#which isn't so much a ''this is a bad end route for Claude'' as much as it is ''Claude pretending to be Edelgard - The Route''

[fantasyinvader]

Part of the discourse, I believe, is rooted in Byleth being Schrodinger's Player Character. Who is Byleth supposed to be: their own character or an avatar for the player? Byleth's a silent protagonist, much a Link, and while we can't customize their appearance we can change their name and birthday. However, that birthdate is fake and Jeralt's journal gives Byleth's actual birthday separate from what the player gives them (unless the player puts in that date themselves). Likewise, it's also implied that whatever name we give Byleth isn't the name they were given at birth, Rhea's the only one who could actually give them their birth name.

In a way, the identity we assign Byleth is just whatever false identity Jeralt gives them.

The game makes Silver Snow the natural progression of Byleth's story, that Byleth would reject working with Edelgard and her allies at the end of White Clouds. The decisions that unlock Flower instead are framed as “changing the story” within the game itself. As the story is meant to progress, Byleth wouldn't abandon their teaching duties to go to Enbarr at Edelgard's request. Hell, Byleth gains a paralogue by have a support level with Rhea and loses it if they turn on her. Regardless of class taught Byleth being a teacher is shown to be good for them, allowing them to actually experience emotions, and at the end of every White Clouds Byleth's would turn their sword against Edelgard unless the player has them act out of character and do things that change the story. They go from a mercenary who cuts people down without feeling a thing, with Hopes making it clear they don't enjoy such a life, to someone who wishes they could peacefully solve things unless they side with Edelgard and abandon Byleth's character.

Rhea though Byleth was an empty vessel for Sothis, only to learn they were their own person. Yet players treat Byleth as an extension of themselves, their own empty vessel to shape Fodlan as they see fit while complaining you can't “betray” Dimitri like you can Edelgard (never mind the devs said she betrays you) or that Claude doesn't go after the Church. People talk about how your choices matter in Fodlan, but the first choice you get is simply which class to teach which includes two routes without any real variation to them, and the third class has it so that the player can either stick to the script or join the villains. What kind of sense does that really make if that first decision will lock me into supporting the Church over Edelgard before I get to know anyone or anything about the setting?

Instead, our choices only seem to matter when we go against the story and side with the people we were supposed to fight and in the process kill/exile the heroes. Despite the clues that indicate how out of character it is for Byleth to join Edelgard, how they regress as a person, this is held up as a good thing because it seemingly validates not Byleth's choice but that of the player's. They see Byleth not as a character, but as an extension of themselves and therefore want Byleth to fight the Church despite all of what Edelgard and TWSITD did during White Clouds because the player believes they are the bad guys. The devs even said that Flower was thematically tied to having different beliefs... in a world built to support Silver Snow's story. Even when Edelgard is shown to withhold information or spread lies to her allies, people still choose to believe her and think that's okay because this path was their decision.

From a Buddhist perspective, their “self” has ended up leading them astray, yet they believe their “self” should be celebrated because they misunderstood the setting and acted based not on what the story was telling them but what they believed instead. Going even further, this way of thinking is pretty apt for the Asura path. It's the path of the Agarthans.

[problematic-fodlan]

oh good i didn't know this blog existed and i need to get something off my chest and it's that 3h fucking sucks because it doesn't actually want to commit to half of its themes. between the gross white savior-y shit going on with dimitri and duscur, petra just being ok with her country essentially being absorbed into adrestia because the plot demands it and. fucking almyra. in general. but because it half commits to saying racism is bad and has that ingrid/dedue support and has enough characters simply say "discrimination is bad actually" then idk the fandom just kind of overlooks all the other shit the game DOES and excuses it because claude wants to end racism.

and i don't think the game having 4 routes with separate viewpoints and "well that's so much writing think of the writers" excuses that actually. this is an exceedingly political game, you either commit to your fucking themes or you make a different game. one route is a good 80 hours long and there are so many cutscenes. you're telling me they couldn't fit in actually showing how racism is a systemic problem but could fit in half the cast just saying that? or who knows, maybe it actually is in the game and i just missed some bonus monastery text in the latter half of golden wind. which like. that isn't good. that should be main story shit, not relegated to optional and probably faceless, unnamed npcs.

or, and this one is loaded, the game actually fucking loves bloodlines. it doesn't like crests, yes, but it loves families. you have all these characters with fucked siblings and abusive parents but ohh that's family you HAVE to love them. the fact miklan gets a fucking redemption arc in hopes genuinely pisses me off. why is it that miklan, who repeatedly abused and has attempted to kill sylvain (who i don't even like!!), pillages villages, and is the leader of a whole ass infamous gang of bandits is framed in more of a sympathetic light than fucking rhea? why are we handwaving the shit that he does away because he's sylvain's brother and well he's kind of loyal and surprisingly a good leader? shut the fuck up. i understand that people can change but these are effectively 2 different people now. you have the irredeemable piece of shit from houses and now the flawed and tragic, but sympathetic miklan in hopes. these two fundamentally cannot coexist and yet the game wants you to pretend they can.

it's even worse because houses tells you margrave gautier disowns him whereas hopes tells you miklan left of his own volition. you are rewriting your own canon here. i suppose one of them could be lying, but what does that say about the situation? and what do either of them even have to gain from lying?

oh god and the complete refusal to expand on count varley. he's characterized in houses as being cruel and so incredibly abusive, but Unfortunately competent. hopes just makes him comic relief. like. are you fucking with me right now? am i being played? is this an elaborate hoax? i don't know anymore. you can have him be a sniveling little coward, but to play his behavior off as a joke and just go "eh you can kill him later bernie :)" is just. why. houses already fumbles bernadetta and this just feels like they're doubling down on it.

i dunno. whatever. i don't really care if this sounds like i'm cherrypicking but this game isn't fucking well-written or even particularly intelligent. it's politically shallow and the fact people think it's well-written still baffles me to this day. it's probably because whatever headcanons people are coming up with to fill in and justify all the stupid bullshit are infinitely more interesting than whatever the game actually has to say.

anyway uhh. edelgard mention. to check the last required box of 3h discourse.

-

[wolfraven80]

When it comes to the Hopes timelines...I never really saw it as "Everybody is much better without Byleth and Byleth ends up worse" especially since it never seems that way. Sure certain things happen that might put characters in some what better situations, but it isn't that simple

Considering Edelgard still kind of has her walls up and Dimitri is straight up on the verge of breaking but barely keeps it together...his line in Zahras about being glad he can technically kill himself is a bit telling.

Then you have stuff like Bernadetta never being able to fully grow due to only being at the academy for a couple months instead of a year, for example.

It's clearly intentional for Shez to not get as close to these characters compared to Byleth due to the differing circumstances and whatnot.

To add on, some people really like to push this narrative just bc of their hatred of the character and want to invalidate their existence....which is kinda strange considering their less than stellar treatment in universe if they remain a merc.

Oh I definitely agree that it's less clear cut than just "everything is better for everyone"--especially as you play through the entire route. The "better" feeling, I think, comes foremost from the academy chapters, especially with Edelgard being able to oust Thales and Dimitri taking the throne from his uncle and chasing out Cornelia. Those two things do improve Edelgard's and Dimitri's situations quite a bit. But yes, though their political situation is better they never get the full realization of their characters that we see in their Houses routes. Dimitri never confronts his demons; he's still teetering on the edge of madness. Edelgard never gets to fully reclaim her humanity, her ability to engage with her emotions. Claude never gets to confide his dream to someone and begin to take the steps towards tearing down the Locket and reconciling Fódlan and Alymra. And like you said with Bernadetta as an example, many of the other students are in the same boat: without Byleth they never grow as fully as they did in Houses. So I guess it's more like... some of the outcomes aren't as bad, but they also aren't as good?

[semi-imaginary-place]

Which Lord comfort scene is your favorite?

It's fascinating how each has a different approach, but also how different players have had vastly different reactions to each of the 3 of them. People grieve differently, and different things work or don't work for different people. Claude is my favorite because it is such a key point in Verdant Wind. I personally find Edelgard's most compelling followed shortly by Claude. Dimitri's didn't land for me.

Dimitri is an emotions first person so he empathizes, and is angered and grieved, and then swears to kill for Byleth. I personally found his the least compelling or useful it was kinda alienating to me that he made it about himself.

Edelgard tells Byleth to channel their grief into something actionable and useful because the world won't wait for them, what's over is over there's only what can be done about it. It's practical and useful advice that will make Byleth's situation better. I've heard people talk about how they found her approach callous, cold, and heartless. Very interestingly Claude echoes Edelgard in non Golden Deer routes, also saying that the world won't wait for you to grieve. However while Edelgard means it in the sense of a warning that Byleth not fall behind, Claude means it in the sense that it's freeing in the sense of taking a step back and realizing this one tragedy isn't the end, that not all things will always be bad, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Menwhile Claude in his route does something even more actionable than Edelgard by directly taking action to uncover the greater conspiracy surrounding Jeralt. Claude is thus the only house leader to learn Byleth's circumstances as a human experiment a stillborn resurrected by Rhea as well as Byleth's semi human status as someone without a heartbeat This is one of my favorite parts of the game and the game will literally not let you progress without choosing to trust in Claude. Up until this point Claude has been prodding and testing Byleth to see if they are trustworthy and the entrusting of the diary is the moment in which their relationship changes for the better. The plot does not work if Byleth cannot trust Claude.

Claude is the only lord with an equal relationship with Byleth where they aren't emotionally dependent on Byleth. With Edelgard and Dimitri the Byleth supports are a tool to revel more of their character and backstory to the player. Claude's support and the route as a whole meanwhile are about the actual friendship between Claude and Byleth so much so that there is an actual game mechanic mid way through. It's a very compelling story on the themes of trust, from misunderstandings to taking the first step that leap of faith in placing one's trust in another.

Raphael has some of the most generally useful advice though which is to take care of your body, eat regularly, go outside and get some exercise, take things one step at a time.

I heard a hypothesis a while back that I rather like is how each of the lords comforts Byleth in the method they used to overcome struggles in their own lives. There's another one about how Byleth's characterization subtly changes based on the House choice.

An important detail Byleth is the way they 'vibe' with the lords. They caught on to their facades instantly and also a few days before ever getting to pick a house. One thing I think is not always understood properly is that picking a lord subtly changes Byleths characterization. They picked one willingly above the others, and in all interactions from that point forward Byleth has some degree of affinity with them specifically, and their responses and interests seem to lean into the lords personality, priorities, and worldview. For example if I remember correctly in verdant wind white Clouds Byleth at one point can suggest to get some information out of Flayn to a degree it makes Claude uncomfortable. It's not something I see the other routes suggesting. Deer Byleth also has some Claude's curiosity and hunger for knowledge, Likewise Eagles Byleth can lean a little into Edelgards kind of resolve, or Lion Byleth Dimitri's chivalry. The lords comfort scenes have been analysed to also show the flaws of the lords and how they kind of project themselves in these emotional circumstances. If so inclined the player through Byleth can react coldly instead(the issue with Claude is that doing so is a But Thou Must loop messing with that choice.) But the option for Byleth to react positively is more interesting here, and kind of my canon response for the Byleth that would pick them. By that point Byleth has a history with talking to the lords about more complex subjects/feelings and build some chemistry and a sort of Modus Operandi. It's with that context Edelgards aggressive approach to pull themselves together, Dimitri's allowance of grief but also a firm focus on revenge, and Claude being friendy but focused on the mystery at hand don't entirety come out of left field and quite possibly something the route specific Byleths actually appreciate to help snap them out of lethargy due to the appeal to their shared values they established before. If you take Byleth as a single unchanging character or having another route in mind it won't make sense. The comfort scene is but a single step the of development and friendship with that lord depending on context of scenes before and afterwards. (WouterW24)

[fayesemblemring]

Faye's Fòdlan Journey: Season 1 - Opening Thoughts

Introduction

Masterpost Next->

As a reminder, we're starting with Azure Moon first, followed by Verdant Wind, Crimson Flower and lastly Silver Snow.

This was a route order I decided when I asked around for advice on which order to play them (mainly if there was an intended route order like in Fates) and they basically told me "play Azure Moon first, don't play Verdant Wind and Silver Snow next to each other since they're incredibly similar" and something else that made me decide to place Crimson Flower in the third slot. We'll see how well it turns out.

Before starting, I want to make a small note on my past experiences with Fòdlan.

I was there when Three Houses was first announced and I watched all the trailers as well as some Youtubers breaking them down.

But once it got released, I decided to go on hiding to avoid spoilers, which among other things meant unsubscribing to the very bad, not good r/fireemblem subreddit. One thing led to another, I eventually realized Reddit did me more harm than good because at that point I logged in there deliberately to get angry, so I decided to delete it.

Which means, in a way, I have to thank Three Houses to get me out of there, years before Reddit crashed and burned on top of that.

The following years were spent dodging most (but not all, sadly) spoilers, witnessing third-hand reports of flame wars with morbid curiosity (basically it's as if there was a huge wildfire outside and I was in my garden ignoring it while grilling) and being increasingly annoyed that almost every new content felt like it was about Fòdlan. At least before Engage was announced.

So I my feelings coming onto this game are a mix of awe, curiosity, fear and annoyance. I wonder if that makes sense.

Speaking of annoyances, I have to talk about a small pet peeve I have with the cover art.

While I definitely wouldn't call it bad, something about it felt off to me from the moment they revealed it.

It's clear what they were going for, with the house leaders dividing the art into three spaces, but the end results ends up looking a bit goofy, especially with the infamous upside-down Claude (which became a meme from the very beginning) and the Byleths just slapped onto the background of a building even if it doesn't make much sense.

But this is mainly a subjective thing. What isn't subjective, though, is the art error where Claude's bow is misaligned. If you look closely at the center, you'll notice the end of the bow isn't actually ligned up with the rest of it, and now you won't be able to unsee it, bothering you as much as it bothers me. You're welcome, by the way.

But we've delayed the main event for long enough. Let's start the game, shall we?

The first thing you see when starting the game is an empty throne on the left, followed by a quiet rendition on the organ of the Fire Emblem theme. Already it's starting to become clear the tone this game is going for.

Waiting around a bit, the opening of the game starts playing.

First of all- wow, that theme. Edge of Dawn is one of the best vocal tracks of Fire Emblem by far. I remember listening to it on loop when it first got released!

Also I gotta say, I missed the anime-style cutscenes.

While I like the 3D ones these give the game plenty of charm, even if I wish they were a bit more fluid. Honestly, they make a solid argument for a Fire Emblem anime to be released. no the cancelled OVA doesn't count shut up

If this is anything like Echoes, this opening is made of spliced-up future cutscenes. And given a good portion of it shows up again in the intro cutscene, I'd say I'm right.

Returning to the game, we start creating our file and- ooh, boy.

Ignoring the difficulty options for a second, which are the same as every modern Fire Emblem save for Echoes (only difference being that "Lunatic" is now named "Maddening"), it's time for my first big criticism of this game.

Which is ironic, given that it's about all of the text being too. Freaking. ˢᵐᵃˡˡ.

Maybe it's just an impression I have, but back when Three Houses first released, it felt like every AAA company was in a competition to put the tiniest text possible due to the larger screens, with the result that most of the time you have trouble reading it unless you get closer.

This is a huge blunder on accessibility for people with visibility problems, and while it luckily got better especially now that accessibility is a larger focus for most mainstream developers (except, of course, Nintendo), here it still shows its tiny, hugly head.

And remember, the Switch is also a portable console, so there are people who had to read this tiny font on a small screen, so I'd say this is pretty bad. I doubt I'll play Three Houses on portable because of this.

In fact, I feel this is such a problem I will be including alt text on all the screens with dialogue.

Going back to the difficulty options, I will be playing on Normal Classic.

Normal because I'm an impatient scrub, Classic because I like having some form of consequences. Besides, I have Divine Pulse covering my ass.

Hey, I said I was a long-time Fire Emblem player, I never said I was good at it.

With that said, the screen fades to black, and the first proper cutscene begins.

We open on a large, rainy battlefield, in what I assume is the distant past.

Two armies clash against each other, until a human(?) named Nemesis descends from the skies in a burst of flame. Immediately he turns his attention towards his foe, the goddess Seiros.

The two soon begin a duel to the death. Seiros uses a sword and shield which couple with her general design makes me think she might be slightly inspired from Greek culture? Big if true, because from what I know Fire Emblem never took inspiration from Greece.

Nemesis, meanwhile, fights with... the Sword of the Creator?

Huh. Will need to keep a closer eye on that one.

Eventually, Seiros prevails, and in a fit of rage, stabs Nemesis to death over and over, yelling that he took everything she loved.

After felling her *heh* Nemesis, Seiros grabs the Sword of the Creator, lovingly caressing it calling her Mother.

We see the Divine Pulse activate, and all of a sudden we're brought at Best Goddess Sothis' Mind Space, where she notices her new visitor.

So. This intro.

Besides already setting the tone Fòdlan is going for (grand with a lot of death and tragedy and murder), it's interesting how if you're at least a bit savvy with how Fire Emblem stories go, you can already put two and two together with that's happening.

Granted, future games and loose spoilers are kind of helping me, but still. Let me explain.

First of all, Seiros is a goddess. If it wasn't clear from the fact there's a Church named literally after her. And given what most goddesses are in Fire Emblem are and her particular shade of green hair (the same Naga and Tiki and also Mila share), it's clear she's Fòdlan's equivalent of Divine Dragons.

Nemesis, meanwhile, is using a sword made of bones, which are what all of Fòdlan's legendary weapons are made of. And given they are all effective against dragons as Heroes and Engage show...

Well, it doesn't take a genius to realize where those bones come from.

Remember, Falchion is made from a dragon's bone too.

And given what Seiros says, it's likely Nemesis or someone else affiliated with him murdered all of Seiros' loved ones to make legendary weapons of unfathomable power out of them.

The Sword of the Creator seems to be made out of the bones of her mother, on top. No wonder she's pissed.

I am curious about the Divine Pulse transition. Is it just cosmetic to signify a fast-forward, or is there some time fuckery already going on? I guess there's only a way to find out.

Sothis greets us in her own, sassy way, prompting the Avatar creation screen.

And lo and behold, we went from Awakening and Fates' somewhat limited but still extensive customization options to... Just getting to choose the Avatar's gender.

*sigh* Listen. I went on a tangent about this multiple times, so I'll just keep it brief and say that given how restrictive Fire Emblem's dialogue options are, if you're not going to make the Avatar at least visually properly customizable then there's no reason to have an Avatar and all.

Okay. With that tangent aside, let's talk about Byleth's designs.

Male Byleth is my favorite. The outfit looks good and practical for a mercenary, I'm a big fan of the loose sleeves of his jacket (?) and his face looks neutral but serious.

Meanwhile, Female Byleth... well.

I'm sure I'm far from the only one who mentioned this, but between the random holes in her armor just to show more bare skin, her strangely ornate thights and her somewhat younger face with larger eyes... Yeah, it's clear what the designers' priorities were for her.

Also her expression makes her look like a doll. A doll having flashbacks.

I like her hair more, though. So that's that at least.

As a reminder, male Byleth will be used for the first two routes while female Byleth for the last two. But regardless, I will be talking about Byleth in a gender neutral way, safe for cases where I mention a specific gender. Because again, besides romance options, the Avatar's gender really Does Not Matter.

Here we have the first dialogue option, something this game loves to use. I guess it's why Byleth's a silent protagonist, although I doubt it will be worth it.

As a general rule of thumb I like to immerse myself in who I'm playing as, so I will be picking the dialogue options I think Byleth would choose, which will be the highlighted ones in the screenshots.

I know Byleth is nicknamed the Ashen Demon but I don't know how they feel about that moniker yet, so I choose to have them call themselves a mortal.

Sothis then asks Byleth for their name, which for every route will be... Well, Byleth. Not that it's ever said out loud anyway.

Lastly, she asks them about their birthday.

It's interesting to note how here, instead of using our real life Calendar, every month has its Fòdlan counterpart. While this is really neat, I hope they will keep the number along with it because I know I will forget about them otherwise.

And I share their day of birth as well! What a peculiar coincidence!

With a last phrase that feels like it's leaning on the fourth wall, Sothis bids Byleth farewell for now.

donotmakeaSkyrimjokedonotmakeaSkyrimjokeDONOTMAKEASKYRIMJOKE

Byleth's father and soon-to-be corpse, Jeralt, wakes Byleth from their strange dream.

Apparently, Byleth dreamt about Sothis multiple times, but this is apparently the first time she actually noticed them.

Guess she was asleep for the other nights, that must have been pretty awkward for them. I hope she doesn't snore at least.

The father-and-child duo prepars for another mercenary mission, when they're approached by three inconspicious teenagers who definitely haven't set the Internet on fire for years to come, asking for help.

The problem is of course, bandits. The universal evil of all of Fire Emblem. With a whole group of them on their tail and about to attack a village, the five prepare their counterattack.

Which we will see next time, since this post is getting incredibly long and more importantly, I've hit the image cap!

Introduction

Masterpost Next->

[yanderefairyangel]

Now I'm beginning to think what would've been if 3H was just SS. On the one hand, it would've stayed true to the original intent of the story IS wanted to tell plus less discourse and maybe flesh things out more. But ngl, it would mean losing out on Dima's story and I would feel kinda terrible about that. I guess at the end of the day, just have to pick up the pieces with what we got.

Right on.

I honestly am not gonna lie, as much as I believe that 3H's problem is it's size, having only one route SS would completely denatured 3H. The Fuukasetsugtesu always existed. Kusakihara had some plans to make some route harder to access, notably Eddie's, but those route always existed. The project was always supposed to be what it is, IS did wanted something like that. While Hopes likely had no supervision from Intelligent System since they aren't credited at all, I don't think we can say the same of 3H because while KT was the main responsible of this project, it was still a fire emblem game and a mainline one at that, IS had to see some of the stuff.

Had 3H just been SS I think 3H would just not be 3H. That's what I keep saying when I say I don't want another game written like 3H or with the same story or level of writing, it's because 3H is that weird story/game where you have problem that can be easliy improved and then you have those that are direct result from decision made at the begining of the project and that are at the core of the game and thus fixing them would actually result in 3H losing it's identity. Would only one story fix most issues ? Yes. But that's only because you are removing something, not fixing it. And by removing this something, you remove what's part of Fodlan's identity. 3H is a game about clashing ideology and different world view which is why you have character with variant moral profile, even the Agarthans's pure evilness is just following this concept.

Maybe that if IS had handle this project alone even writing the 3 other route that would have been closer to the full idea they had for Foldan cause take Lyon for example. He too is an ambiguous character yet I don't recall him creating such a discourse cause it's his ambiguity that enriches him. IS writing team doesn't get enough credit from this fandom imo and I think the real reason they turned to KT to make 3H was money cause like I said, 3H is definetely a game that was a finanicial black hole.

At the end of the day I still think 3H is quite a messy game when it comes to the story, it structure, the world building and all but I am being honest I think it's Hopes that worsen everything seeing how many of Hopes outright contradict Houses for no reason. Like idk

How About Dima chatting with Khalid in Shambala and when Claude is saying "Church bad" Dima is literaly saying "You are right the church is oppresive and make the people suffer but I have to support it for the sake of my people" this makes no sense at all not mentionning the whole list that Claude made was nonsensical like accusing the Church of being the reason for polical marriage and injustice... sorry Claude ?? It's not Rhea, it's not the church, it's the Fodlan nobility using the system to be oppresive and the Foldan nobility lives independently of the Crest system. Miklan's whole story was that as the first born he was supposed to inherit but didn't because he didn't had a crest so it was Sylvain but... if anything this just show that without the Crest system, the nobility system would still exist since Miklan would have inherited solely in virtue of being born first. Same thing with Caspar : the reason why he isn't inheriting isn't because of lacking a Crest but because he is the 2nd son, so even without a crest, he would still have nothing anyway.

This for example isn't even just because of SS, it's just that KT want to badly to make us believe that Rhea is evil, the church is oppressive and even Dima agree but the only reason why he side with her is pragmatism they don't even realize how nonsensical the whole deal sound. Considering how Eddie was able to install a new church she control, Dima could have just sided with her make the people realize church bad and get rid of Rhea "for his people's sake" rather then agreeing with Shoujo Kakumei Khalid von riegan that the Church is indeed responsible for all those opppresive sutff that the Church isn't even involved in since it's just the nobility being the nobility but also saying he will defend what is oppressing his people so he can stay King and that it's for the sake of his people, did the writers even realized what they were writig

[loregoddess]

con't Octo2 observations, except under a cut bc I'm getting into endgame speculation...I have the triple-threat of Stormhail chapters next, and then Agnea's second-to-last chapter, and then I'll be well and on my way to final chapters, so I'm nearing all the endgame stuff anyhow...

there's like, three? kids in Mother's Garden with really unusual descriptions in their notes if you inquire/scrutinize them (moonfang blood, whitewolf language, and something else related to shadow stuff, I was not taking notes like I should have been), but all the other kids have n/a for their notes. If I remember, visiting the orphanage after Throne's route is completed, all the kids get normal descriptions bc actual decent humans are running the place, but this is still very hmmm-worthy, bc we know Throne's got her special night ability, and the Slaver had that weird ability to sniff out poison like a search hound, so I'm really thinking some of the Blacksnakes just have...weird powers bc of their ancestry. This potentially puts Hikari's entire deal into a new perspective as well, and also makes me wish we got some solid explanation about what the heck was up with D'arqest since he's the root of every single weird thing and problem in this story.

aside from Ori talking about her brother a lot more than I realized she did, I also noticed something interesting about her in that she's the only Moonshade member to directly involve herself in her counterpart's activities. Like she goes out of her way to help Partitio promote the department store, he doesn't ask her, she proposes the idea first, and that means she's actively participating in the hope he's trying to spread and grow. Like, the other members have different levels of interaction with their counterparts (Kazan does help Hikari take back Ku, but we know Kazan is so far gone that no amount of goodness on Hikari's part was going to save him and he was manipulating the situation a lot more than he let on anyhow; Trousseau may have worked directly with Castti, but some of his dialogue in the Winterbloom flashbacks make me think he was a bit unstable before meeting Castti and loosing his sister definitely didn't help any of that, so reading the book Claude gave him was really more just a tipping point for a disaster waiting to happen--Castti's the only protagonist aside from Hikari who almost gets taken by The Shadow as well except she has no connection to D'arqest, so the stress of the apothecary job just just isn't good for anyone's mental health apparently; Tanzy meets Agnea and hangs out with her but doesn't like really interact with Agnea too much, and apparently isn't that moved by the Song of Hope, possibly bc she was pretty far gone due to the grief/guilt/latching onto Arcanette? possibly? Tanzy doesn't get a lot of writing, but honestly she seems to be in just as bad a place as Kazan or Trousseau; all the other members are actively villainous so there wasn't really any hope for them to begin with)--but anyhow, Ori's the only one who actually actively participates in spreading hope with Partitio, and I think that's part of the reason she's the only member to make it out alive and switch sides in the end (aside from Partitio being such a bright ray of sunshine that he can apparently save someone just by believing in them hard enough). Anywhos, I just found it interesting that she's so...actively involved with Partitio's story.

actually took a good look (er, as good as I could) at the chimera in Harvey's lab that doesn't erupt out of its test tube, and it's vaguely human-shaped? so like I dunno if this is Rita's corpse (since Harvey took her blood and used it to fuel the golem) or just there to imply that he was also experimenting on people (which still makes me think he had something to do with the Roi > Dark Entity thing), but very unsettling no matter what

somehow totally missed it my first run bc I was distracted by the avalanche of plot reveals, but Harvey calls the Lumine family the "Lineage of Light" so now I'm gonna have to keep an eye out to see if Kura and/or Alpates also have "Lineage of Light" tied to their ancestral clans or nah.

ALSO when Eir's Apothecary's left Healeaks and then returned to Trousseau poisoning the entire place isn't given a specific timeframe (we just know it couldn't have happened that far before Castti's Ch1 bc she can't have been at sea too long), so it technically is entirely possible that Malaya is the apothecary in Partitio's Ch1 and that shortly after she headed back to Healeaks. Which is still a really interesting implication for the timing of events, since a few of the characters' chapters seem to come before or after other characters' chapters, which is an interesting thing to add to the story.

[claudeydeer]

I don't even know where to begin. I have loved his character since day one. And he has been my favorite character ever since. And now I must rant about it.

I love how he's a kind of easygoing character from the looks of it but can lock in when he needs to. And that he is actually pretty smart. Smarter than he seems to be. That he actively is seen trying to know everything about Fódlan and the hero relics (hinting at that one cutscene in the library).

Him being a master tactician as well reflects that he is quite smart and I think it fits as well because with what is hinted at his lore I can see him being one. Wanting to know every move and plan around it. But at the same time he knows when he can't win in certain situations. And I like that he isn't a character marching forward to his death like some would in that situation. He retreats and thinks of another plan.

I love how he can be witty with the other characters. His first support with Lorenz will always be one of my favorites. Also him messing with Edelgard and Dimitri during the mock battle and battle of the eagle and lion (as a Claude fan and golden deer fan I will forever be upset that they didn't include deer in it). Even his first support with Hilda at the end. I think his supports shows that he can fit in and navigate different people and different personalities while maybe still having some fun (his first two supports with Lysithea)

I also like how as he said himself isn't as intense as Edelgard and Dimitri. (I love them too). And it kind of shows with the difference of his route compared to the others. But then again the other two lords have history and such.

I will forever love his parents story of how they got together. Like I'm sorry but it's so romantic and he is literally a symbol of overcoming obstacles and being with the one you love.

But about his hinted lore which I wish we got more of but understand why we didn't since he is a secretive character. But I don't see outcast royalty a lot at least like him. Because his parents loved him and that trope from what I have seen normally ties into that. But from what he have seen in Hopes at least one sibling hated him. And him being outcast just because he is biracial. And having several assassination attempts which made him learn about posion. I'm not going to lie I love it when games have issues that people can relate to (in this case xenophobia and racism).

I also think his names suit him. He choose Claude because it was a common Fódlan name from what we know. And I think his real name Khalid suits him. I would like to think his parents named him it as a symbol of their love being everlasting and him being able to overcome everything due to it meaning everlasting, eternal, and immortal.

I feel like his lore does get overlooked by some people. And I kind of wish people realized he had it just as bad as Edelgard and Dimitri. They all had a hard life and tramua.

Battle wise he is a good unit. He does backflips on a freaking wyvern while shooting a bow?! And also has great crit lines. "Shall we dance" "My moment has arrived" "Hold a grudge if you must" "Stradegy in motion." Like okay sir.

Also this man is the only man that could make bright yellow boots look good. I question how he did it but he did.

Speaking of design I like that his design does have some things showing his heritage (post time skip).

His supports with the professor as well especially that A one just hit my heart. I love how during his S support he actively admits that he was using them and wanted to use their power to help him with his goal. But it turned into something more and him falling for them. Also him actually saying that he loves them.

I also love him constantly saying theres a new dawn. It hints at how much he wants change and a new future.

To sum it up. He's a great character with a great goal. He has an amazing design and he's the type of character that is more than meets the eye. And while he doesn't get as much spotlight as the other two lords. He will always be special to me. Even if he gets mischaracterized by some. But that goes for the other two lords as well.

I hope you enjoyed my rambling about how much I love this man.

Say something nice about- Claude von Riegan!

[fantasyinvader]

You know, that thought would just not leave my mind today. Even from the beginning, since the game's launch and people began connecting the dots people have been saying that Edelgard's path is a path of ignorance. That in ignorance she's the hero but with knowledge she's the villain. But the idea that Edelgard's ignorance, or possibly delusions or foolishness, ultimately traps her in contrast to Byleth, who isn't supposed to let the Flames/Poisons cloud their judgement and walks an enlightened path as a result… it just fits so well.

Dimitri's line in the Japanese version, calling Edelgard's path the animal path. The animal path is one based on the flame of ignorance, that because of that they made choices that gave them negative karma.

Ferdinand's line in VW following Gronder, where he says Edelgard is acting the same as Dimitri was. Dimitri, the boar prince/king of delusion. Pigs symbolize the flame of, you guessed it, ignorance.

Edelgard is acting based on information passed down to her by her father, informing her views on the world. However, in a story scene before that Hubert contradicted the backstory Edelgard has already told you while stating Ionius was a puppet of the Agarthans and that Edelgard should have told you this meaning she knows. This would also correlate to how Verdant Wind states that TWSTID manipulated Edelgard into starting the war despite Edelgard herself making it sound like it was her decision.

Symbolically, the above point ties into Edelgard's Crests. It was TWSITD who gave Edelgard her understanding of the world through the Crest of Flames (World Arcana), but in the end it was corrupt knowledge which had a detrimental effect on Edelgard owing to Aymr having the Crest of Maurice (Devil Arcana). As such, Edelgard's understanding of the world, her own knowledge though her Crest of Serios (Priestess Arcana), is flawed. Hopes even went as far as to use Aymr as a symbol of TWSITD making Edelgard their puppet in Azure Moon while the player can unlock it by completing the secret chapter (the supposed "good" route) in Scarlet Blaze.

Edelgard has scenes in White Clouds where she finds out information that conflicts with her own view, such as her talking with Thales and Thales revealing Nemesis was a bandit. Edelgard points out TWSITD were behind the experiments in such a scene, and in SB mentions she ignored how much influence they had over the nobility while she also revives the local Church branch under her control.

The devs themselves confirmed that the worldbuilding was done to support Silver Snow's story, and as a result Edelgard's claims are meant to be undermined as the players pay attention to the world around them. This mirrors Claude in VW, whose views change over the course of his route, yet Edelgard says that she can't allow Claude to run Fodlan because he doesn't know it's history. Ironically, Claude finds out the most lore of Fodlan by the end and it does undermine what Edelgard believes.

Edelgard is that character who thinks they know it all, ignorant of their own ignorance. Her ideals are based on her flawed knowledge, ideals she serves even at the cost of her own humanity. We get her becoming the Hegemon Husk, framed as the end point of those ideals in Azure Moon after Edelgard has the remnants of TWSITD turn her into it. In AG, instead we have Thales turn her into it and putting her under his control.

Tying this into Eastern beliefs, there's the whole empty thing.Emptiness is not a bad thing as it allows one to be filled. An empty bowl is far more useful than one that is stuffed to the brink and overflowing, and that's what's going on with Edelgard. She believes she has all the knowledge, that her bowl is full, and as a result when she's presented with new knowledge, knowledge that conflicts with her own, it spills out. She believes she's the one with all the answers, the one who should be the teacher rather than the student, the hand of benevolence that people should react out to. As such, she can not see the world for what it really is just what she thinks it is. The Flame of ignorance/delusion/foolishness includes false beliefs that one may cling to rather than discard, and this is what ultimately dooms Edelgard.

It's not like Dimitri's delusions, as despite them Dimitri is the Lord who actually sees things for how they are and it's his core belief that he needs to live to avenge those who died for him that's the problem. Even when Edelgard seems to have character growth in Flower, when she seems to understand that people each other allows them to accomplish great things… this development doesn't stick in the Japanese version. She still goes back to instituting reforms to push people to rely only on themselves. It's this belief she believes she needs to force on people, resulting in her taking more power for herself rather than giving it to the people and supporting freedom. It's why her title in the ending is Flame Emperor, Edelgard either didn't change or she regressed into that position.

I think we can even see this in her death in SS/VW. She talks about how she needs to die in order to stop the fighting, how it's Byleth's duty as the victor, and that in doing so they'll walk holding hands down Byleth path in the Japanese text. And while she's saying this, she's activating Aymr. It makes it look like she's having a moment of clarity, that as she's beaten she realizes just what she's become but also the hold her beliefs have on her. She can't walk away from them, and will go back to fighting if she is spared. So she tells Byleth to put her down, before she goes back to being the Flame Emperor. In a way, those are the only paths where she dies as a human in the Buddhist sense, acting on rational thought and humanity rather than instinct and impulse. She's too far gone in Moon, and reverts in Flower. Edelgard can only die as Edelgard by Byleth's hand, and in doing so her Japanese counterpart walks with them.

It makes her feel like the Death Knight, with the Japanese text making it implying Jeritza doesn't know what happens when he takes over. Emile became consumed by bloodlust after he killed his hated father to protect his mother and sister. Likewise, Hubert became who he was in order to serve the girl he loved which included killing his father. And Byleth can go against their entire character arc in order to support Edelgard. Those two are meant to be foils to the player, reasons why they need to walk the path of liberation rather than become like them.

I guess in the end, Edelgard believed she was doing the right thing but her time at Garreg Mach made her question her path according to the Japanese theme song. She was being presented with information or experiences that made her waiver, but she still decided to follow through with the war and in doing so lost control of herself. She became a slave to her own beliefs, losing herself to them. Even in Flower she ultimately continues to serve them. But even then, those beliefs ultimately came from those who wanted to use her and Edelgard seemingly had knowledge of this. In the end, Edelgard's unwillingness to reconsider her beliefs, to discard what she views as knowledge in the face of evidence, is why she ends up a villain. Even if she dies as herself in SS/VW, so long as Dedue lives her corpse will be dismembered in retribution for the suffering she has caused. At the end of the day, while Edelgard was a villain she was also another victim of the Agarthans and the game seems to be placing the actual blame for the war at their feet. If it wasn't for them and their influence, Edelgard would have been a completely different person, they're the one's responsible for her even if Edelgard's own weakness prevented her from changing the path they put her on.

Edelgard failed herself.

[butwhatifidothis]

Why GW!Claude Isn't Interesting: A Checklist

got long lmao under the cut it goes (edit: FOR REAL THIS TIME WHOOPS LMAO)

-> Why is it uninteresting for GW!Claude to be someone who manipulates those around him into thinking he's doing good things as he does actions that are inarguably evil?

Because that's just Edelgard.

-> Why is it uninteresting for GW!Claude to be someone who grew up in a country known to want to expand its power through violent conquest, and who is thusly influenced to do the same himself because of that?

Because that's just Edelgard.

-> Why is it uninteresting for GW!Claude to be someone whose actions are meant to be surprising because he ends up being just as bad and manipulative and dangerous as his initial appearance made him out to be?

Because that's just Hubert.

-> Why is it uninteresting for GW!Claude to be completely uninterested in looking into the Church's supposed crimes and letting his (at this point) willful ignorance drive him to extremely violent acts?

Because that's just Edelgard.

-> Are GW!Claude's actions the result of a character being gradually driven to become the very thing they hate, through a steady degradation of their core morals and values?

No. GW!Claude very suddenly drops any core aspects of his character so that he is willing to do what he does. The callout of his route (sacrificing Randolph) is set before he does something infinitely worse with little to no reaction from his allies whatsoever (invading the Kingdom, Sreng), erasing any "steady degradation" of morals as the decline in them is not treated properly.

-> Are GW!Claude's actions the result of desperation - or rather, is that possibility properly shown off in his route?

No. GW!Claude unquestionably holds his own amazingly well against the Empire, especially considering the general nature of the Alliance that made it exceptionally weak in a military campaign. Even when forced to retreat from the battle with Bergliez - which was going well before the retreat, even with Jeralt’s Mercenaries there - due to Shahid, Claude not only handles Shahid’s invasion to near perfection, but he left the battle with Bergliez in such a way that him pursuing Claude would've ultimately hurt him more than it was worth (as it would destroy the fields of the breadbasket of the Empire/Fodlan) - meaning, the Empire couldn’t even make use of the forced retreat without making things ultimately worse for themselves. The narrative tries to say that Claude was barely holding his own against the Empire, but the actual story events fail to properly portray that as Claude has success after success fighting against them and as the Empire never once succeeds (without it quite literally being part of Claude’s plan for them to, in any case).

-> Are GW!Claude's actions the result of (properly portrayed) heroism?

No. Not only are his actions fundamentally villainous, not only are the justifications for doing them faulty at best, but he ultimately doesn't even accomplish what he set out to do, making them completely pointless and unnecessary. At best, any attempt to portray him as heroic fail due to moral bankruptcy and general incompetence.

-> Are GW!Claude's actions the result of (intentional) villainy?

No. The narrative portrays GW!Claude as only doing what he feels he must, with his friends blindly placing their faith in him and thus narratively encouraging his decisions. The developers also stated that they wanted Claude to be seen as someone who encompasses noble leadership and whose story is heart-touching - where, despite his "harsh actions" in the name of his ambition, his allies still support him. Both inside and outside of the game, GW!Claude is not meant to be seen as a villain, despite his villainous behavior and actions.

-> Is him facing off against Rhea as his final boss given any proper build up in his route?

No. Through all of Chapters 4-8 (as in Part 1 of GW as an individual route, during the war phase) Claude's thoughts and feelings towards the Church are not just completely ignored, they are flat out unstated in its entirety; he mentions nothing of the Church on a personal level, and in fact only mentions it in any capacity a handful of times. Every chapter he states that is it specifically and only the Empire (+ Shahid, once) that he is fighting, and that is because it is specifically and only the Empire (+ Shahid, once) that is fighting the Alliance. To say that it is Rhea that ends up becoming the final boss of his route and not either the Empire or Almyra, it is nonsensical that for the entirety of Part 1 Rhea is never mentioned to be any sort of threat to Claude; if Claude truly always thought of her as so dangerous as to need to be killed, and to be killed by any means necessary, it obviously makes more sense for him to bring it up at any point of his route beforehand, but he does not.

-> So in a nutshell, why is GW!Claude uninteresting?

When he is not being a blatant copy of Edelgard (with a sprinkle of Hubert), GW!Claude's actions are a jumbled mess, both thematically and practically. His complete 180 in drives from wanting to take down the invading Empire to wanting to kill the doing-nothing-wrong Rhea is given no justifications deeper than "someone told Claude that Rhea was Bad," and is thus not given any more effort than that to justify his horrendous actions. These horrendous actions, which we the player are told is part of a "heart-touching" story of a man who ruthlessly and cruelly takes advantage of a border conflict to weaken an already struggling Kingdom so that he may more easily invade it, even though he personally knows the residual horrors that border conflicts can inflict on the people on both sides. The ramifications of his actions are not treated with the correct weight, as his sacrifice of an Imperial general is treated as narratively worse than his invasion of a struggling Kingdom and his worsening of a border conflict for his own gain. This of course erases any possibility for the player to truly feel genuinely culpable as a result of the story wishing for them to feel that way, as priority is clearly given to named characters over nameless concepts - you know Randolph, big brother of the little girl Fleche, and you should feel more bad for him than "the people of Faerghus," who are little more than lines of dialogue on the screen. Knowing of this prioritization saps the story of any true meaning behind it, as it clearly only wants the player to care about individual characters and not all who are truly affected by characters' actions. After all, it's not Claude's invasion of Faerghus itself that can cause Judith to die, nor is it him tampering with Sreng: it is specifically Claude sacrificing Randolph that is ultimately the catalyst of Judith's (potential) death. Narratively speaking, sacrificing Randolph is worse than causing the death of countless innocents in the name of a pointless invasion, that in itself is in the name of a pointless hunt for Rhea's death. GW!Claude is uninteresting because he has no cohesion, no logic, nothing that connects his actions to any rational sense - both referring to strictly 3Hopes and especially when factoring in his 3H counterpart. GW!Claude is uninteresting because he isn't a villain, as both the story and writers don't view him that way, and yet he fails to be a hero due to both his completely amoral actions and the story itself being uncaring of all GW!Claude is able to accomplish with his meager resources in Part 1; he thus falls into an area in which his heroic actions (keeping out the Empire as well as he does) aren't given the credit they're due and his villainous actions (invading the Kingdom, Sreng, the killing of Rhea) aren't given the weight they deserve. GW!Claude is uninteresting because, most damningly, he is woefully inconsistent; he's at the complete whim of the plot, changing on the drop of a hat when it calls for him to. While 3H!Claude was completely underutilized, he was still consistent and whose character makes sense given his circumstances, and he also holds a unique place in the cast with his personality, drives, ambitions, beliefs and ideals, actions, etc.. None of which can be similarly said for GW!Claude, hence his complete and utter uninteresting appeal as a character

[fiction-box]

Omg thank you so much for doing my last request I absolutely LOVED it!!!!! Your characterization of Felix and Sylvain are so wonderfully on point and I'm still squealing over the part where Felix asks reader to teach him how to heal them dsjfkdjfj (and rolling my eyes over Sylvain's antics lmao. What an incorrigible lad (affectionate))

I hope you don't mind me coming back for more 👀 I've recently started replaying 3h so I'm having so many thoughts about my children <3 this one is an idea that came from a dream I had! Basically reader and Claude have been friends for a while (either childhood friends or they made friends at the beginning of the year). It's the white heron ball and they sneak off bc neither of them are so into all the pomp and circumstance. They're just goofing off in one of the nearby wings and making fun of the church's collection of paintings when Claude realizes in that moment that he's in love with the reader ;)

Extra details about reader if you'd like: they're not all that great at lying or scheming unlike Claude and they're basically his voice of reason/holder of the brain cell (when it comes to reigning him back from some of his more outlandish/dangerous schemes). They've also been secretly in love w Claude for at least a year before the ball hehe

Thank you again in advance and feel free to take the ending wherever you like!!

That is wonderful news! I value characterization as a point; if the character isn't depicted as themselves, the work isn't special. It could be about literally anyone, which is the opposite of what I want. Hopefully, I did the same thing this time!

Requests are open. The story will continue under the cut.

It was the month of the Garreg Mach Ball. In celebration of the festivities, members of the church had lined the cathedral with old paintings correlated to the Seiros faith.

You were never the most devout believer, Claude knew. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw you in the cathedral.

He had used this knowledge to his advantage, however, in order to devise a fun way to spend the night. Away from the ball itself, of course; neither of you were one for dancing.

“Can I open my eyes, now?”

“So impatient,” the Alliance noble teased. “Just trust me, okay? We’re almost there.”

“Claude, I don’t need to be blindfolded to know we’re crossing the bridge to the Cathedral right now. I know where I am and where I’m going, so there’s no need to restrict my vision,” you countered.

“Fine then. If you’re so confident, I guess you don’t need me to guide you.”

He took his hands away from yours and turned to walk away. Previously, you had been talked through your route and helped along the way. Of course, it was mainly so you wouldn’t trip on anything or veer off the planned course.

There were only two setbacks: One, moving with you blindfolded was a lot slower, and two, Claude had to walk backwards in order to do it right.

So he knew he only had to wait a moment before you-

“Come on, you know that’s not what I meant. But, I suppose if my hands are free, I can take off this blindfold.”

That wasn’t what he wanted you to say. You always were one to surprise him, though.

He realized you weren’t bluffing, either. It was only when your hands actually began to untie the knot behind your head that Claude reacted.

“Alright, fine. I’ll guide you. But you have to keep your eyes covered, alright?”

The only thing he got in response was a sigh and the sight of your hands returning to the position they were in when he held them earlier. Claude returned to his position as well, sliding your hands into his own and beginning to walk backwards to the cathedral.

“Careful, there’s a rock there. Move to your left- No, your other- Look, just because you can’t see doesn’t mean you suddenly forget which way is left!” he laughed.

“I…I’m doing my bes- ouch!”

Whoops. He had forgotten to direct you around that one.

“Sorry, my bad!” 

Glancing around, he pointed his eyes back at the monastery. You weren’t even a quarter of the way across. At this pace, someone was going to see you two crossing the bridge and all of this would be pointless.

So, he let go of your hands and maneuvered around you.

“Seriously? I thought you said you would- woah! What-?”

He scooped you up into his arms and walked at a much more effective pace toward the cathedral. He felt your arms come to rest against his chest.

“Nope,” he grinned, “just some random person that saw us walking on the bridge and decided to carry you to our destination.”

“Claude? That is you, right?” you asked. It was a silly question in his head, but he supposed you were blindfolded. The key sense you had been using for identification was gone, and the noble could feel you tensing up.

“Ha-ha,” you quipped. Though the response meant you knew it was him, Claude noticed that the tension still didn’t leave your body. Interesting.

“Relax,” he tried to reassure you, “I’m not gonna drop you or anything.”

“Just…get us to wherever we’re going so I can take this thing off.”

Eventually, you rested your head against his chest. There was nowhere else to put it, he supposed, but he still hoped you couldn’t hear his heartbeat.

Maybe that's the reason, Claude thought. After all, he would be on edge too if he failed to identify someone he knew. Without your sight, you were left prone to people you didn’t know, or to others that wanted to hurt you.

A few more hurried paces brought the two of you to the entrance of the cathedral. Claude carried you inside, and once he found what he was after, he placed you back on your feet.

“Ready?”

“I’ve been inside the cathedral before. But I suppose if you really think there’s something-”

Swiftly, he pulled away the cloth tied around your head. He noted that, despite the low-light setting the two of you were in, you still had to squint and blink to let your eyes adjust. Moonlight was brighter than darkness, he supposed.

“I think you’re the one that needs to be patient. The amount of times you’ve caught me off guard tonight by cutting me off is getting out of hand.”

“Pretty sure I’m not needing to wait on anything else, for now. This is what I wanted to show you.”

His eyes followed yours when you took in your surroundings.

“Art,” you commented. You began to travel about the space, taking in as much of it as you could despite the heavy shadows cast by the moon.

Claude began to talk as you explored, “Yep. They pulled it out especially for the ball. Not for auction, so it’s likely just to show off.”

“Ha! To show off art like this?”

He turned to observe which piece had caught your eye.

“Raphael’s little sister could do better than this…scribble!” you scoffed. “What is this even meant to be?”

“Can’t you tell? It’s very clearly a…” he squinted at the label beneath the piece, “...“census count by early Nabateans.” Honestly, you’re so uncultured. How is it that you’re even still allowed around me?”

Laughter spills from your lips at his teasing, and he can’t help but want to hear more.

You moved to the other side of the room, following a path illuminated by the moon. He found himself led to a piece lit up just as brightly. It looked to be a painting of an older man, but all the colors ran together in unappealing locations.

“Alright then, oh great art connoisseur, try this one.”

“And no cheating!” you glared in mock-suspicion, moving your body so as to obstruct his view from the written description.

He looked at the painting a moment before coming to a conclusion, “Easy. That's just Professor Hanneman.”

“Pfft, what? Now you’re just grasping at straws.”

“No, I’m serious! Look-” the Riegan heir moved to stand on one of the pews a few paces away. He held the index finger of one of his hands out, then positioned the fingers on his other hand so that his fingertips were touching his thumb. After lifting his arms above his head and positioning so that the moon shone on them just right, he was satisfied.

“Alright, now turn around and tell me that’s not Hanneman.”

You did so, noticing that the shadows Claude created formed a makeshift mustache and monocle, respectively.

“How did you-? That truly resembles Professor Hanneman!” you gasped.

“See? Another point for the connoisseur!”

“Okay, that’s enough out of you!” you grinned, moving to help him down from the pew.

He took your arm in his, “Good, because now it’s your turn.”

“What? Hey-! S-Slow down!”

Claude led you down along the same wall you were observing at the right-most side of the cathedral. There was a sketch he saw that depicted all of the crests, which was where you both came to a sudden halt.

“This one? Okay, that’s art of all the crests, right?”

“Sure. If you’re boring.”

“Excuse me?”

“For example,” he pointed your eyes toward one part of the work in particular. “You might say this is the crest of Dominic, but if you look at it my way, I think it’s an eye.”

You squinted; you were probably trying to see it his way. Then, your own eyes widened.

“Oh! I see it now!”

“Great, then you can give it a go.”

“Hmm…” your eyes scanned over the page. They lingered on certain crests longer than others. Eventually, though, your eyes had made a full trip around the paper before settling on the Daphnel crest.

“This one. I can pick out a person in the middle holding a crown over their own head. Those two little squiggles at their sides are wings.”

“Woah, that one’s much better than mine. I’ve always thought it was a trident, but I suppose you’d have to disregard the dot in the middle for that to work.”

Your gaze went back to work scanning the crest, and Claude knew it was to try forming the image he described.

“...maybe. But then it would be between what? Waves? Two stones?”

At that last point, your expression lit up.

“Wait, that reminds me! There’s something I’ve always wanted to see.”

The archer trailed you at a light jog as you led the way away from the painting and out of the cathedral to the left balcony. He slowed his pace not much later. There weren’t many places for you to run off to from this enclosed area, after all. Once he saw where you were headed, though, he came to a walk.

You had paused in front of the Goddess Tower.

“This stone structure is always guarded,” you began, “and when it isn’t, it’s always locked when I try to get in.”

“Oh, is it, now? And here I thought you were above trespassing.”

Claude caught up to your side and laughed when you elbowed him. Your curiosity did have a tendency to get in the way of your morals, he knew. It was the reason he was able to pull you out here tonight, and it was the same reason you would chime in for some of his more outlandish ventures ever since you had met.

“Well? Don’t you want to go inside?”

Your mouth formed a pout. How cute; he’d have to try to elicit that reaction from you more often. 

“You can try the handle if you’d like. I know it won’t work, but…I can think of more than a few things I’d trade away just to look inside.”

Interesting. Not only did you not seem to know what this place was, but you were also unaware it was unlocked right now.

He could have some fun with this.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. Besides,” he winked, “I’ve got a good feeling about tonight.”

Claude turned away from you as he closed the short distance to the door. Casually, he opened it and took a step inside.

“What-? How?”

Before he could respond, you had managed to close the distance and lightly push past him into the tower.

You must have really wanted in if you didn’t have anything else to say. Something told him you didn’t really care about getting your questions answered, either.

Intrigued as he was about the inside of the structure (he had always wondered what the interior looked like, too), Claude was nowhere near as interested as you were. He could deduce as much by how quickly you climbed the stairs. Soon, though, he heard your footsteps come to a halt.

“I don’t get it.”

When the house leader had made it to the top of the staircase, he understood what you meant.

The room was dark and gloomy. Nothing decorated the walls, and the only thing on the floor was the crest of Seiros. The cold stone of the room only made it feel even less welcoming. Thankfully, he found that there was no dust on any of their surroundings. Someone must have cleaned the place before it was unlocked.

He watched as you turned to him, brows furrowed, “Why would anyone care enough to keep a place like this under lock and surveillance?”

“Ah, you don’t know where you are, do you?” he teased.

“What, you mean this place really is special?”

“This is the Goddess Tower.” When he saw that the name didn’t bring any clarity to your expression, he continued, “From what I know, there’s a legend about this place. If a man and a woman come here on this night and pray for the same thing together, the Goddess will answer and grant them their wish.”

“Okay…” you paused. He could practically see the gears turning in your head.

“Don’t put too much faith in it, though. I’m pretty sure it’s just a rumor, anyway.”

“It must be,” you frowned, scanning the room one more time. “If I were the Goddess, I think I’d stay far away from this place. Why not pick somewhere more ethereal?”

He noticed you tense up and turn back to him, “Hang on, how come you knew about this and I didn’t? You heard a rumor, and you’re telling me you just…forgot to mention it to me?”

“My deepest apologies, my lady.” Claude altered his tone to sound mockingly high-brow and gave a sweeping, exaggerated bow. “I swear to you from now on that I will report any and all information I gather back to you. Whether it be true, false, or otherwise.”

“Good,” you giggled, “and you’d do well to remember it!”

As he moved further into the room, House Riegan’s heir noticed something attached to the wall. Something noticeably not stone.

“Hey, check this out.”

At the sound of his voice, you moved closer to what he was looking at.

It was a large wooden door. It expanded almost to the top of the room, its handle a heavy metal ring. The discovery was interesting, but Claude didn’t know where it would lead. There was nothing on the outside of the tower that he noticed resembled a second room.

You brushed your hand along it, “No keyhole. It can’t be locked.”

“Well, then. I think we both know what needs to happen next.”

Together, you both leaned against the doors and pushed. They were heavy and didn’t give easily, but they opened nonetheless.

There was a small ledge serving as a balcony. No railing protected you two from falling to the bottom, he noted, but what truly caught his attention was the view.

Granted, he had seen a great deal of sights from atop his wyvern, but that didn’t make this moment any less beautiful. The stars were glowing with constellations he could recognize. The moon was about a third of the way through its route in the sky and shone brighter than he remembered. He could make out trees and houses by moonlight, and the streetlamps from nearby towns glowed as earthly stars.

Your footsteps brought him out of his trance. The brunet watched as you moved out onto the balcony, bracing your hand against the wall to ground yourself. Once he noticed your widened eyes reflecting the light of the moon, Claude knew you, too, were captivated by the scene in front of you.

He almost wished you would look at him like that.

“Forget the paintings. I could’ve been staring at this all night?”

He flung his hand over his heart, “How cruel! I was under the impression that you and I were having fun tonight!” He sighed dramatically, “But, I suppose you don’t value my company as much as I do yours.”

Even that wasn’t enough to get you to tear your eyes away, it seemed.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just…”

You didn’t finish your thought, probably because you knew you didn’t have to. He turned his head back towards the other sight beyond the doors. Words weren’t enough to describe it, so his mind did its best to preserve the picture.

“I think I can understand why it’s guarded, now,” he admitted. At this, you finally turned to face him. “The church probably wouldn’t want all those young lovers stealing away up here and making wishes too often.”

You turned back to the view, nodding in agreement, “Lover or no, I know I would.”

Claude looked to you, and in that moment he wished he could keep the door unlocked. Only for you. He wanted no one else to know about this place, save for the two of you, and he wanted it to remain unguarded if only so you could make your way up here every night.

And he wished he could join you. Not just so you wouldn’t be alone, and not just because you were his friend, either. Whether it was a rumor or not, Claude wanted to share his wish with you here every year.

“Then I would, too.”

“Huh?” you looked back at him again. He had caught you off guard. Good.

“If you came up here all the time, I would always come with you.”

“That’s good. Part of me would need you to be here with me every time.”

He swore his heart stopped in his chest. To remedy its mistake, it began beating faster than it had before.

“Oh? And why is that?”

Your face broke into a smile, “Because clearly, I don’t know how to open the door.”

Now it was his turn to be caught off guard. By the time he had recovered, though, you had already run past him and down the staircase.

Oh, you knew exactly what you were doing.

The archer sped out of the tower, chasing the sound of your laughter. It echoed throughout the cathedral as you made your way toward the bridge.

In truth, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he caught up to you. But that was his favorite part of being with you: he got to live in the present.

You could both deal with the moment when it came. For now, Claude would enjoy the moment he was living in.

[randomnameless]

I swear this chapter alone made me reconsider Supreme Bullshit, especially that ending !

Sadly we will never know what Varley was preaching that made Rhea so upset that she sent assassins to rekt him.

To Agarthans, basically, everyone who isn't them is a "beast".

Yep, Supreme Leader already tried to team up with the evil lizard illuminati to rekt them, but she stabbed them in the back before making sure the Agarthans were defeated. Now she thinks both are blights on this world and puts them on the same priority level, when Rhea knows who's the biggest threat to the world.

In a way, the Deers not giving fucks about Claude is oddly satisfying, given how he had his them ally with the Empire only to attack then all afterwards. Forget Acheron, Nopes Claude is the biggest weatherwane of Fodlan lol

Ah, the Bergliez paralogue.

Note how Leopold (Bergliez Sr) gifts those gauntlets to Caspar because of his achievements and as a reward, so fitting with Supreme Leader's meritocraty, Caspar got them bcs he is the best at fighting...

But then Leopold says those gauntlets were in his family for generations... And they go to one of his sons lol. It feels like a heirloom being passed down to a heir, and funny how Barney can be jealous because, hey, they're most likely the reason why the war goes so well, but since they're not from Bergliez's brood, they won't get anything :)

Hereditary Meritocracy for everyone !

Did you knew you can use Shamir to kill Cyril and Catherine ?

She seems to scold Cyril for fighting while wounded (but she won't pull a Jeritza, of course !) and given her recruitment, she has nothing meanigful to say to Catherine...

As for Rhea...

SHE FUCKING DIES IN AN EXPLOSION TO TAKE DOWN THALES HOW BADASS IS THAT

ahem

This scene is basically perfect, bcs it ended years of discourse as in Rhea knows Thales'n'co are the biggest threat to Fodlan and she has her priorities straight, unlike a certain someone, even if it means death, Rhea will take them down, which made Supreme Leader's betrayal earlier on this route completely nonsensical, if her goal was really to get rid of the Agarthans, the Church would have helped her all the way-but she had to MAGA and turn against the evil lizard illuminati.

Also, I really liked how Barney, in that moment, tried to help Rhea and turned against Thales- maybe because even they, as a random soldier treated as they are in SB - realised who was the biggest threat ? In a nutshell, this route completely shits on Fe16's Supreme Leader as everyone realises Agarthans shouldn't be allied with, worse, should be rektd first.

I'm pretty sure Claude died when he turned against you another reason why this route is the second best lol and yep, the writing ends here to have a smokescreen of an ending where no one dies (If you recruited Billy) and it's kept unconclusive to make sure the players won't feel bad for achieving an ending without Billy.

It's stupid reasoning, but then, this game has strange writing.

And yet this one of the best endings for Rhea, unironically, because even if she dies, she steals the show by taking Thales out IN AN EXPLOSION AS THEY BOTH FADE AWAY IN BLINDING LIGHT

It's so Shonen from the 90s how can you not like it ???

Yes, humanity is fucked but lbr, much like Jugdral, Fodlan's humans are hopeless

Bar some barbarians in the North ?

Scarlet Blaze Ch 15 (Final)

Last one, everyone! After this, I finally get to play Spiritfarer which I got on . . . Christmas 2022.

NARRATION

Last chapter. Finally. Killing so many people in this route is really awful. Especially since you just . . . don't in the other two.

I think the last chapter will take place at the monastery.

Oh, great, does this mean I have to protect Bernie's dad in this route? I hope Rhea kills him, like gets this badass cut scene where she cuts him down for perverting her faith by using it as a propaganda tool.

So TWSITD showed up and is attacking Rhea and the Empire.

They're mostly after the "beasts" (aka Nabateans? Or humans?)

I wish this meant that we teamed up with Rhea, but we know Edelgard would team up with TWSITD first.

Catherine and Rhea got a cool moment together though.

Yep, we have to protect Count Varley, gross.

MAP

No side battles! This final chapter will be super quick, which is nice.

I'm VERY curious what the Golden Deer students say after Claude's moment last chapter lamo.

And if any Lions mention Sylvain :((((

OMG, Ignatz is savage. He only cares about painting the battle. No mention of Claude.

Yuri wishes he could kill Varley instead of save him. Good for him. He really feels more suited for AG/AM/SS/VW than SB/CF/GW.

Well, at least Mercedes mentioned Sylvain. And Ingrid and Annette. Saying they died for what they believed in and admires them for it, since she could never.

Poor Ashe is having a crisis. Still had no idea wtf he's doing in the Empire's war camp. Honestly, this game made him so much more interesting.

Linhardt also has no fucking clue why he's here. I swear he does nothing but complain every map (in a funny way) and wish he was doing literally anything else.

Lorenz is more concerned about his future bc of Claude than worried about him. Man, guy really has no one loyal to him lol.

DOROTHEA & CASPAR C

I swear I did a much better job getting supports in GW and AG.

Caspar has a bunch of books, and Dorothea's horrified by the idea that he'll use them in training.

Caspar plans to read them. Dorothea teases him. Apparently Lin made similar comments.

Dorothea makes him promise not to hurt the books. A woman after my own heart.

Caspar's like, did you know my dad reads! Dorothea's like, yeah . . . how do you think he got his role if he didn't.

Dorothea tells a story about an unlearned commander who studied strategy in books and improved to become legendary.

The only stupid part of this is thinking you can read and understand complicated books in 5 days and become an expect in 5 days. For once, Caspar was the smart one being like, uh, I need more time.

MERCEDES & LYSITHEA B

This support is SB locked, but neither characters are Eagles. It may be the only support like that in the game. But, hey, new Mercie content, I'll take it!

Mercedes comes across Lysithea in the kitchen, trying and failing to cook.

The fruits she wanted to use are moldy though. Lysithea has an idea to use something else for the fruit - a sugar syrup.

Lysithea has dedicated her time to learning how to cook because of how good Mercedes' cooking was, so she credits Mercie for the sugar syrup, which she learned because of that.

Baking also helped Lysithea learn the importance of taking breaks.

Mercie calls her a wizened old grandma, lol.

They arrange a tea party.

SHEZ & LINHARDT A

It starts with Linhardt saying they haven't learned anything about Shez's powers. I wonder how funny this sounds if you get it after the special chapters.

Linhardt says it's find because the war is almost over, so there's less need and chance for the powers to go out of control.

Shez pretty consistently wants to continue working as a mercenary after the battle.

He also seems to have no desire to stay in Enbarr lol.

Linhardt wants Shez as a personal bodyguard. Honestly, not a bad choice.

Then Linhardt says something like "spending the rest of my life with some random bodyguard" and then makes an excuse to leave. so he wants to stick with Shez for life. It's kind of sweet.

EDELGARD & PETRA A

Their only support

Edelgard comes across Petra praying to Bigid gods. In Brigid they pray in nature rather than in churches in Fodlan.

Edelgard asks Petra why she's risking her life in the war because it's bad for Brigid.

So Brigid will only be freed if Petra remains alive.

To be fair, it's because she doesn't know the new leader. Still feels a bit icky for Petra.

Edelgard warns about "tricks" the enemy will use. She really has a beef with anyone using tactics.

Petra just says she's happy to fight and can't run while everyone else remains and fights.

Edelgard says she can't back out, which true, but she could've just not started one. But that's in the past I guess.

Overall, came across better than the Houses one where Petra didn't seem like an equal.

EDELGARD/LYSITHEA/HAPI PARALOGUE

My plan is to have Edelgard and Shez make the other two adjuncts and see if I can't beat the paralogue that way.

It's about TWSITD, which isn't surprising given that character list.

God, I've made SB Shez so fucking stupid. Never understanding anything. It's so funny.

So is this about Cornelia? They found one of her old hideouts.

I had Shez shrug about joining. Hapi got offended.

They're talking about Hubert. I wish he was here. He's my best unit.

I wish Cornelia showed up. She's so fun, but sadly she did not.

They didn't find anything. Hapi was mostly chill about it. Edelgard and Lysithea were more bothered.

Shez could show concern or change the subject. Obviously I made him change the subject since SB!Shez is not intelligent.

CASPAR/LINHARDT PARALOGUE

Like the last time, I just plan to adjunct Caspar and let Shez and Linhardt do all the work.

They're arguing if Caspar saw a ghost or not. Linhardt remains unconvinced.

Lamo, their dads showed up and Linhardt's dad called him a "fountain of positivity" when he brought up their could die any day.

Linhardt is also upset that he has to help.

We're hunting down Empire people who've turned against Edelgard.

I had Shez not want to go lol.

The main battle changed to defeating their dads. I don't think I'm supposed to take this paralogue seriously.

Linhardt had no fun.

Bergliez gave Caspar some gaunlets, and I could either be happy for him or jealous. I obviously picked jealous since it's fun to pick the dick answer lol.

FINAL BATTLE

Why is the S rank reward Edelgard's axe? This is the last battle, right? Is there some post game stuff? Because I'm so ready for this to be done (I don't think I'll do it).

Funny, Edelgard is the one defending the monastery this time, and Varley. Imagine your final battle being about protecting Varley. Ugh.

Only 40 points for the final battle?

Just killed Catherine :(

Cyril just showed up. Rhea's so concerned. Not looking forward to killing a child :((( He died too. This is by far the bloodiest route. I swear no one even dies in AG, and in GW it's only Sylvain's dad.

This can't be it, right? That was too easy. And Cyril as the final boss makes no sense. I'm betting it's a Thales and Rhea fight.

Rhea turned into a dragon. Badass. Glad she was the final boss poper and not Thales.

Spoke too soon. I think they're both here now.

Think I beat it. We're at a cut scene now. Thales is doing magic shit. Rhea attacked him and just ignored Edelgard and Shez like they weren't worth her notice lol.

Wait, that's it?

Rhea pushes Thales off a cliff? So RHEA's the hero??

There's no way they could've survived that - Edelgard. My girl, Rhea is a fucking dragon and Thales can warp. I have bad news from you. Also, Byleth survived a fall too so . . .

What happened to Dimitri? I don't think I killed Claude either?

Is that really it? The war just keeps going. The war just keeps on with no end in sight. Hahahaha. You mean I played how many hours for THAT? I'm going to laugh my ass off if all 3 routes end like this. What a cheap way to avoid killing any of the lords.

OMG. What a stupid ending.

Except for Rhea. She got the big hero moment lol.

I kept waiting for another battle. Esp since there's an S rank reward that's Edelgard's axe, so Idk what's going on.

OMG, this is going to take FOREVER. They're showing the MVP of every single side battle and not just the main ones. I'm only at ch 6.

There was a lot more variety in MVP than I thought. I thought it would be the Hubert show, but it's pretty varied.

Ok, so around ch 10 turns into the Hubert show. I like seeing battle data though, so I sat through it.

Ok, so you get a letter from the person you get a whistle from. Aww, I eventually won Hubert's trust, and he admits he and the army needs us. Glad I picked him.

Wait, no paired endings? That blows. I hope this isn't a new trend since Engage didn't do that either (I love paired endings)

Ok, so it looks like some stuff would carry over to another playthrough on this file. So, in the future, I'd replay AG over my GW or SB playthrough to at least get 2 on the same one. I can't see myself replaying SB or GW. It's not like the story would matter since I could just skip it, but the gameplay is pretty much the same, so why not play the route with my favorites and the most unit choices on top of that?

So you can carry over supports and even unit level. So I could play Dimitri as the absurd level he's at in level one if I saved over my AG file? Because that would be funny. Probably boring. But funny.

Still feels good. One down. Two to go.

xxxx

[faroreswinds]

I'm sorry but the Fodlan games are morally against you. The game is messily written and its lore contradicts itself but the thrust of the narrative is that the Church is meant to be a xenophobic, classist institution with some good in it headed by Rhea who isn't personally xenophobic and classist but is the pillar of a bad system. Edelgard wants to get rid of it, Claude wants to get rid of it while acknowledging there's some good and Dimitri is okay with getting rid of it and personally agrees with Claude's arguments for why it's bad and never stands up for it. Fodlan being unified is a good thing which is why you even have Lysithea in Hopes give an argument about why it should be unified or why every route in Houses ends with Fodlan unified in a golden age or how even in Claude's ending route in VW, he says that Fodlan should be unified with a supreme ruler rather than split up again. Even in Houses, the game portrays Edelgard as a tragic antihero or just an antihero in Crimson Flower. And in Hopes, the game takes as many villanous elements out of Edelgard's story as much possible between severing TWSITD from it or having it so Dimitri technically starts the war against Edelgard for harboring Rhea(and Dimitri says as much that he's the same as Edelgard in that he also starts wars) to Claude allying with Edelgard because she's more tolerable to ally with to there being insinuations even from Edelgard that she might stop her conquest if Rhea is gone or at the very least she's willing to let Leicester go because Faerghus might be too interwoven the Church to let live. The game plays it fully straight that Claude's hero moment in Golden Wildfire is saving Edelgard at the end rather than pulling a Randolph on her

I'm sorry but the Fodlan games are morally against you.

I'm sorry but they are not.

It's kinda a shame that you are on anon, since I can't know if you will ever see this response. Are you just dropping an ask to "educate" me and dash, or do you follow me and will see this response? Alas, I will never know.

But man, I’m getting these anons now? I must be making a mark on the world!

But do you want to know why I know, anon? Because the devs literally tell you that Edelgard is the villain, in their interviews from a few years ago. And that Rhea had good reasons for what she did. Anything beyond that is ignoring the Word of God.

You can argue that the game didn't do a good job showing that but you can't argue that that was the intention.

The game is messily written and its lore contradicts itself but the thrust of the narrative is that the Church is meant to be a xenophobic, classist institution with some good in it headed by Rhea who isn't personally xenophobic and classist but is the pillar of a bad system.

But it also contradicts itself, anon. I can be told till they are blue in the face that the Church is xenophobic and shit, but when I see that the Church goes out of its way to rebuild towns in Duscur where their religion doesn't even exist, employs people like Shamir and Cyril (let's not forget that even CLAUDE in HOUSES says that the Church had a lot of different people with different background and religions), and tries to create an environment where class doesn't exist, how in the WORLD can I believe whatever nonsense the characters spew?

Actions do speak louder than words. They just do. And I don't see the Central Church ever promoting class, promoting xenophobia, or trying to force their religion onto others. If Rhea is the pillar of the organization as you say, then it stands to reason that the organization is more likely to be like her and not the other way around.

Edelgard wants to get rid of it, Claude wants to get rid of it while acknowledging there's some good and Dimitri is okay with getting rid of it and personally agrees with Claude's arguments for why it's bad and never stands up for it.

If you paid attention, Dimitri isn't just ok with getting rid of it. He doesn't even actually fully agree with Claude. But it's a terribly written speech and those chapters do not fit into any route at all. I can't take it seriously.

Fodlan being unified is a good thing which is why you even have Lysithea in Hopes give an argument about why it should be unified or why every route in Houses ends with Fodlan unified in a golden age or how even in Claude's ending route in VW, he says that Fodlan should be unified with a supreme ruler rather than split up again.

That's what the game tells me, but it's dumb as shit. Lysithea's reasoning is about the Slithers- she feels a united Foldan will prevent the Slithers from doing shit (not necessarily true, by the way).

Unification, the erasure of identities and people's way of life, their borders.... I can't condone that. Not if it's done by force. It's disgusting. It lacks nuance. It's basic.

But the game loves it.

Even in Houses, the game portrays Edelgard as a tragic antihero or just an antihero in Crimson Flower. And in Hopes, the game takes as many villanous elements out of Edelgard's story as much possible between severing TWSITD from it or having it so Dimitri technically starts the war against Edelgard for harboring Rhea(and Dimitri says as much that he's the same as Edelgard in that he also starts wars) to Claude allying with Edelgard because she's more tolerable to ally with to there being insinuations even from Edelgard that she might stop her conquest if Rhea is gone or at the very least she's willing to let Leicester go because Faerghus might be too interwoven the Church to let live. The game plays it fully straight that Claude's hero moment in Golden Wildfire is saving Edelgard at the end rather than pulling a Randolph on her

No, again, Edelgard is the villain. The devs have told me as such for Houses, and that is how I view her.

If anything, I felt in Hopes it made it more clear based on her actions, despite how hard the game tries otherwise. She creates a Church that is under her direct control, which she uses to preach whatever she wants her public to hear. We don't know what those words are, but if the AG route has anything to say about it, it's not good. She still declared war and makes it CLEAR she's conquering and not just removing the Church. She doesn't care how it happens, whether they bend the knee like the Alliance does or if they get wiped off the map like Edelgard wants to do to the Kingdom (and she wants to get rid of the Kingdom, she outright states that). She blames the victims for dying. She makes assumptions about her enemies, and uses it to justify her actions.

I know, because I played her route.

And no, Dimitri does not technically start a war. Edelgard gave him a choice - war, or give up the refugees. That's all on her, no matter what the bleeding-heart Dimitri thinks. That's just pure writing bullshit.

And let's not forget Claude. Claude allies with Edelgard because her force is more powerful. He doesn't like the Empire, and wants the Alliance to gain the upper hand. He is using Edelgard, pure and simple, to not only get rid of the Central Church but to also prevent her from gaining the upper hand.

Even when he is rescuing her, he clearly states that he is doing it to garner more favors from her for his own leverage.

I wouldn't use Claude in Hopes as a beacon of morality when the man causes a race war, invades a country before trying to talk to Dimitri first, tricks his own father into lending Alymran ships, never reveals who he is to his friends (only to Shez and Judith), destroys the legacy of the Alliance and takes total power for himself, blames victims for their deaths, and so on and so forth.

[dmclemblems]

It's so annoying that SO many people are saying "Claude fans complaining about his Hopes writing just had a warped fanon version of him in their head" when, like. They're the ones actively saying stuff about his character that legitimately never happened.

"Claude was always power-hungry, curiosity and peace came after that" -> Claude LITERALLY comes to Fodlan because he was curious about it. He wanted to see for himself how Fodlan was so he could form his own opinion on it after everyone around him kept saying it was a land of cowards. Curiosity ALWAYS came first regarding Claude's character, it's the entire reason he does pretty much anything.

"Claude lied about running away from Almyra, his parents knew he left" -> His parents knowing about his running away is what he himself literally says happened, as early as Chapter 3 of 3H. Also "running away from the country that's been shitting on you" and "having your parents about you're about to run away" aren't mutually exclusive things, like, at all.

"Claude was always opportunistic" -> He always takes an extremely solid stance against Edel.gard, in every single route in the game. He'll straight up leave the entire continent over siding with her. There's clearly a limit to his opportunistic tendencies that Hopes ignores completely.

"Claude always hated Rhea and wanted her dead" -> Claude thought about a world without Rhea in it but literally never tries to kill her, and never sides with the ONE person the in entire game trying to kill her. His side - whether through his own efforts or that of Judith's - is always the side that finds out the Empire took Rhea, and his own route ends with him having amicable terms with her.

And then there's the stuff that even his fans don't have an explanation for why he did them that could align with his 3H counterpart.

Invoking a war that happened 300 years ago as justification for invading the Kingdom, when the Kingdom is currently doing absolutely nothing to them? That thing that runs diametrically opposed to pretty much everything Claude as a character stands for? No explanation, or even much acknowledgement that it happened.

His complete LACK of curiosity, a foundational part of his character? No explanation, other than the non-explanation of "well it wasn't THAT important!"

Enflaming a border war between Faerghus and Sreng, despite all of his trauma resulting from the aftereffects of what happens when two bordering countries hate each other? No explanation, and is just called "interesting" with no basis as to WHY it's interesting other than "it's different."

But god forbid you point any of this out, else you'll get hit with one of

"You never understood Claude's character"

"You only liked a fanon version of Claude"

"Well he didn't have Byleth and Garreg Mach"

"Don't be so negative"

"So you're accusing the people who like Claude in Hopes as being fake Claude fans?"

With that last one being especially telling because of just how defensive it is - never said that, weird of them to think that. Almost like yeah, trying to say you like a character after that character had every core aspect of who they were stripped away and replaced with something that was nothing like who they were before... makes it sound like you never ACTUALLY liked that character. Makes it sound like you only liked them superficially.

Which I know isn't the case with ALL Hopes!Claude fans, but yeah, it's damn sure a good bit of them. They never liked Claude and how nice he was, they liked his draft version and are happy they got something like it, and now they're complaining when told that.

Sorry for the long rant and the negativity it has, but man does hearing people say this when at this point it's clearly projection.

Yeah, Claude has always been super nosy and wants to learn everything he can about anything that he takes interest in. He's even admitted he does it to a fault and sometimes feels bad about it afterward when he realizes how far he prods (i.e. to the point of potentially making others uncomfortable). One of the reasons I was disappointed with his characterization in Hopes was the lack of his curiosity and interest in things happening in Fodlan.

On that note too, it's part of why attacking the Kingdom "worked" - because he didn't have any curiosity, thus no desire to learn about them. If he took the time to ask even a few questions, he could've solved a whole lot of misconceptions in just a few minutes. If he was interested in learning about Fodlan in Hopes, he would have wanted more information about the Kingdom before attacking. He wouldn't have just made assumptions about them/why they were helping Rhea/etc - not even White Clouds Claude would have been that one dimensional about it (that being, he hadn't been through his full year yet so he wouldn't have the same level of knowledge then either).

Claude running away from Almyra was probably both due to wanting to see Fodlan for himself and to get away from all the danger. Even for someone like him, there's only so much of that shit you can take before enough is enough. I don't mind whether his parents knew or not, though I find it odd for Nader to have said Claude was "the favorite child". In Houses Claude just kind of seemed to see his parents as a "that's the way it goes" kind of thing with their "tough love", but if Claude was "the favorite child", I'm not sure why he was constantly in so much danger. You'd think the king himself would have put a stop to it and threatened to do something to Claude's attackers, like, I don't know, threaten to execute anyone who dared to attempt to assassinate a literal prince. Regarding the other siblings, if they were so far gone that they were attempting to kill their own half sibling regardless of what their parent(s) said, I can't imagine his father was really all that close to Claude? If Claude was in as much danger as he implies in Houses, then it doesn't sound like daddy dearest did much to make sure he was always safe. It feels like he did some things, but just... not enough? I mean if my kid was in danger like that I'd be doing a lot more to make sure they weren't going to be killed. His dad loved him oh so much, yet he still ran away. He didn't just go to Fodlan - he didn't plan to go live with his grandfather for a while and send letters in his absence with everything being hunky dory. He ran away.

The opportunistic takes from some people are one my biggest NOPEs. Claude is an opportunist, but not to the point of siding with an enemy he was, canonically stated as (thank you Rodrigue dearest xoxo hugs kisses smoochies you always have the tea for all occasions) firmly against the Empire. In no route in Houses does he ever side with Edelgard. He says he doesn't want to kill her, but he'll do it if she won't stop fighting. Also, he explicitly said right to her face that because of her his long held ambitions were nearly ruined. That's not... something you say to someone you wanna side with in a war. A lot of people, including the writers, seem to believe that you have to pick a side: either Rhea or Edelgard. There's literally no "neither" option in either game. In Houses though, Dimitri and Claude both side with Rhea, or to be more exact, the Church under Seteth's command (i.e. not explicitly Rhea, but they were allying together as two losing sides). In Hopes, instead of letting Claude not pick a side since he didn't like Rhea, they just... forced him to side with Edelgard because ???

Also, I think it's important to consider that in Houses, Claude always sides with whoever is opposing Edelgard. In VW, he allies with Seteth and the Church and wants to side with the Kingdom, but because Dimitri dies in VW that didn't happen. In AM and VW both, Claude wanted to ally with the Kingdom before Gronder happened, which is clear when he says the Kingdom doesn't look like they're interested in joining forces. He went into that battle hoping they would want to (and he probably planned for it in AM seeing as he had previously sent an agreement to do so, thanks Rodrigue for the tea AGAIN bc you can't rely on anyone around here except Tea Spiller for vital information and happenings!!!). In other words, under no circumstances did he accept what the Empire was doing... and he could've surrendered to the Empire at any time in any route, but in CF he only does so once he's defeated and has his life spared, meaning he literally fought to his almost death and only didn't die because you/Byleth decided to spare him. In the event you don't spare him, he fights against the Empire even if it kills him. He is literally willing to die fighting them.

Claude doesn't like Rhea in VW and that's the extent of it by the end of the game, tops. At one point or two he thought about what if she did die, sure, but that doesn't equate to him wanting to personally kill her. His thinking is more along the lines of “well it’d be a shame if she died /s” and not “we should go kill her”. He located her whereabouts because he understood by then (whether it’s VW or AM) that regardless of his personal feelings about her, most of Fodlan either needed her or cared about her.

Attacking the Kingdom is bad enough, but seeing him justify it with “well they started it 300 years ago lolz” was such bullshit to me. Like, no, legit, if anyone told me we were going to war because whoever was in power 300 years ago sucked and “they started it”, I’d tell them they’re fucking stupid and should not be someone holding a weapon. That was the most brain dead thing Claude has ever said between both games. Not only was it completely against his character, but it was literally the most bogus reason to go to war with anyone ever. “Hey, you know those guys from 300 years ago who are so long dead that they didn’t even know in their lifetime that we’d exist one day? Yeah? Those people who are literally ancient history and have no say in our lives? We’re gonna go to war because long dead people from Leicester didn’t like some long dead people from the Kingdom and, you know, I really think the citizens of the Kingdom who are living now in the present should pay for that. We should go invade their home because we have to hold them accountable for what was out of their not-born-yet control from 300 years ago!””

I really cannot believe Claude pulled the “well they did it first!” card as if someone they knew personally or someone with a high position in the Kingdom living right then drew first blood. There would not be a single person alive in the Kingdom who had anything to do with any of that from back then, and here Claude is justifying his war with... that. It’s literally stupid to begin with, but to put those words in Claude’s mouth of all people is an insult to his entire existence, honestly. The whole Faerghus and Sreng thing was definitely a big side eye for me considering he’s from Almyra.

The Byleth excuse is just dumb to me because Claude doesn’t need Byleth. He’s the same person in every route of Houses. It’s also noteworthy that Claude gave Failnaught specifically to Dimitri, not Byleth. All the other characters give their relics to Byleth to “hold onto” (game mechanics and shit), but Claude doesn’t give Byleth Failnaught thinking it’s Byleth who is going to end the war, and it’s not Byleth he called on for help when the Alliance needed the Kingdom. In CF if he survives he just says hi and bye to Byleth and leaves, with no “wow I sure hope we can bring our nations closer together after the war”. He didn’t ask for Byleth’s help in CF. It never had anything to do with Byleth specifically that he was who he was. In fact, if nothing else he really only saw Byleth as a means to an end for a while and even wanted to use the Sword of the Creator. Byleth was a tool for him for at least half of WC, and he even sometimes in VW doesn’t really think about Byleth’s feelings? Fuck ‘em, he wants to read Jeralt’s diary. Byleth is worried about Rhea so they should hurry and find her? Fuck that, he just wants answers from Rhea. They became friends, yes, but his entire existence does not revolve around Byleth and I see so many Claude fans hellbent on insisting things that basically equate to “he’s only a good person because of Byleth”. No, he has an entire character outside of Byleth and I’d appreciate it if people stopped reducing him to eye candy for their self insert version of Byleth. :)

It’s fine, I know a lot of people are upset about what Hopes did but also the way some players are reacting to it. I don’t mind if people like this version of him, but I hate how some players are treating Houses Claude fans. It’s ironic too because some of these people are the ones who at first were saying Hopes is just an AU, but now they’re insisting this was always Claude’s character. 

[adamantineheart]

my final three hopes thoughts

AG >>>>>> SB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GW

anyway

The Good

AG is basically just dimilix fanfic. like we are either psychics or INTSYS/KT owes us royalties.

The character work in AG was phenomenal. They way they adjusted the characters for their situation but still made them feel like who they are? Fucking ace. SB went a little differently, where certain characters feel much different but I can forgive it because the eagle kiddos were always weird for characterization due to the route split. Which version of these characters you consider canon is up to you.

Whoever wrote the Duscur and Sreng paralogues… I love you. The Duscur paralogue is just so so so emotionally moving and really lets Dedue grieve as he usually isn't allowed and gave Ingrid a lot of closure she desperately needed. Meanwhile Felix gets to just really show what kind of person he is and drive home that what he needs is the present aka Dimitri to feel satisfied (instead of clinging to the past). Sreng was wonderful for the lore, political situation, and all that character work, especially between Sylvain and Matthias.

Monica is the character I didn't know I wanted. I love her…. I've already added background Monigard to two dmlx fics. She's just the perfect amount of unhinged. <3

Playable Rodrigue is one of the best parts of this game. THANK YOU!!!! It also means his optional death is the most impactful of the game, aided by it being centered around dimilix and not Shez.

Voiced Shez is an improvement, as is voiced Byleth. I also appreciate that Shez isn't anyone important and is a student instead of a teacher. Also thank you for only making some characters make romantic overtures toward Shez instead of almost all of them.

There are a lot of excellent paralogues in the game and most of them had a lot of thought put into their setup (which characters were chosen, the premise, the writing, etc).

Making my blorbos uber powerful is a lot of fun 💙Also Felix is such a fun unit (I loved the sword units the most tbf).

Supports are generally amazing. A lot of improvements to some original chains or new versions that add something to the relationship. All new chains altogether that fleshed out relationships we were denied before. Also a lot of ships I hate had reduced supports or had them removed altogether :) No one won as hard as me in the shipping department tbh. 🫡

A great OST again even if nothing hit quite as hard as some of the original final boss themes.

I actually love the setup of the story even if I take issue with individual routes or moments. But it was nice getting out of the academy setting and exploring Fódlan instead. 

Did I mention Dimitri and Felix? His Majesty and Duke Fraldarius? They are perfect and I love them.

The Bad

No fucking snow maps in Faerghus.

Edelgard's reunification scheme is 10x worse here than Three Houses because Rhea is willing to ally with her against TWSITD. As usual, Edelgard is stuck in her assumptions on what she thinks is true and refuses have an open dialogue with the Church and Dimitri, choosing violence because she believes she knows what's best for everyone. I've accepted this about her but it's still a hard pill to swallow that dangled her talking to Rhea and Dimitri above our heads and then took it away.

​​Zahras is badly written independent of route, just like Gronder Field. The desire to make the lords interact even when it’s nonsensical just needs to stop. It sucked every time.

IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE STUFF (like weapons). LIKE REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Every route had issues, especially toward the end but the worst for me was GW. There was a lot of bad character shit, not just for Claude, though he was the plot instigator of everyone else being out for blood.

Almyra is a joke now I guess. Actually, it flip flops being a joke and completely awful. It’s true they were never great in FE3H but Cyril existed as a contrast. Him not being playable sucked. 🙁

Scarlet Blaze’s convient ending…….. Edelgard’s main enemies just kill each other……….. it just felt like “Why were we even there?” We accomplished nothing.

How dare I not be able to making Dimitri and Felix marry :( WHERE IS THE DIMILIX WEDDING DLC!

[alexissara]

Art That Touched Me 2022

It's that time of year where people recap the stuff from the year they enjoyed and put them into structured lists. I like a nice structured list but instead of doing a bunch of categories of things I am just gonna talk about my favorite pieces of art across all forms of media this year and why I like them. Something being on this list doesn't mean they came out this year [but most did] I just have to have tried it out this year.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes

I love Fire Emblem, I make no secret about it, I see Fire Emblem and my dirty little consumer brain activates and the main theme plays in my little brain. It's probably my favorite series of games. However, I really also love the gameplay of the warriors series so this game was perfect for me. While the first FE warriors was a little mid thanks to a really bad story and a meh roster, this game is just amazing on every level. It expands on a cast of characters I love, gives Fire Emblem it's second canon lesbian character, the last one being on the Wii and it has two really amazing stories our of three. The game is held back by just how awful the Blue Lions are but that isn't anything new for the Three Houses world they also sucked in Three Houses. Edelgard and Claude's routes were both amazingly done and elevated the characters and their casts, fleshing them out even further and really showing their visions for a better world even if the game was still afraid to show you what this world would look like with it's subpar endings. The gameplay is great, the writing for characters is fantastic and really all it's missing is exploring more of Shez and Byleth both of whom needed a bit more spotlight in the game.

Ultimately I took a lot of great ways to write characters in compelling ways and a fun format for telling a war narrative in the context of a revolution. I think it's a really good and engaging piece of art that's also very fun to play.

The Executioner and Her Way Of Life

This anime was well worth the hype. The stunning action, the take down of isekai tropes, the lack of subtly, the wildly flamboyant and over the top cast, it is a stunning piece. The show is running at all engines fired and multiple easy ships and clear romantic feelings from several characters.

While this show opens with a guy character who is then killed the show after episode one then focuses pretty much wholly on women. This gives us a range of women in adversarial positions and allied positions. Everyone is a little bit messed up and it's just so much fun, it instantly became one of my all time favorite animes.

This instantly inspired me to want to write a setting for TSL and wanting to do more work with the isekai story telling space. I think this just makes me want to make something fun but that also like has more to say. Which is always my target goal but it was nice to see it in action in someone else's work.

Pokémon Legends Arceus

While Pokémon Scarlet and Violet really let me down [You can read my review here], PLA was an amazing experience. The gameplay was really exciting the flow of capturing Pokemon was just so much fun and the focused theming made for really great visual design. The game did a good job with the story telling through the way the village progressed. While there isn't a lot of deep depth there is something to say for a focused fun experience. I just really liked it.

I'm In Love With The Villainess

I haven't really gotten super far in this series I had a ton of fun with the first volume and some change I read. This is a classic example of me wanting to get deep in something but wanting to support the offical release so I am taking it pretty slow cuz money. I know this series has a trans woman character, has revolutions, has all sorts of shit I will really love.

So a lot of me really enjoying being engaged with it has been through fan art and covers and stuff. Still reading it was still just really nice and I really want to keep pushing forward with it and enjoy the relationship between Claire and Rey.

This series feels just so inspiring as a former comic book writer, like I love seeing a series with such clear good ethics and indie spirit get more and more experience. There is free translations of the light novels the creator just retweets and shares. She tries to communicate in tons of languages to her now global fan base and it's just really nice to see this little series that could grow. I feel really encourages to stick to my own ethics in my work and push for new amazing art to be as accessible as possible.

Guilty Gear -Strive-

This year I got a new laptop and with that I could finally get back into fighting games and the game that has given me the most joy from them all has been Strive. The amazing music that gets into the personal struggles of each of the characters, the over the top action, it's just an exciting and fun game. Bridget was what brought me to the game but I have no regrets diving into the series again after years since I last played XX Ancient Core on my PS2.

The game is also visually stunning, maybe the best looking game around. The stunning experience feels like you are in control of an anime fight.

I don't think I got a big take away from it as an artist that is like applicable to my current mediums but it does inspire me just listening to the music while writing to go big.

Los Espookys

Los Espookys is one of the funniest and queerest shows ever created. The cast of weirdos who like to make spooky stuff starts super grounded and grows increasingly ridiculous with each episode. This show really is something special and it is such a shame it got canceled by HBO.

While it's canceled there is there is two seasons of these little freaks trying to make spooks. I think the narrative of this little weird family is really fun and each character really brings something new to the table.

As a character focused writer I really love the focus on characters here and the way they make ridiculous characters feel like part of their world is masterful. I feel like I'll be pulling from this show when I am looking at how to capture my comedy forward characters especially.

Sun Haven

There is a billion farming sims and this is one that's stood out to me. Most farming sims in fantasy settings don't really embrace the fantasy elements for your farm but this game let's magic be a part of every aspect of what you do. This is a very cozy game and one that i am taking very slowly since I am playing it with one of my girlfriends. It's a really nice chill time that seems to be constantly improving in early access.

Harley Quinn

I don't think the sense of humor in Harley Quinn is for everyone, it's very over the top but not in the way like Los Espooky's is. There is more violence and swearing, it's more "adult comedy TM" except it feels a lot more masterful and less mean then most those kinds of shows. The narrative focus allows the show to actually weave it's comedy and have longer ends for punch lines and bits. It also makes it where it always feels like it's moving because the characters are not in the same place in any given episode, every episode matters to the plot.

I think this show also has some of the best versions of each character in the show with in all of DC media. I am not a big comic book girl anymore, I left them behind when I realized like the abuse and bigotry and stuff just wasn't going to end and I lost hope for the big two. That said I did used to be a super super engaged fan.

This show really makes me wish copyright wasn't the beast it is because it really shows the value of adaptation and how making a world made of these long term iconic characters can be an amazing narrative toolbox. Instead you have to get these ideas in front of gatekeepers.

Fire Emblem: Absolution

This is a Fire Emblem fan game and this is the one that really gripped me in a huge way. It showed me the potential these fan games have to tell stories that go beyond the series and show the strength of the community of fan game makers and rom hackers. The amount of awesome BIPOC characters and the anti colonial vibe of the first arc are really great.

This game really inspired me to dive deep into the fan community and start playing a ton more games. I might right later about a bunch of rom hacks I think are neat and why I think the community is so cool. I want to play even more before I do that but I feel like after diving in I really more than ever feel determined to make an SRPG be it a fan game or something original. It's not at the front of my goals but it's really inspired me.

Girl Haven and Cheer Up

I am bundling these two together because their graphic novels for kids. I really loved both of these stories Girl Haven and Cheer Up both star trans women as their lead characters and sapphic romance for those trans girl. Girl Haven is more a wonderous adventure with a grounding in reality like a queer Narnia that also isn't religious. Cheer Up is more a real mix of drama and romance that comes with being trans, queer, and not fitting norms.

These stories would have mattered so much to a younger me if I had read them. One of the main reasons it took me so long to come out is trans is that I was told on early internet that to be a trans woman you had to be attracted to men, you had to want XYZ things, be this fem, etc. I didn't feel like I could match these clearly homophobic standards and so I suppressed it despite believing that trans lesbians were valid that I met in these spaces from a rare time to time. I simply internalized it. Every trans woman in the media was attracted to men too, it was just not something I could accept about myself.

These stories I hope will find their hands to lots of queer trans girls and help them find the strength to come out. I just feel so happy they exist.

One Step From Eden

This is a game I've been meaning to play for a long time. I am a massive fan of the Mega Man Battle Network for it's really cool gameplay. This game brings it into a rouge like game with far less narrative. While I wish there was a lot more going on thanks to Steam Workshop support being in the game this is a game I just passively play whenever. It's just a really fun time, it's simple and it's like a go to passive almost like stiming type game.

Murder Princess

Our final addition is Murder Princess, an old small anime that I watched with April when I was on a trip to work on Falling Deeper and spend time with her. Watching it it was shockingly pretty gay and actually really good. I love it, I love this body swap anime, I love the weird characters, I love the like One Punch Man esc power level of our main fighter girl for most the show.

This thing really convinced me to sit with the potential of body swapping which is a kind of narrative tool I already liked. I wouldn't be shocked to see it in Falling Deeper and I have an old Firebrands hack about trans people body swapping I would love to revive.