklides-archive]

a special occasion; more so than most if she were to listen to personal bias. Ah, perhaps too self-centered a notion & yet it prompted one to pick a present with utmost care. Why, she had done so months in advance, in-between arranging reconstruction & reparation of Fodlan's North, mindful of commercial impasses & the war-prompted shortage of many a thing / in-between a letter exchange with Claude & another one with Petra, back & forth, until a window of opportunity had presented itself.

With Empress consort off to join Hubert in what either deemed a mere errand, she had all the time needed to arrange a gathering / a precious hour or two reserved for none other than her dearest friend. Their meeting had been scheduled in Enbarr's garden park, a place still in full bloom despite first traces of winter granting the air a crisp kind of chill [you owe her that much & more / you owe her happiness & prosperity, a world to her liking, a world worthwhile enough to mend whatever gash your the war had torn].

Thusly, on birthday’s early afternoon, one welcomes Dorothea in common Imperial black & muted red, without any sign of bellicose regalia there to spoil what she considered such a special occasion. Long had she ridded herself of such, sporting attire befitting of a ruler rather than a warrior. Covered to the chin in cloth, as per usual, yet devoid of cape & crown paying extra heed to other’s relentless recommendations regarding one’s royal wardrobe [humane, almost; capable of covering traces of fatigue / the tinted rims beneath the eyes matching lilac in their morbid beauty].

“ Dorothea! I’m so glad you could make it. I know with Hubert gone you have much and more to organize so thank you for indulging me. “  ━          tone light / jovial, almost, devoid of otherwise so stern undertone; she signals the other to take a seat, quick to offer beverage & what pastries Enbarr’s strained reserves could safely afford. Aye, consider your afternoon tea a means of delighting other & providing distraction both, having the rest of the former Strike Force set up their own little surprises throughout the endeavor.

━ including a gift of her own, wrapped in neat bordeux paper & on its way to be placed in Dorothea’s abode; it had cost her a good bout of restraint not to simply buy something as first impulse had suggested but rather settle for a more personal touch; a small tableu painting drawn by one’s own hand [not nearly as glorious as it could have been; too shaky have your hands become / crest curse’s removal having left you weakened for a while] & yet a tribute, a remnant of times full of daring hope & wistful glee.

‘tis a sketched picture of a time before their strife & toil, the Black Eagle House sitting around a table, celebrating post their win at Gronder Fields. ━  needlessly sentimental in retrospect & yet a present coming from the heart all the same. ━ birthday surprise drabble [from Edelgard to Dorothea]!

THERE WAS A TIME IN HER LIFE, many years ago, when birthdays had meant little to her. when there had been no one to shower her with gifts, or to bake her sweets; no friends to celebrate with her least of all. later, in the opera, she had received gift after gift from nobles, had been invited to grand parties and given fine albinean chocolates, yet none of them had known her birthday; she was little more than a pretty trinket to them, after all. why should her birthday matter, after all ? it had been the professor — byleth — who had given her the first birthday gift she had ever received in earnest, had it not ? back in that year at the academy, halcyon days that they were, that simple hair clip from the monastery market had meant more to her than all of the fine jewelry the nobles of enbarr could throw at her.

even then, something as grand as taking tea with the emperor in her personal garden seemed like little more than a girlish dream. ( admittedly, those fantasies had been rather different than the reality, yet that is the nature of life, isn’t it ? when has everything ever gone according to a plan ? ) yet here she sits, the first colors of autumn blooming around them, with the women who has come to be her most precious friend, at long last able to enjoy the peace they both had fought for.

[ she had foisted an embrace upon her at first greeting, propriety be damned; she is here as a friend, after all, not on any official business. ]

“ edie, you really didn’t have to go through all this trouble, you know.” she watches the other woman from across the tea table, the cup of sweet apple blend warm between her palms as the first cool winds of the year begin to blow. dorothea is aware, after all, that her friend is up to something; how had she kept her brewing war hidden for a year when she wears her secrets so plainly on her face in this ? perhaps it’s merely the long months working so closely with hubert that have sharpened her senses — or merely the many years she has spent at her side that have taught her what to look for. “ i don’t know what you have up your sleeve, but i hope you didn’t do anything too extravagant — you know i would be happy with just a quiet day with my friends. i have enough of being the center of attention at the opera, after all. ”

the sigh she gives in response might almost be convincing, to anyone who did not know her so well; yet the slight curl to her lips and the lilting cadence of her voice more than give away the lie.

a pout, then, as the cup returns to the saucer. “ i will say that it was clever of you not to give caspar any of the details. he was, sadly, the only one of our friends i could crack, and he didn’t tell me anything i couldn’t have figured out on my own. ”

[gascon-en-exil]

Crimson Flower lets Edelgard institute all her progressive reforms, and puts a definitive kibosh on both the Agartheans and the dragons. Various other character endings describe the slitherers resurfacing and being foiled again. Dmitri the emperor, and he's a well-meaning lad who probably makes reasonable strides against racism and systemic crest bias, but he largely keeps things going as they were. He makes it very clear that he hasn't thought very hard about his position in the world.

Edelgard, on the other hand, is justified in everything she does by virtue of her circumstances. At no point does she have any options other than declaring war on the continent or dying, because she has been in the clutches of the Agartheans her entire life. They want to use her as a figurehead, but make it very clear that they will bump her off if she steps out of line. She cannot prevent the war, so she instead makes it her own, and rallies her forces until she's can make a move against them.

Dimitri is a hereditary autocrat who secures his family's grip on the entirety of a continent, 2/3 of which he obtains through conquest. Really struggling to see the 'not an autocrat' angle here even if he does some positive reforms later in life. Like we get a fairly decent look at how non-traumatized Dimitri acts in CF and it all sets up that he entered into a political marriage and had a quick child to secure the inheritance. Hereditary monarchy is a scourge even if you have a 'good' monarch

FIrst, let’s get the most obvious thing out the way: there is no evidence that Dimitri has a political marriage and an heir in CF. 

The line about the Blaiddyd line continuing almost certainly refers to his uncle Rufus, who is killed in Cornelia’s coup in the non-CF routes but is presumably still alive in CF because she never gets the chance to carry it out. In the Dimidue death scene Dimitri expresses regret for not being able to get revenge for his family among others, so he’s still thinking of family in terms of his slain father and stepmother. I’ve also pointed out several times that Dimitri’s fondness for orphans is noted in story text and in AM’s ending tapestry, such that it’s entirely reasonable to conclude that he adopts regardless of circumstances as a way of diminishing the role of Crest-based inheritance. In CF his circumstances seem to be nearly identical to the Dimidue paired ending where there is no queen in sight and Dedue is a royal consort in all but name. I highly doubt they chose to adopt while fighting a war that’s by now been dragging on for over five years, so the conclusion about Rufus stands (even more so because he’s noted elsewhere to be a shameless womanizer so it’s likely he’s got one or more bastards somewhere). If you’re looking for a hereditary monarch who founds or perpetuates a dynasty, that would be Claude, or Byleth in various VW/SS endings. Quibbling over monarch vs. emperor has little meaning in this context, especially when Edelgard stepping down after an indeterminate amount of time and naming a successor is fully in line with real world dictatorships. Non-democratic systems of government are the standard for all of FE, although the beginnings of a representative government mentioned in Dimitri’s solo ending might be the single closest instance of a significant movement away from that even if it’s only a constitutional monarchy with the heir to the throne a Crestless adoptee. This follows naturally from the years of the timeskip where Dimitri was homeless and in and out of the slums of the Kingdom, where he saw the suffering of the common people firsthand and, as seen in the AM parley, came to understand their needs better than Edelgard ever attempts. In conjunction with Claude’s ignorance of the lives of the Almyran people as seen in his Cyril supports, it’s actually reasonable to conclude that Dimitri has thought about his position relative to his subjects more than either of the other leaders.

And speaking of Claude, Dimitri does not conquer the Alliance in AM; rather, Claude hands it over to him unexpectedly after the Kingdom army comes to his aid and fights off the Imperial army invading Derdriu. If Hilda is recruited in AM her monastery dialogue the next month reveals that the Alliance council peacefully agreed to go along with Claude’s decision to cede their territory to the Kingdom. This is incidentally a much better deal than the Alliance gets in either VW or SS, where Claude disappears either at the end of the game or after Gronder and it’s given to Byleth with no further discussion (and the same thing also happens to the Kingdom in both routes). The Empire at the end of the game is in much the same situation as every other antagonist nation in FE, with no one to rule it following the counter-invasion from the protagonist nation(s) because they’re all dead. Similar to Genealogy the picture does open up a bit depending on who’s alive, with Ferdinand, Lorenz, Marianne, etc. governing their respective territories if they’re recruited. Ditto unseen noble heirs like Holst and Caspar’s older brother who are still around to inherit their titles even with Byleth or Dimitri ruling the continent. As far as the Empire is concerned the two of them are as much imperialists as Marth, Seliph, the Renais twins, etc., a far cry from Edelgard in CF invading and conquering two sovereign nations without provocation, predicated in part on the basis that centuries prior they were part of the Empire so it’s acceptable for her to conquer them.

Now, onto Edelgard. You must be aware that Edelgard chose to ally with the Agarthans at Hubert’s suggestion, and she continues to make that choice for nearly a decade without any attempt at checking them despite knowing all the terrible things that they’re getting up to behind the scenes at the monastery and that they enacted earlier without her direct involvement to destabilize the continent and make her conquest easier, like the Tragedy of Duscur and the death of Claude’s uncle. As myself and others have noted attempting to spin her as a helpless victim of their machinations only makes her look incompetent and terrible in her choice of allies - not just the Agarthans themselves but also known murderers Hubert and Jeritza whom she cannot fully control with one frequently going behind her back and the other openly disobeying her multiple times on the battlefield. This in combination with Hubert’s status as the Manfroy to Edelgard’s Arvis leaves me very much in doubt of the Agarthans being truly eradicated in the postgame. Not only is this unsatisfying for the player, but given Hubert’s use of dark magic and dabbling in the Agarthans’ experiments (plus that he was the one who suggested the alliance in the first place, for all that he grumbles about Thales ordering him around) it’s more likely that he eradicates their leadership and then installs himself at the head of the remaining cult, folding them into his established network of spies and assassins. Hubert is one of my favorite characters in this cast, but he’s anything but trustworthy especially if his primary motivation really is wanting Edelgard to sleep with him when it turns out she never will, not even in their paired ending. In keeping with his status as the pathetic hopeless suitor pining for this game’s headlining waifu despite her overt attraction to the self-insert, sexual frustration is built into his character even if he gets a wife or if he and Ferdinand become the most notorious lovers in Enbarr.

Plus, if you look Edelgard actually does rather than what she says she aligns more with what the Agarthans want than the stated goals of her own propaganda. She completes their genocide of the Nabateans and unifies the continent with Agarthans in positions of great power. On the other hand she doesn’t eradicate the nobility as a whole but only replaces those who would oppose her seizing absolute power, which goes to support that it was the Insurrection of the Seven and not the Agarthan experimentation that truly shaped her worldview and motivations. The stated reasons she wants to destroy the church are provably incorrect - she knows they didn’t create Relics or Crests thanks to secret Imperial knowledge passed down from Wilhelm, and she must know that they aren’t all-powerful as the Empire disbanded the Southern Church completely a century before the events of the game with apparently no pushback from Rhea or anyone else - and one must therefore conclude that she instead targets them because they, like the Imperial nobles she replaces and like Claud e and Dimitri defending their nations, would oppose her solitary rule of the continent. It’s just awfully convenient that this goal also accomplishes the Agarthans’ main goal of killing or driving into hiding all of the remaining dragons. Saying that the war was inevitable because the Agarthans were slinking around setting it up to happen doesn’t absolve Edelgard of the responsibility of choosing to ally with them and playing right into their hands, especially when her conquest only noticeably improves her own situation, and possibly Hubert and Jeritza’s now that they have a license to kill, torture, etc. for an entire continent. All of the other Eagles go on to inherit what they would have inherited anyway, and all the reforms mentioned in the CF endings are the same or better in endings for the other routes only your side didn’t start a war and complete a genocide to bring those about.

[annhellsing]

The Hangman

notes: so hubert is my fe3h bias and i’ve been meaning to write porn for him for a while!!! so have some of that good good smut. rating: explicit af, there’s collars, handjobs and choking! pairing: hubert von vestra / reader word count: 2,332 or read it on ao3!

“Don’t worry, she still likes you,��� you say to the shadow kneeling on your bed.

Hubert is only the shape of a man, etched out in black against your quilt and pillows. His hair is long and dark, swept over his eye and hiding half his expression. His face curls into a snarl, morphing from unreadable to malicious. His resemblance to a snake baring its fangs is striking.

“It hardly matters to me if I am liked, even by Lady Edelgard,” he replies, sounding curt and cold. As joyless as a corpse and forced here against his will, though you know that is not the case. You crooked a finger at him and he followed.

“Should I be flattered that you seem incapable of lying to my face?” you ask, hovering at the edge of the bed with something in your hands. He needn’t look very hard to find out what it is. His sneer turns to a smirk. 

“I wouldn’t, it only means I care very little for your opinion,” he says that like it’s a reminder and not yet another lie.

Your hand brushes his pale, pointed chin. You hold his face and he only puts up a perfunctory resistance, just enough to discourage without ever truly denying the act. He is a master at that, at dismissing what he wants.

“You’re trying a bit harder, now. Go on, Hubert, the third time might be a charm,” you tease. He doesn’t seem to appreciate it. His heavy brow manages to furrow even more, he looks dangerous.

“Your attempts to annoy me have been lacklustre as of late. Surely you can be more irritating, you have before,” he scowls, trying to make his words poison. They are still not to be believed. 

You shrug, turning his head to the side very gently so you might inspect the sharp curve of his cheekbone. You drag a finger over his pale skin, down the side of his face to the plunging line of Hubert’s long neck. His gold collar obscures most of it, you push your nail underneath it to pry it away.

“Hm, maybe not,” you mutter.

“Irritating doesn’t begin to describe you,” he hisses. You seem to grow bored with exposing his neck. Instead, you ask him to expose somewhere else.

“How astute. Open your trousers,” you say. Nevermind, it isn’t a request at all. It’s a command.

“Hmph,” he exhales, but does as he’s told.

His hands are white glove-clad, they fiddle with the buttons at the front of his trousers and waste no time. You crane your neck, watching his white undergarments appear beneath black fabric. They’re shoved aside just as quickly. His skin is even paler, with a trimmed thatch of wiry, black hair in sharp contrast to it below his navel. 

You look at him, greedy in the eyes and Hubert does his best not to meet the stare. He doesn’t want to shiver, to show any signs of weakness, but someone hungering for him is a sight not often seen. It is nearly enough to convince him to abandon the charade, to give into whatever you have planned.

Of course, he still has sense enough not to make it easy for you.

“Just as the lady said,” you tut, “or should I say Emperor.”

“Only if you want to lose your tongue,” Hubert hisses, his head snaps up. Your eyes are still greedy, but mentioning his mistress negates their effect. “The revelation of her new title is up to Lady Edelgard’s discretion.”

“Of course, of course,” you mutter, reaching out to brush your fingers through his hair. “My, I wonder how long it will take you to recognize when I’m having a bit of fun.”

“Perhaps when you amuse me,” Hubert grumbles, but he leans his head towards your seeking fingers. It’s foolish for him to hope you won’t notice that measure of desperation. When done correctly, even he enjoys being touched. 

“Waste your breath a bit more, Lord. I do so love hearing you gasp,” you smile with teeth and his expression turns again to a fierce snarl. Teasing is one thing, but this borders on mockery.

“Why, you—” his patience seems to give way, even with your gentle attention to soften the harsh words. 

Hubert sits up on his knees, leaning forward like he plans to grab you and upset the balance. But his moment to strike is blindsided by yours. He finds out what’s been bunched up in your other fist, and he knows it well. 

It’s a collar, a circle of black leather that fastens around his neck. The buckle at the front is like a belt, pulled taught over his throat and secured by your deft hands. You know how to do this almost too well, Hubert finally gives up that shiver. You smile, your teeth look like fangs but he still wants to kiss you.

His eyes find your lips, soft and pretty and so unlike his own. 

You watch the way he stares at you, with eyes like green glass. He takes his lip between his teeth momentarily, as if mirroring what he would like to do to you. You buckle the collar, dragging Hubert forward a little. Your other hand pushes between his spread knees, finding his cock and pulling it from his underclothes.

“There, nice and snug. Tight enough?” you ask. He isn’t given time to answer, the twitch between his legs does the talking for him. You give a firm, playful nod. “Seems like it.”

“You are infuriating—” you cut him off.

“Ah, there’s the truth. It looks pretty on you,” you give a short giggle, bending down enough that your lips are level with his. “How about a kiss? Just a little one?”

It’s phrased like a question for his embarrassment alone. But Hubert is the one who leans in, who offers up his thin mouth that yields under yours. You kiss the hangman. You kiss the hangman, with your finger pulling taut his noose.

He is brick red with lust and shame when you pull away. Slightly out of breath, Hubert offers up no further scathing wisdom. Instead, he visibly seethes and his cock gives another twitch. You reach between his legs.

“Let me hear you,” your voice barely rises above a whisper. “You’re talkative today, Hubert. Let me hear you.”

His length is pale as the rest of his skin, but bears a distinct blush around the blunt head. He’s proportionate, you note with a smirk, for one so tall. His cock is long and perhaps thin, but heavy in your palm as you begin to give him what he wants.

He needs no direction from you, not when things have gotten this far. Hubert reaches obediently behind his back, his thin hands gripping his ankles. He shifts, his thighs widening as much as his trousers will allow.

You withdraw your fingers from under the collar, thumbing open a few buttons to expose more of his neck. You dip your head again, claiming a kiss at his collarbone and jugular instead of on his mouth. He relinquishes a sigh that you’re pleased with.

“Such a good boy,” you mutter. He doesn’t have it in him to feign protest, not when he throbs so obviously. There will never be enough praise to satisfy him, but you do try your best.

Your fist gives a squeeze and he makes a sound adjacent to a yelp. Or a whine. It makes your smile more sinister as your wrist begins to move up and down. Every so often, your palm tightens at his base.

Your fingers stroke his hair with a loving fondness, lavishing gentleness he worries he has not earned. He yearns for you to tug, pull, yank until it hurts. It’s the very best way to feel something. But your gentle, seeking hand only moves back to the strip of leather around his neck.

Two fingers are slipped underneath it, it’s drawn tighter until his vision swims. He can see you through the slight hazy, dotted and ink-purple. You look ravishing, it’s too bad that it’s been decided that he does, too.

Hubert hums, his head lolling away from your grip on the collar. You allow it, allow him a moment of blissful indulgence. He urges your fingers to tug harder, he hopes to leave a mark. But before he can get anywhere near it, you interrupt him with words.

“You’re a beauty,” you tell him. He huffs and leans forward again so he can speak. The whole while, your other hand is busy between his legs.

“And you’re not a very skilled liar, either,” he replies.

“I mean it. Just look at you, Hubert. You look like a painting with your flushed cheeks,” you smile at him, your cheeks are as warm as his.

“Leave me be,” he almost begs, for you’ve given him another squeeze.

“Are you asking for mercy?” you lift a brow, the corner of your mouth tugs higher.

“The opposite, in fact. I ask you to be consumed by my undoing,” he sighs. His voice wavers on the edge of desperation, your fist moves up and down more languidly as a result. Can’t have him spoiling the fun too soon.

“So I’ll stop teasing you?” you ask. Not a chance.

“Ideally,” he nods, but seems to realize that.

“But I do so love to dote on you,” you smile, “this is far from a selfish endeavour.”

“Goddess—“ the name of a useless creator on his lips startles you a bit. But you turn your attention to his firm balls instead of voicing said surprise.

You’re gentle with him, rolling them in your palm and leaning in for more kisses. Still, even as you indulge him, you’re still thinking of ways to get reactions. He is so easy to fluster when he feels vulnerable.

“Edelgard says you’ve been giving her much grief and trouble,” you mumble, half against his lips. Hubert draws back, a viper again.

“Lady Edelgard,” he threatens, “and I doubt she said any such thing.”

“Perhaps not in so many words, but she seemed concerned for your wellbeing,” you reply. He cocks his head to the side, incredulous at best. 

“In this way, specifically?” he asks, you give a vague shrug.

“Would you be cross if I told you the idea may have been mine alone?” you ask.

He is almost relieved, in an odd way, that Edelgard did not guess his perversions. Hubert hasn’t the faintest idea of his own emotions on a clear day, only what his devotion could summarize of their relationship. And it has summarized it, nicely, for some time. Mistress and servant, he’s the sword in your arm. One would not want to kiss a blade, and the blade would prefer to go unkissed. He doesn't love Edelgard in that way, in the lecherous way he loves you.

To know that she had no part in asking this of you is a comfort, this stays between the two of you. Your teasing is harmless and hollow, so he replies, “I would only be pleased to know I was right.”

“You, pleased?” you smirk, still inches from his lips. He takes another kiss, even as you loosen your grip on him so that he might breathe. 

Your hand is just south of his most sensitive place, the newfound location pleasant but not as sharp a sensation. He gives a slight nudge of his hips, hoping to draw from you what he wants. He dislikes begging a great deal, but you always manage to incentivize it.

“Isn’t that what you intend to elicit from me, anyway? Pleasure?” he says it like it should be a statement, but his own questioning creeps in around the edges.

“Correct,” you mumble. “The lady advised me to inquire into your recent dour mood and distractedness over a cup of coffee,” you beam, “but I know best what you need.”

Hubert, in spite of himself, whimpers when you tug the leather again. Your palm presses to the inside of his thigh, urging him open ever-further. It’s so you can kneel between his legs, he realizes when you brace a hand on his shoulder for balance.

He takes his hands off his ankles, giving you a place to lean while you try to stay upright. The room fills with the sound of your laugh, high and sweet. Though he could never pretend to like the sound, even when directed somewhere other than himself, it produces a tugging sensation in his chest. He wants to hold you, all of a sudden.

“Are you all right, love?” you ask when his arms fold around your back. You're held tight to his broad chest, the proof of his arousal still present and poking at your mid-thigh. You smile into his shoulder, if something were really wrong he wouldn’t be giving you a hug.

He hums against your ear, just to prove that he heard you. You return the embrace, abandoning any pretence of dislike for each other. You care for him very much, as he does for you, though he tries to stifle it. In times like these, however, the fullness of his affections come bubbling to the surface.

“That isn’t an answer,” you reply, though you accept that the hug is all you’ll receive. “Lady Edelgard is worried for you, she wonders at how you have enough time for--”

“Enough,” Hubert says, “I am fine.”

“Hm,” you sigh, pulling back enough to look at his beautiful eyes and unhappy expression. He expects you to be annoyed, perhaps, at best, but you give him a little smile. And you tuck your fingers once again under the collar. “Would you like me to make you well?”

His eyes widen a fraction. Your searching hands return to their prior occupations with renewed interest that his body is happy to react to. Hubert exhales, sounding reedy and insistent. Though he can’t speak it, the answer is yes.

[ac-liveblogs]

oh geeze i always felt bad thinking "AM is the best route" bc so many (so. many.) people have gone "fIrST rOuTe BiAs" to dismiss it, but looking at the sheer shit show of the other routes.... it really is the best route. VW/SS have lore, CF.. uh..waifuism, but in terms of characters, drama, themes AM blows it all out of the water. If we could just get the cool map variety from the dlc & an extra chapter for redemption so it doesnt feel so rushed it'd be *chef's kiss*

Azure Moon is the best route in a lot of ways. It’s the only route - 

with a coherent character arc for the main character - Edelgard and Claude are completely stagnant. Edelgard’s big character moment is falling in love with you - Dimitri meanwhile goes the full gauntlet. Rhea is off-screen in SS.

that makes good use of its main supporting cast - all of the BL are relevant or have something important to say, and their relationship with Dimitri is usually just as if not far more important than their relationship with Byleth. 

that has actually dramatic, emotional stakes - is there actually any point in VW or CF you’re worried for Edelgard or Claude? Is there a point you think you might lose something? Or is it just a straight, easy shot to victory?

that actually competently utilises Edelgard - this is the best Edelgard you’re getting. Minimal waifusim, competent villainy, a great foil and personal rival to Dimitri. Proper setup and payoff for all the Flame Emperor stuff, too.

that competently utilises Byleth, christ. This is the only route where Byleth has an organic, evolving relationship with their Lord - growing, backstepping, recovering, helping each other. Claude drags you behind him and Edelgard is... that, but Dimitri and Byleth have a decent reciprocal relationship, and AM is definitely the route where Byleth’s Black Hole MC status does the least damage.

Gives a damn about setup and payoff. I talk about it a lot, but that’s because it’s important! One of the most important things! 

Crimson Flower is a route where Edelgard dupes you into taking over the continent and murdering the other Lords, then has the gall to talk about humanity standing strong together as she slaughters one of the last survivors of a race nearly driven to extinction while the “real villain” of the game is ignored and dealt with off-screen. (Well, it’s villain route. What do you expect? If the game were more forthcoming about it, CF would be more enjoyable. Read as a hero’s journey, it’s atrocious, but as a villain’s victory march... far more palatable.)

Verdant Wind is a route where Claude will do all he can to convince you he’s a threat, reveal himself to be completely milquetoast, accomplish everything important off-screen, end racism (somehow), kill a secret society he found out about 10 minutes ago when he grilled Rhea bc he thought she was sus, then kill Zombie Nemesis who popped out of a hole. (Genuinely just bad. No emotional stakes to sink your teeth into, and nothing unique or exciting either... because it’s all off-screen.)

Silver Snow features Dimitri dying off-screen, Claude ollying out immediately, Edelgard dying pretty early, and you going to fight The Real Villain in a slightly more appropriate setting... and then Rhea goes nuts for no discernable reason and you have to put her down like old yeller. (Boring, but coherent.)

Azure Moon establishes Dimitri’s trauma and relationship with Edelgard early, spends the rest of the game building on those concepts while fleshing out Dimitri’s (complicated) relationships with the people around him, gives Dimitri and Byleth common ground they can use to deepen their understanding of each other, and ends the game by addressing all of these things and puts a bow on Dimitri’s character arc. It’s the only finale that doesn’t feel discordant. (Competent writing. Cosmic fluke.)

AM’s big weakness is that it doesn’t address The Real Villain or Byleth’s backstory, but honestly... the fact that it doesn’t is a good thing, because the other routes handled those things sloppily. 

The only route I could imagine ~first route bias~ being an issue is... Crimson Flower. Because of the way it frames Edelgard and Rhea, and you’ve been primed to think of Edelgard as a hero because you don’t have the information to disprove her claims yet. 

Hell, AM made me want to learn more about Edelgard. CF made me stop liking her. 

[patricia-von-arundel]

Mother’s Day

Summary: A new marriage, a new life, even a new name - and a new stepson. Deprived of Edelgard, Anselma - now Patricia - tries to come to terms with the new child dropped into her life: Dimitri.

Rating: G

Set in the same 'verse as A World on Its Side.

I started this story *for* Mother's Day, and then got distracted writing other things. Better late than never, right?

As always, for @lysissisyl, who knows why. 

Also on AO3

-

Edelgard was the only child she'd ever really known - and how to judge, from only one, and only so briefly, any sort of notion of what children in general were like, or should be like? It was no true frame of reference, even if it had been possible to consider Edelgard without any bias at all. Which it was not. And never would be. 

Fierce - that was the word for Edelgard. Tiny and tenacious and hopelessly stubborn, even before she had words, only the most flailing attempts at control, determined to make her presence and her specific desires clear, through whatever nascent means her own development had, thus far, seen fit to bestow upon her. And while Anselma could claim no prior knowledge, she, then, cradled within herself the blooms of pride from Ionius' doting. And he had been doting.

Once.

Doting, but if he'd had even a few drops of the ferocity that was in Edelgard...

Well - he had not. And he did not. But he had possessed far greater stores of knowledge of the path of early childhood - a thought now tinged with aching bitterness - than Anselma had, or would likely ever have. If he found precocity in Edelgard's determined attempts to make herself understood, then there must be more to it than merely blind pride? 

Irrelevant, now. As irrelevant as the promises he had made; as irrelevant as her own blinders, even as she had pretended to have endemic talent: some natural, inherent gift for playing a game in which she had never accepted the rules. Ionius was not the only foolish one - just a fool with more unearned clout. 

He was gone now. Likely for good. And she knew nothing of the wives, of the children. 

Of Edelgard. 

She told herself not to think about it. Even before leaving the Empire, she had known it was best to try to forget. 

But what was best, and what was possible, might be two very different things. 

Especially with the little prince darting in and out of daily life like some frightened scrap of a kitten. 

Whether he was a normal child, she could not say.

But he was nothing like Edelgard. 

he was introduced to her formally, with the same coldness that seemed to have seeped from the air of Faerghus and into the souls of its people. The man she had married was a stranger to her, and she to him, so perhaps a certain frost was not unexpected between them. But the way he spoke to his son - of his son - seemed also to carry almost no warmth at all. 

"Boy," he said - and the little one, a spitting image in miniature, stepped obediently forward. His eyes found hers only briefly, before he ducked his head to a bow, and remained there. "My son, the Crown Prince Dimitri. Dimitri, your new stepmother."

And that was all. Non words exchanged between them. Another land, and still more walls, and Anselma knew no way to scale them. Instead, she knew now all that could be lost if she attempted again, and still failed. 

More than a month had passed, since the hurried formalities of a wedding, and a single, passionless night of necessary consummation. She had seen Cornelia more often than her new husband, and still had no promised answers to other question she had asked before agreeing to leave Enbarr - to leave Edelgard. She told herself to practice patience. She nurtured that anger that seemed to have always smoldered within her - feeding it slowly, carefully. Stoking it. 

Fire could be a dangerous weapon. 

And none seemed inclined to pay hers any mind.

Not yet. Not yet...

If they would not tell her the rules, what could prevent her from breaking them?

"Say nothing of Edelgard." Whispered words, but with an almost frightened, harsh ferocity she had rarely, if ever, heard from her brother's oft-simpering lips. She would not deny that something was badly amiss within the Empire, and his sudden fear only confirmed as much. "She would never be safe, even under Lambert's protection. I will see to her safety - I swear it by the Goddess, and Seiros, and all the Saints above."

She had done as told. But the Goddess? Seiros, the Saints? What would they do, to protect one girl?

Nothing  - as they always did. Nothing at all.

If anyone in the Empire harmed Edelgard, it would not be the Goddess they would need to concern themselves with. 

But until then - she had said nothing, and she would say nothing. She was not even certain Lambert was aware of her relationship to one of the small herd of Imperial children; there had never been official union between Hresvelg and Arundel, and though he knew she had spent a lifetime as "Anselma," she had never heard him call her anything but "Patricia." And she had no idea what tales might have been woven concerning her own provenance by Volkhard and those in the Kingdom seeking his continued favor. Once again, as always, she was a pawn to their minds. 

And best forgotten when the game required no sacrifice. 

She kept herself to herself, now in cold, unfamiliar, unforgiving Fhirdiad. It was not hard, when she hardly saw or spoke to anyone but the taciturn castle staff, who were all but silent even amongst themselves as they delivered meals, laid out fresh clothing, or turned down blankets and tamped the fires to warm embers each night. Even the Arundel lands were lively when to compared to dour Fhirdiad. 

But sometimes she wondered... 

She had champed and strained against her own childhood reins. So what of growing up somewhere even more stiff, and quiet, and cold?

Boy.

The motherless little crown prince. The skittish kitten of a creature. She caught glimpses of him, but he spoke no more than formal, necessary greetings, always with that extended bow she was beginning to believe spoke as much of a shy nature as a polite one. He was almost of an age with Edelgard. She resisted, though, the inclination to compare them. 

But not as successfully as she might have claimed, had anyone asked. (Which, of course, no one did.)

He had no ferocity to him - none at all. He seemed, if anything, so docile that it seemed some colossal jape to name him heir to a household, much less an entire kingdom. His build was study enough, but there was still about him an air of fragility, and the same seemed to reflect in his eyes, as wide and cloudless and blue as the sky on the first perfect day of summer. There was assuredly sweetness to him - but sweetness such as his was dangerous. Dangerous to himself - and dangerous to his future rule. 

In that, she had another comparison: not Edelgard.

Ionius.

Perhaps that, more than thoughts of Edelgard, led her to distance herself from him. Sweetness, weakness: his own life was not her concern. The Kingdom was not her concern. Her concern was herself, and her daughter, and if for the moment she had no power to guarantee protection for either of them, she would at least do nothing that risked jeopardizing them further. This soft, sweet, sad boy was nothing to her, and should King Lambert drop dead tomorrow, she would be nothing to this boy. It was safer for both of them. 

But she could not pretend she did not notice his presence - particularly when it was often the only one besides her own. Or maybe it was simply a consequence of all the time she had spent alone, these last few years. Time when there should have been a child... though she could not imagine Edelgard ever skulking so. 

She could feel him watching; hear the soft scuffling of his boots against the stone flooring, or an occasional sniffle or sigh. But she kept her gaze pointedly on whatever task lay before her - she saw no reason to draw more of his attention, and what purpose would it serve to let him know she was aware of his presence? It would only embarrass him. He was spooked too easily already, poor thing. 

Beyond that first month - how long did this strange little act continue? Time seemed to grow increasingly nebulous, the longer she spent in Faerghus. The seasons never seemed to change, one cold, blustery, white-skied day bleeding endlessly into another. She kept track of when it was, as she did every year, but not how long it had been; there was already sufficient past to be mourned. The day it was: that was to light a candle for Edelgard's birthday. 

She would be ten, soon.

The Garland Moon in Enbarr was a beautiful month, warm and sunny without yet the wet, oppressive heat of late summer. In Fhirdiad, she suspected things would not change much between this moon and the next. Maybe that was why the boy was about so much of the time; Lambert had said he was often out with friends, but maybe that was on a rare warmer day. Or maybe his father paid as little mind to his son as he did to his new wife. 

The thought occurred to her on one of those endless, bleed-along days - then gripped, refused to let go. She had assumed the boy was merely bored and curious about this new addition to his life, but what if...

What if he was lonely?

It brought her back to how little she knew about the ways of children. She could not imagine Edelgard quietly putting up with being bored or lonely; she would make entertainment, or demand it be made for her. But was that some prerequisite of very small children - would Edelgard be the same way now?

Because it also took Anselma back to her own memories of childhood. Her own loneliness. And her own isolation. 

She had always thought Edelgard much like her - far more like her than like Ionius. But in considering Dimitri's loneliness, she felt, for the first time, a blossom of kinship. When she felt his eyes, she now looked very pointedly elsewhere, and made broader movements: sewing or reading was hardly still likely anything interesting to watch, but there was no harm in trying to make it so. 

She considered speaking to him - she wanted, more and more, to speak to him - but after so long, she wasn't sure how, nor even, truly, if such a thing would be acceptable. She could recognize the absurdity of it - a woman almost 30 years old, and unsure of whether she could talk to her own stepson! - but the concern was nonetheless there. If such a thing was allowed, why had Dimitri still said so little to her? Too many bedtime stories of wicked stepmothers? 

(That made her smile, to think of - and she could not remember the last time she had done so. It was nice to know a smile might still come unbidden.)

Perhaps she was no longer as impetuous as the girl she had once been. perhaps Dimitri was bolder and braver than she had given him credit for. Or perhaps it was some combination of both - but whatever it was, in the end, the strange wall that had grown between them was brought down not by her, but by Dimitri. 

Dimitri, and the first time he reminded her of Edelgard. 

Her liing quarters in the castle were a set of three small rooms on the third floor - the newer part of the hulking, ancient monolith squatting over Fhirdiad like some immense, ugly, judgmental toad. The inside was hardly much better; she missed the privacy and simplicity of the cottage in Enbarr, and even the familiar confines of the Arundel manor house, with its fug of peat fires and faint aroma, always, of damp thatch and wool and leather. Still, she appreciated the semblance of privacy, especially of the bedroom; she was not so naive as to believe it truly her own, but also aware of hos much less it might be, and how little recourse she would have if it was.

Just outside her bedroom was the small parlor where she took her meals, and next to it the study where she spent much of her time; it had a large, modern window, and she had dragged one of the more comfortable parlor chairs in there, to take advantage of what natural light there was by which to read or sew. The castle staff left breakfast in the parlor each morning, but never went into the study except when she was awake and elsewhere, so that they might dust or tidy. It was otherwise left alone - or so she had always believed.

Which meant it came as a surprise, one bitter early morning of the Harpstring Moon, to find muddy footprints leading across the parlor, and into the study. Small prints - but she could not imagine one of the servants, even a very young one, not only going into the study instead of quietly placing tea and cakes down and leaving, but also ignoring the trail of wet muck left in their wake. Anselma ignored the tray of breakfast - she followed the prints. 

There was a cup on the windowsill. Nothing unusual about it - it was just like the one she had passed not a minute earlier, left for her tea. But there was more dirty and tiny clods of mud around it, and the toes of the footprints before the sill were deep and well-defined, as if the person who stood there had had to raise themselves on tiptoe to do their curious job. 

The cup held flowers. 

Or rather - unopened blossoms. Roses, by the smell of them - and by the smooth-silk coolness of the curled petals, when she reached to touch them. They'd been left in a meager splash of mud-darkened water; the stems were hacked off in jagged, uneven strands of green. Pink and yellow blossoms - they were the brightest thing she had seen in a very, very long time. 

But why were they here?

Edelgard...?

The overgrown back garden of their home in Enbarr, before Edelgard was taken for good: she had loved that meager patch of land. The grass, the uneven hedges, the insects and the tiny frogs that came each summer, out of the stream that separated their house from the rolling fields beyond. 

She picked the wildflowers - tiny things, like Edelgard herself, but just as determined to find a place to call their own, to take root and push their way up, through the soil, around stocky blades of grass or into narrow cracks in the paving stones. A deadly-serious job, as Edelgard took it, to gather up those flowers. She made piles on the stones, separating them by color: a red pile; a blue one; yellow and white. Carefully easing them more tightly together. She spent whole mornings at her slow, methodical work. It was a marked difference from her usual behavior, when she ran hither and yon, outside or in, nothing able to capture her attention for more than a fleeting few minutes at a time. 

They had pressed the flowers - some of them. Anselma showed her how, and Edelgard took this, too, very seriously: biting her lip and squinting at the pages before her, trying to decide the best place for each little bloom. They used a book of hagiographies, a gift from Volkhard, the largest book Anselma had in her possession - and she felt a little spark of an adolescent-esque rebellious pleasure, wondering what he would say of this use of a religious text. 

It wasn't as if Edelgard could read it. 

Flowers...

And small footprints on the floor.

Don't be absurd.

A sudden, surprised little noise behind her - followed almost immediately by a sloshing crash. 

When she turned, blue eyes met hers with no sign of bowing away - just wide, frightened shock. Dimitri's cheeks were red, his hair in its usual long muss, his buttons uneven, and his boots - his very small, mud-caked boots - now splashed and shiny with the contents of the bowl of water he had dropped. In his left hand, he held a cloth. 

He blinked at her, as if for a moment he had lost track of who she was, or perhaps where he was. Then - it seemed almost inevitable - came the bow, though it was hurried and sloppy, with none of his usual careful politeness. "I... I ask your apology, Stepmother. I did not realize you were awake, or... I would not have come in. Without knocking. Though I... I already did. I ask your apology for that, as well. I'm sorry. I will see it all cleaned up. Myself."

Dimitri had created such chaos? Dimitri had... left flowers for her? 

For a long moment, she could find no words, and no thoughts but those. Dimitri had straightened once more - his eyes still afraid, but his face and demeanor patient, waiting. Whether such was normal in a child of his age, she could not say, but just then, she was certainly appreciative of the time allowed to attempt to gather herself. 

"May I help you?" she finally asked. 

Now, it seemed his turn to merely stare. "But... I was the one who made the mess. Why would you... wish to help me?" It was the most emotion she had ever heard from him: his tone still measured and polite, but not tinged, as much his expression was, with what seemed honest befuddlement. 

Was it truly so alien to him, to have someone offer him help?

"Because I'd like to," she said.

Again, Dimitri stared. Then - another bow. But not quickly enough: she had already seen how he started to smile. 

"I'll get more water," he said, "And... I thank you, Stepmother."

As soon as he was gone from sight, she could hear the slap of his boots, as he started to run.

She waited for a moment, still and silent, then went to prepare the tea. She should she might like to offer it to him.