#we were robbed of jeralt content

[kumeko]

A/N: For the White Huron Cup zine! I am extremely bitter we can’t either save Jeralt or have any convos with him. GIVE ME AT LEAST A C-B SUPPORT CHAIN, UNFINISHED WITH THE A. (do that for all three house heads, actually!!)

Summary: Jeralt knew Byleth took after him, but he didn’t realize how much until she stepped on his toes as they danced.

…

…

…

…

Byleth’s hand dug into his shoulder and Jeralt winced. There was gripping your partner’s shoulder and then there was what could only be called a move on the battlefield. He smiled wryly. “Kid, you don’t have to hold that tightly.”

“Oh.” Byleth blinked up at him owlishly before easing her grip a tad. “Sorry.”

That didn’t change anything; her fingers still stabbed into his skin. He chuckled, shaking his head. “You know, you didn’t have to take after me so much.”

The music started before he could fix their positions and Jeralt did what any father would: grinned and bore it. His arm firm around her waist, he guided her as they waltzed through the dance floor. Despite the late hour, the ball was in full force. Students twirled around them, their dresses resembling flowers. From the corner of his eye, Jeralt spotted Manuela looking particularly tipsy and a peeved Hanneman next to her.

“What do you mean?” Byleth asked, forcing his attention back on her.

“Hmm? Oh.” Jeralt chuckled, his eyes crinkling as he resisted the urge to rub her head affectionately. “I’m a terrible dancer too. Better than you, sure, but just barely. I guess you got your two left feet from me.”

“Huh.” Byleth looked oddly pleased at the comment, her lips curving slightly. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close to one. “They said that too.”

“Who?” Jeralt raised a brow. He wasn’t sure if he should be concerned that she had dance partners, or proud.

“Claude.” Byleth poked her head around his shoulder, peeking at the head of the golden deer as he spun Hilda. “He said I probably got it from you.”

“Did he now?” Perhaps he should visit the young lord.

“Yes.” Byleth’s half-smiled once more. “I had to assist with the White Huron cup. Edelgard and Dimitri helped me but…” She shrugged. “I am not much better.”

“Well, for someone who didn’t know how to dance before now, I’d say you’re pretty good.” Jeralt smiled resisting the urge to wince as she stepped on his foot. At least that only happened occasionally. “How was it, getting taught by the future leaders of the world?”

“Painful,” Byleth replied bluntly. Her eyes were soft. It was an expression he had rarely seen on his daughter before, during their years as mercenaries. It was an expression he was starting to get used to now, the more time they’d spent at the monastery.

“You don’t look pained,” he teased, pushing her away slightly to twirl her before pulling her back. “You like it here, don’t you?”

 “I…” After a few minutes of thinking she nodded. “I guess I do.”

“Then it was a good thing we came here.” He glanced around. There were familiar faces around them, people he hadn’t seen in years. Even more were new people he hadn’t met before. “Maybe we should have come here sooner.”

She cocked her head. “Why?”

He wasn’t sure he could explain how expressive she’d become. Even now, curiosity sparkled in her eyes, her voice carried a hint of interest. He had spent years trying to pry an emotion out of her, wondering if Rhea had done something unfixable.

Maybe, it had been him all along.

“Mercenary work…it wasn’t the best place for a kid,” he said gruffly, keeping his doubt out of his voice. It was a good thing they were dancing: he had an excuse to not look her in the eyes. “You missed out on a lot. You’re doing better here than you did anywhere else we went.”

Byleth jerked her head up, staring at him. They stopped moving, the dancers flowing around them like water past a rock. She frowned. “I liked it.”

That wasn’t the answer he expected. “Huh?”

“I liked being a mercenary,” Byleth repeated, pulling him back into the waltz. “I liked being with you.”

Jeralt almost froze again—she gave him a full smile, the first he’d ever seen from her. He remembered the kid who used to braid his hair emotionlessly, the girl who’d follow him around, sword in hand, always ready for a lesson.

At some point, when he wasn’t looking, she’d grown up.

“Me too.” His voice cracked partway.

Maybe they hadn’t missed out on as much as he’d thought.

“Your mother was a great dancer,” Jeralt added, smiling as Byleth’s eyes grew wide from the info.

And whatever they had lost, he could fix that now. They had the rest of their lives to catch up.

[gascon-en-exil]

Bottom Ten Three Houses Characters

I decided after a while that I couldn’t fulfill an anon request to do a top 10 list for the whole series, because it would overlap too much with ones I’ve already done - lord privilege is a thing that exists, and I’ve ranked those before - and because it’s really difficult to compare so many characters (~600 if we’re being thorough) across so many different games.  Instead I decided to go negative with it, although around 2/3rds of these ought to be totally uncontroversial at least in my corner of the fandom. Starting from the one I dislike least:

(Dis)honorable Mention: Anna, for putting in such a lackluster showing that she doesn’t deserve a spot on this list despite technically being in the playable cast. It’s not only the lack of supports, although that hurts, but also how obvious it is that the writers have no new material for her. Anna’s gimmick worked fined when she was an NPC and perhaps for the space of a single game as a playable character, and Fates originated the meta idea of making her paid DLC so you have to shell out real money to use her, but that’s the extent of her here too. As a unit she’s far from spectacular, and her paralogue isn’t even good for much but a ton of (mostly mediocre) drops and a tiny bit of context for that Pallardó guy from non-CF Chapter 13. Here’s a revolutionary idea: for the next original FE it might be good to have Anna back to being only a wacky dimension-hopping NPC shopkeeper.

#10 Constance - It pains me that she’s on this list, more than anyone else by far. I really wanted to like Constance, and at first glance she’s right up my alley as a haughty impoverished aristocrat coping awkwardly with her diminished status. I like the dark flier class she’s built around, and her default personality is an even louder pre-timeskip Ferdinand whom you know I love. However, it’s that “default personality” bit that sours me on her, because she’s got two of them. What could have been an interesting take on Constance’s struggles with identity and self-esteem in the wake of her family’s disgrace is presented in such an over-the-top comedic manner that it’s impossible to take her very seriously. It’s more reminiscent of FE13′s Noire than anything, and at least she has the excuse of a mother who performed dark magic experiments on her and fractured her psyche. Constance also supports Jeritza and yet somehow they do no more than lightly allude to their personality issues which is as much a missed opportunity as you can get with such a terrible character (see below), opting instead to try softening Jeritza with his fondness for roses. Lovely.

#9 Leonie - Fandom exaggerates her Jeralt fixation, although it does pop up at the worst times (see: her Byleth support right after his death). As I’m not very concerned with Byleth’s nonexistent feelings though this placement more comes down to general indifference. Leonie feels completely disconnected from the rest of the Deer, and although she’s a supposed reflection of the house’s more egalitarian bent there’s nothing connecting her to the politics or larger culture of the Alliance until you learn about her student loan debt. She really is best understood as a Jeralt fangirl first and foremost, which is why perhaps the most surprising thing about her is when reality comes knocking in her endings and it turns out she picked up her mentor’s vices as well. Jeralt himself would be even further down this list were he playable, but as he isn’t I’ll have to settle for side-eyeing all of his adoring fans. Which brings me to....

#8 Alois - Remember that dating sim Dream Daddy that people were talking about a few years ago? The one that willfully misunderstands what the term “daddy” means in gay male spaces to write fluffy dad joke-laden romances intended for a presumably not-gay audience? Alois is the spirit of that game personified as an FE character, which is not something I ever would have thought to know that I didn’t want. He’s got some funny lines here and there, but that’s the most you can say about him when otherwise he’s just passable midgame filler (of a unit type each house including the Wolves already has one of) standing in Jeralt’s imitation Greil shadow. I don’t even mind the platonic S support all that much because it’s still only Byleth, but it occurs to me that just about the only thing that would have made Alois memorable would be if his S support was romantic but he remained married to his wife. I can’t think of a time when this series has allowed the player to indulge in adultery, so even if it had been limited to an option for f!Byleth it would have been a fascinating option.

#7 Cyril - This isn’t about his devotion to Rhea, which is fully understandable given his circumstances. Nor is it about his performance as a unit which in my experience at least is actually rather good for a Donnel/Mozu-style villager archetype. No, what gets me is that he’s a self-righteous workaholic which makes for quite the grating personality trait. I understand that he finds meaning in his work and that he’s got some entertaining supports calling other characters to task for their terrible work ethics or ignorance of the lives of commoners (VW should have really dug more into his back-and-forth with Claude), but the lectures on not interrupting him or telling Byleth to get back to work are as tiresome as they are frequent. It’s petty I know, but one can only hope he grows out of it eventually. At least he doesn’t wear a pot on his head....

#6 Mercedes - Like Constance, she’s the type of character I wanted to like from the start. She’s pious pseudo-Catholic clergy, with a quirky thing with ghosts and some quiet lesbianism with her BFF that I can take or leave but that I know some people really enjoy (and also she’s bi-for-Byleth, but no one talks about that). Unfortunately as I touched on when talking about Marianne in my Top 10 characters list, Mercedes’s appealing points are sharply contrasted against her more annoying ones. The breathy voice acting I can mostly get used to, but her backstory is unnecessarily convoluted - three families and two flavors of evil adoptive father - and as is also true of Constance her association with Jeritza drags her down a fair bit. To this day I still have no idea what we’re meant to make of the Lamine siblings’ dynamic, but Mercedes’s eagerness to overlook her brother’s crimes and unrepentant bloodlust so she can coo over what a sweet boy he is deep down say some pretty odd things about her personal moral code. Maybe it was implied all along with the paranormal fascination that she’s not as orthodox as she appears to be, but the dissonance is real especially in CF where she gets a support line with Jeritza that tries to woobify him and affirms how much she loves him...and meanwhile in monastery exploration she’s wringing her hands over how much she hates the idea of fighting Faerghus and the church. There’s no through line here, and as justification for characters siding with Edelgard go this one is pretty flimsy.

#5 Gilbert - Similar to Cyril, I don’t dislike Gilbert for the reasons that most of the fandom does. Yes, he’s a crappy father, but as I’m pretty indifferent to Annette and to father-child bonding in general I can appreciate the fresh spin he places on the archetype of the devoted knight. In short, he’s a knight who wasn’t devoted and ran away from his duty, and his arc in AM is all about making up for his past failures both to his family and to his liege. This is an angle to knighthood FE doesn’t delve into often, and it makes him an explicit foil of Dedue as explored in their supports. The reason that Gilbert is on this list though in fact has more to do with that opposition, because I am painfully aware that had AM not killed off Dedue by default in service of self-insert romance Gilbert would not have had to be scripted as Dedue’s replacement both as a unit and as a retainer figure. It’s not his “fault” of course, insofar as one can ever blame fictional characters for the actions of their writers, but whenever I’m running AM and have to take those randomized supply run quests from Gilbert instead of the route’s actual retainer I’m reminded of how we were robbed of power couple Dimidue (in AM anyway - CF of all routes delivers on this point). Gilbert could have been father of the year to Annette and freely given Byleth his (grand)daddy dick and it still wouldn’t overwrite the fundamental problem that Byleth screwed over all three AM-exclusive characters in different ways. As to that, well...look at #1.

#4 Raphael - It’s hard to describe just how much wasted potential there is to this guy. Along with Ignatz and Leonie he could have illustrated the greater social mobility of the Alliance and the increased opportunities non-nobles enjoy there, but all three are mostly side characters. He’s repeatedly positive in the face of tragedy and remains motivated by his love for his remaining family, but 90% of his dialogue revolves around either eating or training to the point that he’s arguably the closest FE16 comes to gimmick character writing (something almost every FE is guilty of, but that has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years because of how much Awakening and Fates used it). He has a sweet friendship with Ignatz with even a bit of chemistry that sits in good company with the kind of simply affability he has with almost everyone he supports, but they have a no homo ending involving one of the game’s eternally offscreen characters. He supports Dimitri, but the bara content is thin on the ground and their line stands out as easily the least substantial of the house leaders’ cross-house supports. Even as a unit he’s lackluster, in the same repetitive category as Alois with nothing that makes him really stand out from the other axe-and-brawling guys. Highest HP growth in the game...whee. I’ve seen arguments that Raphael’s simplicity is the source of his charm, and while I can sort of see that he feels like he belongs in a game like the GBA or Tellius titles where characters have a much smaller amount of overall content to their name. In a game like Three Houses the sheer torrent of lines about food and training wear thin quickly.

#3 Bernadetta - see #8 here. To sum up, she’s annoying, her sex appeal falls flat with me and is frankly just kind of confusing, it bugs me that a significant portion of the Ferdibert fandom headcanons her as Hubert’s bestie when the man clearly does not do besties, and the most positive thing I can think to say about is that based on her habit of befriending known murderers among other things she might be a bit of a sociopath. That’s not very flattering, but at least it’s somewhat interesting. Oh yeah, and Edelgard setting her on fire at the Gronder rematch is good for a meme although I suppose that isn’t technically attributable to Bernadetta.

#2 Jeritza - Jeritza sucks. Everyone, apart from the small number of fans into Bylitza for some reason, is aware that he sucks. He’s a bloodthirsty serial killer we’re meant to like because he killed his father to protect his sister and also because he likes ice cream and kittens...and because he’s clearly mentally ill in some way and Edelgard is weaponizing his illness for her war which means all the murder is okay, I guess. Jeritza is like FE7 Karel if he was somewhat important to the plot and that instead of a redemption arc between games he got Karla and some other characters swearing that he’s really sweet deep down and also he can romance the male self-insert - yay. I love the line of thinking sometimes espoused in anti circles that M/M Bylitza is the only non-Problematic™ Byleth ship because he’s their only gay romantic S rank partner who’s not one of their students, a loli, or Rhea who is obviously the most evil character in the game. As I’ve mentioned above Jeritza also makes other characters he supports worse by association, although he’s not quite as bad in that regard as #1. Do I even need to bring up the painfully affected voice acting? It’s ironic that the vocal director for the English localization turns in unquestionably the worst performance among the named cast, and I have to assume he picked the role for himself solely because he sounds like an imposing Death Knight and not because his voice is at all suited to the troubled twunk underneath the armor. Just about the only thing that would have salvaged Jeritza for me would be if he and Hubert got to have an epic competition to determine once and for all which of them is more evil. Hubert would wipe the floor with this poser.

#1 Byleth - see here at the bottom. They fail as a self-insert, they fail to be a properly realized character even more than previous Avatars, they damage other characterizations and arcs all over the place, and Three Houses overall would have been vastly improved if they didn’t exist or at least weren’t the PoV character. In that previous post I listed just two reasons why I still prefer Byleth to Robin as an Avatar, one being that their significance to the plot is set up before the game even begins and the other being that their lack of a voice makes f!Byleth a less obtrusive presence when it came time for me to have her S rank all the guys to fill out the support log...not enough to where I could treat her as a self-insert, but any amount helps. I do however have to add a third small bit of praise for Byleth, in that they apparently drive antis up the wall for the most asinine of reasons which is always entertaining to witness. I recall when this game’s school setting was first revealed that everyone in the fandom nodded their heads and made the easy prediction that there would be teacher/student sex because that’s just how FE rolls, but somehow still there’s outrage over it. Even so, Byleth is horrible by every significant parameter, and it’s a shame we’ll only be able to imagine what FE16 would have been like had the developers not felt the need to write the whole thing around an Avatar.

[beyblaiddyd]

tinynightparade replied to your post: intsys says we didn’t have time the write an...

it really is agonizing how multiple months of the school phase are literally just filler missions

like multiple battles against the other houses that are just exactly the same and then you have to stop people robbing the holy mausoleum and then later in the game you have to stop people from robbing the secret second holier mausoleum. i obviously love the miklan chapter but that should’ve been additional content to a story-based chapter not a chapter in its own right or even just a paralogue because there’s No reason they should’ve revealed the demonic beasts were humans at that moment when they just as easily could’ve revealed that in the monica reveal chapter, which also had no reason to be broken out from the remire chapter. 

like just looking at a chapter list for white clouds we probably should’ve had... 

prologue: keep it the same chapter 1: familiar scenery  chapter 2: mutiny in the mist chapter 3: the battle of the eagle and the lion  chapter 4: the cause of sorrow -- doesn’t matter if it’s in remire or on campus grounds, in either case tomas/solon reveal, monica is one of the “victims”, she can still stab jeralt or whatever they need  chapter 5: throne of knowledge -- multi-part map, flayn has gone missing, byleth is craving revenge, the search for flayn leads to penultimate conflict in the goddess’ throne room where byleth finds the sword of the creator and awakens sothis’ power, the demonic beasts are whipped out for the first time and it’s revealed the victims in the cause of sorrow were incomplete test subjects, and the edelgard reveal happens, leading right into the Outset Of A Power Struggle/To War map. hell, include miklan here if you feel like it 

Bam, Timeskip Time

[kumeko]

A/N: For the White Huron Cup zine! I am extremely bitter we can’t either save Jeralt or have any convos with him. GIVE ME AT LEAST A C-B SUPPORT CHAIN, UNFINISHED WITH THE A. (do that for all three house heads, actually!!)

Summary: Jeralt knew Byleth took after him, but he didn’t realize how much until she stepped on his toes as they danced.

…

…

…

…

Byleth’s hand dug into his shoulder and Jeralt winced. There was gripping your partner’s shoulder and then there was what could only be called a move on the battlefield. He smiled wryly. “Kid, you don’t have to hold that tightly.”

“Oh.” Byleth blinked up at him owlishly before easing her grip a tad. “Sorry.”

That didn’t change anything; her fingers still stabbed into his skin. He chuckled, shaking his head. “You know, you didn’t have to take after me so much.”

The music started before he could fix their positions and Jeralt did what any father would: grinned and bore it. His arm firm around her waist, he guided her as they waltzed through the dance floor. Despite the late hour, the ball was in full force. Students twirled around them, their dresses resembling flowers. From the corner of his eye, Jeralt spotted Manuela looking particularly tipsy and a peeved Hanneman next to her.

“What do you mean?” Byleth asked, forcing his attention back on her.

“Hmm? Oh.” Jeralt chuckled, his eyes crinkling as he resisted the urge to rub her head affectionately. “I’m a terrible dancer too. Better than you, sure, but just barely. I guess you got your two left feet from me.”

“Huh.” Byleth looked oddly pleased at the comment, her lips curving slightly. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close to one. “They said that too.”

“Who?” Jeralt raised a brow. He wasn’t sure if he should be concerned that she had dance partners, or proud.

“Claude.” Byleth poked her head around his shoulder, peeking at the head of the golden deer as he spun Hilda. “He said I probably got it from you.”

“Did he now?” Perhaps he should visit the young lord.

“Yes.” Byleth’s half-smiled once more. “I had to assist with the White Huron cup. Edelgard and Dimitri helped me but…” She shrugged. “I am not much better.”

“Well, for someone who didn’t know how to dance before now, I’d say you’re pretty good.” Jeralt smiled resisting the urge to wince as she stepped on his foot. At least that only happened occasionally. “How was it, getting taught by the future leaders of the world?”

“Painful,” Byleth replied bluntly. Her eyes were soft. It was an expression he had rarely seen on his daughter before, during their years as mercenaries. It was an expression he was starting to get used to now, the more time they’d spent at the monastery.

“You don’t look pained,” he teased, pushing her away slightly to twirl her before pulling her back. “You like it here, don’t you?”

 “I…” After a few minutes of thinking she nodded. “I guess I do.”

“Then it was a good thing we came here.” He glanced around. There were familiar faces around them, people he hadn’t seen in years. Even more were new people he hadn’t met before. “Maybe we should have come here sooner.”

She cocked her head. “Why?”

He wasn’t sure he could explain how expressive she’d become. Even now, curiosity sparkled in her eyes, her voice carried a hint of interest. He had spent years trying to pry an emotion out of her, wondering if Rhea had done something unfixable.

Maybe, it had been him all along.

“Mercenary work…it wasn’t the best place for a kid,” he said gruffly, keeping his doubt out of his voice. It was a good thing they were dancing: he had an excuse to not look her in the eyes. “You missed out on a lot. You’re doing better here than you did anywhere else we went.”

Byleth jerked her head up, staring at him. They stopped moving, the dancers flowing around them like water past a rock. She frowned. “I liked it.”

That wasn’t the answer he expected. “Huh?”

“I liked being a mercenary,” Byleth repeated, pulling him back into the waltz. “I liked being with you.”

Jeralt almost froze again—she gave him a full smile, the first he’d ever seen from her. He remembered the kid who used to braid his hair emotionlessly, the girl who’d follow him around, sword in hand, always ready for a lesson.

At some point, when he wasn’t looking, she’d grown up.

“Me too.” His voice cracked partway.

Maybe they hadn’t missed out on as much as he’d thought.

“Your mother was a great dancer,” Jeralt added, smiling as Byleth’s eyes grew wide from the info.

And whatever they had lost, he could fix that now. They had the rest of their lives to catch up.