#oh by the way 3h's characters are great but i don't think anyone needs to say that

[reunionatdawn]

My Analysis of the Best Paired Endings in 3H (Part 6: Ferdinand/Dorothea)

(Normal): Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Noble. I already have my heart set on someone else. (Ferdinand & Dorothea support level B reached): I suppose I can settle for you just this once, Ferdie.

The writers obviously put a lot of love into this ship, as it's one of the rare times that the main story dialogue changes depending on Support level between two characters. Plus, since he asks her out on a date outside of their Support chain, it shows that Ferdinand is canonically interested in Dorothea. And this is true in Hopes as well. He fears his mind will "wander to other things" while training with her.

Dorothea: Song and dance live on in our memories, but there's no real record of them. Even memories fade over time. Will anyone remember me when I'm gone?

Dorothea is a Libra, an air sign. Air signs are masculine, but not as much as the fire signs. Libras are extroverted, cozy, and friendly people. Libras, like the Scales that symbolize the sign, are often concerned with attaining balance, harmony, peace, and justice in the world. Dorothea had the motivation to join Edelgard's cause to dismantle the corrupt nobility. But she was also compassionate and hated the idea of fighting people she knew.

Ferdinand: I will do what I'm called to do, even if no mark of me remains in the history books.

Ferdinand bears the Crest of Cichol, which is associated with the Justice Arcana. Justice is a signifier of legal matters being resolved in a fair and balanced manner. It represents the power to distinguish between what is fair and what is unfair, in an impartial way. Ferdinand's dream was to lead the Empire to an age of enlightenment and hold his father accountable for his crimes. The downside to his ambitions was that his life revolved around being recognized for his achievements.

Ferdinand: That is true nobility! Acting in accordance with the people's needs and wishes. As war drags on, those living near the front lines inevitably get the worst of it. Still…Edelgard will not give in. She will push to complete her mission, no matter how many people die. Not everyone with noble blood has noble ideals.

His character arc was about exemplifying true nobility, defined as, "having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals." Not just being noble, defined as, "belonging to a hereditary class with high social or political status." And I would argue that opposing Edelgard was vital to his character arc.

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? Ferdinand: I will not try to explain my duty or hers. You would not understand. I wish you could.

Dorothea is one of the few non-lord characters that will actually react to another non-lord character's death. If you don't recruit Ferdinand, he will die at the Great Bridge of Myrddin so that his name goes down in history as "the legendary Ferdinand of Adrestia".

If Ferdinand does not complete his arc, Dorothea will be the one who is most disappointed. She will say she had high hopes for him, a reference to their B-Support where he made her treats, and she reconsidered him as husband material. His memory will not live on in the history books, but it does live on in her heart. It was hard not to think of this pairing as "canon" after I saw this dialogue.

Dorothea: Though we only knew each other briefly back at the academy, you were still my friend—but now our paths have diverged forever.

There's even a Hopes version of this dialogue available in Record Keeper. Similar to Edelgard and Byleth in Silver Snow, if Ferdinand and Dorothea's paths diverge, it is treated as a great tragedy of fate. It shows how much the writers favored this particular ship.

(Normal): Yes… I have met someone quite charming recently. I'm hoping we can spend more time together soon. (Dorothea has reached Support Rank A with a male): I am. There is someone whose company I have come to enjoy.

While Dorothea is bisexual, she did seem to have a preference for men. The dialogue in her B-Support with Edelgard only changes if Dorothea has attained A-Support with a male character.

Linhardt: You've probably overcome a lot of tough times, haven't you? I think that's incredible, really, but why not just let go of the suffering and run away from the memories that cause you pain? I suspect you'll find it a better way of living. I know I do. Dorothea: That's not living, Lin. It's running away. If I leave my hardships behind, then all of that means nothing.

She only got into the academy by buttering up some noble, which suggests that she may have had to perform sexual favors. She had a poor self-image, despite her physical beauty. And that is why I think she pursued men so adamantly, even when she was not truly attracted to them. She was running away from her past.

Dorothea: What's important isn't how someone looks, it's their true nature. I don't pretend to know your true nature. I don't even have a very good understanding of my own. But I suppose you see mine just fine, don't you? Just a silly girl with no thoughts in her head except for marrying a noble, yes? Good-bye, Felix.

Dorothea had to hone her masculine energy while living on the streets and performing in the opera. She despised the goddess (although she has a hidden talent for faith). Her paralogue with Ingrid showed how the two had contrasting views on marriage. Dorothea wanted to play the traditionally feminine role of housewife, with a noble husband fulfilling the traditional masculine role of provider and protector.

Dorothea: But if you and I were devoted to one another… maybe we could strive for the future you believe in. Maybe I'd finally understand your path and be able to think about more than just myself. Hubert: Seems it's my turn to not understand. Did you just propose marriage as a way to get to know me?

She was always looking for a wealthy husband to take care of her into her old age, and often came across as nothing but a shallow gold-digger. Because she was afraid of living in poverty, she would settle for a nobleman regardless of whether or not she knew him very well or was actually in love with him.

Sylvain: You know, even when I was a kid, I never had trouble with girls. …But thinking about it now, I wonder what they liked about me back then. They didn't know everything about me… It's just confusing. Dorothea: Oh, where did that come from? No one can know everything about you.

She was at first dismissive of the idea that people need to know each other fully to get married. But she did commiserate with Sylvain about how people wanted to marry her without even knowing anything about her. However, she flirtatiously makes plans to grow old with him immediately afterwards. Even though they still barely knew each other.

Dorothea: I never had much to begin with in life, and I worry that one day, I'll be that way again… That's why I keep searching for someone who will love me. Someone unaware of the songstress, who can love a girl that used to be scared and alone on the streets of the capital… I wonder if such a strange person can even exist.

But what she really wanted was to spend her life with someone who did know her true self. Several of her endings depict her giving up on her goal of finding a rich husband. She is able to find love with Petra and Manuela and those are happy endings for her. But I still think the happiest ending for her is to find her dream man. A rich provider and protector who would know and love her as the scared orphan girl.

Dorothea: Oh, really? You're something different? That's not how I remember things… It was the very day that I was discovered…

I think Ferdinand offered the best closure to her character arc. There was a palpable sexual tension between them in both games, with Dorothea pushing him away yet secretly desiring to be closer. I'd argue she has more far chemistry with him than any of her other potential partners. At the academy, Dorothea did not flirt or make advances on Ferdie, despite him being the exact type of wealthy noble she was after. But in the end, she was more open, honest, and emotionally vulnerable with him than she was with anyone else.

Dorothea: Maybe I can believe you. I've wanted to ever since the day you made me those treats… I thought then that maybe you weren't like the others, but… There's a lot I have to let go of, Ferdie.

The tagline for the game was, "Sweet memories twisted by time's cruel hand". By getting closure with Ferdinand, Dorothea could reclaim a sweet memory and let go of some pain from her past. Ferdie considered Edelgard his rival and prided himself on being better than her. But with Dorothea, he said he wouldn't mind a life of being a simple drone, circling a queen. So, they both find a new way to live with each other. This pairing is a more wholesome alternative for Ferdie than Ferdibert. But Ferdie still is kind of a sub.

Ferdinand & Dorothea Ferdinand reclaimed the position of Duke Aegir and initiated reforms within his domain. Through his political methods, which closely aligned with the needs of the common people, the Aegir Duchy swiftly underwent reconstruction. Behind this success story was the significant contribution of Dorothea, the former songstress who became the Duchess, who dedicated herself to serving the commoners. Ferdinand, recognized for his achievements, was entrusted with governance across all of Fódlan. Despite being busy with his duties, he prioritized spending time with his family. He and Dorothea raised their children together, and their home was always filled with the sound of cheerful singing.

This feels like the picture-perfect ending for both of them. Dorothea achieves her life plan of marrying a rich provider and protector, overcoming her prejudice towards nobles. Her children carry on her legacy, and her memory will live on in their hearts.

And thanks to her experiences as an orphan, Ferdinand's policies benefit the commonfolk. He actually renounced his nobility and lived as a wanderer for five years because he did not believe in Edelgard's ideals, and he wanted to make up for his father's wrongdoings in his own way. He was prepared to leave no mark on history, but he is recognized for his achievements in the end.

[raxistaicho]

Using Yellow Edelgard to attack Red Céline!

Somehow, Fantasy Invader's analysis of Engage manages to be even more sad than his analysis of 3H. So let's dive into more of it :)

Also, Céline is my favorite characters from Engage, so Fantasy Invader is kinda stepping into my lane by talking about her.

One of the things about Celine is how despite her cute appearance she is quite ruthless.

Oh yes, that took me by surprise too. I was sure she'd just be the third rendition of Lissa and Elise, but she went her entire joining chapter without bringing up her tea quirk, unlike... every single other character in Engage to that point, who make their gimmicks immediately known...

Thank god Céline was way more interesting than that! Its plot is pretty vapid and zero-effort, but some of the characters were at least way better than anything Fates or Awakening squirted out.

This is rather curious to me, as the Houses devs said something to the same effect about Edelgard. Namely how her being the game's would-be conqueror and stuff was meant to take players by surprise, and how this gave the character depth.

Oh boy. No, you fucking idiot, the dichotomy when it came to Edelgard was her endearing moments and her strong will. Not her physical cuteness and her ruthlessness.

I don't expect Fantasy Invader to read my blogs and learn why he's wrong (he has asks off and immediately blocks anyone who tries to engage with him without response, so he's pretty clearly arrogantly confident in his delusions of intelligence), but I do expect him to occasionally recheck his assertions. I always double-check myself. But then, I'm not burdened by such unearned confidence as Fantasy Invader.

It also doesn't help that alternate-timeline Celine advocates conquest herself, and in the final map of the DLC talks about how great it is she's free from her responsibilities (and can crush her opponents) while equipped with Emblem Edelgard.

Yes, alternate Céline, who was murdered and risen by a rogue dragon who is then given headpats and forgiven for all the things because uwu Nel cawed fow him :'3

Also, I like how they only acknowledge it's Emblem Edelgard, also starring Dimitri and Claude, when they can use it to attack Edelgard, roflmao.

Lastly, given that Fell Fogado and Fell Ivy, the most openly villainous and wretched of the Fell Royals, respectively had Tiki and Soren, does that say something about them? Dragons bad actually? Mixed race people abuse their siblings? It's funny how reliably self-defeating Fantasy Invader's arguments are because they always stop the second he thinks he has a win so he doesn't get to the parts where they don't fit his narrative.

That last one sticks out a bit, since Edelgard had a similar event in FEH where she talked with Lissa about how awful it is that she has responsibilities thrust upon her simply for being born a noble.

I don't play Heroes and I don't know where I'd begin to look to double-check this, but I'm just going to assume FI is wrong about something. I'm certainly not going to take his word for it.

Hubert and Monica's support also talks about how this is part of Edelgard's plan.

I believe he's referring to:

It's amazing how "you'll be free to live the life you choose and remain at the side of the woman you love" got twisted into, "Edelgard just wants to free everyone of icky responsibilities!"

Just as Edelgard wants to enable commoners to rise up and enjoy the benefits once afforded solely to the nobility, she also wants to allow those who don't want to be noble to live ordinary lives.

Three Houses is full of people who, despite being born into nobility, don't want to live ordinary noble lives. Bernadetta, Caspar, Marianne, Linhardt, and Lysithea are examples of this. There's no inconsistency here: Edelgard's motive is to allow people to live the kinds of lives they want.

Not a huge surprise that an Edelgard detractor is against a person's right to self-determination. FI believes Fodlan needs Byleth to become a Nabatean and rule them compassionately.

This is a core piece of morality to the franchise since the beginning with Marth's “I'm a prince before I'm a son or brother” line at the end of the first game.

The difference there is Marth chooses to shoulder that kind of responsibility. Most Fire Emblem lords do, Edelgard included. While she only wants an ordinary life, she still dedicates herself to a cause that will surely consume most of her life.

The whole concept of Oudou, whereas Edelgard is supposed to represent Hadou.

Hadou means self-determination? Well damn, Hadou is pretty based then!

And we know Celine protects the people. She wiped out bandits who were preying on villagers without mercy... Edelgard, on the other hand, is willing to sacrifice as many people as it takes in service to her ideals

I have a feeling Céline herself would disagree with the idea that she would not sacrifice some of her people to protect the rest.

ideals she shares with the bandit Nemesis.

It's funny how Fantasy Invader insists Edelgard is following Nemesis's ideals when Nemesis's ideals of warrior pride is most-reflected in Faerghus's warrior/knighthood culture.

She's guided belief that she's going to make a better future by doing so. Celine helps support her brother Alfred, whose upgraded class is Avenir. Avenir is french for Future, ergo Celine is fighting for the future by supporting Alfred.

Ironic, considering Alfred usually dies young, implicitly leaving Céline to succeed him. This is further hinted at that Céline, not Alfred, is linked to Celica, the national Emblem of Firene, much as Diamant, Ivy, and Timerra are linked to the Emblems of Brodia, Elusia, and Solm. So really, I think she's the future here.

In addition, Alfred is a blonde who has a talent for lances, horseback riding and will die at a young age due to his illness.

We're going somewhere stupid. Very, very stupid. You know where this is going, I mocked it myself ages ago.

Edelgard's step brother Dimitri

Dimitri didn't learn Edelgard was his step-sister until after she returned to Fodlan, and Edelgard never even learned it at all. Their friendship during their younger days is what was important to them, not that their parents were married. So, I'm sorry, but you're reaching mightily trying to portray these two as siblings the way Céline and Alfred are.

is blonde, specializes in lances, has a hidden talent for horseback riding, is mentioned to die to illness before his partner and is stronger than Alfred could ever dream of. Coincidence?

Yes, it actually is a coincidence. I can say that with very little margin for error, because Dimitri and Alfred are so distinct in terms of design outside the most basic traits that it's insane.

Just look at their designs!

Alfred's dressed in blue, white, and gold, wears very fancy and impractical clothing for the battlefield, has a very friendly and confident air about him, is boundlessly optimistic, and lives for the moment and the living.

Dimitri wears blue and black, dresses very practically and militarily, is insecure, guarded, lives for the dead, and dwells in the past.

The only true comparison between them is their hair color and weapon of choice, so you might as well argue Camus and Clive fit into this too, somehow. Hell, Clive's a brother, too, so I think we really need to dig deep into the relationship between Edelgard, Céline, and Claire, while we're at it. Oh! Claire and Celine both have blonde hair and a refined disposition!

Lastly, Dimitri is never shown riding a horse unless the player puts him on one. He's always shown on foot in anything related to the lore. Hell, we see Claude ride a horse one more time than we do Dimitri.

This is so typical of Fantasy Invader's style of analysis, he ALWAYS does this. He focuses hard on what supports his arguments and just totally ignores the parts that don't. Motivated reasoning is the name of the game with him.

Celine's personal class is Vidame.

In the localized version. In the JP version it was the French word for "flower", which fits her nicely.

Now, Vidame was actually a type of French noble associated with the Church. In order to protect the Church's, uhh, earthly interests they would perform acts that weren't considered appropriate for the Church to be involved in. This usually meant violence, even in the event of it being an act of justice or to protect others. So Celine's class does have a religious tint to it, a link to her family's connection to the Divine Dragons...and honestly fits her really well.

That said, the localized name isn't exactly bad, but the thing is Celine isn't motivated by her religiosity. Much like... nearly everyone in Engage aside from Ivy, Mauvier, Pandreo, and Panette, religiosity is just a small thing they do to facilitate the worship of Alear. Because Engage isn't really interested in the deeper meaning of faith, it just wants the player to feel like a god.

But then look at the Empire, founded with the support of the early Church that formed around Seiros.

For the sake of killing Nemesis. That's why the Empire exists. Not so Rhea could guide the lost sheep.

One of the original ideals for the nobility, according to Hanneman, was that they protect their people but that has fallen to the wayside as nobles instead used their positions for their own power.

And, again, Fantasy Invader thinks Edelgard twisted things to not be that way, when the reality is she's trying to drag it back to fulfill the role it was intended to fulfill and failed to fulfill.

This is partially why the Empire is supposed to represent hadou, the other is Edelgard ruling through military power.

Celine's class is closer to what the emperor should have been.

Hmm. I wonder how silly Edelgard would look wearing the upside-down teacup dress.

Edelgard's route is named Safflower/Crimson Flower, Firene is the land of flowers.

But wait, Alfred is the prince of flowers (he references them far more then Celine does) and earlier on Fantasy Invader was trying to compare him to Dimitri, whose route is not named after flowers.

Amazing how flimsy FI's arguments are.

Houses banks on tea-time, to the point of selling teas IRL, Celine is a tea expert.

Tea is a big thing in Firene in general. It gets brought up most with Céline, but it's mentioned frequently in most of the Firenian characters' supports.

I don't see why Edelgard detractors think tea-time is such a big deal in Houses, it's honestly generally a waste except on birthdays when it doesn't cost you explore points.

I've talked before about Hortensia's connection to Emblem Byleth, how her story parallels Silver Snow and how defecting from the Empire is supposed to be the right thing rather than continuing it's decline by fighting for it.

Yup, that was pretty bad.

Elusia is also the Kingdom of Knowledge, whereas the Empire's original meritocracy was, in addition to protecting the people, supposed to be about valuing knowledge.

The Empire was not a meritocracy. Ever. Aristocracies and meritocracies are antithetical.

But when you look at Celine, it just seems to be that they intentionally made a character that was supposed to be like Edelgard

So, in spite of my joke that Céline is "yellow Edelgard", they share little in common aside from being short young women who are willing to take extreme measures to protect people. Céline most notably lacks Edelgard's sense of class-conscience (that her solution to banditry in Firene is to kill the bandits rather than resolve the socio-economic conditions that gave rise to banditry is pretty telling), mostly because Engage has very little of substance to say on the matter of social conflict between the nobility and the commoners. The solution, much as it is in Azure Moon, is just to place the "right nobles" in charge.

I mean hell, even in gameplay they differ. Céline is a squishy mage with some capacity to fight on the front lines (though she only seems meant to fight fellow mages) and use staves, while Edelgard is a pure bruiser.

And no, it's very unlikely Céline was written to compare her to Edelgard. The two games were created at the same time, the Edelgard DLC Bracelet was pretty clearly a late addition, and Fell Céline isn't even especially bad compared to the rest. She comes across as not as bad as Fell Ivy, Fogado, or Alcryst. If she was meant as an apology for Edelgard, she'd be more openly villainous, as Ivy and Fogado are, not motivated by desperation.

Granted, considering how Fogado is supposed to be just like Celine in the service to his sister, and how Houses likes to say Claude is similar to Edelgard initially, I guess we have all three lords having their Engage counterparts.

Ah, yes, Fogado is a brown guy who acts friendly and Claude is also a brown guy who acts friendly! Perfect counterparts!

Except they're not. Fogado is genuinely a friendly, tactful, empathetic man who deftly conceals a machiavellian side for the sake of his sister and people, while Claude plays at being friendly to conceal the fact he's actually rather untrusting, plays at being a schemer as a front, and is rather tactless and insensitive. They're pretty different, and assuming they aren't is kinda racist.

[sukimas]

you know for a game presumably less about nobility than fe4, three houses does a significantly worse job of portraying the plight of the common people

of course a lot of this is no visitable villages- some people (the elderly, the unwilling to fight, the young) aren’t gonna take to the battlefield no matter how contrived the circumstances are, and strangely enough everybody you can talk to in the monastery is one kind of noble or priest or another (with the notable exception of 1 remire village kid standing in the mess hall, who’s fairly missable). however i think monastery dialogue is generally bad at transmitting information because of the circumstances surrounding it.

also, fe4 has more non-nobles in the cast than three houses, somehow! even counting knights as nobles, gen 1 has 5. gen 2 is trickier thanks to lines of descent/EVERYONE being kicked out from their former positions/substitutes (all commoners) but at minimum has 4 not counting potential noble fathers (pegasus knight is not a hereditary position). however, as stated earlier, nobody actually has their noble position at the start of gen 2 (besides arguably altena and tine); everyone else is some kind of rebel, thief, mercenary, dancer, or amnesiac (sorry julia). therefore, while they’re almost all nobles (and let’s face it, usually are all nobles by heritage; you want someone to use the valkyrie staff and forseti) they aren’t in the roles of nobles, and thus you kind of get to see what an average life in the empire is like (for someone of fighting age willing to go toe to toe with a military the size of a small modern city, anyway.) three houses has 1 in black eagles (dorothea), 3 in golden deer (raphael, ignatz, and leonie), and 2 in ashen wolves (yuri, hapi, and balthus (technically)); the faculty are all knights of seiros.

the setting of the academy in three houses is also an issue; it’s sheltered from the world by nature, and to go there both requires and creates some form of privilege- it’s not free as you’d expect from a charity such as the church. being there by nature puts all your characters except for the faculty in the same position as sigurd, famed for being a guy who has a broad knowledge of the world and no naivete whatsoever. yet the faculty are hilariously underdeveloped and show up in no story scenes. the few true commoners in the cast- dorothea and leonie (blue lions is interesting for having zero true commoners, but that’s for another post about how the path is an interesting contrast to the Stereotypical Fire Emblem Game)- have little story presence as well. this is a problem that is shared with other fire emblem games- fe6 is also particularly bad about this-  but in a game which intends specifically to show a continent-wide perspective and multiple viewpoints, specifically avoiding showing the viewpoints of commoners is a huge problem.

specifically, it’s a problem for many of the characters’ motivations! edelgard, dimitri, and claude all have differing perspectives on what’s best for the country- two of these perspectives are centered on crests and one’s centered on foreign policy. both of these have huge effects on the common citizenry of the continent, and yet we get to hear ZERO discussion from any commoners about either.

the closest we get to a commoner discussing crests is dorothea’s perspectives on the nobility in general, which may or may not be solved in a crestless system- there is no information provided either way. the closest we get to discussion of foreign policy is hilda. who is hilda. (no offense to hilda fans or claude but i don’t want her as my second in command.)

fe4, by virtue of having its villages, absolutely dumps commoners’ perspectives on what’s going on at you. “people with holy blood just fucking push the continent around because they’re half-gods” shows up almost once every chapter- the notable thing is that it has villages every chapter, from prologue to final, allowing you to see the impact of all your actions over time rather than just some. important characters in the cast show the impact of misrule on commoners instead of leaving it to exposition- lewyn, lene, creidne, ced, and patty are all good examples.

fe4 gets a lot of discussion about show don’t tell much of the time- but this is mostly in regards to loredumps, as opposed to actual in-game events. pretty much every event that occurs in jugdral during the time the game takes place that is politically important is shown taking place onscreen, with the notable exception of peruluke’s capture and leif’s thracian campaign (the latter of which gets its own game, which is all about commoners. we’re just discussing fe4′s commoners, though- it would not be fair given the zoomed out perspective of it and three houses to compare the latter to a game that is focused almost entirely on the common man.) even events that take place prior to the start of the story are shown to you to an extent, in the vein of shadows of valentia’s turnwheel scenes- once you beat the game, the earlier story events that take place show up in the opening/title screen.

three houses attempts to fix its issues with no commoner perspectives in the cindered shadows dlc- abyss is very much not the sheltered monastery, and 3/4 of its characters aren’t nobles, fallen or otherwise. yet... the dlc story is short, and about byleth/monastery backstory. abyss has no unique NPCs with dialogue, and once the story is over, the ashen wolves become regular students in your house of choice, solving very little. there’s a slight improvement there, but not enough to address the main issues a heavily noble perspective has on the story (crests, foreign policy). mostly it addresses the church.

how could three houses fix its issues? there are a couple options:

1. implement villages literally at all. seriously, hearing any dialogue whatsoever (that isn’t straight up “here’s a dracoshield! it will boost your defense!”) about the current chapter can be an enormous boon and shape player perspectives on their current actions. “does crimson flower involve a shit ton of war crimes or not” could easily be solved by having villagers you encounter react to you in different ways.

2. more god damn chapters. a big reason why people dislike genealogy is Game Long; with 45 castles to capture (or recapture) in the game, and each castle capture being a short chapter’s worth of gameplay, things can get exhausting real fast. however, three houses has maximum 21 chapters, 12 of which are small pre-war skirmishes, to tell a similarly continent-spanning story. this is stupid. most fire emblem games with similar chapter counts (note 3H has the shortest chapter count of any game; mystery book 2, second shortest, has 22.) are about the path of a single kingdom. the only other game with a similar scale to these two is radiant dawn, sitting at a comfortable 38 chapters. with more chapters, you’d have more opportunities to see the effects of your choices on the common folk.

3. integrate commoners into the plot in some way. have your army in part 2 of the game not entirely made up of academy students, for instance. 

there are other options, but these are the easiest three

three houses is a fairly good game. it’s exceedingly ambitious, though, and falls solidly short of its ambitions; a lot of this comes down to release dates and profitability, but another fairly large portion of it comes down to things straight up being poorly written. setting over half the chapters in the academy is not required for the game to ship on time. nor is not having villages (one low-poly model, one interactable object, and one dialogue box). the fact that it doesn’t stand up to a game from 1996 in terms of developing its main theses is down to writing quality, not time; i’m not interested in bad/reused maps or lack of cutscenes.

of course, the main factor in this is likely simple: three houses is written like a dynasty warriors game. dynasty warriors games are entirely (not almost) about their main characters. koei tecmo applied their prior writing experience to a fire emblem game, and wrote a stunning musou, and a fairly mediocre fire emblem.

feel free to opine on this post to disagree with me or to do the opposite, by the way! i would like to hear anyone’s thoughts and opinions on the matter.

[butwhatifidothis]

You know, i've long wondered whether or not Fodlan being left in a miserable state after CF was intentional on IS's part or not; the fact that shit like “Edelgard ordered a historical play to be shut down just because she didn't like how it portrayed her” is pretty clearly meant to be seen as a “cute girl getting embarassed lol” moment instead of the blatant and horrific abuse of power that it is, along with the information that Edelgard installed a secret police and orders her henchmen to spy on her citizens only being revealed in a throwaway line in a random paired ending, with no acknowledgement of how fucked all that is, leads me to think this might have been unintentional.

Ehhh, I wouldn't say it's unintentional - there's a good bit more in 3H to show off how deliberately villainous Edelgard is. Off the top my head and not including what I already said regarding the endings, there's the facts that Edelgard:

is the only person to be readily okay with sacrificing her own citizens (with the only other people who do the same being TWS and a crazed Rhea who is visibly not mentally stable - a state which neither Edelgard nor TWS are ever in when they sacrifice innocents)

has her path be constantly riddled with direct links to the "need" for mass death ("the pool of blood at my feet," "the scarlet path" Hubert prepared for her to walk, "no matter how much blood flows at her feet" - yes, that is a completely different reference from the first link - etc.)

shares much of her motivation (destroying the Church and eradicating the Nabateans) with TWS

has her route be the only one where the story cuts to the other side so that you the player can see the effect your actions have placed onto the antagonists when you kill their close ones (Claude, Rhea, Dimitri)

is the only protagonist to be explicitly and violently racist

initiates extreme and mass violence for the explicit purpose of imperialism

Along with a myriad of other things, one being that she's, uh, literally called a villain by her creators lmao. And imo, 3H would have done a good job of writing her as such... if it weren't for what this other nonnie points out:

Man if you get rid of the uwu cutesy moments, Edelgard really is a sinister villain. The racism, the victim blaming, her desire for genocide, what you mentioned before about taking out anyone who opposes her and spying on her citizens, taking over a religion and remaking it your way i.e cultural erasure, getting rid of two countries' autonomy over revanchist nationalism. Like holy crap, how does anyone not see this and say "yeah that's definitely villainous". Oh right because she wanted to walk with you, isn't it sad ;_;? Seriously though, Intsys kinda dropped the ball here. Like we could've had a sinister villain and in bits and pieces we get that, but a lot of it is obscured by "I wanted to walk with you sensei~", and "I drew a sketch of you. Don't see it uwu." It's like having a cake with a great batter but you put all your effort on the hard frosting instead.

Her villainous behavior, methods, ideologies, etc. are all obfuscated by the ever-present need for her to still be a waifu that's marketable. Yeah, sure, she's realistically speaking a massive piece of shit to put it lightly, but she wants to walk with you :( and draw you :( isn't it cute when she screams at rats :) and she opens up to you that she's scared of rats actually she trusts you so much :) and she asks you if you're sure you wanna fight with her on CF she cares so much about giving you a choice ignore how choosing to NOT fight for her means getting murdered by her instead :) and look at how sad everyone is to fight her :( Doesn't that endear you, the player spending money on this game and its DLC and its gacha spinoff, to her, the cute waifu who's the main face of the game's marketing and who just cares about you the player oh so much?

It's not that her villainy is unintentional, it's that her marketability takes precedence over her character

[the-blue-double]

For the Fire Emblem Lords Ask... all of 'em! If you want. You can pick n' choose, I don't mind.

Oh wow, that’s a lot! I’m happy to do it though, it will be a good way to kill the time between classes today.

Marth: Which Fire Emblem continent is your favorite?

Gotta be Elibe. I love the variety of the setting, how each country you visit in Binding Blade feels completely distinct, how the geography just looks like a place I can imagine existing in real life. It’s really great.

Alm: Favorite male Lord?

It’s a tossup between the longtime favorite Ike, and my newcomer Claude. They both take on very similar themes, and they’re both really complex characters. I think Claude wins in terms of having a stronger backstory and circumstances that made him who he is, but Ike’s character development over the course of the game is stronger (because Claude is actually a pretty realized character before the game starts. His journey is more about learning to trust others enough to include them in his dreams).

Celica: Favorite female Lord?

Eirika! I love her, she’s a realistically flawed character who suffers for it, but her mistakes are totally understandable in the context of her point of view and her established personality. I hate seeing people call her dumb for messing up, because that’s the point! She made a pretty reasonable mistake because she’s not perfect! It doesn’t make her stupid or poorly written! I also love a character who sees the good in everyone, and believes in humanity wholeheartedly.

Sigurd: Favorite class?

Shaman/Dark mage. I find dark magic super interesting to dig into, there’s a lot of pre-Awakening dark magic lore. The concept is just interesting to me. And lets be real, it’s just flat out cool.

Seliph: Favorite skill(s)?

Favorite skills, hmm, maybe lethality? Is it practical? No absolutely not. But it’s really really cool and feels good to activate and isn’t that what really matters?

Leif: Which character(s) do you most want to see added to FEH?

I stopped playing feh so this question has very little bearing on me now, but for the sake of an answer, I guess maybe someone from Sacred Stones? There’s a lot of great characters there who still aren’t in.

Roy: Favorite legendary weapon?

I don’t remember what I’ve said to this in the past, it’s always a tough question. Definitely a tome though because the animations are top tier and magic is my favorite weapon type. Does naglfar count?

Eliwood: Least favorite recurring character archetype?

Please IS we don’t need a woman who’s obsessed with the avatar/protagonist every game. Tharja, Camilla and Faye all come to mind, although I can tolerate Faye as long as I heavily apply my own canon to her over the official one. Thankfully, 3H doesn’t seem to have anyone who’s quite as bad as them. I was afraid Manuela would fall into it, but I actually ended up liking her even though she was used as clear fanservice in that regard on a few occasions. She’s definitely not as bad.

Hector: Do you prefer units that focus on defense/resistance or strength/magic?

Strength/Magic, don’t need to defend if you kill things in one hit anyways. To give a more serious answer, I do lean strength/magic, but I wouldn’t say I hugely prefer one over the other, they both have their applications and usefulness. It depends on the game a little too, you can get away with just focusing on offensive stats in some games, but other games will kill you if you don’t have a solid defensive core too.

Lyn: Do you prefer units that focus on speed or on strength/magic?

Ideally I’d like a balance, but I’ll take strength/magic with no speed over speed with no strength/magic. If you can’t do damage in the first place your doubles and dodgetanking are as good as useless.

Eirika: Which game would you most like to see a sequel (or prequel) to?

I was going to give a few half hearted answers, but then I thought of Archanea and the potential for a game about the first Exalt, and I think I’ve got to give it to that.

Ephraim: Favorite sibling relationship?

Hector and Uther is a really good one.

Ike: Favorite FE character in Smash Bros?

Like as a character or as a fighter? As a fighter Robin is my main, I love playing him, he was my most wanted character for smash 4 before he was announced and I watched his trailer live and it was an amazing thrill when he showed up. As a character probably Ike.

Micaiah: Favorite healer class?

I’d feel wrong saying a magic class that just gets staves on promotion like druid so I’m going to give it to Valkyries, particularly GBA ones.

Kris: Favorite avatar (includes Kiran and Mark)?

Robin I guess? Don’t have strong feelings about any of them, but I don’t mind Robin and I’ve got some attachment to them because of their status as my main in smash and the fact that M!Robin was my first 5 star in Heroes while I still played it

Chrom: Favorite FE ship(s)?

Raven/Lucius Raven/Lucius Raven/Lucius

Uhhh aside from them, I really like both Ike/Soren and Ike/Ranulf, Ignatz/Marianne has become a favorite from three houses, I don’t post it so much but I’m actually pretty attached to Edward/Leonardo (though I platonically ship them more than romantically, I love them as a couple but I also just love them as like, platonic soulmates). I could probably think of a lot more favorites too if I sat down and focused on it for a while, but I’ll spare you. If anyone wants to ask about my feelings on any particular ships feel free though!

Robin (M): Magic or physical weapons?

Magic! I used six mages in a single file in my first FE12 run.

Robin (F): Melee or ranged weapons?

Melee is the basis of the battle, but you have to have ranged weapons to make any strategy work and they open up a lot of options, so I’ll give it to ranged.

Lucina: Favorite child unit(s) from any FE game?

I really like Laurent, although most of the child units in Awakening are really good. I want to say Seliph and Leif too because I love them but I haven’t actually played FE4 gen 2 or Thracia 776 yet so I probably can’t say that yet.

Corrin (M): Favorite type of transformer class?

Beast tribe laguz! Kitties!

Corrin (F): Favorite dancer (or variation)?

Ninian probably. She’s a great character and I liked having the dancer integrated into the story as much as her. I liked Azura for the story integration too but... Fates was Fates, Ninian’s the stronger character by a longshot.