#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-3h-takes]

i don't believe blue lions route "fit white clouds the most" because literally every route has it. i know the general explanation is because the characters have personal involvement with some of the chapters (ie ashe with lonato and sylvain with miklan) but these chapters are there because: in lonatos case it is to establish there are other church branches and the western one is considered to be more violent and racist, and on miklans case is to introduce how to deal with a monster unit and a small explanation on heroes relics and one example of what happens if its "in the wrong hands". it also ends up being diminished when ashe and sylvain can be recruited to other routes

these chapters also serve what house leaders think: edelgard didnt say much about lonato but talked about how commoners fought what they believed in and admits she would willingly risk her peoples lives for her own goals (her words not mine) and something something crests bad. dimitri tries to comfort ashe and explains to byleth about those in power would do anything horrible and claim it as a just cause and explains while yes disinheriting miklan for not being crested is bad and shouldve not happen it is unfortunately been a thing in the kingdom for awhile because of constant northern invasions and they needed relics for better defense. claude being an outsider obviously isn't familiar with lonato so he only talked about the heroes relics because catherine was there (tho he did mention in battle how the common folks are the ones would suffer from skirmishes the most) and after the miklan debacle he questions the power and origin of heroes relics while tomas (whos already solon by this point) is giving claude some info which feeds to his curiosity and suspicion about the church

really these two chapters are a fascinating window into a house leaders thoughts about the main topic of crests and what it is to be a good leader and it's unfortunate its being used as a "well this route fits this house better" schtick :/

This was actually very interesting to read

[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)

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

okay so like two things about this particular line.

one: i like the irony in claude telling someone to trust more.

two: HOWEVER, dimitri has literally absolutely no reason whatsoever in the name of yeehaw fuckity to not trust claude. i hate the way the game tries to absolutely force the things gw/sb claude does into ag when it doesn't even exist at all in ag. he never made a single hint of planning to just betray/harm the kingdom and this is literally at their first war meeting. not just that, but claude chose to go to faerghus himself and didn't ask them to go to leicester (which he specifically states being the one to choose to go to faerghus), so there wasn't anything indicating he might be up to something at all.

then we've got this stupid nugget:

each side lacks trust and is expecting foul play? the church expects foul play from the kingdom? from the alliance which has done nothing to them in this route, and that's bad enough... but the fucking kingdom too?

the kingdom and alliance watching for foul play even though they're allies and never had a history of being aggressive toward each other?

i know i've talked about it before but... i just hate how they tried to force this "claude is always scheming something terrible" plotline, even where it doesn't belong. then they also added in the dumb bit here about even the church not trusting the other armies, even though they've... literally been helping them, gratefully, this whole war. they also didn't have to fight but chose to out of gratitude for being sheltered.

suddenly after the timeskip they just... don't trust each other?

like i totally get just being in it to reclaim gm and go home and not really in it for someone else or anyone else, but the distrust is just an asspull to make the church seem BaD as usual.

claude just walked in and wasn't trusted. they also keep hammering it in right through the whole second half of the route with lots of kingdom allies (including playable ones) not trusting him. even if they relatively trust the alliance and the soldiers helping them that were integrated into their army, they specifically do not trust claude at all and are apprehensive about him.

dimitri agrees here if they can't be trusted, but he doesn't mention just personally distrusting them a whole lot. he agrees that they should be cautious if what the others say is true, but he also just shrugs it off as "they'll be enough to deal with the alliance if so". he seems unsure at first and kinda goes back and forth, but by the end he's the only character who faithfully believes that claude isn't just fucking around and leading them on (which literally, right to the very very very end, every single character except him is still very vocally doubting claude).

but like... why? there's... just... nothing to distrust him because of in this route. man literally exists and the game wants us to believe he's untrustworthy.

yeehaw wtf??? why would anything happen between the kingdom and alliance after the war? why would anything need to happen? even if you try to argue that claude is gonna try to uwu depose of the top church officials, if the church is watching the kingdom like hawks like dimitri is apparently aware of, why would the kingdom get involved? why would they care? clearly the church doesn't trust them all that much after all, or at least anymore since the timeskip for some unknown reason, and the kingdom has now, after this war, paid back any debt it owed the church.

so like, why would they suddenly rush to the church's aid and help them if the church doesn't trust them? if they were friendly/allied it would make sense if they still wanted to help, but if the church is expecting foul play from the kingdom, why would the kingdom even care what happens to the church? they could turn a blind eye and pretend they don't have the resources to aid them anymore and that their own territory is still busy recovering.

even if you argue what they discussed at the very beginning of the war, the church either A: didn't ask for aid in this second conflict, or B: even if they did, the above stands. i don't think there would be any riots or anything like that in those cases if the kingdom didn't help the church. it's one thing to help, but it's another to just fight at the back and call of another territory, which dimitri clearly expresses he won't do in gw because he puts the safety of his people first. no matter what his feelings are on the matter, he knows he's a king and that he has a responsibility to his people first and foremost, as would be expected of a king (to protect his own people first and foremost).

while i could see claude wanting to talk after the war and get things straight, and while i could see dimitri there as a mediator, there's just... literally no reason for bad blood after all this. even if they don't trust each other, there's just no reason - and that's aside from the fact that it's total bs that they all just don't trust each other.

lorenz just asks if shez has confidence in them. doesn't mention claude. shez though just... randomly is like oh yeah btw just not claude. totally unprompted.

lorenz distrusting claude has been part of his character since houses so his part of it is reasonable. normally i'd say it's really pushing things with claude not being trustworthy for someone to say they feel bad for shez/the kingdom army for the implication of having to deal with claude even as an ally, but the only reason i give this a pass is because it's an understandable and reasonable character who says it.

still though, it's like the game throws it in at every single possible opportunity for no reason at all. they don't give us any indication that claude is this big bad evil guy. he doesn't trust the church. like... that's it. he made that clear even in ag (even without the zaharas chapter), and that's just... it. the rest of this makes it seem like claude is going to just up and invade the kingdom after this war and try to unify fodlan (i.e. just go what edelgard's been doing this whole time).

it's just like... here, nobody trusts claude at all in this game just for simply existing. you don't even have to bring him up, because someone else will do it for you and shit talk him to remind you he's the biggest piece of shit the game can offer! meanwhile, we've got marianne who is concerned about edelgard (implication is her well being no less!) because the empire's army ain't doing so hot. poor indading aggressor! sure hope she's doing okay! fuck our leader though, he's the biggest steaming pile of bullshit garbage to ever exist (marianne didn't say that, but that's what the narrative is going for: poor edelgard, it's so sad that the invader is having it rough right now. anyway fuck claude he's literally as evil as tws).

i love ag but i'd say this is one of if not the worst hiccup in the writing. when it comes to faerghus itself and its characters, it's mostly fine and even great, but when it starts going into other territories/characters it ends up taking a nosedive in quality.

siiigh

[fayesdiary]

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

[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!

[kob131]

Claude, although subtle, DOES have character development. It’s most noticeable in his support with Cyril.

Edelgard, if you ask me, is the one whose character arc needs serious improvement.

I should mention… Verdant Wind was my first route, Azure Moon my second, and Crimson Flower my third.

Verdant Wind-Edelgard made a BAD first impression on me by the end.

Azure Moon-Without spoiling anything… I ended up hating her EVEN MORE after this route.

Crimson Flower prompted SOME thought… and I ultimately decided it did NOT redeem her in my eyes. She comes off less as changing for the better and more as being prevented from changing for the worse. That dialogue you mention about her relaxing her views on the church rings hollow considering this is the only route where the church is more or less completely dismantled, vs reforming on other routes. She overall comes off as remaining static, with her character not changing much, if at all. Not to mention that the story seemingly goes out of its way to ensure her misinformed view of Fodlan history is never challenged. (Which feels more sue-ish to me.)

It’s also kinda funny that you claim Claude’s flaws never screw him over when, in fact, they DO screw him over in any route outside his own! And it’s heavily implied he only really succeeds in his route because he has Byleth on his side. Also… pretty sure his cheerful attitude is a cover for his pain.

Although, I suppose without knowing if you’ve played Azure Moon, or your thoughts on it if you have, I can’t form a full opinion on your thoughts. So I’ll just wait and see.

(BTW, the TRUE Mary Sue in the overall Three Houses canon is Three Hopes!Dimitri)

Okay, before I go anywhere with this, i want to say that I appreciate that you took your time to come and explain yourself to me. Very rarely do I get something like this and instead get preaching to the choir or really bad arguments that don't do shit. So thanks for putting in so much time and effort.

1- I can't deny or affirm this since I didn't GET Cyril in my run. And from what I remember- Claude acts a little more trusting and his facade is more truthful by the end. That doesn't help that Claude is still the guy who gets the most hopeful route when he presents less vulnerability.

2- While I do understand this and I am not going to argue for her on any kind of objective basis here- I do have to say that the Church being dismantled doesn't make her relaxing her views come across as less hollow to me. This kind of stuff would go beyond just the Church since the real problem is the tramua she suffered rather than the Church's issues. Also I can't really think of a way to change it so the Church stays since you need Rhea and Seteth/Flaynn around still. And no fucking way can Edelgard pull off the shit she does and they stick around.

2.5- Going to the history bit- I can understand that. She isn't being challenged here properly and I get that. But my issues with Claude weren't fully detailed in my post so sorry about that.

Another of my big issues is just what was revealed in Verdant Wind: The history of Foldlan, the relics and Rhea's past. This is all stuff that should have been at least shared with the other routes, ESPECIALLY Silver Snow since...you know...that's RHEA'S route and the final boss is NEMESIS, her mother's murderer? Of all the places to have the Agarthans and Nemesis show up, Claude, the guy least affected by them, gets to fight them.

As far as I know, you don't get to get revenge on them for killing Edelgard's family and torturing her, shattering Dimitri's mind and ruining Rhea's life. No, CLAUDE gets the fight.

Again, I could be wrong. My personal experience lacks Azure Moon and Silver Snow. And I know this is emotional and stupid as all hell. But...fucking hell, it REALLY feels like the developers realized Claude was the weakest Lord in terms of character and then shoved the backstory into his route to give you a reason to fight with him.

3- Yeah, the problem there is that from what I've seen, other characters drop their masks but Claude never really does. Just once, can he not have a smile on his face.

And- You'll have to explain how Claude keeping up a facade fucks him over in Crimson Flower. Best I could get there is that without Byleth, Claude's fakeness means no one will rally behind him. Which...doesn't get that much focus compared to Dimitri.

4- I haven't and my memories of Verdant Wind and Crimson Flower are a bit distant since I took about a year to revisit this game. This is kind of why I would like for you to explain the bits about Claude like you did against Edelgard.

Just as well- my thoughts here are just that. My thoughts, not an actual analysis of Three Houses and the routes. In that sense, Claude's route is perfectly functional and works well as a contrast to the more dour routes along with fitting his rouge-like aesthetic and the Golden Deer's more cheerful tone. (That...might just be because of Rapheal though). Claude's development isn't obvious and upfront but it doesn't need it. In fact, Claude's upbeat demeanor is something that can't really be filled by anyone else in the route and is necessary for the tone and unique identity of Verdant Wind. So he works perfectly fine here on an objective level.

You really shouldn't take what I said before as any actual judgement on his character. That was me summing up my year old thoughts on a route I personally didn't like.

Oof, kinda ranted a bit in my earlier ask.

If it makes you feel better, Three Hopes has some… opportunities to vent your frustrations with Claude.

No problem, man. I clearly touched a frayed nerve there and I know all too well the feeling. I should have explained myself better if I didn't want to get a rant after all.

And...if that's a reference to killing Claude, I don't really want that. I want Claude to be vulnerable or for me to snark at him for making jokes about poisoning others. Like dude, I know it's a joke but the fucking diplomats won't care. Probably a good thing I paired him with Ingrid- She can act as the resident Claude translator.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[bowbowis]

Me: Edelgard is a worse liar than what you falsely accuse and condemn Dimitri for

I never called Dimitri a liar, what the fuck are you talking about?

and she has unjustly attacked Leicester numerous times with the intent to conquer it and only secured a pact in Scarlet Blaze cause of her relentless attacks.

Nobody denied that Edelgard attacked Leicester as part of her war with the Church. You were claiming that she attacked them after the Church was defeated, and that it proved she was lying about her overall goal being to take out the Church. Remember?

"The whole point of my post is that Edelgard lied about only wanting to rid Fodlan of the central church by continuously invading Faerghus and Leicester after completing her goal." -You

I pointed out that Edelgard never instigated a new conflict with Leicester or Faerghus after the fall of the Church, and the continuation of preexisting conflicts in which the other party refused a peace deal or broke the one they already had with her, does not indicate that she is interested in controlling Fódlan beyond her mission to dismantle the church. Now you're acting like the argument was whether Edelgard ever attacked the other nation at all, when emphatically was not.

Also, the Empire never "attack[s] Leicester . . . with the intent to conquer it" more than once in any given route. I'm curious what "relentless attacks" are you referring to too. The Imperial Army is in with Leicester for all of one chapter in Scarlet Blaze before Erwin betrays Edelgard. Everything after that is just a mad dash to save Leopold and his men from Claude's trap. Also regarding Scarlet Blaze, the attack on Leicester is prompted by the Alliance lords swearing allegiance to the Central Church, so it's not necessarily unjustified either:

This moutbreather: "Erm she isn't a liar cause they're both politicians

We can quibble over whether a false statement made with the assumption that the listener will understand it to be false actually qualifies as a lie, but what exactly are you trying to prove here? That Edelgard sometimes acts deceptively? Yeah, no shit. It comes with the territory of being a political and military leader. There are much better examples of Edelgard acting deceptively in both games and they take special care to call attention both to the fact that she's doing it and why, because she's normally straightforward to a fault.

Anyhow...

One instance of somebody lying does not prove they are also lying in another instance. Especially when the context is completely different.

and she never attacked Leicester cause Claude broke the treaty in Scarlet Blaze 🤓☝🏻" You're an IQ deficient moron.

She never attacked Leicester after the fall of the church. The reason there is an ongoing war between them in the bad ending of Scarlet Blaze is because and Claude broke the peace treaty they had previously established and declared a new war on Adrestia. That goes directly against your claim that: "The war continues solely because of Edelgard's selfish desire to conquer Fodlan for Adrestia."

Also:

Edelgard:

Also Edelgard:

Dimitri: