#fe:3h kin | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

moltz23 · 7 months

Text

When the Darkness gets Miscasted - An Essay about Three Houses' "those who slither in the dark"

As someone that joined the FE fandom with Sacred Stones, I gotta say, “Those who slither in the dark” are an interesting experiment as far as antagonistic factions go. In spite of being the most alien-like group featured in the franchise (as of Engage), regardless of the 3H story branch picked, TWSITD in the long-term serves as an villainous third wheel of sorts, going from being very active late into Part 1, to vanishing almost entirely by Part 2, not even getting an proper send-off in half of the routes. So what happened?

Well, after pondering about it for a while, I believe the reason TWSITD fell into this situation is because their unique traits don’t mesh well with the broader purpose the story gave them. In other words, I’m saying “those who slither in the dark” were miscasted.

To explain what exactly I mean by this, a brief recap of the group is in order:

Part 1: The Nitty-Gritty of the Slitherers.

This concept art of Shambhala is so cool.

In Three Houses (and Three Hopes by proxy), “Those who slither in the dark” is an organization that causes strife in Fódlan anonymously:

“In the long history of the Church of Seiros... No, long before even that… There have been an endless number of threats to the peace of Fódlan. Yet, those who oppose us still operate in the shadows, their identities a mystery.” - Rhea in Report: Red Wolf Moon

Their origins can be traced back to remnants of Agartha: an ancient human civilization of Fódlan once that waged war against Sothis and her kids - trying to seize control of the continent from them -, but got themselves wiped out when Sothis retaliated. The remaining survivors then retreated underground, bowing revenge against Sothis, her spawn, and those spared by her wrath. And from then on, this remnant cut contact with the outside world for over a millenia, thus becoming - as far as everyone else is concerned - “those who slither in the dark”.

The ones who call themselves Agarthans want mainly 2 things: Payback against Sothis’ surviving kin ie. Rhea, Seteth, Flayn and Byleth (once they know they’re Sothis reborn); and

obtain what Sothis denied Agartha: dominion over the surface.

“Let no crisis go to waste” is the group’s core motto, as whenever something bad happens in Fodlan, they will likely be there to reap the benefits, usually by:

Acting as benefactors, providing resources (or the means/knowledge) others would normally be never able to gain normally.

Doing Crests experiments once the avenue is open.

And body-snatching, letting them act in the open without giving themselves away, all while opening a new pool of resources and connections to draw from.

As for their Modus Operandi, their general plan is to get involved in a major conflict where they gain something by their chosen side coming out on top (which is known as a proxy war). Given their track record, their MO looks like this:

Find a pawn who could gain enough followers (or already has them) to kickstart a large-scale conflict, and offer your services.

Once the fighting starts, provide support to show your pawn how much of an asset you are to their cause.

If your pawn gets killed or the conflict ends with the opposition alive, then retreat underground, and let the years pass by.

Go back to step 1.

The group’s identity - as in, what differentiates them from other villainous groups - is comprised by the following:

Design-wise, save for one exception, all non-disguised Agarthans have ghastly white skin and dress in black.

Resource-wise, they have access to giant automatons, electric turrets, kinetic orbital missiles (called “javelins of light”), demonic beasts, and more.

Character-wise, regardless of each member’s individual personality, every one of them always showcases hubris and xenophobia. In a related note, every member is also portrayed unsympathetically.

Soundtrack-wise, the group’s heavily associated with dubstep.

Finally, when it comes to TWSITD’s narrative purpose in the main stories:

Their general objective is to serve as the puppeteers behind the scenes, trying to manipulate events behind the scenes and their pawn of choice (ie. the Empire/Edelgard) to achieve their ends.

Meanwhile, as far specific objectives go, they:

Kill Jeralt, and thus, force Byleth to fuse with Sothis before Rhea can have them sit on Sothis’ throne, thus unintentionally foiling the Archbishop’s agenda.

Give Edelgard the means to remove Rhea from the story at the end of Part 1 (used only outside CF) through their Demonic Beasts.

Set up the Final Boss of Part 2 of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow by the story having Byleth’s party reach Shambhala, their HQ.

Help Azure Moon’s story explore the Tragedy of Duscur subplot.

Help Crimson Flower’s story explore the TWSITD alliance subplot.

Part 2: Those Who Experiment In The Dark.

As alluded early, the Slitherers stand out from other major villainous factions in FE due to being the very definition of experimental. I use this term because no major villainous faction in Fire Emblem prior to them has had to contend with the following factors:

1. Access to Modern/Sci-Fi Technology:

While everyone else in the setting - including the Agarthans to an extent - use medieval western-inspired resources, only they get exclusive access to modern/sci-fi weapons like giant robots, turrets, and orbital missiles.

2. Deal with Multiple Handicaps:

I previously covered this in a past-article (that can be found here), but for those unaware: the manner the plot in Three Houses is written ensures the Slitherers' path towards their goal isn’t a straight one:

In spite of initially having Edelgard be just a puppet in someone else’s plans, they end up working for her thanks to some deals both parties make behind the scenes, thus leading TWSITD to backstab their former collaborator once Edelgard makes her move and becomes Emperor. Once that happens-

They take a backseat from the plot midway through the story, relinquishing their spotlight to Edelgard while she drives the story onwards. Meaning-

They rely on Edelgard winning to get anywhere, which would normally not be an issue if it wasn’t for how-

Edelgard plans to get rid of them once they’re no longer needed. Not only that, but she also screws the group over in every route in some form.

And that’s not even going into the other two problems they have to deal with:

A. Their orbital/kinetic missiles being impractical: I also did an analysis on those things, but long story short: two routes imply they can’t abuse the weapon at their leisure; their most desired target (Garreg Mach) is protected by a jamming spell/device; and if we go by the evidence at hand, not only the missiles were crafted back when Agartha was still a thing 1000 years before the main plot, we have no evidence they have the means to replenish their stock due to the javelins being orbital missiles (aka dropped from space).

B. Nemesis being unreliable: So, here an interesting fact about Nemesis: dude never died in the introductory movie (perhaps he just went into sleep, not unlike how most Nabateans & Byleth do when wounded enough?), and had to be sealed because, to indirectly quote Rhea’s words in Verdant Wind, no one really knows how the Crest of Flames works.

The known credit the Slitherers get with Nemesis’ return in Verdant Wind is that they were definitely prepared in case he woke up. After Shambhala has been destroyed, the story shows that not only they held him in a coffin somewhere in their catacombs, multiple flavor texts allude they are the reason Nemesis has the reanimated corpses of his old allies for Verdant Wind’s final battle. Beyond that, no one really knows why Nemesis returns at the very end only in Claude’s route, and how much TWSITD may be behind it. He just… returns.

3. They Lose Their Original Purpose (in 2/4 of the Post-Timeskip).

Quick development trivia for y’all: Silver Snow was the story branch of Three Houses that started it all, laying the foundation of every other route that came after. And in it, plus Verdant Wind - for sharing similar story beats - “those who slither in the dark” fulfill a specific purpose in Part 2’s story: setting up the scenario for the final battle to happen though having the player’s party going to Shambhala (their HQ), whether it’s by: wounding Rhea lethally, thus playing a part in her sudden dragon degeneration (Silver Snow); or by having an army prepared for Nemesis once he wakes up in Shambhala after their defeat (Verdant Wind).

But then, Crimson Flower and Azure Moon changed everything. Because both stories deviate from Silver Snow by using Chapter 11 to set up their own Final Boss in advance (Rhea in CF, Edelgard in AM), the writing team behind those routes was forced to solve the following issue:

“What happens when the story doesn’t need to go to Shambhala? As in, when the story has no need for the Slitherers to set up the final battle?”

The solution found was simple: TWSITD would blend-in with the Empire, and be forced to stick with Edelgard to reach the end of the road they crave. In turn, each path would show how well that situation ends for them.

(As a quick tangent: 3H’s The Cutting Room Floor page having unused unit data for a playable Edelgard and Dimitri in the Shambhala map - and nothing else - does very little to corroborate the idea that both CF and AM ever intended to visit the place in the stories beyond the planning stages).

No major antagonistic group in the series before the Agarthans has been ever given such a mixed bag to work with. And I believe it’s no coincidence either, as it very much appears most of these handicaps were placed to ensure TWSITD doesn’t have enough control of the plot to allow a “Golden Ending” to happen just by defeating them early. Still, this doesn’t change their unique situation as it causes unfortunate problems for them, and it’s precisely this what I want to address to finally explain why this group of antagonists were miscasted in the stories 3H tells.

Part 3: The Bad, Good, and Nasty side of the Agarthan.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first: even though their general objective in the story is to act as the puppeteers behind the scenes, in a twist of irony, the Agarthans are at their weakest when trying to manipulate their way into victory. The reasons are twofold:

A. Their handicaps limit their level of threat and control imposed. And…

B. Due to their anonymity shtick, they straight up don’t appear unless the plot calls for it.

These two details explain why they fall out of relevance by the time the timeskip takes place (and for the Three Hopes spinoff, this too goes for Azure Gleam’s second timeskip), and when they finally reappear, their performance ultimately falls flat despite all the spectacle provided. For all their efforts, the Slitherers unfortunately have a lot going against them that stops them from accomplishing the main objective the writers set out for them (and worse of all, this is by design).

Incidentally, another problem that quickly springs up for TWSITD is that, once they are forced to fight outside the darkness and can no longer count on their surprise/shock factor, they’re

taken care of in a pretty swift fashion (see AM Chapter 19 and VW/SS Chapter 21/20). And this is because, at the end of the day, they are just an organization of people that has historically relied on other nations’ armies to put up a fight vs the Church after the fall of Agartha. As trying to foolishly fight regardless, just exposes them for what they all are, warts included.

“[those who slither in the dark] are looking down on us. They think we cannot touch them. But the closer we get to them, the less true that becomes.” - Hubert, in Darkness Beneath the Water.

But enough negativity! Let's get to what the Slitherers are truly good at. My reasoning behind why TWSITD were miscasted, given a role they would never be able to fill its shoes comfortably, is because Three Houses’s stories not only show them at their worst, but also at their best. And what is what they excel at, you might wonder?

It is Terrorism. Just, flat out terrorism at its finest.

In execution, by the Agarthans using their anonymity shtick as a strength, they are allowed to:

A. Appear out of nowhere to cause havoc and quickly vanish once the job’s done. And-

B. Confuse and worry the hell out of the enemy.

Arguably the stand out examples of this is Part 1 of White Clouds, and Part 2 of Three Hopes’ Scarlet Blaze route. Whether it is to test out and perfect their “experimental assets” intended to be used by the Empire once Edelgard declares war on Garreg Mach in the former’s case, or by providing the perfect stage for Ferdinand’s father, Duke Aegir, to attempt a coup against Edelgard’s Empire in the latter, TWSITD’s surprise appearance completely disrupts the direction the plot was going for, and forces the characters to handle them directly in the hopes of - somehow - foiling their end goal, just for the group to vanish soon after, leaving everyone with a sense of unease, worry, and fear, upon witnessing they are not dealing with just some random group of villains anymore.

Simply put, “those who slither in the dark” are at the top of the game when they are causing terrorism and exploiting their enigmatic aura of theirs. So it’s a shame that Three Houses still ultimately decided to have the organization stick to their “puppeteers” shtick no matter what, even if it is for the sake of deconstructing the idea or in an attempt to try to make them work somehow.

Finally, while I feel the point this article’s been trying to make has already been made, I still wanna wrap things up by addressing the nasty side of TWSITD: their one-dimensional malice.

While Fire Emblem as a franchise is no stranger to cartoonishly evil antagonists, never before the Agarthans have we gotten an entire major faction with not even a trace of nuance. In a series where major villainous factions have done stuff like human sacrifices and child hunts, there has been always someone that either: can display basic decency; can be recruited and allowed work off their bad karma; or had long since defected the group, and might try to help the playable characters in some way. Heck, archetypes like the Camus exist because people have noticed some conventions are used a lot for the sake of giving the enemy-side some nuance, with varying degrees of success and reception.

The Slitherers by comparison, get none of that. And in spite of it… I feel it may be on purpose.

Let me remind everyone for one last time, what the Slitherers' backstory and shared character traits are:

Their background can be summed up as a “millennial legacy of hate which willingly isolates from society as a whole”. Also-

Displaying hubris and xenophobic tendencies appears to be an unwritten rule for every one of its members.

Considering these two facets, I just can’t help but wonder if the 3H writers drew the line with the TWSITD as far as nuance goes simply because, as far they themselves were concerned, those who hurt others due to a sense of entitlement, superiority, and hate, are beyond saving. And I say this because ever since last year, this exchange from Azure Gleam has been in my mind a lot as of late:

Cornelia: As for your loyal knight and the former Duke Fraldarius… They're certainly giving it all they have, but a paltry force that size will hardly buy them any time. And once we've wrung the life from them, you'll be next. How tragic it'll be, facing your beloved citizens for the final time with a noose around your neck. Dimitri: You know, I almost appreciate seeing such bold-faced sadism. There's not a hint of nuance to it. Cornelia: Is that a compliment I hear? You'll make a lady blush if you're not careful. - Event: Behind the Mask

I’ve been figuring out how to complete this whole thing for over a month now and oh man I am so glad I can finally move on from it. Now the only thing that remains is to thank y’all who checked and read this huge wall of text to the end.

To finally close things off, I have a few last questions for everyone: What are your honest thoughts on “those who slither in the dark”? What did you expect of them? Did they surprise you? And would you improve on them if given the chance (and how)?

#fe3h #fire emblem #fire emblem: three houses #crimson flower #azure moon #silver snow #verdant wind #those who slither in the dark #slitherers #twsitd #three hopes #scarlet blaze #fire emblem warriors: three hopes #agarthans

16 notes · View notes

fayesdiary · 4 months

Note

hmm hmmmmmm.......Rhea, Veyle, and Faye for the character ask game!

Rhea

1) how much I like their personality

WTEGDGFSFDYDGFFG

I adore her. She's my fav 3H character by far. Just this mix of sweet and awkward and kind but with a boatload of trauma and repressed rage... She's the bestest <3

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

Her archbishop outfit is great (although what is up with those hips. She barely has enough space to fit her organs), and general design is super pretty!

Also her Seiros outfit is 😳

3) how interesting I think they are

GOD. I feel like I could talk about her for hours if you caught me in the right mood. I want to inspect her with a microscope.

4) how well-written I think they are

As a character? Wonderfully, but her treatment in the story leaves a LOT to be desiered, often shoved to the background and generally getting treated like crap by the narrative for an alleged main character.

Also fuck everything about the SS endgame.

5) (if applicable) how much I like their mechanics in-game

her CF fight is pain and her SS one is pure agony

6) if I think they are a Good Person(tm)

For the most part, yes! It's clear all her actions were done with good intent (albeit a bunch of them were questionable but still, never cruel), and I think it's important to note that her vicious side only comes in regards to the man who literally committed genocide towards her kin or when she's being violently having her trauma of said man triggered.

Hell, her burning of Firdhiad is pretty much her lowest point and even then it only comes after she's being violently triggered and blamed for everything over and over. She's pretty much gone insane by that point and for damn good reason. Also you know, it's all your fault.

Veyle

1) how much I like their personality

BABY. She's the cutest but also constantly wracked with guilt and shame about being a Fell Dragon.

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

I love her Somniel outfit and her evil outfit absolutely slays, but while I really like her main outfit since it's fluffy I hate her collar and ankle chains.

3) how interesting I think they are

A whole lot! Her relationship with Alear is the best, in typical younger FE sister fashion she's a lot stronger than she seems (they literally had to brainwash her into compliancy and even then it didn't work all that well), her guilt over her evil self's action (on top of just being a Fell Dragon period). Also she has a knack for making (magical?) trinkets and she lived on her own wandering around Elyos for quite a while, so :D

4) how well-written I think they are

The brainwashing/evil personality part is a bit iffy as always in FE plots, but other than that? She's great!

Something that keeps suprising me about FE writing is that while they're not... the best at writing female characters somehow they keep hitting the spot with writing younger sisters.

5) (if applicable) how much I like their mechanics in-game

She's a lot of fun! Her personal tome and dagger are great and her personal skills are quite useful :D

6) if I think they are a Good Person(tm)

Definitely! She's an absolute sweetheart, but at the same time I love the hc that her evil self is actually a part of her albeit exaggerated and twisted by Zephia and not just a personality that came out of nowhere. Doesn't help I'm playing Persona 4 right now.

Faye

..fun fact, do you know she actually got on Top 200 of CYL8? I'm genuinely shocked.

1) how much I like their personality

I really like it, mainly in the sense her obsession is portrayed negatively for once. I've seen a bunch of fans trying to "fix" her by toning down and/or removing her obsession with Alm, but I always loved more the angle of keeping it while pointing out how toxic and self-destructive it is and having her slowly grow out of it.

2) how much I like their design/aesthetics

Peak. Perfection. Immaculate. Well except maybe the lack of freckles, but that's why I draw her with them ;)

3) how interesting I think they are

It may be mainly due to projecting and overanalizing, but god. Soo much. Her trauma and horrible coping mechanisms, her huge trouble making friends and socializing with strangers, her fondness for Celica, her clinginess and yearning for both a place to belong and to return to the good old days at Ram...

Also she's a bisaster. It's totally canon trust me

4) how well-written I think they are

Hahaha... oh, terribly.

I'm not gonna pretend the writers ever saw her as anything more "the girl with an unhealthy unrequited obsession towards the protagonist we're apparently contractually obligated to put in almost every game". Like, I'm pretty sure all of her small nuances you can find if you start digging were an accident, and considering how she gets flanderized outside of Echoes, I'm almost certain that's the case.

(speaking of, the sole fact they managed to flanderize her holy shit)

5) (if applicable) how much I like their mechanics in-game

GOD I LOVE THEM. All of the effort they didn't put into writing her they put into her gameplay mechanics because they portray her SO WELL.

The fact she loses avoid when supporting Alm, her higher then average growths hinting at the fact she's trying desperately hard, her unique spells as a Cleric being either a way to ignore distance (Physic to heal from afar, Rescue to get someone literally close to her) and Anew, the only form of a Dancer you get in Echoes, costing so much HP portraying her self-destructive behavior in an attempt to be useful.

Just... screams

6) if I think they are a Good Person(tm)

Yeah... I'd be lying if I said yes.

She's a lot better than people claim she is, but still, between the obsession towards Alm and general (albeit potentially accidental) rudeness towards strangers and... less-than-stable state of mind, she's far from the greatest person to be around.

Still, she can be pretty sweet when she wants to, she apologized to Silque and actually accepted Alm's rejection which oh my god why do people keep claiming she's a yandere when she's actually capable of hearing no as an answer, and also she's unflinchingly loyal to her loved ones!

#ask replies #loregoddess #fire emblem #fe16 spoilers #fe17 spoilers #rhea #veyle #faye #my rambles #answering this ask after what feels like forever yay!

7 notes · View notes

randomnameless · 9 months

Note

Relieved to see the "Church bad" stuff in 3H was the result of Treehouse's *ahem* liberties with the localization. One of the things I liked about Fire Emblem was that it wasn't like the 5000 generic church/religion bad JRPGs and that it treated religion with nuance and treated it's religious characters respectfully. I'd hate for the series that gave us characters like Lucius and Renault to become another bland religion bad wankfest.

Well...

It's not only on the lolcalisation, I'm afraid :(

"Church BaD" is peppered here'n'there through the game(s) because if Church BaD then maybe siding with Supreme Leader isn't completely ludicrous - but the lolcalisation amped it up to 11.

FWIW, I still think the FE series is the same series that gave us Lucius, Renault, Natasha, Yodel and the other monks/priests so it still has that nuance and isn't the generic "Religion BaD" JRPG (playing TS made me remember what was a true "Religion BaD" JRPG lol), and even in some ways, the Fodlan writers tried to warp it around "it's not the faith that's BaD, but Rhea" without ever saying what's so BaD about the faith Rhea preaches and what the difference with the faith that will be preached by her successors (Billy or the Tru Piss church)...

IIRC in Nopes Seteth mentions in an expedition dialogue how he disagrees with some church tenets... but never mentions to Barney what are those tenets he, as a saint, Rhea's right hand man and more or less her older sibling/kin, disagrees with.

Imo, the general Church BaD isn't BaD for being BaD in the og game, but a way to say Rhea BaD to both sell Hresvelg Tea and the idea that Rhea has to go so the player, through Billy, will take her place and make a better world because player wank.

The lolcalisation though? Kept the underlying Church BaD, even if their love of Tea sometimes makes their script suggest "Faith BaD"!

#anon #replies #nuance in my fodlan game???#bar that wtf line from Seteth in Nopes #we never hear what religious characters or characters who are part of the Church think about it #and if/how it should be reformed #It's more like Rhea BaD so Supreme Leader Good #and Rhea BaD so she goes away thus Billy as God's avatar and the player can rule over the world depending on the endings #or take her role and of course do better things than she did

13 notes · View notes

comfort-questing · 2 years

Text

before the light

*note: FE:3H characters pre-timeskip -> TW whump of a minor (teen)*

The sour taste of early morning was in my mouth, my tongue stiff and my brain slow, with words not yet firmly in my grasp. I'd glanced back and forth at them, wondering and wishing - these three youngsters beside me in the shadow of the village walls.

If I were an ordinary person and not Jeralt's strange Ashen Demon daughter, I probably could have shown them, told them that I was happy to have them by me. But that was tricky and I hadn't the strength to do it then, when firelight outside the walls showed the fleeting shapes of bandits lying in wait for us.

I found my words as we crept forward over the dew-wet grass, the small darts of early morning larks singing somewhere between the ground and the cloudy gray sky. And if my voice was strange as the rest of me, they didn't seem to mind. Laughing gallant Claude, stern-faced Dimitri, Edelgard whose bright intent eyes held some strange note that struck a kin chord in me.

And after that it was battle, a language I had always understood - the dance of swords and shadows and lights, of boots sliding in the mud and the panting breaths of combatants, the smell of blood and sweat that was my own and others' as well.

And then at the end, that dreamlike moment where time seemed both too long and too short. Edelgard, staggering, bloodstained and defiant through the pain of her wounds, putting out a hand to the tree trunk for support, and the bandit leader rushing towards her with his axe upraised -

... I still do not quite understand what happened, after that. I understand it better now than I did then. But she was safe, and so was I, whatever sort of miracle wrought the unwinding of time and the repealing of our near-disaster.

So in the cold stuffy darkness before dawn we sat by the bandits' smoky fire, Alois talking loudly and my father muttering back, the two boys bantering about something as Claude tested the shafts of his re-found arrows, and Edelgard turned half away from the firelight with a splash of dark blood in her pale hair.

You're hurt, I wanted to say, but the words slid away to somewhere besides my mouth. So I picked up my satchel instead and dug out my healer's kit, and tapped her on the shoulder to show it.

She started, but then saw, and a flash of shame and then a quick assured stillness spread over her face.

I help you? I signed, for the sake of ease.

Whether she knew signs or not, the intent was clear enough, I suppose. She sighed and let her hand fall from where she clutched at her upper left arm, its palm black with blood in the faint light.

"Thank you," she said. Her accent was that of the Empire, but with a stiff haughty clarity all her own.

I nodded and tugged at her jacket sleeve, and she slipped her arm free of it, showing the bloody and ragged shirt below. I had to remind myself that blood spread quickly, or be shocked at the amount of it. She didn't turn away as I reached out, or flinch as I touched her, though I saw her jaw tighten ever so slightly. More used to pain than I would have expected from a fancy noble girl, this one.

The bandit's sword had slashed the outside of her arm and skipped briefly across her ribcage as well, it seemed. I searched the wounds quickly with my fingers, not wanting to try her careful proud endurance too long, and figured that the arm could take a few stitches and the rest could do with bandages.

Edelgard gritted her teeth as I stitched the gash in her arm, and I could hear the close-kept inhale and exhale of her breaths. The spatter of blood up the side of her neck was dark against her pale skin.

"It must be useful to be a healer as well as a mercenary," she said, in a voice with barely a hint of strain in it.

"I try," I said, and this time the words did make it to my mouth. "We're all healers if we have to be."

"I suppose so." Edelgard's eyes found mine for an instant, calculating in a way I didn't quite grasp, as if she were seeking something in the firelight and not sure if she would observe it. Then she smiled, briefly, and let her breath out as I pulled the last stitch taut. "Although I haven't been, yet. Maybe it's a virtue I'm not meant to attain."

"Bandages now," I said.

She tried to reach across to help me, but bit her lip and cringed forward as she tried to raise her injured arm. I caught her wrist, without thinking, and steadied her, then pressed her elbow in to hold the end of the bandage over the wad of cloth I'd pressed to the wound. "There now."

"Oh, very well," she grumbled, something between tiredness and resignation, I thought.

But when I looked up from tying off the second bandage I saw her smiling again, a small cold glad look on her exhaustion-writ face, and she nodded at me as she shrugged her jacket back over her shoulders.

"I suppose I've more to learn, then," she said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said, and sat back down on the cold grass, hugging my knees up to my chest as the first true golden line of daylight broke above the treetops. "Welcome," I said again, because it felt right to say it - for her and for myself too, into this strange new story I had entered, with sword and healer's kit, blood under my fingernails and unfamiliar voices on the morning breeze.

#whump #hurt comfort #lady whump #tw minor whump #fe3h whump #minor crests of hurt comfort #crow writes a thing #crossposting to ao3 #we're doing partially-verbal autistic byleth this run #classic mode crimson flower so expect a lot of angst and divine pulse replays

6 notes · View notes

saccharinesovl · 2 years

Text

Pinned Post out of convenience:

IDs: Anna (Frozen), Ava (KH), Lily Evans Potter (Harry Potter-Unfortunately), Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars)

Primary: Lotor (VLD), Tippi/Timpani (SPM), Akihiko Sanada (P3), Minato Arisato (P3), Marisa Coulter (HDM), Carly Nagisa/Carly Carmine (YGO 5Ds)

Secondary: Mia Fey (Ace Attorney), Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert (Tangled), Olette (KH), Kairi (KH), Yu Narukami (P4), Edelgard Von Hresvelg (FE:3H), Mami Tomoe (PMMM)

Tertiary: Fluttershy (MLP:FiM), Marianne von Edmund (FE:3H), Annette Fantine Dominic (FE:3H), Toriel (Undertale), Hitomi Sagan (AITSF), Satine Kryze (Star Wars), Sakuya Shirogane Le Bel (Hatoful Boyfriend)

You can call me by any kin name really but IDs preferred.

Just reach out to me whenever ig.

#Shut Up Anna

0 notes

shittykinaesthetics · 3 years

Photo

Shitty Linhardt von Hevring aesthetic: linhardt von hevring kins jughead jones. you might not like it. i might not like it. but it is simply the truth.

#linhardt von hevring #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #linhardt fire emblem #fe:3h #linhardt von hevring aesthetic #fire emblem aesthetic #fire emblem three houses aesthetic #linhardt fire emblem aesthetic #fe:3h aesthetic #linhardt von hevring kin #fire emblem kin #fire emblem three houses kin #linhardt fire emblem kin #fe:3h kin #shitty aesthetic TM

129 notes · View notes

fekincalls · 4 years

Note

Hi! I’m Dorothea Arnault and Marianne von Edmund from fire emblem 3 houses. I’m looking for everyone so just like this and I’ll reach out! Mostly Hilda and Claude as Marianne because they were dear to me, and then Ferdinand, Petra and Edelgard as Dorothea!

#Dorothea Arnault kin #Marianne von Edmund kin #fire emblem kin #fire emblem three houses kin #fe16 kin #fe3h kin #fe:16 kin #fe:3h kin #Anonymous

7 notes · View notes

findthebae · 4 years

Note

hi i’m sylvain jose gautier looking for my felix!! (fire emblem three houses) i’m an 18 year old lesbian! thanks for helping! felix if you’re out there pls come home

Anonymous said:

oops i forgot to add my discord! hi! i’m sylvain jose gautier looking for my felix! (fire emblem three houses) i’m a 18 year old lesbian! dm me at apple#7107!

#canon calls #fire emblem three houses kin #fe3h kin #fe kin #fire emblem kin #3h kin #fe16 kin #Anonymous

1 note · View note

tetoskinhelp · 4 years

Text

A moodboard for CF dog-shifter Ferdinand with themes of Edelgard, healing and fatherhood requested by @orsemdragalia

#ferdinand von aegir #ferdinand kin #fire emblem kin #fe kin #ferdinand fe3h #3h kin #moodboard #orange

6 notes · View notes

nchntd · 5 years

Text

My Wife, Basically

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fe:3h #my art #kin

43 notes · View notes

umbralstars · 3 years

Text

OK.

I am going off complete on wishful thinking but I don't believe that all of the Nabateans, besides the obvious, who lived in Zanado are dead. Do I have much evidence? No, but I do have speculation from evidence and headcanons. If you're still interested let's go.

The two pictures above are most likely depictions of Zanado before the massacre. They don't 100% line up with the Zanado/Red Canyon we see in-game, but Nabatea could very well have been spread all over the Oghma Mountains include the snippet we see. The first one can be seen in the opening flashes but Sothis, in her original physical form, is there and the second is from the SE art book but from what I understand it's not 100% confirmed to be Zanado or part of Nabatea. I'm sure most people in the Fandom have seen seen these by now.

My main point with them is that Zanado as a city is pretty big. Due to the Nabateans being dragons one could argue they would likely need to build bigger architecture to accommodate their dragon forms, but it seems to me that the Nabateans are in a more Laguz type situation vs an Archanean Manakete. Where most primarily lived in their smaller humanoid forms, only few chose to be in their dragonic forms most of the time, and this has always been part of the Nabatean physiology with no Cataclysm induced dragonstones. For instance: Indech and Macuil choose to live in their dragonic forms 100% but could likely shift back if they wished, Rhea can go back and forth, and don't ask me about Seteth and Flayn. I still don't know why they can't transform at all as they claim.

I say this because, outside of the Gods, most modern depiction of Divine Dragons or other Dragon races aren't that much larger than humans. Tiki in FE Warriors is big in her dragon form, but she's no Rhea. There's a clear difference in FEH as well with the Manaketes vs Dheginsea, Seiros, and even Ena as the majority of the playable and NPC Manaketes are smaller than the Lazguz not go mention Seiros' sprite who's part of the gigantic club. In 3H the Nabatean dragon forms are consistently sized as huge compared to humans.

The Nabateans living in their own city would likely choose to live in their humanoid forms since they have the choice. They wouldn't need to build structures as gigantic just so they can accommodate people, thus the city could be less spread out, they likely wouldn't need to eat as much, and it would be easier to live with humans in humanoid forms as the Nabateans were want to do in the past. Even Sothis seems to primarily live in her humanoid form as that's the form we see in a very brief flash of her looking over Zanado, and if the Goddess feels safe doing that her Children would as well.

This is all to once again point out that Zanado from these depictions is a pretty big city. Nabatea itself could've ranged from a city-state (with Zanado as the heart with surrounding territory, often farm land and small settlements dependant on the city) or even a small country with Zanado and other smaller cities and towns. The population of Nabateans from this seems to be pretty big even if you think humans lived in Zanado too. I do have a feeling that after the Calamity, which Sothis healed Fódlan from, the population may have been cut down by a lot, but not enough to where all of them could be killed all at once in Zanado.

Even though they could've been virtually trapped within that canyon, I don't believe (and I hope) Nemesis, the Elites, or the Agarthans killed every single Nabatean in that city or any Nabatean settlements beyond Zanado. Given that the Agarthans needed bodies for the Relics (and Nemesis was actually there with his Elites) I assume they didn't use the Javelins of Light but I will admit it's a possibility. If they did not, there is a distinct possibility some Nabateans could've gotten away even if the number is as low as only a few hundred or under even that.

As for where they went, and why the Nabateans we know don't know that some of their kin are still alive is because they likely all fled Fódlan. I believe there is a possibility of diaspora communities in Almyra to various countries across Dagda. All hidden among humans to keep themselves alive.

The most interesting possibility I think lies with Morfis. The Traveller's Journal Issue 1 states:

(Picture of the text from FE Datamine)

As far as I remember we know next to nothing about Morfis except from this little bit of text tucked away in a lore book. I believe that it's possible Morfis may house the largest community of Nabatean diaspora or may have been founded as a result of the diaspora. Morfis is fairly close to Fódlan, but still disconnected from it via the ocean and so would discourage Nemesis or the Agarthans from pursuing the survivors.

Morfis was also known as the 'City of Illusion' and seems to still be unknown to outsiders despite the trade networks. The Nabateans, as the Children of the Goddess, would be quiet connected to magic and may have know how unknown to mankind. After they fled their homeland and traveled deep into the desert the survivors hid their settlement via illusions and re-established their lives best they could. Zanado is also consistently shown as a rather arid environment, so the Nabateans could perhaps easily adapt themselves to life in the desert using skills they already had from Nabatea.

Any other survivors back in Fódlan wouldn't know of Morfis since they, justifibly, hid themselves and were disconnected completely from the outside world. The Journal also makes it seem like Morfis is still incredibly mysterious with their trade routes only bringing rumors of the city, nothing more. Even if the city or country now is more open to outsiders, perhaps in hopes of bringing more Nabateans to them for safety, they may still be wary of Fódlan. It's possible they know nothing of what has been happening in Fódlan for the past centuries, unaware of Seiros and Cichol's presence, and assume the religion worshipping Mother Sothis to just be a human continuation of bygone days if they even know of that.

I don't think it's farfetched to believe that some Nabateans may yet live somewhere outside of Fódlan. Perhaps I'm a bit optimistic in believing they were able to re-establish themselves in Morfis, but I want to believe it even if the chance is next to non-existent. Also, even if this is a possibility, it doesn't negate the sheer horridness of what happened to them, and doesn't undercut Rhea's continued grief over the genocide.

#fire emblem #fe3h #fe nabateans #nabateans #fe3h headcanons #more like conspiracy theory #morfis #i hope i didn't miss anything thing completely debunks this #cause i do like the theory #fuck the slithers #also i don't think the nabateans were in the millions #but even a number as low as 10000 is still a lot #and comparable to the citizen populations of Sparta Athens and what do you know Petra at it's peak #even if the population was cut in half by the calamity 5000 as a low estimate is a lot #zanado was a CITY even with nigh immortal demi gods as a populous the situ still would've needed a lot of people #i rest my case in the tags

29 notes · View notes