#she sides with randoms in Nopes who suck but aren't Thales

[randomnameless]

I just want a little feedback. Does my assertion that Hopes Edelgard, without the influence of White Clouds, is a less effective tyrant more concerned with PR and doesn't back her ideals as much make sense?

I wouldn't say that she's a less effective tyrant in Supreme Bullshit or that she's more concerned with PR...

But after ditching Uncle'n'pals, she needs other allies, and thus has to turn to the corrupt Adrestian Nobles, represented by the best pals Leopold'n'Waldemar

(+ Bernie's dad if we want)

Imo, if she doesn't use Crest Beast in Supreme Bullshit, it's because... they're at an experimental stage, and not because she suddenly awakened her moral compass and thought turning her people to biological weapon through gruesome experimentation is cruel and inhumane.

Crest Beasts are not reliable yet - and since she speed runs this time, she doesn't let Uncle'n'pals refine their "technology" and create more powerful/usable Crest Beasts.

Which brings another nonsensical point : in FE16, it is shown (and heavily implied in Tru Piss) that the only way she managed to kick Rhea out of Garreg Mach is through the use of Crest Beasts, the second Rhea turns in her lizard form, she can destroy imperial soldiers by blinking. That's why Uncle's special "reserve troops" are needed, to fight against a Nabatean.

In Nopes... apparently she manages to oust Rhea on her own, even in AG where Rhea turned into the IO and flew away?? What the frick? That Sailor Fuku must be the famed "plot armour" because I can't see otherwise why she wasn't flattened in Nopes.

Supreme Leader might believe that Uncle'n'pals are powerless right now, and she has the upper hand because they didn't show her all of the new shinies and tech and "war assets" they can provide her -

which goes back to what many of us were discussing for 3 years, Uncle'n'pals are actually weak sauce and without their nukes of Nemesis in the freezer (again, forgotten because the Sailor Fuku plot armor prevents Supreme Leader from being demolished), they aren't doing anything different than slithering around, telling corrupt nobles to be corrupt or just fanning an existing bonfire

So Supreme Leader, riding high on whatever she smoked in Nopes, to Hubert's dismay, thinks she can get rid of Uncle, who hasn't played his hand yet, by using the lizard illuminati - but she declares war on the lizard illuminati before making sure Uncle'n'pals are disposed of, maybe she thinks they're not in Adrestia anymore, so that's enough for her?

Now, as you pointed out, she's still out there being a tyrant, killing people who don't bend the knee to her, attacking refugees, etc etc.

But she needs other allies against what's left of Uncle'n'pals and the Lizard illuminati, that's why she tries to agressively recruit Lonato (iirc in SB she wants to save him so he will join her side?) and invented that nonsense about Acheron being her ally, to invade Leicester but also, and maybe, she really thought he was willing to bend the knee so she could use him as fodder against her enemies.

---

As for PR, even if Pat's lolcalisation team tried to lolcalised it, in FE16 we learn how the Empire is running an "information campaign" to make Adrestians less worried about the war going on, so she always wanted to give a good "image" to the world. Hell, we can even surmise that Claude was on the receiving end of one of her "information campaign" since he drank her words in Golden Trashfire about the Lizard illuminati.

Imo, WC cements her (Hubert's?) hunch that Uncle'n'pals are the only ones able to help her against the Lizard illuminati, because they have means - as "gross" as they are - to fight against Rhea and the Nabateans. She gains loldiers, a cool set of armor and giant fodder.

Through the course of WC, we see how her plans (together with Uncle) are working, somehow, and manage to destabilise the Church - imo, the biggest "win" they manage to secure is not kidnapping Flayn (even if that is a major success!) or trying to steal the SoC (it failed because plot reasons) but effectively infiltrating Garreg Mach and turning its students in Demonic Beasts, under Rhea's nose. The knights are stretched thin because of the Western Church and so Thales'n'co can infiltrate, continue their experiments and plan their invasion.

They even manage to kill Jerry, who's supposed to be hot stuff!

Now, in WC, there is Billy.

In all routes, Billy is the one able to use the SoC, and the one who received Sothis's blessing. Supreme Leader is pissed, because she was the one supposed to the ultimate weapon against Rhea (the goddess doesn't exist, she's fake?) and Thales wanted her to use the SoC, but here that random nobody pops up and manages to use it, effectively receiving, by the time Kronya kicks the bucket, Sothis's powers.

In Tru Piss she lampshades it, Billy was never supposed to side with her, she thought they would side with Rhea/the Church.

So in a way, the person who makes Supreme Leader rely more and more on Uncle (even if, as I pointed out earlier, he has time to demonstrate his usefulness by giving her new tools to work with) is Billy.

WC is more like her despair, her power alone isn't enough to topple the Lizard illuminati, who just recruited a powerhouse through Billy, she needs Uncle.

Remove Billy and their Sothis powers, (and Uncle's science projects being successful) and Supreme Leader believes Uncle is useless and her power alone* is enough to topple the Lizard illuminati.

*including the shiny Holy Weapon she found under her bed that was definitely not made by lizards so it's totes her power and hers alone + the super strength she got from Uncle's experiments.

--

As for her being happier in Nopes...

I'd say it's because she believes she's the one in command and doesn't need to rely on anybody (corrupt nobles can be axed if she wants, look at Ludwig) and she's the one "cutting her own path uwu".

In Houses, she faces her own... inadequacies and realises her "own power" isn't enough to fight against Rhea, that's why she has to rely on Uncle and she hates it - but imo, she doesn't hate it because Jack and Joe are foddered as demonic beasts, nopes, she hates it because she doesn't like Uncle and wants to kill him, the enemy of my enemy is an ally, but not an ally I'm super glad to work with.

She never gave a fuck about Jack and Joe.

Supreme Leader always pretends to second guess her motives and to show mock guilt, calling herself a tyrant etc only for people to say no she's not, or she's making that great sacrifice for the "great err goal" with copious amounts of earl grey, etc etc - and the shadow realm is all about that, everyone swallowing gallons of earl grey to make her look "not bad", and by corollary, make Claude a stupid man hell bent on killing Rhea , as seen with his convo with Dimitri, who is "BaD" anyways.

In AM there's no pity party because everyone died, so when she turns in Hegemon, no one is here to talk about a great sacrifice or to drink earl grey, she's stripped down to her core motivation and main goal : there can only be one ruler of the world, and she wants to be that ruler.

Even if Supreme Leader in Nopes is shown interacting with Leopold'n'Waldemar and, in a way, compromising with her supposed ideals of muhritocracy and getting rid of nobility by relying on those dudes...

Even in Houses she relied on them - Leopold defends Enbarr iirc, and in Tru Piss rolls over Leicester - and worse, at the end of Tru Piss, several of her friends keep their hereditary positions who are, well, still there, despite the so beloved Ferdie support where they mention schools and imperial exams etc etc.

Her goal hasn't changed between Nopes and FE16, but she's happier in Nopes because she is ignorant - Thales'n'Rhea disappear, they're not "dead" in Supreme Bullshit - and thinks her own power is enough to get rid of them, both because her sailor fuku is made a plot armor, and because Thales didn't play all the cards in his deck (Nukes and Nemesis and lab tested Demonic Beasts).

In FE16, Thales has more time to show her his hand and Rhea recruited a powerful ally (and no sailor fuku with plot armor i guess) which means she has to rely on Thales, and she doesn't like it because she's not the one in control.

AM!Hegemongard is a Supreme Leader drunk on power and contradictions, she becomes super strong, but she relies on powers that aren't "hers", they're the result of Uncle's experiments and, ultimately, Rhea's pact with Willy.

Aymr represents her association to Thales, Agartha and her problematic agency (is she conquering the world because she wants too, because Agarthans manipulated her stupid dad to tell her to conquer the world, or because she's brainwashed and a Supreme Puppet like AG depicted?).

Labrunda isn't supposed to represent her association to the Nabateans (they're are creatures plaguing humanity for ages after all!) but the her non-problematic anymore agency, she's in charge, she's the one cutting her own path...

Except that she doesn't do jack shit, especially against her two mortal enemies, who "disappear" together because Rhea saved the world once again.

So, in a way, even if she's happier in Nopes, in Nopes she doesn't achieve anything (save for being a human who wages war like humans do), she doesn't get rid of Nabateans or of Agarthans.

But she's happy because everything she does (aka, nothing) is her own doing, and not Uncle's! And to piss on Nopes even more, the narration says the war continues, so truly, she didn't achieve a thing. GG for being the one in control this time, I guess?

In Tru Piss (her route) she might not have been super duper happy, but she manages to reach her goal, Nabateans are gone, Thales will be gone in the credits, and she's the ruler of the world since Dimitri tripped on a rock and fell neck first on Aymr, plus Claude decided to return home for some reason.

-----

So back to your question :

I don't think Supreme Leader is less of a tyrant in Nopes.

She just allies with different persons this time who aren't baby eating monsters like Uncle, but she never gave a fuck about those babies in FE16, and still dgaf about them in Nopes.

If she focuses more in PR, it's her way to recruit and keep recruiting those new "allies" - but just like she was complicit in Thales's actions in FE16, she is with the Adrestian corrupt Nobles in Nopes even if the corrupt Nobles don't turn people into crested beasts.

Even in Nopes, Supreme Leader still invades and conquers and axes whoever opposes her, she pillages a monastery and hunts refugees - and no one gives a fuck. IMO, she's still the same tyrant we see in FE16, but the game focuses even less on her actions than FE16 did, and that's some sort of record breaking move.

However, even with her newfound happiness and "stupid but not cruel" allies, contrary to FE16, Supreme Leader achieves... nothing.

She isn't the one who kills the Evil Lizard Lady, she doesn't even kill Thales, her war... continues, and doesn't end.

She's a less effective tyrant because she still has to fight a war she cannot win, but with the few interactions, crappy rhetoric and uwu fest we see of her in Nopes, she's still the same Supreme Leader.