#Dimitri’s Point of View

[vafiction]

Be sure to check out ALL SIX books from Dimitri’s Point if View here

#vampire academy #rose hathaway #dimitri belikov #romitri #va fanfic #gigi256 #va #Vampire Academy Dimitri’s Point of View #Dimitri’s Point of View

[rorah]

The mentally stable Dimitri Fire emblem 3 hopes.

It surprises me that there's still ppl claiming so, but then I remember we're talking about 3h interpretations and I have to make peace with it.

But that doesn't stop me from venting a little bit in this little space I have lol. Actually, it dries me and makes me feel bad to bring this up because I will have to talk bad about Dedue, and I don't want to talk Bad about Dedue. He's a genuinely good boy. But "Human" nonetheless, which means Flaws. I like Felix too but he's become some sort of a clown that doesn't make me feel too bad. I like Felix tho, In a different way.

Mostly talking about these two because the take that "Dimitri has better support system" baffles me because, technically, these two are his support system in HopesVerse. The persons who Dimitri relays on and seek solace/advice/support. The rest doesn't really tackle any of his personal struggles (aside from the Mage!Mitri frustrated dream, but that's out of the bad equation in our 'mentally unwell' set of pixels, and Shez only has a glimpse). Contrary, to Houses verse where the whole blue lions cast knew about his shit, didn't know what to do, but didn't leave either.

I tackled this topic with other person on Twitter who was (or still is) on board with this take and the phrase they used was They contained him better, which of course I agree and remarked that was exactly the problem. Contain him is gonna be contra productive. I used a water dam analogy, where the structure of such dam is damaged, and the pressure of water keeps accumulating. Causing a foreseeable damage for the dam itself and the surroundings. You don't need to be a genius to understand it, you need experience or knowledge for mental ill topics tho.

I really don't want to extend so much on here because it's mostly just, rant format more than a proper analysis so I just want to point out these two things in their support conversations.

First, Dedue. Encourage him to keep on the vengeful path. Which we know was the final goal of Azure Moon and if you payed attention to 3 houses message. The whole Vengeful argument was something Bad, to keep it simple. Despite Dimitri actively looking for answers/guidance for something that, in a rational state he can see clearly like vengeance will consume his life (also Shez and Felix called out this behavior). Dedue answer only encourage him to keep on that path, because he would do that 💔. Presenting 2 oposite views is a great formula for confusion and disorientation. Now, Dedue's role is primary SUPPORT, not guidance nor orientation. He will support his shit no matter what, and we are quite aware of that if played Houses.

Second, Felix. Felix is a special case. He is smart but also an idiot lacks A LOT of soft skills to actually be of help. He's the only one who knows in this verse about Dimitri having a mental issue. In their A support to say the least, so they don't close or solve anything. What makes it more worrisome is the fact that Felix conceals the issue as a secret.

"So try to keep that whole "removing their heads" thing in check, yeah? We can just call it our little secret."

this extract here makes me feel so unwell 😭help

The whole burden falls over him and his lack of skills and wisdom on the matter will be too much for him later on. He at least, will be able to recognize that the problem is beyond of his capabilities and will look for help. Felix himself has his own issues and journey where he needs to learn. He's forced to get pass beyond some of his angry teen behavior but hasn't completely get over it.

There is a lot more to tackle, but that requires more work and time. What are the topics some of you think is important to cover around understanding the Hopes verse resolution? Dimitri's route? something? Do you think the route without Byleth is better? With that being said, I would like to delve deeper into character analysis, and the role each played for the Lords too. That also requires to talk about the Byleth and needs a whole analysis on their own, which requires time (which i don't have much lol) To end this vent, I would like to encourage people to do a little research for the terminology they're using like "Support System". Who makes it up and how it operates successfully. The fact that ppl saying "he has better support system" only because he didn't go feral on the run alone is not entirely valid. A reminder that people can feel alone with or without people around them. And containing the issue within doesn't solve any problem. At best, it's presented later. At worse, it gets worse.

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #my lil blorbo with mental health issues #few3hopes #fire emblem warriors 3 hopes #Today I woke up and felt like venting #BUT Just to make myself clear #this has nothing to do with ships #you can ship whatever you want #You do you #Just in case someone has that feeling #This is an analysis from a mental health point of view #because it is one of the strong points of this character and with which many of us connect/relate #So I like to apply psychological and neurological (even psychiatric if necessary) perspectives #And I like to apply realistic theories to this fictional world because that is the good thing about three-dimensional characters #They feel so human that all these hypotheses can be applied #If some of you don't. That's cool too. You do you #Enjoy the game as you please lil fella #ALSO ALSO I'm taking into account what the intention of the developers was #(that would be tricky considering the inconsistency withing the developers' team >___>)

[dmclemblems]

Just some examples below of characters at camp in GW not being okay with what Claude does (mainly to reiterate past points I’ve made about him/the route):

Mind you, the game forces all characters to cooperate with Claude in GW, even though a lot of them disagree (Marianne adamantly is against everything Claude is doing and expresses it regularly. Her excuse for not leaving or doing anything about is that she hopes the war ends quickly, but she still repeatedly expresses that she doesn’t believe what they’re doing is the right thing to do).

Lorenz repeatedly questions Claude’s decisions, as he should, but due to it being the GW route, all the characters have to follow what he does and just deal with it. There’s no “hey this is bullshit I’m out”, when realistically at this point a good handful of characters would’ve walked out.

This proves the writer’s are totally aware of what they’re writing and know the nuance to it! It’s just that... because Claude is the main character of this route, he’s swept up in the story and has to be adjusted to fit the story accordingly.

There’s no happy ending for the Kingdom and Alliance unless Sylvain (who is a major player in Faerghus politics) can agree to it, which is highly unlikely after he openly expresses his hatred for Claude/the Alliance (as he puts it, the “invaders”, which... were Claude/the Alliance).

Also, I have another post with the camp part of Hapi saying that it’s scummy of the Alliance/Federation that the only reason she and Constance are alive is because they surrendered. In other words, she finds the “surrender or die” thing to be scummy. Then we have Yuri, who notices the same issue:

This point proves that Claude is pretty cold hearted in this route. He not only forces Ashe to surrender (or die, as is implied by his dialogue when he says “Dimitri would be sad if you died” and thus urging him to surrender), but then he even has Ashe fight against his own people.

While this is a recruit mechanic issue and is a problem in all routes generally speaking, it’s not highlighted upon by other characters about other characters. That is to say, Petra for example in AG will express relief that they didn’t have to kill Dorothea, but she doesn’t mention anything about Dimitri forcing them to fight the Empire (which Petra decides to do entirely by her own will). Dorothea expresses some reluctance at first in her own camp dialogue, but it’s never mentioned that Dimitri is forcing anyone to fight against their will.

The fact that other characters are commenting on it means other characters are seeing and understanding what’s going on (which is more than a lot of players can say apparently, like the ones who blindly send hate to people who didn’t enjoy GW/SB lol). They recognize that everything Claude is doing is just shitty and shouldn’t be what they’re doing.

So... why do they keep fighting with him? Because... bad writing. That’s honestly it. Because they’re all forced, by the writing and route’s story, to keep fighting for Claude even though probably a good half of his camp doesn’t agree with his actions. Even though, if this were a better story even somewhat, and if Claude still did what he’s been doing here in this somewhat better story, the story would be made better by the disagreeing characters defecting to the Kingdom. Mind you, three background lords did try to defect to the Kingdom... and were promptly shut down from defecting.

If this were a good story, Claude wouldn’t have had his morals flipped on their head. If this were a decentish story, Claude would have lost a good chunk of his allies who defected after being fed up with his behavior and decisions. If this were a bad and lazily written story, it would look like it does.

ALSO I ran out of tags to explain my last point BUT

the irony of all this is that when he killed Shahid, he was trying not to cry and got drunk over it. This guy who had been trying to kill him and would’ve done so without batting an eye (and probably would’ve told everyone and bragged about it), this guy who has been presumably among his siblings trying to kill him his entire life, and this is who he feels guilty about killing. Then he goes marching to Faerghus, invades them and says he just wants to talk while forcing one of their royal knights to surrender or die.

Apparently Claude would rather feel sad about the brother of his that tried to murder him than the innocent people who never wronged him.

#Three Hopes #Three Hopes Spoilers #and the thing is it's hard for Claude fans to stomach this in general like #this isn't dominantly Claude haters who hate GW. it's people who love Claude who don't like the story #it's people who loved the guy they knew in Houses being like wtf is this writing #why is Claude so different when Dimitri and Edelgard aren't different #Dimitri is just the same as he'd be post Gronder in AM but a bit younger and with more supportive friends #and didn't have to be on the run for five years all by himself with a super bad mental illness #like... it's the same Dimitri at his core. Edelgard is the same person at her core and she strives for the same goals #Claude has some personality alterations that make sense in that he didn't attend school for the whole year #so his friendships weren't formed the same way and he spent less time with Dimitri to get to know him #so when he says ''I still have no idea what's going on in Dimitri's head'' that's a 180 contrast from AM Claude #who Byleth can point out Claude knows/understands very well #so yeah his general uncertainty about people he didn't know as well makes sense #but changing his morality and his views on war and bloodshed and how far he's willing to go isn't the same #Claude would take any available means to resolve something peacefully. if this were happening with Houses Claude #he would have sent a letter to Dimitri asking to meet with him to talk first so they could figure things out #because WHAT DO YOU KNOW in the secret chapter when they talk it proves that's all he even needed to do to get some answers #it just makes Claude look dumb despite Houses pointing out that he's very intelligent and the opposite of a typical #person raised in Almyra because they're similar to Faerghus in that they value strength #Claude isn't super powerful and instead has a good head on his shoulders which makes him feel even more different and an outsider in Almyra #GW Claude is just swept along and molded to fit the story as needed and not allowed to be his own character properly #even though VW and SS were practically the same thing Claude was still Claude you know? #this just feels like they didn't know what to do with Claude bc they wanted to try something new with him #like since they didn't get to utilize a less casual/relaxed Claude in Houses they did it in Hopes #they didn't get to make him as cynical as they wanted to... and so they did it in Hopes. they just... went overboard and didn't do it right? #bc I can easily see Claude being more cynical and stuff /to the right people and to his enemies/ #which would mean in a direct way Thales and co and the Empire/Edelgard. not Faerghus just minding their business #As a Lorenz fan I ate like a god in this route. As a Claude fan... I lost about 180 years on my life from his 180!

[ghostanon2206]

It's currently D*migard week on Ao3. I'm not a big fan of the ship for pretty strong reason, but I still try to give it a chance from time to time. I even found one fic I really liked! Though it's hard. In a lot of those story, the focus on Dimitri is very strong while Edelgard is kinda left on the side? Like for exemple it's currently the nightmare prompt and every fic I've seen is about Dimitri struggling... Plus while it's definitely not all, a lot of fic ( and art ) push gender norms and heteronormativity to the point of dismissing their actual character :/

Still looking forward to the other fic however, I've seen plenty of great D*migard artist so I keep my hopes up :)

( Name censored not out of disrespect but just so it doesn't show in the tag )

#edelgard von hresvelg #Not tagging the ship name because people might see this discourse #I don't want to start negativity #I just thought it's interesting to talk about Dimigard from an Edelgard fan point of view #Since usually it's very skewed towards Dimitri fan

[fireemblems24]

The Misinterpretation of Dimitri

Specifically, I'm referencing the frequent misinterpretation of his dialogue with Edelgard towards the end of Azure Moon.

I've seen people claim Dimitri is arguing for the necessity of Church of Seiros/faith and/or divine right of kings. That, because people are weak, they need the people in power to protect them in contrast to Edelgard who wants to empower the people and doesn't think they need to rely on anyone.

This is interpreting Dimitri and Azure Moon through and Edelgard and Crimson Flower lens and not at all what Dimitri's saying here.

Faith and religion play little to no role in Dimitri's life or Azure Moon's plot. Nor does the divine right of kings. Those are motifs and themes explored in Edelgard's story, not Dimitri's. The argument above is only true if you view the whole game through a crimson-colored lens.

So what is Dimitri actually saying? That the bootstraps mentality doesn't work for everyone. Some people need help - many kinds of help.

More relevant to Dimitri and AM's story is the importance of emotional support and having people to rely on. To a lesser extent, it's also Dimitri's reaction to living in poverty while on the run. He understands that some people need emotional support and time to properly grieve to move on from trauma. He also understands that some people don't have access to proper food, shelter, etc . . . and will need government assistance to move forward. He's arguing that Edelgard's ways leaves behind the people who need something or someone to lean on, hence "the path of the strong."

He isn't even saying everyone is like this. Right in that dialogue he acknowledges Edelgard as an exception. Edelgard doesn't need time to grieve. She processes trauma by pushing forward. While I am personally uncomfortable labeling that as "strong" compared to grieving as "weak," that's an argument for another time. As an imperial princess and then Emperor, she has no lack for resources either, unlike Dimitri during his time on the run and the others living in poverty he came in contact with.

So, no. Dimitri's not arguing that faith is a necessity, but that it is needed by some. He's pointing out that Edelgard's ways strip people from safety nets - regardless of the form it comes in. He's also arguing that people at the bottom need people at the top to provide for them to lessen the inequality gap - not necessarily in the form of a king - but that Edelgard's war leave them destitute and her meritocracy unable to compete as long as they're "weak" in any way.

Does this mean Edelgard's wrong and Dimitri's right? No. There's flaws with Dimitri's rulership too, but what he's pointing out here is a major flaw in Edelgard's beliefs and ideas about government and it should be explored as such rather than seen in a borderline bad faith interpretation.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #three houses #dimitri fire emblem #fe3h #azure moon

[fiction-box]

Hello! I would like to request F!Reader x Felix

It is the Winter Ball. One of them is weary of the dancing, the crowds and the merriment and decides to take refuge in the Training Grounds - only to find that the other had the exact same idea. They decide to do something that's more fun than dancing - a sparring match. Bonus points if reader is wearing a fancy gown the whole time.

Whenever your time allows - thank you in advance!

You are very welcome, and I would like to thank you for being respectful of my time.

I seem to be on a roll with these longer stories. I don't know why - more ideas just keep pouring into my head, and of course I want to do every conflict justice.

Thank you for giving me freedom with perspective! I wanted to write something from the view of Felix since I had yet to truly write for him.

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

You stood by yourself on the sidelines of the great hall, your purple dress sparkling against the downward lighting of the chandeliers. There was nothing particularly interesting about you right now; you simply surveyed the dancers on the checkered floor. Dimitri led Mercedes through an elegant twirl, Ingrid talked Ashe through the steps of the waltz, Annette and Sylvain engaged in a heated discussion over something that probably wouldn’t matter in about fifteen minutes…

…and Felix was staring at you.

The swordsman had refused to do any more than the bare minimum for the ball. That meant that despite his suit - one required by the Archbishop’s insipid dress code - his hair remained up off his neck, and his back pressed against the wall.

Dorothea had been making eyes at him from across the room for the past three minutes now. Felix told himself that was the reason he kept staring at you. If he and the songstress never made eye contact, she wouldn’t do anything stupid. Besides, she didn’t seem interested in asking anyone to dance; the brunette would only be accepting such invitations tonight.

Why the hell did he even care?

He didn’t, but he followed your line of sight to Dimitri. The boar switched partners to lead Hilda around the floor, an exchange initiated by the up-tempo of the cello and Mercedes’ apparent request for a break.

Why the hell did you even care?

…did you-?

“Jeez Felix, you’re so obvious.”

Sylvain.

“Trying to find the courage to ask her to dance?” the redhead teased. “I could help you out, you know. I’ve heard I’m an excellent wingman.”

“Do I look like I’m interested in moving right now? And since when have you ever helped anyone but yourself?”

“Ouch. I mean, you’re certainly not helping yourself- your suit coat will get wrinkled if you keep leaning against the wall like that.”

“As if I care!” Felix pushed off the wall to contest Sylvain at his full height. He did care. “There’s no point in this - we shouldn’t even be having a ball right now.”

“No- No- No- Hey look, no sweat, okay?” Sylvain verbally backpedaled, putting an arm around his friend’s shoulder to guide him toward the refreshments. Subtly, he ran his hand along the wrinkles of his coat to smooth them out as they walked, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but soirées like these don’t happen very often.”

“So?”

“So, you have just as good a reason to be here as everyone else in this room. You can wait however long you want before asking anyone you want to dance, but it’s pretty frowned upon to return to a party once you leave, you know?”

The heir of Gautier knew him too well. Nonetheless, he did make a good point. There was no need to rush to be flustered - he probably had an hour before the final dance of the night.

A drink found his hand, and the two nobles took up a space several paces away from the table. Felix couldn’t stop his eyes from searching for your shimmering gown.

You were still standing alone, still watching the dancers.

At least your eyes weren’t fixed on the boar this time. The son of Count Gloucester glided a blue-haired lady across the floor, her dress trumpeting as he gracefully led her back and forth. Your attention followed their sweeping motions.

Maybe you really did just want to dance.

His classmate’s hand came to rest on his shoulder again, “I’m just saying, you hate to see it, Felix. A beautiful girl like that, standing all by herself. You better make a move before someone else does - or before I take too much pity on her and ask her myself.”

He had called you a girl, “Stay away from her.”

“I’ll put in a good word for you, kay?”

But he headed the opposite direction. The bluenette watched him connect with a pouting Dorothea, immediately starting some banter he was sure he couldn’t care less about.

Felix found himself growing impatient, despite everything his friend said moments ago. If he was going to do this, he might as well get it over with now. That way the two of you would either get as much time as possible to spend together, or he could end his attendance at this event because the one reason for which he cared to stay wanted nothing to do with him.

Only, there was no place to put his drink.

Since you were standing by the southern entrance, and he loitered near the drinks at the western wall, you could see him out of your peripheral. That meant you could catch him too easily if he were to look at you again. Not that it wasn’t already considered rude to stare.

Taking a sip of the cool, vanilla drink, his mind began to think it through a bit. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to make eye contact. It would give him an excuse to approach you.

And another thing - although you hadn’t been alone the whole ball, you hadn’t been approached by any men, either. Even working to put his bias out of the way, you were objectively attractive. It didn’t-

Goddess, and you belonged to a house in the kingdom, too. A young, available, attractive noblewoman standing by herself at - judging the crowd - the largest social event of the season.

A mumbled ‘What the hell…?’ parted his lips as he surveyed the room again. He might actually understand Sylvain, for once. Logically, this whole scenario didn’t connect.

Finally finishing his drink and handing off the glass, he found it in himself to turn to face you.

You were not there.

His heart skipped a beat before his gaze scanned the dance floor for your dress, your hair, anything. Upon coming up empty, his mind shoved one thought to the front of his mind.

You left the ball.

Again, why? There were too many important people here for you to just up and leave. You hadn’t tried to mingle this whole time, content with simply watching everyone else twirl about the floor. Then, the moment he became too preoccupied with his drink and with Sylvain to pay attention, you vanished.

In light of recent events, it looked like Felix was about to copy you.

With no further reason to stay, he tried not to make a show of striding to the southern entrance. The last thing he wanted was for someone to chase him out or call him back in, especially if that person had red hair or…or connections to the Mittelfrank Opera Company.

His feet instinctively wound the path to the training grounds. He needed to blow off some steam and get out of his head so he could get some proper rest tonight. Even so, if his mind wouldn’t relent, he would work his body so hard that he’d sleep as soon as he finished bathing himself.

Music trailed him, but it couldn’t compete with the creak of the doors to the training grounds. Once the door shut behind him, Felix was well and truly alone. The notes of the orchestral violins couldn’t penetrate the thick wood and metal, and no one else had any reason to come here tonight.

Still, his actions quickly caught up with him. What was he doing here? Why did it feel like he was running away?

Get a grip.

He wasn’t running away, he just wasn’t wasting time, either. Heading to the rack, Felix grabbed a steel sword. It didn’t matter which one, so long as it was heavy.

The sand of the center pit caved beneath his feet. There was no need for a training dummy to warm up. Routinely, Felix swung the sword over his head. His arms needed to be steady even while his attacks retained momentum and strength.

…10…11…12…

Any time a thought of the ball wormed its way into his head, Felix would shove it out. No point in dwelling on his failure to act - the two of you were far too young for anything serious to happen. No need to worry about Sylvain finding you - after what he said earlier, there was no way he would leave all the other ladies in that room for the one he knew Felix was interested in. He knew Sylvain that well, at least.

…57…58…59…

Why the hell wasn’t this working? Usually he could focus on this. This one thing that belonged to him, that he had done endlessly before that insufferable ball, and that he would continue to endlessly pursue after it. His training should belong to him! This was supposed to be how he grounded himself.

Felix was having a very difficult nig-

The doors to the entrance groaned, a delicate piano solo floating in through the opening as the moonlight guided a figure into the facility.

Upon recognition of the shimmer of your gown, the swordsman lowered the weapon from above his head.

…82…?

Thoughtful of the ongoing formal, you pivoted around the door, slowly and mindfully closing it in an apparent attempt to make as little noise as possible. Finally, you exhaled and turned to the center of the grounds.

“Oh- I- Sorry! Sorry, I’ll go.”

But your eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light of the torches from the darkness outside, so your eyelashes fluttered as you reached past the door.

“No need,” Felix frowned. “You chose to come here, I don’t own the place.”

“Wait, Felix?” you marveled, turning back around only to blink against the light again. “I didn’t recognize you. I thought you were someone on maintenance.”

What. “What kind of maintenance staff wears a suit?”

“I didn’t get a good look, okay?” you defended, your eyes finally staying open and guiding you to where he currently stood.

Being this close to you now…it felt strange. Your makeup had been expertly applied, supposedly with help from Mercedes and Annette, the tailoring of your dress was much more obvious…

“But why are you here? You’re dressed for the ball, and I remember seeing you when I walked in.”

“You first,” he countered. “What did you think you were going to accomplish here in an evening gown?”

That caught you off guard. Your eyes found a spot on the ground beside you before trailing to the wall.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really have a plan. I’m not even sure why I’m here - I just feel like I’m supposed to be.”

His eyes narrowed, “What, are you trying to trick me into thinking this was fated or something?”

Your gaze drew back to him, confusion etched across your face.

“What?”

“Sylvain must have said something to you then, is that it?”

But you only looked more lost than you did before, “I’m sorry, I don’t follow. Sylvain and I haven’t spoken since…” your line of sight shifted above his head and slightly to the side, “…two days ago…? Professor Byleth puts us on stable duty every few days.”

The bluenette’s knuckles turned white as he clenched the hilt of his sword. Sylvain never said anything about this. Felix had no clue you were spending so much time together.

“Forget it,” he insisted, “you’re here, so we might as well do something productive. Spar with me.”

“In an evening gown? You practically said it yourself, I can’t do anything wearing this.”

Goddess save him, he did not know how to handle this situation. In terms of guiding the conversation, he did not think this through. There didn't seem to be a way for him to keep changing the subject or coming up with an idea for you to stay here, either.

All his defense mechanisms were failing, and he was becoming frustrated.

“Okay, your turn,” you crossed your arms, saving him for a moment. “Why did you leave the ball to come here?”

“There wasn’t a reason for me to stay, anymore.”

Some of the light in your eyes dimmed, just enough for him to catch it happening. Just enough to make him wonder why.

“Hang on,” he recovered, “you know I left to come here.”

“That’s not a question,” you affirmed.

“But you didn’t leave to come here. So why weren’t you at the ball?”

Your brows furrowed slightly, “I was at the ball-“

“No, you left before I did,” he asserted. “What were you doing in the time before you arrived here?”

Perhaps he was revealing too much. It shouldn’t matter anyway, and a normal person wouldn’t care this much. Even so, if you wanted to say you were just “called to be here”, he could reasonably contest that any information was up for grabs.

The way you stared at him had a way of making his neck warm. It was like you thought the answers were hidden in his eyes, your gaze focused as you supposedly retraced your night.

“Well, I did leave the ball for a little bit…” you recalled slowly.

After allowing you a moment, he pressed a bit, “Why?”

“Oh- Well, um…I needed to use the ladies’ room? At least, that’s the only other time I can remember leaving.”

The ladies’ room…?

Goddess, he was such a fool.

It was his turn to turn his head to the side, “I see.”

If his eyes could have burned the sand, the whole pit would be glass right now. 

His thoughts were quickly interrupted. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix noticed you slipping off your shoes.

“What are you doing?”

“Well,” you started, kicking the raised flats to the side before picking up a training lance from where someone had discarded it, “this dress doesn’t have sleeves, and I figured that if I took my shoes off, it would be easier to move. The slit up my leg should keep me mobile enough, so long as I don’t have to run.”

Damn, you were actually going to do this.

You lowered into a fighting stance upon returning to the pit opposite him. A smile lighting up your face.

“The sand feels so weird. It makes me wonder if this is what the beach feels like.”

But the two of you lived in Faerghus your whole lives, so he couldn’t tell you.

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re dressed differently.”

“Right, then let’s get started.”

You looked prepared to assume the defensive position; a smart move, considering that too much movement might mean you would slip on the long fabric of your clothing.

Felix far from opposed. He was used to being the offense, anyway.

Placing one foot in front of the other, he crossed the grounds and held his sword up to strike. Quick and easy - the point would go to him before you could even-

Your eyes widened, “Felix, wait! Don’t-!”

He hadn’t registered your words fast enough to stop himself. Intuitively, you held your lance up to defend yourself, and that’s when Felix realized what you were so worried about.

The weapon he was using wasn’t meant for sparring.

Breaking above your head, the wooden pole of your lance gave in. Felix stumbled forward, fighting for his balance as you rolled to the side in an attempt to protect your head.

He hissed, cursing himself for making such an amateur (and deadly) mistake, “Damn, my bad.”

“Goddess,” he heard you breathe, your eyes wide from your position on the ground, “I thought I was about to die.”

That was a thought. His eagerness to train and avoid an awkward encounter with you nearly...well, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Leaving you to get yourself up, he moved to trade the steel sword for a wooden one. The noble also elected to take off his blazer and leave it behind, giving his arms better range of motion.

Turning back around, he noticed you were still struggling to rise to your feet.

“Seriously? It can’t be that hard.”

But just watching you made him want to take it back. The sand had become uneven from when you dodged toward the ground, and your dress kept finding its way under your feet whenever you tried to stand. Whenever you pooled the fabric out of the way in one area, it only gathered in another to slide under you. Not to mention that after so much struggle, the yellow grains were all over your skin and gown. It looked uncomfortable, at best.

Frowning, Felix approached, “Hang on.”

With your consent, he placed his hands at your waist and lifted you to the point you could stand again. You thanked him, a light flush on your cheeks that he tried not to think too hard about.

“I’d say that was embarrassing,” you started, “but considering I very nearly earned a trip to Manuela a moment ago, I don’t think I should care.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Nothing bad came of it, so I don’t mind. Still, you should work on your etiquette.”

The swordsman raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

“You left me to fend for myself in the sand for two minutes while you went to exchange your sword and take off your coat. It’s like I’m not even here,” you teased, approaching the training racks. “And then not only did you prioritize your sword over helping me, but you couldn’t even grab me a new lance.”

“I’m here to fight, nothing else. If you have a problem with that, no one’s forcing you to stay.”

In all fairness, you were right. He was too wrapped up in being with you to register that he was about to hurt you, and then he was too worried about how he almost hurt you to remember to help you back up again.

Why was he so bad at this?

Thankfully, you seemed to ignore the more bitter parts of his previous statement and took it for what it was - a proposition to rematch.

You found your places opposite one another, preparing for a genuine spar. Felix watched you sink into your defensive position again, nodding to confirm you were ready. 

This time when he charged, his sword remained in a lower position. He wanted to slice upwards, reading your potential roll to the side while still being ready to follow up swiftly.

The moment he brought the sword up into you, you pivoted and thrust the lance forward. It would have technically impaled him, but you were courteous enough (and skilled enough) to angle the weapon so it slid against his side instead.

Felix halted the momentum of his arms, bringing them down slowly and preventing the hit he would have landed on you.

“That one goes to you.”

Switching sides with you, the second son ran his hand along his side. A warmup, nothing more. You wouldn’t go down easy, and neither would he.

You were once again prepared, and Felix signaled that the second round had begun, but he did not rush forward. If you wanted to hit him, you would need to put yourself at risk.

It didn’t take long for you to catch on, though you make a point to approach at a casual walk.

“Are you serious?”

“Are you? You think I’m foolish enough to run at you after I couldn’t stand on my own? If you wanted to go fast, you should have taken up offense again.”

Once you were close enough, you suddenly lunged twice and brought your lance down and across his body. Felix lept back before charging forward, but you came in with a block.

You held strong against his resistance, but your feet couldn’t find a proper stance thanks to your limited range of motion. He probably had your fear of slipping on the fabric again to thank, as well.

Deliberately, Felix stepped on your dress.

A gasp parted your lips as the heels of your feet slid forward. You fell backward only for Felix to step forward and catch you, one arm around your back, one hand holding his sword to your throat.

“Th-that’s not fair, and you know it,” you protested, breaths quickened from the adrenaline of almost falling.

“You chose to come fight in this. You think your opponent is going to care how you’re dressed?”

After a moment, you relented, “Fine, you win this one.”

Usually, Felix would be okay with the “whatever means necessary” ideology. When it came to you, however, it only worried him. Did he really need you to have a disadvantage for him to win?

He lowered you to the ground before picking you up again, presuming you would take longer to regain your footing if he left you on the sand. You were set upright on your feet at the solid edge of the pit.

As he reached the other side of the sands, he noted that you still looked bitter - probably about the last point. Perhaps that could work in his favor.

However, even after several seconds, the emotion in your eyes didn’t go away. You appeared almost…insulted?

In the back of his mind, he retraced his steps. You yielded the point how you normally would, and you weren’t a sore loser. You appeared more baffled than anything when he had tripped you…

Shit.

Felix had completely manhandled you out of the training area.

And that would explain why you were simultaneously glaring daggers into him and scanning him up and down.

“Don’t worry, I’ll attack this time,” the bluenette managed. In fear of being wrong and coming off egotistical, that was probably the best apology he could give right now.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

No, you were decidedly not happy.

He approached, trying to build as much momentum as possible before choosing to open with a block. If you were looking to parry an attack, he would be left with an opening. If you were looking to block him too, he would likely knock you to the ground and gain the point.

Maybe then he could offer to help you up properly.

No, he needed to stay focused. He was training right now, not apologizing.

Effectively distracted, neither of his plans came to fruition as you reached out and grabbed his cravat, pulling it down and causing him to run past you.

“Wh-!”

A dull stab at his back shoved him out of bounds, taking away any chance he had at regaining his balance. He tumbled to the ground.

“You’ve been impaled, that’s mine.”

He wanted to be mad, but he was more shocked than anything. After all, he could hardly complain after doing a similar thing to you last round.

A hand in his peripheral offered to help him to his feet. Accepting it, he rose, picking his sword up off the ground.

At least that seemed to get everything out of your system, “Maybe you were right, we can’t really accomplish anything serious while we’re dressed like this.”

“It’s not like we…”

A song loud enough to be heard from within the training ground bounced against the walls. It caught him off guard, especially since he hadn’t been able to hear any music since you closed the doors earlier. Whatever they were playing now, the whole orchestra was involved.

“The last dance already?” your head turned to the entrance, as well. “There’s no way…”

“Did you promise someone a dance?” he guessed.

“Something like that,” you worried. “I told Annette and Mercedes that I would be sure to dance with at least someone tonight after all they did for me. I…kind of got carried away watching earlier, and then I got scared I would forget the moves, and then I left to come here.”

He didn’t know what to say, but there was no way you could go back now. Sand covered your slightly tousled hair, your gown, and he was sure it found its way into your shoes. Your cheeks were still somewhat red from earlier, and…

It was all his fault. He even stepped on your gown without thinking.

Goddess, he really needed to start using his head.

Tossing his sword into the sand, Felix took the lance from your hands and threw it aside too. Swiftly, he retrieved your shoes and placed them in front of you.

“Felix, there’s no way…” but you slid them on anyway, “…and the song already began. It will be over by the time I get there.”

Face unreadable, your classmate extended a hand to you. “Do you think it would count if we started now?”

“Wait, what? You…want to dance with me?”

“If you don’t want me to be your partner after everything that’s happened tonight, I’ll understand-“

You took his hand, placing your own on his shoulder and facing him completely, “You lead. I’m still not certain how this one goes.”

It was a lie. It must have been. The moment the pair of you felt the music together, you were off. The strings followed a simple waltz - an accessible dance that even most commoners could perform. An obvious choice for the last dance of the night.

He knew his frame to be stiff, but it didn’t matter. Especially not when you were so blatantly stealing the hypothetical show, swaying and leaning back as the two of you spun gracefully around an invisible point on the ground. Your arms barely ghosted his own.

In a rare moment, he wished his dance partner were less aware, less experienced. He wanted you to lean on him so he could lead you through the dance, but he knew that was not in your nature.

You were charming, assured, and independent. The dance belonged to you, so much so that he felt like a mere prop. He supposed that was how it went in the theatres Sylvain had always dragged him to in the past. The women stole the spotlight while the men were evaluated on how good they could make their partners look.

There was no doubt. You deserved a better partner.

“Hey,” his voice was unsure. It had been several measures since he last used it. “I…you shouldn’t be dancing with me.”

“What are you talking about?” you smiled, coming back to his chest and resuming your normal posture.

“I mean you should be in the great hall, dancing with someone that would actually do you justice,” he suddenly didn’t want to face you. “I feel like I took that away from you. I spend all my time here working with a sword - my last dancing lesson ended when I was twelve.”

He stopped himself, spinning you away before he could say too much. This was about you. You had missed what could have been one of the biggest days of your life. He pulled you back in and met your eyes. Felix missed an event he already planned on skipping.

“...it’s nice. I prefer it. This way it’s just us.”

“Just us?” he hoped you couldn’t hear his heartbeat.

“Oh- I only mean- I don’t have to worry about anyone staring at me because I don’t know the steps or anything.”

It was beginning to make him angry, if only because it made no sense, “Why do you keep saying that?”

You were caught off guard, slipping up for the first time tonight. Felix finally felt useful, steadying you enough to fall back into the orchestra’s rhythm.

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” you lowered your voice like you were telling him a secret. “That’s what my sister told me. She and everyone that visited the manor.”

Blinking a bit, you turned to the side, “I’m doing it wrong. My steps are too wide. My arms are too heavy. I must be repulsed by my partner if I’m leaning back that much. Those kinds of things.”

Your partner merely scoffed, “Jealous.”

He hadn’t meant for it to slip out, but he knew.

“They can’t do what you can. There are nobles all over Fodlan like that; people who don’t like being shown up. They’ll say anything to make you give up or feel bad about yourself, but they lack the ambition to do any better themselves.”

“You really think so?”

“Have you met anyone better at dancing than yourself?”

“Well, I…I’ve never seen myself dance before.”

“Then take my word for it. Show Professor Byleth if you doubt it, but just be prepared for her to demand a rematch for the Heron Cup.”

Honestly, Felix didn’t know why he was being so forward about this. It was just another unjust part of the world they were all tripping over themselves to fix, he supposed. Still, if dancers could be trained for the battlefield, he saw no reason for his house to settle on an amateur.

The piano slowed to play a few high notes and end the song on a major chord. Accordingly, the two of you came to a stop.

“Thank you,” you stepped away timidly, “for the dance…and…”

“I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. Manuela could teach you - you could do this on the battlefield much better than whoever actually won the competition.”

You hummed, probably pondering the thought.

Presuming it was time to head back before you both could be found and accused of something mindless, Felix picked up your weapons from where he had discarded them. He caught you brushing the sand off your skin and down your dress before he left to put the items away. The blazer he set aside earlier found its way to his back again, his cravat tucked in appropriately.

You waited across the hall to hold the door for him. Once you both walked through, it shut with a final thud, sealing away everything that happened in the training grounds that night.

He saw you talking to Professor Byleth after class the next day. Although he couldn’t hear what you were saying, some part of him hoped you chose to take his words to heart.

Perhaps it had been a good time to host a ball.

#fire emblem #fiction #fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe x reader #fire emblem x reader #fe16 #fe3h felix #felix hugo fraldarius #felix x reader #fire emblem felix #fe felix x reader #fe3h felix x reader #f!reader #fem!reader

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I feel Chrom fans are the worst, they often directly put down other protagonists like Lucina, Marth and Dimitri, whilst ignoring or whitewashing Chrom's canonical issues including:

Never apologizing for his father's crusade against Plegia and attempted religious genocide of the Grimleal, to the point he acts like Ylisse was the "real" victim and that neither Plegia nor the Grimleal has no right being upset at Ylisse.

Chrom makes sure to only recruit the white Plegians and never shows disapproval of prejudice against the Grimleal even when its shown by his own retainer, Frederick.

Making the already ravaged Plegia pay for everything after the war, than abandoning the country letting another tyrant take over. He even admits 2 years after Gangrel's father, he never found out what happened to Gangrel or whom succeeded him which is grotesquely negligent for a King.

When Robin kills one thousand transport ships filled "stem to stern" with Walhart's troops, Chrom is ecstatic rather than showing any respect to this huge loss of human life. Necessary or not, human life should be respected. Its made worse as its clarified THe valm empire forces citizens to become soldiers, including Virion's Rosseane and Say'ri's Chonsin.

In the Japanese version, Chrom canonically hangs around a homophobe (Old Hubba) and kills an effeminate gay man/possible transwoman (Excellus), indicating homophobic and transphobic views.

The fact that he's always remorseful when he faces women also indicates that he has has sexist beliefs too. It doesn't help that every woman Chrom fights is shown as brainwashed by a wicked man (Aversa) or just trapped by love (Pheros), because no women could oppose the towering paragon of Machismo that is Chrom.

Chrom ultimately allies with unrepentant Walhart whom shared his father's desire to invade Plegia and commit religious genocide, further showcasing he learnt positively nothing from his father's actions.

Chrom tells Aversa "One person's life means nothing in the shadow of millions" when she tries to avenge Validar due to being brainwashed, as no woman could ever willingly care about men, our hero Chrom hates, only for Chrom hypocritically try to prevent Robin from sacrificing themselves to kill Grima, willing to sacrifice the world for Robin.

Yet despite all this, Chrom is lauded as a great king and lovable Himbo, all whilst characters like:

Marth get called a crybaby or "generic Disney Prince" that is only popular because he's from the first game and nostalgic losers from Japan can't get enough of him.

Lucina is said to be to be popular only because she's a a waifu that people "want to fuck".

Dimitri is treated as "White Man" or a "Fascist" whom "murders women", when he showed more concern and humanity towards Duscur than Chrom ever did to Plegia as well as treating both sexes equally and not hanging around heteronormative crusaders (Hubba again).

And yes, this is character hate towards Chrom, he's massively overrated by the fandom and gets passes for what other characters would be crucified for.

.

#blue haired dumb booted bitch #sorry this phrase is so addicting to say #fe #fire emblem #character hate #fe13 #fe awakening #fire emblem awakening #anyway the colourism and the sexism are issues in the writing of most Japanese games #not just chrom

[fantasyinvader]

I think a lot of people are wrong about Azure Moon.

I’ve seen before people try to claim it has a broken aesop, that the route argues things aren’t black and white only to have Edelgard turn into a literal monster at the end. But I just have to ask, does it really say that?

The scene people point to is Dimitri learning about what happened in Duscur, where a man who served one of the lords who betrayed Lambert says his lord believed he was the good guy. After all, Lambert was working to remove power from the nobility and hand it to the commoners and therefore was a tyrant who violated his duties under feudalism. But that case is never made, and those who betrayed Lambert did so in secret. They allowed the people of Duscur to take the blame, then profited off of it as they subjugated and persecuted the people there. Meanwhile, they did nothing while Rufus ran the Kingdom into the ground, and sided with Edelgard while again doing nothing as their people suffered.

Is that lord really a good guy, or was he just saying he was the good guy? And this really extends throughout all of the game. Kostas has lines that point to him using poverty for resorting to banditry, acting like it gives him a right to kill. Lonato may make himself out to be the good guy, but he was still forcing his people to fight and crushing villages along his way to Garreg Mach. Miklan can make himself out to be the victim of not having a Crest, but he was kicked out of his family for trying to kill his brother multiple times. Randolf acts like it’s okay for him to invade other countries and subjugate him if he can make a name for himself and his family. The Agarthans justify their acts as being for humanity, just they view anyone that isn’t them as beasts.

And, of course, Edelgard says she’s trying to make a better world.

Human beings can do horrible things and use any excuse to try and justify that. It stands in contrast to Dimitri, who is suicidal because he understands killing is wrong but thinks he has to do it for the sake of the dead. But contrast this, who is accused of ignoring her victims. Hell, paying attention to Edelgard’s words in the parley show her train of thought. She’ll claim to be doing this for the weak, but when pressed that she’s making a world that will only benefit the strong she blames the weak if her reforms don’t benefit them. And if you apply this to Flower, where Edelgard either keeps her allies misinformed or in the dark while fighting alongside TWSITD and the “war assets” they provide her.

It’s only in Azure Moon where the ideals Edelgard is fighting for properly explained and examined.

Azure Moon isn’t a story about how things aren’t black and white. The Oudou/Hadou dichotomy paints it as a better ending between it and Flower after all. Azure Moon is about how human beings can do horrible, horrible things to each other. Not because they’re evil, but because they can make themselves believe they’re in the right while ignoring the things they don’t want to see. That’s the focus here, not gods or the history of the continent.That’s not what’s important here. Humans can be monsters all by themselves. What’s important is how people can turn themselves into monsters and still think they’re the good guy by turning a blind eye, and this is contrasted by the eyepatch-clad Dimitri. Dimitri becomes the savior king because he doesn’t look away, he just needs to learn to live for himself and support the living, whereas Edelgard’s path is meant to lead to tyranny even if you avoid the details that tell you so.

[tepkunset]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Film Review

(This review contains spoilers!)

I consider The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes book to be a masterpiece that sets a standard of what YA Fiction can be; something that any young adult upwards can enjoy. Suzanne Collins does such an amazing job of pulling you into the world and characters she’s created, and doesn’t shy away from the truly grotesque things that make a dystopia feel impactful. I am glad to say that, for the most part, this film lives up to that standard.

Before anything else, I do want to get a few minor complaints out of the way. Keep in mind they did not ruin the film for me, but I feel they are worthy of pointing out.

Sejanus Plinth is my favourite character in the book, and while for the most part he is very accurate, there is one thing that really disappointed me: In the book, Sejanus knew damn well what he was doing with the rebels; he deliberately supplied them with weapons. But in the film, he has the line “I didn’t know there would be guns”, discovering for the first time that they used his money to arm themselves. This really feels like de-clawing his character to me.

It would’ve been nice to have at least a brief mention that Barb Azure is gay. I can understand why they had to cut out Pluribus Bell for time, but because the also cut him out, that means there’s no mention at all of the book’s queer characters in the film.

The relationship between Coriolanus and Sejanus has a much more bitter feeling in the film than in the book, and after sleeping on it, I think I know why: Because we don’t get to hear Coriolanus’s thoughts in the film, the film I think overcompensates by making him much more verbal about his snobbery towards Sejanus. Subsequently, it’s harder to believe why Sejanus sees Coriolanus as his best friend.

Okay now, onto the praises!

The story is extremely loyal to the book. In fact, there is a lot of dialogue that is ripped right of the page, and it all made me really happy to hear. I am especially glad they kept in this pinnacle Lucy Gray quote: “I think there’s a natural goodness built into human beings. You know when you’ve stepped across the line into evil, and it’s your life’s challenge to try and stay on the right side of that line.” Because this, of course, directly enforces the core message I took from the book: Good and evil is a choice. The choices that Coriolanus made are his to hold responsibility to, and as much as you can point at Dr. Gaul for introducing him to the path he takes, ultimately, he chose to walk it. Most of the changes were understandable cuts for time without any sacrifices being too detrimental. The things they added were all, in my opinion, enhancements to the story by expanding on what only happens on the peripheral of Coriolanus’s point of view in the book. For example, the things he only watches on screen in the arena are delved further into by shifting to Lucy Gray directly a few times. They also added a bit to Coral’s character at her time of death, which I liked because it made her out to be less of a cardboard antagonist and instead reminded the audience that she, too, is a victim of the system.

All the actors did a phenomenal job, from both the main and supporting cast. Tom Blyth does a great job at showing Coriolanus Snow’s progression down the path of a young villain in the making. Rachel Zegler does a great job at capturing Lucy Gray’s charm and free spirit. Josh Andrés Rivera does a great job at selling the weight Sejanus carries around with him, and has some of the best line deliveries in the film in my opinion. (My favourite being “I’m so blameless I’m choking”.) And I especially have praise for Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, who does an amazing job at bringing the unhinged character from the book onto the screen. She’s properly intimidating and strange at the same time. Dimitri Abold as Reaper was also a scene-stealer, in that he captures what I absorbed from the book really well; the western societal expectation that a young Black man is a danger that is then turned on its head. Not only does he not kill a single person, he has a very emotional moment of mourning for the tributes, collecting their bodies as he does in the book, and covering them with the Panem flag – something that outrages the audience more than the actual death of the children.

The scenery is very loyal to the descriptions provided in the book; I swear they stole it straight from my own personal imagination while reading.

The music… I don’t even know how to put to words my satisfaction in how the film adapts the music written out in the book, into an actual song. My personal favourite is “Nothing You Can Take From Me”. Rachel Zegler has a great voice, for sure.

The costume design is great. The Capitol’s eccentricities we know from the core trilogy haven’t evolved yet, but there’s still a certain flavour carried with characters like Tigris and Dr. Gaul for example, that tell a story of where the fashion will eventually end up. On the other hand, we see that things haven’t changed very much for District Twelve at all, which showcases how society’s change is stilted in poverty.

The colour palette of the film is mostly just a little desaturated, with one exception: whenever Lucy Gray takes Coriolanus outside of District Twelve. The meadow, the lake, and the forest are all noticeably more colourful, which I interpreted as representing the freedom these locations offer to the characters.

All in all, I think the film was fantastic. It is easily the most loyal Hunger Games adaptation, and I don’t think that’s coincidental in its quality.

#tbosas #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #thg #hunger games #movie thoughts

[frindoka]

my ultimate isaac bpd analysis

isaac o’connor is a guy i love to pick apart in a petri dish so here i am with my analysis on him and his feelings towards his relationships. and also, bpd, which will be mentioned throughout this because i see a lot of aspects of myself and my experience with bpd reflected with isaac.

sorry if any images r weird i wrote this in a google doc and the images tend to get a bit wacky as a result, i think. its long so i put it under a cut.

fast forwarding to a scene from chapter 7, it’s pretty important to this entire thing:

isaac, shown to be well-meaning and friendly, doesn’t exactly do the right thing because he’s just like that, just selfless; he does it to feel good about himself, to get others to like him, to get him to like himself. this is not necessarily a bad thing. for a lot of people, empathy and helping others can be a very big struggle, and they’ll be perceived as heartless if they don’t show what is expected of them.

isaac struggles with his self esteem and seemingly bases it upon what other people think of him instead of forming his own opinions about himself, formulating those based on what others say, and usually, his own analyzations of how they act. he wants to be perceived as, both to others and himself, a good person that could never hurt his friends. because by this point he had struck dimitri with a blow caused by his own fear, he already feels this thing he’s so carefully built up for himself starting to crumble. he wants to be good, and is a good kid, but struggles with his emotions and his outbursts, which he perceives as getting in the way of being a purely good person.

he is not violent nor cruel, but perceives himself as such (poor thang) which is why he seeks out other relationships to prove that he’s not all that what he thinks he is. if that makes any sense. tldr, isaac thinks he can prove (mostly to himself) that he’s a good person if he does good things for other people.

DOORMAN & TRUST

doorman, isaac’s caretaker, is a veeerrryyyy prominent figure in isaac’s life. with his first appearance, he’s introduced as a mentor that guides him through his struggles with his emotions, also showing that doorman is probably the only person isaac has confided in about this at this point (chapter two, excluding the past conversation with boss leader.)

isaac trusts doorman a lot, and doorman trusts him in turn. for a quick side track, let us turn to isaac’s relationship with trust.

if he trusts someone, he’ll do anything to keep that trust. he’s very over-analytical and anxious about breaking it, and when broken, he’ll steer clear of them in turn. he trusted spender, who had broken that trust and earned scorn from isaac. he trusted max with showing him doorman and the shortcut, and gets frustrated when max seems to break that momentarily, by not instantly spilling a secret in return- something isaac thought he “owed him for” instead of just doing something to help max. in the earlier chapters, his relationship with the other characters is very strained, as he does not communicate his emotions properly. at this point, he thinks of friendship as something beneficial to aid him in liking himself. which is something he should not be faulted for, considering he’s just 13 struggling with having no emotional outlet and rocky friendships in general. he desperately wants to reach out and talk to the other members of the club, but because he views them as the results of a broken trust, failed friendships, and has a perceived notion that they must hate him for something far in the past, he bottles himself up so he does not ruin anything further.

back to doorman, as isaac begins to try and move past this mindset following chapter 5, and begins to open up more, isaac returns to this state after doorman, someone he’s confided in for a very long time, reveals he has been keeping things from isaac- it reaches a boiling point.

isaac, who additionally already has issues with people holding things back from him (chapter 5: his and isabel’s argument, where he’s upset over his own beliefs of the club being mad at him), sees a part of this confirmed and immediately puts walls back up. isaac lashes out at doorman, made afraid of what he could have been “using him for” the entire time he’s been under his care, panicking in his emotional state because he had just had his previous trust shattered.

after putting all of his trust into someone (doorman) i can’t imagine he’d be willing to go back and mend this relationship for a while, as he thinks doorman had been using him the entire time. he picks out and over analyzes everything from what doorman had been saying, throwing him into a worse emotional state, leading up into where he leaves the slanted manse in a rush.

this is not to say isaac is a bad person, of course. he’s impulsive, letting his emotions guide him despite his best efforts- which isn’t a bad thing. he’s clearly trying to work on it throughout the whole comic currently, but with stress from everything happening in his life piling up, there’s no way he could have kept a cool face after his relationship with his mentor is broken in his eyes. he’s a kid who struggles with his emotions. it doesn’t make him evil.

MAX, & A SECOND CHANCE

as soon as max moves, isaac keeps himself close to him in an attempt to be his freind. not necessarily because he likes him at first! but because he sees him as a second chance to fit in with the rest of the activity club, as he had already ruined his previous one in his own eyes.

because isaac keeps pushing himself away from the rest of the club, he doesn’t allow himself to heal, and repeats his mistakes with another person. when he’s upset, he hangs onto it, which is why he’s clung onto his previous mistakes for so long- due to him being so caught up in the past, he doesn’t focus on what he could do in the present. it’s why he’s distrustful of mr spender, and the activity club, and starts gravitating away from max, too, when he’s hurt by him. he finds himself jealous of the way max can bounce back so easily while his emotions fester in his head.

with bpd & holding grudges, it’s hard to let them go- with intensified emotions following every thought about a past event that could have hurt the person. because so much is tied to specific events, no matter how small they could have seemed to other people, it’s easy for it to eat you up inside. (especially when you bottle it up and let it fester for a long while!) the pile of this makes it hard to trust people, and in my experience i’ve been afraid to trust people because of past friendships. i feel like isaac ticks somewhat of the same way, his feelings pushing away his friends, no matter how much he doesn’t want that…

following his argument with isabel, he turns to trying to prove his worth Again by defeating hijack’d spender.

max, of course, doesn’t hate isaac like isaac may think he does... he messes with him, but doesn’t turn that into a dislike towards him. even so, he tries to push himself away again by quitting the club when he hurts max. in these panels he explicitly says he saw max as a fresh start, not exactly a friend- he wanted to start over with someone who didn’t know who he was or what he did. in the end, it’s unfair for him to push his frustration onto max because he was worried about how he was perceived. 

following his admission to this, he’s able to form actual connections with the rest of the club (albeit with a bit of hesitance on his part shown in the panels below. i choose to interpret this as him trying to search for a lie behind isabel’s words when there isn’t one in actuality, because he’s so used to thinking of other people as having ulterior motives against him)

(also the line about him expecting rejection but craving acceptance wrecks me. it speaks for itself here)

with this leading us into:

ISAAC & THE ACTIVITY CLUB

his distrust stems from the people around him keeping secrets. while the secret of the activity consortium is kept out of necessity, it’s unfair in isaac’s own eyes. if everyone else can know, why can’t he? (of course we know the answer but we’re talking about this guys thoughts right now) adding on his regret from hurting dimitri, and him thinking that dimitri quit because of the injury, isaac’s fear melts away into distrust. he keeps himself around the activity club, but this is a matter of him proving himself and craving their acceptance.

however, because he’s busy festering in his emotions regarding past events, he doesn’t bring them up to anyone else. he doesn’t try to fix his problems, leaving the rest of the club confused and upset on as to why he “keeps picking at the scab,” in isabel’s own words-

leading to him paying only his own emotions any mind, rather than considering the feelings of others. while isaac desperately wants to talk about his own emotions, his distrust leads him away from that, until it eventually reaches its boiling point, exploding in an argument with isabel. they hurt each other consistently without realizing because neither of them talk about what’s happened. the alt text for this page makes me insane, by the way.

isaac is afraid of the past and the mistakes he’s made then, and it carries over to the present, manifesting in unstable emotions and rocky relationships. luckily he’s able to go towards fixing this between him and the other kids of the club, shown in the section with max & how he ends up admitting his faults. it shows to isabel that he hasn’t been treated all that fairly, either, and she begins to act weary of spender as a result. look at the club being all happy this panel makes me sick and ill 

i feel like this is as much as i can say on this since im kind of running out of content a bit. i’ve never been all that good at collecting coherent thoughts but i <3 isaac and i wanted to give my thoughts on him since i see a lot of my own bpd traits in this guy, and generally it just makes me happy to see a character who reflects some aspects of myself have good relationships & happy moments in life, yknow. live laugh love isaac o’connor

#txt #paranatural #i have never done a character analysis before can you tell #enjoy my nonsense though i like isaac

[meltypancake]

today, i got dat dawg in me!!!

so i will yap a bit about dimiliane and delve into the early arc of their relationship :] i have a couple of excerpts from fics as well (collabing with my friend leaf on those!!) and although the timeline is nowhere near finished yet, we made lots of progress with our cooking 💃🪩🕺

to preface eliane and dimitri are actually 100% platonic for white clouds and the majority of azure moon HAHA i truly believe they will only fall in love with each other if key moments occur at the right time and all the stars align for them !! otherwise i can't justify them getting together, and eliane will simply become a traveler and see the world (in truth, this is my favorite ending for her)

white clouds

their relationship is initially rocky, due to eliane's misconceptions and unease around royalty, fed to her by her overprotective mother

the gulf in their relationship is bridged only after the mock battle. eliane's catastrophic performance makes her redouble her efforts, and during the victory buffet, she sneaks off to the training grounds for extra drills

the mock battle fic can be found here!

around this point, eliane begins to see him in a different light!! closer to a friend or a comrade, someone she can depend on. eliane continues to train under his and everyone else's guidance, racking up the losses but getting up again, every time.

right until the first mission...

eliane is unable to shake the memory of her first kill, and wanders the monastery at night. she arrives at the greatbridge leading towards the cathedral, where she encounters dimitri

after confiding in him, she is able to pick herself up again

this is the first key moment, because she makes a promise!! and will continue to uphold it for many years to come. it'll also become important later -w-

at this point, eliane begins to rely on dimitri more and more. their relationship is not equal, and she still perceives him as an immovable pillar

(this is an excerpt from their b-support, in which eliane smuggles a puppy into her room and and ropes dimitri into it >:3)

eliane at this point is still too naive, immature and at times, oblivious to the feelings of others to the point where it becomes a detriment

her view of the perfect prince is broken on a hot summer day, when dimitri is found collapsed at the training grounds, delirious from the heat, and dedue shares his story of the tragedy of duscur

i'll stop here for now -w- bc beyond this point we don't rly have anymore fics AHAHAH but everything is outlined!!

it's been a huge undertaking fleshing out their journey but super fulfilling too :3 ty for perusing!!!

#eliane #dimitri #dimiliane #eclair (writing tag) #fe3h oc #the yappings that i previously shared in artscuffle server LOLL ty guys for perceiving my overwhelming sickness . ur so real

[raxistaicho]

"White Clouds spends the whole section making you suspicious of the Church and Rhea only to turn around and tell you it's a red herring and actually it's the student you should have been suspicious of; which the writers confirmed in interviews"

Interviews a majority of the fandom probably have not, and never will, actually sit down to interact with, leaving their only source to be the original text. If your need interviews from the developers to support your argument that a character is good or bad or morally gray, then your argument is not strong enough to rely on the main text.

I shouldn't have to do homework and dig for interviews from five years ago to be able to play a game an analyze its themes and nuances and decide whose side I think is worth fighting for or which characters I want Byleth to end up with at the end.

"but this fandom has either the reading comprehension of wet paper or projects their Western centric views so hard onto a eastern style game that follows the path of enlightenment with Byleth to a t"

Okay, so where exactly does the whole "no acts of violence" part come in because that's kind of an important early step and it technically doesn't happen until the very end of the game, and even then, in multiple endings Byleth is shown to still have to use harmful/violent means to suppress smaller attempts at insurrection across the continent for years to come. Also, the path of enlightenment also involves not being involved in trades that would hurt people, like weapons trade or animal slaughter or being involved with people who are owning/trading slaves (looking at you House Goneril). There's a lot of other steps in the path that Byleth skips over, but these two are particularly glaring. If Byleth really were "following the path of enlightenment to a t", then we wouldn't be playing a Fire Emblem game, because Byleth wouldn't have agreed to fight in the war to begin with.

"they ignore the text and thus we still have discourse over the church being bad. It's very tiring and why I refuse to talk about 3H because so many have turned it into something it's not."

The biggest issue with this is that this is the entire point of the game!

The game is asking you to analyze it. To dissect it. To talk about it. To make your choices and replay different paths to find the answers you seek. To show it's not black and white and to understand why it isn't black and white. That things are complicated. And no one in this war is free from blood on their hands. No side is 100% right or wrong. It's up to the player to use their critical thinking skills to determine which they believe is the best path forward for Fódlan.

In order for us to fully interact with the text, we sadly have to face some harsh truths, just like Byleth does. Among them being that the church IS bad. Even if most of its intentions aren't and it still does some good, the fact is that it is bad, and it's a major reason why this war started in the first place. To deny that is to deny the text as it is presented to us, and to deny the actual point in the game.

Edelgard is more than just an attempted conqueror. Rhea is more than a seemingly benevolent religious leader. Dimitri is more than a charming prince. Claude is more than a seemingly suspicious stranger. Yuri is more than just a gang leader. Sylvain is more than a playboy. Dorothea is more than a sexy opera star. Lorenz is more than a pompous noble. Hubert, Dedue, and Hilda are more than just retainers to their lords. Seteth and Flayn are more than just members of the church. Alois is more than just Captain of the Knights. Hanneman and Manuela are more than just fellow professors. Sothis is more than a voice in our head.

And it's only through accepting this one truth, that the characters and institutions are not black and white cut outs, that we can get the most full picture of what exactly the true conflict is.

You cannot interact with the text of Three Houses by denying the nuance that makes the story happen in the first place.

The writing is messy, and complicated, and not always well done. But it's also simple, straight forward, and brilliant. It's a contradiction and compliment of themes. It's so very human. And that's what makes it so engaging.

(Apologies for the long rant but that anon sparked something in me and I had to put my two-cents in.)

Nah, don't apologize, this was great, thank you very much for sending it! :D

#fire emblem three houses #edelgard discourse #edelgard positive #byleth eisner #buddhism #ask

[randoimago]

Could I request Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri with a reader that gives her pets weird names? I.e. Princess Pumpkin Fluffymittens.

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Character(s): Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri

Note(s): Shoutout to @a-menagerie and her cat!

Dimitri

He can't help but be amused by the various names you give your pets. He uses shorter names or nicknames for your animals when he's talking to/about them.

Dimitri enjoys your creativity. He would probably end up using basic names if he had a pet to name, so he's happy to listen to whatever suggestions you have for any animals you come across.

There are many animals around the monastery. Dimitri does his best to name various ones with you, but his fall a bit flat. Or, he comes up with a name that he views as being strong or fitting but you end up viewing it as a bit weird.

Felix

You're definitely more creative than he is. He sees a dog, its name is "dog". If there's a cat then its "cat".

He was more creative (and happy) when he was younger. Now, he just scoffs a bit when he hears you call your pet "Mouse Trap the Critically Acclaimed Children's Game" (which does confuse him a tad) and he refuses to use that mouthful of a name.

Of course, with enough pleading from you (and some good ole puppy dog eyes), he'll reluctantly sigh and refer to your pet as whatever bizarre name you gave it.

Sylvain

He holds back a snort the first time he heard your pet's name. Sylvain teases you about it and then he teases your pet about the name you gave it.

Sylvain prefers naming animals after people he knows as he finds that funny. He has pointed out many animals with sad-looking faces just to call them a "Felix".

He's really not one to judge you because you name your animals weird things. They're your pets, not his. The only time he might be pouty with your pets is if he's trying to be affectionate with you and they get in the way.

Taglist:

@unhelpfulnpc

#fe3h x reader #fire emblem x reader #fe3h felix x reader #fe3h sylvain x reader #fe3h dimitri x reader #sylvain x reader

[randomnameless]

The Fodlan games are doing such a bad job at antagonizing Rhea the joke writes itself. I think one of the worst example is how in the Shambala chapter of Nopes Dimitri will say " Yes I agree with you Clout the church is oppressive and mistreating the people but I need to side with it for the sake of the people" like ?? Can KT stop trying to paint Rhea as evil they are doing a terrible job at it and as a result make all the character sound like complete buffon

Nopes is basically using the premise of some early AO3 fanfics, where an uwu golden route is only possible if everyone allies against the Church bcs Church BaD, even if it means Clout and Dimitri have to be A-OK with MAGA.

Dimitro in Zahrofl is just... Ron who became a death eater, I guess, because otherwise, that plot point would never work.

The CoS is oppressive and mistreats people, that's why they're helping his very own people - under his authorisation - let it be the monks and priests from the CoS or the knights of the KoS who are dying to protect Faerghus.

So we have some "they're evil evil evil" told, hammered in 2/3rds of the game - and I'd say even AG is kind of hinting it, because the Kingdom doesn't want to help them because that's the right thing to do, but because they need to help them otherwise some people won't be happy, and etc etc tradition and apparently the CoS is the reason why the Kingdom exists, or something (Loog who?)

But in a way, I find it very interesting, because to get this "Rhea BaD" nonsense that is supposed to glue the plot of both games (even FE16 with the uwu "ReFoRmS" ending with the CoS being reformed, because... Adrestians were acting like asses to Adrestians, i guess), the Fodlan games bank on Rhea not being playable/support-able or even being able to interact with her - save for the worst support of the game -

(tfw she has no line with Flayn in FE16)

We have the "baby's first steps" framing from WC where the game makes a spectacular show of framing her as "BaD" and "OmInOuS" for executing people who killed her wards, telling a bunch of third parties that if they point their swords and weapons at her and her people she will flatten them and asking to young people aiming to be military leaders because they enrol in an officer's academy to rekt bandits or to participate in subduing an insurrection that might be led against her, but targets randoms who are "in the way" and was going to bring ruin to a bunch of non fighters.

And it's all for naught, because WC ends on the "twist" that Supreme Leader was the mastermind behind all the terrorist/biological attacks that prompted the CoS to react - and yet, the game is written in a way that you remember the cast being "frightened" by Rhea executing robbers who robbed lives, but not the cast being disgusted and enraged and feeling betrayed by their "uwu classmate" viewing all of their lives as unconsequential and turning innocent people in live weapons, including some students themselves

(or at least being furious at Supreme Leader for abiding and associating with those terrorists who turn fellow classmates in biological weapons)

And then we have all those "the church must be reformed", even with Seteth's own endings - furthering the point that Rhea was BaD, because if she wasn't, why her church needs reformation?

In the end, we have a character who is BaD but Billy cares for her despite her BaDnEsS, so she's redeemable... as long as Billy wants to befriend her.

Meanwhile, "I wanted to walk with u" is framed as a tragedy in the routes where you have to kill her - the player (?) and the cast feel bad for her because of... uh, reasons (uwudeals) and her most ominous actions are swept under Fodlan's rug.

FFS, Leonie is the only character - bar Dimitri who laters learns to "accept" Supreme Leader - who holds a grudge at her for what happened in WC!

Nopes just gave the occasion to the BL - who completely dropped her from the plot even if she was still tackled because "CoS needs ReFoRmS" - to diss her, which makes them look even more ridiculous (or the writing feel even more forced) because she's sitting next to them, giving soup to orphans...

But in Nopes, Faerghus, the Kingdom of very toxic notions like "helping each other in times of need" and "protecting your loved ones and the ones who cannot protect themselves" suddenly decide to throw Rhea and the CoS away because refugees apparently started the war since they didn't want to die, and this war is now brought to their hometurf even if Supreme Leader said she wanted to erase said hometurf to conquer Fodlan :/

Tl;Dr : Rhea BaD bcs she exists, and if you didn't understood that after playing both games, you need to play them again!

#anon #replies #fodlan nonsense #old ask from january lol #3 Nopes #Rhea stuff #Rhea BaD #i remember a friend made a post some years ago about framing #WC really sucks balls with it #whenever the CoS eats a potato the CoS is BaD #but when the other factions eat potatoes they're not BaD #ergo the blame lays on the CoS itself not on their actions because Rhea is naturally BaD #I am still dying to know what are those reforms being pushed around in some endings that the CoS needed #and how important they were

[egittae]

The definition of rose tinted glasses

[ what do you mean I wrote a 9 page long character analysis on a dude who appears twice in one game haha. This is my insane view on this dude

anyway, spoilers for 3H/3Hopes Azure Moon and Azure Gleam below ]

---

Lambert is one of the key narrative ghosts in Fódlan’s modern history, particularly regarding the Kingdom of Faerghus. His death was said to have destabilized the Kingdom severely, and the matter of his assassination was used by kingdom nobles as an excuse to enact a massacre against Duscur.

Time and time again we hear statements about his reign and praising him as a ruler, about how he was essentially the perfect king that Faerghus needed. Kind, charismatic, caring towards the common man, a powerful warrior, a great father- and so on. Considering how we only see and hear Lambert talking as himself literally twice in the entire Azure Moon route, nearly all information we are presented about him comes from the mouths of other characters and then from a handful of optional bits of lore in the many books and records you can read in the game if you feel like it.

Meaning, we don’t actually know what Lambert was truly like- we only know what others wanted to tell us about him. And those who told us about him were all either his family, his closest friends or people who have pledged loyalty to him at some point. The portrait we have of Lambert in both 3Houses and 3Hopes is extremely biased and filtered through the thickest pair of rose tinted glasses they could get their hands on. I myself never really cared about it until I chose to muse him, which was when I stopped and thought, “wait, what am I even dealing with anyway?”. 

And boy oh boy.

First, let’s take a look at what we get in the games regarding Lambert. I’ll be splitting this section into 3Houses and 3Hopes, since we get information on both games.

Three Houses

In 3Houses the first actual solid instance we get of Lambert is through a flashback in White Clouds, when Dimitri is telling Byleth about his past and the Tragedy of Duscur. It’s during that flashback that we get to see and hear Lambert for the first time, though he’s saying his last words* which are…well, interesting. He’s not exactly telling his son a tearful goodbye or anything, but rather giving him an order- to kill whoever planned the attack. To destroy them all and avenge those who died in Duscur, which sticks to Dimitri’s head stronger than gorilla glue.

*: Some people theorize that Lambert didn’t actually say those things and that Dimitri was hallucinating it instead, but I personally do believe Lambert said it before he was decapitated. It’ll make more sense later.

But Dimitri talks about his father in such a fond way, with so much admiration, that despite those off last words we are given the impression that Lambert must have been a good father and a good man, otherwise his death wouldn’t have had such a powerful effect on Dimitri’s psyche, right? He’s one of the people Dimitri mentions the most regarding the ghosts that disturb him alongside Glenn.

Then throughout the game, we get some extra crumbs. We are told that the western nobles saw Lambert as a “tyrannical” and radical king who was making unpopular decisions while caring little for others’ opinions, and that while he was beloved by the general public many nobles were starting to harbor bitterness towards him. We are also told that he indeed was trying to create a bridge with Duscur to establish good relations and a stable merchant route between the two nations, since Duscur was stated to have particularly good soil that Faerghus was very much interested in. 

The last instance we get of Lambert is around the mid-end of Azure Moon, when Rodrigue is dying in Dimitri’s arms. We get an actual cutscene, models and all, of Lambert and Rodrigue’s final exchange before leaving for Duscur. In it one thing is clear- Rodrigue doesn’t trust the plan and is very much worried about what could happen, being particularly against the idea of Dimitri going since he was still young.

Shortening things a little, the House of Fraldarius has had linked arms with House Blaiddyd ever since Loog fought for Faerghus’ independence. Kyphon, the head of Fraldarius at the time, was hailed as the King’s shield- and so it stands. During the campaign between Faerghus and Sreng, Rodrigue himself was given the title of "Te Shield of Faerghus", and as a result House Fraldarius essentially plays a role with the royal family’s defenses, almost like a Ministry of Defense of sorts. Rodrigue therefore knows what he’s saying, and his words should be trusted, correct?

No! Lambert isn’t having it. If anything Lambert stomps like a stubborn mule and tells Rodrigue he’s not budging, that he will go to Duscur no matter what and he will take Dimitri with him and no one can stop him. And then he says these pearls: 

“He’s [Dimitri] a smart boy, Rodrigue. Even if he should lose his father, I have no doubt he will grow to be a good and respectable man.” “[...] If he [Dimitri] ever starts down the wrong path and I am not here to set him straight, I am trusting you to do so in my stead. Promise me…”

‘Yo. If I die you raise my son for me ok? I bet he won’t mind”

Perhaps Lambert didn’t account for the fact that Dimitri was 13 years old and that if he were to lose his father during the trip, he’d literally witness it firsthand. That’ll never bother him, right? Rodrigue will fix it. Guess what happened!

But even then, Rodrigue speaks of him in a very positive light, and that doesn’t seem to have caused any cracks to form on the image Dimitri has of his father either. This is something that happens time and time again in both games, whenever we hear Rodrigue, Matthias or Dimitri talking about Lambert- they’ll comment things that are…odd behaviors to say the least, but their tones are so fond and nostalgic and warm that you end up disregarding what was actually said.

Because those characters too, have a skewed image of Lambert. Actually the only character I believe doesn’t have a twisted or extremely romanticized view of Lambert is probably Gustave.

Gustave enters the picture around White Clouds, and that’s when he starts to say some things that made me start to question the image of Lambert the game has been trying to present. In one moment, Gustave is scolding Dimitri for being careless with his own safety and charging in with apparently no value in his own life. This exchange then takes place:

Here’s the thing. Dimitri is a teenager, forced to grow far too quickly and made to fit into a role that, in his and the general public’s eyes, is bigger than the world- he needs to step into Lambert’s shoes and do good.

But then Gustave mentions that Lambert would say the very same thing, years before. By that time he was already king and already an adult. On top of it all he’s Lambert, who had a Crest of Blaiddyd which grants ridiculous levels of strength to its user on top of being born naturally with superhuman strength. Lambert was a bulldozer in the shape of a man, a king and a supposedly well resolved adult.

So why would he display such careless, insecure behavior to the point that Gustave, who definitely knew what Lambert could do, would worry that much for his safety?

And then the other fact: if Lambert spoke those exact words all those years ago, then it meant he saw himself as a weapon. Why would he have such a dehumanizing view of himself like that? Sure, Faerghus is a nation that values chivalry and the honor of dying in battle with many characters seeing themselves as weapons first and foremost, but apparently the way he went about it was so extreme that Gustave of all people worried for his condition.

I’ll also briefly mention here one thing that I’ve touched on before, which is Lambert’s savior complex. About how when he met Patricia it seemed to be love at first glance…when in reality it was the fact that Lambert perceived her as helpless and lost, and felt so weirdly enamored by it with the want to help and save her that he “fell in love”. Their marriage, which was already a secret and not known by the public, was pretty much in shambles from day 1 as they didn’t even sleep in the same room within the palace. If anything it felt more as if Lambert saw her as a little creature he needed to save and protect and now that he has her under his roof all’s good. I’ll expand on this complex later.

Let’s continue with the information we have.

Three Hopes

3Hopes possesses surprisingly more details on Lambert as a person thanks to Rodrigue being a playable unit with supports, and also because Matthias is there as well. There are also more books on Faerghus’ history, many of which do comment on some of Lambert’s actions such as his lead in the battle against Sreng. And of course, we do get a lot of information through Azure Gleam’s third chapter, “Crisis in Fhirdiad”.

Enter the professional wet cat man, Rufus.

Rufus was the older brother of Lambert, born without a crest and therefore pushed to the side regarding the throne’s succession, which left him feeling a level of bitterness towards his brother. On paper, very similar to what went down between Miklan and Sylvain.

Except…Rufus actually got a lot, despite not being set as the crown prince. Rufus is the Grand Duke of Itha, a territory close to Blaiddyd that’s a popular hunting ground as it possesses a number of rare monsters and animals. Hunting and mercenary work are the pillars of its economy and it does quite well. The Grand Duke title is also one of the highest titles one can get behind King/Queen and Prince/Princess, which means while Rufus wasn’t king, he was still a very important individual in Faerghus on a status level. And finally, in the camp, one NPC mentions how Rufus was naturally gifted with political sharpness and that those skills of his were greatly valued and acknowledged by the Kingdom as a whole.

Rufus wasn't a man abandoned on the streets left with crumbs and rags while his brother rose to a pedestal of luxury. Rufus was pretty damn well off himself, with the highest noble rank he could ask for considering his condition, his own territory that has a rather stable economy, and his skills were appreciated and valued on a national scale. And yet, he was still bitter about Lambert.

Another NPC also mentions how there were rumors of “discord” between the two brothers, meaning that their strained relationship was very neutral at best and publicly rocky at worst. The very fact that Houses Fraldarius, Gautier and Galatea- the three main noble houses that back up the royal family, didn’t want to even associate with Rufus was also very telling of what his behavior towards Lambert, and by extension Dimitri, most likely was even before the Tragedy of Duscur.

But right before the mission in Fhirdiad, there’s a cutscene between Rufus and Cornelia. Rufus basically gives a more explicit view on how he sees Dimitri, as well as his apprehension towards the prince. He talks about how Dimitri’s eyes are monstrous, that he’s a vile and deceptive creature- and that he’s the lion’s cub. A lion nonetheless, but a cub.

Then he mentions how ever since the assassination took place, Rufus has had constant nightmares of a lion ripping his throat out.

The entire dialogue makes it seem Rufus was more afraid of Dimitri than anything, but in my eyes? Rufus was afraid of Lambert. Lambert was the one he viewed as a lion, and when Rufus began having nightmares Dimitri was far too young and also too injured to even pose as a threat, but Rufus has lived with Lambert for decades. He definitely knows what Lambert can do, and most likely how Lambert behaves when he’s angry.

And he says it, how he has nightmares about a lion brutally murdering him in his sleep as an act of revenge. And considering how many characters acknowledge that Dimitri and Lambert have the same eyes- the same look, it’s not too far fetched to point out that Rufus is afraid of Dimitri because the prince has the same “monstrous” and “vile” eyes of his late father. 

Rufus most likely saw what Lambert turned into when taken by anger and revenge, and now that he was involved with his death, Rufus sees the ghost of that wrathful Lambert on Dimitri’s face. The fact that he most likely also got to see how Dimitri behaves under the same circumstances most likely only made it harder for him to separate them in his view. 

One might think that Rufus was perhaps exaggerating his view of Lambert, that it’s just his fear and bitterness talking and making him use adjectives such as “monstrous” to refer to his brother. And while it is partly true, honestly there’s proof in the game that Rufus has full right to be horrified. Because in 3Hopes, in one of the many books that you can find at the base, you find reports on Faerghus’ continued war against Sreng- the book is called “Military History of Partholon”. Most of it talks about the old past of the conflict and about the Gautier warrior Laetitia, but in its last entry there’s information on the campaign Lambert conducted against the srengi leader Oleg.

“Horsebow Moon, Year 1169  The Kingdom Army is progressing northwest through  the peninsula, but while engaging the Sreng chief Oleg  and his forces, a gigantic beast suddenly enters the fray.  It lays waste to both sides. Lambert sustains grave  injuries, and Oleg disappears into a ravine.”

Their battle was cut short by the appearance of a “gigantic beast” that shows up and crushes both sides. Lambert is gravely injured but survives without being too scarred or debilitated in any way. Now, Sreng is known for having some crazy monsters roaming around- it’s one of the reasons why it is so dangerous, and in 3Houses you do fight against Giant Crawlers. But there’s also the fact that Mr. Macuil is an inhabitant of Sreng, who’s stupidly strong as he is one of Sothis’ original children, and he holds a particularly bitter grudge against humans. 

For one single creature to promptly crush both armies by itself, it makes me believe Macuil must have had a hand in it. Regardless, Lambert managed to survive an attack either by a Giant Crawler or Macuil himself, without losing any limbs or being debilitated or visibly scarred. Rodrigue and Matthias, while they were there fighting alongside Lambert, weren’t reported as injured or even affected, which means Lambert most likely stepped in and faced the creature either on his own or mostly by himself.

And that? Is scary as hell. If that guy can face a srengi creature/Macuil and not only survive but manage to get away badly injured but whole then Rufus has full right to be afraid of him.

After the Fhirdiad chapter, the other information we get comes primarily from Rodrigue, his support with Dimitri, and his dialogue with Matthias during the Sreng mission- and they all focus primarily on their past, when all three were in their academy days.

In the Sreng chapter, right around the end, Matthias and Rodrigue reminisce about the time they were at the Academy’s Ethereal Ball with Lambert, and how after they grew bored of partying all three left for the training grounds at night. There, Rodrigue mentions how it had been the first and last time they actually talked about their dreams and views for the future with each other, and how Lambert expressed a deep wish to establish good relations with Sreng and Duscur- which Matthias called him naive for.

Then, on the support chain between Rodrigue and Dimitri, he talks a little more about their time as students. Of how in one mission Rodrigue made a mistake which resulted in his unit falling behind and getting in a very delicate and vulnerable position and that they required immediate aid. Lambert and Matthias however, started to argue with one another about which plan was better for rescuing Rodrigue…and ended up getting into a fistfight just because. Granted in the end they managed to somehow work together, but Rodrigue implies that at some point Lambert just booked it carelessly in front of Matthias, got himself all sorts of injured and screwed up, all so he could reach Rodrigue faster.

And then comes the sad detail that Dimitri seems to realize that he didn’t actually know his father at all. He expresses shock at hearing how Lambert was a feisty and violent man in his youth, and then essentially admits to Rodrigue that he doesn’t actually know Lambert that well. Dimitri was most likely raised seeing a mask of his father, not his father.

In the camp, Rodrigue at some point also casually mentions how in the academy, Lambert didn’t actually enjoy following rules and skipped classes every now and then to just hang out. He was rebellious and feisty, loved to get into physical fights with Matthias only for either Rodrigue or Gunther (Ingrid’s father) to try to separate them, and was quite the party guy- but who quickly grew bored of festivities and ran straight back to training.

And this, around six or seven pages of content, completes the amount of actual information we get on Lambert’s character throughout both games. What about it?

Well, time to grab all this stuff, twist and squeeze it, until we get a glimpse of who Lambert actually was.

Lambert was born as the younger crested sibling of the royal Blaiddyd family, and most definitely he was only conceived because his parents needed a crested heir. While Rufus was still given many boons despite being passed over regarding the throne, I don’t doubt that Lambert received preferential treatment. He was, after all, the crested baby prince they all needed. His relationship with his brother is, as a result, strained. All because of something he had no control over- his own blood.

Faerghus didn't have basic sanitary systems at the time, and Fhirdiad in particular was said to be a true pigsty- riddled with disease. As a result, it wouldn't be too extreme to say that Lambert was most likely raised in a very sheltered environment, trapped within the palace's walls in an attempt to avoid him getting a disease and dying from it- he was the only crested heir, far too valuable. Not that the palace was the perfect hygienic haven, but it definitely seemed to fare better than the city itself. And yet, Lambert still showed curiosity for the lives of the common man and wished to aid them.

His rebellious behavior in the academy feels like a cry for help on his part- that he most likely lived a very strict life in Fhirdiad and had to keep up appearances, unable to do what he wanted to do and make the choices he wanted to make. Lambert was molded into a king as soon as he was born and they needed him to stay within that mold. The moment he managed to get some freedom for himself, he rebelled because he most likely knew that would be his last chance at being able to live freely. And then as soon as he graduated, he went back to his mold. His chance was over.

He was feisty, prone to violent outbursts, at times ungovernable and aloof. Full of pent up energy, liking parties but getting bored once they don’t reach the level of excitement he wanted out of them. Curious about the common man and wanting to hang out around them rather than attending class. Apparently horrifyingly scary when angered or when powered by vengeance, to the point his own brother saw him as a monstrous beast- and then echoed that into Dimitri.

He had a savior complex that was most definitely enabled by everyone around him, as it fit well into the image of a king that cares for and aids his people. Growing up with the idea that he needs to protect the weak and that everyone is weaker than him resulted in him equating a complex to love, with no one around him to confront him about it.

Lambert truly did model himself into the ideal king, and the positive points of his personality amplified it. Kind, charismatic, understanding, strong. He ruled for his country and for its people, and so the people loved him for it.

But he seemed to have been raised and forced into an image he didn’t feel confident in assuming. He was king, he was an adult, but he was insecure of himself and his own capabilities- and yet, he knew he didn’t have an option on the matter. Insecure or not he had to make it work, so he felt the need to bruteforce things when they didn’t go his way immediately. 

He was genuinely careless with his own life, impulsively throwing himself at situations that could get him injured and running to the frontlines without thinking. While often it was made as a valiant effort to protect those he loved, even when they weren’t around he still went and did it. All to the point Gustave began to worry about his own condition.

Lambert viewed himself as a weapon, a war machine. Born with ridiculous strength and a crest, in a nation such as Faerghus that puts so much value on strength, knighthood and he status of a warrior, I have no doubts that he was most likely raised with the idea of being a weapon of Faerghus, its king- and its blade, and to disregard completely how dehumanizing that must have felt for him.

All to the point he flat out ignored Rodrigue, “The Shield of Faerghus”, and continued with his plans for Duscur.

Stubborn and almost irresponsible, to his own detriment as well as others’. Extremely prone to giving himself tunnel vision, and that the moment he decides he'll do something- he does it, regardless if others like it or not, bringing a reason as to why so many nobles saw him as tyrannical and radical. Lambert had already decided what he wanted to do, and he didn’t want their input. He’d simply do it.

World’s Most Alright Father. I have no doubts that Lambert loved Dimitri, after all he raised the boy as a solo parent for a while until Patricia entered the picture. Lambert has also already showcased how he’s willing to do whatever it takes to protect his friends and family and he’d definitely extend that to his only child, but his parenting has many odd quirks. He allowed Gustave to subject Dimitri to excruciating training sessions that would’ve surely killed a normal human- even more a child, without stepping in or showing any form of protest. Most likely because Lambert was raised the same way, so in his eyes it seemed “normal”. 

Him suddenly showing a level of disregard to the possibility of Dimitri losing his father and thinking he’ll “be fine” because he’s a “strong and smart boy” and that Rodrigue will take care of it, also makes me wonder if he was raised to think that way as well. That even as a child, he was made to believe he was strong and independent and should be able to fare on his own without his parents as a child- only to echo that on Dimitri later.

But I do think he meant well as a father. Because in the end, Dimitri didn’t quite grow into the same person Lambert was. Dimitri, while uptight, formal and very much nursing the image of a good prince, didn’t seem to have gone through excessively strict parenting. I feel like that was one of Lambert’s own ways of showing how much he loved his son- as well as how conscious he was of his own upbringing. His parenting was far from perfect, but in the end he tried to raise Dimitri to not end up like him. To not go through what he did.

And for his final words? Honestly, I think he was just desperate. Having lived his entire life being acknowledged as this strong, nearly ideal ruler, getting through countless battles while impulsively pushing through frontlines, only to be proved that his plan that he stubbornly believed in was extremely wrong and be defeated and crushed as a result. Lambert probably saw everything that he was falling apart on that one moment, and so when he spoke to Dimitri he was just reduced to the bare minimum. Enraged and vengeful for having been brought down like that, but without the strength to even protect himself let alone his child. All he had left was his own voice, so he chose to just express to Dimitri what he felt. A decision that ended up causing more pain than good, but in the end one that came from the mouth of a defeated man minutes before he was decapitated.

I think he was really trying to make things work. To make Faerghus a good place, to be a good father, to be a good king. But he could only do it behind layers of varnish, relying on the absurdly perfect image his own people and friends created for himself because the actual Lambert was insecure, most likely unhappy with his condition, prone to seeing himself in dehumanizing ways and throwing himself into dangerous situations because he doesn’t value his life personally. The Lambert that lived and died and was remembered isn’t Lambert, it’s the King of Faerghus. 

Lambert, the man born in House Blaiddyd as its youngest son at the time, just died and vanished. The mask however stayed since it had never been organic to begin with. It can’t rot and disappear like the person behind it.

#[ooc] #[ for the glory of faerghus. ] (meta content) #[ crumbles into dust ] #[ god ] #[ how did this happen. im sorry this is probably so incoherent i beta read this only once ]

[gascon-en-exil]

Wouldn’t Duke Aegir have engaged Ferdinand to Edelgard before the game even starts? It seems like the smart move to keep power in the Aegir family

I mean realistically because obviously we can’t do that because of avatar self-inserting (but they could’ve put that in and have Edelgard call off the engagement once she took control)

When I saw the opening lines of this ask in my notifications I was already preparing a response that would bring in the Doylist need to consider the Avatar - but you beat me to it, well done. Edelgard has to remain available for the player-as-Byleth up until they've decided whether to S rank her...so everything but Houses's ending cards, basically. This is why any potential rivals for her affection outside the support system are either never on her side (Dimitri, or Claude for that matter), grotesquely ugly (Hubert), mined for off-putting "comedy" (Monica), or else denied any actual endings even with a pseudo-S rank feature (Shez). To be fair this is also true of the other house leaders, whether that's Hilclaude having all its shippy moments in supports and such, or Dimitri's intimacy with other men having plausible deniability already baked in.

But trying to look at this from a Watsonian point of view...beats me, it's all headcanon anyway. I'd guess it's because marrying Ferdinand to Edelgard wouldn't necessarily grant him the title of emperor, or Aegir might have worried that his son would only end up one of many among consorts if Ionius's concubine situation is considered standard practice and not just because Garon and Lima did it first a personal quirk. It really is difficult avoiding Doylist interpretations of all this clumsy writing, isn't it?

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses